With a sea of information coming at us from all directions, how do we sift out the misinformation and bogus claims, and get to the truth? Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine lays out a “Baloney Detection Kit,” ten questions we should ask when encountering a claim. The 10 Questions: 1. How reliable is the source [...]
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Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things — from alien abductions to dowsing rods — boils down to two of the brain’s most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into trouble.
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Dr Michael Shermer and Dr Georgia Purdom talk at the Creation Museum. http://www.ted.com Why do people see the Virgin Mary on cheese sandwiches or hear demonic lyrics in “Stairway to Heaven”? Using video, images and music, professional skeptic Michael Shermer explores these and other phenomena, including UFOs and alien sightings. He offers cognitive context: In [...]
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“We Are All Connected” was made from sampling Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, The History Channel’s Universe series, Richard Feynman’s 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye’s Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking’s Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to [...]
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Try in some small way to fathom the size of the universe. And here’s the related size of planets and stars: And it’s always a good time for a refresher to view Carl Sagan’s COSMOS:
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This is a list by Michael Shermer: 25 fallacies that lead us to believe weird things. (1) Theory influences observation. Heisenberg wrote, “What we observe is not nature itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” Our perception of reality is influenced by the theories framing our examination of it.
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The Creationism segment from Penn and Teller’s “Bullshit” show. Includes footage of Duane Gish from the Insitute of Creation Research and also the Cobb County school board in their voting process to include creationism as part of the school science curriculum. One of the other websites I run is a bible discussion website. The Creation [...]
Penn and Teller BULLSHIT: The Vatican
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Some cute church bloopers.
Excerpt: “If one person imitates what a monkey does, and the other person does not imitate, the monkey prefers to spend more time in front of the person that imitated them,” said Dr. Annika Paukner at the National Institutes of Health offices in Poolesville, Maryland. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/13/monkeys.imitations/index.html
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Calculate your God Delusion index. The “God Delusion” is a book by Richard Dawkins published around 2007 (I think). I read it. This video was posted on one of my bible discussion forums. I was interested to note that my answers to the questions in the video were radically different than they would have been [...]
Mmmmm…….another blog post about nothing that I am an expert on. Just an observation from my limited personal experience. This post is about my perspective of religion and Buddhism in Asia and the lay population. (“Lay people” are ordinary people like you and me. Members of congregations and everyday people. They are not church leaders, [...]
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http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/17/cameroon.pope/index.html Excerpt: Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit harder by AIDS and HIV than any other region of the world, according to the United Nations and World Health Organization. There has been fierce debate between those who advocate the use of condoms to help stop the spread of the epidemic and those who oppose it. ********************* [...]
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“If what I start to read, goes against my beliefs, then I just don’t read it.” That comment was made recently on one of my discussion forums. I had to ask the member if that was really what they meant to say and they confirmed that yes, that is exactly what they meant.
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And to the Parents of Anonymous from a former Scientology member:
Dr. Stephen Hawking discusses the physics needed for Santa’s gift delivery process on Christmas Eve.
This was posted on one of my discussion forums. They poster claims the classic church is against the cloning of humans, but not the cloning of animals. So they wonder what the stance of the Catholic Church will be on the latest rumors of upcoming cloning of Neanderthal DNA. The point in question – are [...]
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Video clips of the 2003 film “Luther” about Martin Luther and the Reformation. I have a wide variety of views listed here. I don’t agree with all of them, but I enjoy the diversity. And it interests me that 500 years later people are still so passionate about Martin Luther.
Although humans and chimpanzees genetically vary by just 1.2 percent, that small percentage makes a world of difference in the mental and linguistic capabilities between the two species. A study shows that a certain form of neuropsin, a protein that plays a role in learning and memory, is expressed only in the central nervous systems [...]
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