Glenn Beck Converted to This

Honestly folks, I truly understand when someone is born into a belief system and believes it as a result. Glenn Beck actively chose Mormonism over the Catholic faith he was raised in. That's pretty much all I need to know.

The Creation and the Emergence

I challenge P.Z. Meyers, Richard Dawkins, Eugenie Scott (or anybody who actually reads this blog) to prove my new favorite creation story wrong.

The Creation and the Emergence

If they cannot do it to my satisfaction, I intend to lobby the public school boards to teach it alongside Evolution as an alternative view. After all, it's either wrong, or it's right. That puts its odds at 50% for being correct. Shouldn't our kids know about it?

All praise Black Hactcin!

Bad Universe Review, Part 2

Okya, the "Holy Haleakala" bit gets annoying after the 38th time, but otherwise it was a heckuva fun first episode. While I did know that we have the potential of being slammed into by a global killing chunk of space debris at any second with literally no warning, I did not know that people have been playing with ideas on how to avoid said disaster.

Ironically, it seems as though we have a relatively decent chance of technologically averting armageddon from a collision with a comet, while a much smaller meteor collision is more or less game over. It was a tad bit depressing to see that we really have no reasonable hope of surviving or fending off such a scenario with modern technology. 

Can we get a few overgrown kids with deep understanding of chemistry, physics and explodey things to start coming up with bombs that could essentially obliterate the moon? It sounds like that's pretty much our only hope here. 

Holy Haleakala Batman!

Watched the first half of the inaugural episode of Phil Plait's Bad Universe last night. I had previously described it to a friend as "Geek Porn." Given that I only made it halfway through, I supposed the prediction was uncanny.

Sorry. Couldn't resist the cringe joke there. I'll be watching the 2nd half tonight. If it's as good as the first half was, I have a new addition to my top 5 favorites. If you didn't see it, set your DVR to record next week! It's fun, educational, and I think Phil knows of what he speaks. Having not gone through an Astronomy course in college, I'm going to just go with the idea that Phil knows more than I do and I can let him do my astronomical thinking for me while I watch him blow stuff up on by big screen TV.

Oh, by the way. I fell asleep early last night from a long day (not boredom). Just in case anyone was wondering why I didn't stay up through the whole show. I may be a science geek, but I do have limits.

What's your favorite geek show?

Phil Plait vs. P.Z. Myers! The Civil War Ensues! (or is it uncivil?)

Before you read my take, check out PZ's latest entry in Pharyngula.


How Being a Dick Probably Saved My Life


Gotta side with Phil on this one. Following through on commonsense health concerns is not being "dickish." It's being prudent. Telling someone else they are a pathetic idiot if they don't do this IS being a dick, and it will likely cause them to dig in their idiotic heels.

The argument Phil made was in regards to the overall approach of skepticism, in which many skeptics have definitely taken the tone of "if you believe in that BS, you're an idiot." I know that I faced my own previous beliefs when a good friend admitted being an atheist. Instead of acting superior, he asked me to spell out the reasons that I did believe in god. That's when I thought about it and realized on my own how foolish it was. He was opening a friendly conversation. It worked. No dickishness needed.

Yes, if a militant religious fanatic has plans to try to evangelize your child's public school, I'll be the lead asshole in charge of the fight back, no holds barred. If a friend puts a cup of sand on her windowsill every night to ward off witches, I'll be a friend and ask her to think about why she does it, and why she believes it's necessary. That's all Phil was saying.

Phil Plait Making a Good Point

Phil Plait - Don't Be A Dick from JREF on Vimeo.

Miracles & The Benevolent Dolphin

What's a miracle? The word seems to be thrown around a lot and the above video shows a curious way in which we tend to read miracles into just about anything we want. In cases like this, it's an obvious logical error that allows people to pick out the tiny good snippets and blow them out of proportion. What about benevolent dolphins?

We've all heard stories of stranded swimmers who were about to drown in the ocean when a miracle happened. A dolphin came to the surface and nudged the swimmer up and toward the shore. He continued to do this until the swimmer was close enough to walk out on his own strength.

A miracle, right? No tragedy being ignored here, is there?

