There has been a recent hubbub on campus with people wearing shirts that say "I Agree with Josh". This is, at best, an underhanded attempt at proselytizing on campus, and at worst, deceptive. In fact, this tactic is not unique to RIT, and is quite common among US universities.

A quick search on Google brings up many hits for other campuses' "I agree with" campaign. Syracuse University had "I agree with Craig" last year, while other campaigns have used Ryan, Sam, or Rachael as their name. This recycled tactic is designed to stir curiosity on the campus, and make people question the shirt-wearers. In return, the shirt wearers start their speech on Jesus.

Again and again. Megadosing vitamins, i.e., taking a much higher dosage of a vitamin than recommended, does not ward off colds, or help end them faster.¹ In fact, high doses of vitamins can damage you. Any significant change in your diet, including these woo-pills, should be checked against a qualified medicinal professional first.

Spring quarter is coming, and the RIT Skeptics are looking for speakers. So far, we've asked the Secular Student Alliance about Brian Dunning (from Skeptoid), Rebecca Watson (from Skepchick) and Lori Lipman Brown. If you'd really like to see one of these speakers, or someone else, leave a comment!

Student Government officially recognizes the RIT Skeptics as a club. Hooray! We have to meet with SG now, but the hard work is done.

As you may or may not know, Ben Stein is making a movie about Intelligent Design. His basic claim is that there is no freedom of speech in academia, because they're not allowed to talk about intelligent design. Ironic as though it may be, press aren't allowed ask questions at press conferences about the movie. Nor are people who see advanced screenings allowed to write reviews: you must sign an NDA to see the movie.

When someone asks a skeptic, what's the harm in xyz? Now we have a place to point them to. What's the harm?. 2,435 people killed, 117,727 injured and over $115,817,617 in economic damage.

Via the BA Blog

I've uploaded the new charter. If we approve this, SG will approve us as an official club. The only modification from V4 is the removal of one sentence: "declaration by the Chair, unless overruled by a 2/3 majority vote" on the topic of removal of members.

There was a breakout of measles, the first one since 1991. The school in question, a charter school in San Diego, has the highest percentage of students not vaccinated for measles of any school in the city. Ten percent of the student body there are not vaccinated with the MMR vaccine. This is right on the threshold of the herd immunity and at these levels of lack of immunity, breakouts can occur.

Parents of these children chose not to vaccinate their kids:

Parents can obtain vaccination exemptions for their children based on medical, religious or personal reasons.

The Secular Student Alliance broke a story a few days ago about the largest group of non-religious people on MySpace being deleted.

"Early this month, MySpace again deleted the Atheist and Agnostic Group (35,000 members). This deletion, due largely to complaints from people who find atheism offensive, marks the second time MySpace has cancelled the group since November 2007."

Luckily, however, today the group was restored. However, the situation is still pretty murky:

It had to happen. Here are some of the dumbest things conspiracy theorists have said:

This is one I have never heard before in my entire life (emphasis mine):

So, it turns out that Uri Geller now claims he's a magician. That's great, after all the opportunities wasted and the lies perpetuated by Geller, he now does a 180 and claims he's just like everyone else. How about this claim Geller once made?

Twelve Florida school boards have passed resolutions stating that evolution is not a fact, only a theory. This has largely been unnoticed by the mainstream media this time. It's time to show these school boards that education is about facts and not about myths and tall tales.

I was browsing the JREF's Million Dollar Challenge Applicants, when I saw Paranormal Urination. Rosemary Hunter claimed to be able to make people urinate merely by using her alleged psychic powers. How does one discover that they have this ability?

"Honey, come here I want to try something on you. Is your bladder full?"

Orac has a nice discussion on the scientific consensus. An interesting question he poses is, at what point do you stop being scientific and start being a crank?

So, the Star of Bethlehem most likely did not exist, because, surprise, the Bible is vague and contradictory. Basically, it claims to have hung in the sky, and be extraordinarily bright.