THE SKEPTIC ARENA

Enter into the Skeptic Arena ...
but do not come in unarmed!



Rationalists only accept as true,
that which has been proven to be true,
through the application of the scientific method. 		In addition to basing belief on provable evidence,
Rationalists are also defined as those,
whose thinking is strictly guided by the laws of logic.

HOT TOPICS


5/22/13

So what's the difference between Muslims and Christians?

Saudi conference on women ... with no women

American conference on female contraception ... with no women

Not much.


5/21/13

Cosmologists propose galactic black hole merger




5/20/13

Today's "Classic Email"

Introducing ... the Westboro Baptist - Banjo Band




5/19/13

This week's show was:
"Intellectual Freedom and Integrity"
featuring "Calvin Beisner, phd."

The Science Segment was:
"Magma mechanics"

Listen (21:02)

OR

Read (9 pages)

To participate in the live debate, go to:
Talkshoe.com and click on "join a call" - then select "The Skeptic Arena" (ID#45435).
You may just listen, type in comments, or you can debate by phone (724-444-7444).


5/18/13

One of the worst days in Earth's history

The day the dinosaurs got hit

But out of that tragedy, there arose survivors (our ancestors)
who would benefit from the dinosaur's demise, and change the world forever.


5/17/13

This 'Puke' figures he can hijack the current I.R.S. scandal and use it to his own advantage, in an attempt to hide the fact that his organization is violating I.R.S. law. Perhaps 'Puke' was too generous of a description?



I thought this was one of the best comments following the story:
"Mr. Graham and his organizations were audited because it appeared they were in violation of the tax exempt requirements by using their money to advance a political position. These organizations are allowed to raise huge amounts of money and pay no taxes. In addiiton, the people who donate to these organizations deduct the contribution on their taxes thereby reducing the amount of money the government collects even further. They should be be happy and willing for anyone to review their records. This is a privilege the majority of businesses are not allowed."


5/16/13

Cockatoos demonstrate advanced cognitive ability


5/15/13

Why are endangered elephants being slaughtered?



As if I needed another reason to hate religion.


5/14/13

Physicists continue to outfox the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle



They are now using what was learned from the 2012 Nobel Awards
to tame quantum physics and begin development of quantum computers.


5/13/13

How has fundamentalist religion been able to control the world for over 2,000 years?

Let's let the Taliban in Pakistan answer that question for you


5/11/13

For the despair she has brought to so many innocent victims,
psychic Sylvia Brown should be doing federal time.



And for enabling her, Montel Williams should have an adjoining cell.


5/10/13

The Fountain of Youth is getting closer to reality

A single molecular switch is responsible for making an old brain, young again


5/9/13

Why do Christians make such a big deal out of forgiveness
when their God is the most unforgiving deity to be found in any religion on Earth?

Well, just look at their long history of violence and brutality.
Without forgiveness they would have to take responsibility for their crimes.
They would have to stop killing and hurting others.

Here is an example of Christian forgiveness.

John Fugelsang discusses Mark Sanford's reelection (3:40)

Wasn't that special?
Just like in the Bible; you can commit heinous acts or infidelities,
but as long as you accept Jesus and say you're sorry, you will be forgiven,
and you can then return to doing, whatever it was, you were doing before.

And Mark Sanford is the perfect example.


5/8/13

Viruses hijack bacterial immune system before killing it

New weapon against cholera


5/7/13

This is how it's done

Women put a halt to witch-hunting

Now, quit feeling helpless and start changing the world ... like they did.


5/6/13

Precursor molecules to life found in outer space




5/4/13

Third Van Allen Belt discovered




5/3/13

One of the best comments I have ever seen on the internet:

"I am a blind man standing on the curb, needing to cross the street. There are 100 sighted people there wanting to assist me. 97 of them say that a car is speeding my way, and that it is not safe to cross. 3 of them say they still have questions as to the speed of the car, the make of the car, is it really a car, cars have gone down this street for decades ... maybe I should just cross; after all, clearly the issue is not settled, and I can't tell if those 97 people are really trustworthy anyway."

For those of you who might be a little lost,
it refers to the 97% of climate scientists who agree on the topic of Manmade Global Warming.


5/2/13

Brain evolution: humans compared against Rhesus monkeys




5/1/13

Facebook removed this picture and punished the poster by blocking them.



This point needs to be pounded home; especially to rich, spoiled American Christians.


4/30/13

Explanation of how our skin fights off harmful bacteria

Special proteins


4/29/13

TV depiction of revered Islamic figure causes stir

Here is the pertinent part:
"Although visual depictions are not explicitly banned in the Koran, Sunni scholars have generally agreed that personifications of religious figures are banned because it can lead to idolatry, which is strictly forbidden."

