skepticPart of Speech: noun, adjectivePronunciation: skep-tik
Trivia: 'Skeptic' can also be spelled as 'sceptic'. The pronunciation is just the same though.Meaning:*someone inclined to express doubt (say a doubter of accepted beliefs and religious doctrines)ex. Explaining religious beliefs to skeptics would just result to a neverending debate. (used as a noun in this sentence)The skeptic man cov
*UPDATED 10.23.08*
The IT Skeptic (Rob England) seeks out IT’s sillier ideas, especially around ITIL and CMDB, and skewers them on his popular blog. His recent book, “Introduction to Real ITSM”, is a satirical lampooning of IT service management, as it is done now and as the ITIL proponents would have it (visit www.realitsm.com to learn [...]
By JohnLArmstrongConservative Christians love Palin but how do the reconcile their support for her bid for office in the face of what the Bible says about a woman's "place" in society.
If the FBI wants me to believe that Bruce Ivins is the Anthrax killer, they are going to have to do more than release quirky tidbits about the guy—like the claim he was a lifetime sorority panty raider. Straight faced government officials are saying he drove up to Princeton, to mail the anthrax laced letters, because the maibox was a few blocks from the object of his obsession—Kappa Kappa G
The residents of Zanzibar are growing increasingly worried as Tanzania approaches the coming 2010 general elections. The reason is not so much due to political violence, but rather for fear that Popo Bawa will reappear.
The Popo Bawa, whose name is derived from the Swahili words for “bat” and “wing”, first appeared in the neighboring island [...]
Introduction To The Indian Skeptic:
The Indian Skeptic is a radical rationalist magazine that is published in India by Basava Premanand (an atheist and skeptic) who is also the chairman for the Indian CSICOP. Although the Indian Skeptic attempts to portray itself as an honest, accountable and scientific magazine that exposes alleged paranormal phenomena, it is [...]
THE SKEPTIC: Banks’ Exotic Fear
Last Update: 6/19/2008 11:09:24 AM
By Arindam Nag
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN
In a few weeks investors in some European banks will have to brace themselves to
hear about two different potential sources of losses: basis risk and credit value
adjustments.
It sounds exotic, but simply put, basis risk [...]
In the sales community, it is often much gratifying to make a sale to a customer who at the beginning was thought of as not finding the product or service as needed, than an easy sale. For those who thrive on the art of sales, let us look at some of the techniques that could be applied to succeed in persuading a cynic. * Be Informed about Your Product or Service Always know your product or service
Writings of a skeptic after attending a political event at which he declared his uncertainty about the issue of global warming. Here, in this article, the author elaborates on several points to consider as to why he’s skeptical of global warming and some key items to ponder if you are on the fence about anthropogenic [...]
You CANNOT Tell Them Much!(After they dump … they run!)Hope fully this will engage the intellectual proteins that reside in some of my readers here at WonPreacher. WonPreacher received a comment this morning to the ‘LAMININ' - Louie Giglio post on April 21st from Joshua, with no way to occupy him in dialogue. I will leave name-calling to him. (See Below)Joshua’s salutation is: “Are Christians dumbing down?” Now of course I am not Joshua, yet if I was going to introduce my perspective to someone else for evaluation I believe that I would start with something less confrontational. Let me give you an example. I know not only that there is A GOD I also know that the only way to Him is thru His Son Jesus God’s Anointed. Like Joshua I can start with: Get Down On Your Knees You Sinner
Is the Hoodia diet safe? This is a common question many face when they hear about Hoodia. His heavily advertised and frequently mentioned on television so many are of course very sceptical about Hoodia, including me. The first time I heard it was on a CBS special on 60 minutes talking about the benefits of use. I looked further into the supplement and found some interesting things. I hope you enjoy! Studies From my research, I could not really find any cases of adverse reactions were reported in which users with Hoodia. I found a ton of sources, which showed that there was indeed no negative effects of the supplement. Here are some examples of research I found ... The American Botanical Council, a non-profit research organization in Austin, Texas, conducted a study on the science behind
Grist provides a complete listing of the articles in "How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic," a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming....
