Category Archives: Sceplinks
5th Day’s Links Sceptique for May 24, 2012
So far so good, this is another consecutive week when I’ve found time to get off my duff and post an installment in this series. My time management skills are improving…
For those with a phobia of spiders, listen up: A paper’s been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of a promising therapy that changes the brain’s response to fear. I know someone (You know who you are, wink, wink…) who could benefit from that.
This gives me a little hope of a victory for reason over rationalization: Climate-change denier (not the contrarians or sceptics, mind you, just the deniers) organizations are doling out the rope they’ll use to hang themselves — the long term consequences of using dishonest tactics to promote an ideological agenda based on faulty premises and flawed reasoning — What can I say?
For us nerds, James Doohan’s, ‘Scotty’ of Star Trek, ashes have been launched into space on the SpaceX falcon rocket.
Also for us nerds, there’s Mythbuster’s Adam Savages 13-year Quest to Build a Real Sci-Fi Gun…
The topic that never dies — alleged Bigfoot genetic samples will be analyzed as Oxford University goes Yeti hunting — *sigh*
Ancient, dinosaur-aged bacteria are living like Spartans (minus the swords, spears and shields, of course) at the sea bottom to this day.
Here’s the complete coverage of the SpaceX launch to the International Space Station…
For this morning’s video,using the unaltered faces of celebrities, an optical illusion known as…
The Flashed-Face Distortion Effect
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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5th Day’s Links Sceptique for May 17, 2012
I hope your Norse Storm Hammer God’s day is doing better than expected. This week, I’ve got a few interesting bookmarks that I just had to evilly inflict upon you, my unsuspecting readers…
MuaHaHaHaHa!
*ahem*
First, I’ve found a piece on Big Think that’ll prove very handy in debating theists on social media like Twitter, Getting Apologists to Go Off-Script…and making them think on their own for a response to inquisitive atheists!
Well, I’ve done a bit of posting on Blaise Pascal’s pet argument this week, but for every argument around for that long, there’s a counterargument — so forget Pascal — I’ll place my bet on the Atheist’s Wager instead!
Should atheists leave religion alone? — As the author suggests, hardly. Especially when would-be theocrats strive evermore to keep their social privilege and get more of the same in the culture wars with secularists.
Space is big — mindbogglingly big, more so than our monkey brains can easily handle — and here is how we go about measuring the universe despite all that.
This is something I’ve posted on myself as a recurring theme on this site, but not as well as this on The Curse of Certainty and the Liberating Embrace of Uncertainty, on NPR…
Once again, that cranky English guy who gave us gravity and the Laws of Motion is making the rounds in a set of incredible videos of Ike Newton’s experiments with alchemy…and some of the chemistry tricks that alchemists used to con people into thinking that they transmuted elements…
Looking for new ways to get better search results? Google Knowledge Graph: Search Results Packed with Worlds of Information — ’nuff said.
The search for the mythical Mokele Mbembe is on! (Again???) Jurassic Lark? Expedition to Seek Living Dinosaurs in Africa — Ah, more fun from the cryptozoology enthusiasts — even as untrained amateurs, they just might discover something of interest, but I’m not holding my breath on it…
This touches on one of my favoritest (sic) topics — on extraterrestrial life, somewhere, in some form — The 6 Most Likely Places to Find Alien Life.
On two of the less illustrious and campier episodes of the original Doctor Who series, its in-your-face politics!
Finally, though I’m hardly fit to determine how much of this is real, it looks good and totally rocks, too!
Dr. Who Meets Metal!
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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5th Day’s Links Sceptique for May 10, 2012
Well, this week has been fairly uneventful, with some interesting discussions over the past few days, including a debate with a troll on Twitter which I found rather amusing — but I’m being evil again, and I need to quit that for now…
This is something I thought was pretty cool, the Munker Illusion, one that really plays havoc on the human perception of color.
Here is an interesting post on why can smells unlock forgotten memories.
Also, Greg Laden poses an important question, “Should there be a Science Debate in Minnesota?”
As an interesting historical note, an article on Brain Pickings, The Age of Insight: How Art and Science in Early 20th Century Vienna Shaped Modern Culture
I almost forgot to post this link — Oops! — on the identification of neurotransmitters that lead to forgetting.
