Just a reminder to think twice before giving your change to the Christian, anti-gay Salvation Army this holiday season. It was written (PDF) by an anonymous reader of this site: … To whom it may concern, The Salvation Army, a Christian organization, states that intimate homosexual acts are forbidden: Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex. The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy… Read more
At Skepticon, JT Eberhard gave a talk about mental illness. I had to catch my plane just before JT went up to speak but from the audience reaction seen in the video and the Twitter feed I was following in the airport, it was pretty apparent the talk resonated with a *lot* of people who never heard a topic so intensely personal on stage before — much less at a conference like this one. We talk a lot about expanding… Read more
David Fitzgerald, author of Nailed, gave an eye-opening and hilarious speech about Mormonism at Skepticon and the talk is now on YouTube. Mind you, he didn’t go out of his way to mock them. Not really. He mostly just tells facts about the faith — how Mormonism began, what Mormons believe, etc. I would love to hear from any current or ex-Mormon if David got anything wrong, because it seemed to me like he had done his research. Read more
Singer Anthony David just released the video for his new song “#locationlocationlocation.” Listening to the lyrics, it’s clear how much of an influence Carl Sagan had on him. David writes in an email: It was inspired by Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” and the whole idea of the Goldilocks zone we inhabit. It goes from there to humanist values, punctuated by visuals of a recent trip I took to Kenya on a humanitarian mission. The video actually opens up in the… Read more
Brendan Smith is best known for his work on The Brick Testament — Bible stories told through carefully placed Lego pieces. Like the story of Lot getting raped by his two daughters. The site is so popular that Smith just released his fourth book, The Brick Bible: Despite all the success, one major retailer is banning the book from its shelves because it’s not happy with the content. Smith explained on the book’s Facebook page: I have just been informed… Read more
I’ll marry the first person who approves of this cake for our wedding: (Thanks to Dawn for the link!) Read more
I gave a talk at Skepticon IV about the problems with math education and they already have it up online! (Nice work, HamboneProductions.) Hope you like it. Read more
The Washington Post’s On Faith section asked a number of people from difference religious groups (and a couple non-religious ones) what they would say at the Thanksgiving table. My response is up at their site and here’s an excerpt: Atheists have plenty to be thankful for — without the need to include anything supernatural or non-existent on our lists. Our families. Our children. Our health. Our friends. Our careers. Our communities. The people who enrich our lives, who challenge us,… Read more
If you’re with the family today, Richard Wiseman just released his latest collection of quirky science tricks you can do to impress and amuse those around you: Read more
