A skeptic comes out at 81

James Randi comes out as gay at For Good Reason.

I [Heart] Pink

I admit, I don't understand Lady Gaga. Then again, I didn't understand Madonna (other than the Dick Tracy album) or Cher or Streisand or most of the other "divas" that the gays seem to love.

I do understand Cyndi, Patti, and Karen O. And I totally understand Pink. If I had a daughter, I would never let her listen to the shit music from any of the current women pop singers. Except Pink: I would force her to listen to Pink.

We need this book

Would You Wear a Serial Killer's Sweater?
On jellyfish genes, autism, politics, and how our intuitions lead us into strange territory.

Psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist Bruce Hood has been known to brandish a cardigan belonging to the serial killer Fred West in the lecture hall. West tortured, raped, and murdered at least 12 women. Of course, a moment's reflection will reveal that his sartorial choices probably had nothing to do with his grisly hobby. And there's no possibility of catching serial killer disease from his sweater, right? Nonetheless, most people will refuse to wear the sweater once they know its provenance (false provenance, actually, the sweater Hood uses is not really West's). Odder still, in large lecture halls, members of the audience will physically recoil from the few people who say they are willing to wear the sweater. The crowds, which often consist of highly-educated, secular people, laugh nervously as this little drama is played out, says Hood, because they realize that there is something odd and illogical about their reaction.

Hood has made a study of these intuitive ways of seeing the world. In his new book Supersense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable (HarperOne), he looks at the moments where our intuitions come into conflict with our rational faculty. We're born with a proclivity to see patterns that aren't there, to sense agency where there is only randomness, and to tell stories about cause and effect that may or may not be true. Hood examines religion through this lens, but most of the book focuses on the ways that even people who don't consider themselves religious—or even superstitious—are governed by intuition.

"Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it."*

from LGF
YouTube Bans James Randi

Media | Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 8:28:15 pm PDT

You have got to be kidding me.

YouTube has suspended the account of the James Randi Foundation, one of the foremost rationalist organizations in the United States?

This is an outrage. YouTube — where you can easily find disgusting, violent jihadi videos, and vile antisemitic garbage like this — is now protecting the delicate feelings of creationists and phony psychics. Shame on YouTube. Shame.

Problem with YouTube
Latest JREF News
Written by Jeff Wagg
Monday, 30 March 2009 12:19

Our YouTube account has been suspended, which means all of the Randi Speaks and other JREF videos are temporarily unavailable. We're researching the problem, and will be back online as soon as possible. Thanks very much for your patience.

*Giordano Bruno

Libertarians Among Us

Matt Welch & Nick Gillespie of Reason magazine make hopeful noises about the libertarian movement that is coalescing around Ron Paul, despite his faults, and what they (and we) hope it means - in the Washington Post, of all places.

Just stay with it.

glumbert - The Atheist Delusion

Simply unbelievable.

This 'war on drugs' is one of the sinkholes that are destroying the 'modern world': In Florida a man was sentenced to 25 years for possessing 58 pills for which he had a legal prescription - in Reason. (The decision was reversed).

Two of My Favorite Geniuses

Enjoyed these articles on two tremendous influences on our kind - Milton Friedman at Reason and Carl Sagan at Skeptical Inquirer. Found them both at a great source - Arts & Letters Daily.

Faith vs. Science