Archive for October, 2008
Hitchens - Sarah Palin’s War on Science
In an election that has been fought on an astoundingly low cultural and intellectual level, with both candidates pretending that tax cuts can go like peaches and cream with the staggering new levels of federal deficit, and paltry charges being traded in petty ways, and with Joe the Plumber becoming the emblematic stupidity of the [...]
31Oct2008 | Admin | 1 comment | Continued
Really Cool Wallpaper for your Desktop
Navigate to Solar Voyager
30Oct2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
What would be the effects of unprotected exposure to the vacuum of space?
How long can a human live unprotected in space?
If you don’t try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a minute or so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have to watch out for when ascending, and you’ll have eardrum trouble [...]
Cybercrime wave sweeping Britain
Online identity firm Garlik’s cybercrime report claims that more than 3.5 million online crimes were committed in the UK last year.
The majority of crimes related to fraud and abusive or threatening e-mails. There was an 8% drop in online identity theft and sexual offences fell 2%.
Tom Ilube, of Garlick, said he expected to see a [...]
Faith is the Problem
By Bruce Gorton 30 October 2008, 16:55 GMT + 2
In The Times today, we had Jonathan Jansen writing about faith, crossing faith with morality, and basically trying to push a concept that has ended up taking the world down to hell in a handbasket as being good for the children.
Needless to say, as an [...]
Anti-Atheist Bigotry: Atheists Can’t Be Singled Out in a Crowd
How Can Atheists be Subjected to Bigotry if They Can’t be Identified?
By Austin Cline, About.com
Many traditional bigotries have centered around obvious physical characteristics: race, ethnicity, gender, etc. Because of this, some claim that there can’t be any serious bigotry against atheists because an atheist isn’t defined by any obvious physical characteristics. You can’t pick an [...]
An Ode to Militant Atheism
An Ode to Militant Atheism
By Stacie Adams
I regard religious belief the same way I regard racism; these concepts are so deeply ingrained in the human psyche that it is futile to attempt to right them. You can’t dissuade someone with rationality when their arguments are wholly irrational. However, I won’t demure from disagreeing with anyone [...]
Nearby Solar System Looks Like Our Own at Time Life Formed
A nearby solar system bears a striking similarity to our own solar system, raising the possibility it could harbor Earth-like planets.
Epsilon Eridani, located about 10.5 light-years from our sun, is surrounded by two asteroid belts that are shaped by planets, astronomers at SETI Institute and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced today.
But it’s the possibility [...]
Do Atheists Pose a Threat to Morality?
Atheism is said to pose a major threat to morality. Some theists claim that disbelief leads to moral relativism and undermines a major factor motivating prosocial behavior. Recent research can help us see what is true and false about these anxieties.
These issues have special resonance in the United States. A new survey by the Pew [...]
Lord’s Prayer questioned in Australian Parliament
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - The speaker of Australia’s Parliament has called for a public debate about whether the country’s lawmakers should end the practice of starting each session with the Lord’s Prayer.
Lawmakers have started every day of Parliament with the Christian prayer for more than a century - a tradition inherited from Britain during colonial [...]
George Carlin’s Last Interview
Ten days ago, on Friday, June 13th, 2008, I had the extraordinary privilege of talking to George Carlin. As far as I know it was the last in-depth interview he gave before he passed away yesterday at age 71. Originally it was slated to run as a 350-word Q&A on the back page of Psychology [...]
26Oct2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Resurrection of Sabbath Laws
The idea of legally enforcing a “day of rest” has lain somewhat dormant until recent years, but lately the cat-calls from the choir have begun increasing in volume. In Massachusetts, the state’s Council of Churches initiated a campaign to pressure various governments, schools, businesses, and civic groups to “respect” the “religious tradition of our churches” [...]
26Oct2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Student loan fugitives
When faced with unaffordable monthly payments and relentless creditors, some see leaving the country as their only way out.
NEW YORK (CNN) — Carl, a Florida native now living overseas, is afraid to move back to the United States. That’s because he can’t afford to pay his student loans.
Carl (who doesn’t want his last name used) [...]
Jordanian poet accused of ‘atheism and blasphemy’
AMMAN: A Jordanian writer was charged this week with insulting Islam after incorporating verses of the Koran into a book of love poetry, “Grace like a Shadow,” that he printed in June without government approval, his lawyer said. “The prosecutor general of a magistrate’s court in Amman charged Islam Samhan with insulting Islam and the [...]
26Oct2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Christian right intensifies attacks on Obama
Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts.
All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president, according to a new addition to the campaign conversation called “Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America,” produced [...]
Living in the Light of Naturalism
An Act of Tolerance
My deterministic outlook initially presented itself as an act of tolerance. When someone would do me wrong I would try to imagine those genetic predispositions and life experiences that led to their behavior. In this way, I was able to forgive them. This tendency of mine [...]
Can a Software Program Convince People that it is Human?
An experiment has been taking place in Berkshire to see if robots are capable of intelligent thought.
Scientists at the University of Reading tested five machines to see if they could pass themselves off as humans in text-based conversations with people.
The test was devised in 1950 by British Mathematician Alan Turing, who said that if a [...]
Hitchens on the McCain/Palin Campaign
With McCain, the “experience” is subject to sharply diminishing returns, as is the rest of him, and with Palin the very word itself is a sick joke. One only wishes that the election could be over now and a proper and dignified verdict rendered, so as to spare democracy and civility the degradation to which [...]
13Oct2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Living in the Light of Naturalism
How I Got Here
Time and memory being the mysterious creatures they are, for the most part it feels like I have always had my current naturalistic point of view, but when I think about it, I realize it’s been a long, circuitous, and sometimes painful evolution, beginning, oddly enough, with [...]
Palin Blurs Line Between Church And State As Governor
WASILLA, Alaska — The camera closes in on Sarah Palin speaking to young missionaries, vowing from the pulpit to do her part to implement God’s will from the governor’s office.
What she didn’t tell worshippers gathered at the Wasilla Assembly of God church in her hometown was that her appearance that day came courtesy of Alaskan [...]
Synod to Examine Modern Lack of Interest in the Bible
Pope Benedict XVI has opened a synod of more than 200 cardinals and bishops from around the world to examine the modern lack of interest in the Bible.
The Pope lamented what he called the harmful and destructive influence of some forms of modern culture.
This, he said, had decided that God was dead, and man was [...]
Saudi Cleric Favors One-eye Veil; Two-eyed Veil too Seductive
A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear a full veil, or niqab, that reveals only one eye.
Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive.
The question of how much of her face a woman should cover is a controversial topic in many [...]
India to Canonize First Female Saint
NEW DELHI — India is expected to get its first female Roman Catholic saint on Sunday at a time when Christians have increasingly come under attack in the predominantly Hindu country.
Christian leaders hailed the move to canonize Sister Alphonsa, a nun from southern India, saying it would provide solace to Christians who have been victims [...]
Plastic Film Could Make House Lighting Obsolete
NISKAYUNA, N.Y. - On a bank of the Mohawk River, a windowless industrial building of corrugated steel hides something that could make floor lamps, bedside lamps, wall sconces and nearly every other household lamp obsolete.
It’s a machine that prints lights.
The size of a semitrailer, it coats an 8-inch wide plastic film with chemicals, then seals [...]
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Earl and Fiona
This image from the GOES-13 satellite, taken at 10:32 a.m. EDT on Sept. 3, shows a huge Hurricane Earl northeast of North Carolina with cloud cover stretching over the northeastern U.S. A disorganized Tropical Storm Fiona is located in the bottom right of this image. Image Credit: NASA/NOAA Goes Project
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