Bad Thinking

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"I thought the ghost had come to get me"
2008-04-05 12:31:00
BBC News: "A hospital has apologised to a patient after a nurse claiming to be a medium said she had seen a ghost on a ward." The patient was still suffering the effects of anaesthetic at the time, and she thought the ghost was a sign that she was going to die. A bigger question here: Should this nurse really be working in a hospital, potentially putting people's lives at risk with her wacko beliefs?
More About: Ghost , Thought , The Ghost

Pseudoscientist stabbed in the leg
2008-04-05 09:16:00
It's certainly necessary to combat pseudoscience in all its forms, but this is not the way to do it...

Scrupulosity - when you just can't stop praying
2008-04-05 09:10:00
ABC News: "Scrupulosity is a rare form of obsessive compulsive disorder focused on prayers, rituals or thoughts rather than the more common germ-phobia and compulsive hand washing."
More About: Stop

Giant, six-legged robots could carry future lunar base
2008-04-05 08:54:00
If we ever get back to the Moon in the first place, that is. NASA engineers are currently testing the ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer), a robotic vehicle that could "pick up and move a future Moon base thousands of kilometres across the lunar surface." Maybe the Imperial AT-AT Walkers are just around the corner... Here's a smaller scale model:
More About: Robots , Future , Giant , Lunar , Base

Birthday cakes banned in New Zealand schools
2008-04-05 08:52:00
Due to new government healthy eating guidelines.
More About: New Zealand , Schools , Cakes , Birthday , Banned

Intelligent paint
2008-04-05 08:49:00
NewScientist.com: "A new temperature-sensitive varnish developed by researchers at French company Eurovia can be applied to road surfaces to warn drivers about dangerous conditions." The varnish turns pink when temperatures drop below 1 °C.
More About: Intelligent , Paint

Stuffing it down their pants
2008-04-05 08:47:00
In Maine, police "are searching for a man accused of shoving an electric guitar in his pants and walking out of a store." And in Michigan, "a woman stole a boa constrictor from a pet store by slipping the snake down her pants."
More About: Pants

Our skin may contain millions of tiny "antennas"
2008-04-05 08:43:00
In the form of microscopic sweat ducts, and "signals produced by bouncing electromagnetic waves off the tiny tubes might reveal a person's physical and emotional state from a distance." This might pave the way for lie detectors that actually work.
More About: Skin , Tiny , Millions

At least 20 killed in suicide bomb attack at funeral
2008-04-05 08:27:00
In Iraq: A bomber detonated his explosive-filled vest in a crowd of people at a funeral in restive Iraqi province of Diyala on Friday, killing at least 20 people, local police officers told AFP. Source "Suicide bomber kills 20 at Iraq funeral: police," April 4, 2008
More About: Bomb , Killed , Attack , Funeral

The supreme chief of voodoo
2008-04-05 08:16:00
There's an article in the International Herald Tribune about the new voodoo pope in Haiti, Max Beauvoir: In "The Rainy Season," her book on Haiti, Amy Wilentz portrays Beauvoir as an opportunist who preys upon his people and has "the oily manner of a man whom you wouldn't want to leave alone with your money or your child." Read the rest here. Related posts • Haiti's "supreme master" of voodoo
More About: Chief , Voodoo , Supreme

14-year-old girl tried to flush her baby down the toilet
2008-04-04 16:15:00
She gave birth to the infant in school and then drowned it while trying to flush it down the toilet, according to this.
More About: Baby , Girl , Flush , Toilet , Year

TV cartoons prove that the Mahdi has appeared
2008-04-04 16:13:00
MEMRI has the story.
More About: Cartoons , Prove

Dogs to be reclassified as livestock in South Korea
2008-04-04 16:01:00
AFP: "Somewhere between two and four million dogs are estimated to be consumed in South Korea every year, but the slaughtering and processing is carried out in dirty environments and poses a risks to diners' health." Reclassifying dogs as livestock will enable the Seoul government to set food safety standards. So the next time you travel to South Korea , you might want to leave your pet at home. Just to be safe.
More About: Dogs , Livestock

The teenage serial killer
2008-04-04 15:59:00
A 16-year-old boy in Brazil has admitted to the murders of 12 people.
More About: Killer , Serial Killer , Teenage , Serial

Six-year-old boy accused of sexually harassing a teacher
2008-04-04 15:54:00
Where else but in the United States... Apparently, the boy had told his teacher that one of his classmates liked looking at her behind.
More About: Teacher , Year

The school crotch inspector
2008-04-04 15:49:00
Reason Magazine: "There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who think it's perfectly reasonable to strip-search a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school, and the kind who think those people should be kept as far away from children as possible."
More About: School , Inspector

Falling on your ass can be lethal
2008-04-04 15:37:00
A 28-year-old snowboarder who fell "quite hard on her buttocks" a few weeks ago at a resort in Colorado later died from irreversible brain damage.

