A
healthy dose of reality, with no superstition, and absolutely . .
.
.
.
Making
science and critical thinking so simple you can understand and so
interesting you'll want to learn.
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visitors to this site have asked how they can donate money
to No Bull to help us pay expenses. The simplest way is to click the PayPal "Donate" button
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your contributions to No Bull.
Because
of our activist nature, gifts to No Bull are not tax
deductible; and we hate that as much as you do. For
more information, see our Terms
Page.
I
have Charles Darwin's seminal book, On the Origin of
Species, in PDF format, compatible with virtually every
computer. Give me your first name and email address, and I'll
email you a link to a FREE, downloadable copy. You may read it
on your own computer screen, print it, or even let your
computer read it to you aloud for your pleasure and
understanding. It's a
fascinating book.
In
addition, I'll send you a short email occasionally when I make significant changes or additions
to the No Bull Website. Just click the graphic below
for your gifts.
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I
respect your privacy as if it were my own, and every Update
comes with a working Unsubscribe link near the bottom.
Goals of This Website
No Bull's
primary
goal is to help people understand basic science and
practice critical thinking. We try to present these concepts
and skills in a simple,
understandable, and fascinating way.
To
use these concepts and skills to understand difficult and controversial
ideas, and (when
possible) to reach appropriate conclusions.
To
share some fun with our readers. After all, skeptics need
fun, too.
Notice
that our goals do NOT include debunking everything we disagree
with or convincing
anybody that "We are right and you are wrong." We often discuss subjects that are quite controversial, but
we will not argue about them. Our intention is to present
the information and ideas in an
understandable and interesting way for anybody who wants to
learn.
We
believe everybody should understand a reasonable amount of science, because we live in a scientific
age unlike any other age in history. So we want to inform you
very simply, in a conversational, matter-of-fact manner, what
the scientific evidence shows.
Occasionally
we'll touch on other subjects like politics or religion, because
they often infringe on areas best left to science.
It
is NOT our goal to "deconvert"
Christians, Muslims, or other "believers;" but we are
aware that a few of them will occasionally examine their beliefs in the
light of modern science and critical thinking and begin to
question their faith. We definitely do want to be here for them.
Despite
these disclaimers, there are times when it becomes
necessary to point out that some religious people still believe
something that science has disproved. Or that certain
politicians are leading us in unscientific directions.
When
religion or politics conflicts with science, as they often do, No
Bull will come down firmly on the side of science. We'll also try to explain
how we know that what we know and why it matters.
When possible, we'll include links or
references where you can find more information if you want it.
We
will not debate or argue about what we believe or what we write. However, if you want more information about something
we say, please click the email link at the bottom of any page and ask.
We'll help in any reasonable
way we can.
Why?
Our
civilization is built upon applied science, and it's important that
we all understand it as much as we can. Besides that, it can be just plain fun.
Although
both are important, No
Bull is interested in the processes of science, that is the
scientific method,
even more than the facts discovered by science.
How?
We
try to write simply enough for a literate high school student,
but interestingly enough for her father or grandmother. Or her
exceptionally bright, younger brother or sister.
We
hope you'll read this because you enjoy it, and then realize you actually learned something worthwhile. But only you
can tell us whether or not we have been successful. Please
click the email link near the bottom of any page and let us know.
No
Bull is here to serve
you. The more good, constructive criticism you give us, the
better we can do so.
No
Bull is prepared for
you by an international team of skeptics:
Bill
Dearmore, Editor, US
Perry
Spiller, Editorial Assistant, NZ
Other
volunteers assist as needed with fact checking and other
services.
We
are laymen who share the vision of promoting skeptical,
critical, scientific thinking and understanding.
In Case You Notice a
Difference ...
I am in the process of
remodeling the No Bull Website to make it more interactive and
user friendly and give it a more up-to-date look and feel. (Funny how
much website design has improved in the seven years of No Bull's
existence.)
The first step in this
remodeling has been mostly completed. That is, almost every page has
been re-edited or even re-written. A few other pages may still be
improved a little.
Some have been simplified
or split into two pages. More often, it was just a matter of correcting
typos or other minor errors that had accumulated.
While these changes were
needed, you aren't likely to notice most of them.
The next step will be to
move the website to a WordPress platform and add a blog. At that time,
we'll also trim the size of a few pages (like this one, for example) so
they'll load faster.
There shouldn't be any
downtime of more than a few minutes, if any. But I can't promise that
yet.
Anyway, keep coming back
often and watch our favorite website keep getting better and better and
better.
Seventy
powerful answers as I write this, including many on video, from scientists, teachers, and ordinary people
like you and me. Probably more by the time you are seeing this.
This
article briefly explores four related topics. Three will probably
never be discussed at length on this site, for the simple reason
that they have nothing to do with science or reality. In this
article, we'll show you why these three are not science and why only
one is, based on the Scientific
Method.
Because
this is one of the least understood of all scientific claims and
also one of the most interesting and important, we'll discuss this
one scientific topic at length here in a series of articles.
Before
I answer the question, I need to point out first that even
scientists themselves have the same problem. The range of modern
science is far too great for any one person to understand it all.
The solution is in the method.
The
scientific method has been
designed and refined over the years to provide accurate information
and eliminate both error and fraud. It does its job very well.
In
public media and private conversations, one often hears the argument
that science is "just another religion." This is a
powerful allegation. It levels the playing field. It says,
essentially, everybody is entitled to an opinion, and you don't have
any more basis for yours than I do for mine. Those
who preach that science is a religion fundamentally misunderstand
the nature of science.
