The Thoughts Of A Skepkid

Baby Jesus is found

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:08:00 +0000

This is straight from Fark.com, a baby jesus was stolen from a family's nativity scene 6 years ago and was found at a police auction this month. Not a big news story but this jumped out at me:
"Rather than spend more than $1,000 on a new set, Hoffman used dolls or her son,
Jack, now 10,as stand-ins for the last six years while Jesus was away from
his manger at the West Des Moines Police Department's evidence locker.
"Jack usually didn't last too long," Hoffman said. "It was hard to convince
him to lie out there in the freezing cold."

Holy Shit, now this could have been just a joke but if it's true than this is really, really disturbing. I really have no other comment, just had to write about this; also the cops did not connect the baby jesus being stolen and a baby jesus with a painted swastika showing up on someones lawn.

Pictures from TAM

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:58:00 +0000

Sorry about the crappy photo's, next year I'll bring a good camera

The t-shirt that I had signed by the SGU

The Autographs of the SGU

Me and Rebecca Watson from Skepchick and the SGU

Me and Evan Burnstein from the SGU

Paris: The hotel I stayed at.

Me and Phil Plait a few minutes after TAM closed

The shirt and name tag I got from TAM

Adam Savage signing DVD's

Me and James "The Amazing"Randi

Me and Bob Novella from the SGU

Me and Jay Novella of the SGU

Me and Steve Novella, Host of the SGU

One of Phil Plait's slides

Michael Shermer's talk

The SGU's live podcast (Had a front row seat!)

Steve's talk

Neil DeGrasse Tyson's keynote speech "brain droppings

of a skeptic", ran over by 30 minutes or so. At the end of

his time we all started begging for more.

Penn & Teller's Q&A session, "what do you think about enviormentalism?

"....................(look at each other)............... Don't know."

Blog Reopened

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:16:00 +0000

I probably should have said that I went on hiatus to begin with but after 7 months you probably figured it out. Now the blog will reopen and hopefully stay as such, I'm sorry about the huge gap but with school and home life being a little screwed up at the time, this fell by the wayside. Everything is straightened out now, so I should be writing a bit more often.

I just got back from TAM 6 and will be uploading pictures and a post about the meeting soon.

Stem Cell Research in Humans

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:35:00 +0000

Back in June I made a post about new stem cell technique that made skin cells, in mice, into embryonic stem cells.A few days ago in Bloomberg a news report said that two research groups, one in US and one in Japan, have shown this to be possible in humans; They inserted four cells into the skin cells and turned them into stem cells. The stem cells are shown to be able to turn into, at least;heart, brain, muscle, fat and cartilage cells; The researchers said that over 10,000 labs could do this technique right now.
This means almost nothing but I nominate these researchers for the Nobel prize.

Review of Judgement Day

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:39:00 +0000

I can't believe it took me this long to get a review out. Sorry about that.

The show was awesome and is definitely was one of the best science shows I've ever seen! They got everything right, the scientist were able to talk and the IDers had their time to defend themselves (poorly). I learned a few things about evolution and a lot about the Dover trial, if you are at all scientifically bent, please watch the show. The show should be on the PBS site on Friday. WATCH IT! Coincidentally, I just today turned in my English paper, Evolution v. Creationism, I used some stuff I got off the program, by the way, the paper was actually why I was so late in posting this. As a last request, WATCH THE SHOW TOMORROW!!!!

ID on NOVA

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:35:00 +0000

Next Tuesday there will be a 2-hour documentary on Intelligent Design, on the T.V. show NOVA. I think this will be a great show and just by looking at the website it seems like they have the right view point, I especially like the transitional fossil and predictions by Darwin slide shows.

Go to the web site and look around, it looks like the people at NOVA really got this one right and will brand ID as the pseudoscience it is.

To see when the show will appear in your time zone go here.

The preview looks good and I am definitely watching it.

Cosmic Rays Origns Solved?

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:09:00 +0000

First off, I'm sorry that I haven't posted but it turns out if you blog while at the school library, they will ban you. I have my computer fixed now and my Internet will be up for good in about a week, for now I should be making a post a week or so.

