Before joining Scienceblogs.com, I blogged independently at "Evolution ... not just a theory anymore." That was a cool name for a blog, but I didn't transfer the name to Scienceblogs because there were already a whole bunch of blogs with "Evolution" in the name. There was a lot of stuff on that blog, mostly not worth saving but a few items of possible interest. Also, I've kept a number of things on that site that don't really fit here at the scienceblogs.com site, such as lots of links to books I like, a few downloadable research papers, and so on.

Over recent months, "Evolution ... not just a theory anymore" has been increasingly vulnerable to nasty attacks from the usual suspects, even though it is just sitting there minding its own business. It turns out that upgrading the very old wordpress installation is tricky, and transferring the database to a new installation is a fool's errand, especially given that half the junk on the old site is junk. More than half. [...]

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/4TstqjvBrss/my_new_old_blog.php
8/14/2011 12:35:54 PM
Search rank: 397

Freethinkers FSU

 

We meet every Wednesday, but there is NO MEETing this Wednesday due to ... Spring Break!

If you'll be back in town sometime Sunday, or are chillin' in Tally, come out and relax with us  ...

Railroad Square's 2nd Annual Interfaith Day, with tabling, discussions, and more from the businesses of the Art Park and the Tallahassee community.

Official times:  NOON to 5pm

Inivite anyone and their peeps'.

Some groups there will be:

Freethinkers FSU

Tallahassee Atheists

Buddhist Society of Tallahassee

Intervarsity Christian FSU

Pagan Student Union FSU and Red Hills Pagan Council

And More..

Together with the Tallahassee Atheists, there will be [...]

From Skeptics upcoming events
http://www.meetup.com/FreethinkersFSU/events/16848777/
3/9/2011 8:08:10 AM
Search rank: 391

I’ve been offered a most excellent gig by those lovelypeople at The Skeptic Magazine.
A while ago I cobbled together an Alt-Med flowchart toenable the budding Alt Med junkie to select an appropriate pointless therapy.

Anew and improved version of this diagram now nestles proudly in the centre ofthe latest issue of the Skeptic magazine, where you can rip it out and stick iton your wall, if your so [...]

From Science, Reason and Critical Thinking
http://crispian-jago.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-am-centrefold.html
1/13/2012 5:58:00 AM
Search rank: 381

It seemed like such a simple transaction.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison wanted to send a bouquet of roses to Jessica Ahlquist, a 16-year-old atheist in Cranston, R.I., who had just won a court battle with her school district over a Christian prayer banner.

The foundation quickly learned there are some things you can't say with flowers, at least not in Cranston.

Four floral shops declined to deliver flowers to the teen, according to the foundation. The foundation now has filed complaints against two of the stores with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights, alleging illegal discrimination based on religion.

"I'm totally flummoxed," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, foundation co-president. "I couldn't believe [...]

From RichardDawkins.net - All Aggregated News Content
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644939-in-the-spirit-some-florists-won-t-deliver-to-atheist
2/14/2012 10:29:53 AM
Search rank: 367

Created page with "An Introduction to Trading On Forex The origins of the Forex market that we all know at the moment came about following the transfer away from fastened foreign money exchanges t..."

New page

An Introduction to Trading On Forex

The origins of the Forex market that we all know at the moment came about following the transfer away from fastened foreign money exchanges to new 'floating' foreign money rates within the early 1970's. Since this time the market place has steadily grown, with interest fueled by advances in expertise resembling telephone dealing and of course computers. These have allowed for ever extra individuals to enter the market.

International Exchange shouldn't be one central market. As a substitute it is comprised of a network of a number of thousand trading institutions comprised of Central Government banks, Worldwide banks, private and business firms and devoted brokers. While there isn't [...]

From SkeptiCamp - Recent changes [en]
http://skepticamp.org/w/index.php?title=BriannaBaeza650&diff=3808&oldid=prev
3/3/2012 10:58:30 PM
Search rank: 366

Created page with "An Introduction to Trading On Forex The origins of the Forex market that we all know at the moment came about following the transfer away from fastened foreign money exchanges t..."

New page

An Introduction to Trading On Forex

The origins of the Forex market that we all know at the moment came about following the transfer away from fastened foreign money exchanges to new 'floating' foreign money rates within the early 1970's. Since this time the market place has steadily grown, with interest fueled by advances in expertise resembling telephone dealing and of course computers. These have allowed for ever extra individuals to enter the market.

International Exchange shouldn't be one central market. As a substitute it is comprised of a network of a number of thousand trading institutions comprised of Central Government banks, Worldwide banks, private and business firms and devoted brokers. While there isn't [...]

