RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/November 2011

November 2011
Nearly 20 years later, Sully is still finding a way to dig himself deeper on The Bell Curve. Safe to call him a wingnut now? Twenty years after Darwin on Trial, Intelligent Design is dead. What is the right action to take to stop the Stop Online Piracy Act? (We'd like Option #1, thank you very much...) As Cain drops out, pro-adultery voters switch to Gingrich. Potholer54 delivers a quality debunking on Climategate 2.0 Ariane Sherine (of the ABC fame) looks "a little bit brown", so people just seem compelled to ask ...so where are you from? How climate change became a liberal conspiracy. "It is quite certain that a moderate Republican will be nominated to stand as his party's candidate for the presidency. His name is Barack Obama." While it's good that Occupy Wall Street continues to shine the light on financial corruption, they also need to shine a light onto what their movement has exposed -- that America has become a police state that rivals any dictatorship. David Frum launches a broadside against the GOP (and ensures his permanent ineligibility for wingnut welfare). Cracked: 5 Insane Celebrity Product Endorsements by Historic Figures. Featuring the obligatory Theodore Roosevelt fan-wank and one of the most hilarious Reagan fights (see comments) ever. Also look at this.

Seven types of Republican idiots. Everything you ever wanted to know about free will but were afraid to ask. Paul Krugman pwns yet again. Uncyclopedia: Occupy protesters closer to developing nuclear weapons Just some ramblings about our hereditary clown prince <vote poll=blog1902 closed="yes">Why it's probably not a good idea to nuke Iran. <vote poll=blog1901 closed="yes">"I can’t watch the news anymore. I’m afraid that, again, I will learn that the whole of Europe’s banking system is about to collapse because people with disabilities eat candy." <vote poll=blog1900 closed="yes">Climategate Deux (Electric Boogaloo) shoots through the denialist echo chamber. <vote poll=blog1899 closed="yes">Superliminal neutrinos and the Vindication of All Kooks Doctrine. <vote poll=blog1898 closed="yes">"How Ignorance, Greed and Ideology Are Warping Science and Hurting Democracy" <vote poll=blog1897 closed="yes">Memo to cops using pepper spray on non-violent protesters: It is more chemical weapon than it is spice, and it may make non-violent people violent. <vote poll=blog1896 closed="yes">Errol Morris' latest short documentary is The Umbrella Man, about the man with the umbrella at the JFK shooting, but really it's about the fallibility of conspiracy theorists. <vote poll=blog1895 closed="yes">Picture paints a thousand words... Update: The meme's growing every hour.

<vote poll=blog1894 closed="yes">xkcd's magnum opus. <vote poll=blog1893 closed="yes">A useful quack spotters guide

<vote poll=blog1892 closed="yes">Pesky skeptics, no ice cream for you! <vote poll=blog1891 closed="yes">"Today you ordered police onto our campus to clear student protesters from the quad. These were protesters who participated in a rally speaking out against tuition increases and police brutality on UC campuses on Tuesday."... Related video.

<vote poll=blog1890 closed="yes">Mocking "International Men's Day" just proves it's needed. <vote poll=blog1889 closed="yes">The soldier who asked if the Republican presidential candidates would ban gay service-members from the military shares his reactions to being booed. <vote poll=blog1888 closed="yes">PZ Myers et al prepare to visit the Creation Ministries of the Ozarks "museum." Or as he puts it, "you are skeptical anthropologists there to observe the peculiar and pathological folkways of a backwards, intellectually impoverished people."

<vote poll=blog1887 closed="yes">Is income inequality the new climate change? <vote poll=blog1886 closed="yes">The Circle of Life debt! France, we're so very sorry. <vote poll=blog1885 closed="yes">If you thought Obama Girl was creepy... Also, you know a country is fucked when you have libertarian librarians. <vote poll=blog1884 closed="yes">GET IN MAH BELLY, America! <vote poll=blog1883 closed="yes">In a report that may interest sociology buffs, The Daily Show's Samantha Bee shows that by the time the NYPD cleared Zuccotti Park of Occupy Wall Street protesters, the eight-week encampment had segregated itself into one section for the elite bourgeois, and another for unwashed proles. <vote poll=blog1882 closed="yes">Math teacher at a Christian school has been accused of masturbating during class. This is obviously the fault of insufficient prayer. <vote poll=blog1881 closed="yes">The Daily Heil just had to make a story about St. Ronnie's sex life. Not only couldn't Raygun manage government, he also couldn't manage giving women orgasms, and - shocker! - blamed their vaginas. <vote poll=blog1880 closed="yes">Inverse theodicy: The evidential problem of good. Enough to give William Lane Craig problems. <vote poll=blog1879 closed="yes">Shock-horror of the month: girls actually like porn, and some even idolise the male stars. But why are they so secretive about it compared to male fans? Well, (some aren't.