Now for the cool stuff, a new study looks at the origins of cosmic rays. Here is the Wikipedia article on cosmic rays, I would really read it if you don't know much about them. This is what I understand about them, they are high energy subatomic particles that travel near the speed of light and are proppeled by enormous magnetic fields, since the 60's scientist were pointing towards supernovae for the origin of majority of cosmic rays. The proplem is that all measurements of the magnetic fields were indirect but this research directly measured the magnetic fields and showed that they were powerfull enough to propel them at the speeds measured, for spefics check the link to ScienceDaily.

Aliens--Are They Real?

noreply@blogger.com (viccro) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:00:00 +0000

Every year my school hosts a set of "Thursday Think Tanks," which are lectures, speakers, etc. that a club or group invites to speak at our dorm. These are highly attended by my school's population of 350, and even the public are invited (though they rarely show). This fall's list of events has just been released, and one in particular caught my eye. You heard me right:

"Aliens: Are they Real? Come hear two believers give their case - Dr. Rick Cazares and Andy Morgan."

Ooh! A doctor! He must be a good source. And the fact that they are labeled "believers" should make this even more exciting. It seems that they could at least have called them witnesses, victims, or something similarly concrete. This is definitely worth researching before going to, I believe, to put my skepticism to work. I'll report back afterwards, to spell out how it went; it should be fun. Especially since my school is all math and science-y; enough so that we could all band together and swallow them alive. And if anyone happens to be reading this from the North Texas area, I'd be happy to get you more information.

Me? Procrastinating?

noreply@blogger.com (viccro) — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:43:00 +0000

Of course not! It's not like I'm trying to avoid facing college apps, a math test or a gold award project by blogging or anything...

Yeah, I've been out, but not slacking. Just out of my mind, and rather busy too. However, I do have something to say (!): Rebecca Watson (one of my biggest hero[ines]), has won the Public Radio Talent Quest! She's been participating in the competition for quite some time, and has been selected to put out a pilot of a show of her choosing. She's a regular panelist on The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, and the owner of a fantastic blog, Skepchick. Can you guess what her show is going to be about?
She's done a fantastic job at bringing the voice of a young woman to the skeptical community; she's got pizazz, and a real chance to be heard nation-wide! She's smart, cool, and can even play the trumpet. That last one buys major points in my book!

I'm Back(sort of)

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:50:00 +0000

I am finally back on the Internet and am able to look up science articles, but I have to use my school's computers,so any blog will be short and I may get banned from the computer because of it,not sure on that. For those of you who want to know why I've been off for awhile three things happened one after another,first I moved (awesome new house),my computer broke and the Internet at my house crashed so I cant use my sisters. I should be back on 24/7 in a few weeks at the most. Thanks to Viccro for keeping up the site for me.

Facebook et al

noreply@blogger.com (viccro) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:42:00 +0000

There's a new study that's come up with a lot of theories about social networking sites that seem pretty common sense-y. I'm a big fan of facebook, due mainly to the idea of photo sharing in such a convenient manner, and I take advantage of the wall feature quite a bit. I send out notes asking for volunteers via the site, talking to kids that I tutor, and I even asked my english teacher (a grad student) if she'd write my teacher recommendations for college applications through the messaging system. The last may have been toeing the line as to social etiquette, but I'm always amazed at how well the younger generation adapt to new sites.

I've got to say, I never really liked myspace, as the only really useful feature when I looked at it a year and a half ago was really the wall space; everything else was pretty superfluous and distracting, though it was clearly the freedom of having "your own space" online to decorate, write junk on, etc that drew most people to the site. Once facebook opened its doors to non college students, the first to sign up were the ex-myspace junkies. These people ran around collecting all of the people they'd ever passed in the halls as friends, and started "keeping in touch" with live (or more accurately freuqently updated) status lines that describe moods, location, activities, etc for all to see. These people aren't really good friends with 500 people that they've hooked up with; most of them probably wouldn't wave on the street. But there's a major politeness issue concerning turning a friend request down, especially if one day the rejected party might need to work with you. There's also an extremely casual way to say "hey!" as though in passing, with scarcely more than a what's-up/not-much sort of exchange. This is an extremely efficient way to shirk your duties of friend-making-time, which the study identifies as a vital step in gaining friendships. However, there's also the set of people that you may need to contact for a group project, that you hooked up with at a summer job, or any other trivial acquaintence that you won't mind checking up with here and there. There's the issue of people who travel, who use facebook to keep in touch with friends and family across the world. (I actually go to school out of town, so this is a big plus for me!)

