February's Podcasts

Looking back over February, there were a lot of really good podcasts produced throughout the various freethinking groups, and here's a showcase of some of the cream of the crop

American Freethought spoke to:
Neil deGrasse Tyson (awesome science and astronomy communicator),
Ken Miller (literally wrote the book on evolutionary biology) and
Phil Plait (hyper excitable skeptic extraordinaire)

Astronomy Cast spoke to Bob Novella of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe

The Atheist Experience had a double show with a call in theist Matt Slick (#592 & 593), as well as their usual terrific 'Live Calls' show (#590)

Freethought Radio spoke to Charles Darwin's great great grandson, Matthew Chapman (Feb 14)

The Infidel Guy spoke to Neil Shubin, author of 'Your Inner Fish'

Skepticality spoke with Ben Radford

The Skeptics Guide interviewed Massimo Pigliucci as well as their always interesting 5x5 mini show


Other shows worth checking out include:
(I haven't hyperlinked them... I'm heading off to work and don't have time. Just google them, they're out there. If you can't find something, I can provide links)

Australian Shows

Here's Why
Hunting Humbug
Brains Matter
Diffusion Science Radio
Here's Why
Ockham's Razor
The Psuedo Scientists
The Skeptic Zone
G'Day World
Dr Karl (Great moments in science, and the naked scientist, on Triple J)
Sunday Night Safran


International Shows

Another Goddamned Podcast
Are We Alone?
Ask an Astronomer Videos
Atheist Talk
Bad Science
Beyond Belief
Dogma Free America
Geologic Podcast
The Good Atheist
The Non-Prophets
Nova Vodcast
Pat Condell's Godless Comedy
Point of Inquiry
Quackcast
Rearview Radio with Rick Wood
Reasonable Doubts Podcast
Secular Nation Podcast
Skeptoid
Slacker Astronomy
Star Stuff
This Week in Science
Scientific American's 60 second podcasts (Earth, Psych, Science, Video)

Christopher Hitchens vs Dinesh D'Souza

Christopher Hitchens debates Dinesh D'Souza on the somewhat vague topic "What's so Great About God? Atheism vs Religion"

Enjoy!

Christopher Hitchens and Dinesh D'Souza at CU Boulder from Justin Leddick on Vimeo.

James Randi on Carl Sagan

There's not much to say. A great man speaking about a great man...

Religion is dangerous

A man decapitates his son to save his soul from the devil.



Sometimes, people will ask me 'why are you so concerned with religion? They are just nice people trying to do good'. My answer is that religions are so often linked to atrocities, like the above. It is entirely possible for a person to justify pretty much any horrible act through the bible (and I guess that holds true for other religious texts too)

Do I think that the texts were written with this in mind? Of course not. At the time when they were written, and to reasonable people today, the sections describing immoral behaviour are seen as allegory, hypothetical and exaggerations, but having people base their lives on this kind of stuff, then teaching them to take it literally, as the more fundamentalist branches of religion do, is bound to lead to this kind of behaviour.

On the other hand, I accept that atheists have been known to do bad things too, but I cannot think of a case where a person's lack of conviction of religion has led them to harm others. When an atheist does something terrible, it is (as far as I know) never justified through their lack of beliefs. When a religious person does something terrible, it is often justified through their religion.

In either case, I think that the person who did the act was probably suffering from some condition external to their religion/irreligion, but the religious person who justifies their actions is able to hide under their beliefs and is less likely to take responsibility for their actions. In the video above, the father feels like he has done the right thing. He is not taking responsibility for the fact that he killed his son in cold blood for a nonsense reason. Is this man going to lament and repent for what he has done? Much less, as he feels that he has done the right thing!

What's the harm?

THAT's the harm!

The Best Creationist Refuting Site Ever

Sometimes, the web is just full of crap, sometimes it jumps up and offers some awesome material.

There have been some pretty good 'debunking religions curtly' sites, like the transitional fossil and the shut up campaign.

But even those pale in comparison to the best creationist refuting site ever! (can also be used with christian scientists, raelians and Peter Andre)

Enjoy, and use sparingly.

Everyone Likes Comics, Right?

From Wulffmorgenthaler.

And I always thought it was about the whole evil thing...



From The Devil's Panties.

Odd name, odd comic, funny cat...



From Schlock Mercenary.

This would have been much funnier if the doctor had changed his mind!



From Non-Sequitur.

Christian science anyone?



From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

I'm not sure this would lead to agnosticism. More likely nocturnal enuresis.



From Qwantz.

I think I learn more from these dinosaurs than I did in a year of stats at uni.


And to round it off, some good advice.

Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

Tabotomy

I just realised that I probably have too many tabs open and would hate to start the tab genocide without doing something with them, so here's a glimpse into the kinds of stuff I spend my time looking at.

