"Tetrodotoxin as a Pharmacological Cause of Zombiism"
When: Sunday, June 23, 2013 @ 5:30 pm
New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 St Claude Avenue New Orleans, LA 70117, New Orleans, LA
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Did somebody say....zombie?
If you are having withdrawal now that "The Walking Dead" is on a break, then we have a great option to liven up your summer.
We are delighted to have Rodney Shackelford back to present this interesting topic!
He will focus on the work of the ethnobotanist Wade Davis who studied the anthropology and ethnobotany of the Haitian zombie.
He hypothesized that the process likely involves poisoning the victim with tetrodotoxin, a poison derived from the puffer fish and found in all Haitian zombification powders. Shackelford will also briefly talk about zombification in insects.
Shackelford has a Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology from Duke University and is a doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Des Moines University. He is currently an assistant professor of pathology at Tulane Medical Center.
*Seating will be limited, so please arrive early to find a seat.
"Getting Religion Out of Government"
When: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 @ 7:30 pm
New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 St Claude Avenue New Orleans, LA 70117, New Orleans, LA
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Join us to discuss how religious bias in government policy is hurting all of us and what we can do about it.
Our presenter is a renaissance man in the truest sense. Dr. Alan Koslow is a community activist who supports himself as a Vascular Surgeon. He is the founder and president of Iowa Skeptics, lead host and founder (with Sean Faircloth) of the podcast "Skeptics Guide to Government", and president of "Get Religion Out of Government".
He was involved with saving Star Trek, starting the March of Dimes Walk-a-Thon, writing and passing five major pieces of legislation in Iowa and running two issue campaigns during the Iowa Caucus, one of which helped lead to Obamacare.
He describes himself as a Ritualistic, Philosophical, Jewish, Agnostic, Deist secularist. His current efforts are with the Richard Dawkins Foundation to work on Separation of Church and State with regard to religious bias in government.
* Look for us in meeting room #256
Harry's Letters to the Editor
06/06/2013
The Boy Scouts of America by a 61 percent vote of its leaders concluded that allowing membership to gay young men is in keeping with general public acceptance of homosexuality. At the same time, another minority group as large as the gay group is denied ...continue
Are You a February Baby?
06/17/2013Harry wanted to pass along this interesting information that he dug up from CNN about what the summer solstice really means for our recent NOSHA picnic:
(CNN) -- In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice has a history of stirring libidos, and it's no wonder. The longest day of the year tends to kick off the start of the summer season and with it, the harvest. So it should come as no surprise that the solstice is linked to fertility -- both of the vegetal and human variety.
"A lot of children are born nine months after Midsummer in Sweden," says Jan-Öjvind Swahn, a Swedish ethnologist and the author of several books on the subject.
Midsummer is the Scandinavian holiday celebrating the summer solstice, which this year falls on June 21. Swedish traditions include dancing around a Maypole -- a symbol which some view as phallic -- and feasting on herring and copious amounts of vodka.
"Drinking is the most typical Midsummer tradition. There are historical pictures of people drinking to the point where they can't go on anymore," says Swahn. While the libations have a hand in the subsequent baby boom, Swahn points out that even without the booze, Midsummer is a time rich in romantic ritual.To read more:
"Summer Solstice: It's All About Sex" Book Review - You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think
06/06/2013
You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think, by Ray Comfort
I confess I had prejudices against this book before I even opened the cover. I think its author, Ray Comfort, is an idiot. The New Zealand-born televangelist and creationist is most famous in the U.S. for claiming that the adaptation of the banana to human use is proof of intelligent design, for participating in Kirk Cameron's now infamous "crocoduck" incident, and for playing painfully transparent word games while publicly debating people much smarter and more knowledgeable than he is. But the title was too provocative to pass up: You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think. The implication, of course, is that unbelievers are willfully or irrationally ignoring convincing evidence for the existence of God. Could Mr. Comfort actually present some such evidence, or at least weaken the logical foundations of atheism? Could he demonstrate some blindness on the part of unbelievers? Should skeptics and non-believers be aware of the contents of this book?
The answer to all of these questions is, "no!" In fact, the book is far worse than I anticipated. If you've ever tried to make it through one of Ann Coulter's obnoxious tomes, you'll have some idea of what reading this was like. Imagine being forced to listen to fingernails being raked across a chalkboard. Unsurprisingly, the publisher was WND Books, a subsidiary of WorldNetDaily, a news service exclusively by and for the lunatic fringe. Even by the standards of popular Christian apologetics, this book is pathetically ridiculous.
Chapter one starts off with Comfort's biggest evidentiary gun, his claim that "creation must have a creator." He never really offers any evidence that the universe is a thing created rather than a natural occurrence, although he does make any number of unsubstantiated assertions that are supposed to be evidence. He tells us it was an "amazing miracle" that when Adam took his first breath there was air waiting for him, with just the right pressure and mix of elements. He boldly makes cosmologist Stephen Hawking into a religious believer and quotes him, very selectively, as evidence. He tells us there are "infallible proofs," then never tells us what they are. Atheism, he asserts, in spite of his evidentiary muddle, "is the epitome of stupidity." My favorite quote from chapter one: "If man is an animal, he can even justify homosexuality and bestiality because 'other' animals do it. To him, evolution is a license to act like an animal, and he does."
The rest of the book is unbearable preaching. It's about sin, death, and the fallenness of humankind. Atheists ought to be afraid of judgment and hell, since God demands moral perfection. Neither the non-believer nor the believer can measure up, but the believer has Jesus and the non-believer doesn't, and that's the difference between heaven and hell for the rest of eternity. His evidence is the Bible, of course. No attempt to validate any of this by logic or observation is ever made.
An internet proverb shared among infidel bloggers says that arguing with a Christian is like playing chess with a pigeon: no matter how good you are at chess, the pigeon will just knock over the pieces, relieve itself on the board, and then strut around as if it has won. Ray comfort is the embodiment of this proverb.
You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think(ISBN:978-1935071068), by Ray Comfort - review by Jim Dugan
