Bad ThinkingBad ThinkingA skeptical view on things. A skeptical view on things. 
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Stressed seaweed can alter weather patterns
2008-05-12 16:56:00 According to this. More About: Weather , Patterns , Alter
Diving pelican hits swimmer in the face
2008-05-12 16:51:00 Here's one pelican who screwed up badly: A woman needed 20 stitches after a pelican apparently diving for fish slammed into her face as she swum off Florida. Twenty stitches is bad, but the bird had it worse: it died. Source "Pelican 'bombs' swimmer in Florida," The Daily Telegraph, May 11, 2008 More About: Face , Diving , Swimmer , Hits
UFO over Northern Ireland
2008-05-12 16:47:00 How's this for a ridiculous fake UFO photo... More About: Ireland , Northern Ireland , Northern
How to survive a shark attack
2008-05-12 16:33:00 Poke the damn thing in the eye. That's what Jason Cull did to survive an attack from a great white (the attack has been blamed on a sick dolphin, by the way): The shark tore two chunks from Cull's left leg, ripping off half his calf and leaving him with deep lacerations to his knee and thigh. You can also punch it on the nose or in the gills, unless you're under water. But the best thing is not to be in the water at all... Some (very unimpressive) pictures can be found here, and here's a video of Cull being rescued after the incident. Source "Australian pokes shark in eye during attack," Reuters, May 12, 2008 Related posts • How not to test a Shark Shield • Shark attacks on the rise More About: Survive , Shark Attack , Attack
As many as 5,000 dead in China earthquake
2008-05-12 16:31:00 A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit central China today. More About: Earthquake , Dead
James Packer has left scientology
2008-05-12 16:27:00 Reported by The Sydney Morning Herald. More About: Scientology , Left , Packer , James , James Packer
Self-healing materials and self-cleaning fabrics
2008-05-12 16:25:00 Can be created using a method called spin coating. More About: Cleaning , Healing , Materials , Fabrics
Red deer in Kashmir almost extinct
2008-05-12 16:13:00 Due to "rampant poaching, neglect by authorities and a 17-year-old separatist rebellion in the region." Only 160 of the animals are left: Poachers continue to kill the deer for its antlers, which fetch a good price on the international black market. "Hangul hunting continued even during militancy, as the animals come down to plains in winters," said Shameem Ahmad, who lives near Dachigam sanctuary. Source "Rare Kashmir i deer on verge of extinction - census report," Reuters, May 12, 2008 More About: Deer , Extinct
Grandmother beaten and robbed by a gang of ladyboys
2008-05-11 19:12:00 Brenda Davies, aged 64, was on vacation in Thailand when she was tied up, gagged and mugged by a gang of transsexuals right in front of her daughter-in-law's two young children, according to this. More About: Gang , Grandmother , Robbed
"Sam is an Ethiopian from a previous life time that I knew"
2008-05-11 16:34:00 Interview with "psychic" Derek Acorah, here. More About: Life , Time
Scientology and mental illness
2008-05-11 16:28:00 There are "numerous examples of a Scientology family devastated by the direct consequences of its faith," in this article. More About: Mental , Mental Illness , Illness
Leeches and maggots are making a comeback
2008-05-11 16:22:00 If you don't know what hirudotherapy is, you can go here to find out. It's not without reason that the above article refers to "non-evidence-based therapies"... More on leeches here. Related posts • Demi Moore and her highly trained leeches More About: Comeback
School headmaster gets 500 lashes for witchcraft
2008-05-11 16:10:00 In Saudi Arabia, according to this: A court in the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah has sentenced the headmaster of a local school to six months in prison and 500 lashes for practicing witchcraft, the Al-Madina daily said on Tuesday. The man, whose name and nationality have not been disclosed, was caught red-handed while handing notes concerning sorcery to a woman whose husband had left her. Investigators said they had arrested the man for practicing "sorcery and scams". Source "Saudi school headmaster imprisoned for witchcraft," RIA Novosti, May 6, 2008 More About: Witchcraft , School , Lashes
Safe sex, Bollywood-style
2008-05-11 16:08:00 I don't think I've ever seen anything more embarrassing than this in my entire life (but it's for a good cause): More on this here. More About: Bollywood , Style , Safe
Catholic Church complains about "Hail Mary"
2008-05-11 15:53:00 On flyers and posters used in a fast-food chicken company's latest advertising campaign in Canada. More About: Church , Mary , Catholic Church , Catholic
Black cat killed for bringing bad luck to Inter Milan
2008-05-11 15:44:00 Luis Figo, a Portuguese football/soccer troglodyte playing for Inter Milan in Italy, has been accused of running over a black cat with his SUV because the cat brought "bad luck" to the team (it used to hang around the training ground). Figo denies the allegations, and has threatened to take legal action. He was also injured in the very next match after the cat was killed, according to the story. More About: Inter Milan , Black , Black Cat
AIDS flourishing in Russia
2008-05-11 15:27:00 Because of homophobia and the stigmatisation of people with HIV and AIDS. More About: Russia , Aids
Turkish creationist gets three years behind bars
2008-05-11 15:16:00 Adnan Oktar, the madman behind the recent spree of creationist propaganda in the form of the "Atlas of Creation" that was sent unsolicited to European universities, has been sentenced to three years in prison "for creating an illegal organization for personal gain." More here from the National Center for Science Education. Related posts • The collapse of evolution theory More About: Creationist , Bars , Years , Turkish
International free speech is in jeopardy
2008-05-11 11:34:00 Says the cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten, Flemming Rose, and he is of course quite correct: "These insult laws—blasphemy laws that are intended to protect religious symbols or religious sensibilities—in fact are being used to silence critical voices around the world. I think we have to remove them. I think the only laws that are needed to be kept on the books when it comes to speech are laws that criminalizes incitement to violence." Source Adam Gorlick, "Editor behind Muhammad cartoons says international free speech in jeopardy," Stanford Report, May 14, 2008 More About: International , Free , Free Speech , Speech , Jeopardy
"My daughter deserved to die"
2008-05-11 11:14:00 The Shia thug in Basra who brutally murdered his own daughter in an honour killing two weeks ago, after the daughter (named Rand) had fallen in love with a British soldier, is interviewed here by The Observer. Read the interview and then think for a moment about what the "culture" in this place (and so many others) is really like, and how fundamentally incompatible it is with the rest of the world (and, often, with its own people). A few examples: Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated him on what he had done. 'They are men and know what honour is,' he said. Rand, who was studying English at Basra University, was deemed to have brought shame on her family after becoming infatuated with a British soldier, 22, known only as Paul. ... She died on 16 March after her father discovered she had been seen in public talking to Paul, considered to be the enemy, the invader and a Christian. Th... More About: Daughter
Apatheism
2008-05-11 11:12:00 It came to Jonathan Rauch recently in a blinding vision that he is an apatheist.
