It's a really, really big "if."
The toupée fallacy is named for a particular example of the informal fallacy that goes something like this: All toupées look fake; I’ve never seen one that I couldn’t tell was fake. Like a lot of fallacies, it’s so painfully obvious when it’s spelled out that you might have a hard time believing that anyone … Read more
Last Tuesday (Jan. 26th), Richard Dawkins made the following tweet: Text: “Obviously doesn’t apply to vast majority of feminists, among whom I count myself. But the minority are pernicious.” Here’s a summary of what happened next: Lindy West began a Twitter conversation with Dawkins, informing him that the woman caricatured in the video is a … Read more
So, two things to mention here. First, hey look! New blog design. I’ve been wanting to change it for quite some time to something more clean and minimalist, and am pretty happy with how things are now. Though I do talk about personal issues from time to time, this isn’t Livejournal and I wanted to … Read more
I don’t know American Atheists president David Silverman, but he strikes me as kind of a brash guy. The kind of person who thinks that atheist activism means pissing off religious people, and if you haven’t succeeded in that then you’re doing it wrong. But apparently he’s now trying to get along with religious people, … Read more
Skeptics of Oz is a free skeptical conference held in Wichita, Kansas, this year on March 16-17 at Wichita State University’s CAC Theater. Here’s the Facebook page. Here’s the line-up of speakers: Introduction to Skepticism by Caleb Lack Depression and Mental Illness by JT Eberhard Busting Sex Myths by Emily Boyer Psychic Charlatanry by DJ Grothe Ageism by Lux … Read more
Is: Skepticon is a gathering of like-minded people on specific dates.Isn’t: The particular dates don’t matter, except that that also mostly encompass a weekend, but purely for reasons of travel and availability. There is no such thing as a skeptical Sabbath. Is: Skepticon involves speakers getting up before an audience and issuing proclamations.Isn’t: Those proclamations … Read more
https://www.facebook.com/events/440034722701608/ Blasphemy. Noun: The act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk. In other words, the act or offense of speaking about religion as though you are not religious. Speaking about a religion as if you are not an adherent of it. And all of us are at least non-adherents … Read more
So, I’m going. Registered, got a hotel room, time off work scheduled, etc. Haven’t been since 2010, and I’m sure a great deal has changed since then, well beyond a good portion of the speakers. It should be really interesting and a lot of fun…hopefully things like sleep and wifi will be included rather than … Read more
…is my term for the collective group of idiots who contributed to Jen McCreight deciding that blogging is no longer worth the harassment she has faced on a daily basis. I wish they would form their own organization already. As soon as they hold a conference, the organizers of all other secular conferences could examine … Read more
If you only read one thing about it– or, more likely, if you’ve read plenty about it and are either borderline overwhelmed or so overwhelmed that you can hardly see “whelmed” from where you stand– read Natalie Reed’s post from a couple of days ago, “All In.” It’s long, but definitely worth reading in its … Read more