emotions On Human Emotions In reading Steven Pinker’s How the Mind Works, which has been a slow burner (both in terms of time taken to read it and time taken to get into the really interesting stuff [Now long finished]), I have just started to read about the importance and ontology of emotions. I
Aaron Adair Onus Books gets Nook Distribution My skeptical publishing company, Onus Books, has so far got Worldwide print distribution (being printed on three continents), Amazon ebook, pdf ebooks on various channels, and recently, Kobo distribution.
evolution Evolution and Agency I was worried recently when I read the phrase “goal-directed evolution” in some philosophy writing. This annoys me since it shows what I consider to be a fundamental misunderstanding of what evolution is and does, and philosophers should know better.
atheism Ha Ha Ha... Lightning Bolt. My book, The Little Book of Unholy Questions, is a cumulative case against God (the Judeo-Christian version predominantly, but not exclusively) and it includes a number of chapters on different topics. I will include the last questions in the book before I sum up there. These questions are by an lar
BBC God on Trial at Auschwitz I am sure I have posted this before, but this is well worth a watch. Actually, the screenplay was written by a Catholic; I heard him being interviewed about it once, and he talked about his faith REALLY wavering over this. It is a brilliant piece of BBC TV: http:
Education Little Girl Taken Out Of Christian School After Told She's Too Much Like A Boy Timberlake, VA - Sports, sneakers, and short hair; it's what makes eight year old Sunnie Kahle unique. It's also what had her removed from Timberlake Christian School. Her grandparents pulled the plug on her time there after they said she was no longer welcome. The family received a letter tellin
Caleb Lack “Psychology Gone Astray” – an excerpt from an upcoming Onus Books release Dr Caleb W. Lack, purveyor of the fine opinions and science over at Great Plains Skeptic here at SIN, already has two Onus Books publications: Mood Disorders: An Introduction Anxiety Disorders: An Introduction These great little introductory texts illuminate the latest understandings on th
Education Annoying Parents and their Fallacious Arguments: The Teachers' Strike I don't make a habit, as a teacher, of annoying parents. It doesn't make my job easy. But I have spent the last week getting more and more incensed and infuriated over the claims and arguments I have been hearing on the radio and TV and at school. Why can't presenters get some critical skills. Why c
atheism "God on Trial" talk went down a treat I was invited to speak on the last night of Reason Week at Southampton University, organised by the Atheist Society. I have spoken there a number of ties and know the people who run it and really enjoy speaking there. There are some philosophy students who are involved which means that the chat in t
bigotry Proof (again) that the Daily Mail is a Racist, Sexist, Bigoted Diatribe I am no fan of the right-wing espouser of nonsense and lies that is the Daily Mail. It is a horrible UK paper. For those across the pond who don't know, it has a rather chequered history, supporting the Nazis way back when and then continuing in the vein ever since. Not really chequered, ac ++tual
counter-apologetics The Little Book of Unholy Questions Review Here is another review to my Little Book of Unholy Questions - a 4/5 to add to six 5/5s. Er, buy it! (please... - click on the cover image to access it on amazon)
Education Why I am going on strike Wednesday 26th is an important day for the National Union of Teachers here in the UK. We have voted to go out on strike and I am going to do so, foregoing my pay for the day. I don't take this action lightly, but then nor do I accept hat he government is doing to the education system lightly. I woul
science Website comments can be bad for science In connection to the rant I made about Randy Everist and his Nazi, unfair and unjustified comment strategy he has on his blog, here is a post from the Popular Science website which a Twitter follower and friend from Portsmouth Skeptics in the Pub sent me. Hopefully they won't mind me posting it here
General On comment moderation Spoiler: I might swear. I have a fairly liberal attitude to commenting here, and I don't particularly police it that much. Dissenting views are utterly vital to being sure that you are warranted in your own beliefs and views. Well, I got involved in a comment thread on the Possible Worlds blog
archaeology A Review of The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the story of the flood (Guest Post by Peter) It’s been known since the 19th century that there are striking parallels between the Ark story contained in the Bible and a narrative episode included in the Mesopotamian story of the Epic of King Gilgamesh. In Gilgamesh, a hero Utnapishti is tasked with saving both human and animal life from a dest
Big Bang Creationists beware: Cosmic inflation: 'Spectacular' discovery hailed The BBC report this fascinating discovery which seems to confirm the start of inflation (I would take issue with the slight implication that the BB is definitely the start of everything coming into being) or the Big Bang: Scientists say they have extraordinary new evidence to support a Big Bang T
archaeology The Problem with Yahweh #3 (Reply to Jayman) Jayman, occasional Christian commenter here has replied to my post, The Problem with Yahweh #2. That itself was a second part to the series started here. As a result of Jayman's comments, I have critiqued his criticisms. In Deut 32:7-9 we have evidence that Yahweh was one
Education Education and religion: Invention or not, tactics in alleged Birmingham school plot are familiar The Guardian reports, following up from a story which I reposted here: Experienced headteachers say they recognise ploy outlined in document about alleged Islamic plot to 'take over' schools
Biblical Exegesis The Problem with Yahweh #2 My last post in this series looked at the idea that Yahweh, as the parochial Jewish God of a particular section of the Middle East in time, bears no resemblance to the God that Christians believe in, and is supposedly that exact same God. The Janus-styled god who appears to flip personality, charact
determinism God cannot act contrary to his own predictions and cannot know that he knows everything I am reposting this one again because it came up in a comment by Shatterface here. This was a segment I did for the Skepticule podcast which I also recorded as a video. Check it out!
Education 'Islamic takeover plot' in Birmingham schools investigated As a teacher, I cannot tell you how much this worries me. I will be striking later this month in opposition to this government push on 'free schools' an academies which is thinly veiled attempt to privatise education and politically liberalise it. I could bore you for hours on the ramifications and
