The UFO community has been in the news a lot lately with new claims but the same old excuses. Also, President Phil Plait of JREF and his friend Seth Shostak chime in on all things UFO’s.
If Aquaman had worn this suit maybe he wouldn’t be the laughing stock of the Justice League:
In America we’ve got the detestable “In God We Trust” on the backs of our money. But what do the British have on the backs of their money? Charles Darwin!
Britney may soon be joining Jenny McCarthy’s crusade of fools – Apparently, Britney’s son Jayden is to be tested for autism. And while this is sad news, it might be doubly bad news because as previously reported, Britney’s recently attended a function run by the anti-vaccine front group called “Generation Rescue” and if history is any indication, Britney probably isn’t savvy enough to see through their crap.
Some more lies from The Banana Guy – Ray Comfort has no rebuttal for PZ Myers and then claims PZ chose not to face him mono-a-mono when the producers of the radio show they were to appear on informed both parties of a change in format a week ago. But after bragging that PZ chickened out, Ray presented this lame dismissal of evolutionary evidence. Then came his excuse that he’d never gotten the email from the producers of the radio show about the format change while insinuating that it’s not uncommon for atheists to chicken out of debates with him. Name one, Ray. Who’d chicken out after seeing your pathetic performance at the Nightline debate?
And here’s the recordings of both shows:
Ray’s interview:: www.areavoices.com/benandjim/?blog=31157
PZ’s response on: www.heathenz.com/2008/08/06/pz-myers-on-a-christian-radio-s
Mythbusters planning on doing a Creationism show – Sadly, I still have never seen Mythbusters, but next to Penn & Teller’s Bullshit and South Park, I’m told this is among the best (and among the only) shows about skepticism. Hopefully I’ll check it out soon, both on TV and on DVD.
And now for a moment of science:
Why Ice Flaunts Third Law Of Thermodynamics – “Ye canna change the laws of physics!” Scotty warned Captain Kirk on “Star Trek.” But engineers and physicists at the University of Maryland may rewrite one of them.”
Neanderthal Mitochondrial Genome Sequenced – “The complete mitochondrial genome of a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal has been sequenced. The findings open a window into the Neanderthals’ past and helps answer lingering questions about our relationship to them.” -Yet another bad day to be a Young Earth Creationist.
Melon Genes Elucidate Evolution Of Sex – “A newly discovered function for a hormone in melons suggests it plays a role in how sexual systems evolve in plants. The study, conducted by French and American scientists, appeared recently in the journal Science.”
Solar System Is Pretty Special, Computer Shows – “The solar system, it turns out, is pretty special indeed. The study illustrates that if early conditions had been just slightly different, very unpleasant things could have happened — like planets being thrown into the sun or jettisoned into deep space.”
Eh, you just know those creationists will pull out that silly Fine Tuning argument for this one but the logical fallacy in that argument is The Fallacy of Misused Statistics, aka The Lottery Fallacy . The argument is basically can be restated as saying it’s impossible for anyone to win the lottery because all 6 numbers have to line up perfectly. But of course people win the lottery every day, not because they play every possibility but because so many people play that it’s statistically likely that SOMEBODY is going to pick all 6 winning numbers. For further insight into this fallacy, find out how HIV Deniers use the same reasoning on The Skeptic’s Guide To The Universe podcast 59 (55 minutes into the show). Their website can be found to your right on my blogroll.
AIDS Breakthrough? HIV Halted With RNAi In Mice – “Hopes languished last September when a promising candidate HIV vaccine failed to work. Despite this setback, many researchers still believe immunization is possible, and a new study suggests they’re correct—at least at the cellular level.” Yea Vaccines! 
