debunking

Incredible, just tonight I stumbled upon the Yeovil Psychic Society's website. These people claim they are "Challenging the Accepted". Apparently these guys have been around for 30 years now. I wish they came upon my radar sooner. I say we get some rational people together and found a Yeovil Sceptic Society, we can claim we're "Challenging the Bullshit". Just a few things they've got wrong as I quickly went through their latest newsletter....

So I ran into this nonsense again, someone saying that we only use 10% of our brain. *Sigh*. To anybody who actually sits down and thinks about it for a while, it is obviously false. For example, how many times have you heard of somebody having a stroke, in the part of the brain they don't use and therefore being unaffected, or how many times have you heard of somebody having a brain injury, but being unaffected by it....

The Guardian published an article written by Jeanette Winterson (not a scientist), on why she thinks homeopathy is wonderful. Another reason why topics like this should be covered by dedicated science writers. Dedicated science writers would not base an entire article on one anecdotal experience. Picture this. I am staying in a remote cottage in Cornwall without a car. I have a temperature of 102, spots on my throat, delirium, and a book to finish writing....

So the religious lunatics are at it again. The rise of fundamentalism in the United States is a real problem and needs to be stamped out. This time Reverend Ken Hutcherson and his (to quote the Telegraph) "evangelical megachurch has vowed to take over Microsoft by packing it with new shareholders who will vote against the company's policy of championing gay rights." Microsoft is fairly well known in the United States for supporting a solid policy of employee diversity....

Dumbledore, the old guy in Harry Potter is gay. From the BBC: Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed that one of her characters, Hogwarts school headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay. You know it was bad enough with religious fundamentalists in the United States trying to get the Harry Potter books banned (here, here etc), for evil witchcraft and the like, now they'll be at it in full force again....

I checked my feeds this morning to see that Steven Novella posted the sad news about the loss of Perry DeAngelis. Perry's popularity was easy to understand – Perry had presence. The power of his personality went into everything he did, and every relationship he had. He made his opinions known and actually delighted in not sugar-coating them. Truth and reason were very important to him, so much so that he felt the truth had to be brutal....

Well I stumbled across my old friend, TheDailyCreationism. On a new website, again claiming to do daily updates but failing to do regular posts. Quite disappointing I have to say as I'd love to read a creationist blog that is well, up to date with fresh arguments not those stale things from a hundred years ago. Anyway one of the posts on this blog featured Mr Kent Hovind's $250,000 offer. He presents it like James Randi presents the $1 million paranormal challenge, prove evolution and you get $250,000....

Jesus is well known for "curing" the blind, in this case the irony is overwhelming when a christian goes blind while searching for the Virgin Mary in the Sun. Amal Nassif believed 17-year-old Francesca Zackey when she said the Virgin Mary would appear if Nassif gazed into the sun. Now 37-year-old Nassif, a devout Catholic, may be blind for life. She went to Zackey - the Benoni girl who claims to have repeatedly seen the mother of Jesus - to receive a blessing....

I stumbled upon this guy's YouTube videos thanks to Phil Plait. Here he is taking on a few creationist claims, mainly from the damn evolution vs. creationism video that's been floating around for ages on many internet video websites, it's the one with the annoying host, with far too much money wasted on flashy graphics, yes that one, the one set in studio, made up to look like a court room....

I know I've posted the banana one up on Portal Forums, but I'd thought I'd cover it again here, as well as a new video. Simply because they're so dumb, you couldn't be any dumber if you tried. This is, frankly, in my opinion the finest work "creation science" has ever done, they moved into "creation comedy" so seamlessly. It is disappointing that some people have taken these seriously and have used them to re-enforce their beliefs, I look forward to a world where people, all people, will be educated and intelligent enough to laugh at how ridiculous these guys are....