Recently the Environmental Working Group released a report on sunscreen, recommending only 39 of 500 sunscreens investigated. The report has been picked up by media outlets and now sunscreen is being touted as cancer-causing and hormone-disrupting. Let’s examine some of the issues and concerns the report raises.
Book review
The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (1995), by
Christopher Hitchens
The beauty in television snow
I’ve been looking at different complex systems lately; I’m becoming more and more fascinated with a term called “Emergence.” It’s when you perceive a complex and beautiful pattern from a huge amount of individual, simple objects guided by simple rules.
Come on (or out!), skeptics—we need you
James Randi came out of the closet last month and I speak for the Association for Science and Reason when I say, “Congratulations, Randi!”
Let’s get some movement in the movement
I love that there is a skeptical ‘movement.’ I love knowing that there are like-minded people out there, compatriots with whom I can bitch and moan, hash out ideas, learn something, debate, and have some laughs. I love that here in Toronto we meet once a month at our Skeptics in the Pub event to do exactly these things. Having a movement provides a sense of belonging, of community — some might even say family.
Science: It’s the law!
I recently overheard something that no doubt many of us have heard in one form or another — that you can pay a heavy price for breaking the laws of nature. Since I wasn’t party to the conversation I resisted the urge to butt in, but there was definitely some squirming on my part.
Religion was not born of fear
“Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.”
– Francis Bacon, Of Death
Killing for religion
(This article is based on a presentation the author gave to CFI Toronto in 2008.)
On December 10, 2007, 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez was found strangled, and succumbed to the assault within hours. Her father, Muhammad Parvez, and her brother Waqas were charged with her murder.
What the Bible says about Christmas trees
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It’s that time of year again: there’s a chill in the air, malls are playing the same music over and over, and the whining about the alleged attempts to expunge Christmas has begun.