Grape seeds have been pounced on by supplement makers for their health-boosting properties and potential to fight ageing, obesity, cancer and more.… Read the rest
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
From the people threatening to sue Simon Singh
Oct 3rd, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMedical researcher and WDDTY contributor Joseph Hattersley says that the risk of cot deaths increases five-fold at times of geopathic stress.… Read the rest
Alt health mag threatens to sue Simon Singh
Oct 3rd, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSingh offered to meet the distributors and introduce them to medical experts, but they declined and told him they had “sought legal advice.”… Read the rest
Jury finds Deanna DeJesus guilty of child neglect
Oct 3rd, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMistrial on aggravated manslaughter charge for failing to prevent her heavily armed husband from killing their child.… Read the rest
Soldiers forced to attend prayer for suicide prevention
Oct 2nd, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe students were not given an opportunity to remove themselves. The entire theater was forced into a mass christian prayer.… Read the rest
Ikea apologizes for airbrushing women out of catalogue
Oct 2nd, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“We are now reviewing our routines to safeguard a correct content presentation from a values point-of-view in the different versions of the Ikea catalogue worldwide,” it said.… Read the rest
Washington Post reports on Secular Coalition lobbying
Oct 2nd, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“Rogers, in a glittery gold blouse and knee-high boots with four-inch heels…” Say what?… Read the rest
Eric Hobsbawm 1917-2012
Oct 2nd, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAn unrepentant Marxist, he acknowledged the failure of 20th Century communism but said he had not given up on Marxist ideals.… Read the rest
Pakistan: Muslims charged with “blasphemy”
Oct 1st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonProtesters attacked the Sri Krishna Ram temple, broke religious statues, tore up a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, and beat up the temple’s caretaker.… Read the rest
Katha Pollitt notes that blasphemy is good for you
Sep 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe rise of the Russian Orthodox church in the former Soviet Union shows that Islam has no monopoly on religious freakouts or their exploitation for political purposes.… Read the rest
Protesters torch Buddhist temples over FB photo
Sep 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHundreds of Muslims in Bangladesh burned at least four Buddhist temples and 15 homes after complaining that a Buddhist man had insulted Islam.… Read the rest
Woman prosecuted for “letting” her children’s father stab them
Sep 30th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe father stabbed every member of his family before killing himself with the knife.… Read the rest
No Jesus Christ Superstar for Rostov
Sep 29th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOrthodox Christians complained, so that was that.… Read the rest
Iran state media fooled by The Onion
Sep 29th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFars News Agency, a semi-official mouth piece of the Iranian regime, earnestly published a word-for-word duplicate of an article from the Onion.… Read the rest
Stop calling criticism of Islam ‘Islamophobia’
Sep 29th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne doubts that a formulation like “Infidelophobia” will gain traction anytime soon.… Read the rest
More on “Elder Pastitsios” and blasphemy laws in Greece
Sep 28th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFour days before the arrest, MP Christos Pappas from the neo-nazi Golden Dawn party had brought the page to the attention of the justice minister.… Read the rest
Report on the Creation Evidence Expo in Indianapolis
Sep 28th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey have a funny idea of what “evidence” means.… Read the rest
What is SlutWalk London doing backing Julian Assange?
Sep 28th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSlutWalk London has inadvertently lined itself (and its unwitting supporters) up with an unappealing gaggle of rape apologists and victim blamers.… Read the rest
Obama haters now calling his mother a whore
Sep 28th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA pseudo-documentary that slimes Ann Dunham is being mailed to swing-state voters, while D’Souza’s book essentially calls her a fat slut.… Read the rest
Morsi tells New York Times he is a cultural relativist
Sep 27th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe says the US must respect the Arab world’s history and culture, even when that conflicts with Western values.… Read the rest