Five quotes from people born on this dateKurt Vonnegut, 1922, author “I am an atheist (or at best a Unitarian who winds up in churches quite a lot).” — Vonnegut, "Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage of the 1980s" (1991) Joseph McCabe, 1867, former priest and freethought... See More »
Many People Still Believe The Biblical Myth About Human RibsMost people are born with 12 ribs on each side of the body, making a total of 24 ribs. Despite the prolific misconception, this is the same for men and women. This myth is often attributed to the biblical story of Eve being made from one of Adam's... See More »
Born on this dateOn this date in 1925, television host and comedian John William “Johnny” Carson was born to Ruth and Homer Carson in Corning, Iowa. He spent his childhood in Iowa and Nebraska and by age 14 was performing magic tricks locally as “The Great Carsoni.”... See More »
Born on this dateOn this date in 1929, author and iconoclast Ursula K. Le Guin (née Kroeber) was born in Berkeley, Calif. Her parents were the anthropologist Alfred Kroeber and the writer Theodora Kroeber. She graduated from Radcliffe College Phi Beta Kappa in... See More »
Born on this date: Margaret SangerOn this date in 1879, Margaret Louise Sanger (née Higgins), was born in Corning, N.Y., to a freethinking, Irish-born father and a Catholic Irish-American mother. Watching her mother die at age 48 of tuberculosis after bearing 11 children changed the... See More »
Born on this date: H.L. MenckenOn this date in 1880, H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken, atheist and journalist, was born in Baltimore. Although his father was agnostic, his Lutheran mother sent him to Sunday school, which he later defined as “a prison in which children do penance for... See More »
Astrology is nonsenseAstrology has no basis in fact. The solar system is relatively flat, occupying an imaginary plane in the sky called the ecliptic. Planets waver 8 degrees on each side of the centerline, in a belt called the zodiac. As the Earth travels around its... See More »
Born on this date.: Stephen J. GouldOn this date in 1941, paleontologist and author Stephen Jay Gould was born in New York City. He graduated from Antioch College with a degree in geology in 1963 and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1967. The evolutionary biologist, a... See More »
A great man that helped to feed the worldLuther Burbank was born March 7, 1849 in Lancaster, Mass. He found fame early when he single-handedly saved U.S. potato crops from the deadly blight by cultivating russet potatoes. The Burbank Russett is the most widely cultivated potato in the U.S.... See More »
An all-loving killer deityReligion frequently proclaims that an all-loving, all-merciful Heavenly Father kills people vengefully when displeased. The bible describes it in Noah’s flood, the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, and various other passages. Puritan preacher Jonathan... See More »
Newly Sober God Admits He Has No Recollection Of Creating UniverseTHE HEAVENS—Sipping on a Diet Coke as He described the mix of alcohol and pills He had lived off of for years, a newly sober God admitted Tuesday that He had no recollection of creating the universe. “Everyone tells Me I made light and darkness, sea... See More » (1)
Favorite Spaghetti WesternSaw an old review for "The Great Silence" recently. This movie got restored and made its US theater debut about ten years ago. Outstanding sound track. Criterion Channel has shown it earlier this year. (1)
Astrologists Are Overly Confident And Terrible At Astrology, Study FindsA new study has put astrologers to the test, ultimately determining that they are confident in what they are saying, but no better at it than random chance. Astrology mentions the planets and stars a lot, so can sound sort of science-y to laypeople,... See More »
Born on this date (8/11): Robert G. IngersolOn this date in 1833, “The Great Agnostic” Robert Green Ingersoll, who became the best known U.S. advocate of freethought in the 19th century, was born in Dresden, N.Y. The son of an impoverished itinerant pastor, he later recalled his formative... See More »
God Laments Losing Only Son To Video Game AddictionTHE HEAVENS—Describing the experience as among the most painful a father can go through, the Lord God Almighty opened up to reporters Monday about the struggle of losing His only son to video game addiction. “What really gets to Me is seeing this... See More » (1)
Born on this date: Claude DebussyOn this date in 1862, Achille–Claude Debussy, the originator of “musical impressionism,” was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the oldest of five children. Becoming a student at the Paris Conservatoire at 11 years old, Debussy went on to win... See More »
Born on this date: Paul DiracOn this date in 1902, Paul Dirac, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, was born in Bristol, England. Dirac received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering in 1921 and his master’s in mathematics in 1923, both from the University of... See More »
Born on this date: Janet Jeppson AsimovOn this date in 1926, humanist Janet Opal Asimov (née Jeppson), was born into a Mormon family in Ashland, Pa. While known for her fiction writing, science columns and accomplishments in psychiatry and psychoanalysis, her marriage to Isaac Asimov in... See More »
There is no ‘divine plan’Imagine the millions of small fish in the seas that are devoured every day by larger fish. Oceans are vast killing zones. Churches proclaim that God created all living things as part of a divine plan. Why did he design a slaughterhouse? Mark Twain... See More »
Born on this dateOn this date in 1924, writer James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones) was born in New York City to Emma Berdis Jones and an unknown father. His mother later married David Baldwin, a minister and factory worker who adopted him. The family, which included... See More »
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