Top 10 Cryptozoology Stories of 2009?

Cryptomundo has a list of the top 10 cryptozoology stories of this past year. Funny how a good chunk of the stories are stories about good science. Seems like they think mixing the good with the bad makes the idea of Bigfoot look much more plausible, when actually it will probably throw the good science into doubt more than anything.

Most of the stories are about new species being discovered/rediscovered or found in places that are unexpected. I guess this is meant to make the idea of finding one of the traditional mysterious beasts such as Bigfoot or Nessie seem likely. But the major difference is that we see more than a fuzzy shaky video image of coelacanths.

2012 at the Cincinnati Observatory

Do you or someone you know think that the world will end in 2012 because the Mayans aid so? Well then you should attend this class at the Cincinnati Observatory. The lectures at the Observatory are really first class, I don't get to enough of them. This one ought to be fun as well as educational.

Ten Commandments Followup

A follow up to this post. Lockland has taken down the display, which is probably the right thing to do. If you put up a display like this it opens the door for any and all religious displays to be put up.

12/12/2009 Shirley Maul

"An Exploration of the Creative Process"

A presentation of selected sections of performances followed by an attempt to answer the questions "How do you think of these things?" and "What makes one performance Art, and another performance not Art?"

Shirley Maul, a former recipient of an Ohio Arts Fellowship, has been creating performances and collaborating in group performance pieces for 20 years. Shirley has performed in several venues in the Cincinnati area, as well as in Columbus, Cleveland and Yellow Springs.

Meet at Molly Malone's in Pleasant Ridge at 10:00AM on Saturday 12/12/2009.

More local atheists and thoughts on the public's view

'Sinners' gather at atheist meeting.

I didn't go to this meeting, but I think it is important to highlight it here. It's nice to see that the billboard has brought some more atheists to CinCor, but I find it odd that when a group has to define itself by what it is not. That's why these news stories end up sounding like the atheists are fighting believers, and, in turn, why believers think that atheists are mad at god or some other nonsense.

I do need to get out to at least one of these meetings to see what it is like, I really can't be critical of them just from what I've learned from the media's perspective. And I can't be angry at the media for a poor portrayal if that isn't the case.

I know it goes hand-in-hand, but the view of atheists from the outside is probably similar to the public's view of skeptics. How can you meet and talk about what you don't believe? With ART, the answer should be obvious; we meet to discuss a wide variety of subjects not limited to the 'traditional' skeptical subjects of homeopathy, psychic cats, and little green men from across the galaxy. We turn our skeptical eye to topics on the cutting edge of science, art, and public policy. How different are the groups within' CinCor? I will have to find out. Not knowing is my own fault.

Billboard moved

Well that didn't take long. Someone apparently threatened Lamar Advertising for hosting the billboard.

EDIT:
My mistake, Lamar was not threatened, actually the landowners from whom Lamar leases were threatened. More info here

Billboards

Those uppity non-believers have put up a billboard with a very nonthreatening message telling other non-believers that they are not alone. This article on Cincinnati.com has brought in over 500 comments as of this posting.

How dare those godless people express such a simple message in public? Don't they know that we're not supposed to discuss controversial issues, such as religion and politics, in public?

Scale

Here's a neat illustration of scale.

Secular Service and UC Symposium

October 18th is Secular Service Day. Seems like a good idea, and maybe next year we can organize ART to participate. I know we have a few members who have connections in non-profit organizations, so it shouldn't be too hard to find opportunities. A bit late to organize something now.

Also the 2009 Darwiniana Symposium: Darwinism, Science, Religion, and Society will be held at UC October 29-30.

Speakers include Eric Plutzer (Penn State University), George Bishop (University of Cincinnati), Patricia Pricehouse (Case Western Reserve University), Robert T. Pennock (University of Michigan), NCSE Supporter Francisco Ayala (University of California at Irvine), Jon Miller (Michigan State University), Michael Roos (University of Cincinnati), and Robert Richardson (University of Cincinnati).

UC Skeptics - Are Christianity & Evolution compatible?

Revisionist History

The webpage is currently down due to being hit by multiple majors blogs the last two days, but this piece of "art" makes some strange claims about the founders and modern society. The artist is trying to make some profound statements about America, but the symbolism is all screwed up. Of note is the number of founding fathers who are portrayed good Christians including Ben Franklin (fornicator), Thomas Jefferson (read his version of the Bible), George Washington (didn't take communion) and even Thomas Paine (atheist). I was especially confused by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. dressed as the modern American soldier.

If you were wondering, the college professor is sitting right next to Satan and Mr. Hollywood.

You can see a revised version of the art with a humorous slant to it here.

Lockland Ten Commandments

The story appears to be a bit light on details. Apparently the guy claims to have been harassed by the police and in retaliation has files a lawsuit to remove the display.

LOCKLAND - A Lockland resident has filed a lawsuit against the village, claiming a display of the Ten Commandments outside town hall is unconstitutional.

Christopher Knecht wants the sign removed and a court order to prevent any future displays of "religious fables and myths."

Collateral Damage (I'm going to get an earful on this one)

I have often wondered about our ability to so readily accept collateral damage in a conventional war, yet we are so unwilling to accept it in the war against crime.
In war news from Afghanistan, we hear of wedding parties decimated by unmanned drones, and women and children recklessly killed by Blackwater in a street fight. This is news for a couple of days, and then we forget and accept it as the cost of war. These people are true innocents. But, for a person who is on death row for a murder he or she most likely did commit, we agonize for 20 years and spend millions of dollars before we are willing to carry out the sentence.
I don't know if there are reliable statistics about wrongful convictions, but my guess is that a very small percentage are innocent of the crime they were convicted for, and an even smaller percentage are true innocents.
At what point do we say society can't afford this process anymore, and we have to accept it as collateral damage?

A Glorious Dawn

This video has been making the rounds around the skeptical blogosphere. It has a catchy tune and a nice message from Carl Sagan.


If you don't know what Autotune is check out this video from Nova Science Now.

What if the only way to send astronauts to Mars is to leave them there for good?

I heard a segment on NPR a couple of weeks ago, and today found the transcript.
The gist of it was:

"What if the only way to send astronauts to Mars is to leave them there for good? Lawrence Krauss, a physicist at Arizona State University and director of the Origins Initiative, argues that a one-way trip is worth considering, and that it wouldn't be hard to find passengers."

An interesting concept.
The argument is that a round trip would be exponentially more expensive.
According to the guest, he has been able to find quite a few people who would be willing to volunteer.

The Transcript

The Audio

Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian

I don't know how many of you know about Betty Bowers, "America's Best Christian". The quote on her latest missive is, "I will NOT let Mr. Obama brainwash children! That is MY job."

Just for grins, check out her site at:
http://www.bettybowers.com/index.html

Here are some graphics that are worth a chuckle (I shudder to think how many people believe this sort of stuff).

http://www.bettybowers.com/bettyschool.jpg

http://www.bettybowers.com/bettybowersbible.jpg

-- Jill

Seasonal and 'Swine' flu

The blog Science-Based Medicine has a great article on the flu. Check it out and be the most informed person in your class this year.

Richard Wiseman

Richard Wiseman has an interesting website where he delves into the workings of the human mind. He loves to exploit some of the trickier parts.



It took me a few minutes to see anything, but once I did it became difficult to 'unsee' it.

Nice online talk on medicine

There is a very nice talk on medicine, the scientific method, and skepticism on the Skeptics Toolbox by Harriet Hall, MD.
http://skepticstoolbox.org/hall/
Here are a couple of slides:

Cartoons of the day

An oldie but a goodie.