Archive for Other Claims In Question

We Told You! This Is A Christian Nation!

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

According to an AOL poll, Christianity Is THE ONLY Religion That Deserves Its Own License Plate

Venganza.org reports that Florida is considering a religious speciality license plate for its automobiles. The proposed plates, which include a cross and the words “I Believe,” promotes Christianity.

From the original article on AOL:

Some lawmakers say the state should be careful. Rep. Kelly Skidmore said she is a Roman Catholic and goes to Mass on Sundays, but she believes the “I Believe” plate is inappropriate for the government to produce.

What’s The Harm In That?

Maybe it will pass, maybe it won’t. But what’s the harm? We already have church billboards, bumper stickers, and other advertising. Why not let the religions have this one?

Well…I followed FSM’s article through to the AOL’s story and participated in their poll. The poll asked two simple yes-or-no questions:

What do you think of Florida’s proposal to offer a Christian license plate?
How would you feel about license plates that promoted other religions?

I was appalled at the results.

Welcome Back from the 19th Century

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

I recently stumbled upon the website for New Mexicans for Science and Reason. Thanks to Kylie Sturgess over at PodBlack Blog for bringing this to our attention. For more background information you may refer to this article on USA Today’s website.

I was able to find a page called Best and Worst of the Year Awards, a compilation of outrageous claims and blunders, many of which have been publicly debunked by skeptics. After taking a gallop through the 2007 list, I thought it might be amusing to throw up a personal highlight reel from NMSR’s list.

Hey Psychics, Did You See This Coming?

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

Regulating Psychics? It’s About Time!

British psychics are in for a rude awakening. A new set of laws may force them to prove their talents in court, or “give disclaimers describing their services as entertainment or as scientific experiments with unpredictable results.”

Daylight Atheism sums up the situation quite well:

The law currently in force in this area is the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951, which does in fact make it illegal to fraudulently claim to possess psychic or clairvoyant powers. But the key word is “fraudulently” - meaning that any enterprising prosecutor would have to prove that not only that the defendant has no psychic powers, but that they were aware of this and deliberately set out to deceive. This is a high bar to surmount, which is why the Act has hardly ever been used to prosecute psychic claimants…

But now, as part of an effort to harmonize consumer-protection laws across the European Union, the Act may be repealed. The new regulations proposed to replace it ban “treating consumers unfairly”, and psychics worry that this language could be used against them, to force them to prove their claims are genuine. Gee, you think?

The 9/11 Conspiracies - Fact or Fiction Pt. 3

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

The History Channel Thoroughly Examines and Addresses Claims Made By 9/11 Conspiracy Theorists and Conspiracy Skeptics

Originally aired on the History Channel, this online version of the documentary is a nine part series. Parts one through three are shown below.

The tragedy of the attacks of 9/11 is ours to share; it is ours to remember; it is ours to understand…THE 9/11 CONSPIRACIES: FACT OR FICTION exhaustively examines some of the most persistent of these theories…Each conspiracy argument is countered by a variety of experts in the fields of engineering, intelligence and the military.

This series on the History Channel is the best documentary I’ve seen on the topic. As noted above, it is very thorough and logical in its explanations. I’d suggest purchasing this title (since this online version is probably illegal). $25 for a two-hour TV documentary isn’t bad!

We split the series into three parts:

Parts 1 - 3: Introduction, the Conspiracy, The Twin Towers
Parts 4 - 6: The Pentagon, Flight 93, Why the HiJackers Weren’t Stopped
Parts 7 - 9: WTC 7, Inside Job, Conclusion

Part Seven

Topics Covered: World Trade Center 7

Video length - 9min 55sec

The 9/11 Conspiracies - Fact or Fiction Pt. 2

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

The History Channel Thoroughly Examines and Addresses Claims Made By 9/11 Conspiracy Theorists and Conspiracy Skeptics

Originally aired on the History Channel, this online version of the documentary is a nine part series. Parts one through three are shown below.

The tragedy of the attacks of 9/11 is ours to share; it is ours to remember; it is ours to understand…THE 9/11 CONSPIRACIES: FACT OR FICTION exhaustively examines some of the most persistent of these theories…Each conspiracy argument is countered by a variety of experts in the fields of engineering, intelligence and the military.

