Yes he drinks and smokes a lot, but he works even 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Education should be a priority 
Jul 5th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In Kabul, the nicest buildings constructed during the post-Taliban years are not schools but mosques.… Read the rest
Professor’s hand chopped off for “offending faith”
Jul 5th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was arrested in April for preparing an exam question “defaming” Mohammed.… Read the rest
Ground rules for theist-atheist debate
Jul 5th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Let’s not waste each other’s time, shall we?… Read the rest
“Psychic” gets jail time
Jul 5th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
For lifting $108,000 and a car from a credulous customer.… Read the rest
Karen Armstrong finds a kindred spirit
Jul 4th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Marilynne Robinson also says positivism is reductionist and sciencey and bad.… Read the rest
Doctor’s Data sues Quackwatch
Jul 4th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Thus making Doctor’s Data more widely known as a fraud.… Read the rest
Belgium v Vatican: threats against witnesses
Jul 4th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Threats have been made against people who gave the authorities information or made a complaint, and against some magistrates.… Read the rest
Stop the stoning of Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani
Jul 4th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Do not allow our nightmare become a reality. Today we stretch out our hands to the people of the whole world.… Read the rest
Rust Belt Philosopher on Ron Rosenbaum
Jul 4th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
For a fan of agnosticism, Rosenbaum is remarkably confident about what he can know.… Read the rest
John Gray parades his pessimism again
Jul 3rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The humanist assumptions that underpinned science fiction are no longer credible even as fictions.”… Read the rest
Christopher Hitchens on “Mother Teresa”
Jul 3rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Who could fail to be touched by the work of the orphanage? But.… Read the rest
US State department on stoning
Jul 3rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Thinks it’s not “appropriate punishment” for adultery.… Read the rest
Iranian woman faces death by stoning
Jul 3rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Under Iranian sharia, the sentenced individual is buried up to the neck (or to the waist in the case of men) and stoned.… Read the rest
Another LRB review of What Darwin Got Wrong
Jul 3rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Fodor and Piattelli-Palmarini believe that they can replicate Chomsky’s demolition job on Skinner.… Read the rest
Johann Hari on speculation and starvation
Jul 2nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The world’s wealthiest speculators gambled on increasing starvation, and won.… Read the rest
Cristina Odone announces she is praying for Hitchens
Jul 2nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“He is determined to persecute Pope Benedict XVI.” No. The word is “prosecute.”… Read the rest
Neuroskeptic graphs the flatline of Freud
Jul 2nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Proportionally speaking, psychoanalysis has gone out with a whimper, though not a bang.… Read the rest
BMA: gay ‘conversion therapy’ is harmful
Jul 2nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Calls for mental health standards bodies to reject such treatments and ban their use in their codes of practice.… Read the rest
Bishop Mixa could be allowed to return to work
Jul 2nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He appears to have received much more lenient treatment from the Pope than has been proposed by church authorities elsewhere.… Read the rest