The ones that I talk with most on facebook, however, are really not my best friends. My best friends live in my dorm, and to a large degree this amount of connectivity eliminates the need for such a medium of communication. The most meaningful parts of my day, as the study points out, are not going to take place on a website, but in my personal interactions with the people I know.

I think I rambled sufficiently. Facebook is fun! It helps people keep in contact in an extremely casual manner, but is really not the method of choice for communicating with people you have close access to (such as those in your dorm...)!

PS: The site also mentions the need for honest communications, which is eased by face-to-face contact. When I'm chatting with friends I have a big issue with being overly sarcastic: it gets to the point where they attempt to force me to italicize my text if I'm intending sarcasm, because it just doesn't transfer properly, and much confusion results. Even phones allow for more transference of contextual information than the text contained in a wall post.

The Chupacabra That Wasn't

noreply@blogger.com (viccro) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:11:00 +0000

There's been a recent discovery! Some lady near San Antonio (pretty much my backyard) found a chupacabra! Well...it's either a "Texas tasmanian devil" or a mangy coyote/dog. Either way it's roadkill, and the woman in question is really selling the story. Canion claims that she's been losing chickens and goats to the creature in question, which is clearly identifiable due to its MO: it
sucks the blood of its victims, draining them while leaving the meat wholly intact.

Frankly it seems to me like a good way to cleanly prepare meat according to kosher standards.

The scientists that have been sent DNA samples aren't enthused, and it's probably due to the fact that no matter what they decide, many Southern Texans will claim that this is the beast that has acted in such a way that enables us to continue to describe it as a chupacabra: real live (or roadkilled, if you like) proof. For the masses following this story, science is just not going to win.

Crucifixion to be recognized as illegal punishment for blasphemy

noreply@blogger.com (viccro) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:42:00 +0000

Quick note about this story: There's a legal argument going on concerning the legality of the crucifixion of Jesus. First of all, what makes Jesus example better than any other? It's not that likely that all of the other "criminals" that were put to death around that time had solid cases against them. It's true that blasphemy should not be punishable by death in any part of the world (especially as it's always very vaguely defined), but couldn't they have picked a more recent example? How about the Muslim call for the death of Salman Rushdie? And what exactly do these Friends of Jesus want to be dealt out as punishment? Let's go and get those Romans, and show them the wrongfulness of their ways!!

That's not even taking into account the fact that the death of Jesus is supposed to have been prophesied, and required as repentance for the sins of all men. What exactly would have been the result of him not dying? Let's go ask some Christians in the US...I can bet that they'd be against this case as much as the rest of us.

Enemies of Reason

noreply@blogger.com (viccro) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 17:52:00 +0000

Howdy all! I'm a new contributer to this blog; I'll be joining the current team of skepkids in working on ensuring that your daily dose of skepticism gets spread around.

For my first post, I'm going to mention that in the UK, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins' two part series, The Enemies of Reason has just been shown on Channel 4. This documentary aims to demonstrate that in a Western world full of technological and scientific breakthroughs, a market for superstition is running rampant. The series is wholly amusing, and lighthearted in a Richard-Dawkins-is-getting-his-chakras-energized type of way. He talks with all sorts of pseudoscientists, and even attends sessions with many, listening patiently to the "mumbo jumbo" that pervades the interviews.

The first part, Slaves to Superstition, emphasizes how various dogmas are able to corrupt our way of life (though he scarcely touches on one of his favorite topics, religion). He studies horoscopes, palm readers, spiritualist churches, and other non-evidence based belief systems. He speaks with lots of crazy folks at the new age fair that he attends, and speaks very enthusiastically with a crystal ball named George.

