nyuuzyou/wikis huggingface dataset:
The Devil's Dictionary

The Devil's Dictionary is a darkly satirical "dictionary," originally written by American writer as a newspaper column, later collected in a book published in 1911. Essentially playing devil's advocate with the way we speak (hence the name), Bierce provides the most hilariously cynical — and sometimes, as the case may be, frighteningly accurate — definitions imaginable. Imagine the result if H. L. Mencken were forced to write as briefly as possible on every conceivable topic and you're pretty close.
==Positions==
This is the sort of work that doesn't advocate for anything, but settles for criticizing everything. This is perhaps summed up best in the definition of "conservative":
In the context of the whole work, this ends up seeming like an altogether too "safe" position, more aligned with the balance fallacy (or the comedian's "equal-opportunity offender" role) than calling out bullshit for what it is. Nonetheless readers will be pleased to know that there are those occasions on which Bierce takes unapologetic swipes at particular ideas without feigning balance. The entry on "corporation" is downright prescient:
Likewise, an uncharacteristically (yet deservedly) long entry on "freemasons," which brilliantly satirizes the nonsensical conspiracy theories regarding that organization:
Many of the entries display no small degree of racism and sexism, although it's not always clear whether Bierce is taking these positions or criticizing them. The entry for "hers," for instance, reads simply "his"; whether this is supposed to be a humorously terse affirmation of what the reader is expected to believe or a sharp attack on what is all too often assumed to be the case without reason is essentially up to the reader to decide.
If there is any consistent position the book takes, it's that people are terrible, duplicitous, and most of all selfish creatures. Take the definition of "happiness," for instance:
On the whole, it's extremely cynical, although, if taken in small doses, it's an enormously entertaining read.
==Other brilliant quotes==
==External links==
The book's copyright has expired, so it's easy to obtain a legal copy the full text online.
*The Devil's Dictionary.com, the book in a somewhat awkward web form
*At Project Gutenberg
*Wikiquote entry
Category:Language
Category:Parody
The Edge of Evolution

The Edge of Evolution is a book written by Michael Behe which claims to describe the limits of random mutation and natural selection. 
Behe's argument is a classic argument ad big number, ignoring the fact that improbable things happen. Basically, he claims that it is impossible to evolve anything that requires two binding sites. He uses examples from drug resistance in malaria as being impossible from a standard model perspective (this of course means the mysterious designer purposefully inserted drug resistance into malaria). 
The fact of the matter is that multiple binding sites have been observed to evolve in the laboratory.Behe’s bad math This pretty much throws out the whole book. The rest of it is a tortuous straw man creation trying to argue that local maxima on fitness landscapes are "traps" that evolution cannot overcome. Several critics have succinctly and convincingly shown how Behe is, again, totally wrong, and that local maxima are easily overcome.Behe's Dreadful New Book: A Review of "The Edge of Evolution"Look Ma! No math! (Or apostrophes, apparently.)
==See also==
*Behe:The Edge of Evolution, Interview
*Lenski results challenge creationism
==References==
Category:Pseudoscience
Category:Creationism
Category:Religious books
The Elevated Places

The Elevated Places is the seventh sura of the Qur'an. It's got quite a bit about the whole Eden stuff, sort of like Genesis, only angrier. Notably, in this version, the forbidden fruit is claimed to grant immortality. There's also a load of ranting about Hell: "And the dwellers of the Fire cry out unto the dwellers of the Garden: Pour on us some water or some wherewith Allah hath provided you", it says. "They say: Lo! Allah hath forbidden both to disbelievers".
Homosexuality is denounced: "And Lot! (Remember) when he said unto his folk: Will ye commit abomination such as no creature ever did before you? Lo! ye come with lust unto men instead of women. Nay, but ye are wanton folk." Allah then boasts about how he "rained a rain upon them". Indeed, a large part of The Heights is taken up by God mouthing off about the people he's killed.
One of the more memorable parts is an account of the whole golden calf scene from Exodus - with the notable addition that the calf "gave a lowing sound". Moooooo!
On non-Muslims: "Therefore his likeness is as the likeness of a dog; if thou attackest him he panteth with his tongue out, and if thou leavest him he panteth with his tongue out. Such is the likeness of the people who deny Our revelations".
==See also==
*RationalWiki:Annotated Qur'an ()
*Qur'an
*Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge
*Qur'anic scientific errors
*Qur'anic contradictions
*List of actions prohibited by the Qur'an
Category:Suras
The End of Darwinism

