“Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”

Apparently today is supposed to be the Beginning of the End: the Rapture. At least according to Harold Camping, the latest of many to take up the job. If you believe, and think that your heart is truly pure, I’d suggest watching this for advice. And if you have pets, better call these guys too. …

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“How To Grow A New Joint Inside Your Body”

I think I’m jealous of future generations. They’ll grow up with all this neat technological stuff that we’re just hearing about now, like the ability to regrow a damaged joint in your own body. The stuff of science fiction to us will be taken for granted by them. On the other hand, they’ll have to …

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The History and Opponents of Evolution

(This is not about evolution, it’s about a small group’s attempts to subvert democracy for their own purposes. Evolution is just their first target.) This four-part series of articles (here, here, here, and here) make it very clear that attacking evolution is just the tip of the iceberg. The goal of the very small — …

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“Enhancing the Placebo”

I find the placebo effect to be utterly fascinating. It’s almost certainly responsible for the successes of shamans, faith-based healers, and homeopathy. And, on the other side of the coin, the documented successful witch doctors’ curses. But it’s literally all in your head. Which means that everyone who has ever been affected by any of …

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“Fear 2012? Bunker hustler has you covered” — NSFW commentary!

(It’s Tax Day! Have you filed your taxes yet? And no, this isn’t the NSFW part. 😉 ) Oh, this is a fun one… so many creative ways that the world is on the edge of destruction! So many things to fear! Yes, fear them! “But,” says this Robert Vicino fellow, “if you give me …

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Crazy?

This is from yesterday’s Dilbert Blog entry: A Muslim, a Christian, and a crazy guy walk into a room. The one thing you can know for sure is that at least two out of three of them organize their lives around things that aren’t real. And that’s the best case scenario. Atheists would say all …

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“Fundie denounces sf for atheism, nudism”

From the beginning of the Boing Boing article: Writing on the loony fundamentalist site “Way of Life,” David Cloud presents the startling intelligence that science fiction is rife with humanism, atheism, and is written by polyamorous nudists like Robert A Heinlein […] <sarcasm>How horrible!</sarcasm> The title of the post is “Beware of Science Fiction,” and …

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“Understanding the psychology of authoritarianism”

I’ve never been able to understand people who reject scientific evidence outright, in favor of whatever their chosen authorities dictate. (I recently saw a quote that sums it up: “[T]he problem with all the “science deniers” is they think the argument is about power and “we” think it is about what reality is.”) The book …

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