In the second segment, The Irrational Health Service, Dawkins takes on even more superstitions, though this time the theme is the alternative medicines and treatment that patients regularly make use of. He speaks with homeopaths, who don't seem to mind the fact that they are prescribing water as medicine, as well as various breeds of faith healers, many of whom rationalize their practice by means of scientific words which have absolutely no relation to the topic at hand, such as "vibrations", "black holes", and most of all "quantum mechanics". I'm taking physics now, so I think that the awesome non sequiturs of the healers trying to argue a point is pretty hilarious...and certainly faulty. I think that an appropriate name for this second half could easily have been Alternative Medicines: The Placebo Effect and You.

You can find these videos on Google, or just click the links from Dawkin's site.

*V

Perry DeAngelis 8/22/1963 – 8/19/2007

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:53:00 +0000

Last night Perry DeAngelis , one of the rouges on The Skeptics Guide podcast,passed away after a few weeks in the hospital. Me and my fellow bloggers send our condolences to the friends and family.I would like to give my three favorite quotes from Perry as a memorial.

3.Any monkey worth his salt would give any bird a beak flip.

2.I have monkeys in my pants.

1.The amount of time that she will live longer than us because of the diet is directly proportional to the horror of her existence.(about Rebecca's vegetarinism)

We have lost a great man and fellow skeptic.Perry, the skeptical world will never be the same.We will remember you.

Surprise,Surprise Sex Ed Doesn't Help!

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:28:00 +0000

It was found that the ABC (abstinice,be faithful,condoms) form of sex ed "is unclear", but it also fails to cut the risk of HIV. Now in my mind if it fails to cut the risk, that means that it doesn't work. The ABC form of sex ed is mostly taught in the south and alot in my state, Texas, Also the teen pregnacy rate is highest on average in the south,coincedice? I can only hope in 2008 when we get a new president that he or she pushes better sex ed.

By the way, maybe sex ed doesn't work becuase half the class is asleep and the other half is laughing at the teacher stumbling over all their words.

NOVA To Air Re-enactment Of The Dover Decision

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:32:00 +0000

NOVA, the PBS show will air ,on Nov. 1, a 2 hour program with re-enactments of the Dover Decision. The Dover Decision was the court case were a Dover judge,Judge John E. Jones III, made the ruling that Intelligent Design is not science and ruled against it being taught in school. Jones said "I thought in retrospect that the lawyering was so good and the witnesses were so impactful, positive and negative, that the public should have seen it," He has agreed to be interviewed on the show and the 2 hour program will include re-enactments and interviews with Jones, former school board members and reporters who were at the hearing.

I can't wait to see the ID proponents proven wrong on national TV.

Creationist Heading Texas School Board

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:26:00 +0000

Rick Perry has decided to have a outspoken creationist to head the Texas school board,oh my effing god. The creationist, Don McLeroy, has written a letter talking about evolution, which is filled with the usual misconceptions, lies, logical fallacies and twisting of facts. I won't go into detail because it is too long, but here is a quote

"Thus, the most amazing "orthodoxy" which dominates the educational establishment "leviathan" today is the slighting of "facts and knowledge" for emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking. Problem solving and critical thinking are secondary skills. Before one can think and solve he must first have something to think about." (bolding mine)

He thinks that we should go back to the "cookbook" days where we just learn facts and not the actual process of science. This is one of the worst things the education system could do besides just becoming the next Kansas. This will also hurt me and my fellow Texans who are going to college in a few years, if we go out of state the college will look down upon our education.

Figures this happens the year I'm taking biology.

thank you Phil Plait and Dr. Steven Novella

UFO Hunters

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 05:17:00 +0000

From the creators of the horrible series Ghost Hunters comes a new reality TV show about the ridiculous, introducing UFO Hunters. Now there have been about 60 years of searching and not one piece of credible evidence but sure a reality show will find it(note the sarcasm). By the way now when I get into an argument with UFO belivers they can say "dude, their just like Einstein the're being repressed by those close-minded scientist."Great.

Cancer-Fighting Virus Shows Promise

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:07:00 +0000

A new cancer fighting virus, called NV1020, is a type of herpes simplex virus.It is designed to be safe for normal cells but will replicate in virus cells so it should have virtually no side effects.

