Who's there and the what now?

I've probably used this title before. I honestly don't remember, and I'm too lazy to go and look.

I've been on a bunch of weird kicks lately. I've gotten wrapped up in several new science blogs, including:

• BadAstronomy.com
• Pharyngula (even though I'm not a huge fan of Biology topics)
• RichardDawkins.net

The first is the funniest. I'd run across a link for BadAstronomy on Digg, and recognized it right away. I'd read it years ago, over moon hoaxes and other such nonsense. Since the last time I'd been there, the owner of the site had posted a picture. He looked familiar, and it dawned on me... he was on Penn & Teller's Bullshit! (which is on of the best shows ever). I had to re-watch the episode in question, since TV.com had nothing on it, and sure enough, it was Phil Plait, same as the BA guy.

I've been going through his archives, and through it, have found a whole lot of other treasures, like finding a link to an archive of Penn Jillette's radio show, that Joe Rogan is still a douche (and not especially funny), and several nifty pictures.

I'm a firm believer in the obvious explanations. The moon landing happened, because no matter what with the conspiracy, it just doesn't make sense on a practical level. Why would we fake the moon landing? I've heard cold war arguments and all, but that doesn't hold a lot of water. It makes more sense that we'd just do it, since faking would be, in a lot of ways, much more difficult. Random nutjobs kill people, like the kids that shoot up schools, the 9/11 attackers, and people that assassinate presidents. Each one has some conspiracy around it, and there is one... but that's the truth that was presented. Take 9/11... Islamic jihadists hijacked planes because the tooth fairy told them too, killed thousands of innocent people, and caused billions of dollars in damage. That's a conspiracy enough.

Most days, I believe the world would be a far better place if there was no religion and no imaginary deities to deal with. Fact is, we should be good to others because those are human values, and all religion tries to give us is intolerance and hatred. Dressing it up in a fancy bow doesn't make it good.