RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/January 2019

January 2019
So much for living the libertarian dream. $200 million (CDN) lost by users of BC-based Bitcoin exchange Quadriga as founder and sole director reported dead, taking his passwords with him. How capable were ancient hominids of crossing large gaps of ocean water? Is ancient DNA revealing new truths - or falling into old traps? Why some archaeologists are uneasy about the new field of paleogenomics Why PE classes may actually increase truancy and discipline rates in students Red Hats are the new white hoods How the Christian Gospels More Resemble the works of fiction produced in the time they were written in than actual works of history produced during the same period PZ Myers on the train wreck that was New Atheism: "[I] figured that [post 9/11 xenophobia/fanaticism] would pass, that people would step in the door and then find enduring meaning in science and evidence-based reasoning. Boy, was I wrong." I failed the Covington Catholic Test One month after porn purge, white nationalists are still thriving on Tumblr How (and why) Americans were taught to hate atheists "In God We Trust": The bill Christian fundamentalists hope to use to "protect religious freedom" The truth behind the Blue Whale Challenge, the latest internet moral panic: Russian teens were sharing blue whale memes and supposedly performing a 50 step online challenge where step 50 was "Kill yourself". How climate change caused the world's first empire to collapse A Frozen History of Climate Change in Pictures: Digging Deep into the Ice Shelves of Greenland Who’s more compassionate, Republicans or Democrats? Is the greatest threat to civilization, that is, climate change getting worse? FACT CHECK: Trump's Oval Office Pitch for a Border Wall The mother-daughter team behind the 'scientifically unsupported' Myers-Briggs personality test The Strange History and Stranger Planet of Barnard's Star The New York Times: American Jews and Israeli Jews are headed for a messy breakup. "Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity." Short version: the shallow theology of modern Christianity produced short-term growth, but bred a generation of atheists in the long run. (New Atheism actually factored surprisingly little into many young people's decisions to abandon religion.) Laws intended to protect firefighters who get cancer often lack teeth Will Scientists be Smarter than Atheists? by famous evolutionary developmental biologist and feminist blogger PZ Myers Charcoal, “toxins” and other forms of nonsense are the backbone of the wellness-industrial complex, writes obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr. Jen Gunter If we lose the free press, we cease to be a democracy "I Don’t Hate Women Candidates — I Just Hated Hillary and Coincidentally I’m Starting to Hate Elizabeth Warren"