peristaltor

He nails the whole discussion right at the end: "I would much rather be a rising ape than a falling angel."

From this rant:

It's not that I'm cavalier about safety. I'm just a sucker -- so to speak -- for the facts. And the fact is: No child has been poisoned by a stranger's goodies on Halloween, ever, as far as we can determine. Joel Best, a sociology professor at the University of Delaware, studied November newspapers from 1958 to the present, scouring them for any accounts of kids felled by felonious candy. And...he didn't find any. He did find one account of a boy poisoned by a Pixie Stix his father gave him. Dad did it for the insurance money and, Best says, he probably figured that so many kids are poisoned on Halloween, no one would notice one more.

Well, they did and dad was executed. That's Texas for you. Another boy died after he got into his uncle's heroin stash and relatives tried to make it look like he'd been killed by candy. And that's it.

Now look at how the fear that our nice, normal-seeming neighbors might actually be moppet-murdering psychopaths has turned the one kiddie independence day of the year into yet another excuse to micromanage childhood. (Emphasis mine.)

The Wife and I theorize the fear of tainted home-made treats was started by Big Chocolate. Hershey's, M&M Mars, those guys gained millions in the sealed candy market, probably by simply starting whisper campaigns in the 1970s that snowballed into mass paranoia.

So, hey, let the kids off the leash. Let them wander and grow. Sure, they might skin their knees on occasion. Everyone does. That's how we learn about hard surfaces and the importance of traction.

That parental micromanagement leash: it's embarrassing to all involved.

( Oh, and in other news, this year I got into the spirit! )

To the rabid optimists: Put down the pom-poms. Step away from the pink megaphone. You aren't helping.

Please read this. Without knowing it, without being able to articulated it as well, this has been my philosophy for decades.

Skeptic magazine editor Michael Shermer (The guy from the Baloney Detection Kit video) lays down the skeptical, scientific approach in this Scientific American article:

The principle of positive evidence applies to all claims. Skeptics are from Missouri, the Show-Me state. Show me a Sasquatch body. Show me the archaeological artifacts from Atlantis. Show me a Ouija board that spells words with securely blindfolded participants. Show me a Nostradamus quatrain that predicted World War II or 9/11 before (not after) the fact (postdictions don’t count in science). Show me the evidence that alternative medicines work better than placebos. Show me an ET or take me to the Mothership. Show me the Intelligent Designer. Show me God. Show me, and I’ll believe.

Michael Shermer gives the 12-point rundown on questions everyone should be asking all the time. BTW, his books Why People Believe Weird Things and Why Darwin Matters should be required high school reading.

Not familiar with the James Randi Educational Foundation? James has worked tirelessly over the decades to debunk the bunko artists, the crap salespeople that peddle cheap gimmicks as gold, that prey upon the desperate with empty hopes. He does this by demonstrating what cheats these people are, and by offering a simple challenge: If you think you are psychic in any way, come to us and let us prove it. If you can demonstrate your psychic or paranormal powers in a double-blind test, The Randi Foundation give you a million dollars. It's that simple.

So far, no one has accepted the challenge and collected the money. Go figure.

The problem might be, though, that these flim-flam artists don't really need Randi's cash. They make pretty good money peddling lies and deceit to their generally pretty strong followings. If they tell their legion of minions to complain about Randi, they probably will.


Via Pharyngula.

Addendum, April 12, 2009: It looks like Randi is back on the air! Woo-hoo!

Pat Condell fights the threat of fire with a fiery tirade. I likee.

I started writing the Deist Miasma series with high hopes, but little else. I was missing something, a crucial piece of evidence (as opposed to suspicion) that may have finally surfaced. It's a preliminary study that requires some expansion, but it reinforced the niggling thoughts that started this series enough to motivate me to finish it. ( Onward, interested parties! )

Step 1: Take empty junk postage-paid mailing envelope, the type junk mailers will hope you will fill with checks and cash.

Step 2: Fill with a 16-page Business Reply Pamphlet (follow "Business Reply Pamphlet" link at top of page).


Panel Two of the Mailer

Step 3: Think about the fact that they will have to eat the postage, the junk mailing scum. This should lead to;

Step 4: Laugh.

The Church Sign Generator.

I need a laugh. Please post your creations below.

This guy starts by "defending" Scientologists, then quickly and wittily says why:

I wish religion was, like anal beads and Everybody Loves Raymond, something that people practiced privately, in their homes, and it was an individual matter that rarely intruded on my life. Because theoretically, I really don't care what you believe in. I don't give two shits if you worship Jesus or Allah or Brett Favre or The Force or little fucking forest gnomes. In theory, it makes no difference to me whether your idea of a religious experience is saying ten Hail Marys, or nailing your balls to a wooden plank while defacating. It should be no concern of mine. But these fucking fundamentalist Christians have unfortunately made it my business and everyone's business, and because of their insistence on meddling with science and politics, I now have to try and figure out who's the least superstitious Presidential candidate. I wish it would never even occur to me that the prospective leader of the free world might, in the 21st century, reject a basic foundation of science. But alas, this is the dumb, credulous kindergarten class known as America, where, much to the snickering bemusement of Europe and the rest of the developed world, our political leaders have to show up on TV kneeling in front of a cross at Sunday mass to even be considered a candidate for Commander in Chief. And that, sadly, makes religion an important issue - because religion has begun threatening science, and if we start tearing away at science, we risk losing what little sense of reason and logic our country still has left to hold onto.

Oh, so well put, sir.

I know, I know, from me one would expect such a sentiment. Supposedly, I hate the faithful and the GOP as well. Not true -- especially since I don't believe in Hell -- but my opinions precede me. I can accept that.

No, the premise for my incendiary little subject line comes not from me but from someone far more eloquent, verbose -- and formally schooled in Christian theology, bradhicks. If you need support for my subject, please read his five part essay outlining the decision made by theologists to openly embrace the teachings of Satan the Republican Party espoused (again, his words, not mine).

Christians in the Hand of an Angry God, Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5, Conclusion

I learned quite a lot, and hope you do as well.


Thanks to greymalkini at dark_christian.

Pharyngula shares this fun site in which, I kid you not, (a)ll Articles are edited by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Before an article is published on our website, I grab some wine and crackers and pretend they are the blood and guts of Christ to whet my appetite. Once my fervor reaches the point of no return, I devour the body of Christ like a rabid dog. This ensures that I am ready for divine communication.

Okay. . . .

I was browsing through some articles, thinking this must be satire of Onion quality, when I traipsed upon this little title:

Senator Larry Craig:
American Hero and Innocent Victim

In this rant, the author goes (pun pardon) straight from defending a little toe tapping -- "Peering into another man's stall is just normal social behavior" -- to declaring: "If the Democrats had their way, we would be called the United States of Fried Chicken and Blingonia."

I'm leaning toward satire worthy of Swift.


The Name Says It All . . . Ironically!

Let an atheist wish you a Merry Xmas!

If you like what Pat says, he's got lots more.

I'll be honest; for a short while, I thought this was for real. I'm glad it was/is not.

I, like the author of this excellent article, am quite tired

. . . of the notion that “atheism” is charged with providing an answer to anything, as if atheism were some collective belief system, as if atheists replaced the Bible and church and hymns on Sunday with rules and rituals of their own.

You must read on for yourself to find the reference to dogs noted in my subject.