Belief and Skepticism

Extremists destroy kids summer camp in Gaza, threaten UNRWA

Monday, May 24, 2010
By Cygnus Atratus
Extremists destroy kids summer camp in Gaza, threaten UNRWA

Armed, masked men torched a UN run Summer Camp for Gazan children this weekend. They also threatened UNRWA, and its director in the Gaza Strip John Ging, when they left three bullets along with a letter demanding an end to these kinds of UN activities. UNRWA claims that around 250,000 children were due to use these... »

My Top 10 TED.com talks

Saturday, May 1, 2010
By Cygnus Atratus

1. Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight 2. Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything 3. Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds 4. Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions 5. Carolyn Porco flies us to Saturn 6. VS Ramachandran on your mind 7. Dan Dennett: Cute, sexy, sweet, funny 8. Adam Savage’s obsessions 9. Emily Levine’s theory of... »

Bring on the Blasphemy

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
By Nano Manannan
Bring on the Blasphemy

So there you have it. Today, those numskulls in the Dail have passed the blasphemy amendments to the defamation bill without debate. Funny how there was no public consultation on this. Where did this come from?  Is there more to this? At first look it seems that this is yet an another example of an... »

Why We Believe in Gods

Sunday, May 31, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
Why We Believe in Gods

Andy Thomson gives his talk titled ‘Why We Believe in Gods‘ at the American Atheist 2009 convention in Atlanta, Georgia. J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., M.D. is Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI), Staff Psychiatrist at the University of Virginia Student Health Services and in private practice.  In this... »

The Filth and The Fury

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
The Filth and The Fury

It’s scarcely believable, the things I’ve heard over the past few days.  The publishing of the report from the Ryan Commission’s investigation into child abuse in Ireland’s industrial schools blew the lid on the the whole festering cluster-fuck we like to call “Catholicism” in this country.  800 priests, nuns, Christian Brothers and various others... »

When Education Challenges Evolution

Wednesday, April 8, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus
When Education Challenges Evolution

It was an interesting time in Texas a few weeks ago. The Texas Board of Education were considering amendments to their science standards that would effectively try to undermine the teaching of Darwinian Evolution in schools. It could have potentially allowed those educators who were so inclined to teach Biblical Creationism (otherwise known as... »

Randolph Nesse – uncut interview from ‘The Genius of Charles Darwin’

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
By Cygnus Atratus

This is the uncut interview with Randolph Nesse from the ‘The Genius of Charles Darwin’ presented by Richard Dawkins. Randolph Nesse is the co-author of ‘Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine’(along with George C. Williams).      See Randolph Nesse’s blog here:  http://skepticaladaptationist.com/ »