We Get Email- The Atheist Experience Blog
Scientology Critic Arrested- Religion News Blog
Chris Hitchens gets beaten up- Infidel Guy
Open Thread on Today's (Mat Slick) Show- The Atheist Experience Blog
Matt Slick in the Christian Discussion Forum- Post Atheist Experience Show
A response to Matt Slick's Trancendental Argument- Christian Discussion Forum
Kazim's thread on the Trancendental Argument- Atheist Fools Forum
Worst Caller Ever- Iron Chariots Forum
Church and Dead Teens in Fiji- Religion News Blog
White House Denies the Existance of Carl Rove- The Onion
Humans VS Galaxies- Starts With A Bang
It's News- Ask Dr Eldritch
Gooley Eyed Clock- Boing Boing Gadgets
The Majorly Mysterious Mima Mounds- Dark Roasted Blend
Personals Ad- Amazing Super Powers
Nano Song- Boing Boing
Biblical Counselling and Caffeine- Against Biblical Counselling
God's Thoughts- Swift
Billions and Billions of Earths- Rogues Gallery
Scientifically correct Sci-Fi- Boing Boing
Conservapedia- Kazim's Corner
The Slick Trancendental Argument- The Atheist Experience Blog
Phelps and Other Anti Gay Preachers Banned From Britain- Religion News Blog
Suicide in Crystal Palace- Religion News Blog
The Year of Panic- Seed
The Ease of Religious Manipulation
Critical Mass
Richard Dawkins Playlists- YouTube
Grape Lady Falls- YouTube
Something to Offer- Escaping Christianity

I might start doing this kind of 'link dump' weekly to tidy up my tabs and give a random link pool for you to have a look at. If you think that's a good or bad idea, let me know.

Also, If you find something interesting and want to discuss it, go mad in the comments below!

TAM& Lineup and Registration Announced!!!!

TAM6 was such an incredible time last year and actually marked the start of this blog.

We got to hang out with Martin Wagner, PZ Myers, The Skeptics Guide, Michael Shermer, Greydon Square, George Hrab, James Randi and Phil Plait.

We met Richard Wiseman, Banachek, Penn & Teller, Ben Goldacre and Matthew Chapman.

And got to see so many of our friends from the various social network sites we frequent

It was an absolute blast, and one of the best times I've ever had! I will be doing all that I can to make sure I get back this year!

Just Today, The JREF has announced that registration is open and has revealed the guest list. To find out more Follow these links: TAM7 home. Register here. Speakers. Workshops. Events.

You can watch some Videos of past TAM talks here.

Here's some to whet your appetite

Christopher Hitchens


Michael Shermer


Neil DeGrasse Tyson


Phil Plait


James Randi and Richard Dawkins

Phil Plait vs Carl Zimmer Diavlog

Over at Bloggingheads, Phil Plait and Carl Zimmer have a chat about... science stuff I guess (I haven't listened to it yet, but I'm sure it'll be good!)

Are your morals in line with the bible?

Your morality is 0% in line with that of the bible.

Damn you heathen! Your book learnin' has done warped your mind. You shall not be invited next time I sacrifice a goat.

Do You Have Biblical Morals?
Take More Quizzes

I've gotta say, I'm quite proud of that score, though I think some of the questions may have been a little biased ;)

Thanks to gotcaffeine of This Blog Contains Caffeine

International Shut-Up Day

I like the Idea of this.
We won't post anything for 24 hours.
All comments will be deleted.
Enjoy yourselves and go for a walk or something...

Men in Hats = Gold

Men in hats is a terrific webcomic about men, in hats, walking in the desert. Sometimes they have breakfast.

It covers all manner of topics, from

Facial Hair


Cinematography


Evangelism


Open-mindedness


and even demon summoning!


It's a laugh-a minute riot festival of fun-time comic genius!

I doubt that!

Apparently science can prove that God exists!

Well, I doubt that, but let's see.



I find Vic Stenger's use of science to disprove the Christian God much more compelling...

God eats out

More at Non Stamp Collector's YouTube account

Evolution. It works, bitches!

Young Earth Creationist

McDarwin's

Charles Darwin Tagged You in a Note on Facebook

For all you Facebook loving, chain letter writing, friend tagging addicts, the evolutionary roots of Facebooks "25 Things" craze.

http://www.slate.com/id/2211068/

Fred Phelps is a Douche!

Fred Phelps was just on the news doing his thing about the Victoria Bushfires. He accuses Australia of being a 'fag nation' and says that the people killed and affected by the fires deserve it because of the evils perpetuated by the nation.

Did he forget this?

DOUCHE!


UPDATE
Here's a video of the douche

I read the news today, oh boy...

There was a woman on whom an exorcism was performed thrown out by a court when seeking compensation for suffering

A Kazakhstan court has banned Scientology as an abuse to the rights of freedom of religion. More developed countries should be ashamed that thay have note done the same.

A mother sued Scientology over the wrongful death of her son resulting from withholding medications.

And the founder of an Islamic TV station might well have decapitated his wife! (1 2 3)

It's a mad mad world...

Good morning