<vote poll=blog1878 closed="yes">Neil deGrasse Tyson whoops serious ass.

<vote poll=blog1877 closed="yes">Top ten dumbest objections to OWS. (The last one, unfortunately, is probably true.) <vote poll=blog1876 closed="yes">Climate deniers are like magicians. They can make data just...disappear. <vote poll=blog1875 closed="yes">[http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/40440/super-mario-takes-over-italy/ It's-a me! Your new Prime Minister!] <vote poll=blog1874 closed="yes">The ultimate gauntlet that every major politician must face: APEC. <vote poll=blog1873 closed="yes">More Charlie Brooker trolling: Modern Warfare 3 is so popular because it's the most homoerotic tale ever created in any medium. Waiting for The Telegraph's response... <vote poll=blog1872 closed="yes">"Here's a helpful heuristic: When a conservative politician or pundit says "market" (or "private sector") in relation to energy, mentally substitute the phrase "status quo."" <vote poll=blog1871 closed="yes">Why evangelicals believe weird things. Facts and arguments are irrelevant &mdash; it's all about whether the speaker is one of us. <vote poll=blog1870 closed="yes">The life of an 86-year-old, depicted via Rage Comics. <vote poll=blog1869 closed="yes">Apparently organized football can cause brain damage to almost an entire university campus. <vote poll=blog1868 closed="yes">14 different religious groups are represented on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph, except for the second largest group, which is excluded due to "limited space".. Meanwhile in Catholic Ireland a secular humanist gets a word in. <vote poll=blog1867 closed="yes">Far from the tabloid myth of welfare scroungers living it large on state handouts, what we have is an ex-soldier and his disabled wife having to live off donated food and eventually finding it so tough that they took their own lives. <vote poll=blog1866 closed="yes">Massimo Pigliucci: If you take the Templeton dollar, don't even try to pretend you're not whoring out your reputation.

<vote poll=blog1865 closed="yes">Ever wondered what it would be like if Bobby Darin were an NWO-believing truther, bin Laden doubter, and climate change denialist? Now you don't have to! <vote poll=blog1864 closed="yes">Death to America!!!...[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ordinary-muslim-man#.TrlrpHaKXsK Online. I just signed up for DSL.] <vote poll=blog1863 closed="yes">Welcome to the Bigot-O-Tron 9000! <vote poll=blog1862 closed="yes">"What I really need is a droid that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators." (okay, so this one is only really here for the Star Wars quote.) <vote poll=blog1861 closed="yes">In Michigan, it is now perfectly fine to bully in the name of Jesus. Well, not anymore <vote poll=blog1860 closed="yes">It's that season again...Climate denial season! <vote poll=blog1859 closed="yes">You're going to have to keep shoving the evidence right in their faces for them to understand - the American dream is dead. <vote poll=blog1858 closed="yes">[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-november-3-2011/men-not-at-work? I don't want to live on this planet anymore.] <vote poll=blog1857 closed="yes">And if there weren't still monkeys ... then the humans could replace them.

<vote poll=blog1856 closed="yes">The football celebration that might have players facing public lashings in Iran. Here's an experiment: have someone do this in the Bible Belt and compare their reactions. <vote poll=blog1855 closed="yes">Meet Alison Singer, creator of the "Shut the Hell Up, Jenny McCarthy" organization. <vote poll=blog1854 closed="yes">Wait, didn't Heath Ledger play that gay cowboy role a couple of years ago? <vote poll=blog1853 closed="yes">The Berkeley Earth temperature dataset shows a decline in global warming... if you ignore the error bars, don't do any statistical analysis, constrain your sample to only a few years, and include a data point that only includes temperatures from Antarctica. <vote poll=blog1852 closed="yes">From one of Craig's former students: Let's Recap Why William Lane Craig Refuses to Debate Me. <vote poll=blog1851 closed="yes">As everyone knows, the internet doesn't weigh anything! Well, actually it sort of does. About the same as a strawberry, in fact. <vote poll=blog1850 closed="yes">What happens if Initiative 26 ends up as law, or why I'm glad my miscarriage wasn't in Mississippi. <vote poll=blog1849 closed="yes">Why debating theologians and other woo-meisters is futile, part 94: when you do hand them their asses, they'll try to bury it. Update: Theologian relents, video is up (and well worth your time). Update 2: Q&A video up. <vote poll=blog1848 closed="yes">The largest victims of the economic turmoil: pets. Go on and adopt a cat, you know you want to.