Irrational thinking kills people – the respect given to religion encourages irrationality

I was reading pharyngula and came across a post stating that many non-first world security services are using a tarted up dowsing rod to try and detect explosives and munitions at road blocks.
After more digging I found a post at the ministry of truth website and they indicate the consequences when folk put their faith [...]

I bought the CD, so why is it so difficult for me to put a track on a playlist?

I was trying to include two songs from a cd I bought on a mixed play list so I could listen to it in my truck.
But it was harder than I thought it would be. Windows wouldn’t let me transfer it to Nero unless I had a licence. Microsoft would not let me download the [...]

More fiscal conservatism from Harper – every criminal needs gaol time

Once more we see the fiscally conservative nature of the modern conservative. Harper and his cronies, not satisfied with the debt they have already secured for us, have decided that appearances are more important than reality. They are gonna flood the gaols with criminals just so the average CPoC supporter can feel all macho and [...]

Vaccine deniers latest hoax – another example of setting a lethal fire?

During the summer it became apparent that folk like to do things that kill people but still remain at arms length. Setting wild fires in tinder box dry areas falls into this category. This year in such areas arsonists had a field day and real lives were damaged beyond repair.
Just recently a friend forwarded on [...]

Stephen Harper is hoping that we are so stupid we won’t notice

The arrogance of the republican wannabes that currently inhabit our highest offices knows no bounds.
If we Canadians needed any more evidence that the modern conservatives are deceitful opportunists who hope to use our worst prejudices to slip their nasty, bitter agenda through then we deserve what we get.
This Prime Minister hates facts and loves anecdotes. [...]

Albertan Politicians – Our kids can be sacrificed in the name of ignorance

Today I heard a nasty little man called Lindsay Blackett use weasel words to allow folk to hamstring their kids with the government’s blessing because they don’t like to change their opinion in the light of something called evidence.
Religious folk, while on the whole quite decent especially within the confines of their cult, demand their [...]

Planets do not make decisions – the language of science repoting shows how illiterate the reporters are

It had to be MSN.
Planets do not not commit suicide. Their physical situation determines their fate. There is also pretty good reason to think that this is the case with living beings but that is a whole new conversation.
Newton and Einstein have covered this turf before but what the hell doing a disney on an [...]

Gut feelings do not exist, it’s spotting cues earlier and reacting to them

Apparently the New York Times thinks that there is more to spotting IEDs than experience and keen observation.
They include references to gut feelings and hunches but nothing in the article seems to include any argument that includes something other than experience and advanced processing adaptations in the brain.
Everyone has hunches — about friends’ motives, about [...]

Meat is murder – if so why does it taste so good?

The top post on wordpress tries to reiterate and advance the “meat is murder” message.
One of its first points is that meat eaters don’t address the topic seriously and the second half of my title could be interpreted that way; but I didn’t mean it that way, I was serious. I have killed animals and [...]

Science and how it is reported

MSN does it again. A headline that is too good to resist.
Luckily there is a tremendous website operated by those who actually give a crap about accuracy that gives the skinny on the real news behind the headline.
Not as exciting, absolutely but a whole lot more accurate for sure. Like Snopes has done for urban [...]