So everything (the anger, threats, violence, and killings)
are all based on the slippery slope logical fallacy.

This is how nearly all cons (and most religions) work.
Since they can never back up their position with facts,
they simply claim that truth is what they say it is,
and then provide some half-baked, illogical justification.


4/27/13

Pakistan turns its back on one of its greatest physicists ... because of religion

Abdus Salam - Pakistan's only Nobel Laureate


4/26/13

Reverse engineering a dinosaur

Chickenosaurus


4/25/13

Update on the culture war (13:12)



We're winning. As a side note James and Tammy Faye's son turned out pretty awesome: how often do you encounter an honest Christian?


4/24/13

Abiogenesis advance

Long molecules self-assemble in water


4/23/13

Richard Carrier posted a video on YouTube in which he promoted Atheism+. Personally, I don't care much for the movement because I disagree with its basic premise; that Atheism encompasses anything more than a disbelief in gods. I think they are conflating Atheism with Humanism. I will admit however, that some of their ideas are good (for instance, when they line up with humanistic values).

Many Atheists reject the premise of Atheism+, but one group led by 'Thunderfoot', has escalated the dispute into a hissy fit. They went to the video site and downgraded it. I commented, chastizing the group for such childish behavior. Naturally, a few of them responded. Here is one of them (this is only the icon he uses, not necessarily him ... or her). Click on the picture to read his comments, followed by my replies:



I think this is a perfect time to try out my new 'Retard Chart'

I.Q.    Classification
<70                Moron
<50            Imbecile
<25                  Idiot

So where does our first-ever Retard Contestant fit in?

Actually, he survived. He was evaluated above Moron.
You can decide for yourselves ... by how much.


4/22/13

The Burzynski Cancer Clinic files a DMCA to force a video off YouTube. Why?

Watch and find out (9:39)




4/20/13

What happens when Saturn's magnetic field meets a powerful solar flare?




4/18/13



So who is going to get violent if gay marriage is legalized in France?
Christians - provoked by guys like that piece of human feces in the little red hat. Christian violence rarely originates with Christians themselves, but rather with clergy who use their positions of influence to manipulate their flocks, who then force their beliefs on others.

This is far more easily seen in modern-day radical Islam. Christian leaders have been watching closely, and they can see just how successful Muslims, who resort to the time-tested stategy of violence, have been. A stategy most modern Christians have abandoned.

But little red hat man gives us a pretty good picture of what Christianity was like for centuries before modern humans dragged them out of the Middle Ages, kicking and screaming.

So it has always been
So it shall always be

(until we fight back)


4/17/13

How the brain maps space

Reading the mind of a mouse


4/16/13

Myanmar's majority Buddhists accused of killing minority Muslims.

Time to put on our critical thinking caps:

Yes, it's true that majority religions usually attack minority religions. But before accepting this story as unbiased or accurate, there are a few other factors to consider.

Remember the recent attack by Palestinians on Jerusalem? Remember the deafening silence from critics of Israel that followed? And then when Israel finally fired back, the world's anti-Semites howled in indignation that the Israelis would fire missiles into Gaza. In other words, sometimes reporters conveniently leave out the beginning, because it may show that the people they are trying to portray as victims, are actually the instigators.

I don't know. What I do have to go on is: this report, combined with my knowledge of Buddhists and Muslims. This report reads backwards from the way I would expect, based on my knowledge of those two religions. That causes me to see a big red flag. Maybe the report is true. But personally, I plan to reserve judgment until more facts come forth.


4/15/13

The message is clear:

Get off your ass


4/14/13

Desecrate the Koran and we will KILL you!

But if we burn a Bible ... not so bad.




4/13/13

How many moons does Earth have?

If you answered 1, you are right ... for now.

NASA to capture an asteroid and put it in orbit around Earth (4:42)


4/12/13

Scientists learn how to remove the sensation of feeling cold.

They removed specific neurons


4/11/13

100,000 Muslims rally, demanding death for Atheist bloggers



Bangladesh has had a secular constitution since its inception in 1972. Yet in 2011, the government bowed to Islamist pressure and declared Islam the state religion. The 90% Sunni majority obviously doesn't tolerate the existence of those who will not submit (this shows how they obtain nearly 100% control of the people - with violence).


4/10/13

Vulcan Mind Meld ... established between rats



What's the next step?

Yep - you guessed it.




4/9/13



It is tradition in America for the bride's family to pay for the wedding ceremony. Recently I learned of a family who refused to honor that custom, so the groom's family had to pay the expenses. No reason was given for the refusal, and I didn't feel it was my place to pry. Whatever the reason, it points out yet another way that society discriminates against women.

