RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/July 2010

July 2010
If can't find the naughty pictures of yourself that you stored on your computer, beware of calling tech support to help you find them. Dear Anne Rice, cool story bruh: "I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of ...Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen." 12 Arguments Evolutionists Should Avoid - Answers in Genesis seems to suffer stopped clock syndrome. InfoGraphic: Why you should stop drinking bottled water. Question: How close is Glenn Beck to inspiring a body count? Answer: very. Ted Haggard has told the Wall Street Journal that he "over-repented" for his gay prostitute and meth scandal. Oh, and he says he's sure he isn't gay. It was all a misunderstanding over a massage that went awry. Tea Party group adopts its new slogan from ... 4Chan. US Police, in a daring armed raid, bust and capture the kingpin of a violent international smuggling ring, giving him a sentence of up to 10 years for conspiracy and lying to a federal officer, or when you actually have your head screwed on a 65 year-old amateur flower collector worth no more than $20,000 a year, just because America just freaking loves to put people in prison. Now is the time to stand up to Faux News The end of Kodachrome, the once-iconic film of professional photographers, is lamented in this story. If you have any unused or undeveloped Kodachrome lying around, be advised:  The only remaining processing center in the world that still develops Kodachrome will stop developing Kodachrome on December 30. The U.S. -- which once had the most college graduates aged 25 to 34 -- is now ranked twelfth out of 36 countries. Naturally, there is a corresponding decline in the number of Americans who think a college education is important. Poor Shirley Sherrod, turns out that the Secretary of Agriculture and the President should have watched the whole video. TAPL will seemingly never learn. Irony alert! Joe Lieberman says that utilities "Just want a breather" from air pollution regulations. PZ on strike Ah, Scientology. When will you ever learn? (Yes PZ, you are being a dick, but we love you for it.) <vote poll=blog1062 closed="yes">Back in the day when the clogosphere consisted of a few obsessed nuts with mimeograph machines, ditto masters, a few reams of paper, and too much time on their hands, the memes of the right-wing scream machine were remarkably similar then to the memes used today. Just substitute the name Obama for JFK. Even a cloth coat Republican like Eisenhower had to deal with these nuts. <vote poll=blog1061 closed="yes">A Catholic priest from Connecticut has been accused of embezzling $1.3 million from his parish. He allegedly blew it on expensive hotels, a fabulous wardrobe, and gay prostitutes. (He paid for one to go to Harvard!) The ex-prostitute who outed Ted Haggard discusses the priests and pastors who hired him for gay sex. <vote poll=blog1060 closed="yes">The GOP thinks that fielding a few non-white and/or non-male candidates shows that the diversity of their party finally rivals that of the Democrats. Yet how diverse are the Republicans if their candidates still lack religious diversity? (I.e., where are the non-Judeo-Christian Republican candidates?) <vote poll=blog1059 closed="yes">And on the sidebar of the below page, In 2013, the Berlin Wall of Darwinism Will Fall. <vote poll=blog1058 closed="yes">Nothing outrageous, just a bit about Biblical inerrancy vs Biblical storytelling. <vote poll=blog1057 closed="yes">An "obscure electrical engineer" predicts that we are due for a major EM pulse from the sun. (The last two of this magnitude occurred in 1859 and 1921.)  He claims that it could do to the planet what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans. <vote poll=blog1056 closed="yes">The NAACP said Tea Party has racists in it and should get rid of them. Palin responds how dare you call me a racist. E.J. Dionne pwns Palin. <vote poll=blog1055 closed="yes">"The deadly doctor gambit" <vote poll=blog1054 closed="yes">Republican Senator John Kyl of Arizona wants to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, even if they drive up the deficit, while voting to block the extension of unemployment benefits because they will drive up the deficit. <vote poll=blog1053 closed="yes">Honor killings are on the rise in America. In Turkey, it's honor suicides that are on the rise. <vote poll=blog1052 closed="yes">Tea Party Jesus, which now also has its own RationalWiki page. <vote poll=blog1051 closed="yes">Here's a good idea, let's take two people who have poor attendance records, who say blood doesn't clot under a full moon, that unborn babies can punch their way out of the womb, that claimed £700 on expenses for astrology - and put them on the health select committee. (bonus lulz in the comments from "spanows") <vote poll=blog1050 closed="yes">ScienceBlogs takes a giant leap over the shark, with a blog about "nutrition" written and paid for by Pepsi, with comments moderated by Pepsi, that was not originally marked as "straight-up commercial propaganda" (PZ). A pile of bloggers just get up and leave (plus ). Maybe RW will see more of PalMD. ... And, oh look, it's hit the papers. Could be about it for Seed Media Group. Update: the PepsiBlog has been expelled. Hopefully not too late. <vote poll=blog1049 closed="yes">When science challenges your worldview, you're more likely to just turn around and say well, you can't actually prove that with science anyway! <vote poll=blog1048 closed="yes">A Christian blog ponders Why Christians are Jerks Online. <vote poll=blog1047 closed="yes">Religious people tend to be more racist. <vote poll=blog1046 closed="yes">Did they say bottom or top 25 Conservatives on Twitter? <vote poll=blog1045 closed="yes">Ryanair are often full of hot air when it comes to their crazy no-frills money saving schemes, and for good reason - it's amazing publicity. <vote poll=blog1044 closed="yes">Quackwatch is sued by quack medical lab Doctor Data for exposing them. I'm sure that'll work out just fine. <vote poll=blog1043 closed="yes">Seven myths about the Tea Party <vote poll=blog1033 closed="yes">Bob Jones University on electricity: "Electricity is a mystery. How would you have to change the way you get ready for school if there was no electricity?"