Sunday 15 March 2015

Burnee links for the Ides of March

Cartoon: The first scientist
How science is done.

Why media coverage of alternative cancer cures is dangerous | Science | The Guardian
Is the Mirror just being lazy, or is this a carefully calculated slant to increase readership?

Bank of Canada urges ‘Star Trek’ fans to stop ‘Spocking’ their fivers | Dangerous Minds
The people have spoken (or at least "doodled with conviction").

Called "A Murder" for a reason - Album on Imgur
I for one welcome our new crow overlords...

BBC News - Google's Vint Cerf warns of 'digital Dark Age'
I have a stash of 5.25" floppy disks full of all sorts of interesting stuff, and kept for that reason. None of my current computers has a working 5.25" drive, and even if that wasn't the case I doubt my current software would be able to read the contents. Within a month or two every one of these disks will end up in landfill, unread.

Professor Brian Cox brands astrology-believing Tory MP David Tredinnick an 'outlier on the spectrum of reason' - People - News - The Independent
"...outlier on the spectrum of reason." A polite way of saying "bat-shit crazy."

Ten Things Christians Accidentally Tell Me About Themselves
This is a concise run-down of things atheists often hear in debates with Christians.

National Secular Society - Religious lobbying threatens European Parliament vote on gender equality
It's 2015 and we still have to argue about this?

Has Science Buried God? My opening statement from today’s debate | Center for Inquiry
Maybe science can't prove there are no gods, but it can show that the existence of certain gods is extremely unlikely, given the evidence.

Terry Pratchett in quotes: 15 of the best | Books | The Guardian
Miss him.

BBC News - Sex-selection abortion case 'not in public interest'
It says the doctors were "accused" of agreeing to arrange sex-selective abortions. Presumably the secret filming didn't show what the agents provocateur had hoped it would...