Archive for the ‘urban legends’ Category
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Our second and final report on the American Atheists Convention in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Day Two speakers included Secular Coalition for America’s Sean Faircloth, Mexican-American atheist Indra Zuno, activist and fundraiser extraordinaire Todd Stiefel, psychiatrist Andy Thomson, Freethought Radio’s Dan Barker and journalist Wendy Kaminer.
Plus: More adventures in NYC: shameless tourism, good food, and bad jazz.
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Tags: american atheists, andy thomson, convention, Dan Barker, indra zuno, sean faircloth, todd stiefel, wendy kaminer
Posted in atheism, civil rights, podcast, politics, religious rights, science, urban legends | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
Review by John C. Snider © 2009
Aliens landed at Roswell. The Apollo moon landings were faked. HIV doesn’t cause AIDS. And 9/11 was an inside job.
Americans love their conspiracy theories almost as much as they love their religion. Once a crackpot idea grabs the public’s attention, no amount of data, science and common sense will talk them off of whatever ledge they’ve crawled onto–and no one has perfected the art of blithe denialism more than the so-called 9/11 Truthers.
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Tags: 9/11, loose change, truthers, world trade center, wtc
Posted in movies, urban legends | 13 Comments »
Monday, September 14th, 2009
by John C. Snider © 2009
Consider the following quote from the late Rev. Jerry Falwell (1933-2007), sent to me a few years ago by a friend who edits a local freethought newsletter:
“The decline in American pride, patriotism, and piety can be directly attributed to the extensive reading of so-called ’science fiction’ by our young people. This poisonous rot about creatures not of God’s making, societies of ‘aliens’ without a good Christian among them, and raw sex between unhuman beings with three heads and God alone knows what sort of reproductive apparatus keeps our young people from realizing the true will of God.” –Jerry Falwell, “Can Our Young People Find God in the Pages of Trashy Magazines? No, Of Course Not!,” Reader’s Digest, Aug. 1985:142-157
Outrageous, wouldn’t you agree? Another ridiculous assertion by the same guy who claimed lesbians and abortionists were responsible for 9-11! An uninformed comment by one of America’s pin-headed televangelists!
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Tags: hoax, jerry falwell, reader's digest, science fiction
Posted in christianity, humor, religion, urban legends | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
An analysis published by LiveScience shows that the “Health Care Debate Based on Lack of Logic.” Should this be a surprise? Nearly every political debate is rife with faulty logic: working backwards from conclusions, ad hominems, credulous acceptance of outrageous urban legends, emotional attachment to arguments that are demonstrably false, dismissing data that disproves an argument while crowing over data that supports it. And the stupidity is spread on both sides of the political aisle; i.e. both Democrats and Republicans do it all the time. It’s enough to drive me to despair. I only hope that self-identified atheists/freethinkers/skeptics guard themselves against these errors and embrace rationalism across the board.
Tags: health care debate, logic
Posted in medical research, politics, science, urban legends | No Comments »
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
We celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11! On July 20, 1969 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on another world. Our special guest this time is Seth Shostak, senior astronomer with the SETI Institute, co-host of the Are We Alone? radio show, and author of the book Confessions of an Alien Hunter (available at Amazon.com and/or Amazon.co.uk).
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Tags: apollo 11, buzz aldrin, confessions of an alien hunter, neil armstrong, seth shostak, seti
Posted in astronomy & space, history, interviews, paranormal, podcast, science, skepticism, urban legends | 3 Comments »
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
The 2012 frenzy has begun. In case you didn’t know it, the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012. As far as I know, the Maya themselves attached no significance to this fact, but every whackjob, wingnut, and opportunistic New Age prophet have latched onto this bit of trivia to spin a tale of global catastrophe and cosmic dread. The next time you wander into your local bookstore, check out the impressive amount of shelf space devoted to something that has no historical or scientific basis. And I hate to be a pessimist, but I’m willing to bet there’ll be a non-trivial number of people whose lives will be ruined by poor decision-making based on the premise that It All Comes to an End on 12/21/12. Tim Farley, keep those pencils sharpened.
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Tags: 2012
Posted in music, skepticism, superstitions, urban legends | 2 Comments »
Friday, June 19th, 2009
We interview Tim Farley, creator of the website WhatstheHarm.net (an invaluable database of death and destruction caused by alternative medicine, superstition, lack of critical thinking, etc.). Tim has also given talks and organized seminars to teach skeptics how to be better communicators–check out Skeptical Software Tools.
Look for Tim at Dragon*Con in September, but first! he’ll be seminarifying at The Amazing Meeting, July 9-12 in Las Vegas (yes…Nevada).
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Tags: skeptools, tim farley, what's the harm, whatstheharm.net
Posted in interviews, podcast, skepticism, urban legends | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
Telegraph.co.uk reports that a boy in Germany claims to have been struck in the hand by a small meteorite, which “knocked [him] flying” before leaving a foot-wide crater in the ground.
I’m not an astronomer, but the story sounded fishy to me (including the “fact” that the meteorite was travelling at an incredible 30,000 mph). Luckily, Phil Plait IS an astronomer (albeit a “Bad” one), and he throws some great analysis towards this questionable tale.
Tags: bad astronomer, meteor, meteorite, phil plait
Posted in astronomy & space, news, science, urban legends | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Gary Jones, publisher of the Elberton Star (the local newspaper of Elberton, Georgia), informs me that the Georgia Guidestones, a regional curiosity and recent target of vandalism by anti-New World Order whackjobs, “have been cleaned and are almost ‘good as new.’ [The] sheriff has been keeping [a] closer eye on them.”
Tags: georgia guidestones
Posted in news, paranormal, urban legends | No Comments »
Podcast #86 - American Atheists Convention Part 2 [31:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3363)
1 in 5 think Obama’s a Muslim?
Thursday, August 19th, 2010Frankly, I don’t believe the recent Pew Research poll that indicates 1 in 5 Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim. Sure, there’s some percentage of abjectly ignorant people who think that, but what this poll shows, IMHO, is the willingness of people who simply hate the president’s policies–or his race–enough to claim the worst about him in any category. Had the Pew poll asked “Does Obama smell bad?” 20% would probably say yes, even though they’ve never been in downwind proximity to the Commander in Chief.
I’m more inclined to believe the 43% of Americans who say they are unsure of the president’s religious affiliation. Since the president’s public falling-out with his Chicago church, the first family have not regularly worshiped with any particular congregation.
Tags: muslim, obama, pew
Posted in commentary, islam, news, politics, religion, urban legends | 1 Comment »