Only ten?

It’s a start, anyway. Here are Ten Facebook Pages You Need to Stop Sharing. They are:

InfoWars
Foodbabe
Eat Clean. Train Mean. Live Green.
Joseph Mercola
Prevention Magazine
Natural News
Collective Evolution
MindBodyGreen
Spirit Science
The Mind Unleashed

There’s a lot of pseudo-nutrition and quackery in there, and also a fair bit of “spirituality”. But there are so many other pages that are about as bad! I bail when I see the words “spirit”, “detox”, “cleanse”, “toxins”, as well as anything to do with religion.

Are imperialism and colonialism funny now?

africa

When last I commented on one of the UK’s battier climage change denialists, James Delingpole, it was to ridicule his “joke” about executing environmental scientists. He’s back with a new “joke” — I really think he ought to give up on the humor thing. He’s not very good at it.

His new idea is to erect a giant golden statue in Africa to honor…Cecil Rhodes.

The idea is to build in the middle of Africa a gigantic golden statue of the mighty British imperial hero Cecil Rhodes – a really big one, about four miles high, so that Kilimanjaro doesn’t get in the way – to remind all the locals for miles around what a complete and utter toilet their malarial, tsetse flyblown continent would have been if it hadn’t been for all the 19th century explorers, miners and pioneers and nation builders and District Commissioners in their white pith helmets who brought them civilisation, the rule of law and economic progress.

Yeah, racist asshole thinks the entire continent of Africa is a a complete and utter toilet and that the appropriate way for Britain to signal their attitude towards Africans is to build a giant “fuck you” in the continent. Charming. Hilarious. Not.

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Saturn Run

saturnrun

Yesterday was Christmas, so I did nothing much at all. Well, I did a few things.

I have rediscovered the joy of a pair of good thick wool socks. Seriously, people! Warm wool on a cold day? You cannot go wrong.

We spent the evening in the big city of St Cloud, having a traditional Christmas dinner with our son at a Chinese restaurant.

And I spent most of the day reading a book. Not any of the science books piled up on my desk, but a thriller. I felt a bit guilty about it, but then decided that nah, I get to take a full day off and screw around. It’s good for the brain to take a break. Also, cozy warm feet take an amazing amount of tension out of your life.

If you’ve visited the Pharyngula store, you may have noticed that one of the items on my “What I’m reading now” is Saturn Run, by John Sandford and Ctein. A little backstory: my daughter knows Sandford’s son (he was at her wedding, for instance), and he has indulged us with his father’s books. We got sent the whole catalog of Sandford’s novels several years ago, and I went through them all like popcorn. Going on a trip? Grab a random paperback out of the Sandford box. They’re a good, fast read: serial killers and maverick detectives, you know the genre, set in Minneapolis.

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Some days, it’s embarrassing to be an American

But at least I’m not a Christian.

A racist woman mistakes two Brazilians as Terrorists. While filming a YouTube comedy skit in front of a local airport, a racist woman stopped her vehicle on the side of the road and started calling my friend and I terrorists. Being that I’m an aspiring filmmaker, I pulled out my camera and started recording the incident. I served the U.S Air Force and I honestly never thought this would happen to me. It’s disgusting how ignorant and blind people are nowadays. People like her need to be shunned out of society, because that’s the mentality that keeps us from progressing. SHARE this, we need this negativity shunned!

Space will not be white and full of penises

I bet you didn’t know that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a social justice propaganda film. I didn’t either. I thought it was a nostalgia movie with a recycled plot, but one thing it doesn’t do is hammer you with didacticism. But this guy watched it, and all he saw was a woman and a black man in lead roles, and it made him furious.

The Force Awakens is spectacularly replete with the handiwork of the avowed Social Justice Warrior JJ Abrams. So where can I possibly start in my criticisms? From the casting, which puts minorities and women incessantly and ridiculously in your face to make a political point (not tell a story), to the laziest of all space battles, the problems with the Episode 7 are more than numerous.

Whoa. More than numerous? That must be, like, a lot.

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Jebus, but the War on Christmas is stupid

It’s really just an excuse for conservatives to claim persecution where none exists. Like this Texas restaurant that proudly displays this sign.

Notice: This store is politically incorrect. We say 'Merry Christmas,' 'God bless America.' We salute our flag and give thanks to our troops, police officers and firefighters. If this offends you, you are welcome to leave. In God we trust.

Notice: This store is politically incorrect. We say ‘Merry Christmas,’ ‘God bless America.’ We salute our flag and give thanks to our troops, police officers and firefighters. If this offends you, you are welcome to leave. In God we trust.

A couple of things annoy me here. One is that no, he is not being politically incorrect. He’s being stupid.

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How would science fare under Donald Trump?

Liberalismisamentaldisease

Donald Trump has some management advice.

If you are careful when finding employees, management becomes a lot easier. I rely on a few key people to keep me informed. They know I trust them, and they do their best to keep that trust intact.
Good people equals good management and good management equals good people. They have to work together or they won’t work together for very long.

I’ve heard this sort of thing before, and there’s truth to it. The president of the US can’t possibly know everything and do everything, so they should surround themselves with smart advisors to fill in the gaps in their experience.

But what if they are a terrible judge of people?

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