tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80850374700038166112012-02-16T17:39:24.089-06:00The Nebraska Skeptics take on all things skepticalbostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-27081681976900949952008-12-30T03:13:00.002-06:002008-12-30T03:17:25.038-06:00

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that recently there was a speaker at Wayne State College. He was speaking about creationism. Kellan has some write-ups about some of the points he made. Its good. KellanStec.com (Bookmark it and Subribe to the feed.) Thanks for the recap of everything, Kellan, I wanted to go down and watch it with ya'.

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-16906738298702597782008-12-30T02:32:00.002-06:002008-12-30T02:52:51.911-06:00

The other day I was listening to Coffee Break French from Radio Lingua. (If you have ever wanted to learn or practice French or Spanish, their podcasts are pretty amazing.) The lesson I was learning was how to say hello and goodbye. Now you wouldn't think anything amazing would come from learning the basics of a langauge, but one of the ways to say goodbye in French is to say 'adieu'. This is a

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-51655257720255832462008-12-04T22:13:00.003-06:002008-12-04T22:31:50.438-06:00

We are well into that certain time of year again. The TV has been over taken. By basketball. For the next few months we have to deal with maybe the belief that bothers me the most, Slam Dunks are cool.They're not. Several times a day I drop garbage of some sort into a trash barrel. Sometimes it is a small trash can. Maybe a little smaller than a basketball hoop. I know, not impressive, but what

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-1193004609516272532008-11-06T01:46:00.002-06:002008-11-06T02:06:14.477-06:00

On my bus ride home from campus I heard a couple guys behind me talking about the elction results, and I heard their enthusiasm for Tim Clare. The reason they were most excited was that he didn't want to give in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. They were pretty sure it would raise their own tuition money. This just supports the idea that I've been coming up with, you know, in my

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-10671021805119432162008-11-02T23:21:00.001-06:002008-11-02T23:21:31.816-06:00

Here is another one of those just mind blowing stories, that seem like they happened back in the biblical days. But it isn't.A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.read more | digg story

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-63607675835932168842008-10-17T01:06:00.001-05:002008-10-17T01:06:01.055-05:00

I don't know if anyone has seen this yet, it's been around for a while. Just thought It should be one more place.read more | digg story

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-83397309663049964772008-10-16T01:09:00.003-05:002008-10-16T01:48:35.243-05:00

The other day as I was over at a friends house I heard a nice little story about the origen of a word which we are all very familiar with. The word that was heard all over Nebraska in the overtime of the Husker game with Texas Tech. (That is just poor writing, no one wants to see that typed.) The word is shit, that is all the build up I can manage. Here's a nice email I found saying basically the

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-45383052771691647742008-10-09T00:53:00.002-05:002008-10-16T01:50:17.917-05:00

read more | digg storyHere is maybe the saddest thing I have seen for a while. I feel really bad for him. He has no idea he sounds ridiculous.

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-11701039021411753642008-09-16T23:23:00.001-05:002008-09-16T23:24:28.727-05:00

This is just a funny video from the Onion.Study: Nearly 80 Percent Of Roommates Got So Drunk Last Night

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-78205039723994057262008-06-26T00:41:00.005-05:002008-06-26T01:21:18.256-05:00

So way back when I started writing I typed up a post about why I was an atheists, so hopefully people would stop hassling me about it. The post was made when I first became an atheists, and since then I have done a lot more with science (at the time I was a business major). I went back to read it today, and I noticed some things a few comments that I just let go without commenting on. Probably

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-42753408594443934612008-06-15T22:06:00.001-05:002008-06-15T22:06:18.957-05:00

This is a hopeful new science article I read. Maybe we will get lucky and it will change some minds.read more | digg story

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-77706346297533230302008-03-24T15:10:00.002-05:002008-03-24T15:40:28.830-05:00

The days are starting to get warmer and I'm ready to start drinking soda again, but I need to be watching my figure, so I'm going to be drinking the diet variety of drinks. That is all that I really need to keep hydrated, right! And there are no calories. What could be wrong with that. Well cancer. That's the answer you will get the most. But is it really true, do I need to be afraid of cancer

