...and they blink

Ken Miller coming to Villanova

2009-07-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

By the way, I thought you folks might be interested in this: Ken Miller, author of Finding Darwin's God (among other things), is coming to Villanova University.

On Friday, Nov. 20, Kenneth R. Miller, Ph.D., a professor of biology at Brown University, will deliver the 2009 Mendel Medal Lecture in the Connelly Center Cinema (refreshments will be served at 2 p.m.; the lecture begins at 2:30 p.m.). This is an event not to be missed. On Saturday, he will be awarded the Mendel Medal.

Dr. Miller is a pre-eminent evolutionary scientist. In addition, Miller is the author of the acclaimed book, Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution, a lively and cutting-edge analysis of the key issues that seem to divide science and religion. He contends that, properly understood, evolution adds depth and meaning not only to a scientific view of the world, but also to a spiritual one.

The Mendel Medal is awarded to outstanding scientists who have done much by their painstaking work to advance the cause of science, and, by their lives and their standing before the world as scientists, have demonstrated that between true science and true religion there is no intrinsic conflict.

Dr. Miller was the lead witness in the Pennsylvania “intelligent design” case, which was the first direct challenge brought in U.S. federal courts against a public school district that required the presentation of “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution to explain the origin of life.

From what I've heard, he's really smart and a really good speaker. I'll be at the Friday lecture along with some members of my family. I'm curious to see what he has to say.

Christian Originality?

2009-07-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

So the other day I was having a conversation with a Christian believer... let's call him "Bob". "Bob" feels it's very special that believers are saved merely by believing in the big Him*. I know that many other aspects of Christianity are not original (virgin birth, resurrection, "lord and savior", etc.), deriving instead from various pagan traditions.

So help me out. Does anyone know of a pre-Christian source for this idea? (Not that it will convince "Bob" of anything, but I'm curious about the history.) I'm not sure in how many pre-Christian religions the concept would have applied -- how many had different destinations for the good and the bad? IIRC, in the Greek/Roman afterlife, everybody went to a farely blah Hades.

* Note for the record that many (most?) Christian denominations don't buy this -- it's the whole faith versus works debate, which has been raging since at least the time of Martin Luther, and probably well before that.

Stop Reading the Huffington Post

2009-04-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

Huffington Post:

I've been a sporadic reader of your site for some time, but haven't paid much attention to your science reporting. I recently realized read (one example) how terrible this reporting has become.

You're fueling the dangerous, paranoid, and arrogant idiocy of the anti-vaccine movement with articles written by Jim Carrey (link)

...and your writers are suggesting enemas to ward off the Swine Flu?... REALLY? (link)

I'm now done with Huffington Post, and will do my best to spread the word on why. It's irresponsible and ignorant to lend credibility to these whackos, conspiracy theorists, and new-age-mind-so-open-that-it-falls-out cranks. The left has rightfully spent the past eight years crying out about the arrogant ignorance of the Bush administration's stance on stem cell research and global warming, only to follow it up with crazy extremist "natural remedies", anti-vaccine propaganda, and "colon cleansing"? Is this the right direction?

You're not part of the solution, and you're helping to create new problems.

How about a little more effort, time, and judgement on what you choose to print in your science and science-related columns?

Science is not open to opinion and voting of the layperson. A responsible media output's duty - should they choose to write science-oriented articles - is to convey the scientific consensus -- that is, the current state of knowledge generally agreed upon by people qualified and knowledgeble about the subject matter, and without their emotions wrapped up in the details.

We don't need Jim Carrey telling us that mercury in vaccines (which is no longer present) is causing autism or Kim Evans advising us about colon cleansing. Should we continue with this and give Paris Hilton a weekly blog on neuroscience?

Jim Carrey - you're a nut job, now with various preventable infections and deaths on your hands (Jenny McCarthy's Body Count).

Kim Evans - you're apparently a woo artist who, in five minutes, has wasted more than your share of my time.

and Huffington Post - you're giving these idiots a megaphone to help make us all dumber.

Ridiculous.

We don't need tinfoil hats and pyramids - we need science, reason, and critical thinking.

There's too much good information out there for anyone to waste their time growing dumber by the minute with the Huffington Post. Here's a few sites to get you started:

* Pharyngula
* Science-Based Medicine
* SkepticBlog
* Scientific American
* Wired Science

Pew Research Center Poll: 63% reject evolution

2009-02-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

*sigh* Maybe, just maybe, science and critical thinking will win out. Maybe.

But not yet.

"...63 percent of Americans believe that humans and other animals have either always existed in their present form or have evolved over time under the guidance of a supreme being. Only 26 percent say that life evolved solely through processes such as natural selection."

I'm curious about the split between the 2 groups lumped into the 63%. The second likely includes the wishy-washy, "yeah, I believe, so God probably had something to do with it" kind of thinking. Don't have time now to see whether the groups are separated out in the write-up.

Happy Darwin Day

2009-02-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

In honor of which, I refer you to ThinkGeek.com's "98% Chimp" shirt. :)

Stanford Course on the Historical Jesus

2009-02-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

Stanford has a course where they study what history/archeology/etc can tell us about the historical Jesus and how stories about him have changed over time. It's interesting to hear about the context in which the stories were written and what else was going on at the time. The classes are available on iTunesU under Stanford University. Just started listening to it, but it's pretty cool so far. The prof does come across at times as having a point of view, not purely objective, but I don't think that view will bother the readers of this blog.

Google and Nasa Back "Singularity University", Headed By Ray Kurzweil

2009-02-03T21:50:00.000-08:00

(Image by jdlasica)

From the article (FT.com):
---------
Google and Nasa are throwing their weight behind a new school for futurists in Silicon Valley to prepare scientists for an era when machines become cleverer than people.

The new institution, known as “Singularity University”, is to be headed by Ray Kurzweil, whose predictions about the exponential pace of technological change have made him a controversial figure in technology circles.

Google and Nasa’s backing demonstrates the growing mainstream acceptance of Mr Kurzweil’s views, which include a claim that before the middle of this century artificial intelligence will outstrip human beings, ushering in a new era of civilisation.
---------

via Financial Times - link

Captain Disillusion - UFO Haiti

2009-01-29T16:23:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen Captain Disillusion yet - start watching his YouTube stream (RSS). In the name of skepticism, armed with a background in film and special effects, he demonstrates how some of these fake YouTube videos are made.

From his profile:
------
In a world where the content of digital images and videos can no longer be taken at face value, an unlikely hero fights for the acceptance of truth.

Captain Disillusion guides children of all ages through the maze of visual fakery to the open spaces of reality and peace of mind.
------

Check his YouTube page here, or watch higher res versions here.

Make sure to watch the main video on his YouTube landing page, it's awesome.

Sincere, But Misinformed and Dangerous - The AntiVax Movement

2009-01-26T19:44:00.001-08:00

It's hard to fault someone for doing what they think is right, especially when they're caring for a child with autism. However, the importance of critical thinking at its most urgent when emotions run high.

Set aside a good 30-60 minutes to read through this post by Dr. David Gorski, MD, PhD on the Science-Based Medicine Blog. It's a long read, but really hits to the heart of the uninformed arguments made by the "Green our Vaccines"/"Too Many, Too Soon" movement.

After reading the post, I have another hour or two of tangential reading to do - really great links mentioned in the entry. If you'd like to hear more about the controversy from a doctor, rather than Jenny McCarthy, then it's a good start.

I'd also recommend that if you take Jenny McCarthy even a little bit seriously when it comes to medicine, that you start with her well-meaning post on raising an Indgo Child, and then read up on what she's talking about . It's interesting that her first means of coping with the rough news that her child has autism was to believe that he wasn't impaired, but rather that he represented a higher form of human evolution, only to then to switch gears and blame the pharmaceutical companies and the science of vaccination. She's now a public advocate against vaccinating children - without proper evidence or medical credentials to support her accusations.

I'd also recommend that you ask yourself why so few people get measles, mumps, rubella, or polio these days. And while you're pondering that, read up what it actually means to get any of those diseases.

Anger is easy. Critical thinking is hard.

Here's some of the links from the post that I've bookmarked for later reading:
* Toxic Myths About Vaccines (Dr. David Gorski, MD, PhD)
* Post-holiday "The stupid, it burns," part 1: Jenny McCarthy ("Orac", a self-described pseudonymous surgeon/scientist)
* The Galileo Gambit (Orac)
* Drinking the Anti-Vaccine Kool-Aid (Dr. Steven Novella, MD)
* A Piece Against the fallacious "Science Has Been Wrong Before" argument

Along with some reading from the other camp:
* FDA Says A-OK: Vaccine Ingredients from A to Z (Kent Heckenlively, Esq)

Vice President's House on Google Maps For the First Time

2009-01-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

Until recently, the Vice President's residence at One Observatory Circle, Washington DC, has been pixelated on Google Maps' satellite view (while the White House has not been). At the time, Google claimed that their images were unaltered from the source, the US Geological Survey. Perhaps a coincidence, but on January 18th, during the week that Dick Cheney moved out, the Vice President's residence is no longer pixelated.

