New Zealand Skeptics Call for Building on Solid Science

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Press Release: New Zealand Skeptics Society New Zealand Skeptics Call for Building on Solid Science Building on solid science is the theme for this year’s annual NZ Skeptics conference, an appropriate-enough theme for a meeting being held in Christchurch (26-28 August). “When we’re unsure of things, looking for better understanding of what’s happening and why … Read more

Atheist History – Thomas Aikenhead

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Thomas Aikenhead was the last man to be executed for blasphemy in Britain, so what is his story?

In the 1690’s Thomas Aikenhead was, a young Edinburgh medical student at a time when his University’s library held books by Descartes, Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes and other thinkers, and being a keen student young Thomas would often enjoy reading new ideas.

He later  talked about some of his reading with friends, and unfortunately one of them, possibly Mungo Craig, took offense and informed on him to the authorities. In the autumn of 1696 Thomas was arrested and remitted to the Tolbooth Prison “to be tryed for his life” for blasphemy. He mouldered there until December 23, when he crossed Parliament Square to the High Court to be charged under both of Scotland’s Blasphemy Acts, one enacted before and one after the Revolution of 1689.

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Will Facebook destroy your brain?

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According to this story here in the UK’s Daily Mail, Facebook and Twitter have created a generation obsessed with themselves, who have short attention spans and a childlike desire for constant feedback on their lives. It then carries on to explain that

Baroness Greenfield, professor of pharmacology at Oxford University, believes the growth of internet ‘friendships’ – as well as greater use of computer games – could effectively ‘rewire’ the brain.”

This of course is not only not a new claim, but also has zero evidence. What we have here is an argument from authority, and not a journalistic write-up from some study … let me repeat, just to be sure you get it …

there is no evidence that supports this.

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Don’t go to Dubai as a tourist if you want to eat or drink?

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Dubai sells itself as a holiday destination. It sounds amazing, lots of fantastic beaches, water sports, glorious sunshine, air-conditioned modern shopping malls, trips into the desert, etc … What more could any tourist want? Well, how about being allowed to eat or drink without the fear of being arrested for doing so. The UK’s Guardian … Read more

Freethought blogs – up and running now

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Folks, the new Freethought blogs are now up and running, this includes the new Pharyngula. Confused? Well, PZ explains … You may be wondering why I had to change my address, why I’m cruelly forcing you to update your RSS feeds, … National Geographic will be taking a more active role in hosting the ScienceBlogs … Read more

UK Lottery Funding for spiritual healing on NHS

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In the UK there is a national Lottery that, for every £1 that the public spends on Lottery tickets, 28 pence goes to the Lottery good causes. How do they define “good causes”? Well, these are the arts, charities and voluntary groups, heritage, health, education, the environment and sports. OK, so far that sounds great.

OK yes, you can tell there is a WTF moment coming up because I’m blogging about this, and indeed yes there is, so brace yourselves.

The National Lottery has awarded a £205,000 grant for the two-year study to healing charity “Fresh Winds”. Basically NHS patients will be offered a treatment where a healer will pass their hands over the patient’s body to channel ‘healing energy’ to affected areas in 20-minute sessions to correct energy flow imbalances …WTF (Well I did warn you) … As for this being actual value for money, this is more or less akin to taking the entire pile of cash into the car park and setting fire to it. The evidence that this will be anything other than a placebo is zero.

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