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-85959316720086293882008-02-20T15:16:00.003-06:002008-02-20T15:19:07.590-06:00

I got a card in the mail today, you may get it too. I googled it to see what it was and this is what I found.Did you receive a "PICKUP NOTICE" card in your mail today? No, it is not a package waiting for you at the post office.I was one of the people who received such a notice. It is a scam - feel free to shred it.We had reported earlier that this seemed to be a problem in the Grand Forks, North

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-74323305790715395972007-10-31T01:59:00.000-05:002007-10-31T02:31:15.976-05:00

I found this guy in a facebook group for Stephen Colbert. Wrong place for this argument. This guy threw out all the token creationist/Christian lines.so where again did this big bang come from?it was just there?Some ball of mass blew up creating something that is going on forever?Your telling me that something non-eternal is blew up and created things, and will still create forever?You really

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-34927187021399718982007-10-18T01:12:00.000-05:002007-10-31T02:31:54.268-05:00

There is really less than .001% difference in any of the races on a DNA level. Melanin in the skin, maybe some facial features. There are evolutionary adaptations that we get from early human ancestors. Melanin, what causes the skin to be darker when you get a tan, the colour skin that our pre-human ancestor had. Melanin protects for the suns light and UV rays. As groups of humans migrated

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-41372352279229946772007-10-11T21:42:00.000-05:002007-10-11T21:45:46.364-05:00

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-28908092634538710192007-10-05T00:08:00.000-05:002007-10-05T00:25:23.773-05:00

The Atheist Alliance International Convention was held recently, and in response to it, here is what Rush Limbaugh had to say:“In his speech, [Oxford professor Richard] Dawkins portrayed a black-and-white intellectual battle between atheism and religion. He denounced the ‘preposterous nonsense of religious customs’ and compared religion to racism. He also gave no quarter to moderate or liberal

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-21151169665919693402007-09-23T01:16:00.001-05:002007-09-23T01:16:52.153-05:00

Here is some dinosaur news for everybody. Maybe early man killed dinosaurs not for meat, but for some of the first evolved feathers. (I know, birds were created the same day as dinosaurs, and people.)read more | digg story

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-55257990562897846932007-09-23T01:13:00.001-05:002007-09-23T01:13:43.519-05:00

A research team led by professor Masayuki Sumida at Hiroshima University’s Institute for Amphibian Biology has created a type of transparent frog whose internal organs are visible through its skin.read more | digg story

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-71003615341173211012007-09-20T22:06:00.000-05:002007-09-20T22:13:42.264-05:00

No, he wasn't struck by lightning, and the earth didn't open up and swallow him. God just left a paper.Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point."I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life,

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-64967633313133478152007-09-20T00:22:00.000-05:002007-09-20T00:24:17.602-05:00

Here is a nice clip of idiots on TV. Mainly Sherri Sheppard. I ask myself when the last time this conversation was ever had. Oh "The View"

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-29337126304260554552007-09-18T21:32:00.000-05:002007-09-18T21:46:36.017-05:00

Finally a cool news story coming out of Nebraska. Ernie Chambers, a state senator from Omaha, has sued God. Awesome. Here are some details from the AP article.LINCOLN, Neb. - The defendant in a state senator's lawsuit is accused of causing untold death and horror and threatening to cause more still. He can be sued in Douglas County, the legislator claims, because He's everywhere. State Sen. Ernie

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-88663181362316371322007-09-12T01:03:00.000-05:002007-09-12T01:32:22.152-05:00

So despite the rumours of Castro's death, he still manages to take shots at George Bush from his sickbed. Apparently he just released an essay criticizing the United States environmental policies. Mainly the decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol.For those who don't know, the Kyoto Protocol, was an agreement to help reduce greenhouse emmisions around the world. It was signed by 169 countries.