We split the series into three parts:

Parts 1 - 3: Introduction, the Conspiracy, The Twin Towers
Parts 4 - 6: The Pentagon, Flight 93, Why the HiJackers Weren’t Stopped
Parts 7 - 9: WTC 7, Inside Job, Conclusion

Part Four

Topics Covered: The Pentagon

Video length - 9min 49sec

The 9/11 Conspiracies - Fact or Fiction, Pt. 1

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

The History Channel Thoroughly Examines and Addresses Claims Made By 9/11 Conspiracy Theorists and Conspiracy Skeptics

Originally aired on the History Channel, this online version of the documentary is a nine part series. Parts one through three are shown below.

The tragedy of the attacks of 9/11 is ours to share; it is ours to remember; it is ours to understand…THE 9/11 CONSPIRACIES: FACT OR FICTION exhaustively examines some of the most persistent of these theories…Each conspiracy argument is countered by a variety of experts in the fields of engineering, intelligence and the military.

We split the series into three parts:

Parts 1 - 3: Introduction, the Conspiracy, The Twin Towers
Parts 4 - 6: The Pentagon, Flight 93, Why the HiJackers Weren’t Stopped
Parts 7 - 9: WTC 7, Inside Job, Conclusion

Part One

Topics Covered: Introduction to conspiracy theories, how they form, and skeptics’ response.

Video length - 12min 48sec

I Know We Americans Love Baseball, But This is Ridiculous…

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

Are We Ruled by Superstition Here in the United States?

This past Sunday, April 13th, this story was reported on Yahoo! News:

A construction worker’s bid to curse the New York Yankees by planting a Boston Red Sox jersey in their new stadium was foiled Sunday when the home team removed the offending shirt from its burial spot.

After locating the shirt in a service corridor behind what will be a restaurant in the new Yankee Stadium, construction workers jackhammered through the concrete Sunday and pulled it out.

Yankees President Randy Levine described the Red Sox fan as “…somebody who had really bad motives and was trying to do a really bad thing…”
Now, Levine and Yankees CEO Lonn Trost have begun to “[discuss] possible criminal charges against [the culprit] with the district attorney’s office.”

Sabermetrics Debunk Traditional Baseball Strategy

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

What if you managed your own real life baseball team? Draft your own players, decide the batting order, and make play by play decisions during games. Would you have your players stealing bases? Would you spend big bucks on a strong closing pitcher? Bill James would not advise you to do any of these things. In fact he has shown that a number of common decisions made in baseball do not make statistical sense. Why should you listen to him, you ask?

The ‘out’ takes on colossal value in sabermetrics, and an offensive manager’s strategy can be modeled around keeping them from happening.

Bill James has been studying baseball statistics for years and started publishing his findings in 1977 ^[1]. He coined the term sabermetrics, which can be defined as the mathematical and statistical analysis of baseball. Baseball, like many sports, is driven by statistics. traditional thinking often puts an emphasis on stats that everyone believes to be important, such as batting average and earned runs average. But sabermetrics takes statistics one step further.

It Takes on to Know One

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?”– Matthew 7:3

On Jan 8, 2008, Christian Minister Ray Comfort wrote in his blog (emphasis mine):

“There is a temporary disadvantage for the Christian in that he or she is confined to having to always speak the truth… However, there are no holes barred for those that don’t fear God. Their weapons of warfare are lies, exaggerations, statements made out of context, hearsay, rabbit trails, misquotes, and false accusations.”

Of course, when debating an issue, any honest person should strive to avoid lies, misquotes, statements made out of context, etc. Skeptics are not exempt from this—but then again, neither are Christians. Comfort and his partner, Kirk Cameron, are ironic examples of this.

Sylvia Browne: Is She For Real?

Published in: Other Claims In Question | Discuss

On March 6, 2001, psychics Sylvia Brown, John Edward and James Van Praagh appeared on an episode of Larry King Live entitled, Are Psychics For Real?

For those who don’t know, Sylvia Browne, John Edward and James Van Praagh are self-proclaimed psychic/mediums, each with throngs of dedicated, thoroughly-convinced fans. All three claim to be in contact with “the other side” (i.e. the dead) and regularly demonstrate their “abilities” in front of large, TV audiences. Occasionally, they are involved with missing person cases, murder investigations, and other serious issues.

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