Skeptic News

Some Recent Reading

It's been months since I posted anything here. What can I say? I've been busy. Our local skeptics group, REALL, hosted a stop on Victor J. Stenger's book tour in June, which was cool.

My recent reading has included:

• Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond
• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond
• Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice for all Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex, by Olivia Judson

I highly recommend all three books, particularly the two by Jared Diamond.

Currently I'm reading Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, by Robert D. Putnam. So far I'm only about halfway through it, but it's been very interesting, so I recommend it, too. However, it came out in 2000, so for the full story I'll need to read his followup book, Better Together: Restoring the American Community.

Well, I'll try to write more later. I just wanted to confirm that I'm not dead yet!

Submit to Digg | Submit to Reddit | Technorati Tags: biology, books, community, environment, evolution

Catching up is hard to do

Okay, I am a very bad blogger. I plead being a new father with very little time. (The fact that the child is nearing his 2nd birthday doesn't make me any less of a new father. I'm a bit of a slow learner.)

The previous post was made in July 2005. I had a few "I ought to post about this" moments since then and filed away a few links to discuss later. Well, the discussion isn't going to happen, but I hate to see those links go unmentioned, so here they are.

(Religions, Cults, and Miracles) slacktivist on Hermeneutics

• Link: slacktivist: Hermeneutics.

(Creation/Evolution) IMAX vs. the Fundamentalists

• Link: A New Screen Test for Imax: It's the Bible vs. the Volcano.

(Religions, Cults, and Miracles) Divorce Judge bans Wicca

• Link: Judge: Parents can't teach pagan beliefs.

(Religions, Cults, and Miracles) Survey of Doctors on Religion

• Link: 55 percent of doctors influenced by religion.

(Creation/Evolution) Catholics debating meaning of Cardinal's op-ed on evolution

• Link: Catholic experts urge caution in evolution debate.

(UFOs and Aliens) Sleep paralysis at Science News Online

• Link: Night of the Crusher.

(Cryptozoology) Bigfoot

• Link: In search of Bigfoot.

(Science and Technology) Shuttle Trouble - Where is the science?

• Link: Idle Words - A Rocket to Nowhere.

(Creation/Evolution) Santorum says to teach the controversy

• Link: Leading Republican differs with Bush on evolution.

After this maybe I can start posting about stuff when it's still relevant!

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Catching Up is Hard to Do

Have I mentioned yet that being a new father chews up a lot of one's time? It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted anything. I had wanted to comment on these items, but at this point I've decided to admit that it's never going to happen. Just in case you'd missed them, though, here are the links. This will clear out the backlog and let me get back to posting on more current stuff.

Link: Newsweek - Doubting Darwin.

Link: BBC NEWS: 'Artificial life' comes step closer.

Link: Whiskey Bar: Scientific Method.

Link: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (Vitamin See).

Link: The Panda's Thumb: Telling it straight.

Link: Evolutionblog: Washington Times Backs Sternberg.

Link: Eyes, Part One: Opening Up the Russian Doll: Corante > The Loom >.

Link: Trilobite Cookies.

Link: TheStar.com: Rapture awaits in the Florida Panhandle.

Link: The Evolution Project.
Link: The Non-Evolution Project.

Link: Space.com: NASA Researchers Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars.

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Randi on Johnny Carson's Death

If you haven't already done so, you might want to read James Randi's thoughts on the death of Johnny Carson. Randi appeared on the Tonight Show numerous times, but was also involved in helping Carson successfully test Uri Gellar.

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Reality Check, September Issue

Reality Check, September Issue

The September issue of the newsletter of the Rationalists of East Tennessee is now on their web site. Topics include their proposed bylaws, an upcoming presentation by Michael Shermer, their book club, and an upcoming canoe trip. Wait ... canoe trip?! Are skeptics allowed to have fun?

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Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

The Rationalists of East Tennessee have added a "Letters to the Editor" section to their site. The first entry is a letter from Massimo Pigliucci which begins, "It has been with trepidation that I picked up this week's 'Metro Pulse' and opened it at Mike Gibson's article 'Out there'." I think we've all felt that trepidation before, haven't we?

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Dave Palmer's Home Page Moves, Rest of Planet Stays Still; or Vice Versa if Einstein is Right

Dave Palmer's Home Page Moves, Rest of Planet Stays Still; or Vice Versa if Einstein is Right

Dave Palmer's home page has moved to http://members.xoom.com/dwpalmer/home.htm. Not much else to say about that!

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Proof that People Actually Read The Skeptic's Dictionary

Proof that People Actually Read The Skeptic's Dictionary

As if there was ever any doubt that such a useful site as the Skeptic's Dictionary is read. Two readers recently wrote about a couple of entries. The first is Reader Comments About "E-rays", the second is Reader Comments About "James Van Praagh".

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Selective Thinking

Selective Thinking

This entry on the Skeptic's Dictionary has been revised. "Selective thinking is the term used to describe the process whereby one selects out favorable evidence for remembrance and focus, while ignoring unfavorable evidence for a hypothesis."

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Several New Skeptic's Dictionary Entries

Several New Skeptic's Dictionary Entries

There are several new entries on the Skeptic's Dictionary.

• abracadabra
• amulets
• charms
• conjuring
• fetishes
• incantation
• invocation
• occult and occultism
• spell
• talisman

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