Young Australian Skeptics

A lot of talk goes back and forth on science and skepticism blogs about the importance of science education and communication. Many popular books have been written on maths and physics (for those who are interested, Big Bang and Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh are both brilliant), but there are very few popular articles out there that go into what is actually involved in obtaining a deeper understanding of the underlying topics.

To that end, I’ve written a series of articles focusing on the subjects I completed last semester — they are aimed at people who may be interested in what is actually taught in university level maths and physics courses, and require no specific background knowledge. The posts, in order of publication, can be found here: Read more »

In this opinion piece, published in The Age on March 9, 2010, Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam asserts that “Nuclear (energy) does not have the answers we need”. There’s quite a bit in this piece that I don’t consider to be well informed, accurate and unbiased — so I thought I would take a bit of a look at it. When it comes to, for example, standing up to Conroy’s “You’re either with us, or you’re with pedophiles” rhetoric on Internet censorship, I’ll be the first to admit that Senator Ludlam does a fantastic job — however, when it comes to a discussion of nuclear technology, Ludlam gets it wrong. Read more »

So the HCCC have gone public with their warning about the AVN or Australian Vaccination Network. All I can say is, it is about time! I applaud the HCCC for doing this and Ken McLeod for getting this started with the McCafferys.

The downside is that the HCCC can do little more than issue this warning. That being said it is definitely a step in the right direction.

The AVN refused to put the disclaimer recommended by the HCCC on their website. This shows us that they are even more dangerous than we expected (possible?). They are literally going out of their way to mislead the public.

You can find it at the HCCC website.

Cross-​​posted from Divisible By Pi.

Look out, Christians — apparently universities are out to get you! Just take a look at what’s happening in Georgia right now…

A counseling student has filed suit against a university in Georgia because she claims the school is forcing her to abandon her Christian beliefs in order to receive a degree.

Oh no! I wonder what they’re doing to her to so unjustly trample her beliefs. Perhaps they are forcing her to publicly renounce Christianity? Masturbate with a crucifix? Piss in the holy water?

Jennifer Keeton, 24, is pursuing her master’s degree in counseling at Augusta State University. But after her professors learned of her biblical beliefs — specifically her views on homosexual conduct — from both classroom discussions and private conversations with other students, the school imposed a “remediation plan.”

Ah, of course. The horrible injustice being perpetrated here is against her god-​​given right to hate gays. Interestingly, they never actually say what her views on homosexual conduct are — though given that they’re described as ‘biblical’ it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that she thinks they ought to be killed and burn in hell. Read more »

I go to a small semi-​​private school in Victoria, a Christian school, supposedly non-​​denominational. Every fortnight we have a compulsory chapel service that runs for 45mins. Today we had Dr. Mark Harwood of creation​.com come and lecture us on how the world was created. The whole thing was utterly pathetic, for 4 main reasons:

1. Yes he has a Ph.D, thankfully not in homoeopathy, but in science engineering. He is a satellite specialist in radio telescopes and computer techniques for antenna design and measurement. Why he didn’t come and talk to us about satellites, well, I don’t know. If he had, at least his lecture wouldn’t have been filled with logical fallacies, lies and some plain offensive statements. Read more »