RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/August 2013

August 2013
9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask. (Well, at least something is in fashion.) Sharon Hill explains that weird noise. Science pushed tobacco. They forced DDT on the environment. They tried to trick everyone with Piltdown Man. Per usual, it's nothing but bullshit So much for men being the calm, rational ones. Play "Guess where Damascus is!" - 100,000 entries later, some interesting statistics. Good job, Elon Musk/Norway. Duckface Vietnam, motherfucker! The Beeb explores the flag that should be treated with the same disdain that Germany treats the swastika, but doesn't. Thanks to flooding's massive costs to the Alberta government, Calgary is becoming a poster child for inaction on climate change. Ethical oil advocates continue to ignore the evidence. In response to an unusual NYT column, here's why we need to take economics seriously. (Then again, this is coming from the co-founder of LessWrong, so stopped clock.) Oh Fox. As climate change denial fades away, enter...climate policy denial. Also: Why nations haven't insisted on more significant climate change countermeasures "And we'll be cool with videos with women prancing around naked, and it won't be sexist as long as the song's a number 1 hit... but when Miley does it we say 'OH MY GOD NO!'" (Seriously, this is why no one takes MRAs seriously.) It does kind of stagger the imagination, doesn't it? You cannot be serious! Gohmert: ‘Scary’ that liberal elites would use vaccines for ‘culling the population’ of humans (You know what, let him keep saying that. When people start feeling the effects of anti-vaccination, he'll get exactly what he wants.) xkcd compiles questions found in Google Autocomplete. ("Why are there slaves in the Bible?" Good question...) <vote poll=blog3221 closed="yes">Asking for relationship advice on Slashdot. Timelessly classy Hilarity ensues. <vote poll=blog3220 closed="yes">Just how liberal is the liberal media? Here's a list of the 15 things everyone would know if there were a liberal media. <vote poll=blog3219 closed="yes">Watch as every Republican's head now explodes. <vote poll=blog3218 closed="yes">She's the Elizabeth II to the current SCOTUS. (At least Scalia isn't selling snake oil, right?) <vote poll=blog3217 closed="yes">One woman's journey from pro-life to pro-choice. <vote poll=blog3216 closed="yes">An engineer accuses Richard Hoagland & Mike Bara. <vote poll=blog3215 closed="yes">Every protest since 1979 <vote poll=blog3214 closed="yes">Nature profiles eminent psychologist and skeptic Elizabeth Loftus. <vote poll=blog3213 closed="yes">[http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/antimuslim-bigotry-is-pervasive-standing-up-against-it-is-neither-cowardly-nor-the-same-as-being-an-apologist-for-fanaticism-8782121.html Anti-Muslim bigotry is pervasive. Standing up against it is neither cowardly, nor the same as being an apologist for fanaticism.] <vote poll=blog3212 closed="yes">On atheism and white knight sexism <vote poll=blog3211 closed="yes">Average cost of raising one child a year: $10-15,000. Average cost of raising one child a year, according to the Heritage Foundation Fraser Institute: $3000, because the lefty social workers are skewing the data! Release the data! <vote poll=blog3210 closed="yes">Welcome to the Age of Denial. (Or the Age of American Wingnuttery.) <vote poll=blog3209 closed="yes">Rape culture? Nah, radical hooey. <vote poll=blog3208 closed="yes">Dr. Sanjay Gupta thinks weed is great. Except his scientific evidence blows. <vote poll=blog3207 closed="yes">Inelastic demand, shelastic demand, commie. <vote poll=blog3206 closed="yes">Video of oral sex at a rap concert is leaked online. Reaction to the girl: "She's a slut!" Reaction to the guy: "Ah, good on ya, brahhh!" <vote poll=blog3205 closed="yes">Worried about the PRC's emergence as a global superpower? To quote dear old Mao, "nothing but a paper tiger." <vote poll=blog3204 closed="yes">Richard Lenski has started blogging! <vote poll=blog3203 closed="yes">The Southern strategy failed to reverse the most of the social progress made in the Civil Rights era. But you can see why the GOP switched to economic rhetoric. <vote poll=blog3202 closed="yes">poll=blog3318>Avoiding [[Hypocrisy] 101: If you want to devote your career to being against subsidized insurance, don't complain when you lose yours.-buddy-video-5536803 Piss off, John Key] <vote poll=blog3201 closed="yes">The world isn't so bad after all. <vote poll=blog3200 closed="yes">The universe where Jenny McCarthy and Amy Farrah Fowler are evil twins dishing out woo. Except that Dr. Fowler has a Ph.D. from UCLA. Not good for the Bruins. <vote poll=blog3199 closed="yes">On no! Add another entry to the list of things that cause autism. This time inducing labor causes autism. Whoops, probably not.

