# News (and Debates) for Skeptics **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 24, 2000, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572 "2000-08-24T12:28:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/21 "2000-08-25T14:59:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > OK, reason is what protects you from superstitious B.S. What protects you from rational B.S.? > > Empiricism, i.e., your own experience. It is why I balk when someone tells me that God does not exist. \*\* I’d argue there are many ways to do this… over history, various people have compiled various lists of the humanist virtues. One list I like is common sense, creativity, ethics, intuition, memory, and reason, listed in alphabetical order. It is well to keep them in balance and take the input from each one into account. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/22 "2000-08-25T15:14:34Z")
Steady advice, Matt. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/23 "2000-08-25T15:25:37Z")
Dateline Chicago: matt\_mcl and Libertarian agree on something. In other news: sun rises in west, Pope discovered to be Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/24 "2000-08-25T15:45:54Z")
**oldscratch…** you might find this article interesting. [http://www.hcrc.org/contrib/skeptmag/aids.html](http://www.hcrc.org/contrib/skeptmag/aids.html) ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/25 "2000-08-25T16:02:16Z")
Thank you David. That was exactly what i was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/26 "2000-08-28T13:31:51Z")
**Sweet Lotus** said: > [@](#): > > I shouldn’t have been so general. I sat down in my library and read several issues of SI, and I was overwhelmed by the pomposity of some of the articles. It was as though everyone writing for the magazine was operating on the premise that there is nothing logic can’t explain away. Explaining everything might be possible sometime in the more advanced future, but science is still young. We simply do not have the tools to explain absolutely everything quite yet. It’s like walking into a cave with a match and believing that you can see absolutely everything in that cave. Since I don’t know what issues or articles you read, I can’t comment on them specifically, but in general, nobody says that science or logic can explain _everything_ right now. However, they will say that just because we can’t explain something right this second doesn’t make it “unexplained” in some mysterious paranormal way. As to your earlier question, it’s sort of like _Skeptical Inquirer_ in that it deals with skeptical questions, but it’s not in any official way associated with them. We will announce when they have something new on their website or whatever, just like with anything else of interest to skeptics, but that’s it. If you haven’t already checked it out, I encourage you to do so and judge for yourself what the “attitude” is. **oldscratch** said: > [@](#): > > Nice David. I just read your article on AIDS. Well written. Thanks! > [@](#): > > It did raise some questions for me though. I live in SF. ACTUPSF is one of the bigger AIDS denial groups. They subscribe to the belief that AIDS isn’t caused by HIV. They have a website here [http://www.surviveaids.com](http://www.surviveaids.com) Weird. I never thought a group like that would be in such denial. > [@](#): > > I’ve never been able to get a straight answer of what exaactly they think AIDS is. And what HIV is. Do you have that information, maybe you picked it up while writing your article. Nope – my article was based strictly on the South African situation. I see that **matt** provided a link for you, though. I’ll assume that was what you were looking for, since you thanked me and I hadn’t even posted. 🙂 **tracer** : Don’t feel too bad about missing the “Reply” button – I couldn’t find it either a few days ago, and I should have known better! 😉 I have suggested to the Webmaster that it be made more obvious, though. Incidentally, I also just posted your news item. Hey, everybody, tracer is famous! ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/27 "2000-08-28T13:57:59Z")
**Polycarp** : Yes, there is a “board” of sorts. It’s not like this one, but there is the ability to post comments and have discussions. In fact, on Slashdot, the originator of the software, I have heard they get several _thousand_ comments per day! Now, we will never get that many on Skeptic News, but there is that capability. Furthermore, you can “moderate” other people’s comments by rating them up or down. So if somebody says something really great, you give them a boost so others are more likely to read it. If they say something stupid, you push 'em down so others don’t have to worry about it. (You can’t “moderate” until you build up enough karma points to do so, usually by posting your own comments or submitting news items.) ---
**Author:** ![JonF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/28 "2000-08-28T16:09:05Z")
The Slashdot comment system is very different from the SDMB (for one thin, it’s tree-structure threaded rather than linearly threaded). ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/29 "2000-08-28T18:08:49Z")
Correct. You can view the discussions in threads or just as “flat” discussions, more like it is around here, though. I imagine viewing them “flat” would be fairly confusing on a scale that Slashdot has, though on Skeptic News so far, it wouldn’t be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/30 "2000-08-28T18:37:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*OK, reason is what protects you from _superstitious_ B.S. What protects you from _rational_ B.S.? \*\* A “_rational_ B.S.” detector. [Get 'em here!](http://www.skepticnews.com/matt_mclsBSdetectors/thisisntanactualURL.html) DUH;) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/31 "2000-08-28T21:52:09Z")
David B wrote: > [@](#): > > Incidentally, I also just posted your news item. Hey, everybody, tracer is famous! Oh, darn. Does that mean I just used up my 15 minutes of fame? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/32 "2000-08-28T21:53:50Z")
iampunha wrote: > [@](#): > > A “_rational_ B.S.” detector. [Get 'em here!](http://www.skepticnews.com/matt_mclsBSdetectors/thisisntanactualURL.html) DUH;) **404 File not found**. Are you saying there’s no such thing as rational B.S.? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/33 "2000-08-28T22:40:23Z")
tracer: By my calculation, you used that up at 8:46 this morning. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572/34 "2000-09-01T20:47:42Z")
Hey, Poly, why haven’t I seen you post there yet? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-and-debates-for-skeptics/30572.md?page=1)