This is a nice time-lapse video on spectacular aurora borealis in Norway, and the accompanying tunage isn’t bad either.
Also in the news, researchers at MIT have developed something really cool…the first self-replicating, self-assembling machines using magnetic cubes, though at present the research is limited to using 2-dimensional objects due to the size and processing ability of the cubes. It’ll be fantastic once they scale this up to larger and more durable 3D objects.
By A.C. Graying, a video I posted on The Unconsidered Life.
Also, some very good reasons offered by bdwilson1000 on why Common Sense is Worthless in Science…
On TED, sculpting waves in wood and time…
A post I had fun posting earlier this week on Critical Thinking and Motivated Reasoning…
And finally, courtesy of the Left Hemispheres blog, reblogged here, and don’t forget to skip to 3:30 in the vid to get to the meat of the talk…
Daniel Dennett: Is Science Showing That We Don’t Have Free Will?
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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5th Day’s Links Sceptique for May 3rd, 2011
The 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is back this week, after a several week hiatus…My bad.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if H. P. Lovecraft trod the dark path of “Dear Abby” and “Anne Landers? Here is the advice column of the Author of Providence, and the eldritch horrors unleashed upon the people who write him…
This article on Freethought Blogs by Ben Radford notes that “People Don’t Read, and Why it Matters to Skepticism…” This is something I’ve noticed myself now and then over the last 4+ years of blogging.
My friend Steve on G+ sent me this a while back — an exquisitely drawn book on marine life using an artistic style originating in the Bihar region of India…
Here’s a Periodic Stress Test — see how you score! — on Scientific American…
So you think Lolcats originated with the Internet? Think again — here are examples of the humorous kittehs of the 19th century! Thanks to my friend Kate for reminding me I still had this bookmarked 
Neat! It seems that recently, the researchers of CERN have uncovered a new kind of particle using the LHC. It’s discoveries like this that can open up brand new areas of research…
Feel like getting real? Here’s A Look at the New Skepticism…
Here’s a parapsychologist I can respect, Stanley Krippner, and even James Randi likes him! That’s saying something, in my book…
A good discussion on the Psychology of Fraud: Why Good People do Bad Things, and why I find it more helpful to understand even charlatans.
David Brin discusses the Need to Restore Optimism to Science Fiction, and the need is more urgent than many suppose, after with story after story being dystopic or otherwise dark ‘n gloomy…
Here’s An Optical Illusion that Explains the Origins of Imaginary Monsters…
Why we ignore science — What’s Rational About Risk?
The answer to a common question — What has science ever done for us?
And, my favorite Astrophysicist responds to the question…
Atheist or Agnostic?
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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5th Day’s Links Sceptique for March 22, 2012
The Web Links Sceptique has mutated! Yes, it has, since I thought I’d try out something different from the formatting and limitations of the older version, and this will be a welcome change, making this installment much more fun to write, and something perhaps more interesting than just a set of links to click on.
Banana-Man Ray Comfort sez that “Atheist’s issues are moral” Really?? Color me unconvinced of most anything he says. And BTW, Dick Dawkins is agnostic because he’s not 100% certain that God DOESN’T exist — Do your homework, Mr Unruh. Typos are a b*tch.
Why is it that the whole “Dawkins is agnostic” thing is so surprising to everyone but atheists? And, trying credit someone by calling them an “evangelist” really isn’t crediting them for being much of anything but a proselytizer.
This is kind of neat — 500 previously unknown faerie tales have recently been discovered — and I’m not referring to newly found books of the Bible, either!
Literally far cooler than mere crop circles, a busy artist has been making Snow Art, using only his own feet and a pair of snow shoes!
Yes, it seems that the aliens were too busy using kinetic vortex beams to flatten crops last Fall to do much of anything during the cold season, so their sooper sekrit agents the Men in Black arranged for human operatives during the last Winter to serve as decoys while the Greys and Reptoids retooled their vortex beams to work on snow-drifts.
Ah, those inconvenient little moments when the propaganda engines of the Far Right have a nervous breakdown — or maybe a catastrophic meltdown? Such vitriol in spasmodic defense of one of their own… My liberal heart bleeds with compassion for Limbaugh’s misfortune. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Bill Maher explains Rick Santorum’s fear of knowledge in less than 4 minutes — “…after all, a mind is a terrible thing to open…” — AND a terrible thing to piss off!