The End of Darwinism: And How a Flawed and Disastrous Theory Was Stolen and Sold is an anti-evolution self-published Xlibris is a "self publishing and print on demand company" and they don't pretend otherwise. book by Eugene G. Windchy that was first published in 2009 (). Of course a better title would have been The End of Darwinism: And How a Flawed and Disastrous Book Was Written About It.
==Overview==
Windchy argues that natural selection and mutation do not cause evolution even though this is how evolution is commonly understood. Windchy claims that "Darwinism" is a conspiracy that was set up to remove God from science. Windchy also argues that "Darwinism" is the philosophical basis of all anti-Christian culture, including nazism, communism and homosexuality, because of course he does. Another claim is that the Darwinian mechanisms of evolution such as natural selection have become dogmatic and scientists who dispute those dogmas have lost their jobs.A Review of The End of Darwinism and How a Flawed and Disastrous Theory Was Stolen and Sold By Lee Duigon 
Some creationists have claimed that Windchy is still an evolutionist but just a critic of Darwin's ideas; however, Windchy's rejection of common descent nullifies such claims.
==Reactions==
Pat Buchanan approvingly cited The End of Darwinism and called it "a splendid little book" in an opinion piece entitled Making a monkey out of Darwin,Making a monkey out of Darwin, WND, 2009 which drew the attention (and rebuttals) of several anti-creationist bloggers (see the "External links" section below). In his reaction to Buchanan's piece, PZ Myers described Windchy as a "creationist crank".Old fossil “disproves” Darwin!, Pharyngula
==See also==
*Darwin, Then and Now, The Most Amazing Story in the History of Science
*Tornado in a Junkyard: The Relentless Myth of Darwinism
==External links==
* (This was the joint presentation by Darwin and Wallace in front of the Linnean Society of London.) Follow the links in that article to find out more about Wallace's role.
* Pat Buchanan Presents Every Creationist Fallacy!, The Sensuous Curmudgeon, 30 June 2009
* Buchanan Blathers About Evolution, Ed Brayton's rebuttal of Buchanan's column on his old blog on ScienceBlogs. The migration to newer blog software lost the original comments, which is a pity, because...
* Fisking Eugene Windchy, Brayton's reply to Windchy after Windchy showed up in the comments on the first post
* Killing off Darwin?, a review (and rebuttal) of the book by Ken Perrott
* "The End of Darwinism", Stones and Bones blog
==References==
Category:Intelligent design creationism
Category:Books
The European Skeptics Podcast

The European Skeptics Podcast (or "TheESP", so as not to be confused with the other kind of ESP) is a weekly show which deals with skeptical topics (mostly) from a European perspective.
The podcast was founded in 2015About TheESP The European Skeptics Podcast by Hungary's András Pintér, Sweden's Pontus Böckman and Latvia's Jelena LevinThe Hosts The European Skeptics Podcast at the encouragement of Susan Gerbic, who mentored András when he joined Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia in 2014.TheESP – Ep. #380 – Susan Gerbic on skeptical activism The European Skeptics Podcast 2 June 2023 Jelena left the show in 2020 when she moved to the United States and her place in the hot seat was taken by the German skeptic Annika Harrison (also a member of Gerbic's GSoW team).Author: Annika Harrison Skeptical Inquirier In the last years TheESP has released hundreds of episodes featuring analysis of current events, interviews of skeptical activists, long rants about Viktor Orbán and Pope Francis, and the occasional face palming when the European authorities do nothing to curb the spread of Complementary and Alternative Medicine on the continent.
The gang occasionally leaves for foreign shores to appear at skeptic conventions such as the English QED Con (where in 2017 they received the Ockham Award)Announcing... European Skeptics Podcast, live at QED QED 7 September 2022 and the Australian SkeptiCon.Four European Skeptics in Australia Skeptical Inquirer 20 January 2023 
Some notable people who have appeared on the show as guests include:
==See also==
*RationalWiki:Rational podcasts
==External links==
*Their official website
==References==
Category:Podcasts
Category:Europe
The Expansion of the Universe

"The Expansion of the Universe" is a document by Harun Yahya that purports to show that the Qur'an contains scientific foreknowledge when it "predicted" that the expansion of the universe following the Big Bang occurred.
 
