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

September 2011
The "anti-science" false equivalence. An aggregator for LessWrong-style how-to-think-rationally blogs: Planet Rationalist. Years after King Arthur was baffled by the question, Wolfram Alpha gives us an answer.Eugh, I don't get it? RAP NEWS, a sort of rundown of two faaar extremes delivered with sweet lyrical flows and lesbian robot love The Onion: Harry Reid and John Boehner take Congress hostage. Update: The media actually believed it. From Goldman Sachs ruling the world to a crashing Euro: How many of Alessio Rastani's bold, frank and controversial statements were actually right? European philosophers as anime girls. Includes Spinoza panty shot. Edward Current reveals that his great 9/11 video was a massive hoax - and laughs at the Truthers who fell for it. The battle against Big Solar. Great Pick-Up Lines in Science? "Why Is (American) TV Suddenly Overstuffed With Buxom Bunnies, Sexy Stewardesses, and Charlie's Angels?" A warning that must be sent throughout the Interwebs. A perfect analysis of the current insanity in the US. Who wants a Mitt's the Shit hat? And the Typical Republican Voter. Some honesty on global warming. "You know you’re seriously fucked when even Moody’s, the most whorishly corrupt ratings company in modern history...can’t find a way to avoid downgrading you." <vote poll=blog1762 closed="yes">But changing my mind is, like, hard 'n stuff. <vote poll=blog1761 closed="yes">"The desire to disbelieve deepens as the scale of the threat grows" -- The numbers in one of the first global warming studies in 1975 (which aimed to predict climate change between then and 2010) "have proven almost dead-on correct." Yet, as the evidence continues to mount up, "resistance to the idea among many in the U.S. appears to have hardened." <vote poll=blog1760 closed="yes">Dr. Ashens gets a letter from Peter Popoff about his SUPERNATURAL DEBT CANCELLATION! <vote poll=blog1759 closed="yes">Contradictory beliefs (or, Crooked Timber goes Jeffrey Sachs.) <vote poll=blog1758 closed="yes">Tearing pages from Bibles makes atheists ugly. PZ says what we're all thinking. <vote poll=blog1757 closed="yes">The best argument for raising taxes: Bill-O will go Galt. <vote poll=blog1756 closed="yes">[http://www.frumforum.com/the-gops-bernanke-letter That was to cry "Fire! Fire!" in Noah's Flood.] (Bonus nerd points for guessing the reference.) <vote poll=blog1755 closed="yes">Atheism is on the upswing in America. Somebody tell ShockofGod! <vote poll=blog1754 closed="yes">God Hates Fax <vote poll=blog1753 closed="yes">We need renewables, but it's also time to take geoengineering solutions like carbon capture seriously. <vote poll=blog1752 closed="yes">Has American-style conservatism become a religion? <vote poll=blog1751 closed="yes">Potholer54 refutes a creationist misrepresentation of evolution (regarding humans "getting whiter"), but because it was a woman he was refuting, she was an "innocent girl" and he was a "pig" - not so, he says, for I am an equal opportunity scoffer! <vote poll=blog1750 closed="yes">Here's a neat idea: let's start a fund for cryptozoologists to go on a basic photography course. <vote poll=blog1749 closed="yes">James Carville shatters some irony meters. <vote poll=blog1748 closed="yes">Contender for the oddest headline ever: Gordon Ramsay's Dwarf Porn Double Found Dead In A Badger Den (challenging the current champion: Freddie Star Ate My Hamster) <vote poll=blog1747 closed="yes">[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI5ulKiZAoE David Mitchell rants on climate change. Says what we're all thinking.] <vote poll=blog1746 closed="yes">Nobel prizewinner and Royal Society president Paul Nurse: Stamp out anti-science in US politics <vote poll=blog1745 closed="yes">I wouldn't hold my breath for headlines reading "New study blows GAPING hole in denialist arguments." <vote poll=blog1744 closed="yes">Solyndra: The "newest political chew toy." <vote poll=blog1743 closed="yes">The ACLU on civil liberties ten years after 9/11. <vote poll=blog1742 closed="yes">An herbicide marketed by DuPont started causing "unfortunate tree symptoms." DuPont denied everything until the trees on their own golf course started dying; then they were suddenly urging the EPA to ban the herbicide. <vote poll=blog1741 closed="yes">19 states allow you to marry your first cousin, but only if you're not the same sex <vote poll=blog1740 closed="yes">Some non-hysterical reading to sate your 9/11 needs. <vote poll=blog1739 closed="yes">The upside of global warming? Exxon can drill in the Arctic and use that money to fund even more denialists! <vote poll=blog1738 closed="yes">State Representative Sally Kern is famous for stating that homosexuality is more dangerous than terrorism. Now in her new book she's claiming to have been taken out of context, what she meant to say was homosexuality is more dangerous than terrorism. <vote poll=blog1737 closed="yes">Natural gas: A bridge to nowhere? <vote poll=blog1736 closed="yes">“...all successful conspiracy theories have been a lie that people wanted to hear.” <vote poll=blog1735 closed="yes">Want to solve our economic problems? Simple. We tax Ronald Reagan. <vote poll=blog1734 closed="yes">Female orgasms: I think you'll find it's a little more complicated than that. <vote poll=blog1733 closed="yes">Slate is currently running a series on everything you ever wanted to know about 9/11 conspiracy theories. (Latest entry here.) <vote poll=blog1732 closed="yes">A handy guide to Republicans and global warming and evolution. <vote poll=blog1731 closed="yes">Publish-or-perish: Peer review and the corruption of science <vote poll=blog1730 closed="yes">In their own words: GOP candidates and science. <vote poll=blog1729 closed="yes">Loads of dirt from a former GOP operative. <vote poll=blog1728 closed="yes">The obsessive's guide to the Remote Sensing resignation flap. <vote poll=blog1727 closed="yes">"Behind two out of three economic doors, it seems, lies a goat...." <vote poll=blog1726 closed="yes">Who's to blame for the Wikileaks debacle? <vote poll=blog1725 closed="yes">“…in the denial of global warming, we are witnessing the most vicious, and so far most successful, attack on science in history.” <vote poll=blog1724 closed="yes">What happens when you get Cleverbot to talk to itself? <vote poll=blog1723 closed="yes">Hitch says we should keep it simple regarding 9/11 - it was an evil act, nothing more, nothing less. <vote poll=blog1722 closed="yes">Why people tend to forget about the Pentagon on 9/11. <vote poll=blog1721 closed="yes">Early screening for 'serious mental illness' in teenagers can do more harm than good. <vote poll=blog1720 closed="yes">"Moses: Wasn't Sarah Palin punishment for something? God: No, that just happened." <vote poll=blog1719 closed="yes">The Center for Inquiry and Committee for Skeptical Inquiry are filing three petitions with the FDA regarding homeopathy:Via QuackWatch <vote poll=blog1718 closed="yes">On the use (and mis-use) of Godwin's Law.
 * To have all over-the-counter remedies tested for effectiveness
 * To force Boiron's Oscillococcinum to carry a label written in English, instead of letting them hide the "ingredients" with fancier sounding Latin terms.
 * To take action against products violating FDA advertising regulations.