How Coughlan Won the Internet (But Failed at Fact-checking)
For those looking for someone to attack Coughlan's recent Twitter storm on the English Defense League (EDL), you are in for a disappointment. I consider Coughlan's ridicule of #creepingsharia to be both deserved and hilarious.
A quick recap of affairs (skip this paragraph if you know it), EDL spokesman and general blockhead Tommy Robinson tweeted his consternation at the use of a mosque image on Twitter's homepage, adding the hash tag #creepingsharia to signify the supposed islamification of the West. Couglan promptly called upon his minions to spam that hash tag with equally (but deliberately) phoney examples of this same phenomenon. Within 24 hours the tag had bubbled its way to the top of the rankings, an achievement that even made the popular press.
As Coughlan rightly pointed out himself, if Twitter chooses to include a mosque on its homepage, how are we to conclude that we are heading for a day when scores of turban-clad fundies will pour out of the drain covers, ready to ransack British politics? The idea is ludicrous, especially when you consider that Twitter, like every significant company today, must have a policy for proportionate representation of different divisions of society. It's even less surprising in light of the fact that Twitter is global, and Muslims are equally capable of tweeting too. And even in the wake of the current British drought, that scene looks far too dusty to be anywhere in the UK.
...Well, maybe Norfolk...
Coughlan deservedly basked in the success of such a fruitful bitchslap of the EDL, and I have no wish to take that victory away. My only concern is with one of the text cards in that video. Coughlan claims in his celebratory video that the image does, in fact, show the Taj Mahal, which is not a mosque, but a masuoleum. It would be a delightful icing on the cake for this to be true, but when I saw the image myself, it was immediately obvious that this was not the Taj Mahal.
Here is a screenshot of the offending image:
And here is the Taj Mahal:
Perhaps the most obvious difference is the fact that the Taj Mahal is surrounded by four towers, not one. The shape of the towers, curvature of the main dome and presence/absence of smaller domes are also clearly different.
The Twitter image does indeed appear to be a mosque, though I can't find the original source to be sure. Of course, Coughlan's point still stands: it is no more evidence of #creepingsharia than the fact that pillar boxes look like burkas. I'm just a little disappointed that Coughlan, whom I normally admire for his skepticism, fact-checking and source citing, has made such a basic goof. I guess we are all entitled to a slip now and again.
I'll also take the opportunity to make a passing swipe at LatumWay's mock #creepingsharia tweet: Arabic numerals were not created by Muslims, as the name suggests, but by Hindus in India, 1,500 years ago.
Skepticism never takes a day off.
Regards,
SoS
Sources:
https://twitter.com/#!/EDLTrobinson/status/191594397324943360
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-fghtqe1e4&list=UUTO0NoP8Xb3NSMVsE3nGufQ&index=2&feature=plcp
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9207657/Creeping-Sharia-trend-shows-what-Twitter-thinks-of-the-EDL.html
http://twitter.com/#!/LatumWay/status/191787499037786112
Unlocking The Talents of Girls (Click for the vid)
Here's something that, whilst I don't think about every day I do acknowledge, I am lucky to have been born in the UK. I've grown up in a society that is at least trying to equalise things between men and women (there are still pay gaps), I'm able to go off to Uni and study, I get to pick who and when I marry and I have control over my reproduction. Not every girl is lucky like this, here's another TED talk, this one about work that's being done to help give other girls the opportunities I've had.
Womble
(Also from her bedroom 
)
Forever Alone?
The best TED talk I have seen in months.
Susan Cain tells us why introverts are not only normal, but essential.
Best regards from his bedroom.
SoS
There is a need for easily-accessible pop science books and shows
In the United States, acceptance of solid sciences such as evolution is below 50%. Most of this ignorance comes from attempts of religion to keep out education and information which would contradict their beliefs. Education is normally the target, with public schools getting budget cuts, teachers requiring to meet standards imposed by non-education people, and textbooks dumbing down curricula.
While growing up, I had access to Cosmos, Mr. Wizard, then later Bill Nye, Beakman's World, and so forth. Today, there is a dearth of such educational programming available anywhere for young minds. Even worse, there's no such programming around for adults.
The United States is losing its academic prowess in the world because we have allowed the ignorant to dictate what we all should be teaching, learning and understanding.
We need more educational programming, for children and for adults, that is readily available. We need more books for the casual reader, as well as those who can devour a book a night.
We need to start demanding more of those who hold seats in power, especially lawmakers, to establish their scientific understanding. If they think that evolution is a myth and the global climate is not getting hotter each year, then think about what their denial of reality will do to even more important topics like economics.
It's high time that we demanded more, and supported those who help try to educate the young to the old.
Seasons Greetings!
By season I mean Winter (although it doesn't feel that late in the year for me) and that of course infers the midwinter festivities that many people will be partaking thereof. Now that will be a nice cosy christmas, or a boozey haze of general gluttony and over indulgence. Presents will be unwrapped, arguements will be had, children will be hyper, hangovers will be nursed and all the usual sorts of shenanigans that take place over the next week or so. And with that in mind SkepticTV would like to wish you all a happy and safe time no matter what you are doing or how you are celerbrating it. And as our contribution we have composed the following, you will have to imagine the tune in your head and our voices singing it.....which might lead you to drink but here we go!
Condolences
There are some things in life that no one likes to have to deal with at any time of the year, let alone a time of year like this, i.e one that is supposed to be family focused. I'm not going to name any names in the blog post but it is in responce to the recent news on youtube about a very popular member of the 'atheist community' having lost one of their younger family members to cancer. Yes, I know that you can easily work out who's family this is but I'd like to respect their privacy a little as they grieve, this is my English sense of propriety kicking in a little.
This blog post has two purposes though, and the first one is simple enough. I know I am not the only member of SkepticTV to have small people running around in the family and we all know that said small people are some of the most precious things that we can have in life. We know how much having them in our lives enriches them, and dispite the fact we might have to routinely run the roulette of 'will they pass on their shiny new infection to me' we wouldn't change them for the world. So we would like to express our condolences to this family and hope that they can find comfort and solace as they support each other.
A Very Quick Thank You!
So dispite having a very late one I have to be up and around in the daylight hours, although right now higher thinking is not quite where my brain is at! A full thank you post will be written up in the next few days, but I thought I'd quickly say a massive THANK YOU to everyone now. So far we've raised $1150, thats not counting direct donations or those via paypal. So when we do our full thank you we'll have a clearer idea of how much we've got. Anyway I've gotta dash, there's the link to firstgiving if you think you can spare some money and couldn't make the show, remember the SSA is a VERY worthwhile charity and they will make good use of your money, even if you can only spare $1.
Thanks again, you rock harder than Lewisian Gneiss!!
Womble
(Who is still very tired but raring to go!)
Merchandising!
Ok, so we can't have a flame thrower (no matter how much fun that might sound) but we can have a range of goodies with SkepticTV plastered over them. Which, we now have if you click this link to you online Merch! Now there are only a few ranges, and we might tweek them a little, but hopefully there'll be something there that should tickle you fancy. One of the ranges is a limited edition range to commemerate our 1st birthday, this will stay onsale until Jan when it'll be taken down. Another is side range from CSBair's NephilimFreeSays.com site and we also have out logo and slogan.
Announcing the Schedule for the 12 Hour Show and How to Ask Questions!
So ladies and gentlemen with little over 24 hours to go I'm pleased to be able to announce the schedule! We've been waiting on the confirmation of some details and guests, there is one minor detail we're waiting to pin down but aside from that the schedule is set and you can find it below!