Be skeptical of Facebook quotes and memes

It is very common to see quotes within various memes on Facebook and elsewhere. It is also often well worth asking yourself a few questions. Here are two key filters to apply, even if the quote appears to be something you agree with … Did that person really say that? What is the actual context? For the first, … Read more

Is Mother Teresa really a Saint?

Today, in fact 40 minutes ago as I write this, the Pope conducted some official Catholic PR by declaring the culturally popular icon, Mother Teresa, is now a Saint. He announced … “After due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother bishops, we declare and … Read more

Sadly that signal was not ‘Aliens’

You might have become rather excited if you spotted the news about the detection of an apparently artificial signal coming from a distant star, for example The Observer published this on 29th Aug … Not a Drill: SETI Is Investigating a Possible Extraterrestrial Signal From Deep Space If the signal is truly from an alien world, … Read more

Did Michele Bachmann say that white people suffered more under Obama than black people did during slavery?

I saw the following posting pop up on Facebook where it is being promoted as fact … It comes across as horrendous, crass, and an incredibly stupid thing to say. It very much panders to the reputation she has as somebody who is very religious and is often quoted as saying some truly silly things, … Read more

Some Humans Just Sacrificed Their Jobs At CERN

Nothing too serious today, just a bit of fun. There is a spoof video doing the rounds of a human sacrifice taking place under the cover of darkness at CERN. Some have been reporting that this is “Probably” a prank, and to that I can only add a facepalm to the thought that anybody gave more than … Read more

Why do we believe stuff that is not true?

Rather a lot of beliefs do not lean on evidence, but instead are castles of confidence that are built upon something distinctly different. I’m not specifically talking about religion, so what am I getting at? OK, let’s work a few examples. Myth: Vaccines cause Autism I need not go into the history here, except to perhaps point … Read more