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Is sunscreen bad for you?
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Recently the Environmental Working Group released a report on sunscreen, recommending only 39 of 500 sunscreens investigated. The report has been picked up by media outlets and now sunscreen is being touted as cancer-causing and hormone-disrupting. Let’s examine some of the issues and concerns the report raises.

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Book review
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The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (1995), by
Christopher Hitchens

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The beauty in television snow
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I’ve been looking at different complex systems lately; I’m becoming more and more fascinated with a term called “Emergence.” It’s when you perceive a complex and beautiful pattern from a huge amount of individual, simple objects guided by simple rules.

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Come on (or out!), skeptics—we need you
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James Randi came out of the closet last month and I speak for the Association for Science and Reason when I say, “Congratulations, Randi!”

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Let’s get some movement in the movement
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I love that there is a skeptical ‘movement.’ I love knowing that there are like-minded people out there, compatriots with whom I can bitch and moan, hash out ideas, learn something, debate, and have some laughs. I love that here in Toronto we meet once a month at our Skeptics in the Pub event to do exactly these things. Having a movement provides a sense of belonging, of community — some might even say family.

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Science: It’s the law!
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I recently overheard something that no doubt many of us have heard in one form or another — that you can pay a heavy price for breaking the laws of nature. Since I wasn’t party to the conversation I resisted the urge to butt in, but there was definitely some squirming on my part.

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Religion was not born of fear
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“Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.”
– Francis Bacon, Of Death

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Henry Gordon has died
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Skeptics across Canada and abroad have been saddened to hear of the death of a man who may be called the founder of this country’s skeptical movement.

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Killing for religion
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(This article is based on a presentation the author gave to CFI Toronto in 2008.)

On December 10, 2007, 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez was found strangled, and succumbed to the assault within hours. Her father, Muhammad Parvez, and her brother Waqas were charged with her murder.

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What the Bible says about Christmas trees
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It’s that time of year again: there’s a chill in the air, malls are playing the same music over and over, and the whining about the alleged attempts to expunge Christmas has begun.

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