Showing posts with label skepticism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skepticism. Show all posts

October 18 – Happy Birthday, Rebecca Watson

Posted October 18, 2016

I love that I get to talk about people doing “jobs” that don't exist in most career handbooks – or that didn't exist when I was a kid. Yesterday, it was a rock balancer. Today, it's a blogger, vlogger, and podcast host.

Rebecca Watson says that she had little interest in science in school or college but became more interested once she was an adult. She came to this interest through being a magician and meeting other magicians, including James Randi. Through that, she became aware of the skepticism movement and – voila! She is now a professional skeptic!

We often use the word skeptical (and related words) to mean doubtful about or disbelieving in a particular claim. Like: “I told my mom that I beat the world's record for chin-ups, but she was skeptical LOL.”

But to be a skeptic generally – to walk around in life as a skeptic, or to participate in the skepticism movement – isn't really about doubt or disbelief, and it isn't really being negative. Instead, it means using logic and reason, it means being a critical thinker.

Okay, being a skeptic is a BIT about disbelief. Because it means not accepting something without evidence, and it means not believing everything you hear from friends or read on the internet. But it also means not necessarily dismissing things you hear from friends or read on the internet!

It means using the scientific method, which is the best tool humans have ever invented to find out what is true.

When Watson became involved with the skepticism movement, in the early 2000s, there weren't a lot of women in the movement. So, in 2005, Watson started an organization called Skepchick. The goal was to promote skepticism to women. It included a forum and a monthly online magazine, but now it is a blog with 15 contributors (Watson, 13 other women, and one man).

Watson became a co-host of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast, a speaker at skeptics' events, and vlogger (video blogger). An asteroid is named after her!
Interested in checking out skepticism?
There is a TeenSkepchick website you
might like.

Or how about Junior Skeptic
online magazine? 


Also on this date:























Persons Day in Canada

















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September 30 – Happy Birthday, Phil Plait

Posted on September 30, 2016

Is it a compliment to be called The Bad Astronomer?

One would think that Phil Plait, an astronomer who lives in Boulder, Colorado, would feel insulted when people call him The Bad Astronomer. But actually, it's a name he embraces and uses himself.

You see, in the late nineties, working astronomer Phil Plait noticed that there was a lot of public interest in astronomical topics – but also a lot of misconceptions, conspiracy theories, and muddled thinking. He saw astronomical goofs in movies, in the news, in articles, and especially on the Internet.

He decided to do something about it. In 1998 he launched a website he called Bad Astronomy. On that website, he provided correct information and good sources plus some all-important critical thinking about news items and conspiracy theories. Some of the topics he discussed on Bad Astronomy included the so-called Moon landing “hoax” (newsflash – not a hoax, people really have landed on the Moon) and the predictions of a Planet X cataclysm.

One would think that whoever made this claim had never seen his
own looooonnng, skinny shadow when the Sun is near the horizon.

Get out more, dude!

The silliness of claiming that the Apollo moon landings were faked
has been debunked, but of course more silliness keeps cropping up.

Remember when people were convinced the world was going
to end in 2008 (when we turned on the Large Hadron Collider)? 
And then the world was going to end again, in December of 2012,
due to a so-called prediction from a Mayan calendar?


Plait's website got a lot of attention, especially after he criticized a Fox Network special. He started getting a lot of thanks from average citizens who weren't sure what to make of crazy-sounding claims and doomsday predictions, and he started getting thanks from others in the scientific community as well.

Soon Plait started a blog – also called Bad Astronomy – and to some extent he branched out from astronomy. Soon he was working with NASA and Discover Magazine, becoming a person of interest at skeptics' conferences, becoming a speaker... He has since appeared on TV and other media, given TED talks, hosted a TV series, written books, served as president of the James Randi Educational Foundation - well, he has since done LOTS of things! He's won several awards and honors and has even had an asteroid named after him (165347 Philplait)!

Enjoy some wisdom, Plait style:







Also on this date:
(last Friday in September)












Anniversary of the first tooth extraction with anesthesia



Chewing-gum mogul William Wrigley's birthday



Anniversary of the commissioning of the world's first nuclear submarine




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September 13: Scooby-Doo Day

Posted on September 13, 2016

What a debut! Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! made its debut on this date in 1969.

And the cartoon series went on to lead to more series, reruns, and revivals, movies, videos, puppet shows, Lego shorts, video games, stage plays, and even comic books!! And don't forget merchandising: lunch boxes, a board game, coloring books, underwear, and on and on.