The following is a side-by-side rebuttal.
==Rebuttal==
==Summary==
==See also==
*Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge
==References==
Category:Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge
Category:Side-by-side articles
The Faking Hoaxer

The Faking Hoaxer was a talented YouTuber who used video editing software to create admittedly hoaxed footage of various unusual events, as an exercise in special effects. The Faking Hoaxer has now retired from Youtube and the internet.
TFH's videos include various UFOs (in space and on Earth),2 UFO's fly past the ISS - by TFH - CGI - 2D, uploaded on February 01, 2009 Space Shuttle disasters,Shuttle Scenarios by TFH - CGI, uploaded May 31, 2010] news report of Air Force One being destroyed,Air Force One Down by TFH - CGI - 2D and many others. TFH generally pisses off conspiracy theorists,2 UFO's fly past the ISS - by TFH - CGI - 2D, uploaded on February 01, 2009 who accuse him of being a "disinfo agent," or claim that this only proves that all video records are unreliable. This hasn't stopped people from stealing (parts of) TFH's videos and presenting them as real. For example, a video from "a manned expedition to Mars" was presented as "Proof!?" of a secret mission and posted to the Above Top Secret forum.Into Mars Orbit by TFH - CGI - 2D, uploaded July 16, 2009We have been to mars - Proof!?, uploaded on June 30, 2010 by user gmcandrew116Mars... Does this prove we have already been!?,, AboveTopSecret, started 30 June 2010 Apparently, the ATS posters ignored a previous thread about TFH's work, which prompted TFH to declare the official music theme of ATS.AboveTopSecret.com by TFH. (Have we been to Mars video)
==Blue Treason==
In 2010, TFH was working on a video called "Blue Treason" dealing with the 9/11 attacks and posted a few stills with request for feedback, being hesitant to continue.Blue Treason by TFH - ( video stills ) - CGI, uploaded on May 09, 2010 Some people apparently used the stills as proof of a conspiracy, while others asked TFH to release the video as a "real proof," causing TFH to reconsider and drop the project.Blue Treason by TFH ( Statement ), uploaded on May 21, 2010 Unfortunately, in the process it was revealed that TFH is a Truther. It seems that TFH didn't completely abandon the idea though, as he later released a pair of teaser videos for it, though it appears that the new "Blue Treason" may be a Truther "documentary".
==External links==
* The Faking Hoaxer's YouTube channel (channel no longer available).
* The Faking Hoaxer's Website, Under construction, possibly never to be completed, now brought to you by the Internet Wayback Machine.
* Phone interview, Lawrence Leung's Unbelievable, ABC1, (the interview was audio-only, the guy with the CGI mask is an actor - or at least TFH claims so :)
==References==
Category:Hoaxes
Category:YouTube
Category:Living people
The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of A New Era

The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of A New Era is a book by Steve Taylor PhD, a psychologist at Leeds Beckett University. Originally published in 2005 with a new edition that includes an afterword published later in 2018, it claims that "It is not natural for human beings to kill each other, for men to oppress women, for individuals to accumulate massive wealth and power, or to abuse nature", and that human nature changed after a period of aridification 5900 years ago. (The title of the book refers to the Biblical story of the fall of man; coincidence?) Some of the book's findings are now mainstream views. It is widely accepted by anthropologists that there was a long period of 'prehistoric peace.' For example, such is the view of the mainstream popular books Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens, and Rutger Bregman's Humankind. It is also widely accepted that prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups - and contemporary hunter-gatherer groups who follow the same 'immediate return' lifestyle that our ancestors once did - were egalitarian, and more gender-neutral.
==The science==
Furthermore, The Fall's thesis also includes some climate science. As the name suggests, an aridification event occurred 5900 years ago- and it was one of the most severe events during the It is responsible for the current desertification of the Sahara Desert and Northern Africa in general, which devastated and all but wiped out the ancient neolithic civilizations that had once thrived in this "Green Sahara". The inhabitants of the areas affected were forced to move or die, much like the Ubaidians (ancient Sumerians), who also suddenly disappeared around this time and were soon replaced with the Uruks. Occurences of the damage and climate change from the event were the Old World: in China, for instance, the event marked a period of cold.
==Bibliography==
*The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of A New Era ISBN 9781905047208
==See also==
*Golden age
*Noble savage
*Naturalistic fallacy
==External links==
*
 
