Torture gets the truth out of the subject every time, too. Oh, that's right.... it doesn't!

From AFA Forums
http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/forums/showthread.php?t=9999&goto=newpost
5/4/2011 1:27:34 PM
Search rank: 502

Many people have a legitimate fear of numbers, equations, and probability. This “math anxiety” keeps much of the lay public from ever willfully learning about mathematics; indeed, ignorance in this regard is often touted. Commonly used phrases like “I’m not a numbers person” and “I hate math” betray that fact that a good portion of society does not understand math and consciously avoids it.

Comprehending this deficit and doing something about it should be taken up within our school system; we should engage students with math early, often, and more rigorously.

But mathematical illiteracy plays a role in perpetuating not just equation ignorance, but pseudoscience. Not understanding just how much of your life is governed by randomness generates many a fallacious belief about the way that the world works. It should be clearly understood that randomness creates coincidence. That is to say, if there were no coincidences in life, we could speculate that some outside [...]

From James Randi Educational Foundation
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1646-understanding-coincidence.html
3/9/2012 1:00:00 AM
Search rank: 489

From The Reality Check
http://therealitycheck.libsyn.com/trc-136-medical-science-reliability-is-the-cookie-monster-a-vegetarian-does-1-0-9999-
4/18/2011 2:47:55 PM
Search rank: 467

Feel the Christian love:

#bbpBox_66439611425107968 a { text-decoration:none; color:#009999; }#bbpBox_66439611425107968 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }@FlyingFree333 The only reason #Atheists are growing is because #Christians allow you to exist. We start should burning you guys alive againabout 6 hours ago via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite@Walken4GOPChet Walken

That’s your typical GOP supporter these days. Wishing for the gold old days when they could just kill you.

From Stupid Evil Bastard
http://stupidevilbastard.com/2011/05/because-thats-what-jesus-would-do-right/
5/7/2011 1:45:31 AM
Search rank: 444

"Imagine there is a terrible disease reported, and although it affects only one in ten thousand people, it is absolutely lethal. You are worried about it, so you decide to undergo a medical test to see if you have the disease. Now, no medical test is ever 100 per cent accurate, but your doctor explains that this one is known to be 99 per cent accurate, regardless of whether or not you have the disease (in other words, it will deliver a correct positive or negative result 99 per cent of the time). You decide to take the test. You're a little nervous, but you think it's a sensible thing to do. A blood sample is taken, and you're told the results will be sent to you in the post.

A week later the envelope arrives from the testing centre. You open it up, and read the contents. Staring you in the face is the answer you dreaded: the results are positive. The test has indicated that you have the lethal disease. You are devastated.

And you are [...]

From Skeptic's Subreddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/j37q2/opening_passage_of_the_thinking_traps_chapter_in/
7/30/2011 12:06:33 AM
Search rank: 432

I just had to blog this. It's just too absurd to let slip.

Did you know that it's only possible to contract a single disease at a time?

Yes, really.

Meryl Dorey says so, so it must be true

 That's a page from the Winter 2006 edition of the Australian Vacination Network's "Informed Voice" Magazine. If you click and get the bigger version, you'll see that just above "How many is to many?" Meryl has made the following claim:

It is also a fact that we will only ever contract one disease at a time - measles - not measles, mumps [...]

From A Drunken Madman
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ADrunkenMadman/~3/rccB523Bk34/500.aspx
7/5/2010 7:35:46 AM
Search rank: 408

Via Not Exactly Rocket Science

A restoration of Anchiornis by Michael DiGiorgio, showing the color patterns detected in the dinosaur's fossil feathers. This was arguably the most important dinosaur discovery of 2010.

2010 has been a good year for dinosaurs. Numerous new species have been named, long-awaited conference proceedings have been published, new techniques for studying the past have been devised, and scientists finally allowed us to answer one of the most confounding questions in dinosaur science. There was so much new dinosaur science that it was impossible to cover it all here (in fact, an accepted manuscript describing

From RichardDawkins.net - All Aggregated News Content
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/572518-the-top-dinosaur-discoveries-of-2010
1/3/2011 11:41:18 AM
Search rank: 387

       One of the most profound advances in Medicine was vaccination, I'm not sure how much this can overstated, this along with clean water and and sanitation has been saving lives of decades.
  
