Go to this site
...focus very carefully, and count the number of times
the team in the white shirts pass the basketball.
It's tough to do, but if you focus you should be able to get the correct number.
---The point of this is that there is an interesting lesson involved in counting the number of passes that is sort of related to skepticism and science - very cool.
word,
David
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Hey! A New Post!
A few things...
1.) THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS
Although I'm sick to death of this phrase, I thought I'd throw it out there.
The concept is ridiculous, because it is assuming that Christmas is a purely religious holiday and that there is a massive, conspiring anti-religious movement attempting to destroy Christmas as an attack on Christianity. The movement of course is the 'Secularists' - the scare quotes meaning that the connotations associated with this word by the anti-'war' protesters.
Just ask Bill:
"See, I think it's all part of the secular progressive agenda to get Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square. Because if you look at what happened in Western Europe and Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious- based, usually."
name that logical fallacy anyone?
It could not be any clearer that Christmas is not a purely Christian holiday, so I'm not going to get into too much, but consider for a moment the:
-Christmas tree
-Historical background
-Massive amounts of shopping
-Santa Clause
2.)STRANGE CREATURES FROM 2008
The super creepy gnome.
Towards the beginning of the year, a South American town was 'terrorized' by a gnome running around scaring people.
Since then more and more gnome videos have been popping up, indicating that this is an easy thing to pull off.
Do gnomes exist? Maybe, but these silly videos aren't enough to convince me.
The Montauk Monster
Midway through the year this monster was all over the media. The people who took the picture claimed that they had found it washed up on shore. Upon further investigation it was found to be a complete hoax, but more interestingly it was a viral marketing scheme that went amazingly well. I have to hand it them, it was a brilliant idea.
3.) 2009
For the next year, the OU Skeptic Society has a lot on its plate. We have advertising/recruiting, fund raising, and charity work to do - all of which is standard for any decent on campus group. But specific to us, we have:
1.) Darwin Day 2009
2.) Micheal Shermer @ OSU
3.) Skepticamp in Columbus
4.) ID panel in collaboration with Difficult Dialogues
5.) Weekly meetings and socials
6.) Drinking Skeptically meetings
7.) The Amazing Meeting 7 in Vegas
8.) and as always, lots of skepticism and debunking
to look forward too!
So all in all, I made this post to get back into it, and to say a.) the war on xmas is nonexistant, b.) some of the hoaxes of the last year were funny, and c.)the OU skeptic society has just began to get going.
1.) THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS
Although I'm sick to death of this phrase, I thought I'd throw it out there.
The concept is ridiculous, because it is assuming that Christmas is a purely religious holiday and that there is a massive, conspiring anti-religious movement attempting to destroy Christmas as an attack on Christianity. The movement of course is the 'Secularists' - the scare quotes meaning that the connotations associated with this word by the anti-'war' protesters.
Just ask Bill:
"See, I think it's all part of the secular progressive agenda to get Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square. Because if you look at what happened in Western Europe and Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious- based, usually."
name that logical fallacy anyone?
It could not be any clearer that Christmas is not a purely Christian holiday, so I'm not going to get into too much, but consider for a moment the:
-Christmas tree
-Historical background
-Massive amounts of shopping
-Santa Clause
2.)STRANGE CREATURES FROM 2008
The super creepy gnome.Towards the beginning of the year, a South American town was 'terrorized' by a gnome running around scaring people.
Since then more and more gnome videos have been popping up, indicating that this is an easy thing to pull off.
Do gnomes exist? Maybe, but these silly videos aren't enough to convince me.
The Montauk Monster
Midway through the year this monster was all over the media. The people who took the picture claimed that they had found it washed up on shore. Upon further investigation it was found to be a complete hoax, but more interestingly it was a viral marketing scheme that went amazingly well. I have to hand it them, it was a brilliant idea.
3.) 2009
For the next year, the OU Skeptic Society has a lot on its plate. We have advertising/recruiting, fund raising, and charity work to do - all of which is standard for any decent on campus group. But specific to us, we have:
1.) Darwin Day 2009
2.) Micheal Shermer @ OSU
3.) Skepticamp in Columbus
4.) ID panel in collaboration with Difficult Dialogues
5.) Weekly meetings and socials
6.) Drinking Skeptically meetings
7.) The Amazing Meeting 7 in Vegas
8.) and as always, lots of skepticism and debunking
to look forward too!
So all in all, I made this post to get back into it, and to say a.) the war on xmas is nonexistant, b.) some of the hoaxes of the last year were funny, and c.)the OU skeptic society has just began to get going.
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