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Live Music - oldviolin - Mar 18, 2024 - 8:24pm
 
Cryptic Posts - Leave Them Guessing - Bill_J - Mar 18, 2024 - 8:23pm
 
Damn Dinosaurs! - oldviolin - Mar 18, 2024 - 8:16pm
 
New Forum Member on "What Makes RP Great" - oldviolin - Mar 18, 2024 - 8:02pm
 
Name My Band - oldviolin - Mar 18, 2024 - 8:00pm
 
Irony 101 - oldviolin - Mar 18, 2024 - 7:55pm
 
Radio Paradise Comments - oldviolin - Mar 18, 2024 - 7:35pm
 
March 2024 Photo Theme - Many - fractalv - Mar 18, 2024 - 7:01pm
 
Trump - Steely_D - Mar 18, 2024 - 5:05pm
 
One Partying State - Wyoming News - geoff_morphini - Mar 18, 2024 - 3:58pm
 
Great guitar faces - skyguy - Mar 18, 2024 - 3:33pm
 
The Obituary Page - kurtster - Mar 18, 2024 - 1:51pm
 
Despots, dictators and war criminals - R_P - Mar 18, 2024 - 12:41pm
 
Uploading Music - dischuckin - Mar 18, 2024 - 11:55am
 
Wordle - daily game - geoff_morphini - Mar 18, 2024 - 11:35am
 
Israel - R_P - Mar 18, 2024 - 11:25am
 
Photography Forum - Your Own Photos - thisbody - Mar 18, 2024 - 11:09am
 
Media Matters - thisbody - Mar 18, 2024 - 10:03am
 
NYTimes Connections - geoff_morphini - Mar 18, 2024 - 8:26am
 
Bug Reports & Feature Requests - jarro - Mar 18, 2024 - 6:37am
 
Today in History - DaveInSaoMiguel - Mar 18, 2024 - 5:42am
 
NASA & other news from space - miamizsun - Mar 18, 2024 - 4:13am
 
2024 Elections! - R_P - Mar 17, 2024 - 11:43am
 
Basketball - geoff_morphini - Mar 17, 2024 - 11:11am
 
MEALTICKET - drinpt - Mar 17, 2024 - 4:13am
 
What makes you smile? - Steely_D - Mar 16, 2024 - 7:31pm
 
Musky Mythology - R_P - Mar 16, 2024 - 2:07pm
 
Apple Computer - GeneP59 - Mar 16, 2024 - 12:02pm
 
Mixtape Culture Club - Steely_D - Mar 16, 2024 - 11:41am
 
Environment - R_P - Mar 16, 2024 - 11:18am
 
RightWingNutZ - R_P - Mar 16, 2024 - 10:48am
 
Caching to Apple watch quit working - lsiegel - Mar 16, 2024 - 8:12am
 
Cache stopped working on old Android Phone - jarro - Mar 15, 2024 - 3:25pm
 
Talk Behind Their Backs Forum - VV - Mar 15, 2024 - 2:47pm
 
Joe Biden - black321 - Mar 15, 2024 - 2:33pm
 
Artificial Intelligence - miamizsun - Mar 15, 2024 - 12:15pm
 
the Todd Rundgren topic - Steely_D - Mar 15, 2024 - 11:01am
 
Things You Thought Today - kurtster - Mar 15, 2024 - 10:37am
 
Republican Party - islander - Mar 15, 2024 - 9:08am
 
How's the weather? - miamizsun - Mar 15, 2024 - 6:53am
 
Radio Paradise app on Android is broken - timmus - Mar 15, 2024 - 5:25am
 
Ukraine - NoEnzLefttoSplit - Mar 14, 2024 - 10:17pm
 
Democratic Party - R_P - Mar 14, 2024 - 3:04pm
 
The Chomsky / Zinn Reader - thisbody - Mar 14, 2024 - 2:00pm
 
Unquiet Minds - Mental Health Forum - thisbody - Mar 14, 2024 - 1:54pm
 
USA! USA! USA! - thisbody - Mar 14, 2024 - 12:31pm
 
China - R_P - Mar 14, 2024 - 11:52am
 
Android App Problems After Update - jarro - Mar 14, 2024 - 12:58am
 
Russia - NoEnzLefttoSplit - Mar 13, 2024 - 11:59am
 
It's the economy stupid. - kurtster - Mar 13, 2024 - 11:22am
 
How do I get songs into My Favorites - ScottFromWyoming - Mar 13, 2024 - 10:11am
 
Jazz channel? - Steely_D - Mar 13, 2024 - 9:13am
 
Vinyl Only Spin List - kurtster - Mar 13, 2024 - 2:01am
 
What Makes You Laugh? - miamizsun - Mar 12, 2024 - 11:17am
 
Frequent drop outs (The Netherlands) - ScopPics - Mar 12, 2024 - 7:20am
 
If not RP, what are you listening to right now? - Beaker - Mar 11, 2024 - 12:37am
 