It's still not as clear as the nearby buildings, but Google claims that this is due to the difference between satellite and arial photos.

Here's a screenshot from before the switch:

via Gawker, LA Times

Ray Comfort is not necessarily stupid, but he's absolutely a liar

2009-01-21T20:19:00.001-08:00

From Pharyngula: The banana man thinks he's got atheists on the run

Ray Comfort has a new site, Pull the plug on atheism. It's a series of short pages which consist mainly of plugs for some bad books he is peddling, with a few paragraphs in which he announces a few of his misconceptions about atheism, with the air of one who has trounced every objection. It really is as bad as his pathetic blog.

(PZ Myers, Pharyngula)

It's not clear - to me, at least - if Ray Comfort is an idiot. I suspect so, but it could be an act. What is absolutely clear - again, to me - is that he's an absolute liar. And by saying this, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. He's had plenty of "debates" with atheists and scientists, and I can only assume he's read one or two (thousand) of the posts on his sites and emails written to him to - by now - understand the main position in opposition to his ridiculous claims.

As he continues to make ridiculous and fallacious statements such as:
An atheist is someone who believes that nothing made everything. (Ray Comfort)

and:
If any species came into existence without a mature female present (with complimentary female components), that one male would have remained alone and in time died. The species could not have survived without a female. Why did hundreds of thousands of animals, fish, reptiles and birds (over millions of years) evolve a female partner (that coincidentally matured at just the right time) with each species? (Ray Comfort)

...AFTER having all the chances in the world to get the position right... then he's gotta be lying. Now, it might be because he's trying to save our souls (or whatever). Or, he might just be enjoying the book sales. Either way, his arguments - while clearly silly - aren't honest.

I'm not linking to Ray's site in this post... because he's a dick.

Don't look for it, it'll only make you dumber.

There are stupid atheists too, ya know...

2009-01-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

Once people find themselves free from the belief in invisible, universe-creating space daddies, it's very easy for them to latch onto something equally stupid, but, well.. perhaps a little more current. I've been hearing more and more about the film What the [Bleep] Do We Know?.

For those of you fortunate to not have sacked a couple hours into this drivel, it's a documentary-style film that talks about happiness through enlightenment and positive thinking. Oh, and they throw in some interesting facts and (actually very cool) cartoons about quantum physics (double-slit experiment, understanding dimensions). I highly recommend watching the two cartoons - they do a good job of explaining complex quantum ideas - luckily you can watch them on youtube without wasting an afternoon on the rest of the movie.

New age pseudo-science nonsense is not much better than anything that came out of ancient tribes - it's easy to think you're onto something when you throw in words such as "quantum" and mix in some real science in the explanation.

Long story short I'm basically just passing you onto a great post on Skeptico.

At the top, he mentions he has a surprise ending in store... I'll ruin it for you right now :). The movie doesn't tell you up front who the "experts" being interviewed are. They wait for the end. At the end, you find out who one of the main interviewees is:

Yes, it actually says "Ramtha ... Channeled by JZ Knight". Okay, this woman that's telling you how to influence your own reality through quantum physics claims to be channeling the spirit of a Lemurian warrior who fought against the Atlanteans over 35,000 years ago. Convenient for JZ Knight, Ramtha must have some savvy business skills, because she appears to be making a pretty good racket out of the deal. She appeared on the Merv Griffen Show in 1985, wrote a book, and now appears in this ridiculous movie.

On top of all of this, at least one of the actual scientific experts interviewed in the film have come out against the film, suggesting that they were taken out of context and that their critiques of the idea that consciousness can be linked to quantum physics were raised in the interview, but conveniently cut out of the movie.

---------
I was edited in such a way as to completely suppress my actual views about the matters the movie discusses. I am, indeed, profoundly unsympathetic to attempts at linking quantum mechanics with consciousness. Moreover, I explained all that, at great length, on camera, to the producers of the film ... Had I known that I would have been so radically misrepresented in the movie, I would certainly not have agreed to be filmed.

- David Albert, Ph.D. - Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University
----------

Look, being an atheist doesn't give you instant critical thinking credibility. It takes a lot more than that. Keep in mind also, that the term "atheism" just describes a group of people that disagree with assertions of dieties - nothing more. There are idiot atheists too, so don't lump me in with this group.

Of course, I digress. Please read the post on Skeptico - even though I ruined the best part, it's still WELL WORTH the read.

Link (What the (Bleep) Were They Thinking)

Video: Christopher Hitchens Gets Waterboarded

2008-12-21T12:52:00.001-08:00

Hitchens was asked by Vanity Fair if he'd volunteer to be waterboarded. He accepted.

"It's annoying to me now to read - every time it's discussed in the press, or in Congress - that it simulates the feeling of drowning. It doesn't simulate the feeling of drowning. You are slowly being drown."

Watch the video, and his interview. He doesn't last more than a couple of seconds before panicking.

Hide the Bible!

2008-12-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

Matt Dillahunty piqued my interest when he mentioned the game, "Hide the Bible" on this week's Non-Prophets internet radio show (if you're not listening to the show, you really should be!).

Through the miracle of the google, I found a post by Jeff Dee (blog, info), the former host of the Non-Prophets which describes the game:

"If you’re an atheist who travels a lot, like I do, here’s a fun game you can play in your hotel room. It’s called 'Hide The Bible'.
As soon as you get settled in, check all the drawers until you find the ubiquitous Gideon’s Bible. Then the fun begins.
Explore your room, looking for a good place to hide that Bible. Often there’s a space underneath the dresser, enclosed on three sides but open at the back. I’m pretty sure they don’t move those dressers very often, so it’ll take ‘em a long time to find it there! If you can’t get the Bible under the dresser that way, try pulling out one of the bottom drawers."

Read the full post - there's some other good ideas :)

link

The American Atheist Bus... sort of

2008-11-12T04:33:00.000-08:00

CNN has an article about ads on busses in the DC area: "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." I loved this bit:

"It's a stupid ad," [American Family Association president Tim
Wildmon] said. "How do we define 'good' if we don't believe in God? God in his
word, the Bible, tells us what's good and bad and right and wrong. If we are
each ourselves defining what's good, it's going to be a crazy world."

That's right, those of us who don't believe really can't tell the difference between good and bad. Oh, brother.

"I didn't vote for Obama Today"

2008-11-05T13:54:00.001-08:00

Boyd Reid, supporter of Barack Obama, describes why he didn't cast a vote for Barack Obama this election.

Well worth the read.

link.

Atheist bus

2008-10-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

I thought y'all would get a kick out of this: the atheist bus campaign.

Finding Happiness (Joy, Flow, and Meaning)

2008-10-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Martin Seligman gave a wonderful (yet not too inspiring) synopsis of his research on Happiness. For me, this was a totally new approach to the age old questions on happiness and how to get there. He and his colleagues actually boiled it down to three types of happy lives:

The Pleasant Life
The Good Life
The Meaningful Life

He quantifies (YES! I said "quantifies") which methods are better and lead to a happier lives. As a bonus he gives some examples of interventions that we can all do that lead to happier lives. And in case you want to rank your happiness against thousands of others I suggest you check out Authentic Happiness. Enjoy.

We Aren't Wired to Grasp Big Numbers

2008-10-20T20:21:00.001-07:00

Case in point:

1 million seconds = about 11 days

... 'meh', right? Well, let's continue - I think somewhere between billion and trillion, you might be surprised...

1 billion seconds = about 32 years.
1 trillion seconds = about 32,000 years.

Was I right? Now, just for fun, let's look at some big ones...

Science tells us that the universe is about 14 billion years (441,700,000,000,000,000 seconds) old.

Our planet is about 4 billion years (126,700,000,000,000,000 seconds) old.

Dinosaurs started roaming the earth around 160 million years (5,050,000,000,000,000 seconds) ago.

Humans have been around for about 200,000 years (6,300,000,000,000 seconds).

As a side note... next time you start thinking that we're special - that we're somehow unique and that this universe was created just for us... Consider that humans have existed for 1/70,000th as long as the universe has. Also, studies predict that there are trillions of planets in the universe - TRILLIONS!

Human existence is awesome, but we should be more humble. The universe isn't about you.

Pinocchio Politics

2008-10-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

My wife forwarded me a pretty cool site: Pinocchio Politics. It seems some people are a little tired of disinformation the McCain campaign has been spreading. They've even got a handy list, along with a quick correction and links to back them up (several of which point to FactCheck.org).

Jeff Hawkins On Brain Science At TED

2008-10-17T20:52:00.001-07:00

Jeff Hawkins, noted technologist and inventor, speaks at TED, on how in the very near future, brain science will rapidly evolve and effect the creation of algorithms for pattern matching and prediction. You can check out his company, Numenta, if you want to learn more.