A patient who had 10 liver masses and 4 in the lungs was given 4 weekly treatments and 2 treatments of chemotherapy, in six months the liver masses disappeared. The patient then lived for one year.For a full explanation of this go here, because I know I got something wrong.

By the way; 3 post in one day, I'm on a roll.

Cryptozoology In The Amazon

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 20:08:00 +0000

Big day for cryptozoology (zoology meaning study of animals crypto meaning crap we made up), I found three articles about Bigfoot, chupracabra and the Tasmanian tiger.i have just read an article on AOL.com about the Mapinguary, an Amazonian Bigfoot, report of it differ (of course) some say it has one eye some say two. some say it has a mouth on its stomach, some say it can hypnotize you,etc,etc.I don't have any cases in front of me just the myth itself so i cant say anything except it could be a hoax, it could be tall tales any number of things. The only reason I'm talking about such a thing is a quote from Dr. Glen Shepard a ethnobiologist and anthropologist."the clincher that really blew me away” came when a member of the tribe remarked matter of factly that he had also seen a mapinguary at the natural history museum in Lima." He checked and they had a diorama. This is his great evidence for the existence of an Amazonian Bigfoot a museum had a diorama of it?!? Hell, some museums have dioramas of the story of Genesis ,that doesn't make it true, In fact I'd wager that more museums have Genesis than the mapinguary, and he called himself a skeptic, I think I'm insulted.

Top 10 Creation Myths

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:07:00 +0000

I just saw this on Google when I typed in "intelligent design myths". It listed the top 10 creation myths, the list isn't all that surprising till I got to number 1. Here's the list

10. Norse

9.Ancient Persia

8.Babylonian

7.Ancient Egypt

6.Aztecs

5.Chinese

4.Japanese

3.Hindu

2.Greeks

and the number 1 myth (drum roll please) Genesis. I really thought they would chicken out and not dare step on the toes of the Judeo-Christian God, They even mention in the paragragh desciding the myth the incosestinces with the first two chapters of Genisis. At least someone isn't scared of being bombarded by e-mails.

Another Paranormal TV Show

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 21:24:00 +0000

There just crawling out of the wood work aren't they? This time though the hunters will be B-list "celebrities" such as Survivor winner and America's Next Top Model "stars"( how does that make them "qualified" ghost hunters?) apparently It will premiere on Slice tonight(July 4th) at 10pm ET and the hunters will go to one of the most haunted places on earth, which to my mind would be everywhere I mean pretty much everywhere can have just as many gullible people. For full details go here

I'm on vacation so the chiropractor article will be a bit longer in the wait but the book plans are coming along nicely and I am considering making a podcast, because I getting 4 hours of sleep, I need to stop wasting time. I just realized that once I start school back up and have to keep up in the top 10% I wont get any sleep.What I do for skeptisim.

Slow News Week

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:27:00 +0000

Wow, this week has been the slowest ever. I've been looking all over the internet for some interesting news,but sadly mostly just the regular nonsense that we've all heard a million times.

I'm working on the chiropractic article but its slow going. I find it ironic that the one thing keeping me from finishing this,the internet,is also the thing that lets me do this.

In other news I am considering writing a book. No title right now but it will mostly be concerned with how a teenager views skeptism.I don't know if I should write about Atheism but im open to suggestions.I'm looking into self-publishers and I would also greatly appreciate it if you could e-mail me for suggestions for my book. I want to know what my potential buyers want to see in a skeptical book.

New Paranormal TV Show

noreply@blogger.com (skepkid) — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:35:00 +0000

A New Paranormal show was just produced by Dark Arts Films (I've never heard of them either) called "Out of the Static" At the bottom of their website there was this paragraph:

"We seek out normal everyday people that have been touched by paranormal events. We look for people who have lived through these strange unexplainable encounters and want to share their true tales with others"

I just saw a trailer for it. I really don't see what it had to do with the paranormal, but hey, it had creepy music. After seeing this clip, I doubt it will ever make past a local channel, but this will still pollute the minds of people with false ideas about science and how simple and explainable these encounters really are.