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Recent Posts
Monthly Archives: August 2009
The Torture Debate, UFO Cults, and People Impervious to Changing Their Minds
Ryan Sager sees a connection: I have yet to see a single pundit or politician change his of her position on torture or “enhanced interrogation” based on anything that’s come out since the torture memos. Isn’t that odd? Well, not … Continue reading
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Tagged bigotry, faith, philosophy, prejudice, reason, science, skepticism, torture, torture debate, ufo cults, UFOs
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The Hell! I Missed This Too!
Somehow I’ve been totally oblivious to all sorts of interesting UFO information through the years. I never even paid attention when this Mexico sighting of UFOs (captured by Mexican pilots using infrared camaras) made the media rounds in 2004. This whole … Continue reading
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Tagged aliens, bias, bias filter, extraterrestrials, philosophy, psychology, skepticism, social psychology, UFO sightings, ufology, UFOs
7 Comments
Richard Dawkins: The B.F. Skinner of Our Time?
It occurred to me today that atheism has a lot in common with behaviorism. It will be recalled that B.F. Skinner, the 20th century champion of behaviorism, was a very stark reductionist, literally ignoring mind as an explanation for anything. He … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, atheism, atheist, b.f. skinner, behaviorism, determinism, explanation, mind, philosophy, psychology, reason, Richard Dawkins
14 Comments
Apollo Astronaut Buzz Aldrin Says There’s a Monolith on Phobos!
I count at least three American astronauts who take UFOs seriously: Edgar Mitchell, Gordon Cooper, and Buzz Aldrin. On C-SPAN, for example, Buzz Aldrin recently made the bizarre claim that Mars’s satellite, Phobos, has a monolith on it. A monolith?! I … Continue reading
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Tagged aliens, Apollo, buzz aldrin, Dionysus, evidence, extraterrestrials, Mars, phobos, reason, skeptic, UFOs
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Mental Health Break
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Tagged comedy, funny, happiness, humor, life, mental health break, psychology
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French Air Force Captain J.C. Duboc: What Should We Make of His UFO Testimony?
If you’ve been following this blog over the past couple of weeks, you know that I’ve had a change of mind concerning UFOs. I’ve long thought that the whole subject of UFOs was an easy target for debunking skeptics, and so I never … Continue reading
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Tagged aliens, life, reason, science, skepticism, space, testimony, ufo, UFOs, weird things
2 Comments
Strong Agnostics v. Smug Epistemic Overreachers?
I’m a strong agnostic. I’m convinced that both atheists and theists are deluding themselves. I don’t think either atheists or theists know what the hell is really going on, and if one side happens to be right, it’s not because they’re … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, confidence atheists, dr. evil, philosophy, psychology, religion, triumphalism
18 Comments
Mental Health Break
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Tagged art, dance, life, mental health break, music, psychology, songs
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45 Second Virtual Alien Vacation: Hanging with UFOs at Scenic Tejon Ranch!
Tejon Ranch (in Southern California) is in the Tehachipi Mountain area about an hour from where I live. Late last year, it was designated a 600 square mile conservation area. Oh, and UFOlogists claim that a secret government UFO facility (akin to Area … Continue reading
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Tagged abduction narratives, fly away, tejon ranch, trip, trippy, UFO sightings, UFOs, vacation
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If You’re a Confidence Atheist or a Confidence Theist, You’re More Likely to Be Happier Than a Confused Agnostic Like Me
So suggests a new study. Fine, but that doesn’t mean that you’re right. Via Steel Phoenix, a nice retort from George Bernard Shaw: “The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, george bernard shaw, happiness, Jesus, philosophy, psychology, religion, social psychology, theism
7 Comments
Is Argument an Act of Self Control?
Are those who council calm in argument in some sense complicitous in evil? Whence passion in debate? William Buckley (counseling calm) and Noam Chomsky (affirming passion) discuss the Vietnam War. I can’t help but hear resonances in our contemporary debates … Continue reading
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Tagged accomodationism, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, debate, faitheism, noam chomsky, rhetoric, self control, William F. Buckley
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Why Do We Have Space Diets, But Not Time Diets?
Nearly everybody, it seems, wants to take up less space in the universe (that is, be skinny), but almost nobody wants to take up less time in the universe (that is, die soon). But both space and time are just dimensions, … Continue reading
UFOs 101: “Out of the Blue” on DVD is Stimulating, Especially if You’re a Skeptic
As promised at this blog last week, as a UFO skeptic I said I’d get the supposedly best DVD out there on UFOs, watch it, and give it a brief review. Well, I did. Out of the Blue is a … Continue reading
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Tagged aliens, apologetics, Christianity, Easter, extraterrestrials, eyewitness testimony, Jesus, Michael Shermer, Richard Dawkins, skepticism, the resurrection, UFOs
3 Comments
I Am Not Determinate Matter, and I Too Sing the Universe!
This is the confident theist position, which as an agnostic I am not committed to, but I nevertheless think it might well be right. Here’s why: Science is a tool for the study of matter, and it must study matter in … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, apologetics, atheist, matter, mind, philosophy, psychology, reductionism, religion
4 Comments
The Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident: A Brilliant Meteorite, an Alien Spacecraft from Another World, or Perhaps Something Else?
The Rendlesham Forest UFO incident (December 26, 1980), for the spectacularness of the claims surrounding it, its witnesses, and for the documentary evidence accompanying it, has been called “Britain’s Roswell.” It is England’s most famous alleged UFO sighting. With regards to … Continue reading
Whale Evolution 101 with Richard Dawkins
The Richard Dawkins Foundation (RDF) has started producing some really high quality, excellent videos and posting them to YouTube. Here’s Richard Dawkins briefly introducing the basics of whale evolution:
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Tagged apologetics, biology, creation, evolution, Genesis, mammals, oceans, Richard Dawkins, science, whales
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Intelligent Life on Other Planets Just Got More Probable?
According to MSNBC today, astrobiologist Milan Cirkovic thinks we should look at younger stars as well as older ones for intelligent life, reasoning that it might not take 4.5 billion years, as it did on Earth, to arrive at an intelligent species. … Continue reading
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Tagged astrobiology, astronomy, biology, dinosaurs, evolution, extraterrestrial life, human evolution, science, UFOs
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