Whoo-hoo! I’ve been waiting for a long time for this: the famous Skeptic’s Dictionary – that amazing online resource on all things paranormal, pseudoscientific, and full-of-woo – has come to the iTunes store (actually, it came to iTunes earlier this year, I’m just a little behind). This means that you can download it to your mobile smart phone and have the entire resources of the Dictionary available at your fingertips for when someone with whom you are speaking makes a less-than-skeptical claim 🙂
It’s not free, but in my opinion for $0.99 it is quite a bargain. Check it out…
In my never-ending quest to pass along all things skeptical, techie, and educational, I have discovered another very useful app for the iPhone or iPod-Touch. If you are into physics & astronomy, or if you happen to ever get into conversation with people regarding cosmology, cosmic evolution, the big bang, and creationism, then this is the app for you!
It’s called The Big Bang Theory Study Guide, and it is a very well-indexed and laid out collection of facts and whatnot about the big bang cosmology. I consider this to be the physics & astronomy version of the famous Creationist Claims Index, and it is a must have for any serious skeptic & science backer…
There’s one drawback: it’s not free – but it is cheap, at a cost of only $1.99 (well worth the cost).
As a quick follow up to my previous post regarding The Creationist Claims Index, there is a similar iTunes app regarding one of the latest & most venemous science-denial movements: global warming denialism. Whether you are conversing with someone who is merely ignorant of the science of climate change, or if you’re butting heads with a hardcore ideologue, you will no doubt find the Skeptical Science app to be of great use!
Much like its anti-creationist partner, the Skeptical Science app is well laid-out and indexed, making it a handy reference for those on-the-spot conversations that demand an immediate correction or rebuttal. In addition, it’s free 🙂
Scientific skepticism is healthy. Scientists should always challenge themselves to expand their knowledge and improve their understanding. Yet this isn’t what happens in global warming skepticism. Skeptics vigorously criticise any evidence that supports man-made global warming and yet eagerly, even blindly embrace any argument, op-ed piece, blog or study that refutes global warming.
So this website gets skeptical about global warming skepticism. Do their arguments have any scientific basis? What does the peer reviewed scientific literature say?
Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation with someone who brings up this or that annoying creationist talking point? How many times have you lamented: “I wish I had something at my fingertips right now to respond to this malarkey!”
In keeping with the melding of modern technology with good ol’ fashioned skepticism, I’ve found out about a few neat iPhone/Touch apps that are, in my opinion, a must-have for any skeptic. These apps allow one to take photos and manipulate them into giving the appearance of having captured images of ghosts and/or UFOs & aliens. And while such photo manipulation is not proof positive that ghosts & aliens do not exist, when such manipulation is so easy to accomplish it should give one cause to pull out their Occam’s Razor in an effort to slice away the b.s.
Using these apps, take a look at how I added a ghostly spirit and alien UFO to a couple of my photos…
So what sort of goodies are available at the iTunes store for such skeptical fun? Read on…
I recently got an I-Touch, and I’m discovering a whole bunch of neat little apps for it. Among one of the most interesting I’ve downloaded recently is an app called “Telepath” made by skeptic Dr. Richard Wiseman, which allows you to give the illusion that the I-Touch/Phone itself (or the operator) is telepathic! Dr. Wiseman knows quite a lot about psychology and how easy it is to fool people – or in this case how easy it is for people to fool themselves. So he put together this little app in order to teach people a little lesson in critical thinking…
Of course, there’s no actual telepathy to it, but it is a really neat trick (it fooled me the first time I saw it). To learn more about it, check out this Youtube video that Dr. Wiseman put together…
In order to learn the secret behind the trick, you’ll have to purchase the app from the I-Tunes store – considering what it does, it’s a real deal for only 99 cents! So if you have an I-Phone/Touch, I suggest that you go pick up “Telepath” and start having some skeptical fun with it 🙂
Images courtesy of iTunes.
The Skeptical Teacher 