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-16725177027579570372007-09-11T01:22:00.000-05:002007-09-12T01:36:34.325-05:00

Well, according the this fascinating Christian comic, people killed them out, like the Dodo bird.This is actually one of the many times lately that I have seen this idea that dinosaurs lived with humans. I remember back in the third grade when we learned that the fossils can show us that we weren't around with the dinosaurs. Even as a kid most people can tell the Flintstones isn't a show based on

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-74839011165259787152007-08-22T05:31:00.000-05:002007-08-22T05:55:48.984-05:00

A new story floating around the internet is the news story about "How Walking to the Shop is Worse For the Environment Than Driving"To save you the time of going to the link, here are some pieces of the story.Walking does more than driving to cause global warming, a leadingenvironmentalist has calculated.Food production is now so energy-intensivethat more carbon is emitted providing a person with

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-73491838477098325452007-08-21T04:17:00.000-05:002007-09-12T01:37:06.445-05:00

Here is a list of the top twenty logic fallacies made, as according to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcasts. Go subscribe to via iTunes.1. Ad hominem-- An ad hominem argument is any that attempts to counter anothers claims or conclusions by attacking the person, rather than addressing the argument itself. True believers will often commit this fallacy by countering the arguments of skeptics

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-85471314019176436022007-08-21T03:41:00.000-05:002007-09-12T01:37:47.659-05:00

Instead of writing something new about about the news, I thought I would try to do more to help people think skeptically. It seems like a lot of people don't know how to evaluate evidence, or don't even ask for any. Below is an example of a recent news story that has been thought about critically, and then a critical think activity.A lot of the podcasts I listened to were excited to a cat that

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-27556477838420580822007-08-13T04:55:00.001-05:002007-08-13T04:55:35.179-05:00

Here's a satirical look at the United States' foreign policy.Sample:Q: Why did Iraq want all those weapons of mass destruction?A: To use them in a war, silly.Q: I'm confused. If they had all those weapons that they planned to use in a war, then why didn't they use any of those weapons when we went to war with them?A: Well, obviously they didn't want anyone to know they had those weapons, so they

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-65657961024982803282007-08-03T04:48:00.000-05:002007-08-03T04:50:07.706-05:00

REPOST:So lately I have been talking to a lot of people about why I've become an atheist. Most of the time I just try to avoid the question all together. Some people though will never just let you be. Anyone who has more logic and reasoning than blind faith has been through this. You instantly feel like a minority hated worse than gays. Only most religious people hate gays, almost all hate

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-27043588815739140012007-08-03T04:47:00.001-05:002007-08-03T04:47:32.790-05:00

Captain Mosey and the Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts"While brooding atop Mount Salsa because he cannot find a Pirate ship, Mosey the Pirate captain receives some advice from the Flying Spaghetti Monster in the form of ten stone tablets. These were called the "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts" by the FSM, the "Commandments" by Mosey, and the "Condiments" by his Pirate gang. While there were

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-52190025502941867072007-08-03T04:46:00.001-05:002007-08-03T04:46:31.830-05:00

REPOSTEDToday during my lunch I was channel surfing and I saw on Fox News had a headline asking if Americans knew enough about the Bible. The spark notes of the conversation they were having was that America was going downhill because our parents and grandparents didn't teach us enough about the Bible. There was no argument from anyone on the show about this fact. They were also saying that a

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-15355712370914553052007-08-03T04:45:00.001-05:002007-08-03T04:45:49.487-05:00

Also pretty oldI didn't go out to any parties on New Year's Eve, so I'm pretty sure I noticed when the clock hit midnight, the year went to 2007. I'm pretty sure I'm wrong though. I read a couple of news articles that really make you wonder.The first article was about a 14 year old black girl in Paris, Texas. She has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for pushing a teacher's aide that refused to

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-16253764463729667742007-08-03T04:43:00.000-05:002007-08-03T04:44:48.507-05:00

I wanted all my post on one site some I'm moving this so it will show up on facebook again unfortunatelyNick VolfFuture of Life ReviewApril 20, 2007Dr. HammerThe history, importance, and destruction of biodiversity are easily seen in The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson. The book starts with a letter from the 1800’s talking about how long people have been using nature, using its resources, and

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-19712735688506599682007-08-03T03:34:00.001-05:002007-08-03T04:22:46.208-05:00