"Can you imagine anything so utterly patronising?"
2008-05-11 11:01:00 Terry Sanderson on Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's recent speech in Westminster Cathedral, here. Excellent stuff. Reports on the speech here and here. More About: Imagine
Illegal immigrants and quackery in California
2008-05-11 10:53:00 When they get ill, illegal immigrants in California turn to "traditional healers" for help, and for many of them that will be the last mistake they ever make. But that's not the only problem: Public health officials also worry that the lack of access to conventional care may contribute to the spread of communicable diseases. They warn that the rampant use of antibiotics, often without medical direction, may speed the development of resistant bacterial strains. It's another reason why illegal immigration, wherever in the world it happens, should be stopped. Source Kevin Sack, "Illegal Farm Workers Get Health Care in Shadows," The New York Times, May 10, 2008 More About: Illegal Immigrants , Immigrants , Quackery
Indian honour killing supported by the whole village
2008-05-11 10:40:00 A 20-year-old woman who was six months pregnant was strangled to death, together with her 27-year-old boyfriend, two days ago by members of her family in an honour killing in the Indian state of Haryana: In what the police called an 'honour killing,' Sunita's father Om Prakash and his kinsmen kidnapped the couple from a village in an adjoining district and brought them back to Ballah were they were murdered and the bodies displayed before Sunita's parents' house. ... Sunita's family showed no remorse over the killings. 'I have no regrets,' Sunita's mother Roshni Devi said on NDTV news channel. She said her husband and the family had saved its reputation. 'They have been killed to set an example, so that no one repeats the same mistake,' a neighbour was quoted as saying. The victim's uncle Jaideep Singh said their action was supported by the whole village. Honour killings are not uncommon in Haryana. Community leaders often give extra-judicial rulings condemning cou... More About: Village , Killing , Honour Killing
"If it's aliens and they want me, they'll come and get me"
2008-05-11 10:34:00 Hoaxers have made another crop circle in a field in Monroe County, Tennessee, and the locals are worried... More About: Aliens
The statement of Josef Fritzl
2008-05-10 19:02:00 The Tyrant of Amstetten tries to explain himself. Related posts • Fritzl scared prostitutes More About: Statement
"It's hard to imagine a more cruel and heartless burglary scheme than this
2008-05-10 19:00:00 Two burglars in Missouri used the obituary pages to select their targets. Dane Johnson now faces up to 78 years in prison. His co-defendant Landon N. Prothro got 28 years in October 2006. More About: Hard , Cruel , Imagine , Burglary
The death of the Church of England
2008-05-10 18:41:00 Great news, sort of: Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests. The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England , Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. ... According to Religious Trends, a comprehensive statistical analysis of religious practice in Britain, published by Christian Research, even Hindus will come close to outnumbering churchgoers within a generation. The forecast to 2050 shows churchgoing in Britain declining to 899,000 while the active Hindu population, now at nearly 400,000, will have more than doubled to 855,000. By 2050 there will be 2,660,000 active Muslims in Britain - nearly three times the number of Sunday churchgoers. The important thing now is to stop Islam (and other growing religions, including some of the ver... More About: Death , The Church , Church of England
Was Enoch Powell right?
2008-04-12 17:53:00 Rageh Omaar investigates for a documentary called Immigration: The Inconvenient Truth. It's interesting that nowadays the Jamaicans are angry over Polish immigrants coming to Britain and taking their jobs. Almost ironic, that. More About: Powell
The eternal poppety pop
More articles from this author:2008-04-12 17:38:00 This is something invented by Japanese scientists "to help soothe the nerves of executives." It's the electronic equivalent of bubble wrap, and it "recreates the satisfaction of popping the bubbles," without ever running out. This sort of thing is big in Japan, apparently. More About: Eternal 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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