A book review by Carl Zimmer: The Forever Fix | The Epigenetics Revolution
Scientists may have discovered a new species of human — one that seems to have coexisted with Homo sapiens, a species so far dubbed the Red Deer People, for their diet of venison.
This doesn’t look good for any optimism about peoples’ intelligence — People may not be smart enough to handle a flourishing democracy — *Facepalm*
Combating the Oncoming Anti-Science Tsunami Cloaked in Ideology — A possible science funding & science literacy solution.
Here’s where Fiction’s favorite doctors get their heads stuck in Futurama’s jars… Including Ten, Eleven, and my fave, the epic and fantastic Nine.
The Discontents of Conservative Christian Counterculture and its ties to Anti-Intellectualism in the U.S.
Science marches on… Why Australopithecus sediba could rewrite our evolutionary history I love the way we get ever closer to the truth behind our origins, one step at a time.
Conservatives will decry “science changing its mind yet again” but I see this as an advantage, as science improving its understanding by improving its process and updating its findings with better data. This is what happens when it works the way it’s supposed to.
Doctor Who’s latest companion is unveiled — It seems that Karen Gillan is leaving the show, with a new traveling companion for the Doctor who talks faster than him. This could be interesting. The last time I saw anyone out-talk the Doc was when one of Ten’s companions absorbed his Time Lord intelligence and almost figured out how to fix the TARDIS’s chameleon circuit for him.
Hat tip to Martin Pribble for this:
They Might Be Giants – Science is Real
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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WLS | Web Links Sceptique for March 1, 2012
- I owe a hat-tip for this one — thanks, Millie… Fractal nanoflowers could restore sight to the blind…
- by David Brin… The Japan Tragedy, nukes, maturity, uplift and more…
- on @sciam… “Time Crystals” could be a legitimate form of perpetual motion machine – though one we could never extract energy from… Sorry ;-(
- My brother sent me this one – The scale of the Universe – let this load, then zoom in and out from the smallest known (and possible) entities in the Cosmos to the very largest we can see…
- on CosmicLog… a critical take on the “Tomb of Jesus” claim from 2007…
- Davy Jones of the Monkees dies at 66 — He finally took the last train to Clarksville, R.I.P…
- I owe a hat-tip to Chris Trommater for this one — Fact or Fiction — Braveheart, 1/5
- on Salon.Com… The Scientific Argument for Being Emotional…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
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WLS | Web Links Sceptique for February 23, 2012
- on Measure of Doubt… How to want to change your mind…
- on Mashable… 5 Places to get digital textbooks…
- on YouTube… The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Atheism…
- by Daniel Loxton… Tribal Skepticism?…
- by Brian Cox… Why Quantum Theory Is So Misunderstood…
- on Gizmodo… Snow Art: Much Cooler than Crop Circles…
- on Gizmodo… Astronomers Discover a Planet Made of Water…
- on Wired Science… Faster-Than-Light Neutrino Results May be Due to Bad Cables…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
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WLS | Web Links Sceptique for February 9, 2012
- on Richard Wiseman’s blog… Alain de Botton: Beyond his Temple of Atheism…
- by Chris Mooney… Conspiracy Theorists More likely to Believe Factual Contradictions…
- on New Scientist… India’s Panel Price Crash Could Spark Solar Revolution…
- on the Santiago Times… Chilean Astronomers May Have Found a Potentially Habitable Planet…
- on Life’s Little Mysteries… Second ‘Sunken UFO’ Claim Doesn’t Hold Water…
- on Space.Com… Strange Life Found In Underwater Caves…
- on OneMoreLevel.Com… A Cool Interactive – The Scale of the Universe 2012…
- on HubPages.Com… “Pseudo-Science & Left-Wing Politics” – why debunking science should be done only by those who actually understand it… *Picard facepalm*
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
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WLS | Web Links Sceptique for January 26, 2012
- by Dr David Brin… “So you want to make gods. Now why would that bother anyone?..”