• • • What Makes You Happy? • • •  - Red_Dragon - Mar 10, 2024 - 11:02am
 
female vocalists - Steely_D - Mar 10, 2024 - 9:13am
 
New Music - whatshisname - Mar 9, 2024 - 4:27pm
 
Other Medical Stuff - Coaxial - Mar 9, 2024 - 1:09pm
 
Outstanding Covers - skyguy - Mar 9, 2024 - 9:23am
 
Ridiculous or Funny Spam - KurtfromLaQuinta - Mar 9, 2024 - 8:31am
 
Oh dear god, BEES! - KurtfromLaQuinta - Mar 9, 2024 - 8:24am
 
Maybe it's just the beer talking... - Proclivities - Mar 8, 2024 - 12:04pm
 
History - lather, rinse, repeat. - R_P - Mar 8, 2024 - 10:12am
 
Big Pharma - black321 - Mar 8, 2024 - 9:33am
 
Can't find Radio 2050 in my Ocean Digital Tuner - sjagminas1 - Mar 8, 2024 - 7:57am
 
• • • The Once-a-Day • • •  - oldviolin - Mar 7, 2024 - 6:50pm
 
Music Videos - Red_Dragon - Mar 7, 2024 - 6:21pm
 
Climate Change - Manbird - Mar 7, 2024 - 2:58pm
 
what else do you listen to? (RP alternatives) - haresfur - Mar 7, 2024 - 1:43pm
 
~ Have a good joke you can post? ~ - black321 - Mar 7, 2024 - 12:17pm
 
Lyrics that strike a chord today... - oldviolin - Mar 7, 2024 - 11:56am
 
Did the punishment fit the Crime? - oldviolin - Mar 7, 2024 - 11:43am
 
The US of A telling Russia not to invade Ukraine is like... - GeneP59 - Mar 7, 2024 - 8:42am
 
Index » Internet/Computer » The Web » Skeptix Page: 1, 2, 3 ... 42, 43, 44  Next
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R_P

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Posted: Jun 4, 2023 - 12:04pm

The Longevity Skeptic
This biochemist calls BS on extending human lifespan. Is he right?
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Posted: Mar 24, 2022 - 9:06am

Death by Aromatherapy
An aromatherapy room spray was contaminated with bacteria that caused melioidosis, resulting in deaths and serious sequelae. Buyers were misled.
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Posted: Dec 7, 2021 - 10:46am

 haresfur wrote:


I need to start hash-tagging and marketing my favourite geologic acronym, the somewhat related MBO - Monosulfidic Black Ooze. It's the main constituent of many acid sulfate soils and forms in an anoxic layer at the bottom of several estuaries here. Ok, if it gets suspended it sucks the oxygen out of the water and kills all the fish, but that just shows how powerful it is, right?


It's great for your complexion. Just rub it into your skin each night.
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Posted: Dec 6, 2021 - 8:58pm

 haresfur wrote:
 R_P wrote:
BOO: Or how “magic dirt” became a MLM miracle cure scam for COVID-19
“BOO” stands for Black Oxygen Organics, a “cure” for COVID-19 that got the attention of regulators last week. Basically, it’s dirt billed by its believers as “magic dirt” that sells for $110 a bag (plus shipping) through a multilevel marketing sales model. What can this latest COVID cure tell us about the relationship between alternative medicine and COVID-19 denial?


I need to start hash-tagging and marketing my favourite geologic acronym, the somewhat related MBO - Monosulfidic Black Ooze. It's the main constituent of many acid sulfate soils and forms in an anoxic layer at the bottom of several estuaries here. Ok, if it gets suspended it sucks the oxygen out of the water and kills all the fish, but that just shows how powerful it is, right?
 
{#Lol}
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Posted: Dec 6, 2021 - 7:53pm

 R_P wrote:
BOO: Or how “magic dirt” became a MLM miracle cure scam for COVID-19
“BOO” stands for Black Oxygen Organics, a “cure” for COVID-19 that got the attention of regulators last week. Basically, it’s dirt billed by its believers as “magic dirt” that sells for $110 a bag (plus shipping) through a multilevel marketing sales model. What can this latest COVID cure tell us about the relationship between alternative medicine and COVID-19 denial?