Here is the Gallup Poll For the number of American adults who believe in evolution.41% believe "creationism, that is, the idea that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years" is true and "evolution, that is, the idea that human beings developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life" is false, 28% believe evolution is

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-79048872594338723082007-08-03T03:13:00.000-05:002007-08-03T03:33:51.478-05:00

I was reading the Freakonomics post about the string of atheist books coming out lately. Here's the Link. Normally it is a very good blog to read. There are many books coming out about atheism. The article asks why so many people are buying the books. I looked though the comments on the blog, but all that is there is an unorganized argument with nothing more than name calling. I have read only

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-79547619368295854402007-07-31T01:54:00.001-05:002007-07-31T01:54:55.144-05:00

Most climate change scientists model Earth systems from the ground up, attempting to account for all climate driving forces. Unfortunately, small changes in the models can lead to a broad range of outcomes, inviting debate over the actual causes of climate change.read more | digg story

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-3750806092031513752007-07-25T04:30:00.000-05:002007-07-25T05:30:42.509-05:00

I want to start off by saying that I would really like other peoples comments about this topic. More so than any of the religious posts.So many of you might know, and most probably don't know, I'm working at Walmart now. Yesterday I started working with an associate that I had never worked with, but had worked there before. He was taking a break to go back home. He was on a break back home to see

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-86548512378045453332007-06-07T02:10:00.000-05:002007-06-07T02:30:45.356-05:00

So lately you have all probably been hearing a lot about global warming. You have probably heard that you need to start worrying. You've probably heard that we don't need to care at all. It's all political or it really is scientific. It is very common for people to be skeptical about it. It's probably close to evolution as the most debated scientific topic.Uncertainty is the biggest reason that

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-16543789759117427732007-05-24T06:38:00.000-05:002007-05-24T07:13:12.953-05:00

So over the past few days I have been listening to a podcast called Astronomy Cast. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who even remotely finds science interesting. Within every single show I swear your mind is blown by the so simple logic you never thought about. I want to talk about one of those now, the size and age of the universe, and how they know they are NOT infinite. I guess to

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-24894911942551409112007-05-17T23:58:00.000-05:002007-05-18T00:08:57.083-05:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=455400&in_page_id=1879So here is the article and news story of the day. It's a great article about two lovers in Pakistan. You would be doing yourself a favor to read it. As a warning though. There are some pretty fuzzy, but graphic images.I'm not going to even give a summary because there is to much in it. The only comment

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-2653433497424526252007-05-15T23:52:00.000-05:002007-05-16T00:31:16.705-05:00

I just read an article about morals, and it reminded me of a psychology survey I took as part of an experiment. I never saw the results, but if there was anyone reading this who would know how to hake a survey and help me get it online I'd love to try it myself. Many of you have probably heard the "trolley dilemma". Maybe not. Here it is.You have to use your imagination for this one. Let's

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-84982692831683830202007-05-13T21:35:00.000-05:002007-05-13T21:51:16.777-05:00

As I was looking on digg.com the other day I found this article. The article summed up though basically says that we now have a substitute for blood in case of an emergency. When I saw this I was excited to see it, but disappointed that someone stole another one of my great ideas. How it works is really quite simple. It is made up of little plastic molecules that will imitate blood's function,

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-67779803751055425002007-05-11T14:26:00.000-05:002007-05-11T14:49:53.247-05:00

I had a response to my last post about the beauty of the world, and how not having a God makes them any less amazing. When you look at some astounding like the Grand Canyon and say, "God is quite the artist." If you look at it without God and say, "Wow, that is amazing how nature can create something so beautiful and grand as the Grand Canyon." Just because we know it was years of erosion that

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8085037470003816611.post-523328458491463742007-05-10T23:55:00.000-05:002007-05-11T00:40:12.738-05:00

I don't know how many of you watched the debate on Nightline the other night. Kirk Cameron (the kid from Growing Pains) and his partner Ray Comfort claimed to be able to prove scientifically without using faith or the Bible, that God existed. They called a couple people from the Rational Response Squad(RRS), Brian and Kelly.After about a week long wait for the program to air, the editing on the

bostonnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04990834470023175608noreply@blogger.com0