*MUST SEE*

Turing Test

2008-10-15T04:14:00.000-07:00

Back in 1950 Alan Turing set his criteria for a machine that could fool humans into thinking it was human. That meant only fooling 30% of the machines interrogators. Well, this year the artificial conversational entities (ACEs) received a 25% mark. Most of us in the tech industry would scoff at 30% as passing, but consider the consequences of having a machine that can fool 1/3 people in an open ended conversation...and what's that percentage going to be in five years? I can just imagine the wave of phishing scams that are going to hit the chat rooms.

The Shape of Things To Come

2008-10-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

Shapeways.com brings the cost of printing objects to the masses. They have software that you can use to create your drawings and model the 3-D object. A three dimensional printer, according to the article, will cost you $20,000, but you can print a small object for a few hundred. Well, ok...maybe not for the masses, but you get the idea.

Hey, it's free speech...

2008-10-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

No surprise - some rednecks put together a few bucks and threw up this sign along some road in Missouri. No big surprise there.

Reading through the comments on this post, however, reminded me of something that always gets to me. At least one of the commenters was standing up for the sign saying something along the lines of "hey, it's free speech."

Yes, it's free speech. However, that's moot here, and I'm a little tired of people thinking they're clever and pointing that out. Of course it's free speech - nobody's calling for this to be illegal, and for the people that put this up to be put in jail. You don't have the right to not be offended, but you don't have to accept another person's free speech either, just because it's legal.

Stop standing up for idiots with "hey, it's free speech." Stand up for speech when people try to throw the law at it, not when people are disgusted. If there was a KKK rally in my neighborhood, I'd be just as upset as anyone else. I'd consider writing to my local newspapers or showing up to protest them. But, when the police show up and try to arrest these people for their unpopular views, then I'd fight for their rights - _THAT_ is when you start saying "hey, it's free speech!"

UPDATE:
A few people at the original post pointed out that this might not be free speech, but slander. I'm not that familiar with what constitutes slander, but my rant was more in general than specific to this example.

Obama...

2008-10-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

This piece of paper was taped underneath my friend's "Obama 'O8" yard sign. It is both funny and sad. I can only imagine that this piece of paper accurately represents the core of McCain's (or Palin's) supporters and, in a similar fashion, Bush's die-hard fanatics.

Always before it was somewhere far away, "over there", where the uneducated and impoverished roam. Sadly, it's now in the city where I live.

So I had to ask myself, "Do Democrats do things like this?" Probably, I admitted, but they feel guilty about it and there are no misspellings.

Cardboard Testimonies - and why I feel sorry for them.

2008-10-09T19:33:00.001-07:00

I found this from one of my Facebook contacts...He actually dared everyone to watch. I was hoping it was a funny skit, but instead, it was some gushy Jesus-rock-background circus where once down-on-their-luck people show how Christ saved their lives.

I'll pass along the 'dare,' and challenge you to try to make it through the full 8 minutes.

So these people that were either addicted to meth, porn, or just had bad luck come out on stage and show some cardboard that had their addiction/pain, etc... Then they flip over the cardboard and show how that's changed now that they've found Jesus.

Here's a few:

1. "$$ Bondage Pornography" --> "Freedom Thru Obedience"
2. "Was addicted to METH" --> "Now addicted to HIM"
3. Fighting Cancer" --> By his stripes I am healed"
4. "Death of our son 2004" --> "New life in Christ, Thank you Jesus"
5. "Constant fear of cancer" --> "Cancer survivor - total trust in God"
6. (kid in wheelchair with parents)
"Special needs child predicted to die by age 2" --> Hope - strength - peace - I'll be three next month"
7. "Sexual abuse uncle led to eating disorder" --> "God's true love healed me"
8. "Former cult member (ICOC)" --> "Grace filled loving shepherd"
9. "Three stillborn babies in heaven" --> "Living with joy till reunited again"
10. (9-ish year old) "I knew I needed forgiveness" --> "Gave my life to christ - baptised 2005"
11. "Diagnosed in 2000 - Incurable cancer" --> "Living, breathing, serving in 2008"
12. "Loss of son to suicide" --> "Found GOD's amazing grace!"
13. "Mom passed away, I hated God" --> "Now my faith has never been stronger"
14. "Convicted felon" --> "Bible study teacher"

These people basically break down into a few groups. The first is a bunch of somewhat shady/rough people that were up to no good, then turned their lives around. The second consists of people that felt guilty for having done nothing bad at all. And the third were good people that had horrible things happen to them, and found a way to cope with their pain and move on.

I have a hard time with each group. The Jesus pill is placebo. If you okay with believing that invisible gods helped you overcome your grief, bad luck, or past life -- rather than understanding that you made it through by your own strength and with the support of the good people around you -- then stop reading right now, because I won't be able to change your mind.

I do care why things happen. What's real does matter to me.

When I woke up in a hospital at 15 (nothing serious, really), I didn't say "praise the Lord for saving me!" I did say things like, "thank you, Doctor!... thank you, Nurse!"... and thought how lucky I was that good people have worked on life-saving technologies such as MRI and x-ray machines. There was a whole building full of people, stocked with with latest technologies, all waiting there, in case someone like me ended up hurt, or needed their help.

I could have taken the alternate approach. "Damned you, God! How dare you pile your wicked hatred on me, I don't deserve this!" Or... (jokingly) "The gays are responsible for this, I know it!"

I recognized -- as I believe most of these people do on some level - that bad things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people, and bad things happen when there's no people around to measure their badness. We don't deserve these bad things on some cosmic level, and we don't need to look to point the finger at someone or something for causing the hurricane, car crash, or cancer.

... Nor, do you need to blame an invisible sky daddy. There is nobody in the sky judging you, and smiting you with cancer, then letting up for a bit to hear you thank them for the coffee break. Cancer is a fact of our biology. You don't need to think that you're being tested. When you're in remission, you don't need to think it's over - only because some same sadistic - but loving - gods in the sky are sparing you -- for now.

You can deal with reality on reality's terms. Trust me, it works!

So more specifically, here are the problems I have with the three groups of people I've mentioned.

* The first group - the shady/rough people that turned their lives around....
Guess what - they did it not by the grace of any gods, but by their own determination, and by the support of the people around them. They're doing themselves and their peers a disservice by giving credit to invisible beings. If they accepted this truth, they could realize that they weren't handed this new life - they worked for it.

* The second group - those that feel guilty for no reason...
The little girl that "knew she needed forgiveness"... What kind of parents raise their child to feel so guilty? What exactly did this little girl do that was so bad? She didn't dare masturbate, did she? Because, we know that the invisible gods that create universes and make it rain for days on end to kill non-believers sure do hate when your hands touch your mommy-daddy buttons. Imagine the pressure that this poor girl must have felt to fit into the mold that her parents made for her. Congratulations, it worked. She now thinks she's being watched by this cosmic masturbation-hater, just in case she slips up and commits some sort of thought-crime. Her parents and peers that put this on her should be ashamed of themselves. She needs to realize that she's a good person that never needed forgiveness.

And of course there's the guy that's into bondage pornography -- which, as weird as it might sound to you -- is a victimless crime. He paid money to people who acted out his fantasy. Now, tying some stranger up against their will - that's wrong, but nobody was wronged in these transactions. Why should he feel guilty for being into something like that, where it absolutely affects nobody negatively.

* The third group - those good people that had rough times and have learned to deal with them...
This is tough. I can't claim to know what it's like to suffer like these people do. But, I do know that they didn't deserve these hardships. If they believe that some gods have helped them cope with their pain, then they must - on some level - blame those gods for the pain in the first place.

If you can imagine a god that is so powerful that he can do anything, then wouldn't you think he could have had a hand in giving you the MS, taking away your child, giving you three miscarriages, cancer, or having you molested when you were young in the first place? Or at very least he sat by and let it happen, only to help you deal with it later? What kind of sick, sadistic monster does this? And why would you praise him?

Seriously, think about this. Please. Take a few minutes, go have a glass of warm milk and think it over -- I'll be here when you get back.

If I tied you up and broke your legs... tortured you for a couple weeks, then let you go... Am I the good guy because of that last bit? Is your memory really that short? Would you once think to thank me, then stand up on stage with cardboard, praising me? How on earth is this any different?

Look. Whatever helped you get over your grief was not supernatural. It was right here on earth. It was the people around you, it was your own strength. It wasn't this sugar pill that we've so generously called 'faith'. You could have grown attached to any of the other hundreds of thousands of gods that humans have postulated over the years. Those beliefs too, could help you through your pain. At the end of the day, it wasn't your invisible friend that helped you - it was you. Be proud of yourself, don't give credit to superstitions and invisible gods. Life is tough at times - it's part of the whole experience. Don't look for cosmic reasons for their happenings, and don't give them the credit for your perseverance. Look around you - you did it by yourself, and with the help of the good people around you.

If you'd like to read some really good stuff -- Daniel Dennett wrote a piece called "Thank Goodness", where he attributes his surviving his near-fatal heart condition to the goodness in people. He says "thank goodness" not as a substitute for "thank god", but for what it literally means - the goodness in everyone. No gods caused his heart to fail, but good people fixed it.

