The Skeptic Next Door » skeptic

What is Intelligent Design?

theskepticnextdoor — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:08:37 +0000

Intelligent Design(ID): a fringe religious belief. Much like our ancestors believed they could see gods in the random patterns of stars, intelligent design researchers believe they can see ‘their’ god’s handiwork in the complexity of biological and other natural systems. Through boisterous promotion and political mechanations intelligent design adherents have made ongoing unsuccessful attempts to have their beliefs added to the science curriculum of US public schools. This approach bypasses the standard approach of building a broad scientific consensus before making additions to course materials.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere There Are Signs

theskepticnextdoor — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:50:25 +0000

I have an old Garmin Forerunner GPS that I like to wear while jogging. I misplaced it in June after a charity run where I had organized a free thinker team. Is this a sign that God is out to get me. I doubt it. It is probably exactly where I put it, where ever that is.

Recently I have been thinking that I should be doing more running. My running has tapered off to almost nothing. I have even been looking at the newer Forerunners thinking I should replace my missing one.

Yesterday, while cleaning, I finally found it. It only took two months. Is this a sign that I should be jogging more. If I were the sort of person who had and overactive pattern matching mechanism. I might think so. Truth be told I have been thinking about jogging more for most of the 10 weeks that it was missing. Now that I found it my brain can match the two events. There is no such thing as a “sign”.

Truth be told this is sign that I should clean out the SUV more often.

With apologies to the Five Man Electric Band.

Madonna In the Snow

theskepticnextdoor — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:32:07 +0000

I was hiking in Banff National Park on New Years day and came upon this sign from the snow gods.

Mary and Jesus?

I can’t decide if it is Mary and baby Jesus or just an alien.

Maybe I can sell the tree on ebay.

UFO Picture?

theskepticnextdoor — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:33:31 +0000

I took a couple of pictures Jan. 3. I was driving and it was a clear cold night and I am stupid enough to take pictures of the stars in the middle of nowhere when the temperature is -40.

Is this a UFO?

When I first saw this, I really didn’t know what it was. Now that I have had time to think about it I think I have it figured out.

Do you have any idea what caused this? Your clues.

It was not visible to the naked eye.
This shows up on multiple pictures, but not all of them. I moved the camera between pictures and adjusted the lens
Canon 20D, 30 seconds at ISO1600
11-22mm lens set to 11mm.
It was fairly dark and clear.
It was snowy and the moon was reflecting off the snow.
About 50Km to the nearest small town, much further to the next larger population base.
About 1:00AM
-40C/F

If you want an idea of scale, the three bright stars at the bottom running up diagonally, about 1/4 of the way from the left edge are Orion’s belt.

That UFO is HUGE!!!

There Are Always Side Effects

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:31:43 +0000

Wired has an article about a group that is trying a large scale geoengineering project to sink carbon back into the ocean. The problem is there are always side effects to every prescription. In this case it is probably a small enough area that there will be little significant change.

On the other hand I trust that global warming is happening and large scale human activity is having an effect on the earth’s environment, so it seems reasonable to attempt to do something about it regardless of what the UN thinks.

Does Abstinence Only Sex Education Work

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:22:42 +0000

The bible belt appears to be awash in teen mothers. Barring real sex education appears to be a strategy to multiply the religious contingient in the US. From the AP story. Original CDC study

Teenage Pregnancy Rate By State

Mississippi has the highest birth rate, and the report does not indicate why. The data is for 2006, 6 months after Katrina hit. I speculate that there may be a connection. “Why not we are going to die anyway.”

Motion Induced Blindness

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:38:35 +0000

This is so cool. Most people are so certain that their senses do not betray them. Watch the center and some of the yellow dots should disappear.

Basic motion induced blindness

JFK on the Seperation of Church and State

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:24:14 +0000

During his campaign JFK was attacked for being a Catholic. To counter, he gave this speech.

Text from the JFK library.

Keeping Pakistani Girls Ignorant

theskepticnextdoor — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:52:15 +0000

The Taliban in the Pakistani district of Swat has ordered closure of all girl’s schools by Jan. 15. Also IslamOnline.

They have also been blocking polio immunizations resulting in a marked increase of the disease.

I keep thinking that many Muslims are living in their own dark ages.

The Year and Bad Science

theskepticnextdoor — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:21:31 +0000

The Year in Bad Science from the Bad Science Blog.