From SkeptiCamp - Recent changes [en]
http://skepticamp.org/w/index.php?title=User:BriannaBaeza650&diff=3809&oldid=prev
3/3/2012 10:58:35 PM
Search rank: 366

My personal opinions about the proposed health care reform notwithstanding, it makes me really worried, when I see what we all could be paying for if we have a universal health care system in the US.
I open today's (3/18/2010) St. Petersburg Times, and the front page has an article entitled "Here's what non-politicians think" (pdf). Among the "non-politicians" is a Christian Science practitioner Robert Clark, who believe in healing through prayer, which is basically a form of wishful thinking.
What's even worse, this article is continued inside the paper (sorry, they don't seem to have an on-line version), under a big, bold heading "Pros' take on health care bill"!!!
PROS??? Since when Christian Science (why is it called science anyway?) "practitioners" are called "Pros"? Pros [...]

From Pete's Wicked Blog
http://blog.linuxblast.com/feeds/3135723402085406415/comments/default
3/18/2010 11:46:00 PM
Search rank: 359

My personal opinions about the proposed health care reform notwithstanding, it makes me really worried, when I see what we all could be paying for if we have a universal health care system in the US.
I open today's (3/18/2010) St. Petersburg Times, and the front page has an article entitled "Here's what non-politicians think" (pdf). Among the "non-politicians" is a Christian Science practitioner Robert Clark, who believe in healing through prayer, which is basically a form of wishful thinking.
What's even worse, this article is continued inside the paper (sorry, they don't seem to have an on-line version), under a big, bold heading "Pros' take on health care bill"!!!
PROS??? Since when Christian Science (why is it called science anyway?) "practitioners" are called "Pros"? Pros [...]

From Pete's Wicked Blog
http://blog.linuxblast.com/2010/03/health-care-reform.html
3/18/2010 11:46:00 PM
Search rank: 359

What better way to resurrect my blog than with a band like Better Than Ezra. Forming in 1988 with an enigmatic and yet unexplained name, the band suffered an early setback when lead guitarist Joel Rundell killed himself in August of 1990.

The band took a few months off, but reunited before the end of 1990 and continued touring the South. In 1993, they released their first nationally available, after several cassette-only releases sold out of their van or to local record shops. This album ended up in the hands of music executives, who signed the band in 1995. Within a few months, they released another album and had top-charting single, “Good.”

Their success is described by bassist Tom Drummond as taking “seven years to get signed, and then seven months to get to #1.”

From Anything But Theist
http://anythingbuttheist.blogspot.com/2011/02/music-monday-better-than-ezra.html
2/15/2011 12:41:00 PM
Search rank: 357

Carmen has posted a thought provoking blog asking 'are skeptics racist?', the answer, she makes clear, is 'no'.  However, she does raise very important and under discussed issues regarding outreach.  As an educated person, white of skin and gifted with both an X and a Y chromosome at conception, I'm not often appreciative enough that my society is generally more welcoming to the likes of me than to them that isn't like me.  Of course there are traits that I hold and afflictions I suffer that society neither understands nor appreciates.  Yet I can look around, I can see MPs, professors, doctors, captains of industry and comrades in unions that look like enough like me and have enough of my background to emphasise with the difficulties I face, if I am to be reduced to sobs by the frustrations of life there are people in positions of power to feel my pain and to provide me with [...]

From gimpyblog's posterous
http://gimpyblog.posterous.com/skeptics-in-the-coffee-shop
7/29/2010 11:45:58 PM
Search rank: 357

If there were a parallel universe, and in that universe medicine, instead of being based on science, was simply a gemisch of various folkways and superstitions, medicine in that universe would be called "naturopathy".

"Remember.
Hey, how come this never works with water?"

I've discussed the absurdity of naturopathy nux vomica ad nauseum, but a loyal reader mentioned hearing that naturopathy might be good for allergies. This will require a bit of science to start off (unless, of course, Spock's rocking the goatee).

Seasonal allergies are caused by a pathophysiologic process called "type I hypersensitivity". For those of us with a genetic susceptibility to seasonal allergies a normally harmless [...]

From White Coat Underground
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/whitecoatunderground/~3/Izrtz9CKmU0/if_there_were_a_parallel.php
5/20/2010 5:28:15 AM
Search rank: 355

The story of two Canadian parents who decided to keep the gender of their baby a secret was actually making the rounds a few months ago, but I've decided to blog about it because gender issues have been annoying me recently. The debate is still going even now about whether the parents should have chosen this for their child, and it'll be an interesting social experiment to see how it pans out... And yet I can't help feeling that it's a bit, well... wrong (read about it here).

