Critical Thinking

We are not being told the truth about Libya

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How much of the mainstream media do you believe to be credible? (I’m talking Time, Post, etc, I’m not thinking about the stuff that pretends to be factual such as Fox News, but never is). Personally, I’ve accepted much, but there is a question I’ve been challenged over, specifically:

  • What is the real reason for our involvement in Libya?

If you believe the media and popular opinion, then its  because we can’t tolerate the slaughter of innocent people by a tyrant. Up until now, I’ve foolishly accepted this without giving it too much thought. The problem is that if I had applied a bit of critical thinking, I’d have quickly realised that there was something wrong with that statement. What has enabled me to change my mind is an article written by Johann Hari. In it he quite rightly points out …

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Power band Scam

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Was just in a sports shop about 10 minutes ago … and guess what? There sitting next to the till, was a rack full of Power bands. Yes indeed, a piece of plastic with a hologram on it can be yours for just £30 This will apparently make your sports performance magically improve. Well, OK, … Read more

Who gets phished and why?

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First, just to ensure we are all on the same page here, the word “phishing” is where some scam artist sends you an email that claims to be from a trustworthy entity such as your bank or a well recognized entity such as Amazon or eBay and manages to trick you into giving them your password or even your credit card number. For example, it might be an email that perhaps claims your account has expired and you need to enter a new password, so you clink on a link that takes you to a site that looks exactly like you bank’s … but it not … and so you are tricked into entering your password, thus giving them full access.

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The 2011 Pigasus Awards

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Every year, since 1997, The JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) has published the Pigasus Awards, and of course this year is no exception.

So what is this all about? Well, its about exposing the frauds and con-men out there, It was originally called the Uri Award, after Uri Geller, and was first announced in the appendix of Randi’s book Flim-Flam!. The 1982 book listed the awards “recipients” in 1979, 1980 and 1981.When describing it there, Randi writes…

“I am personally responsible for the nomination of the candidates. The sealed envelopes are read by me, while blindfolded, at the official announcement ceremony on April 1. Any baseless claims are rationalized in approved parapsychological fashion, and the results will be published immediately without being checked in any way. Winners are notified telepathically and are allowed to predict their victory in advance.”

So then, are you curious to know who this years collection charlatans and swindlers are? OK, here is the list

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Bullshit Detection – “Endorsements are just Hype”

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I started out with a posting on “Woo Words“, then moved on to “Evidence not Credentials“. Now I’m adding more thoughts that will hopefully help to enrich your Bullshit detection kit.

I do hope this one is obvious, really obvious. In fact I’d be astonished if it was not, and yet so many of us still fall for it.

When somebody famous is engaged to push a specific product we all know in our heart of hearts that its just marketing hype, so why does it still happen? Well, basically because it works. The celebrity in question gets a wad of cash for their services, so they are quite happy to do or say whatever is required, and the advertiser reaps a jump in sales.

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Fools Gold

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The UK’s Guardian started a live blog buildup to the Royal Wedding yesterday. It starts at 07:30, and was full of juicy gossip, but then at 11:38 this appears … We’ve received a communication from Buckingham Palace suggesting that some of the contents of this blog could contravene the Treason Felony Act of 1848. According … Read more