I suck at weekends. I’ve done nothing useful today. But something earlier reminded me about this, and for lack of anything else worth saying I’m going to talk about maths some more. I say bug humbah to your Hallowe’en malarkey. If you want spooky monsters and candy, go bother someone else. At my house, you [...]
Archive for October, 2009
Simpson’s Paradox
Posted in maths, tagged logic, math, mathematics, maths, paradox on October 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Numbers and lies
Posted in maths, news, tagged blog, blogging, calculus, math, mathematics, maths, news, numbers on October 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Oh god I love this thread at FAIL Blog so much. You’re probably not a maths geek, so it might not mean much to you, but think about how much fun it is when people who don’t quite know what they’re talking about are convinced they do. Then apply that to a field of study [...]
Don’t shove your opposite-sex “union” down my throat
Posted in news, tagged gay, gay marriage, gay rights, politics on October 28, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Well, WorldNetDaily have found something original to be horrified by. What new threat to all that is good and holy are they a-weeping and a-wailing and a-gnashing their teeth over this time? No, not gay marriage. Quite the opposite, actually. Some conservative fruitcakes are objecting to the fact that marriages between people of opposite sexes [...]
A little knowledge is a hilarious thing
Posted in random, science, tagged chemistry, homeopathy, physics, pseudoscience, science on October 27, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Here’s a fun drinking game. Watch this video of some homeopathic woo-merchant talking about mass-energy equivalence… …and knock back a shot every time you involuntarily frown in bemusement and think: “What the hell are you talking about?” It’s like she’s taken a book on general relativity for six-year-olds, mostly just looked at the pictures, then [...]
Also, homeopaths cracked Enigma
Posted in news, skepticism, tagged bca, british chiropractic association, singhbca on October 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
The British Chiropractic Association continue to plunge ever more convincingly away from competent discussion and toward incoherent babbling. Alun Salt has done a little research, and it turns out the BCA seem to believe that they have discovered and translated ground-breaking ancient manuscripts, pre-dating any currently known written records of any kind from that part [...]
Homeopathy & Racism
Posted in news, science, skepticism, tagged alternative medicine, bca, chiropractic, hitler, homeopathy, law, libel, nick griffin, racism, simon singh, singhbca on October 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
What’s the connection, you ask? Well, they’re both the subject of the blog post you’re reading now. Yeah, I’m not really tying them together in any way. Actually I’ve just thought of a way I could. When Crispian Jago drank a homeopathic dilution of his own urine, common knowledge states that some small number of [...]
Well, I’m convinced
Posted in news, science, skepticism, tagged derren brown, faith, miracle, ouija board, quran, science of scams, skepticism on October 23, 2009 | 1 Comment »
If centuries of theology and philosophy and religious apologetics and dialectic debate haven’t been enough to persuade you of the totally genuine and absolutely real existence of God, then get ready for something that might finally tip the scale. A nine-month-old child, somewhere in “southern Russian [sic]“, has been having verses of the Quran appear [...]
Nick Griffin a twat – big news?
Posted in news, ponderings, skepticism, tagged bnp, british national party, debate, nick griffin, politics, racism, religion, skepticism, skeptics circle on October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Nick Griffin, chairman of the British National Party, was on the political BBC series Question Time earlier tonight. There’s been a lot of controversy over the decision to invite him on, and whether the BBC should be legitimising his hateful racist fuckwittery. The general opinion, at least from the nearby strands of my own social [...]
9/11
Posted in science, skepticism, skeptictionary, tagged 9/11, conspiracies, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, skeptictionary on October 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One day I will write up an actual conspiracy theory article myself. I’ve made a start on a couple, but with the case of 9/11 in particular, I find myself getting bogged down in some really complex and intricate arguments. For now, I’m just putting this up here as a placeholder. To summarise, though, my [...]
Simon Singh and libel reform – how you can help
Posted in news, science, tagged alternative medicine, bca, ben goldacre, british chiropractic association, chiropractic, debate, law, libel, libel reform, medicine, politics, pseudoscience, science, simon singh, singh, singhbca on October 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I hope I’m not too late with this. I was only just alerted to this post by Simon Perry, encouraging UK residents to write to their MP, asking them to get involved in the debate in parliament tomorrow on libel reform. He’s provided a suggested form letter to send; I’ve personalised mine, as shown below. [...]