From Scepteen.
http://scepteen.blogspot.com/2011/08/its-storm-in-teacup.html
8/19/2011 9:12:00 AM
Search rank: 354

Walmart: A Christian institution? Image:Consumerist.com

Wal-Mart is the biggest US supermarket chain, with a controversial anti-union policy and low-wage policy. So you might think that the people least happy with the business might be those at the bottom of the social pile.

In fact it turns out that the opposite [...]

From Secular News Daily
http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2011/01/25/evangelists-love-wal-mart-even-the-ones-who-should-know-better/
1/26/2011 4:05:00 AM
Search rank: 350

Created page with "If you're a college scholar, you understand how expensive things can be. The common price of tuition for school annually at a 4 12 months personal college is round $35,000 these ..."

New page

If you're a college scholar, you understand how expensive things can be. The common price of tuition for school annually at a 4 12 months personal college is round $35,000 these days. Many times college students have to pay for lots of that out of pocket; monetary assist only covers so much and not a lot of dad and mom can foot the whole bill.

College students additionally face other needed bills, one of many greatest of which is their textbooks. Faculty textbooks aren't cheap both - they'll run into the hundreds per book. Luckily the web has created an avenue the place it's fairly easy to search out cheap textbooks for college college students - however you need to know the place to look.

Only a decade in the [...]

From SkeptiCamp - Recent changes [en]
http://skepticamp.com/w/index.php?title=User:MountsSundberg636&diff=3799&oldid=prev
3/9/2012 5:57:50 PM
Search rank: 349

Created page with "If you're a college scholar, you understand how expensive things can be. The common price of tuition for school annually at a 4 12 months personal college is round $35,000 these ..."

New page

If you're a college scholar, you understand how expensive things can be. The common price of tuition for school annually at a 4 12 months personal college is round $35,000 these days. Many times college students have to pay for lots of that out of pocket; monetary assist only covers so much and not a lot of dad and mom can foot the whole bill.

College students additionally face other needed bills, one of many greatest of which is their textbooks. Faculty textbooks aren't cheap both - they'll run into the hundreds per book. Luckily the web has created an avenue the place it's fairly easy to search out cheap textbooks for college college students - however you need to know the place to look.

Only a decade in the [...]

From SkeptiCamp - Recent changes [en]
http://skepticamp.com/w/index.php?title=MountsSundberg636&diff=3798&oldid=prev
3/9/2012 5:57:39 PM
Search rank: 349

Sorry for not posting here in some time.  In addition to being a curmudgeonly skeptic and eccentric scientist, I'm also a Shop Steward for my Union.  In case you've been living under a rock, there has been a lot of anti-Union rhetoric and nonsense being tossed around and New York is no exception.  While we don't have it as bad as Wisconsin, we do have our fights here.  Our contracts are up and there is a big pro-business lobby trying to undermine aspects of our checks and balances when negotiating with managment (or, rather, the Governor).  If you really want to read about it, I have a new blog up called the Union Legion and you can read about it there.

While I have been absent from this blog, I have still been writing and I have still [...]

From The Mad Skeptic
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheMadSkeptic/~3/R3VqKzmms4o/evangelical-prayer-in-new-york-state.html
3/10/2011 1:26:00 PM
Search rank: 347

Ever since civil unions became legal in Illinois, Catholic-run, partially-state-funded adoption agencies have been closing shop because they refuse to put children in the homes of loving, gay couples. Now, the Youth Service Bureau of Illinois Valley, a secular agency, is stepping in to help out the children that the Catholic charities don’t seem to [...]

From Friendly Atheist by @hemantsblog
http://friendlyatheist.com/2011/07/06/secular-adoption-agency-takes-in-children-the-catholic-church-doesnt-care-about/
7/6/2011 8:00:14 PM
Search rank: 343

This is an experiment. To reduce complexity in my own life and enhance the quality of communication between me and you, I'm going to try this "newsletter" thingie. It will probably be weekly, roughly timed for the middle of the week, and will include links to the blog posts I personally wish that you would not miss, information about other stuff happening on the blogosphere, a little section on activism to remind both you and me to do that, and a listing of ways in which you can reach out and touch me. Without actually, you now, touching me.

For now, I will probably cross-post this on my various blogs, though I'd love your opinion on that.

Wheat from Chaff

Technology:

Editing PDF's
How to record Skype calls.

