Charlie Hebdo Editorial: Je Suis Charlie Means Je Suis Secularism

The millions of anonymous people, all the institutions, all the heads of state and government, all the political, intellectual and media celebrities, all the religious dignitaries who this week proclaimed “Je Suis Charlie” should know that also means “I am secularism.” We are convinced that as far as most of our supporters are concerned, that goes without saying. The others can do what they like with it.

via National Secular Society – Charlie Hebdo Editorial: Je Suis Charlie Means Je Suis Secularism.

This is a translation of the editorial from the first Charlie Hebdo published since the Paris attacks. It is reproduced here in solidarity with Charlie Hebdo.

Christopher Hitchens on Free Speech

Moving and thought-provoking, and worth revisiting in the light of recent events.

 

Anthony Masters's avatarBring me data

FIRE!!! Fire… fire… fire! Now you’ve heard it. Not shouted in a crowded theatre, admittedly, as I realise I seem now to have shouted it in the Hogwarts dining room. But the point is made. Everyone knows the fatuous verdict of the greatly over-praised Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who, asked for an actual example of when it would be proper to limit speech or define it as a [criminal] action, gave that of shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre. It’s very often forgotten what he was doing in that case was sending to prison a group of Yiddish-speaking socialists, whose literature was printed in a language most Americans couldn’t read, opposing President Wilson’s participation in the First World War and the dragging of the United States into this sanguinary conflict, which the Yiddish-speaking socialists had fled from Russia to escape. In fact it could be just as plausibly argued that…

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Twenty-Six Ways to Spot Quacks and Vitamin Pushers

26. They Encourage Patients to Crusade for Their Treatment Methods.

A century ago, before scientific methodology was generally accepted, valid new ideas were hard to evaluate and were sometimes rejected by a majority of the medical community, only to be upheld later. But today, treatments demonstrated as effective are welcomed by scientific practitioners and do not need a group to crusade for them. Quacks seek political endorsement because they can’t prove that their methods work. Instead, they may seek to legalize their treatment and force insurance companies to pay for it. One of the surest signs that a treatment doesn’t work is a political campaign to protect the practitioners who are using it.

via Twenty-Six Ways to Spot Quacks and Vitamin Pushers.

I stumbled across Quackwatch recently. It looks like it could be a useful resource. The quote is the last of the 26 ways of quack spottery from a recent post.

 

Cashier

You MUST mock

And aren’t we all tired of those who claim to know the answer to life, death and the creation being so fucking sensitive about their knowledge? If I knew the answer to it all, if I thought I understood the wishes of the author of the universe and was privileged to understand what happens to us after death, the last thing I would be is all prickly and defensive. ‘Mock me all you like,’ I’d cry. ‘Go on, laugh your socks off, paint crude daubs, make mocking films. They pass me by as the idle wind which I respect not.’

via You MUST mock – Official site of Stephen Fry.

⭐️

National Secular Society – NSS statement following Charlie Hebdo attack

But in an open society, free expression is more important than any religious dogma. Without free expression, our democracy will not function, as it does not in many Muslim countries. Religion will be permitted to go unexamined, even when it is a threat to life and limb.

via National Secular Society – NSS statement following Charlie Hebdo attack.

The Paris murders: Catholic League’s Bill Donoghue gets it wrong; New Yorker’s George Packer gets it right

whyevolutionistrue's avatarWhy Evolution Is True

Bill Donohue is the Muslim of Catholicism. What I mean by that is that he thrives on offense, and though he doesn’t kill anybody when he’s offended, he’s made a career out of raging at those who insult the Pope, the Church, preachers and nuns, or anything associated with the Vatican Mafia. So far Catholics have been loath to criticize him, but his latest piece at the Catholic League site, “Muslims are right to be angry“, may change that. For in it, Donohue pins a fair amount of blame on the murders on the Charlie Hebo journalist and cartoonists themselves.  The only way I can account for this lapse in judgement is from Donohue’s own  personal history. For he’s spent so much time defending his own religion against perceived smears that he’s now taken it on himself to defend Islam, too, and so sees the satirical cartoonists as just as offensive…

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Je Suis Charlie

The Genographic Project

During the course of my reading about evolution, I came across the National Geographic Genographic Kit. The kit enables you to take DNA swabs and send them to the Genographic Project for analysis. The blurb says:

By participating, you will:
• Discover the migration paths your ancient ancestors followed hundreds—even thousands—of years ago, with an unprecedented view of your ancestral journey.
• Learn what percentage of your genome is affiliated with specific regions of the world.
• Find out if you have Neanderthal or Denisovan ancestry.
• Have the opportunity to share your story and connect with other Genographic Project participants, helping us fill in the gaps in the human story.

[Read more…]

BBC Video: Storedot turbo-boosts battery recharges

The BBC has been given an exclusive look at a new kind of battery charger that can recharge a modern smartphone in less time than it takes to boil a kettle.

via BBC News – CES 2015: Storedot turbo-boosts battery recharges.

 

Gosh!

Your phone won’t kill you

In the end, it is simply extremely unlikely that there is any link between cellphones and brain tumors. We can, perhaps, put this debate to rest and focus on the actual danger of cellphones: using them while driving.

via Cellphones Do Not Give You Brain Cancer | FiveThirtyEight.

Phone