The foul undercurrent of society
2008-04-04 15:32:00
From The Australian: "Mullighan's landmark inquiry into the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable young people while in state care in South Australia peeled back layer upon layer of institutionalised depravity, cruelty and wanton injustice such as to defy belief."
More About: Society

Idiots hoping for miracle blinded after staring into the sun
2008-03-12 06:50:00
Religious madness at its worst: At least 50 people have lost their sight after staring at the sun hoping to see an image of the Virgin Mary, according to reports. Alarmed health authorities in India's Kottayam district have set up a sign dispelling rumours of a miraculous image in the sky and warning of the dangers of looking into direct sunlight. ... Despite warnings, and the potentially harmful effects of their actions, believers are allegedly still flocking to a hotelier's house in Erumeli near where the divine image is said to have appeared. ... Even churches in the area have disowned the miracle after health officers and doctors approached the clergy. The house where the miracle is said to have occurred has apparently been the subject of rumours for months. The hotelier, who has since moved, had claimed that statues of the Virgin Mary in his house have been crying honey and bleeding oils and perfumes. Talk about blind stupidity. Source Sarah Herman, "Dozens blinded in Ind...
More About: Idiots , Miracle , Staring

How to handle diabolical possession
2008-03-12 06:37:00
Not content with just drawing up a list of the seven new deadly sins, Bishop Gianfranco Girotti (head of the Apostolic Penitentiary) is also giving advice on how to deal with mentally ill people - only, he doesn't see it quite like that: During a seminar the bishop said that in cases of visions, “diabolical, mystic and supposedly supernatural phenomenon,” the “confessor should be particularly prudent and experienced.” However, he recommended “the intervention of an exorcist” as these are “complex and delicate cases.” Demonic phenomena include “possession, obsession and vexation,” and he said in cases of “mysticism, hysteria and other syndromes,” experts should be consulted. Indeed. And that means psychiatrists, and certainly not exorcists. Source "Diabolical possession should be handled by exorcists, Vatican official says," Catholic News Agency, March 6, 2008 Related posts • The new seven deadly sins
More About: Possession , Handle

One in four teenage girls in America has a sexually transmitted disease
2008-03-11 19:58:00
That's according to the first study of its kind, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black girls were the worst group by far, with nearly half of the participants in the study having at least one STD. Expect more screams about "abstinence" from conservatives and religionists to follow on this study. And always remember that sex is a sin that must never be talked about, which is why it's very important to get rid of all sex education completely (especially the parts about safe sex), and insist that no one must ever have sex until they're married, and then only for the purpose of having children. This will solve the problem.
More About: America , Girls , Teenage , Sexually Transmitted Disease

Italian women allowed to lie about adultery
2008-03-11 19:42:00
BBC News: "Italy's highest appeal court has ruled that married Italian women who commit adultery are entitled to lie about it to protect their honour." I had to check first that it wasn't April 1. Related posts • Women are better liars than men
More About: Adultery

Don't argue with your hair stylist
2008-03-11 19:39:00
You're getting your haircut this way, or else you get shot...
More About: Hair , Argue , Stylist

Settlers swear revenge with more settlements
2008-03-11 19:34:00
Peace in the Middle East: Israel's extremist settler movement has vowed to build a new West Bank settlement for each of the eight students that were killed by a Palestinian gunman a few days ago. Related posts • Gunman enter religious school in Jerusalem
More About: Revenge , Settlements

The richest man in the world
2008-03-11 18:23:00
Warren Buffett reached the number one spot for the first time, in the annual Forbes list. Here's a profile. Bill Gates is only number three, these days. Both Buffett and Gates are eventually going to give away pretty much their entire fortunes to charity (through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), and I think it should absolutely be pointed out here that both of them are non-believers. Please bear that in mind the next time religious people (especially scum of the earth like televangelists) come running with the collection plate.
More About: World , The World

Woolly mammoths and the pyramids
2008-03-11 17:48:00
Seth Shostak reviews 10,000 BC - the movie that is every pseudoarchaeologists wet dream (did they get Graham Hancock to consult?) - for LiveScience, here. Personally, I've never been much bothered by the fact that Emmerich's movies always seem to be based on the very worst crackpot pseudoscience imaginable (I'll leave the grumbling about that to the curmudgeons out there who give skeptics a bad name). Hollywood blockbusters are supposed to be entertaining - they're not scientific documentaries (and anyone dumb enough to think, on the basis of an action/adventure movie, that the Giza pyramids were built 12,000 years ago can't be reasoned with anyway). Only problem is, Emmerich's movies have a tendency to be pretty bad. One can only hope this one will be an exception. Here's one of the trailers:
More About: Pyramids

At least 16 dead in roadside bomb attack on bus
2008-03-11 15:38:00
In southern Iraq. All of the dead were civilians. Another bus was sprayed with machine gunfire after it first hit a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad, but only one person was killed.
More About: Dead , Bomb , Attack

Bob Larson offers to exorcise Amy Winehouse
2008-03-11 14:57:00
The Rev. Bob Larson thinks that singer Amy Winehouse is "possessed" (what does that say about Britney Spears?). Now, according to this tabloid, he has kindly offered his services to rid poor Amy of her demons. It would be just another notch in the bedpost for a man who claims to have performed more than 10,000 exorcisms (and he's not even a Catholic). And yes, the good reverend suspects the devil has gotten into Britney, too. For more info on Larson, see, for example, this, this, this, and this.
More About: Offers

Very big cash prizes and revolutionary science
2008-03-11 14:38:00
Should scientists be offered very big cash prizes to stimulate "revolutionary" science? Absolutely (and this is a start). But should such prizes be restricted to young scientists so "that it influences their behavior in (about) their mid-late twenties"? Not so sure, although this echoes the often repeated statement by Sir Arthur C. Clarke (his first law) that, "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." Clarke has also said something to the effect that a way should be found to prevent the "elderly statesmen" of science from always standing in the way of new breakthroughs (or "paradigm shifts," to use that overworked old cliché), but people like, for example, J. Craig Venter might have something else to say about that.
More About: Science , Prizes , Cash , Revolutionary

Essential readings for the nonbeliever
2008-03-11 14:30:00
A brief but good review of The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever can be found here, in the Sydney Morning Herald. Couldn't they have found a better picture of Hitchens to go with the review, though?