By The Quixotic Man, on April 1, 2010, at 7:03 am  This picture? It used to be of your planet. Now aren't you sorry you wasted time recycling? On Tuesday, the Large Hadron Collider was finally activated, sending protons whizzing at each other at nearly the speed of light, smashing together with almost the force necessary to singe a piece of toast. That may not sound like much, but don’t forget, compared to protons, a piece of toast is big. But you may be asking, “Toast? Why is toast important?” And I’ll tell you why, because of what the toast represents. It represents the start of protons colliding at the Large Hadron Collider, and therefore, THE END OF THE WORLD.
I don’t speak lightly here. I’ve seen the news stories, I’ve read the message board posts, I’ve seen the lawsuits, I know what’s out there. Strangelets. Lets- that are strange. World enders, people WORLD ENDERS! Look at your hands. Now they’re gone. Look at your feet. GONE. Look at your genitals – don’t even look, I don’t want you to get that frightened. I think it’s safe to say that there’s nothing safe anymore. James Cameron was right. Science is out to destroy the world. … continue reading this entry.
By Michael Rosch, on March 9, 2010, at 7:03 am  Growing up I was always fascinated, obsessed even, with the paranormal. I would watch all the primetime specials purporting to investigate UFOs, psychics, and of course ghosts.
Sure I didn’t believe in every psychic, UFO sighting, and ghost story I ever heard. In fact, I thought that probably over 99% of all reported paranormal cases were either products of self-delusion or deliberate hoaxes. But surely they couldn’t ALL be bogus, right? There had to be something to all these ubiquitous paranormal phenomena. There had to be some real psychics out there and real encounters with spectral entities. … continue reading this entry.
By The Quixotic Man, on February 22, 2010, at 7:03 am  From Flickr by mahfrot This past Friday, I wound up in the midst of an impromptu game of “Settlers of Catan” with a bunch of doctors. I had never played this game before, I’d never heard of this game before, but my dear readers if there’s anything that I am not above, it’s a little healthy competition, so I resolved to win. I was unhappy to learn that there was no way to attack my competitors militarily, and mentioned that repetitively. I was, in my own defense, on the path to drunkenness, but after working a sixty-hour week between two different jobs, who out there could fault me for my libations? Over the course of the game, with my loud planning of how I and my settling partner should disrupt our competitors hopes of civilizations, I was told that I must be a “Leo.” My initial response was that I didn’t know my sign. This was a lie. I do know my sign, because as an American I have been unable to avoid being inundated with that claptrap spawned by Grecian constellations. I was glad, however, to be able to tell this young and intelligent doctor that I was not in fact a “Leo.” … continue reading this entry.
By Page, on November 25, 2009, at 7:03 am  Since history research is not really my thing, I decided to go easy on myself and provide a couple of links and quotes by others who put in the time “debunking” Thanksgiving “myths.” I put “myths” in quotations because a lot of these weren’t really my idea of myths.The funny thing is that while each of the articles I provide clips from give the appearance of authority on this topic, many of them tend to disagree… it made me giggle. So here are two “myths” as debunked by the authorities of Google University (I claim no responsibility for the validity of these statements). … continue reading this entry.
By AJ Mell, on November 11, 2009, at 7:03 am  Frances Griffiths and friends. The last time I read the Sherlock Holmes stories, I was struck by how similar the great detective’s deductions are to the techniques used by self-proclaimed “psychics.” Time and again, Holmes picks up some innocuous, seemingly unrevealing object—a walking stick, for example—which belongs to someone unknown to him. After giving the item a quick once-over, he goes into elaborate detail about the owner, confidently rattling off his or her occupation, financial and marital status, and the like. The insights are astonishing; one is tempted to say supernatural. At this point, a baffled Dr. Watson usually huffs something like, “I say, Holmes, how the devil did you deduce that?”—and Holmes methodically explains how he arrived at his conclusions through close observation and logical inferences. The process, it turns out, is not mystical or borderline-divine in the least, but merely “elementary.” … continue reading this entry.
By The Quixotic Man, on September 3, 2009, at 7:03 am You’ve probably already heard about Jaycee Lee Dugard, the now 29 year old woman who’d been held kidnapped, raped repeatedly, and become a mother twice over the past eighteen years. It’s astounding that Miss Dugard has been found alive, I’m sure I speak for all of the New York City Skeptics when I say that we hope she will be able to move forward in her life, and that one day, maybe she’ll be able to attain some totems of normalcy. But, this is not the sympathy blog, this is the Gotham Skeptic, so we’re actually here to talk about Dayle Schear. … continue reading this entry.
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