Improve Your Gas Mileage! (Not)

Have a look at these mileage enhancing magnets (linked below). Bob described these "Fuel OptiMisers" in a book that he was writing in the 1990s about Perpetual Motion. Here is what he had to say...

"You can find the ads in science and mechanic magazines, in car magazines, in the pulpy men's magazines, and even inside matchbook covers. According to these ads you don't have to have a special motor using exotic fuel to save money. Just send in your $47.88 (plus $2.50 for postage and handling), and you'll receive your absolutely money-back guaranteed Super Frabjous Whizbang which hooks right into the gas line of your car. Install the little jewel in five minutes, and -- Presto! -- your mileage improves immediately.
Lotsa luck!"

Skepticality podcast

I was interviewed on New Year's Eve (day) by Swoopy for Skepticality. We talked about who Bob was, Worlds of Their Own, and the process of putting the book together. You can access the interview through the link on the side: click on the past episodes (#119). The interview ran on January 5th

Secular Nation Podcast

I was interviewed for the Secular Nation podcast when I was at the AAI convention in October. David Driscoll spoke with me for a short time and you can listen to it from the link on the side. It was a fun convention. Eugenie Scott, Richard Dawkins and Bill Mayer were some of the speakers there.

How Ironic!

In June the BBC News had an article titled "Who goes to a creationist museum?" about said museum in Kentucky. The end of the article included comments from a sampling of visitors. Below is the comment of one such...

Dan Schoonmaker, 26, drove 11 hours from Alabama with his family after his wife Kristy heard about the museum in a Bible class. The Army helicopter pilot (who as a member of the military gets in free) described himself as a "creationist in training", admitting it needed "a lot of faith". "I personally don't know, but natural selection seems to be the only thing people go on. It should be more open," he says. "There are sometimes better explanations for things, I mean people thought the earth was flat." Theories other than evolutionary science should be given more prominence and there should be an option to study creationism in schools, with parents given the choice, he believes. "I'm a creationist in training, I don't really go to church but I'm curious about Genesis."


What is the killer for me is that he is comparing the theory of evolution to belief that the earth is flat. Has he read the Bible?! Bob used to say it was a flat Earth book from the beginning to the End. Read "The Flat-Earth Bible" (Chapter 16 of Worlds of Their Own) to see the evidence for that statement. Well, Dan does admit that he is a 'creationist in training' ... to be consistent he would also be a 'flat-Earther in training'.

Midwest Book Review (MBR)

Here is the review given in MBR

Some people believe the Earth is flat and the center of the universe. It may sound unreasonable, but they still have their supporters. "Worlds of Their Own: A Brief History of Misguided Ideas: Creationism, Flat-Earthism, Energy Scams, and the Velikovsky Affair" is a collection of writings from the late Robert Schadewald, a science writer who spent much of his time debating with creationists and flat earthers in the name of science. The testimony of a thirty-year expert in the realm of debunking pseudoscience, "Worlds of Their Own" is proof that the world lost a great scientific mind in 2000.
Michael Dunford
Reviewer