<vote poll=blog3197 closed="yes">PZ Myers explains why you should never trust a "science" article with lists. <vote poll=blog3196 closed="yes">Care to guess how much those morons at Fox News have ratcheted up their transphobia lately? <vote poll=blog3195 closed="yes">Months ago this wouldn't be happening. What is wrong with you, Japan? <vote poll=blog3194 closed="yes">Even more dirt on the American MIC's current fiscal disaster. <vote poll=blog3193 closed="yes">American conservatives just can't get enough of that Vladimir. Mr. Mataconis should have mentioned Andy Schlafly as well in his post. <vote poll=blog3192 closed="yes">Has L. Ron met his match? [http://www.tarvu.com/ Say "Hebbo!" to Tarvuism] where you too can learn to speak to an octopus! (it's gotta be Poe don't it?? Please tell me I've been Poe'd on......oh thank god for that!) <vote poll=blog3191 closed="yes">The NSA Is Commandeering the Internet. <vote poll=blog3190 closed="yes">We'll keep Boris Johnson, thanks. Bonus: Rob, just what were you doing in March? <vote poll=blog3189 closed="yes">Looks like WIGO:Blogs isn't the only one in danger of becoming Yesterday on Cracked. Try not to laugh too hard, it'll give you cancer. Update: Cracked's apology. <vote poll=blog3188 closed="yes">Steven Pinker defends "scientism" <vote poll=blog3187 closed="yes">An atheist activist is sexually assaulted at TAM. Conference organizers swing into action. The serial pervert responsible is banned from TAM for life. A year later, the activist speaks about her experience. <vote poll=blog3186 closed="yes">Nature asks scientists about Keystone XL: Eh... <vote poll=blog3185 closed="yes">Heritage Foundation, get me a study co-relating a basketball team's winning percentage with the amount of taxes they pay, stat! <vote poll=blog3184 closed="yes">Happy birthday, Curiosity! <vote poll=blog3183 closed="yes">If there's one thing the US should be exporting, it's probably not its labour relations. <vote poll=blog3182 closed="yes">Maybe the replacement of Jay Leno won't be bad after all: Hear Yahoo! Answers in musical form. <vote poll=blog3181 closed="yes">Lamar, we can't wait for the historical assessment of you 50 years from now. <vote poll=blog3180 closed="yes">Chad Hurley, co-founder for YouTube: TV for everybody! "It’s clear, the economics textbooks tell us, that this is not the right time for fiscal retrenchment." Well, you have half the country believing that spending cuts in a deflationary period will produce growth because Obama is a commie-fascist. (It's not the Dems' heads who need clearing.) <vote poll=blog3179 closed="yes">That's it, everybody move to the Yukon. <vote poll=blog3178 closed="yes">Just writing a column isn't going to do much, guys. But we appreciate the effort. <vote poll=blog3177 closed="yes">[http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/microchip.asp#update Those libtards are going to implant you with microchips! Thanks Obama!] <vote poll=blog3176 closed="yes">More from that treasure trove of British declassified documents: [http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/secret-minutes-chancellor-kohl-wanted-half-of-turks-out-of-germany-a-914376.html Helmut Kohl was apparently a xenophobe... and then went "oops" when open immigration policy worked.]