Blogospherics:

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/sBlsDPTFuGE/gregs_bloggy_newslette.php
9/2/2011 2:53:43 AM
Search rank: 341

They text or tweet, they poke or wink
They live their lives online
They post or like or blog or link
And, virtually, they’re fine.

With laptops, tablets, phones or more
It’s pure online enmeshment
Now Pepsi gives a chance to pour
A “Random Act of Refreshment”

With Social Vending, you can send
A drink to quench the thirst
Of real-life, human, meatspace friends…

You’ll have to make some, first.



Pepsi (you may remember them from ScienceBlogs) have announced a Social Vending Machine. When I say "a" SVM, I mean there is only one, at present. Right now, it's at [...]

From The Digital Cuttlefish
http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com/2011/04/hacaasastfu.html
4/29/2011 6:52:00 AM
Search rank: 340

Yes, everybody. Even that child raping bastard in Rome with the pretentious hat, even the idiots who talk to the dead, even the UFO nut that accosts you outside your favorite coffee shop or bar to tell you about the glowing mountain on I-10. Even you, you credulous bastard.

Everybody is a skeptic. My fucking dog is a skeptic.

At least, that's the case if you use the fuzzy logic definition of skepticism. In the fuzzy definition, a person is a skeptic if they have some skepticism about some things and less skepticism about other things. So, if somebody is mostly an evidence based thinker but they happen to passionately believe that Bigfoot eloped with Elvis to a cross-species bathhouse on Jupiters seventh moon, they're a skeptic. And if someone is sometimes an evidence based thinker but just sort of believes that Barak Obama is the anti-christ and wants to put us all in death camps [...]

From Whiskey Before Breakfast... the Blog
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6326152&postID=3386881523866437150
4/16/2010 5:41:00 AM
Search rank: 340

Plain packaging on cigarettes would change how we smoke, and tobacco firms know it even if Tory MP Philip Davies does not

This week our

From Science: Bad science | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/12/ben-goldacre-bad-science-cigarette-packaging
3/12/2011 7:00:00 AM
Search rank: 337

The word 'bogus' is back in vogue - and not before time. It's been 18 years since Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey hit the big screen and had all teh kidz talking like west coast surfer dudes.

The word 'bogus' has been thrust back into the limelight for a much more serious reason - just over a year ago, Simon Singh wrote a piece for the Guardian entitled "Beware of the Spinal Trap" (you can read the full [...]

From Thinking Is Dangerous
http://thinking-is-dangerous.blogspot.com/feeds/3547816044607009003/comments/default
5/20/2009 12:50:00 AM
Search rank: 337

It's October 21st, the day religious wingnut, Harold Camping, claimed would be the last day of the Earth.  Camping convinced a large number of gullible and equally religious nutjobs that his so-called "calculations" based upon the so-called "infallible" Bible were correct.  Many spent huge sums of money to support this fraud.  Some even spent all their retirement savings to [...]

From The Mad Skeptic
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheMadSkeptic/~3/qxU73R4Fq4Q/it-end-of-world-as-we-know-it-i-feel.html
10/22/2011 9:22:00 AM
Search rank: 335

I have a close relative who is a retired cop, and whom I respect and admire greatly. As a former police reporter, I love hearing his stories from his time "in the job". We’ll often trade yarns about exceptionally stupid things that exceptionally stupid people have done. It makes for an interesting evening’s conversation.

Many of his stories – the ones worth telling at least - start with what police term "the attitude test".

Basically, if you’re polite to police, you pass. You’ll be treated respectfully and fairly. But if you’re a smart ass, you fail. Guess what comes next ...

The problem with the test is that being rude is not actually a criminal offence.

There’s no law against sneering or [...]

From Police News Australia
http://www.policeabuse.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=87&p=90#p90
1/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
Search rank: 332

Australian Skeptics

Leo Igwe is the founder of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, the Nigerian Skeptics Society and former director of the Center for Inquiry/Nigeria.  Leo currently works for the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) as its director in West and Southern Africa.  He also represents IHEU at the African Commission on Human and People's Rights in Banjul, Gambia.

In the past few months, Leo has spent much of his time rescuing alleged witch children in Akwa Ibom state in Southern Nigeria.  He has been arrested, detained and beaten up several times by police and local gangs in the course of his work, campaigning against superstition, injustices and religious fanaticism.

On 20 August, as part of a speaking tour of Australia, Leo will be in Sydney to talk about how science and [...]

From Events - Australian Skeptics
http://www.meetup.com/AustSkeptics/events/23647471/
6/27/2011 7:34:09 PM
Search rank: 331