On doing pointless things that make you happy www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/coll...
Novelist; linguist; musician; astronomy, geology, & weather enthusiast; blogger; potter/sculptor; Doctor Who fanboy; dog lover. He/him, bi/queer and proud!
23,494 followers 22,424 following 2,158 posts
view profile on Bluesky
On doing pointless things that make you happy www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/coll...
Betteridge's Law: When a headline is written as a question, the answer is always "No."
This 100%
"Gabriel, you have the ability to alter the world. To shape it to your needs and desires and whims. And this is... dangerous." -- from my WIP, "Snares" #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
Accepting an extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence, but investigating one just requires an open mind www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/whea...
"Cannot"? Trump's entire presidency can be summed up as "who's gonna stop me?" Congress has ceded all its power to the executive branch, and the SCOTUS is bought and sold. Mitch McConnell and the other Republicans who enabled all this, and the media who have been complicit, are the very worst.
Yep. I have a good collection of books on physics & astronomy, but I've gotten rid of all the ones by Krauss. Smart guy, odious human being.
www.friendlyatheist.com/p/lawrence-k...
On science's capacity to astonish us over and over www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/the-...
"It's well known that reality has a left-leaning bias." -- Stephen Colbert
Why a billion years of rock are missing in North America www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/mind...
A new study shows that young people are struggling -- and why that's no surprise www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/the-...
My concern is those (and other) vaccines remaining available. I got the flu vaccine as soon as it was available, but so far I can't get a COVID booster because there's none to be had near me. I'm afraid other vaccines will become equally hard to access.
My grandfather's two oldest sisters, ages 22 and 18, died six days apart of measles. DIED. Yeah, I have strong feelings about this. RFK has blood on his hands, and it looks like he'll soon have a lot more.
Another branch on our family tree www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/the-...
Drop an old person you're going to turn into in the future
Grossferatu lives
I hope the announcement is "the autopsy will be held at..."
The strange story of the "curse of the Crying Child" www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/cry-...
Wait, I have to be visible for a whole MONTH? I didn't sign up for this.
Amongst the more familiar fossils, we have a few fascinating ones that have defied classification www.skeptophilia.com/2025/09/life...
GOP Rep Chuck Edwards is confronted by infuriated constituents at his town hall.
This lovely, heartbreakingly poignant song -- about the Theory of Relativity. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE8k...
Your child did not choose to be gay, but did choose to be honest with you about it. 🏳️🌈 Showing unconditional love and acceptance will have a huge positive impact on their life.
Please please please oh puhleeeeeeez
Language, symbolism, and context www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/the-...
Every time I see this photograph posted, I feel like I need to go take a shower.
"Their inexperience shines through" sums up Trump's entire staff.
Oooh, did she make the Susan Collins Frowny Face™? Is she "concerned," or maybe even "unsettled?" Nah, she's probably saving those for when the entire country has been burned to the ground.
Complexity can arise from simplicity; all you need are the right rules www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/life...
From my WIP, "Snares:" She was heavily into black clothes with steel studs & dark red lipstick. She’d shaved one side of her head, then dyed what was left jet black. A lank flop of it hung down across one eye as she watched me walk toward her. “You coulda waited for me,” she said, eyeing my latté.
Followed all.
Who invented the electric toaster? Well, depends on who you ask www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/one-...
Holy crap! Somebody on Fox News told the truth? No wonder the viewers were angry.
In which I get the opportunity to buy my own star www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/reac...
How to make both religion and AI a lot worse: blend the two www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/tech...
I was just given a fun interview with Reader's House -- check it out! readershouse.co.uk/gordon-bonne...
Truth matters, even when you're just talking about word origins www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/tall...
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA *gasp, pant, wheeze* HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Followed all.
Do writers invent their characters... or discover them? www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/enco...
OMG how hilarious would that be
Sorry, Donny. Time to stock up on asbestos diapers.
This is the way the world shall end... maybe www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/boun...
On grief, regret, and the unpredictability of life www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/spea...
The trouble with analogies www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/real...
It's so pathetic. It's like a third-grader screaming, "I wanna prize! Everybody ELSE got a prize, and I didn't! It's not FAIR!"
Checking in with the psychics to see how their 2025 predictions are going www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/prop...
First: please, please don't give up. We need every creative voice. Yours is unique & cannot be replaced. Second: I'm an author. I TOTALLY get it. I have 24 books in print & barely sell anything. It's profoundly discouraging & it seems like the cards are stacked against us. But: DON'T GIVE UP.
