Skeptical Observations

A book arguing for the power of the concept of cognitive dissonance to explain “why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful a...

Lewis Black explains why Christians get the “Old Testament” wrong. I explain how Black gets George W. Bush wrong—to some degree. Here i...

How the saying “Everything happens for a reason” combines presumption with obtuseness. Last week, I posted an entry examining and de...

From “Skeptical Jew” to “Skeptical Observations.” I have to confess that I have always been somewhat uncomfortable with the title that ...

A clip from the video Dara Ó Briain Talks Funny , with a partial transcript. The clip embedded above is an excerpt from a video record...

The common saying “Everything happens for a reason” is neither true nor a truism, but a swindle in which the preposterous is peddled in the ...

Newt Gingrich on his dark past: “There’s no question that at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this countr...

A new social-networking Web site adopts a tasteless and sophomoric name. I have just learned that some enterprising morons have produc...