Our Wacky World—9/3/2011

1960

James "The Amazing" Randi has been giving the same speech for many years. Here's a version from 1992:

'This is a very carefully engineered chemical which goes directly—please don’t laugh; this is science—goes directly to the speech center of the brain and paralyzes the brain in such a way that two sentences from then on, in any given language, are no longer possible to be pronounced by that person. Those two sentences are, “I don’t know” and “I was wrong”.'

Skeptic

If you read one thing on this blog, read this. It sums paranormal skepticism up as nicely as possible.

On a tangentially related note, it appears that Michio Kaku has stumbled again:

'Physicist Michio Kaku, who is well known for attempting to rationalize the physics of UFOs and of Time Travel, is quoted on the cover of Kean's book declaring it filled with “eye-opening information” that would “set the gold standard for UFO research.” Skeptics should note how easily Kaku has been dazzled by Fool’s Gold.'

BadUFOs

Oh my. It looks like BillO is in a spot of trouble again:

"Last summer, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly came to believe that his wife was romantically involved with another man. Not just any man, but a police detective in the Long Island community they call home. So O'Reilly did what any concerned husband would do: He pulled strings to get the police department's internal affairs unit to investigate one of their own for messing with the wrong man's lady."

Gawker

'Proverbs tells us that a virtuous woman "works with her hands with delight," and "does not eat the bread of idleness." The truly beautiful girl is one who sees her life as a mission of service. What others view as a burden, she views as a blessing and opportunity.'

Just looking at the pictures makes me think of Warren Jeffs. (Vision Forum)

"A former U.S. Marine accused of kidnapping, raping and beating a 69-year-old Hawthorne woman into a coma insisted Monday that he acted in self-defense because he feared for his life and believed she was a gang member."

Daily Breeze

"I've been waiting for well financed gangsters to launch a few missiles armed with BBs into LEO [low Earth orbit] in a east to west direction. The warheads would be set to explode and scatter their cargo of BBs if they don't get regular inputs of an ever-changing password. The price for space to stay open would be a billion dollars a month."

Greg Laden

Remember the Tea Party coloring book? (it may have been before I started blogging):

Smells like Obama, er, Osama

'The coloring book includes pages showing the smoking World Trade Center and mourning survivors. Page 19 depicts a Navy SEAL taking aim at Osama bin Laden, who is seen cowering behind a veiled woman as a bullet leaves the barrel of the SEAL’s rifle. Above the drawing is this message: “Children, the truth is, these terrorist acts were done by freedom-hating Islamic Muslim extremists. These crazy people hate the American way of life because we are FREE and our society is FREE.”'

Stripes

'...the school's security officer removed the students from class and held them in another office on campus where there were no other adults present. Carin said the students were handcuffed for hours and told that "they were going to prison and would never see their parents again."'

Chicago Tribune