I need to start hash-tagging and marketing my favourite geologic acronym, the somewhat related MBO - Monosulfidic Black Ooze. It's the main constituent of many acid sulfate soils and forms in an anoxic layer at the bottom of several estuaries here. Ok, if it gets suspended it sucks the oxygen out of the water and kills all the fish, but that just shows how powerful it is, right?
R_P

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Posted: Dec 6, 2021 - 3:08pm

BOO: Or how “magic dirt” became a MLM miracle cure scam for COVID-19
“BOO” stands for Black Oxygen Organics, a “cure” for COVID-19 that got the attention of regulators last week. Basically, it’s dirt billed by its believers as “magic dirt” that sells for $110 a bag (plus shipping) through a multilevel marketing sales model. What can this latest COVID cure tell us about the relationship between alternative medicine and COVID-19 denial?
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Posted: Jun 24, 2021 - 3:02pm

What is Introspection Illusion?*
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Posted: Sep 8, 2015 - 5:14pm

Conviction of Things Not Seen: The Uniquely American Myth of Satanic Cults
How quack psychology helped pundits invent the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and '90s
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Posted: Jan 26, 2015 - 3:22pm

An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments <Free>
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Posted: Jul 27, 2014 - 10:51am


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Posted: Jun 19, 2014 - 1:14pm

NeuroLogica Blog » New Creationist Documentary – Same Old Nonsense
Proclivities

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Posted: Jun 17, 2014 - 8:43am

 RichardPrins wrote: 
Yes, her dubious credibility was brought up in the "Beer" thread a few weeks ago.
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Posted: Jun 16, 2014 - 4:05pm

Quackmail: Why You Shouldn't Fall For The Internet's Newest Fool, The Food Babe.
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Posted: May 21, 2014 - 12:50am

Skeptics will always face an uphill struggle against pseudoscience
Vulnerable people fall for the claims of psychics and their ilk because irrationality is ingrained in the human psyche
If the scientific skepticism movement were to choose a mascot, we could do a lot worse than Sisyphus: the figure from Greek mythology doomed by the gods to spend eternity pushing a boulder uphill, only to watch it roll back down again the moment he rests. Few other analogies really capture the frustrations and seeming futility of counteracting a widely held pseudoscientific belief.

Perhaps worse, it is not enough for us merely to push back against the outrageous claims of pseudoscience, and those who capitalise on the bereaved and the vulnerable (whether knowingly or unknowingly) – we also have to do so responsibly. We can’t afford to use the dirty tricks employed by some of those we criticise, lest we lose our own integrity and with it whatever persuasive power we may have had.

Equally, we can’t afford to advocate rationalism with the same brashness and rudeness displayed by some pseudoscientists, because our truths are sadly less welcome than their comforting untruths. It is easy to convince someone of a falsehood if it’s something they desperately want to hear. They will even pay you for the privilege, and defend you to the hilt.

This is the Greek tragedy of the modern skeptical movement. If we’re cursed to play the role of Sisyphus and forever push our boulder up the mountain, we’re also fated to do so with one hand tied behind our back. Rest assured, those advocating reason will forever face an uphill battle, and any victories will be slow and difficult – and the moment we stop pushing, the boulder will inexorably roll back.

So why do we bother? If every victory only holds back the tide for a while, what’s the point? It’s a question I’ve been considering a lot of late, and I think the answer lies in social responsibility, humility and an awareness of our own susceptibility. It’s too easy to see ourselves as being beyond belief, or above belief: “There but for the grace of a god I don’t believe in go not I, for I am smarter than that, and I cannot be fooled.”

Personally, I don’t buy that mentality for a moment. Intelligence is no guard against pseudoscience – smart people simply find smarter ways to justify their belief in the unjustifiable. Instead, the real defence against succumbing to seductive nonsense is an awareness of our own intellectual limitations and the cognitive flaws to which we are all prey. Or, in short, skepticism. (...)

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Posted: Apr 30, 2014 - 5:28pm


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Posted: Mar 11, 2014 - 10:57am

MH370 brings bomohs, preachers and psychics out - Yahoo News Malaysia

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Posted: Feb 21, 2014 - 11:51pm

Majority of young adults think astrology is a science
Study finds Americans are more and more willing to accept astrology as real science.
Science may have looked victorious in the recent debate between Bill Nye"The Science Guy" and young-Earth creationist Ken Ham, but a new study suggests Americans have a pretty loose interpretation of what actually constitutes "science."

