In a remarkable act of prescience, Bill Hicks comedy routines seem to match up well with today’s big headlines. I’ll start you off with the first few stories…
- JFK’s assassination was a Cuban plot. Apparently some anti-Castro pigeons were seen talking in a bar, saying ‘coup, coup’…
- Dr Albert Hofmann, discoverer of LSD, turns 100 tomorrow. Celebrations include a symposium in Switzerland this weekend. Here’s Tom with the weather.
- Creationists claim that dinosaur fossils refute evolution. Giant flying lizards? You moron! That’s one of God’s easiest jokes!
- Innovations from DARPA’s robot rally may make a better world…or at least better weaponry systems. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.
- Pat Robertson says God is punishing Ariel Sharon for giving land back to the Palestinians….
- Is the sky going to fall?
- Hyperspace engine could make interstellar travel a reality – 11 light years in 80 days.
- Danny Vendramini believes that there is a secondary evolutionary process which he calls teemosis. Is he a crackpot or a genius?
- The mystery is over, apparently consciousness is simply a by-product of our physical brains. At least so says this review of Jay Ingram’s Theatre of the Mind: Raising the Curtain on Consciousness.
- Is this movie the next What the Bleep?
- Richard Dawkins to host television show starting this week which takes the knives to religion: The Root Of All Evil?. This reviewer isn’t as impressed. And more here.
- New research shows that the execution of William Wallace (that’s Mel Gibson to you) was the opening attraction of a giant medieval carnival
- Archaeological find raises questions about Jewish history: did the Jews stay behind after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70?
- Evidence found for canals that watered ancient Peru.
- Researchers shed new light on origins of ancient Chinese civilisation.
- Can you communicate with deceased loved ones? Honing your psychic ability.
- Sylvia Browne may need to have a read, after this screw-up on Coast to Coast AM about the mining tragedy.
- A review of The Occult Tradition: From the Renaissance to the Present Day by David S Katz (Amazon UK).
- A list of the top offbeat science stories from 2005.
- Another list of the whackiest science stories of 2005.
- The Top Ten astrobiology stories for 2005.
- The top weird weather stories of 2005.
- Global warming: 2005 lived up to previous years of record temperatures…so what’s it all about?
- Deep-sea trawling may be pushing the coelacanth to extinction, after 400 million years.
- Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the bookshop…5 million paperback copies of The Da Vinci Code planned for release at the same time as the movie version.
- Speaking of which, Newsweek has an in-depth look at the movie.
Quote of the Day:
Talking about Kennedy, people come up to me: “Bill, quit talking about Kennedy, man. Let it go. It’s a long time ago – just forget about it.” And I’m like alright, then don’t bring up Jesus to me. As long as we’re talking shelf life here.
Bill Hicks