He's like a stupid 3rd grader who says, "Oh, yeah? Well, my daddy makes a million gazillion dollars and has eleventy-three companies!" and thinks everyone believes him.
I want to resurrect the old Roman tradition of damnatio memoriae -- after he's gone, I want all traces of him eradicated. Nothing left.
... and demanding that it apologize. Okay, that's it. The aliens who are running the simulation we've all been trapped in since 2016 have gotten drunk and/or stoned, and now they're just fucking with us.
And if his aides are "frightened," maybe they should find whatever scraps of morals and ethics they have left and RESIGN. And then make public what is going on.
Authors beware: the scammers are getting pretty slick lately www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/scam...
Who could have seen this coming? Besides everyone whose IQ is bigger than their shoe size?
FFS this is so embarrassing
Living with face blindness www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/faci...
A study of the Central American paleoclimate has some scary implications for our own situation @ssteingraber1.bsky.social www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/the-...
"White House to Vet Smithsonian Museums to Fit Trump's White Supremacist Lies" -- there, FTFY
Gavin Newsom -- Trolling Level: Expert
Tracking down the remnants of long-gone planets www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/requ...
If you think our government has reached rock bottom, allow me to introduce Rep. Eric Burlison www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/ther...
About an incredibly elaborate practical joke www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/the-...
I got interviewed for a podcast on skepticism -- focusing on cults, specifically Carlos Castaneda. Give it a listen! www.yrad.com/cs/index.htm...
Exactly how I'm feeling right now
A look at one of the world's newest religions www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/the-...
How much would you pay to know what would have happened? www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/the-...
My blog, Skeptophilia, just went over ten million lifetime hits. I'm kind of blown away. Thanks to all my readers & followers! Here's to the next ten million.... www.skeptophilia.com
RFK's recent attack on funding for mRNA vaccine research will cost lives www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/the-...
Yeah, maybe our leaders today are nuts, but if you look back at history this is nothing new www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/tria...
One of the most geologically fascinating places on Earth www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/old-...
How we're all trapped in feeling right about everything www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/back...
Inquiries into a poorly-understood (but ubiquitous) phenomenon www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/thun...
I want to meet the two percent of Democrats who approve of him. And/or dope-slap them.
Savage-looking Alien: I have come to Earth to slaughter your leaders, take over your government, and rule your entire puny planet for all eternity! Me: Okay, go for it Alien: Um... wait, what? Me: Hop to it, lazy, we don't have all fucking day
Just me, looking for an obituary. No? Not today? Dammit.
"We Tried To Warn You," episode #13,294,875
Who could have predicted this? Besides EVERYBODY?
I wish you could export some of that over here to the US, because things are not looking good here for we queer people at the moment. (p.s. -- I do think the progress made in Ireland is awesome, though.)
If you don’t count job losses, no one is losing their job. 🤦🏼♀️
A strange tale out of 12th century England www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/the-...
Spot-on.
The alarm bells from the climate just keep coming @ssteingraber1.bsky.social www.skeptophilia.com/2025/08/halt...
That may be so, but nothing's going to change as long as the Republicans in Congress are still rubber-stamping every damn thing Trump wants. They may hate him, but they're still afraid of him -- so they're still obeying.
I wish a very happy “fuck you” to everyone who thought throwing trans people under the bus was going to stop these lunatics Their goal has *always* been the eradication of the entire LGBTQ+ community, and they’re not gonna stop at Obergefell either This is why we fight for *everyone*
So... let me get this straight... the guy Trump hired to be Secretary of the Interior thinks the Sun is unpredictable?
My book When the Earth Was Green is about fossil ecosystems, but it goes much deeper than that. “an exercise in empathy that left me hopeful about humanity’s ability to consider other perspectives, whether those of ancient, exotic organisms or members of our own species."—Science
Ha! Yes. Trump is definitely a pedophile.
Would you have a "cursed object" in your house? www.skeptophilia.com/2025/07/rain...
Ever had a moment that you've never been able to explain? www.skeptophilia.com/2025/07/a-gl...
... and the MAGAs are able to believe all of these things simultaneously.
To be fair, those aren't any weirder than the original lyrics. I remember my dad hearing this song and saying, "Who the hell thinks getting hit in the eye with a hot pizza is romantic?"
The problem with ridicule www.skeptophilia.com/2025/07/the-...
@erock81.bsky.social -- quote from Doctor Who in your profile, especially that one -- automatic follow. 😊
I just hope it doesn't have to age much longer, y'know?