Skeptic’s writings chalenge ‘baloney’

June 13, 2005 D. H. McKee

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Journal Gazette | 06/12/2005 | Skeptic’s writings challenge ‘baloney’
“Science,” Michael Shermer writes, “is a great Baloney Detection Kit.”
Founder of the Skeptics Society, publisher of Skeptic magazine, columnist for Scientific American, editor of “The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience” and author of “Why People Believe Weird Things,” Shermer is a veteran baloney detector.
Fortunately, that is not all science is, or Shermer is. There is plenty of debunking in his new collection of essays, “Science Friction” — of �€œcold (i.e., psychic) reading,’ ‘sports science,’ recent scandals in anthropology and especially of ‘intelligent design’ theory as a competitor to evolutionary adaptationism. But there are also meaty accounts of such interesting problems as counterfactuality and complexity in history and of recent controversies in evolutionary theory, entertaining discussions of the most famous episode of “Star Trek” and the causes of the mutiny on the Bounty, along with the author’s personal accounts of caring for his dying mother (very affecting) and of his life as a professional skeptic (less so).

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As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.