Debate: “Saving Darwin”
Michael Shermer v. Karl Giberson
On Monday November 17, 2008, at the Harvard Club in New York, Michael Shermer and Karl Giberson debated how best to “save Darwin.” The reference comes from Giberson’s new book, Saving Darwin, in which he argues that one can be a Christian and a Darwinian, and that science poses no threat to religious beliefs. Shermer makes a similar argument in his book Why Darwin Matters, but there are substantive differences in their world views that are apparent in this dialogue.
Rare Pyramid Power Resources
(including interview with MythBuster Kari Byron!)
Skeptic.com now offers rare “Further Reading” resources relating to Junior Skeptic #23: “Pyramid Power.”
MythBusters fans will be excited to find a previously unpublished 2006 interview with Kari Byron. Kari shares insights about the MythBusters tests of pyramid power, and stories about her experiences as part of the cast.
According to pyramid power’s apocryphal origin story, a Frenchman named Antoine Bovis stumbled upon the secret while standing inside the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Here, we present Bovis’s own description of his “discovery” in both the original French (3.6 MB PDF scan of a 1930s booklet by Bovis) and an English translation. As so often, the primary document falsifies the modern legend — yet it was lost to history until now.
Also included are detailed sources and bibliography for Junior Skeptic #23, a key Danish source on the legendary Bovis story (translated into English), and an extensive unpublished interview with 1970s (pro-paranormal) pyramid power author Max Toth, in which he reminisces about the history (and business!) of the paranormal fad he helped to pioneer.
This week at SkepticBlog.org, Michael Shermer debunks the myth of deregulation as the cause of the current economic crisis, giving you the raw numbers of just how regulated the financial markets already are. Hint: Republicans and Conservatives are not off the hook.
While you’re there be sure to read the blogs posts of the other Skepticbloggers: Brian Dunning, Kirsten Sanford, Mark Edward, Phil Plait, Ryan Johnson, Steven Novella, and Yau-Man Chan.