Category:books
The Family Of Imran

The Family of Imran (Arabic: Ali-Imran) is the third sura of the Qur'an.
==Jesus==
The family of the title is none other than the family which Jesus belongs to, Imran being the father of the Virgin Mary. You won't find him in the New Testament, but you may find him in Exodus: Imran is the Arabic version of the name Amram, the father of Moses.http://bible.cc/exodus/6-20.htm There is speculation that Mohammed had managed to confuse Mary, mother of Jesus, with Miriam, sister of Moses.The Koran, translated by J.M. Rodwell, Sura 3 note 1.
===Annunciation===
In a minor but interesting addition to the familiar story of Christ's birth, the angel who appears to Mary provides a curious anecdote about a clay bird coming to life: "Allah createth what He will... And will make him a messenger unto the Children of Israel, (saying): Lo! I come unto you with a sign from your Lord. Lo! I fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, and I breathe into it and it is a bird, by Allah's leave". That's, er, nice.
==Contradictory battle==
The Sura also contains an account of the battle of Badr, which the Muslims won because Allah sent 3000 angels to help them. Elsewhere the Qur'an claims that it was just one thousand angels,http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/contra/fought.html but there we go.
==Bin Laden==
One part of the sura was quoted by Osama bin Laden: "Think not of those, who are slain in the way of Allah, as dead. Nay, they are living."http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/3/index.htm Nope, sorry, they're dead.
==See also==
*RationalWiki:Annotated Qur'an ()
*Qur'an
*Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge
*Qur'anic scientific errors
*Qur'anic contradictions
*List of actions prohibited by the Qur'an
==References==
Category:Suras
The Final Theory

The Final Theory is a work of crank physics by Mark McCutcheon, which is heavily advertised on the Internet.
According to one intrepid soul who actually read the thing:
:The book is another take on an expansion theory. In a nutshell, expansion theory says that the reason gravity is so indistinguishable from an acceleration is because it is acceleration, caused by matter expanding at an ever accelerating rate. There is no gravitational force in expansion theory; it's Einstein's equivalence principle taken literally. "The Final Theory" starts there, and doesn't end until it tries to rethink much of modern physics … In my opinion, "The Final Theory" is broken at its foundation, and demonstrates some curious misunderstandings of standard theory.
The author himself seems mostly lucid in email conversation.
==External links==
*The Final Theory (homepage)
==See also==
*Relativity
==References==
Category:Pseudophysics
The God Who Wasn't There

The God Who Wasn't There is a documentary film, released in June 2005. It was written and directed by former fundamentalist Christian Brian Flemming.
In it, Flemming examines the Bible and discusses the history of early Christianity, raising doubts as to whether the New Testament personage Jesus ever really existed. Flemming examines the similarity of the Jesus story to other savior myths of the time and points out inexplicable gaps in early Christian history that combine to shed doubt on the Bible's Jesus story.
The film also features interviews with many of the usual suspects, including Richard Dawkins.Dawkins only appears in the DVD special features, not the body of the film Unfortunately the film's last interview is one in which Flemming ambushes his former principal with demands for "scientific proof" of God's existence, without immediate provocation.
==External links==
*Official site
*The God Who Wasn't There at IMDb
*The God Who Wasn't There at Rotten Tomatoes
*Critical Notes on the Movie The God Who Wasn't There; Researched and Compiled by Richard C. Carrier
*Answering Infidels review the DVD and are, of course, dismissive
==Notes==
Category:Films
The Happening