The average cost of an American wedding is around $25,000. So if a couple has 3 daughters, they are facing the prospect of having to find $75,000 in loose change lying around. The couple with 3 sons, can just sit back and smile. This places quite a stigma on having daughters, in additon to all the others stigmas society has placed on women.

It's no wonder that in places like India and China, where they are allowed to choose the sex of their children, male babies greatly outnumber female babies (by the way, that stategy is going to backfire on them quite badly when their kids grow up; that's when they will learn that the girl babies will be highly valued, as any rare commodity is, while many boys who are out-competed will have to settle for miserable lives).

Many bad ideas continue because of "tradition." This custom of making the woman's parents responsible for all the wedding expenses, is a tradition that needs to be put to rest. One idea would be to have both families split the cost equally. But whatever solution is selected, this is one stigma that needs to be removed from a sex that is already overloaded with them.


4/8/13

Combination drug therapy may fight both cancer and bacteria

Researchers create right-handed anti-microbial peptides


4/7/13

For the first time in American history, Protestantism drops below 50%.



And that doesn't even include my uncle Benny who gave his Bible to a Wino.


4/6/13

Yet another abiogenesis model enters the race

I emailed the author, Michael Blaber, and he clarified one statement in the article regarding the contribution of green plant life to the Earth's atmospheric oxygen, by adding that plants would have contributed to an 'increase' in atmospheric oxygen which was already present as a result of the Great Oxygenation Event, 2 billion years earlier.


4/5/13

A law has been proposed banning positive depictions of gays.
So who is behind this hate, bigotry, and violence in the Ukraine?

The "usual" suspects ... Christians



The picture shows Christians demonstrating what they learned from Jesus.


4/4/13

Salmon are amazing creatures




4/3/13

Death merchants find a way to quadruple gun sales

National Rifle Association proposal

But - it gets worse

U.N. votes 154-3 to support first-ever global arms trade treaty

First, notice who were the only 3 countries to vote against it:
Iran, Syria, and North Korea (need we say more?).

Second, notice that even the country with the most to lose, America, supported it.

And finally, notice on which side of the debate the National Rifle Association came down on:

"The NRA opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification by the U.S. Senate when it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty would undermine domestic gun-ownership rights, a view the U.S. government rejects. The American Bar Association, an attorneys' lobby group, has said that the treaty would not impact the right to bear arms."

So the NRA sides with Iran, Syria, and North Korea against the whole planet.
Now you know why the NRA is called "The Merchants of Death."


4/2/13

Dinosaur extinction date fine-tuned to ... 66 million years ago


4/1/13

Uganda will pass "Kill the Gays" law, effective 2013

American gays are fighting for equal marriage rights.
Ugandan gays would be thrilled ... not to be killed.


3/31/13

UCLA produces a nanoscale bullet that controls cancer


3/30/13

Remember the show I did 2 weeks ago (see show #229) on attorney Edwin Kagin who was making the straw man argument that guns aren't responsible for mass killings?

Well guess who just argued and lost the "9/11 Cross" case in district court?
Yep, that same Edwin Kagin.



Here's an idea: let's offer the Christians a trade:
Kagin for a minor league pastor and a preacher to be named later.

(to be fair, Kagin is one of the most valuable Atheist assets in America, proving that even with impaired critical thinking skills, one can still be an effective weapon in the culture war).


3/29/13

This ... is a microscope!




3/28/13

Remember "Touchdown Jesus" - the statue that was struck by lightning and burned to the ground? Well, here is a follow up story: "Touchdown Jesus" goes for the extra point.



America is mired in the worst depression since the 1930's. Hundreds of thousands are losing their homes, millions are out of work, and half are barely surviving, at or below the Poverty Line. Instead of spending money on schools, roads, hospitals, and other desperately needed things, how do the Ghost Worshippers in Monroe, Ohio decide to spend their money instead? By allocating hundreds of thousands of dollars to reconstruct a gigantic statue that people can look at.

Whatever happened to Exodus 20:4?
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above ...."

Odd, I would have thought that, with their childlike minds, they would have concluded that maybe God destroyed the statue because He doesn't like being disobeyed.

When hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Christians swore it was God punishing them for sinning. When a tsunami massacred Japan, many Christians again claimed that it was a punishment from God for not accepting Christianity. When Haiti was devastated by an earthquake, many Christians believed it was a punishment from God because Haitians had made a deal with the devil to free them from slavery.

But when a lightning strike burned down Jesus, they turned to science, and explained it by demonstrating a sudden knowledge of climate science and how atmospheric storms work.

