Things and happenings

- President Obama’s proclamation for Thanksgiving was unique in that he didn’t mention God, except when quoting George Washington. So, he sort of did bring him up. But still, LifeSiteNews can barely hold back their disdain. There’s been a lot of bollocks written lately by people angry that non-believers or non-Christians should be daring to [...]

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The ideomotor effect

I used to believe in some wacky stuff. It didn’t seem all that wacky at the time, of course. When I first started taking an interest in the stuff I was reading online, about people’s religious experiences and psychics and mind readers and dowsing and so on, it sounded fascinating, and wasn’t obviously bullshit at [...]

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Apatheism

Or specifically, why I am not an apatheist. I’m not exactly sure how long the term’s been in common usage (and you know how I feel about doing research), but I’d guess it’s only really taken off since atheism started becoming mainstream. For anyone not quite caught up, “apatheism” is a portmanteau of “apathy” and [...]

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Some random trivia, then homeopathy

- In this video, an Episcopal bishop describes religion as being “in the guilt-producing, control business”, and says that Hell is not real. I guess Jesus was pretty inconsistent on that point. I love the look on the interviewer’s face the first couple of times the camera cuts to him. (via Derren Brown) – A [...]

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Shock news: entire media talking total crap

Well, I’m healthy enough to be annoyed, so I guess that’s something. I found this news story this morning, and skimmed it briefly, but didn’t pay a great deal of attention, and I was at work so I didn’t watch the accompanying video clip. It was a slightly unsettling piece about some guy who’d been [...]

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124th Skeptics’ Circle

I’m not dead! I feel fine! I feel… Well, no, I don’t feel great. Bleh. Recovering after a week of ick. Need a comfier chair. Wouldn’t mind a more waterproof ceiling. Too lazy to write much. I just about have the energy to plug the latest Skeptics’ Circle blog carnival. Not least because the host [...]

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Not-exactly-timely Carrie Prejean post

So, Carrie Prejean’s been in the news again lately. I’m not desperately interested in why, but having reminded myself of why I’ve heard of her in the first place, I wanted to try articulating some thoughts. I wrote something in my other blog yesterday about this, which might be funny, but it was a bit [...]

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2012

This is my Skeptictionary entry on the whole Mayan calendar 2012 apocalypse idea. So, according to some, the Mayans believed that… Actually, you know what? I’m just going to wait this one out. In just over three years, the point’ll be moot, and I think I’ll save myself the effort. It’s not going to happen, [...]

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The Men Who Stare At Goats

Just a quick review before I go and do stuff. Spoilerific bits have been rot13‘d. So it was a fun movie. It’s a fairly heavily fictionalised account of recent paranormal research conducted by the US military, as documented by Jon Ronson in his book of the same name. I enjoyed it, though I did wonder [...]

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Happy birthday, dear Carl

Carl Sagan was completely awesome. There’s a lot of people talking all over the internet today about how they wouldn’t be a part of the skeptical movement if it weren’t for him. There might not even be a skeptical movement comparable to what exists today if not for Sagan’s influence. I imagine he’s a big [...]

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