If skeptics created a calendar of horoscopes. .

My ex-wife used to check her horoscope every morning in the ADN before she would do anything.

It assigned a ratio between one to five stars indicating the kind of day she should expect.

My wife would often make clothing choices, change appointments, and decide what kind of mood she would in be based solely on that imaginary criteria.

For the most part I did not bother to point out the ignorance of basing life decisions on the appearance of stars billions of light years away, or let her in on the fact that many of those points of light are from stars that have burnt out millions if not billions of years ago. It would not have done much good anyway.

You really cannot chip away at a person's superstitions if they have decided that they are an important part of how they perceive the world.

I know, I've tried.

One of my personal heroes.

An Honest Liar - Work-in-Progress trailer from Justin Weinstein on Vimeo.

When I was in my early twenties I found this book, and read it cover to cover.

This was during a time when I was spending a lot of time researching religions and philosophy, and was looking at the world with renewed skepticism. For critical thinkers and skeptics Randi was an absolute MUST read.

Though somewhat dated now, at the time Flim-Flam was a groundbreaking book that helped to set me on a truth seeking path, and helped to instill in me the necessity of always questioning the reality of what I was told, or even witnessed, and to NEVER accept the supernatural, or fantastical, explanation often provided without studying the evidence provided thoroughly.

If the purpose of having this outsized brain, and ability to reason, is to better understand the world around us, then we could have few better role models than James Randi.

Just my opinion.

You can visit the website to learn more about this documentary here. They are seeking investors, so if you are a mind....

Koch brother funded scientist, and climate change skeptic, finds that the science supporting global warming is valid. Oops!

From the Anniston Star:

Those who deny that the Earth is getting warmer claim that studies showing climate change have been funded by environmental groups and governments pushing a liberal political agenda. 

Thus, when research funded by one of those skeptical groups finds that temperatures are rising — and rising rapidly — such a conclusion should strengthen the case for climate change and global warming. 

That scenario has finally happened. 

Money for the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, which gets its money from oil and other industries that create the greenhouse gases most scientists say are responsible for global warming. With this funding, physicist and skeptic Richard Muller spent two years addressing the criticisms that have been leveled against climate studies that show the steady warming of our planet. 

He found that the criticisms were wrong. The Earth is indeed getting hotter. 

Upset by the lack of scientific skepticism that first greeted the claims of climate change, Muller re-examined the evidence and concluded that what mainstream scientists have been saying for decades is fundamentally correct. 

Equally important, he added that as a result of his work, “we have confidence that the temperature rise that had been previously reported had been done without bias.” 

In other words, scientists can be trusted.

This is essentially WHY the Republicans hate science so much, it simply REFUSES to conform to their biases, or desire to protect their corporate overlords.

Personally my favorite part of this story is that the Koch brothers paid for the research. You just know they are poring over the findings hoping to discover a mistake in the Muller's research.

Perhaps next we can convince the Evangelicals to fund an actual scientific exploration into the veracity of Evolution.

P.S. you can learn a little more about Muller's findings by clicking here.

I think I am going to hand the baton of blogging about Palin's Iowa run to my friend Oz Mud. (Do you like how I stuck to the running metaphor?)

This is a sight that could give nightmares to progressives, actual marathon runners, and intelligent people everywhere.

So I am going to avoid the Iowa race topic today (well at least that is my plan as I type this.), but I thought that all of you might benefit from a trip down under to see my blogger buddy OzMud, who did a rather amazing job of finding things about the pictures of Sarah Palin at that race which just kind of make you go "Hmmm."

Personally I am still trying to figure out why there was such an incredible push back on the talk that this whole thing might have been staged. And I don't just mean the typical pro-Palin people either.

Perhaps one of you could enlighten me concerning that question?

Perhaps I was too quick to label yesterday's photo of Sarah Palin running as photoshopped.

Yesterday I posted a picture found on Gretawire of the Grizzled Mama running, that to be honest seemed very odd, which then led to many of us making the assumption that it was photoshopped.

Here let me show you the picture in question.

Now as the day unfolded numerous people rushed over here to correct my assertion that the photo appeared to have been manipulated. Other bloggers even wrote about how I had put my credibility in jeopardy by even suggesting that Sarah Palin had NOT run this race. And a few people whose opinion I respect said that they were not certain the picture was photoshopped either.

But you know sometimes I can be a real stubborn son-of-a-bitch so I was still pretty darn convinced that something hinky was going on here. But then I saw this picture:

Oh my god, what can I say?

Clearly this photo, which I am guessing was taken seconds after the first photo, shows Sarah "I am too a runner dammit!" Palin/Heath running so quickly that, not only do her feet not touch the ground, but she has just passed herself in the race. ("Laws of time and space do not apply to me, I am Sarah Palin bitchez!")

What can I say? Photos don't lie.

So let me take a moment to apologize.

First to Sarah Palin for assuming that just because she appeared virtually catatonic on Friday in Iowa, that she could NOT get herself healthy enough to place second in a half marathon, despite NOBODY in Wasilla ever seeing her running around town, nor on a treadmill at any of the gyms. Or that she would wait around for at least an hour after the race to have her picture taken with a Palin-bot (Who just happens to blog) to prove her participation.

And let me apologize to my visitors for automatically assuming that a woman who faked a pregnancy, substituted one baby for another, and whose daughter appeared on nationally televised dance contest while pregnant (Which she covered up for by claiming she was just more fit than the other contestants.), would EVER fake a marathon race.

I mean seriously, WHAT about this person would convince me to never take what she does at face value, and to always remain skeptical until I have proven to myself, without a shadow of a doubt, that we are NOT all being manipulated by somebody famous for her manipulative nature?

What was I thinking?