Critical Thinking

Claim: “Six Scientists go on trial next week for failure to predict earthquake” – not quite correct.

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Some utter insanity has apparently broken out in Italy. The BBC Newsnight page reports that seven scientists are, in a Galileo-style inquisition, to stand trial next week for failing to accurately predict the precise timing of an earthquake. Wow … scientists accused of failing to predict an earthquake? Actually no, that is not what is … Read more

Religious Myths about Atheists

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There is a great article over at AlterNet entitled “10 Myths Many Religious People Hold About Atheists, Debunked”. There you will find that Amanda Marcotte has done a great job slicing and dicing the following list … There are no atheists in foxholes Atheists are just angry with God Atheists are aggressive and rude Atheism is … Read more

Bot tricks people into thinking it is human – Artifical Intelligence at last? Nope, I’m skeptical

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I’ve tripped over an interesting little snippet in New Scientist where there is a claim that some software called Cleverbot has passed one of the key tests of artificial intelligence: the Turing test. Now before we proceed, lets clarify what this test actually is. It was introduced by Alan Turing (hence the name) in his … Read more

Chruch of Ireland Priest causes shock by entering into a formal Gay partnership

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The news is that Rev Tom Gordon, a Church Of Ireland Anglican priest, has formally entered  into civil partnership with his boyfriend of 20 years, and has also received the full support of his bishop, the Rt Rev Michael Burrows. Now normally when a couple get together it is not public news to anybody except their friends who wish them well, so why is this an exception? I need not explain, you all know, and are all familiar with the anti-gay rhetoric that is very pervasive amongst many shades of belief.

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9/11 conspiracy theories debunked

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The Guardian has a nice short summary article that debunks the 9/11 truther claims, here is a quick extract …

The twin towers were destroyed by controlled explosion

Truthers say video footage of the buildings falling points to demolition due to the way the towers bend before collapsing. Also, there appear to be explosions as the windows blow out, floor by floor, from the top downwards. One US academic claims to have tested samples from the wrecked towers which show the presence of chemical residue, suggesting explosives had been used.

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The Homeopathic poll – Justifying how you should vote.

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The UK’s Guardian is running a homeopathic poll in which they ask you to vote “yes” or “no” in response to the question, “Should homeopathic treatments be available on the National Health Service?”.  Perhaps you have already had this pointed out and have been encourage to vote “no”, but have you really thought about it?

Hey it’s an easy question, the answer is obvious … or is it? (Don’t panic, it is, I just want you to think through the arguments and to also explain why the NHS still has it on offer)

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