But it seems along with Moon Hoaxes, Flat [...]

From The Shockwave Writer
http://shockwaveplasma.blogspot.com/2010/08/living-without-wisdom.html
8/24/2010 9:51:00 AM
Search rank: 356

I have sent a letter to Mr. David Murphy, Chairman of Trustees of St. Augustine's Priory School Limited. It was sent by recorded delivery on Thursday 7th April. The Royal Mail Tracking Service indicates that he signed for receipt of it on Saturday 9th April. The text of the letter is given below, with minor deletions indicated using square brackets. Although I gave both my telephone number and my email address in the letter, I have not yet received any reply.


Dear Mr. Murphy,

Safeguarding at St. Augustine’s Priory School

On 5th April, I received a visit from the police, concerning a complaint of harassment that had been made against me by Mrs Gumley Mason, specifically concerning name-calling in some of the postings by contributors to the blog.

There was no need for such a complaint. If [...]

From Confessions of a skeptic
http://scepticalthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/04/letter-to-chairman-of-trustees.html
4/14/2011 5:00:00 AM
Search rank: 307

This year is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Stephen Jay Gould's famous essay, Evolution as Fact and Theory in Discover magazine (May 1981).¹

Back in 1993, I wrote a essay for talk.origins promoting the basic concepts that Gould, and others, advocated [Evolution is a Fact and a Theory (1993)]. This [...]

From Sandwalk
http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2011/08/evolution-is-fact-and-theory.html
8/19/2011 1:05:00 AM
Search rank: 227

All of my Bird Book Reviews are Here, and some of the reviews include broader discussions that go beyond the book, so do browse through them.
Feeding Birds:
Should you even be feeding the birds to begin with?

Birders get annoyed at squirrels for obvious reasons. But you [...]

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/zajk_eQwQVc/looking_for_stuff_about_birds.php
2/13/2012 9:38:26 AM
Search rank: 131

The Midwest Skeptics Society

THE EVENT IS AT CAC THEATRE.  GO HERE FOR CAC THEATRE ADDRESS (MAP) AT THE UNIVERSITY:
http://webs.wichita.e...

The Air Capitol Skeptics in Wichita are putting on a big show as well on May 21 - Rapture Day. Another GREAT line up of speakers.   
See this link:  http://www.raptureday...

From Skeptics upcoming events
http://www.meetup.com/skeptics-137/events/17549397/
5/5/2011 10:52:40 AM
Search rank: 131

Charles Darwin's research and writing on Evolution and related topics is still very much alive today, modified and expanded on but only in a few details replaced. Here is a selection of writing about Darwin and his work to be found on this blog:

Darwin and his Formative Fieldwork

2008-02-13 Charles Darwin and Coral Reefs. Darwin's study of coral reefs was a defining project for him; he became the kind of scientist he was because of this study, and this helped define the nature of science itself.

2009-09-06 A conversation with David Dobbs about his book (

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/TfemfBzWRYM/charles_darwin_february_12_180.php
2/13/2012 3:42:44 AM
Search rank: 131

This is a lion:

Click the picture for a larger version of the photograph. Photo by Greg Laden.

And here are selected blog posts about lions and related beasts:

• Amboseli Lions May Go Extinct

• From Greg Laden's Blog
  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/wwZFhZzCvCo/lions.php
  2/12/2012 8:07:42 AM
  Search rank: 131

  

Hello, My employer has recently moved to using .php and wants all web page links to be .php....

From JREF Forum
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=181355&goto=newpost
7/27/2010 7:03:23 PM
Search rank: 131

Are you? If not, you can click here and be my Facebook friend. I don't need you to do that but it would be better if you did, just in case. It's good for you, it's good for me, really, you should do it. You need to do it. I don't really need it but maybe you do. You should, don't you think? Just click here.

Meanwhile,

From Greg Laden's Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/DL9GYlkAsYs/are_you_my_facebook_friend.php
2/19/2011 1:24:31 AM
Search rank: 131

• Christina Pikas is a zombie doing reference searches.
• Sharon Astyk is a zombie wondering about zombie infrastructure.
• Greg Laden has always been a zombie, but now he's a zombie with bugs on his brain.
• Grrlscientist has discovered that zombies like turtles.
• Vince LiCata has determined that university administrators are zombies. Come back when you have something new to report, Vince.
• The [...]