- at the Sydney Morning Herald… Science on wind-turbine illness dubious…
- on the Times of India… Scientists would tweet if aliens got in touch…
- by Ben Radford… If you see a Bigfoot, shooting him could be a problem…
- Reeeallly?? Who’s been smoking what, and where can I get some?.. “Psychics” Say Apollo 16 Astronauts Found Aliens on the Moon…
- at CultureLab… Remembering things that never happened…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
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WLS | Web Links Sceptique for January 19, 2012
- on Skepchick… Blogs are Valuable and Enrich the Discourse…
- on Brain Pickings… Six Famous Thought Experiments Animated in 60 Seconds each…
- on the site of the NCSE… Why is NCSE Now Concerned with Climate Change?..
- on Laughing Squid links Thomas Dolby Kicking Off His 2012 Time Capsule Tour at SXSW…
- on Science Daily… Testing Quantum Spooky Action at a Distance…
- on Secular News Daily… Comprehending reality — Should we give up so easily?…
- on Rhys Morgan’s Blog… Intolerant Islam…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
WLS | Web Links Sceptique for January 12, 2012
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Image via Wikipedia
on Seti.Berkeley.Edu… Sorry, but it’s just Earthly interference, not ET phoning in to say hello…
- Farewell Mr Pratchet, you’ll be missed… Terry Pratchet’s Assisted Suicide Documentary [59:02]…
- on Teen Skepchick… Modern Mythology: Flushing Toilets & the Coriolis Effect…
- a cute little webpage to play with… Draw a stick figure with your mouse pointer and follow the instructions
…
- on Atheism.About.Com… Mitt Romney misrepresents science in the service of religious ideology…
- on The Skeptical Teacher… Why The Skeptical Movement Needs “More Than Men”…
- on the Secular News Daily, by Ken Perrott… the Argument from Authority,(or Lack Thereof)…
- on Wolfram MathWorld, for us numbers geeks… the Surreal Number…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
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WLS | Web Links Sceptique for December 22, 2011
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Image via Wikipedia
on Doubtful Newsblog… An essential guide: The Debunking Handbook… Go Download. Now. Read & digest…
- at Cambridge U. Library online… Cambridge University Library gives Newton papers to the world…
- on the NYT… War Really Is Going Out of Style…
- on Space.Com… World’s Tallest Rockets: How They Stack Up…
- on Nature News… Young researchers lose out in European funding programme…
- by Michael Shermer… Sacred Salubriousness: New research of self-control explains the links between religion and health…
- on Nature News… Astronomy in South Africa: The Long Shot…
- on YouTube… Tim Minchin on Human Logic…
- by JibJab… 2011, Buh-Bye!, The Year in Review…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
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WLS | Web Links Sceptique for December 8, 2011
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Image via Wikipedia
on the Observer… The Ten Commandments of Distinguishing Science from Pseudoscience in Psychology…
- on the National Journal… Heads in the Sand: Climate Science says this, Congressional Republicans say that – Why?…
- on Token Skeptic… Observer Prints Readers’ Editor Non-Apology for #Burzynski Article…
- by Crispian Jago… Skeptic Park 4: Featuring Rhys Morgan #Burzynski…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
(Last Update: 2011/12/8 – Text Added)
WLS | Web Links Sceptique for December 1, 2011
- on Vincat Scientia Morbos… Why irrational beliefs are protected by themselves…
- I invoke Poe’s Law on this one… Scientists Translate Extraterrestrial Message before 9/11…
- Proof that pseudoscience truly knows no gender… Women’s UFO Symposium Takes on E.T. Hunters’ ‘Old Boys’ Club…
- by Kylie Sturgess… On Codes of Conduct, part II…
- Scale of the Universe… An Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
WLS | Web Links Sceptique for November 17, 2011
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Image via Wikipedia
on Discovery News… A Solar System Littered with alien Artifacts?.. Frankly I hope so!…
- on Geffen Playhouse… Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie…
- by NCSE… Free Evolution Book Downloads…
- on the Guardian… Brain scans of happy people help explain their rose-tinted views…
- on NanoWerk… Nanotechnology & Religion…
- on Cosmic Variance… Guest Post: Tom Banks on Probability & Quantum Mechanics…
WLS is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. WPS is published weekly each Thursday on the Call.