So I guess their conclusion can only be that God controls the weather when bad things happen to others, but when bad things happen to them, nature is in control while God is out playing blackjack at the Olympus Casino.

This event was also a pretty good argument for Muslims. If it were Allah who sent the lightning bolt, then combined with 9/11, and the fact that Islam is projected to surpass Christianity by the end of this century, it would appear as though Yahweh is getting his cosmic ass, royally kicked.

Maybe this would be a good time for Yahweh to apologize for all those nasty things His followers said about Scientology's God, Xenu, and consider joining forces. It makes sense because God's most advanced weaponry, according to the Bible, is the sword; while Xenu was using atomic bombs trillions of years ago. If Yahweh eats a little humble pie, together they might give Allah something to sweat about.


3/27/13

The reality of fusion energy is a step closer


3/26/13

Unintended consequences

Florida's bill allowing school prayer celebrated by ... Satanists

Christians continue to violate the Constitution, but this time ... they got burned.


3/25/13

So ... what's been happening lately on Saturn, you ask?




3/23/13

What has the 'Religion of Peace' been up to lately?

Polio vaccinators murdered in Nigeria


3/22/13

Scientists converging on the Fountain of Youth - SIRT3


3/21/13

Christians demand their "religious freedom" to bully homosexuals

Proposed legislation in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada


3/20/13

Drugs can now be delivered by nanoparticles
without being attacked by the immune system




3/19/13

The History Channel's "The Bible" (9:33)



Now that's the way a movie review should be done.


3/18/13

Skynet (future computers from the Terminator movies - but without the time travel nonsense) moving closer to reality.




3/16/13

How plants use the 'fight or flight' response to protect themselves against salt


3/15/13

UN proposal has been designed to reduce violence against women

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood say it will destroy the world

The most memorable line in the whole article was this one:
"the age of ignorance before the coming of Islam."

But before you start berating misogynistic atavistic Muslims,
read this from 'Answers in Genesis' who provide ... the Christian perspective.

Those damn women


3/14/13

In the global warming debate, which side is ALWAYS the side that gets caught lying or intentionally misleading?



Yep, the global warming deniers. George Will couldn't present the actual graph which shows an obvious increase in fires because 1) it doesn't support the view he wants to convinice you of, and 2) that would be honest. Instead he picks the highest year and then finds a lower year later, to give you the false impression that the trend is going down. They use the same dishonest trick when comparing annual temperatures. So how can Conservatives be so easily fooled by this kind of dishonesty?

Because they want to be.

From the opening paragraph this story was nothing more than a cheerleading piece designed to give hope to Conservatives who are still recovering from their devastating defeat in the 2012 election. George Will hits nearly every conservative issue. He uses Gallup to try to rally the troops with hope (yes, Gallup is the same Christian-run organization that was the only one to predict a Romney landslide days before the election). I would pity these people, if they weren't such a danger to America.


3/13/13

Oxygen chambers restore brain function




3/12/13

No matter where in the world you go, you can bet your last dollar
that religion is screwing it up ... usually with violence.

Nigeria's Boko Haram


3/11/13

High-resolution coronal imager telescope
explains extreme corona temperature


3/10/13

T-Cells given the tools to fight back against HIV


3/9/13

The Maldives are in the news again

15 year-old rape victim sentenced to 100 lashes

Remember the story last year from the Maldives about the soft-spoken guy who made the mistake of publicly admitting that he didn't believe in Allah, and the police had to take him into protective custody to keep the crowd of Godly people from decapitating him? When combined with this story about the raped girl, doesn't it just make you think, "Shouldn't I be buying my vacation tickets for the Maldives right now?"


3/8/13

Swine Flu Vaccinations may be responsible for cases of Narcolepsy


3/7/13

The destruction of America ... in only one generation (6:24)



To see a more detailed documentary
about the destruction of the American Dream
watch this (1:16:29):

The One Percent


3/6/13

Neurons can be reprogrammed


3/5/13

Time to weigh in on the gun controversy


3/4/13

Injectable gel restores heart function




3/3/13

Four-stranded ‘quadruple helix’ DNA structure proven to exist in human cells




3/2/13

More fallout from the Anders Breivik massacre

Norwegians to separate Church and State


3/1/13

Fascinating discovery of what makes dogs so different from wolves

Genetically similar ... but behavorally different


2/28/13

The horrors that religion continues to rain down upon our world




2/27/13

Scientists have almost figured out how to duplicate ... a duck's back.

The secret ... minimize Van der Waals interaction forces


Hot Topics older than 3 months can be found in the Hot Topics Archive
(categorized by topic)