There's one other part to these testimonies -- what about the people that are watching this video, finding themselves in similar situations, but haven't found their silver lining? What about the people that have cancer and aren't in remission? Or the people that can't accept the death of their children. Are they to believe that they aren't good enough for their own conversion? Why did your gods pick you, and not them? What have they done to upset the cosmic creator that he won't grant them the happiness that he's given you?

Oh, I did leave out one guy from the list - the guy that was a former cult member. Ya know, this is sad too. He left a cult, and joined a religion that's only technically not a cult because it's mainstream. This goes to a point I heard in the recent episode of "The Non-Prophets" radio show. The host, Matt Dillahunty, and guest Guy P. Harrison (author of '50 reasons people give for believing in a god') were discussing how to deal with people with irrational beliefs in a god or gods. Harrison argued that it's not enough to show the believer why his god doesn't exist. You need to show someone how to think critically and be skeptical. If you don't, then that person is likely to find some other superstition to believe in, which may or may not have its own list of side-effects.

It's 2008. Let's stop blaming thought crimes for the paths of hurricanes. Let's stop staring at the sun for answers. Let's deal with reality on reality's terms.

What We Don't Know Because of News

2008-10-04T19:22:00.001-07:00

In a great video over at TED, Alisa Miller discusses research that details the type of news to which the average U.S. citizen is exposed. She describes how the death of Anna Nicole Smith rated second-highest only to Iraq and drowned out all other news stories. It's only five minutes and well worth the time.

When talking to a pro-lifer...

2008-10-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of people that - without exception - think that ending a pregnancy at any stage is murder. They like to say things like, "life begins at conception." It's an easily-remembered and repeated phrase that they heard from their priests and ministers - a position that they may have accepted without thinking. These people often lobby to make abortion illegal - again, with no exception.

Next time you find yourself discussing the subject with one of these people, ask them what penalty should be handed out to a woman that gets an illegal abortion. Should she get the death penalty? Life in prison? Should the embryo's father be charged as an accomplice? Should friends and family that knew she was going to get the abortion be charged with conspiracy to murder?

They'll most-likely say no, without realizing that they're being inconsistent. If they do say 'no', then ask them why not. Somewhere in the back of their mind, they know that there's a difference between getting an abortion, and shooting someone in the face - they just haven't actually put much thought into it. All this time, they've just repeated what they were told in church, like a good disciple.

Call people on their positions. Make them think.

I heard this line of thought from Matt at the Non-Prophets Radio Show, episode 6.16, 8/11/2007 (mp3).

Epic LOL: Palin's never seen Russia!

2008-10-01T03:47:00.000-07:00

There's one point in Alaska where you can see Russia. 150 People live there, and (it seems that) no Alaskan governor has ever visited. Some of the residents couldn't name their governor, and at least one didn't realize that their governor was the Republican candidate for vice president.

Why Is America So Religious?

2008-09-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

An interesting post on a New York Times blog today. The author, Charles Blow, summarizes a chart in a study from the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project this way:

The chart shows that the wealthier a country is, the less important religion is to that country. The one exception: The United States.

Blow offers up this point without judgement and invites discussion. He gets it. (424 comments at the time of this posting.) Several of the early posters take the question seriously and provide some interesting thoughts. I liked this comment:

I am a lifelong skeptic and non-believer, but I have also enjoyed studying religion and religious history in detail over the past 30 years.
I think that the United States’s outlier status has three causes:
(1) exaggerated over-reporting of religious belief and observance by respondents to polls, who don’t want to admit that they don’t actually believe in the doctrines of the religions in which they were brought up and merely pretend to believe for complex social and emotional reasons;
(2) the competition between religious sects and denominations as a result of two centuries of religious freedom and the lack of government sponsorship of / meddling in religion; and
(3) the strong current of anti-intellectualism in American culture, going as far back as the 1820s, and as documented in Susan Jacoby’s latest book, “The Age of American Unreason.” Widespread denigration or devaluation of real learning, reason, careful inquiry, etc. has led to equally widespread belief in New Age superstitions, paranormal woo-woo, and fundamentalist revivalist religion.

A couple commenters observed that the US is too diverse for this chart to really be interesting. It would be interesting to see US data broken down by say, socio-economic status, and have those categories mapped to the countries that are the closest match.

Studying Bear DNA - Excessive Government spending? McCain would like you think so, but he doesn't have all of the facts

2008-09-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't heard about McCain bashing a Bear DNA government funded program until the debates this past friday (9/26/08). I thought it was an odd thing to bring up and so did Obama, but I didn't think much about it until this morning when I saw this news item from Scientific American:

The real McCain-Obama debate over bear dna

If you follow the link in there to a previous article posted by Scientific American, better context is provided. Apparently the $3 million (actually $4.8 million over 5 years) McCain is referring to as Pork Barrel spending is a part of the Endangered Species Protection Act. This research is aimed at understanding the current population of Grizzly Bears in Montana that have been on the endangered species list since 1975. "Under the Endangered Species Protection Act, the government is supposed to help identify and protect endangered species", according to Katherine Kendall.

The DNA research is part of a hair collection effort by 250 scientists to understand the Grizzly Bear population in Montana and how it is changing, the first step to protection.

Of course, like most americans, I chuckled at the face value of this remark during the debate until I understood the details.

Super Computers and "Shaheen"

2008-09-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

It turns out that in June, if you missed the news (more news), IBM announced that Roadrunner was the world's fastest super computer with a sustained processing speed of 1.0 Petaflops. Yes, that's 1,000 trillion operations per second using Linpack. The milestone of a Petaflop, in itself, is not extraordinary, but when measured against the perspective of advancements in computing speeds it is mind-numbing. You can think about it this way, 10 years ago it would have taken you 20 years to perform a calculation that it will now take a week to complete.

The current trend is that roughly every 10 years computing power increases 1000-fold which is close enough to Moore's Law that we won't split hairs. The interesting bit is that now the Saudi's are getting into the game and building a super-computer named "Shaheen" (meaning Peregrine Falcon). When finished, Shaheen will be the the 6th fastest computer in the world, BUT, it will be expandable to 1 Exaflop of processing speed. And if anyone can beat that 10 year mark it's those money-crazy Saudis and all their oil revenue.

Lessig: How does Palin's experience rank among past VPs?

2008-09-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly, not well.

Lessig goes through each of our vice presidents, listing each of their experience before taking the position. Of all our vice presidents, she has less foreign policy and federal experience than all but one. He also points out that 9 out of 46 of our vice presidents had to take over the role of president - 1/5th - 20%. Given that John McCain would be our oldest to take the position, that can't hurt her chances of being president.

MPG confusion

2008-09-28T09:37:00.001-07:00

From RealClimate.org:

---------------
What reduces emissions more?
A. Someone swapping their old SUV (which gets 12 miles per gallon) for a hybrid version (18 mpg) or
B. someone upgrading their 25 mpg compact to a new 46 mpg Prius?
(ignore for a minute manufacturing issues or driving habits and assume the miles driven are the same).
---------------

You've probably figured that you're supposed to say 'B', which means it must be 'A'. That's true. The answer is A.

It turns out that if you start thinking in terms of gallons per 100 miles, instead of miles per gallon, the math starts getting much more intuitive.

In this example, over 100 miles, you'd be saving 2.8 gallons in A, and 1.8 gallons in B.

read more.

John, you like to pretend the war started in 2007

2008-09-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

This is great - old clips of McCain are spliced in.

Jack Cafferty calls Palin's response to Couric 'Pathetic'

2008-09-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

"If John McCain wins, this woman will be one 72-year-old's heartbeat away from president of the United States, and if that doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should."

His response to Blitzer was awesome as well.

Letterman ripping on McCain

2008-09-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Letterman showing true anger towards McCain for canceling his appearance on the show at the last minute. McCain said he had suspended his campaign so he could rush back to Washington and save the world, then interviewed with Katie Couric at the exact time slot he was supposed to be on Letterman.

Oh, and he didn't 'rush' back to Washington until the next day, and after speaking at the Clinton Initiative conference. When asked if he supported the current bail-out bill, he replied that he hadn't had the time to read the proposal... all three pages of it...

How much worse could it get?

2008-09-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Great Daily Show bit on Bush running the country into the ground.

Stewart: I didn't think there was another area that these guys could screw up.

Oliver: I know, and it wasn't easy. It was like finding a vein on a failure junky.

(link)

Hockey Mom President - Disney Movie Spoof

2008-09-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

This is funny for so many reasons...

"After hearing Matt Damon’s brilliant comparison of a Sarah Palin presidency to a bad Disney movie, I called up Sam and said “Let’s make a trailer for what that movie would look like.” Within hours, Dan and Amir were writing it, Ben and the CHTV crew were casting and producing it, and two weeks later, here it is."