Gavin replies.See part 3, 2 and 1.Ribbing: OrangeGaving: GreenI am coming back to our discussion on the role of carbondioxide for climate change. I shall use the same order, but I have a feeling thatit is really the second issue that is our bone of contention.1) The relative roles of water vapour and carbon dioxide.The dipole moment of the water molecule is unusually strong (1.85 D) and the CO2 has no dipole moment, so it only contributes to IR-absorption by vibrations. Thus one H2O absorbs IR radiation much stronger than one CO2. Furthermore, under normal conditions close to sea level, there are about 100 times more H2O:s than CO2:s.Admittedly this proportion is reduced with altituded, over deserts etc. From this starting point I claimed that 20% from CO2 is too high.As I mentionened in my previous mail, it is basically wrong to include clouds as a GH agent. It is not a gas, and their chief effectis to cool. Yet, if officials of UN have decided that clouds are a green-house gas, whom
Professor Ribbing, still not convinced, has another go against climate scientist Gavin Schmidt:Dear Gavin,I am coming back to our discussion on the role of carbondioxide for climate change. I shall use the same order, but I have a feeling that it is really the second issue that is our bone of contention.1) The relative roles of water vapour and carbon dioxide.The dipole moment of the water molecule is unusually strong (1.85 D)and the CO2 has no dipole moment, so it only contributes to IR-absorption by vibrations. Thus one H2O absorbs IR radiation much stronger than one CO2. Furthermore, under normal conditions close to sea level, there are about 100 times more H2O:s than CO2:s. Admittedly this proportion is reduced with altituded, over deserts etc. From this starting point I claimed that 20% from CO2 is too high.As I mentionened in my previous mail, it is basically wrong to include clouds as a GH agent. It is not a gas, and their chief effect is to cool. Yet, if officials of UN have de
In What will it take to convince a skeptic?, I presented an email debate about climate change between two scientists. Here their discussion continues. Dr Gavin Schmidt from RealClimate comments further on physics professor Carl Gustaf Ribbing's previous remarks.Orange: RibbingGreen: GavinAn indication for this is that people have been doing atmospheric heat transfer calculations for 50 years or more. In these calculations "Model atmospheres" withdifferent amounts of water vapour have been used, but to my knowledge no alternative CO2-content has ever been used.That's because people know pretty well what the CO2 content is at any one time. 50 years ago it was 315 ppmv (now it closer to 385 ppmv of course). In contrast, the distribution of water vapour is both more uncertain and much more variable at any one point. I'm not sure this is at all relevant to the point at hand though.I therefore insist that that the contribution of CO2 is less than 20%. I have a transmittance spectrum for t
A friend of mine who is a scientist in Uppsala recently composed a rather provocative letter to the editor in the local newspaper. In his letter, Tor Kihlberg claims that he has encountered a considerable amount of people in the scientific community of Uppsala that are still denying the threat of climate change. Their denial, he claims, is based on psychological mechanisms and not on scientific facts. He turns to the skeptics and asks them what kind of proof they would require to be convinced and if they finally were, would they then be ready to change their lifestyles.A bunch of distinguished professors took the bate and wrote angry replies. One of them was Professor Carl Gustaf Ribbing. Tor didn't confront Ribbing's arguments upfront, instead he rather slyly challenged Ribbing to send his statements to the IPCC crew of RealClimate. Ribbing took on the challenge and wrote to RealClimate. Climate scientist Gavin Schmidt was very quick to respond.------------------------------------
We gave free time to two Muslim guys this week so I am also going to post this guest article because I like the way he writes and I like what he says even if I don't agree with it 100%! (Plus I am jealous, because I wish I could write as well!)Reflections of Paul Kurtz during his 80th birthday.Unbelievers have debated the proper way to describe their position. Some scientists and philosophers-notably Richard Dawkins and Daniel C. Dennett-have recently been sympathetic to the use of the term bright. Proponents thought it a clever idea, hoping that bright would overcome the negative connotations that other terms such as atheist have aroused in the past. Many find this to be an attractive advantage. Critics of the use of bright have commented that it is presumptuous for us to suggest that we are "bright," i.e., intelligent, implying that those with whom we disagree are dull-witted or dumb. Clearly, many people have been turned off by the term atheism, which they perceive as too negative
First off if you find this post strange it is because my strange-yet-lovable husband is writing it. His views do not reflect the opinions of this blog. Void in Utah.... My name is Grindy and I approve this message! I've noticed fashion goes to some interesting sources for inspiration. I'm a big believer in "Nothing new under the sun" and think it's, "All been done before." So Fashion has gone to the Military ad nauseam, they've tapped into skilled trades and fairy tales. So where next? Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Ninjas. I know what you're thinking... Ninjas and fashion don't mix. I disagree, they were probably the first people to really go out on a limb with the "basic black", perhaps they took it a little too far but I digress. Regardless, I think Tabi are going to be the next big thing! The separation of toes 1-2 and 3-5 (3-6 in the south) will be all the rage! If you ladies can wear this and feel normal You can wear this and feel normal
...what would it take to convince you that human emissions of CO2 is disrupting the climate? What kind of evidence would it take to make you change your mind?
I confronted a skeptic on a climate blog today.The skeptic: "As long as nobody explains why climate change has occurred before without human interference I will continue driving my SUV. By the way check the Channel 4 film."I countered with this:"By my understanding previous occurrences of climate change has been in repeated cycles and the causes has been due to variations of earth's orbit. The rapid climate change currently happening is not caused by natural variations. Today's changes are occurring 10 times faster than previous changes found in the ice cores. This dramatic and rapid kind of climate change is unusual in a geological context. When they have happened they have been combined with catastrophic events. The Permian extinction was one of them. Human activities correlated to climate change is visualized here.About the C4 film: http://coinet.org.uk/information/swindleresponseDriving a SUV is stupid. Buy a Honda Civic Hybrid instead."
Through the last couple posts about (a)gnosticism I have valued your feedback as I am working to find a category I can use to best describe my present state. John Page said it best that ‘agnosticism has too much baggage’, it gets one concept right - that we can never completely know truth or god absolutely, but it falls short on some other points, like hope.
The problem is most people assume if you say that you are part (a)gnostic than you are probably not searching for any type of truth or you feel the search is pointless.
I don’t think the search for god or truth is pointless. I am increasingly hopeful about the two. I find pieces every day and I love to collect them and digest them. I love to sift through history and wisdom and take what I know will hold it’s own under trial.
It is a journey.
I get embarrassed sometimes when I cast away a piece that I held for so long and then realized what I thought was a treasure was an old bottle cap. . . but isn&rsquo
In a refreshing break with tradition, Patrick Bedard at Car and Driver admits to a lingering skepticism about the Malibu's glowing introductory reviews. There's just a wee bit of history that informs his doubts: forty years of glowing reviews by C/D of pre-production GM cars that failed to life up to their hype. The most notorious example cited was the gusher of praise heaped upon the notorious X-bodies (Citation, etc.) based upon "specially prepped" pilot cars provided by GM. Although the Malibu managed a third place finish in C/D's recent comparo of sedans, Bedard admits that his employer's intro of GM's latest "import killer" might have (once again) raised hopes to unrealistic levels. The truth feels good, doesn't it Patrick?
