Archive for 'Myths & Wives' Tales'
Halloween Origins: Those Ancient Celts Sure Were Crazy…
Halloween began thousand of years ago, when the ancient Celts lit bonfires to celebrate Samhain. What exactly did these people believe?
Full PostOn Being Certain
Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not, Inspired By Science-Based Medicine’s Harriet Hall
I came upon this wonderful post over at Science-Based Medicine:
Neurologist Robert A. Burton, MD has written a gem of a book: On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not. His thesis is that “Certainty and similar states of ‘knowing [...]
You Can Pray…But How About Going to a Doctor First?
«Why pick on religion?» We skeptics/atheists are often asked. Sure, you may not like it, but come on — what harm does it do?
It is true that religion in the right hands can do some good (or at the very least, mind its own business). However, encouraging faith over reason can lead to disastrous, if not tragic, [...]
Car Tires Don’t Protect You From Being Struck By Lightning
Your Car Is One of the Safest Places To Be In A Lightning Storm, But Not Because of the Rubber Tires.
You may have heard this one before. Some say the safest place to be during a lightning storm is in a car because of the rubber tires because the rubber tires will effectively ground the [...]
Take It With A Grain of Salt
Students May Be Wising Up To Wikipedia. Are You?
ARS Technica reported on a study claiming that a majority of surveyed students of St. Mary’s College did not immediately resort to Wikipedia for research. This results of the study showed how Wikipedia.org was not a popular first destination for students faced with a new research assignment. [...]
Where Are You Getting This Information From?
Just Because Someone Says It Doesn’t Mean It’s True
If credible information is so abundant, why are people ready to believe anything?
I sit in Office Space style cubicles at work again, which makes overhearing conversations both easy and frequent. By my fourth day on the job, I identified a gentlemen one department (and one row) over [...]