(link)

Presidential budget impact

2008-09-25T04:52:00.000-07:00

Jorge Cham is author of the comic strip Piled Higher & Deeper, a comic strip about grad school. Today he has this handy graphic. Exercise for the student: what trends can you identify?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: 13% of Registered Voters Think Obama is Muslim

2008-09-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud to be American. Where else can you be surrounded by complete morons, and not necessarily be able to pick them out of a crowd until you see their "W" sticker and support-our-troops yellow ribbons on their gas-guzzling SUVs in the middle of a war for oil? It's truly remarkable that we live in a country where they have just as much voting power as I do.

God bless the USA.

So, enough ranting, you'll be mad enough when you read Nicholas D. Kristof's New York Times op-ed on Obama's perceived religious views. Ya know those chain emails that are so ridiculous that you just figure that everyone knew they were bogus? Well, you're wrong. Kristof sites a Pew Research Center study that only half of Americans correctly knew that Obama is a Christian, 13% of registered voters thought he was Muslim (which is rising, by the way), and 16% aren't sure because they've heard "different things" about it.

It's true, these people actually exist, and this is what our politics have become -- let alone the fact that it shouldn't matter what religion he is... And not because we have freedom of religion, but because every single religion is ****ing ridiculous.

I think it's a safe bet that many of these people that are swayed by their ignorance are religious fundamentalists in their own right. I bet many of them think that Islam is silly, because heck... we all know that when things get juuuuuuust bad enough, the clouds will open, and Jesus will ride down on his golden chariot and rapture out all the good Christians while the rest of us wallow in pain and misery. Everybody knows that, right?

Okay, I digress....

I couldn't find the recent Pew Research Study, but found the one from July here.

Europe's First Solar Thermal Power Plant

2008-09-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

Spain is running Europe's first Solar Power plant, technically it's solar thermal because it uses the heat from the mirrors to power steam turbine generators. Either way, I'm amazed. It's name is "PS-10" (should have been PS-3PO, but I'll let it slide) and it is classified as an 11-Megawatt power plant that provides electricity for 6000 houses with ZERO green house gas emissions. It has been operational since 2006 and they are currently expanding the plant to be a 300-Megawatt power plant by 2013. You should be seriously impressed. That's enough to supply energy to 180,000 households, or 14.4% the energy of Hoover Dam running at full capacity. Also, consider that 500 MW coal burning power plant will consume ~750 tons of coal an hour at full capacity.

Dark Energy and Dark Matter

2008-09-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

At TED, Patricia Burchat gave an impressive low-level talk about "The Search for Dark Energy and Dark Matter". She explains why we think there are Dark Matter and Dark Energy, both completely unrelated entities. She also briefly touches on how galactic clusters form around masses of dark matter and why dark energy is to blame for the accelerating expansion of our universe.

Turkey bans Dawkins web site

2008-09-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

This is a just a happy-to-be-in-the-USA post. While there are always factors that promote some views over others, at least we are generally free to air our views, especially in the age of the Internet. In Turkey, not so much.

2008-09-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

In an article in the Philly Inquirer yesterday, Mark Bowden discussed what I, too, think may have been the most disturbing line of Sarah Palin's RNC speech. From the article:

Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America," said Palin, and then, referring to Barack Obama, quipped: "He's worried that someone won't read them their rights.

I liked Bowden's summary of the position Palin appears to take:

Palin's applause line applied the lynch-mob standard: Because a man has been arrested, he is guilty. End of story.

Habeas corpus? Nah. If he wasn't guilty, what's he doing in jail? The more horrific the crime, the more important it is that we stick to our rules. There will be no shortage of people crying, "Someone needs to pay!" If we're not willing to take the time to make sure the right person pays, then what are we fighting for?

Sam Harris: In defense of elitism

2008-09-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sam Harris attacks the uniquely American idea of electing someone "just like me" for high office, while blasting Palin's ridiculous religious views in his new op-ed for Newsweek.

Some gems:

However badly she may stumble during the remaining weeks of this campaign, her supporters will focus their outrage upon the journalist who caused her to break stride, upon the camera operator who happened to capture her fall, upon the television network that broadcast the good lady's misfortune—and, above all, upon the "liberal elites" with their highfalutin assumption that, in the 21st century, only a reasonably well-educated person should be given command of our nuclear arsenal

...and...

We have all now witnessed apparently sentient human beings, once provoked by a reporter's microphone, saying things like, "I'm voting for Sarah because she's a mom. She knows what it's like to be a mom." Such sentiments suggest an uncanny (and, one fears, especially American) detachment from the real problems of today.

... and my absolute favorite ...

What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents—and her supporters celebrate—the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to [Charlie] Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth:

"Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?"

"Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter."

"But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind."

"That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink."

John McCain's (horrible) voting record on alternative energy

2008-09-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

Salon.com shows something we've all grown comfortable with - John McCain continually lies about his voting record on the environment and alternative energy. It's a long read, but really worth it - you won't believe how bad this is.

From the article:

As for McCain's "long record of that support of alternate energy," consider the votes on renewable energy funding and a federal "renewable portfolio standard" (RPS) that he did show up for this decade:

Tax credits for clean energy R&D (2001)

Require a 20 percent RPS where utilities buy 20 percent clean energy ('02)

Reduce 20 percent RPS requirement ('02)

Waive 20 percent RPS if utilities balk ('02)

Increase clean energy R&D funding ('05)

Clean energy incentives ('05)

An RPS to require utilities [to] buy some clean energy ('05)

Tax oil companies windfall profits to fund clean energy ('05)

In every case, McCain voted against renewables, as did Sen. "Global warming is 'the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people'" Inhofe. On the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the biggest congressional effort to push alternative energy in more than a decade, McCain voted against it along with just 11 other senators. Even Inhofe voted for it.

............ and ..............

The fact that McCain endorsed a gas tax holiday, a rollback of the small federal gas tax this summer, when gasoline prices exceeded $4, suggests that if energy prices rise in the future, as they inevitably will, he will roll back any significant carbon price too. And that would gut the whole effort to reduce emissions.

At this point, it is impossible to believe anything that John McCain says. The only thing dirtier than his lies is his environmental record.

Bill Maher: If our natural disasters were the result of terrorists...

2008-09-20T20:17:00.001-07:00

"If [the recent train crash and hurricane Ike] had been the result of terrorist attacks, instead of a train wreck because someone was texting, and because of a hurricane... This country would have completely lost its collective shit. We would have invaded Yemen, suspended the Constitution, and done all manner of crazy stuff. Isn't there something to be said for understanding that terrorism - as bad as it is - should not control our lives?"

He then goes on to say that yes, we do have 40,000 deaths by car crash every year, but we like driving, so we don't declare a war on cars. It's part of life, so we try to make ourselves as safe as we can, but keep driving.

Conservative Andrew Sullivan on his outrage for Sarah Palin

2008-09-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Sullivan: "The nomination of this person, to be potentially president of the United States in January [...] is a joke. It is absurd. It is something that should be dismissed out of hand as the most irresponsible act [that] any candidate as ever made. [...] And after three weeks, no press conference!? What is this, Putin? Russia? [...] We need to be more upset!"

I always liked Sullivan on Real Time, but he used to disagree with Maher. He's so pissed about the Bush administration, and more recently the recent incarnation of John McCain and his irresponsible VP pick in Sarah Palin, they're starting to rage out together.

Wind Energy - Is it the next ethanol?

2008-09-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

I'm as excited as the next guy about wind power, but this article from The Atlantic, sadly, made me consider that we might be a little too overenthusiastic. The map to the left shows where the wind blows the strongest in the US. The dots represent the wind turbine plants that are online or scheduled to be.

The Atlantic points out many of factors that we can't ignore. For example, wind power is at its strongest when demand is at its lowest - during the night, spring, and fall. People don't want these in their back yards, and they need to be installed where the wind already exists, which might not be where the electricity is needed, so we have to think about how we're going to get the power to the customers. In Texas, which believe-it-or-not leads the nation in wind power, they're maxing out the transmission lines already, and they're only generating 2.9% of their electricity with wind.

And then there's the problem of what to do when a cold front rolls through and stops the turbines from spinning. You have to have a (dirty) back-up plant that can come online quickly to power the grid when needed, and powering up and down is inefficient. These extra back-up plants will increase the cost of wind energy, which is already 10-30% more expensive than fossil fuel.

I'm not saying I have the answer, but I'm a little more skeptical that wind can save the day. It'll help, but if we'll have to make sure we have good back-up plans and realistic goals before we get too excited about it.

(link The Atlantic)

Palin's email account hacked by Anonymous

2008-09-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

From ArsTechnica:
"According to a timeline compiled by users at the online chat board 4Chan, an anonymous poster appeared on the "Random" board known as /b/, claiming to have accessed Palin's account. Skeptical posters apparently dismissed the claim as a hoax, until the hacker posted the password ("popcorn"), prompting groups of forum users to log in. One of these—who appears to be the source of the documents released on Wikileaks—subsequently changed the password and notified one of Palin's assistants via e-mail. That user, however, inadvertently included the new password in the released screenshots, prompting a second flood that triggered Yahoo's security lockdown."

