The Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS) starts tomorrow, with great speakers and mini-events, including a live SGU, a science/improve mashup with George Hrab, Steve Novella, and others. Meet Rebecca, Eugenie Scott, Jon Ronson, Julia Galef, and many more special guests. UpDATED: Or if you’re in the Midwest, join me and Teen Skepchicks Kate Donovan and Olivia James at Skeptech, a ... »
Hey, Skepchick readers! It’s time once again to catch up on your news from around the world. With help of the links you guys sent our way, we’re hitting almost every continent today, which I guess is kind of depressing, since so many are bad news. But do keep them coming! You can send links through our contact form. ITALY You know that clown on the Italian government? Not Berlusconi, the oth... »
This Buzzfeed listicle is currently making the rounds, showing 20 “young people” holding up signs explaining why they are against marriage equality. It’s definitely interesting to see why young people, who we usually think of as being progressive and awesome, believe in something stupid and bigoted that will in time look as backwards as the arguments against interracial marriage ... »
This week, we’ve got Easter and April Fools’ Day back-to-back. [Insert plethora of obvious jokes here.] As usual, events are all over the map, from the spring opener of egg hunting season to celebrations of the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the Pastafarian pirates among us. But I admit that this posts subtitle is a false dichotomy. You have many more choices than just pirates or zombies... »
Earlier this week, friend and webcomic artist Zach Weinersmith emailed me a fine example of a pre-made bad chart he found on the front page of NBC, in anticipation of Bad Chart Thursday: As wonderfully bad as that bad chart is, I was more taken by the realization that Zach would be the perfect first guest poster for BCT. I asked him if he could contribute something, and within the day I had this b... »
All over the globe, many of your favorite scientists, skeptics, and atheists are appearing live: in Texas, you can meet Surly Amy at the American Atheists Convention in Austin; Stephen Hawking in Houston; Hemant Mehta and Seth Andrews in Canyon and Houston; Australian atheist singer-songwriter Shelley Segal in Houston and San Antonio. Hemant will also be giving a talk in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Car... »
You may have heard about TED talks. They’re pretty popular amongst a certain sect. They appeal to people for a lot of reasons: they’re fun, flashy, and emotionally appealing. They feel really important, almost life-changing, in no small part because they’re aggressively branded as such. And above all, TED talks are short, typically requiring less than 15 minutes of your boring day to l... »
As promised, here’s part two of your March Global Quickies. And guess what? I still have a bunch of awesome links for a third part, so watch out for those soon. ISRAEL (from 9bar) 22 year old Noa Kentman was shouted at and called impure by two ultra-orthodox men after she refused to move to the back of the bus she was traveling in with her sister. The men ended up sitting on the front steps of the... »