  From Pharyngula
  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/zGGi7L6Ivpk/zombie_sightings.php
  7/1/2010 11:54:20 PM
  Search rank: 131

  

Uh-oh. Seed Media has received some demands from Robert Lanza, MD, Scientist, Theoretician, Genius, Renegade Thinker. He wants us to take down a few posts by Orac and myself. I guess he doesn't like being compared to Grandpa Simpson, or seeing disagreement with his ideas about the afterlife, or being exposed as a quantum woo-meister.

Gosh, what will I do?

Seed has a very clearcut policy on our posts, and there [...]

From Pharyngula
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/xN4LR2fatKg/weve_angered_another_crackpot.php
8/5/2010 7:49:21 AM
Search rank: 131

In April, we continued to look at the disaster in Japan, focusing entirely on the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Miller and I were criticized for not focusing on something other than Fukushima. It became apparent that TEPCO had ignored warnings that Fukushima was poorly cited with respect to tsunamis, and despite the assertion that the nuclear material at the site was 'contained' the amount of radioactive material in the nearby ocean was rising. Much of the debate of whether or not Fukushima was a problem (this debate would sputter out by the end of the month or early May) shifted to whether or not nuclear accidents were normal and expected, and attempts by nuclear power advocates to paint nuclear power as a victim of unreasonable demands started to become more common.

Here are a few of the key Fukushima related posts with the most comments:

• Japan nuke news 20: Tokyo Electric: [...]

  From Greg Laden's Blog
  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GregLadensBlog/~3/EKQ1bzexULE/retrospective_what_we_talked_a_3.php
  1/4/2012 1:53:30 AM
  Search rank: 131

  

The WikiLeaks Iraq archive, while incomplete, reveals many more previously unreported violent deaths in the Iraq war -- Iraq Body Count say that the archive reveals 15,000 people shot, blown up, had the heads cut off or killed in some other way that they had not recorded. So Tim Blair, who claimed that the Iraq Body Count was way way too high (and predicted that the coalition would suffer "below 50" casualties) has posted a correction. Ha ha, just kidding. Blair has a post claiming that the WikiLeaks archive, which is, as I have already noted, incomplete, proves that the

From Deltoid
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/deltoid/~3/w_mAe_Iwh3s/lancet_post_number_200.php
10/26/2010 6:21:38 AM
Search rank: 131

Once again, Chris Mooney has published an article castigating scientists for our supposedly poor communication skills. Since I've dealt with this before, I don't want to rehash old ground. But two good posts, one by ScienceBlogling Evil Monkey and

From Mike the Mad Biologist
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/KsPC/~3/aCSSOV7zkEo/lack_of_power_not_communicatio.php
7/2/2010 1:16:00 AM
Search rank: 131

Here is a recap of the stories that appeared over the last month at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine. 

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s muddled draft policy on “non-allopathic” medicine (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/cpsos-muddled-draft-policy-on-non-allopathic-medicine/ CPSO is working on an update of their policy on nonconventional medical therapies. The draft is disturbing for its wishy-washy approach to the scientific basis of medicine, its pro-CAM bias, and its manipulative use of language such as the derogatory term “allopathy.”

Testing a Chinese Herbal Flu Remedy (Harriet Hall)

From JREF Swift Blog
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1415-recently-at-science-based-medicine.html
9/10/2011 4:11:26 AM
Search rank: 131

Hello can anyone help me here? Want to alter this code so that my sidebar doesn’t appear on any page other than the front page of my blog

From ...and your electron microscope!
http://andyourelectronmicroscope.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/php-help-again/
6/22/2011 6:29:07 AM
Search rank: 131

Hello can anyone help me here? Want to alter this code so that my sidebar doesn’t appear on any page other than the front page of my blog

From ...and your electron microscope!
https://andyourelectronmicroscope.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/php-help-again/
6/22/2011 6:29:07 AM
Search rank: 131

Before my stroke, I was doing PHP/CSS development on my home computer. That computer is no more....

From JREF Forum
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=222214&goto=newpost
10/21/2011 7:55:02 PM
Search rank: 131