I, for one, welcome our new Anonymous overlords.

What Makes People Vote Republican?

2008-09-17T04:41:00.000-07:00

I came across a really intriguing article called What Makes People Vote Republican? While author, Jonathan Haidt, describes himself as a liberal aethist, he approaches the matter from psychology and anthropology. Haidt explores the appeal of the Republican message and traces it not to any matter of policy, but to the societal view that's offered. He contrasts it with the societal view espoused by the Democatic Party and considers ways that the Democrats might broaden their appeal without sacrificing what they really care about. Very interesting reading.

One more - way funny.

2008-09-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

Again, I'm sorry, but this really cracks me up.

Direct Quote: "The American flag stands for corporate scandals, recession, stock market declines, blackmail, terror, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape."

There's a bunch more from this guy, "g35suck" (here).

I'm sorry, but this is hilarious.

2008-09-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Direct quote: "We can be summed up in one word... 'Evil'"

Finally some talk about science in the campaign - Did McCain invent WiFi?

2008-09-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, so a little bit of a sensational title to grab your attention.

ScienceDebate2008.com posed 14 science/technology based questions to the candidates to gain some targeted perspective on their proposed science and technology policies if they were to become president. The following are the basic topics covered:

Innovation
Climate Change
Energy
Education
National Security
Pandemics and Biosecurity
Genetics Research
Stem Cells
Ocean Health
Water
Scientific Integrity
Research
Health

On the topic of innovation, McCain says:

"Under my guiding hand, Congress developed a wireless spectrum policy that spurred the rapid rise of mobile phones and Wi-Fi technology that enables Americans to surf the web while sitting at a coffee shop, airport lounge, or public park."

Some are likening this statement to Gore taking credit for inventing the internet. Of course, both cases are stretching the intent of the statements beyond their original meaning. Still, it is pretty bold to use a statement "Under my guiding hand"

I think if you are looking for good, well researched info about the candidates' science policies this is a great place for it. ScienceDebate2008 places the candidates' responses side by side so that it is easier to compare them.

It is a bit of a long read, but the result seems to be a more targeted set of strategies from the Obama camp, with a bit of vagueness coming from McCain. How much of all of this is still lipservice remains to be seen, but Obama's plan to create a CTO for the country seems interesting.

Anti-Palin Rally in Alaska

2008-09-15T16:03:00.001-07:00

It started out small, but a big crowd did gather to share their opinions about Sarah Palin in Anchorage, Alaska.

Some of favorite signs:

McBush Palin - Change? I'm not stupid
Palin does not speak for us
Bush in a skirt
Palin scares this working mom
We can't bear Palin (with photo of polar bear)
Real leaders don't have to cram for the interviews
Pitbulls make poor diplomats
Read my lipstick - vote for Obama
(child holding sign) Thanks but no thanks, Sarah! I deserve a better role model
McCain/Palin - Unstable/Unable
McCain/Palin - fundamentally flawed
Blink before going to war
Hockey mom for Obama

(via Daily Kos)

Palin never went to Iraq as she claimed

2008-09-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

Palin's campaign previously mentioned that she had traveled to Ireland, Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq in 2007 to meet with Alaska National Guard members, including both a trip to a military outpost and a battle zone inside Iraq.

Well, to the astonishment to literally nobody... this might not have been an accurate report. As the Boston Globe (among others) is reporting, her campaign clarified that Ireland was a refueling stop, and she never crossed into Iraq.

So, maybe we can't trust a thing that she and her campaign say, but at least we know that she's not only an expert on Russian foreign affairs (from seeing it from Alaska), but now Iraqi foreign affairs as well (seeing it from Kuwait, perhaps?).

Awesome, she's got my vote.

Greenspan: "This is the worst economy I've ever seen"

2008-09-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

In an interview with George Snufalufagus, Greenspan agreed that this is by far the worst economy he's ever seen.

In another recent interview with Bloomberg Television, he also argued that the country couldn't afford John McCain's $3.3 trillion in tax cuts without a massive reduction in spending.

(via Huffington Post)

Atheist Cartoons

2008-09-14T13:27:00.001-07:00

And plenty more! (link)

(via Pharyngula)

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL

2008-09-14T13:10:00.001-07:00

Pretty good bit - (via Huffington Post).

McCain's Irresponsible Ads

2008-09-13T17:11:00.001-07:00

He said he'd run an honorable campaign. These days, it seems McCain will do anything to get elected - even blatantly lie, knowing that some people won't look into these claims.

(from Lessig Blog)

Would you believe it? 'The View' grilled John McCain

2008-09-13T11:49:00.001-07:00

If you haven't heard this yet, you might think I'm joking. The View (yes, that horrible morning talk show) interviewed John McCain the other day. They actually grilled him pretty good. In response to a bunch of 'God' talk, Joy Behar actually asked him "what about people that don't believe in god?" They also asked about Palin's religiosity, asking if McCain was worried about the separation of church and state, having picked her as VP.

The best was when Barbara Walters couldn't get him to explain how Palin would reform Washington. She asked for specific examples of what she'd do - he said she'd reform _all_ of Washington. Interesting.

Huffington Post has the important clips (here).

In other news, The Onion reports on an old, grizzled third party candidate that might steal support from McCain. "McCain's old... but is he old enough?"

Charlie Gibson interviews Palin

2008-09-13T08:19:00.001-07:00

Some wonderful gems from the interview (full interview here)

GIBSON: Did you ever travel outside the country prior to your trip to Kuwait and Germany last year?

PALIN: Canada, Mexico, and then, yes, that trip, that was the trip of a lifetime to visit our troops in Kuwait and stop and visit our injured soldiers in Germany. That was the trip of a lifetime and it changed my life.

GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?

PALIN: There in the state of Alaska, our international trade activities bring in many leaders of other countries.

GIBSON: And all governors deal with trade delegations.

PALIN: Right.

GIBSON: Who act at the behest of their governments.

PALIN: Right, right.

GIBSON: I'm talking about somebody who's a head of state, who can negotiate for that country. Ever met one?

PALIN: I have not...[more bullshit here]

---------------------

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.

GIBSON: Exact words.

---------------------

GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

GIBSON: What insight does that give you into what they're doing in Georgia?

---------------------

GIBSON: What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?

PALIN: Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.

GIBSON: So if we wouldn't second guess it and they decided they needed to do it because Iran was an existential threat, we would cooperative or agree with that.

PALIN: I don't think we can second guess what Israel has to do to secure its nation.

GIBSON: So if it felt necessary, if it felt the need to defend itself by taking out Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be all right.

PALIN: We cannot second guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself.

--------------------

GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?

PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?

GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you -- what do you interpret it to be?

PALIN: His world view.

GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war.

--------------------

GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?

PALIN: I agree that a president's job, when they swear in their oath to uphold our Constitution, their top priority is to defend the United States of America.

I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people.

GIBSON: Do we have a right to anticipatory self-defense? Do we have a right to make a preemptive strike again another country if we feel that country might strike us?

PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.

GIBSON: Do we have the right to be making cross-border attacks into Pakistan from Afghanistan, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government?

PALIN: Now, as for our right to invade, we're going to work with these countries, building new relationships, working with existing allies, but forging new, also, in order to, Charlie, get to a point in this world where war is not going to be a first option. In fact, war has got to be, a military strike, a last option.

GIBSON: But, Governor, I'm asking you: We have the right, in your mind, to go across the border with or without the approval of the Pakistani government.

PALIN: In order to stop Islamic extremists, those terrorists who would seek to destroy America and our allies, we must do whatever it takes and we must not blink, Charlie, in making those tough decisions of where we go and even who we target.

GIBSON: And let me finish with this. I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Is that a yes? That you think we have the right to go across the border with or without the approval of the Pakistani government, to go after terrorists who are in the Waziristan area?

PALIN: I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell bent on destroying America and our allies. We have got to have all options out there on the table.

Araneus diadematus

2008-09-11T04:41:00.000-07:00

I noticed this spider built a web around my hanging plants last night, so I quickly setup my lighting gear and grabbed my macro (flickr).

From Wikipedia:
----------------------
The European garden spider (Araneus diadematus) or diadem spider, also called the cross spider in Eastern Europe, is a very common and well-known orb-weaver spider in Western Europe. Araneus diadematus also lives in parts of North America, in a range extending from New England and the Southeast to the Northwestern United States and adjacent parts of Canada.

FactCheck

2008-09-11T04:34:00.001-07:00

Wow, here's a slimy one. FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan organization that checks the "facts" that politicians put in their ads and speeches. Great site.

Recently, the site reviewed an attack on Sarah Palin and found the claims to be groundless. Now, the McCain campaign is citing the article and blasting Obama for spreading lies.

Just one minor detail: the attack didn't come from Obama. The article makes no mention of him, in fact; rather the attack is "dubious Internet postings and mass e-mail messages."

