…. along with the discussion of Transhumanism. Click here.
Category Archives: Falsehoods and Skepticism
Did humans evolve from apes?
The next installment of “Everything you Know is Sort of Wrong” will be on the falsehood: “Humans evolved from apes.” Or, if you prefer, “Humans did not evolve from apes.” Either way, you’re wrong. And right.
Confused? Great, then we’re half way there! Here’s the details. (This is part of the Skeptically Speaking broadcast.) Please post your questions and tune in on Friday.
Yet another flu falsehood
“I don’t need the Swine Flu vaccine because I already had the Swine Flu when it went around in the 1970s”
Sorry, you do.
While we’re on the subject, a couple more:
Continue reading Yet another flu falsehood
The Falsehoods Come Home to Roost: Dirty Foreign Germs In America
Parasitic infections and other diseases usually associated with the developing world are cropping up with alarming frequency among U.S. poor, especially in states along the U.S.-Mexico border, the rural South and in Appalachia, according to researchers.
Government and private researchers are just beginning to assess the toll of the infections, which are a significant cause of heart disease, seizures and congenital birth defects among black and Hispanic populations.
A true ghost story: The Slide Show
The McGregor Museum is a complex building with several wings surrounding an inner court yard, a multi-layered roof, balconies everywhere, and numerous trees in the court yard close in to the building. So, a cat can spend the heat of the day in the shaded crown of a tree, and the cool of the evening up on the building’s sun-warmed metal roof.
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The interior of the McGregor museum houses numerious exhibits. The old period rooms and hallways focus on the late 19th century, and other newer areas (not shown) have an excellent set of exhibits on archaeology, human evolution, and “San” rock art.
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Defending Kimberly.
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The dude in the kilt.
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The Gatling Gun. (A Gatling gun is an old fashioned machine gun.)
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A visitor to the museum checking for ghosts.
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Doing fieldwork in a game park.
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Possible “San” burial … which turned out to have no physical remains.
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Although no artifacts of note or bones were found in the burial, there were plenty of these. The scorpions were in a state of torpor, as it was winter.
The End
A True Ghost Story Part 3: Who is that kilted man with the big gun?
Well, we were living with this ghost who would walk up and down the hall in the middle of the night, invisibly leaving behind only the sound of its footsteps. But before I tell you how this all came out, I want to tell you a related side story.
As I had mentioned, I had the “hallway extension” room. Let me explain.
Continue reading A True Ghost Story Part 3: Who is that kilted man with the big gun?
Jolly ol’ England
Old books can be wonderful sources of information, ideas, and even inspiration. I collect them and sometimes even read them. Reading a 100 year old book in your field of interest is a challenge and can be a rewarding experience.
It is a challenge because it is dangerous. I worry that I might accidentally learn something that is no longer true. What if I remember it at some later time, like at a cocktail party or while giving a lecture, but don’t remember the source: “… As is well known, flies spontaneously generate from certain forms of mud …” Continue reading Jolly ol’ England
Science, Science Reporting and the Manufacture and Maintanance of Myth
Sorry for the alliteration…
A news story that came out some time ago reports new analysis of a Spanish Neanderthal (Neandertal) site called El Sidrón. I think this is an interesting example of how scientific information reported in a peer reviewed journal is transformed into “copy” that generates or supports the public’s mythical view of science in general, and in this case, human evolution in particular.
Continue reading Science, Science Reporting and the Manufacture and Maintanance of Myth