I'm
very proud to have my first article by Dr. Tarico. Be sure to
read it. It's good. I hope to have more for you in the near future.
One
source claims it's about 6,000 years old. Another says it's at least
4,550,000,000 years old. That's an incredible 758,000 times as old.
Which is right? How can we tell? Why should we even care?
Many
people would say science is knowledge. It is not! Rather, science is a
formalized and tested method of generating knowledge about nature.
Knowledge generated by the scientific method may be referred to as
scientific information. Knowledge gained in any other way is not
"scientific" in any sense.
In
one single year a century ago -- in 1905 -- a 26-year-old Swiss
patent clerk named Albert Einstein published five of the most
important papers in the history of science -- all in his spare time.
Are we sure he was even human?
Gods,
immortal souls or spirits, angels, demons, devils, and other
invisible or supernatural beings or essences. The War on Drugs.
Space aliens on earth. Creationism. When somebody says "It's
easy." Just a few little things like that.
"Nothing
is as simple as it seems; and everything takes longer than it
should; and, if anything can go wrong, it will." Murphy was not
a skeptic; he was a cynic. Be reasonably skeptical of everything;
but don't let your skepticism turn into cynicism
Generally,
a skeptic believes what
makes sense. He or she
may also believe what
doesn't seem to make sense, if there is nevertheless convincing
evidence. A skeptic is not necessarily an unbeliever.
Rather, he or she is a doubter. A skeptic says "Show me your
evidence."
Q.
If I am wrong, and I choose to live my
life in respect to what I believe to be the truth (The Bible), what
have I lost?
A. A lot more than you think.
If
God is kind and loving, then why does he let people suffer with
cancer, arthritis, cystic fibrosis, AIDS, diabetes, and thousands of
other terrible diseases? What purpose is served by torturing people
in fire forever? Why does He never seem to heal amputations in
answer to prayer, no matter how many people pray for Him to do it?
II
Kings 24:8 says "Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when
he began to reign, ...". II Chronicals 36:9 states that "
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, …"What
do you think?
Actually,
it may be that his death was one of the more merciful things that
happened to him that day. I
wondered. Where was God when His little creature needed more help
than I could provide? If He knows every sparrow that falls from the
sky, then why doesn't he care about mockingbirds, too?
by
Allan Lawrence Glenn -
Placed into the Public Domain by the
Author
The testimony of a young atheist dying of complications of cystic
fibrosis, published posthumously. Originally published by Ex-Christian.net
at http://www.ex-christian.net/
As
you walk up the steps to the Capitol Building which houses the
Supreme Court, you can see near the top of the building a row of
the world's law givers; and each one is facing one in the middle
who is facing forward with a full frontal view--it is Moses and
the Ten Commandments! Response:
Not True! The United States
Capitol does not even house the Supreme Court of the United
States. The Supreme Court has met in its own building since 1935.
I'm
just plain Bill. I was born in the year my culture calls 1939, in
the plain little town of Sunset in North Texas, in the United States
of America, on the third major planet of a plain yellow star we call
the Sun, about 30,000 light years from the center of a plain spiral
galaxy known as the Milky Way. Plain, that is, as spiral galaxies
go.
"You
need to be saved tonight. If you haven't accepted Jesus as your
Savior, you're already on the road to Hell. You may die tonight and
wake up in the lake of fire and brimstone and burn forever. You'll
feel the flames on your face and all over your body, and smell the
smoke of the burning sulfur." I was six years old that Sunday
night, and I didn't want to go to hell.
Free
PDF documents for my visitors to download if they wish. Currently, I have Charles Darwin's seminal work, On the Origin of Species,
and the text of the brilliant Federal Court Decision by Judge Jones
in the Dover, PA, "Intelligent Design" case. I will be
adding additional high quality items for you as I can.
Many
of these definitions are controversial, especially since some of
them deal with religious topics. I try to use the most common
definitions, or specifically Biblical or Qur'anic definitions (in
the case of religious topics). In some cases, it may just be a
definition that makes sense in the context of its use on this
website.
Q.
Why do you hate God?
A. I don't hate God. How could I hate your imaginary invisible
friend?
Q. If God is only imaginary, where did the universe come from?
A. It beats me! Have I ever claimed to know everything?
Q. Did you make up these questions yourself?
A. Certainly not! Well, not all of them, anyway.
Emails
published here will usually be identified with a first name and
location (if known) only. Those identified any other way are done so
at the request of the letter writer. Anonymous emails will usually
be tossed out, at my sole discretion, but may be published for
whatever value they may provide.
At
the various times when I posted these links, they were all working,
but websites change faster than women's fashions; and I have no
control over any sites but my own.
An
assortment of useful but boring information about the No Bull
Website and all other associated media. This page contains my Terms of Service and
my Privacy Policy, as well as other
information about this website and my email newsletter, No Bull
Update.
Copyright
2005, 2007 Bill Dearmore. Permission is granted to republish most
(but not all) articles from the No Bull Website. Please see
this Copyright
Page for details.
An
archive of some of my old home pages. I try to keep copies of my most significant home pages here when
I remove them from their
original "place of honor." Those with important articles
may also be referenced from other appropriate sections.
Historically
significant issues of my No Bull Update are archived here.
This
page was last updated 08/21/09 06:13 PM.
Thanks
for visiting. Please bookmark No Bull and come back often.
.
Copyright
2005, 2008, 2009 Bill Dearmore. Permission is granted to republish most (but not
all) articles from the No Bull Website with appropriate citation.
Please see our Copyright Page for
details and be sure to read our General
Information Page.
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