FactCheck sounds pretty annoyed with McCain for misrepresenting their findings. Understandable.

I love angry online commenters - well, when they're right

2008-09-10T18:51:00.001-07:00

PZ Myers at Pharyngula called upon his readers to help out a simple poll:
"Do you believe in the big bang theory?" (vote here, scroll down). At the time of PZ's post, the nose [:)] had it at 82%/18%.

Thanks to the Pharyngulites, balance has been restored to the universe. But the comments are awesome - really just the same old nonsense flame wars from idiots asserting their imaginary space daddy is real, and thoughtful people trying to explain why that's silly. Unfortunately, it's not obvious to most people.

The comments here aren't extraordinary, but as always, when ya see the home team score, it's a pleasure. Here's a couple that brought a smile to this godless heathen's face (from the results page):

--------------------------------------

Katharine

Sep 10, 2008 8:03pm ET

All you creationists have no proof for a deity. Stop ruining America with your stupidity. There is well-supported evidence with fairly small error bars that the Big Bang happened 10.7 billion years ago and there is evidence to support the fact that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old and that life evolved. Take your stupidity to Saudi Arabia; they'll welcome you there.

--------------------------------------

Alex

Sep 10, 2008 8:08pm ET

The bottom line is that there is no such thing as your imaginary superfriend. The bottom line is, it is a sad commentary on this country that so many people cling so pathetically to ancient superstition and mythology and confuse it with fact. I realize this is because it is much easier to be told what to think, as opposed to actually THINKING something through (and accepting the reality of not being able to know the answers to some questions and/or putting forth a sustained collective cognitive effort to *gasp* learn the answers via scientific methodologies rather than swallowing a pretend fantasy story created by primitive people a thousand years ago as literal fact-that is just pathetic and sad, really.) You can brush that Pretty Pony's Magical Mane all you want, children, but it won't make it real.

--------------------------------------

Copernicus

Sep 10, 2008 8:15pm ET

The level of logical introspection shown here by the theistic community is appalling. Okay, you say God created the universe. Right, so who created God? Super-God perhaps. Now come the complaints "waaaa, but God has always existed!!!" scream the Christians. Really? So, how is it different to posit that God has always existed, or that the universe has always existed. To me, it seems you are just changing words around. Now, onto specific comments. Brittany. Why do you disagree with the Big Bang Theory? What evidence do you have? What inconsistencies are there in the model? How long have you studied astronomy? Wait, what's that? You base your argument on an internally inconsistent text written by bronze age goatherds? Why, how quaint. Josh. I find quantum physics and string theory hard to believe - yet quantum physics is amazingly accurate in its predictions. I find it hard to understand that the universe is 27 billion light years across, but it is. I find many true things hard to believe. I find it even harder to believe that there is a big man in the sky with a white beard, who can listen to 6 billion people whispering to him at the same time. Actually, scratch that last one. I find it impossible to believe. Gary. Actually, that was the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Teresa. There are these wonderful things called "books". You should try reading one some time - they're wonderful, you'd love them. As for "proving" the Big Bang, well, it's a scientific theory (and no, that doesn't mean the same as the word theory as misused in common parlance - rather it means "a systematic explanation of a large body of facts"), up there with gravity. Gravity is "just" a theory. Perhaps you should read up on the Cosmic Background Radiation.

--------------------------------------

David Johnson

Sep 10, 2008 8:40pm ET

There are no gods - just deal with it...

--------------------------------------

Abe Frohman

Sep 10, 2008 8:56pm ET

This so-called "gravity" theory is pure fantasy. Why can't everybody just accept the obvious fact? God simultaneously influences all unsupported objects to accelerate toward the ground at 9.8m/sec^2. Duh!

--------------------------------------

CaeruleanXII

Sep 10, 2008 9:26pm ET

:( Science is hard, so I'm going to believe an invisible man with magic powers did it!

--------------------------------------

Palin's former Pentecostal Pastor spills the beans on Sarah's mission from God

2008-09-10T04:02:00.000-07:00

Another little bit of crazy. Interview with Palin's former Pentecostal Pastor reveals that although Palin never spoke in "Tongues", he did say that he "has no doubt her religious beliefs will influence her decision making when it comes to government policy".

Pastor McGraw told CNN:

"Sarah knows that in Genesis, God creates the world and it's very good and that we're supposed to be caretakers in terms of not destroying the environment, so there's no way that Sarah is going to exploit or damage the Alaska tundra in the name of getting gas if she doesn't have to."

She "knows" in Genesis, God creates the world and it is good... Interesting.

My head just exploded: Monty Hall problem

2008-09-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia (link):
The Monty Hall problem is a probability puzzle loosely based on the American television game show Let's Make a Deal. The name comes from the show's host, Monty Hall. The problem is also called the Monty Hall paradox, as it is a veridical paradox in that the solution is counterintuitive.

A well-known statement of the problem was published in Parade magazine:

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice? (Whitaker 1990)

What We Don't Know But Think We Do

2008-09-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

I watch a lot of TED videos, but I'll only post the interesting ones, at least the ones that I find interesting.

Jonathan Dori (bio) looks at the gaps in our knowledge -- and specifically, what we don't know about science that we might think we do.

I found this one interesting because he reminded me to question my own preconceptions and helped me realize that I'm probably wrong about many ideas I take for granted. A professor in college taught me that to truly be enlightened we have to be able to hold our own beliefs up to the scrutiny just as much as we scrutinize others. He was my favorite of all. Incidentally, he also taught me that there's no free-will, but that's a topic for another post.

FYI - I did not have the right answer about the seasons.

How Obama Can Still Win

2008-09-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

The Republican convention shook things up a bit, making them a little more interesting. McCain now actually has a five point lead over Obama.

With less than sixty days to go, what's Obama to do? Drop Joe Biden, and go for a real Maverick: Carrot Top (seen left, named for his hair). What's not to love? We've all had a close red-headed friend growing up, right? Chances are, some of you actually know a red-headed person right now.

While it's true I haven't done my research, so I'm just going to assert (for the sake of argument) that we've never had a red-headed vice president. Imagine the message that we would send to the world on November 5th by voting this man into office. Imagine a young child growing up in Iraq right now, and how he'd see the world differently if the man to the left here is elected as the second most powerful person in the world.

Again, keeping with the I-haven't-researched-anything theme, I'm going to assert that red-headedness is exactly three times more prevalent in 'red' states than in blue. Carrot Top could help Obama win over those traditionally Republican areas.

And, while I can't say that he'd actually do this - but assuming he would - if Carrot Top could be convinced to start doing dumbbell curls with bibles instead of actual weights... well, we'd certainly take some of the religious whacko vote away from the McCain-Mooseburger ticket.

The one thing that I do know though (by guessing), is that Carrot Top could be convinced to knock up one of Palin's other girls as soon as they're of age, since the religious right has unanimously determined teen pregnancy 'cute'. This would be a campaign promise that most likely wouldn't need congressional approval.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Obama/Top 2008. It's got a shot.

Obama and DNC not accepting lobbiest/PAC money, but DSCC & DCCC still do - Sign Petition!

2008-09-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

While Obama and the DNC have refused money from Washington lobbyists and PACs, the DSCC and DCCC still do. If we want change, we're going to need to insist that the Democrats are consistent across the board.

If you're as concerned as I am - Republican or Democrat, tell them by signing the Change Congress petition (link).

Video and original blog entry from Lawrence Lessig's blog.

Decision 2008 2.0

2008-09-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Election has been full of web 2.0 goodness. From candidate's Facebook profiles, Digg and Twitter accounts, to the interaction of the community with the MSM through venues such as Youtube and Twitter. Recently, I noticed a very tech-trendy analysis of the convention speeches by a couple of sources. The first I found was an analysis of Obama and McCain's acceptance speeches in a blog I read Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection

My only problem with this is Thomas' inconsistent font color choice for Obama's speech made it difficult to do any proper comparison. Perhap's a slightly better approach was the New York Time's interpretation of this trend, analyzing all of the conventions' speeches:

While this trendy analysis technique may be fun, the real value of the growth of the web in the political arena is community input and the spread of knowledge. Let's hope this continues in a genuine fashion and doesn't become yet another tool of the elite.

Tuna and Mercury - I'm Incredibly Appalled, Shocked, Dismayed, etc

2008-09-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

At breakfast this morning we were talking about what to buy at the grocery store for lunch and my wife wanted to switch from the normal turkey slices to tuna this week. Something about tuna was tickling the back of my brain so I googled it and found what I consider a reliable source. PBS has a great article about Mercury In Fish. My first response was outrage, then dismay, and then sadness that the FDA would knowingly allow mercury levels to be so high in our store bought fish.

Here's the breakdown:

EPA's recommended "safe" level (this number is in question) is 0.1 microgram per kg of body weight per day
A 100 lb ( 45.35 kg) person can safely ingest 4.535 micrograms of mercury daily
Tuna cans are usually 6 oz or 170 g
Average amount of mercury in chunk white albacore is .31ppm (or micrograms per gram)
Thus, in a 6 oz can of tuna there's 52.7 micrograms of mercury
Divide 52.7 micrograms /can and 4.535 micrograms daily and you get 11.6.