According to a new survey by the National Science Foundation, nearly half of all Americans say astrology, the study of celestial bodies' purported influence on human behavior and worldly events, is either "very scientific" or "sort of scientific."

By contrast, 92 percent of the Chinese public think horoscopes are a bunch of baloney.

What's more alarming, researchers show in the 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators study, is that American attitudes about science are moving in the wrong direction. Skepticism of astrology hit an all-time high in 2004, when 66 percent of Americans said astrology was total nonsense. But each year, fewer and fewer respondents have dismissed the connections between star alignment and personality as bunk.

Not surprisingly, those with less science education and less "factual knowledge" have become increasingly willing to accept astrology as legitimate science, with 65 percent of such individuals considering the pseudo-science credible in 2012, up from 48 percent in 2010.

Young people are also especially inclined to offer astrology scientific legitimacy, with a majority of Americans ages 18 to 24 considering the practice at least "sort of" scientific, and the 25-34 age group is not far behind them.

John Besley of Michigan State University, the lead author of the report's chapter on public attitudes toward science, told Mother Jones he thinks we need to wait "to see if it's a real change" before speculating about what the data really means, but said the data "popped out to me when I saw it."

Americans have always had a strange fascination with astrology. First Lady Nancy Reagan famously employed the services of an astrologer after the assassination attempt on her husband.

Mrs. Reagan would have probably checked off the "sort of scientific" category. When asked in 1989 whether she thought astrology could be credited for her husband's success at avoiding any further danger, she said: "I don't really believe it was, but I don't really believe it wasn't."


NSF Report Flawed; Americans Do Not Believe Astrology is Scientific | NeoAcademic
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Posted: Feb 21, 2014 - 5:01am

Did Discovery Channel fake the image in its giant shark documentary? | George Monbiot

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Posted: Feb 19, 2014 - 12:06pm

 black321 wrote:
well, we are descendants of amphibious extraterrestrials from a planet that orbits sirius, right? 

Clearly...
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Posted: Feb 19, 2014 - 11:57am

 RichardPrins wrote:
Great Pyramid at Giza Vandalized to 'Prove' Conspiracy Theory

Two German men who visited the Egyptian pyramids in April 2013 now face criminal charges for their attempt to prove their "alternative history" conspiracy theories through vandalism. The men, Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann, were joined by a third German, a filmmaker who accompanied them to document their "discoveries."

The men were allowed to enter the inner chambers of the Great Pyramid at Giza normally off-limits to the public and restricted to authorized archaeologists and Egyptologists. The group reportedly took several items from the pyramids, including taking samples of a cartouche (identifying inscription) of the pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops. Goerlitz and Erdmann, who are not archaeologists but have instead been described as "hobbyists," allegedly smuggled the artifacts out of the country in violation of strict antiquities laws, according to news reports.

In addition to the three Germans, six Egyptians are being held in connection with the case, including several guards and inspectors from the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry who allowed the men into the pyramid. Tourism, one of Egypt's most important industries, has dropped dramatically in recent years due to social and political unrest. Tour-agency owners — including one of the men recently arrested in connection with this case — are often willing to bend or break the rules if it means satisfying wealthy foreigners, news reports suggest. The German government expressed outrage over the acts, and categorically stated the men were private citizens and not in any way affiliated with its German Archaeological Institute. (...)

The men are apparently convinced the cartouche identifying Khufu as the creator of the Great Pyramid at Giza is a fake, and they hoped to do an analysis on the pigments to prove they were not as old as the pyramids themselves. In essence, they claimed, pharaoh Khufu simply put his name on (and took credit for) pyramids that had been built thousands of years earlier by people from the legendary city of Atlantis. They accuse mainstream archaeologists of covering up — or willfully ignoring — evidence pointing to non-Egyptian origins of the pyramids.

The conspiracy theories that Goerlitz and Erdmann endorse did not appear in a vacuum; instead, they have been widely promoted by best-selling authors such as Erich von Däniken, who wrote "Chariots of the Gods?" first published in 1968. Such authors claim the true builders of the pyramids were not ancient Egyptians but instead others, like extraterrestrials or residents of the legendary Atlantis. While "alternative history" and "ancient astronaut" theorists such as von Däniken do not explicitly endorse vandalism of any Egyptian sites, Goerlitz and Erdmann's actions were clearly driven by belief in such theories. (Ancient-astronaut theorists propose, unscientifically, that extraterrestrials intelligently designed humans.) (...)



 

well, we are descendants of amphibious extraterrestrials from a planet that orbits sirius, right?
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