Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 12.16
- Atheists edge out Christians in free-speech battle – “Passions still run strong in what’s becoming an annual competition each December for 10 precious spots on the lawn of the historic county courthouse in Leesburg, where the rivals get a chance to publicly promote their philosophies.” From Brian.
- Free will similar in animals and humans – but not so free – “The free will that humans enjoy is similar to that exercised by animals as simple as flies, a scientist has said.” From cerberus40.
- Panel urges FDA to take another look at mercury fillings – “A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee said Wednesday that the agency should look at updated data on mercury amalgam dental fillings that may indicate possible medical problems for patients.” From Skulleigh.
- Most amazing science images of 2010 – My favorite is the Yoda Bat.
When I was teaching, I would regularly wish my students “May the Force be with you” at exam time. Now, I tend to go with “Good luck” to people doing school research.
I completely misread the “free will” headline in a way that made no sense at all. If one does not recognize “free will” as a noun, but instead takes “free” as the sentence’s subject and “will” as a future tense modifier of similar, then the whole thing falls apart.
Clearly I need more coffee.
“The free will that humans enjoy is similar to that exercised by animals as simple as flies, a scientist has said.â€
Help me..
help me..
– “Loudoun also offers a local example of an intriguing phenomenon, evident elsewhere in the nation, in which atheists have become increasingly bold and outspoken.”
Interesting that “hey, we’re here” means outspoken. And does that mean all the spammy religious groups in my area are “bold and outspoken” ?
– On the mercury fillings story – when I read it my first thought was “boy, these arguments sound familiar…”
– Yoda bat rocks! :) That larvabot is freeeeeeeaky.
@mrmisconception: Vincent or Jeff? One of the best remakes ever IMO.
@James Fox
The remake is by far better than the original but this quote is usually from the first one and in a teeny tiny voice.
The most often used quote from the second one being, “be afraid, be very afraid.”
For some reason I can’t get a Canadian elf screaming about free will out of my head.
Make it stop, please.
Wow popsci.com has some serious gallery fail going on. Having to reload the entire page between pics is so 1997.
Where is the Festivus Pole in relation to the Leesburg Courthouse pray tell?
They should have given this cat skeletal paws!
Re: the Leesburg courthouse lawn. It would be better to have a lottery system than first come, first served. All it would take for some christian group to game the system would be for some insider to insert their (10 or 12) requests at the front of the queue when it opens. It would be much fairer to pick randomly from all requests received before a certain date, and to limit it to one display per person or group, to keep some group from flooding the pool with requests. Best of all would be to just prohibit religious displays on public property, as they apparently did last year. It isn’t as if there aren’t hundreds of locations on private property where they can put up nativities and other displays.
@mrmisconception: You mean this Canadian jolly old elf?
@mrmisconception: When I saw The Fly as a young child that scene stuck with me for years; and I still think it’s one of the best all time creep out movie moments.
@Buzz Parsec: @Buzz Parsec:
While Randi is my favorite (ex?)Canadian elf I was thinking more along these lines.
personal opinion time I can’t stand these guys *ducks*
@James Fox: That movie bugged me as a child. It does not make sense. Both the human body with fly head-and-arm and the fly body with human head-and-arm seem to have human cognition. I’m afraid to say that I prefer the Grundle-Fly version.
The most amazing science images gallery seems to have been pulled. I’ll try again later it might just be some technical difficulties.