This is where you say WTF!!! Yes, if you eat one can of tuna then you have ingested 11.6 times the daily recommended dosage of mercury. Sadly, our children are even worse off because their body weights are lower.

My 8 year old (60 lb = 27.2 kg) daughter is 19.37 times the limit.

From the article:

In February 2004, a new analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency revealed that "about 630,000 children are born each year at risk for lowered intelligence and learning problems caused by exposure to high levels of mercury in the womb," nearly double the previous EPA estimate.

I did a quick search on this quote and it looks like the number is global (not just U.S. enfants), but it's still .01% of the global population. The FDA even put out an advisory for pregnant women, nursing moms, and small children, but (and I went down stairs and checked) not one note on the can of tuna about potential mercury contanimation or poisoning.

Ugh!

The Onion: Evolutionists Flock To Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain

2008-09-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

From The Onion:
DAYTON, TN—A steady stream of devoted evolutionists continued to gather in this small Tennessee town today to witness what many believe is an image of Charles Darwin—author of The Origin Of Species and founder of the modern evolutionary movement—made manifest on a concrete wall in downtown Dayton.

"It's a stain on a wall, and nothing more," said the Rev. Clement McCoy, a professor at Oral Roberts University and prominent opponent of evolutionary theory. "Anything else is the delusional fantasy of a fanatical evolutionist mindset that sees only what it wishes to see in the hopes of validating a baseless, illogical belief system. I only hope these heretics see the error of their ways before our Most Powerful God smites them all in His vengeance."

Link

John McCain is a [pandering,] flip-flopping opportunist

2008-09-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm lifting this straight from Pharyngula, which, in turn lifted it from GooTube, which in turn, lifted it from The Daily Show.

This is pure brilliance, and actually, great reporting. Thank you, Daily Show.

Scientists Find Genetic Root of Opposable Thumb, Upright Gait

2008-09-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

Scientists found a section of human genome, earlier regarded as 'junk DNA' that plays a role in giving us our thumbs. After splicing this gene into mice, the test subjects developed what resembles a human thumb, seen as blue in this photo.

This gene differs from other animals by only 16 DNA letters, and resides near the section of code responsible for developing limbs in animals, which is why these scientists thought it might be of interest. It really goes to show how subtle changes in DNA can create such results.

In a side note, the article mentions that by the end of the year, it's expected that we'll have a "rough draft" of the entire genome of Neanderthal, which split from our ancestry 600,000 years ago, and died out 28,000 years ago.

<Editorial Rant>
I have a small bit of criticism for a quote in the article from Dr. James Noonan, genomicist at Yale University:

"It's clear, if you believe in evolution and genetics, that what makes us human, fundamentally, are DNA sequence changes that occurred in our divergence from chimps,"

Respectfully (seriously), Dr. Noonan - if someone doesn't believe in evolution or genetics, then they're either mis-or-uninformed (which is understandable), or informed but delusional. I might be reading into this quote a little, but if it was your knee-jerk reaction to sugarcoat that statement for science-denying fundamentalists, then I'd say don't bother. It's a nicety that we're better off dropping.
</Editorial Rant>

Link.

American Foreign Dependency, Trade Deficit, and Professional Imperial Army

2008-09-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

Bill Moyers recently interviewed Andrew J. Bacevich, author of The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism. Bacevich makes the argument that we Americans and the leaders we elect agreed with George H. W. Bush in that our way of life is not up for negotiation. We will have our cheap energy, goods, and credit - no matter what it takes.

We kid ourselves that we have an all-volunteer military, when in reality it's a professional imperial army. We try to remake the world in our image. Bacevich urges us to step away for a second and notice that our global military presence much resembles imperial England of the early twentieth century.

He points out how engaged Americans were during WWII (which was necessary for our defense). Life at home changed. Citizens were aware of what was going on, worked together, and sacrificed. When we began the occupation of Iraq in 2003, we were told to continue stimulating the economy by spending. We're in a global war on terror, and we're told to go to Disneyland?

We're comfortable running a deficit both as a nation and as individuals. We're not concerned with sustainability. This is all tomorrow's problem, we tell ourselves.

"...we the American people, refuse to look in that mirror. And to see the extent to which the problems that we face really lie within. We refuse to live within our means. We continue to think that the problems that beset the country are out there beyond our borders. And that if we deploy sufficient amount of American power we can fix those problems, and therefore things back here will continue as they have for decades."

Unfortunately, Bacevich says that neither of the current candidates for presidency will make a difference. The problem isn't just with the politicians - we're all responsible.

Watch online.
View transcript.

Book Analysis

2008-09-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

So here's a little background for this post. Religion is one of our topics. I'm an agnostic, and I find it interesting to talk to believers about their faith. I'm a scientist at heart, so I'll follow the evidence where it goes. I'm open to believers pointing out evidence in their favor. Of course, most of these conversations end with "why can't you just believe?", but it's entertaining anyway. I'm like that, I guess.

Anyhow, I came across a book awhile ago called The Case For Christ. Ostensibly written by an agnostic going on a "Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus", it sounded like an interesting exploration. Not surprisingly, perhaps, I was disappointed. The author, Lee Strobel, started from a certain point of view and structured the book to support that view. Well, that's how people make their points, but I'd hoped for a more objective investigation. Anyway, more recently I came across an online essay dismantling the book. The essay is well written and captures my dissatisfaction with the book far better than I could.

The essay was written by Scott Bidstrup. It contains links to other essays of his as well, one of which in particular I found fascinating: an essay about the origins of the Bible. It's long and detailed. At some point I want to go through it and look for corroborating evidence for his commentary, but much of what I read there was supported by materials I've read elsewhere.

I've long felt the old testament was basically the musings of a primitive people trying to explain the world around them. Bidstrup goes much further, providing historical context for why Yahweh's personality appears to change through the stories. He carries on the analysis in the new testament. Great stuff.

Protesters during McCain's Speech

2008-09-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

This guy is my hero:

There were more protesters but I'm still looking for good screen grabs...

Sam Harris: Palin not qualified

2008-09-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation writes a short but clear thinking article at the LA Times about McCain's poor choice for a running mate.

Do yourself a favor and skip the comments on the article as there are a good number of them that are truly frightening. If you still have any hope for this country, don't read them!

Read the article here

New Computer Game Inspired by Evolutionary Biology

2008-09-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

Will Wright, creator of Sim City and The Sims has done it again, but this time with a science slant. In Spore, you start out eating algae, trying not to get eaten. When you're big enough, you find a mate and lay an egg, representing the next generation of the species. Based on how many points worth of food you ate, you get to 'buy' features for your next generation, whether it be faster fins or a different mouth or nose. As you progress, you'll be able to add legs, a faster brain, and other more advanced features.

This game gives kids the basic foundation to see that small changes over (simulated) time can add up to make great change in a population. Yes, this is just a game, but when these kids are sitting in their 9th grade science class, they'll be able to relate the concept of evolution back to this game.

This is much like a suggestion that I've heard Richard Dawkins make when describing some of the more complicated happenings at the quantum level. He suggested a computer game where kids could see the double-slit experiment in action, but in a fun way. Anything that could plant the seed of abstract thought that would later be necessary for any of these kids to grow up into the world of physics.

Bravo, Will Wright. I look forward to Spore.

Link, via NPR

Update, 2008-09-09: in-depth game review by Ars Technica, here.

So what's the point?

2008-09-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

<WARNING>
This is not an inspiring mission statement, just a call to arms.
</WARNING>

A bunch of us friends routinely send out group emails with the latest news about how the Republican VP nominee is an uninformed (saying that our Founding Fathers included "Under God" in the pledge) pro intelligent-design-in-the-science-classroom creationist, or interesting article about a new scientific study that shows that praying for sick people that know they're being prayed for actually hurts their chances for recovery. Of course there's the random "did you hear that PZ Myers put up a good rant about that kid in Florida who might be sued for putting Jesus in his pocket?"

Oh, or maybe one of us came across an awesome rap song about the new CERN large hadron collider (LHC), or recently became fanbois of the Non-Prophets internet radio show, because... well... sometimes it's just nice to know that although 2,000 miles away, there are other rational people in this backwards country.

Well, those emails are eventually lost, and there are other people out there that wouldn't mind being part of the club... So, by all means - comment away. Trolls will be ignored - don't be a troll. If you're a fundie, we're probably not going to take you seriously anyway, thanks to Poe's Law... We'll probably think you were attempting clever sarcasm instead of seriously discussing how the rest of us will keep busy when you're raptured away, you ass-hats. I'll save you the speculation - we'll be lounging in your swimming pools, and rummaging through your underwear drawers, giggling like school girls.

I think this just about suffices for a kick-off post. We'll explore religion, politics, science, and whatever needs to be said.