Skeptic News

Comments are working again

At some point comments quit working. I'm not 100% sure of what sequence of events caused that to happen, but in any case they seem to be fixed now. If you've been itching to heap praise upon me for my stunning insights, feel free to post a comment.

Oh, you can also post if you disagree with me.

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Skeptic News Returns!

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone! And welcome to the new incarnation of Skeptic News! If you've visited us in the past, you'll see that things have obviously changed.

Skeptic News first when online back in July 1998 as a Slashdot-style news site. We did quite well, but by July 2003 I was burned out, so the site went dormant. At the time, I was thinking of writing some software that would automatically generate links to  skeptic-related articles, similar to the way Google News works. However, I just didn't have the time to write the software.

Now, a year and a half later, I'm reviving the site, this time as a blog. Please check back frequently as I get things rolling, and please leave some feedback to let me know how I'm doing.

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Please Stand By...

If you happen to have somehow discovered this site already, you won't find much to look at yet. I'm toying with the idea of resurrecting Skeptic News as a blog rather than as a Slashdot-style news site. We'll see how this goes.

At the moment I'm just exploring the TypePad blog service, learning how to use it, and working on customizing the appearance. Stay tuned!

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For Our Fifth Anniversary, We're Closing for Renovations

Five years ago today, on July 26, 1998, the Skeptic News went online. Happy birthday to us! (You can read the earliest stuff by selecting Early Archives from the left-side navbar.) I've enjoyed providing this service for the last five years, and I've seen many interesting stories come my way during that time.

However, I think it's time to take things in a different direction. I've had some ideas about what I'd like to do with the site, but it will take some time to implement them -- and to "recharge my batteries". So I'm going to be shutting things down for an extended period while I prepare something new. The existing stuff will remain online for a time, and I'll probably maintain an archive of older articles when the site comes back in a new form.

It will be several months before the site returns. If you'd like to receive an email notification of when that happens, you can join the Skeptic News Announcements email list. This is an extremely low-volume read-only email list hosted at Topica.com.

Until then, thanks very much for everyone's support over the last five years! I've enjoyed it and hope that you'll find the new Skeptic News to be more useful than ever.

Wally Hartshorn

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Welcome to the Skeptic News! Really!

Greetings, fellow skeptics! No, your computer didn't suddenly lose the web address of the Skeptic News. We're running using new software, which should make keeping the site updated much easier! This should mean more regular updates. In order to really take advantage of all of the new features, you should create a login ID and password. This will allow you to customize the types of news items that you see, as well as discuss each news item with other visitors to the Skeptic News. It will take a few days for us to figure out all of the new features of the software and work out any kinks, so please bear with us and report any problems you encounter.

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Starr Report Released, Skeptic News Cursed

Starr Report Released, Skeptic News Cursed

When I was trying to update the Skeptic News this morning, the Internet was running as slow as molasses and the web hosting site absolutely would not accept the updates. Was it somehow caused by the huge numbers of people attempting to read about the Starr report? (I read that CNN was getting over 320,000 hits per minute this afternoon.) Or does it have anything to do with me chasing my black cat under a ladder, knocking a horseshoe off of the wall, and breaking a mirror? No matter. Here are today's updates!

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Skeptic News E-Mail Falls Down, Goes Boom

Skeptic News E-Mail Falls Down, Goes Boom

When I started to read my e-mail this morning, I received an error message telling me that my mailbox was corrupted and I needed to run the repair tool. Oh, bother. Thus, no news this morning. Everything is (apparently) back to normal now, so here are today's updates, brought to you in a special evening edition!

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I'm Back

I'm Back

As some of you might have guessed from the lack of updates for the last two days, I've been out of town visiting my parents over the Labor Day weekend. I've sorted through three days full of accumulated news, so you will find a boatload of news items!

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Home Sick, Day Two

Home Sick, Day Two

I hate colds. Perhaps I should get psychically healed or have my chakras realigned or something. Or maybe the true cause of my illness is that I haven't brought in a Feng Shui expert to move around my furniture. Well, in the meantime, here's today's updates.

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Editor Sick! Stop the Presses!

Editor Sick! Stop the Presses!

Yep, I'm home with a cold. That's why I'm so late in getting today's updates posted - I've just spent the day sniffing and blowing my nose. It's difficult to type with one hand! Anyway, hopefully things will get back on schedule tomorrow.

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