The Happening is a film by American director M. Night Shyamalan, released Friday, June 13, 2008, about an epidemic of suicides.
==Plot==
The movie centers on Philadelphia high-school biology teacher Elliot Moore, whose favorite pedagogical technique is to encourage his students to explain a phenomenon by attributing it to "mysterious natural processes".
Moore and his family flee for their lives after mass suicides start plaguing the Northeastern United States. The movie explains these mysterious suicides as being driven by the "spontaneous evolution" of a "toxin" in plants. Moore gets his poignant on-screen moment of dismissing those so-called scientists' ability to explain anything, since it is all just a theory:
Luckily, everything comes out all right in the end, because "events like this can just end suddenly". (And since there's no point in science trying to find a cause and solution for events like this, it'll probably happen again and maybe wipe out civilization next time.) The finale is a monologue about the limits of rational thought delivered by a supposed scientist.
==Reactions==
The Happening was thrust into the forefront of the culture wars after its release, when some reviewers commented on what they perceived as anti-science and intelligent design themes."The Happening Is the Biggest Intelligent Design Movie of the Year." (You think?)
Pro-ID forces have also endorsed it as such, crowing about it as proof that "Darwinists" are losing the culture war on multiple fronts."Another pro-ID movie opens on 2,986 theater screens."
In an interview about the film's release, Shyamalan harped on how he was motivated by "Albert Einstein's religious conversion" — an utter myth, something the good Shamalamadingdong could've found out immediately using Google — fueled by "the unknowable universe"."Exclusive: M. Night Shyamalan Goes Green."
The film has also been criticized for sexist themes, intentional or not, as women are depicted as being primarily baby factories who need to learn their place.
Plus, the movie is effing terrible.Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 18 percent.Metacritic weighted average score of 34 out of 100.Shyamalan had just come off making The Village and Lady in the Water, not The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.
==External links==
*The Happening on IMDb
*The Happening on TV Tropes
==Notes==
==References==
category:Culture wars
category:Films
The Haunting Of

The Haunting Of is a God-awful series that airs on The Biography Channel. It is a spinoff of the just as God-awful show Celebrity Ghost Stories. The show features interviews with washed-up has-beens "celebrities" who claim to have had paranormal experiences. After they tell their "stories" they take the paranormal "investigators" back to the place where they claim to have seen the ghosts "entities".
==Names you may (but probably don't) recognize==
*Fairuza Balk — Starred in The Waterboy, American History X and The Craft. Appears in episode 4 (Season 2).
*Barry Bostwick — Voices Grandpa Clyde Flynn in Phineas and Ferb.
*Kelly Carlson — Played Kimber Henry in Niptuck.
*Giancarlo Esposito — Played drug lord Gus Fring in Breaking Bad.
*Gina Gershon — Her career took a hit after she was in Showgirls, but she recently appeared in How to Make it in America.
*Eric Mabius — Played Daniel Meade in Ugly Betty.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531095/ His IMDb page
*Beverley Mitchell — Was in 7th Heaven and now plays the school counselor in some crappy ABC family show. 
*Chazz Palminteri — The incompetent cop from The Usual Suspects.
*Regis Philbin — Former host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Million Dollar Password. 
*Rowdy Roddy Piper — Retired professional wrestler. http://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-haunting-of-roddy-piper/ Background
*Michael Rappaport — Was in Prison Break.
*Elisabeth Rohm — Detective Kate Lockley from Angel. 
*Connie Stevens — Was in Maverick and Hawaiian Eye. Hasn't done anything of note lately besides donating thousands to the Republican Party, apparently.http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Connie_Stevens.php She donated to Allen West too
*Jay Thomas — Played the Easter Bunny from The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3. No wonder he's desperate.
*Nadine Velazquez — Hey, it's the housekeeper from My Name is Earl!
== See also ==
*Woo
*Ghost Adventures
*Ghost Hunters
==References==
category:pseudoscience
Category:Paranormal
Category:Television programmes