1. Einsteinian physics an evil liberal plot? – That is according to Andy Schlafly of Conservapædia. I suspect this is all part of a Jewish plot. Step 1: Kill Jesus and save the world. Step 2: Fool otherwise good Christians into accepting demonic Relativity. Step 4: Profit. Muhahaha!
3. Wiccans offer low, low price for booty-enhancement spell casting – Now I know there’s no such thing as magic, but for only $8.95, how can I afford not to pay someone to chant magic spells to increase the size of my ass. This one is full of win.I just don’t want to know where the magic wand goes.
A review board for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has found allegations of child sexual abuse against the Rev. David Dzermejko “credible,” and Bishop David Zubik has sent the case to Rome.
Vatican officials will decide if he should have a church trial or if the evidence is strong enough to permanently remove him from ministry without further hearings.
Wow, that’s some justice system they got going on there.
6. Pastor arrested for anti-demon protest – Pastor Donald Crosby of Kingdom Builders Church of Jesus Christ decided to protest outside Warner Robins High School because of the school’s “”Demon” nickname and mascot.” The mascot honors a World War II fighter squadron nicknamed the “Screamin’ Demons.” Yes, he’s protesting a celebration of World War II American heroes.
Scientists at Cambridge and Oxford believe that Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein may have both had a form of autism called Asperger’s Syndrome. Some of the symptoms of Asperger’s include eccentricity, social awkwardness, and tendencies toward obsessive focus on complex subjects.
This of course indirectly addresses the current fabricated controversy over whether autism is a new phenomenon and whether vaccines are its cause. Well it goes without saying that Newton was never vaccinated and that Einstein most certainly wasn’t vaccined very much in his youth.
Orac’s blog Respectful Insolence nominated again for Medical Blog Awards – Please vote for it. I can’t express enough how great this blog is. Orac has been one the most important critics of anti-vaccination quackery and more people should know what he has to say. Plus, when I co-founded Stop Jenny McCarthy a few months ago, he supported me (Note: unfortunately, since that blog entry, our URL changed to just http://www.stopjenny.com, which is why his link doesn’t work). The blog Science-Based Medicine, which he also writes for along with Steve Novella, Val Jones, and other awesome bloggers is nominated as well. As is Val Jones’ regular blog, Better Health.
The Gideon Bible reaches the Big 100 – Yup, it’s been a whole 100 hundred years since a bunch of giant douches came up with the idea to populate almost all the hotels in America with Gideon Bibles.
Einstein’s Relativity: Fundamental Abnormality? – “Physicists at Indiana University have developed a promising new way to identify a possible abnormality in a fundamental building block of Einstein’s theory of relativity known as “Lorentz invariance.” If confirmed, the abnormality would disprove the basic tenet that the laws of physics remain the same for any two objects traveling at a constant speed or rotated relative to one another.”
E=mc2 proven right! – It only took 103 years for Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity to be corroborated. that E=mc1!
Name a little piece of history – You know those annoying commercials you’ve been seeing lately trying to sell you a bunch of useless crap with Obama’s likeness on it like a special minted $1 coin usually selling for $30 but for a limited time you can buy it for $10. . .and “own a piece of history.” Fuck that! Here’s a change to NAME A PIECE OF HISTORY! NASA is giving school children 18 or under the opportunity to name the next Mars rover. That is awesome. Damn I wish I could get in on this.
History’s Greatest Conspiracy Theories – I’m with Phil Plait on the chemtrails thing. That made the list? Really? Chemtrails and fluoridation conspiracies have to be the single dumbest conspiracy theories ever. Okay, maybe the “Paul Is Dead” one is the stupidest. Or maybe the disappearance of Shergar is the stupidest (never heard of that one). I just wish the site included links to sites debunking each of these. I’m a bit pissed that the “Medical world is covering up the dangers of vaccines” conspiracy didn’t make the list. But oh well.
Separate but equal dating – the dating website eHarmony hasn’t been very kind to atheists and gays. Well thanks to a lawsuit, some of that is about to change. eHarmony will have a sister site for the gays, but will not include gay coupling on its main site. I’m sure the “Coloreds Only” site will be up next week.
But speaking of segregation. . . – Not only do some states offer separate but equal “civil unions” but now there will soon be a gays-only high school. Am I the only one picturing High School Musical. Though this is obviously the product of well-intentioned people trying to protect a much maligned minority, I share Amateur Scientist’s opinion that this is an inherently dopey idea.
Darwin Was Right About Evolution And Groups – “Worker ants of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your fertility. The highly specialized worker castes in ants represent the pinnacle of social organization in the insect world. As in any society, however, ant colonies are filled with internal strife and conflict. So what binds them together? More than 150 years ago, Charles Darwin had an idea and now he’s been proven right.”
Evolutionary biologists at McGill University have discovered molecular signals that can maintain social harmony in ants by putting constraints on their fertility. Dr. Ehab Abouheif, of McGill’s Department of Biology, and post-doctoral researcher, Dr. Abderrahman Khila, have discovered how evolution has tinkered with the genes of colonizing insects like ants to keep them from fighting amongst themselves over who gets to reproduce.”
Giant Protist Challenges Fossil Record – “Groove-like tracks on the ocean floor made by giant deep-sea single-celled organisms could lead to new insights into the evolutionary origin of animals, says biologist Mikhail “Misha” Matz from The University of Texas at Austin.”
Potential Sources Of ‘Rain-Making’ Bacteria – “Brent Christner, assistant professor of biological sciences at LSU, recently found evidence that bacteria and biological cells are the most efficient ice-forming catalysts in precipitation from locations around the globe. The formation of ice in clouds is important in the processes that lead to snow and rain. Ice-nucleating bacteria – which have been referred to as “rain-making bacteria” – may be significant triggers of freezing in clouds and influence the water cycle.”
Removing Part Of Brain Controls Girl’s Epilepsy – “Surgeons at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital told Jessica Nelson one of the scariest things she will ever hear as a parent: they wanted to treat her daughter’s epilepsy by cutting out or disconnecting half of her brain. Then something extraordinary happened: it worked.”
THE FUNNIES:
Convert dead Mormons to. . .homosexuality – This is a brilliant response to the Mormon’s insulting practice of converting the dead to Mormonism through posthumous baptisms, including baptizing Jews killed in the Holocaust.