Culture wars

Caturday felid trifecta: Cats who were bad spies; cats who were good spies; Jeremy Irons on lions; and lagniappe. - We’re back with Caturday felids again, but I ask readers to help me out by sending me good cat-related news items when you see them. I may not use some, bu...

Between pout and smile - Melania movie not wowing the critics. “The golden age of America begins right now!” Trump bleats in his inaugural address, while Melania sits behind him,...

NCSE and the Nature of Science - The National Center for Science Education (NCSE, United States) is an organisaton devoted to defending evolution and climate change. It has a long and ad...

Piaget, Erikson, and the Limits of Early “Gender Identity” Claims 🧠 - Modern psychology has a recurring weakness. It periodically falls in love with stories that feel morally urgent, then struggles to unwind them when the evi...

Toutes les époques sont dégueulasses - Avec son livre intitulé Toutes les époques sont dégueulasses, Laure Murat, historienne française et professeure à l’université de Californie à Los Angeles ...

Another Bad Critique of AI, in the New York Times - Want to get your uninformed opinion about AI published in the most prestigious newspaper in the United States? Then follow my advice. First, it helps if y...

Chronicles of Twatrick: Yes, I have been remiss. - I have been swamped with my new job but I promise that I will post something more substantial this coming weekend, much of it related to my plans for dea...

Flying U.S. flags in January 2026 - One problem with January’s flag flying dates is that if I snooze a little, you miss a lot. There are four flag-flying dates in the first five days of Janua...

Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Year Twenty - I began this blog with the first post on March 26, 2005, which was twenty years ago today. As milestones go, some might say this one’s kind of big. No doub...

Dr. Alon Milwicki on the Utilitarianism of Anti-Semitism - Dr. Alon Milwicki is a senior research analyst in the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: As you reminded me ...

Albert Brooks on writing: "it's one of the last things you can do without permission" - [image: A public letter-writer sits at a desk reading what he has written with his quill pen. Coloured lithograph.] The June issue of *The Atlantic* inclu...

The Great Resignation? - The latest data confirms the less romantic reality that the record percentage of Americans quitting their jobs is being driven by turnover among low-income...

A Glimpse of Hell - Via Religion News: HOT SPRINGS, N.C. (RNS) — For years, liberals — even liberal people of faith — have been wary of fusions of faith and politics, careful ...

The hills to die on - Thanks to social media, we now know everyone's opinion about virtually everything. And because of social media, the ease at which the right of reply can be...

I'm concerned about the future of humanity - I'm increasingly concerned about the underwhelming steps we've taken to mitigate the risk of climate change. We know that the fossil fuel industry owns ...

Friday Cephalopod: I succumb to peer pressure and will mention Octopolis - Friday Cephalopod: I succumb to peer pressure and will mention Octopolis Wow. Every person on the planet saw one version or another of this "Octopolis" st...

Faith school heads and governors raise concerns about academy religious takeovers - Religious leaders are set to steamroll faith schools into massive academy chains, centralising church control over the state-funded schools. Related article...

#ResistTrump today by reading a comic on how to call congress if you have social anxiety - Earlier this week we saw what can happen when a bunch of pissed-off voters call their elected representatives to explain what’s pissing them off: Congressi...

How to Fight the Crushing Sense of Isolation Social Media Inspires. - A few weeks ago, after months (if not years) of feeling a constant undercurrent of dread and anxiety, I paused to consider where these feelings came from a...

Virtual Lineups - Lining up for Nick Cave tickets for one of the Toronto shows in 2017. I’ve been waiting for about 40 minutes now. Apparently gone are the days of “Tickets ...

Just how far will a Christian go to dodge their burden of proof? - I've posted before on the "mixed up burden of proof" and the problems that religious people have with it. I've said before that the burden of proof is alw...

Le désarroi de l’élève en échec… - Le désarroi de l’élève en situation d’échec provient de la persistante fiction de l’« égalité formelle » de tous les élèves devant l’école, des possibilité...

Why Would an AI System Need Phenomenal Consciousness? - In my last post on Jesse Prinz, we learned about the distinction between immediate, phenomenal awareness in consciousness in contrast to our more delibera...

Get stuffed - Valentine’s Day. The annual celebration of grasping sexual manipulation disguised as cheap sentiment disguised as pesticide-encrusted gas station roses and...

Sinners’ Religion - The below item is part of my "Conversations" series. An atheist and a Christian visiting a historic California mission Maria: This brick has a fingerprint ...

So long, and thanks for all the fish - by Massimo Pigliucci Or, as the title of the last Star Trek: The Next Generation episode wistfully announced: “All good things…” This is the last Ration...

La Marche pour la laïcité – nouvelle video et photos - Premières photos (par nos photographes) de la Marche po […]

North and South - It’s raining here, softly but firmly, and Wendy Davis is filibustering in Texas. She’s speaking in a low, quiet voice in the other tab, talking about admit...

RIP Scientiae, 2007-2011 - Dear loyal readers and subscribers, Scientiae has had a good run, but I think it is time to retire this carnival, at least for now. We have had declining su...

Sickening -

Buddhism for Skeptics of Religion - Buddhism for Skeptics of Religion. A non-Buddhist skeptical atheist with background in psychology, scientific research, healthcare and mindfulness meditati...

Lumpers, Splitters and Noah’s Ark - One of my father’s frequent pithy comments, one of his stock phrases, was, “The world is made up of two kinds of people: lumpers and splitters.” And pala...

'Impact' crater - Tonight I attended the twitter-inspired 'Blue skies ahead?' debate in which science minister Lord Paul Drayson gamely engaged a youthful panel (and audienc...

Is belief an ethical act? - I have debated the issue of god-belief for a long time but honestly it was mostly an intellectual exercise for me. I don't think the hoary chestnut of "doe...

New Pro-Science Think Tank Formed - New Pro-Science Think Tank Formed Paul Kurtz, founder of the Center for Inquiry and editor of Free Inquiry, has opened an office in Washington DC to act a...

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