PZ goes through them so that you don’t have to.… Read the rest
Martin Gardner 1914-2010 
May 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
For 35 years, he wrote Scientific American’s Mathematical Games column, educating and entertaining minds.… Read the rest
Helios Homeopathic Childbirth Kit
May 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A set of homeopathic remedies to support you during pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding, just £29.95.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on evidence-based social policy
May 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Politicians can divine which policy works best by using their special magic politician beam.… Read the rest
Julian Baggini interviews Ben Goldacre
May 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Goldacre has an MA in philosophy from King’s College London, squeezed into the middle of his six-year medical training.… Read the rest
Jason Rosenhouse reviews Elaine Howard Ecklund
May 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Her data show that 23% of scientists are traditionally religious; her Templeton-funded book says nearly 50% are.… Read the rest
Larry Niven on Harvey Mansfield and manly courage
May 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And the Templeton Foundation, virtue ethics, In Character, and other risible subjects.… Read the rest
Lunchtime O’Jokes
May 22nd, 2010 12:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonDecca Aitkenhead’s article on Hitchens is very snide, but one suspects there is a good deal of truth in it. In particular I can’t help being amused by her portrayal of his sense of humor.
… Read the restThe march of time certainly hasn’t altered one thing about Hitchens, which is, alas, his unaccountable pleasure in word games of the most puerile variety. Page after page is devoted to the infinite hilarity derived by Amis, Rushdie, McEwan and Hitchens from substituting in the titles of well-known books, films and songs the word “dick” for “heart”, or “fuck” for “love”, or “cunt” for “man”.
“Oh, I know,” he chortles, when I bring this up. “Shameful.” He surely can’t still find these jokes funny, can
Nigeria: Yerima questioned about marriage to child
May 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The senator said the Nigerian Child Rights Act of 2003 “must have been enacted in error.”… Read the rest
Joanthan Sacks refutes atheism in a few words
May 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Theists have more children. … Read the rest
Rude but amusing interview with Hitchens
May 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He once wrote that women aren’t funny, yet he’s convulsed by infantile word jokes.… Read the rest
There are no new ethical problems here
May 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Humanity has been ‘playing God’ with animals and plants since the invention of agriculture.… Read the rest
Globalization
May 21st, 2010 5:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonI quite understand, except for one thing – why did they hire a psychic in Bangalore? Are there no psychics in Lincolnshire? That seems most unikely. It’s a mystical sort of place, Lincs – it must be crawling with psychics.
Now I know what you’re going to say – they’re psychics – they don’t have to be on the spot – der. It’s spiritual. It’s not all grubbily of the earth earthy; it’s immaterial, it’s floaty, it’s non-geographical. The psychic could be on Pluto; it wouldn’t matter. Thought travels through space and time, it does not need bodies or proximity. I know. I get all that. But what about the convenience of the people who are stuck in Lincolnshire? Surely … Read the rest
Anonymity for defendants in rape cases proposed
May 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ban on identifying defendants was lifted in 1988; police claimed it was preventing women from reporting rapes.… Read the rest
Union blames privatization for mine deaths
May 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mine accidents have risen drastically since change to Mining Law in 2004, with “flexible working conditions” and an inability to unionize.… Read the rest
Turkish mining town in mourning ponders its ‘fate’
May 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Erdoğan says fatal mine explosions are ‘fate’; unions and sane people say they are caused.… Read the rest
Lincolnshire: psychic joins search for missing cat
May 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Owner has paid £1,000 to Animal Search UK which has hired a psychic in Bangalore to give helpful advice.… Read the rest
Carl Zimmer: some background on synthetic genome
May 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
You could say this is still a nature hybrid, because its DNA is based on the sequence of an existing species of bacteria.… Read the rest
Andrew Brown spies another plot by militant atheism
May 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Another triumph of the only major scientific programme driven from the beginning by explicit atheism.”… Read the rest
It’s alive
May 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The only DNA in the cells is the designed synthetic DNA sequence…”… Read the rest