In 2013, TV Guide rated Scooby Doo as the fifth greatest TV cartoon of all time.

What's so good about a Saturday-morning cartoon with four teenagers and a talking Great Dane?

Well....there were mysteries to solve. There were monsters to search for and spooky supernatural-seeming stuff to explore. There were humorous missteps. And antics. And the occasional shenanigan, an even a few romps into tom-foolery!

I missed all of that – I have literally never seen a single episode or movie of Scooby-Doo – but I have heard some great things about the series. My hero, the dearly departed scientist and science-explainer Carl Sagan, admired the series's skeptical stance and even wished that an adult show with a similar bent would be a great public service.

You may wonder what Sagan meant by “skeptical stance.” Apparently, whenever there seemed to be a ghost haunting a town or a not-of-this-world monster terrorizing the countryside, the gang would eventually track down the ghost or monster – and it would always turn out to be a criminal playing tricks in order to make off with some loot or some scoundrel in a mask trying to frighten people for his own nefarious purposes.

After being unmasked by the kid detectives, the criminal would often say something like, “I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!!”

Apparently, however, at least one of the newer Scooby-Doo retreads has a totally different – and disappointing – feel. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is a betrayal to the original show and in fact is just like most TV shows that deal with so-called paranormal activity: it ends up with the idea that supernatural creatures like ghosts, zombies, and werewolves do exist. One reviewer asked, “Scooby-Doo, how could you?” 

(I read that Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated gets back to its skeptical roots – hooray!)

Try watching an episode or two of Scooby-Doo. Here is one – and you can find links to many more on that page!




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Librarians' Day in Argentina








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May 21 – Anniversary of a Failed Prediction

Posted on May 21, 2016

Part of the annual celebration of
the fact that we're still here!
Some people celebrate today with parties and humor. They call it Rapture Day or End of the World Day – but they're really celebrating the fact that it ISN'T the “Rapture” or the “End of the World”!

You see, back in the 1990s, a Christian radio broadcaster and author named Harold Camping predicted that Jesus would return to the Earth soon; he made many calculations and at least one failed prediction but then ended up firmly fastening on May 21, 2011, being the date of this return.

Jesus coming back to the Earth may sound like a good thing, but Camping taught that a few hundred million people would be suddenly raptured—taken “up” into heaven—and that many millions more would die in a series of gigantic earthquakes and other disasters. Fire and brimstone and plagues. Scary, scary stuff. He predicted that the actual end of the world would be October 21, 2011...and that BILLIONS of men, women, and children (and I presume animals and plants) would die.

Camping talked about this prediction for years. A LOT of people – including most Christians and almost all non-Christians – rejected Camping's dire prediction. However, some people did believe, and there were problems for some of these believers. Some of them gave up their jobs, sold their homes, sold all of their belongings, and gathered together to await the Rapture. Some people not only stopped investing and earning money, they spent most of their own money promoting the prediction, I guess in an effort to (in their eyes) save people's souls. For example, one retired New Yorker spent $140,000 publicizing the prophecy.

These ads almost look like they are jokes -
but they were real attempts to spread the news
about Camping's (wrong) prediction!

Of course, May 21, 2011, came and went with no return-of-Jesus, no Rapture. October 21, 2011, came and went with no end-of-the-world.

It's sad to say that some of Camping's followers were totally impoverished by the actions they took based on their own certainty that Camping was correct. Homeless, jobless, broke, some went into hiding. Some people at Rapture-awaiting gatherings had been arrested by police (this happened in Vietnam, for example) as “extremists.”

Camping was super-duper wrong, which he later admitted. He even apologized. I don't want to laugh at his incorrect ideas – especially since he suffered from a stroke about a month after the 2011 prediction had failed, and he died in 2013.

Instead, I want to point out that there will always be people who sincerely come up with, write, say, and publicize ideas that are completely wrong. We should all think through ideas we hear about – look to see if the ideas are logical and reasonable, check to see if there is good evidence that supports the ideas. We should especially take care to examine ideas if people are urging us to spend money or give up valuable parts of our life on the basis of the ideas.

In other words, be skeptical. Check sources, look at the evidence given, and wonder about the possible motivations behind statements, ideas, or causes. Question authority; question simplistic / pat answers; question appeals to fear.

Also on this date:


































Independence Day in Montenegro





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