While it's incredibly easy to read intention into the dolphin's motives, let's stop and consider another possible explanation. What about sadistic dolphins? Why don't we ever hear of the swimmer who had almost made it to shore when an evil dolphin was sent by the devil to consistently nudge him further out to sea until he drowned? If this ever happened, how would we know about it? The swimmer would have died and nobody would have known of the true circumstances.

We hear of the benevolent miracle dolphins because they are the ones whose survivors live to tell about it. Perhaps there actually is some sort of altruistic sense that dolphins use to help people. Perhaps they have some sense that people belong on land, and land is over there, and I should help out here. Perhaps. We really can't be sure. We CAN be sure that accepting the story of the benevolent dolphin as an unassailable miracle is not logically feasible. If I ever get stranded out at sea though, I do hope I'm wrong on this.

-Chris

Creation Myths

Here's a fun little game you can play next time you end up in a discussion/debate/argument/catfight over creationism vs. evolution. Just look blankly at the person and inquire as to which creation story they believe so you know which one you need to argue against.

Most folks don't realize the pure variety and sheer entertainment value of the huge number of stories at our disposal. As an example, I shall hereby direct you toward the story of Poqanghoya, Palongawhoya and Spider Woman.

I'm not kidding. This is a true example of a creation story of the Hopi people of Northern Arizona. Enjoy! I sure did.

The Four Creations

Biofield Saving Bracelets!

Okay, if you're reading this, you are likely a skeptic already. That said, I'm calling for a day where we skeptics shut this company down (at least make a nice dent in their profits). How about this? We all agree to call this company based on the infomercial on an agreed upon date. Ask the salespeople a couple dozen weird questions until they lose total patience, then tell them we need to think about the purchase a little bit longer. I can't know how many salespeople they might have on staff, but if we clog up the phone lines and monopolize the time of the salespeople without buying anything, we might just make the company suffer a bit. What do you say? If you're with me, write me here. E-Mail Me

Followup: I checked out their website. The company doesn't actually even have a real site. It's a few really bad pages that barely qualify. I would feel sorry for them if they weren't a bunch of shameless snake oil peddlers.

Ned Lamont Sucks (and so do lots of other political assholes)

There was a point in my life when politics fascinated me. I read books, listened to talk radio, watched debates, and tried to ferret out the good from the bad. As the fall elections near, I realize there's not a whole lot of good to ferret out.

One example from CT:

Ned Lamont (AKA The Human Tucks Pad) has launched an ad against his Democratic rival for the party nomination for Governor. As primaries are this week, each of the candidates is blasting their opponent for whatever they can make up that sounds really bad. In the case of Ned Lamont, he decided to essentially call Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy a criminal. Proof? None. He just laid out a series of allegations which raise ethical questions. Believe it or not, the 30 second ad wasn't quite enough to go into the necessary detail, so we're left with the impression that Mayor Malloy has been taking kickbacks, etc. An investigation was done and no wrongdoing was found. In fact, the investigation turned up nothing but proof that everything was above board. Is Mayor Malloy a criminal? I have no clue. I only know that Ned Lamont's ad is the latest in a string of excruciatingly condescending, arrogant crap designed to fool us into thinking he's the only good guy left. Here's a thought Ned. Before you level allegations, offer up proof. If you have it, make it available to prosecutors who would actually follow CT law and go after the criminal in question. If you don't have it, quit trying to pull a 3 Card Monte on the very people you want to lead.

Oh, and here's the kicker: Ned Lamont ran an ad deploring exactly this kind of BS just a few years ago when he tried to oust Joe Lieberman as CT Senator. Check it out:

Lamont Ad

Politics is the worst form of woo woo, and we skeptics need to stay honest when assessing candidates. In my experience, 98% of political ads are horribly misleading. Whether a candidate supports positions we like or not, let's hold their feet to the fire and require honesty and integrity. We have a lot of candidates for biggest political asshole out here in our lovely state. I decided to pick on Ned because he is a unique type of shit head, but he's by no means alone in the category. I think this time I may just go vote for whoever seems to actually be the most honest in their dealings with the voters. It's possibly the only way to really change the system. Anyone with me? Anyone?