Untitled Vanity Project

It's Not Just Christians Who Daydream About the Rapture

2011-05-23T16:58:00.000-06:00

Just Say Takei

2011-05-23T13:42:00.000-06:00

A bigoted bill in Tennessee? WHAT!?!? Can I get a fact check on this?

It's sad to think that my future 3rd wife could be in one of those elementary school classrooms as we speak . . .

The Rapture is Tomorrow

2011-05-20T16:02:00.000-06:00

Just came across this; only one day left to give all of your money to the poor.

Way to go NonStampCollector, couldn't have said it better myself.

Hot Cross Buns Are Here "For a Limited Time, Just Like Jesus"

2011-04-13T13:44:00.000-06:00

God I wish that was my line. New Zealand based Hell Pizza company has ruffled a few ecclesiastical feathers lately with their new billboard campaign for their Easter hot cross buns. The billboards place the phrase "For a limited time, just like Jesus" beneath a picture of the buns.

Not surprisingly, the ad has upset one or two devout Kiwis, but Hell Pizza director, and my new hero, Warren Powell responded saying that he "doesn't see how it could possibly be disrespectful to anyones religion. First of all, we're acknowledging that Jesus Christ may have been on Earth for a limited time [and] We may bring them back next year, and everyone's saying that Jesus Christ is coming back one day.” Since there is nothing I could possibly say to top him, I'll leave it at that.

Thanks to iol news for the story.

Happy Birthday Christopher Hitchens

2011-04-13T13:29:00.000-06:00

If you have ever read this blog before, you know how I feel about the Hitch. Happy birthday to maybe the greatest mind of a generation, may there be many more.

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot (Animated)

2011-04-10T12:04:00.000-06:00

Luke Muehlhauser just posted this at Common Sense Atheism, and I had to pass it along:

The Greatest Skeptical Cartoon Beat Poem of All Time (Tim Minchin's Storm)

2011-04-08T09:57:00.001-06:00

Some of the Best April Fools Jokes So Far

2011-04-01T13:41:00.001-06:00

Google is always on top of it. Check out some of their offerings for this year:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/uslocations/mountain-view/autocompleter/index.html Finally, a job option for the high speed clairvoyant.

http://www.google.com/landing/csfe/ Do you really love comic sans? Google has the research to back you up.

Want an App that lets you grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals?

Linkedin is offering to connect you with dead celebrities, just in case you haven't seen Hemingway since high school.

Hulu.com is offering it's customers a 1996 version of their menu page (just click anywhere on the page to get "back to the future").

Youtube is featuring the best in "1911 viral videos"

thinkgeek has created the Apple Store Playset, so that kids and adults alike can enjoy the experience of being talked down to by hipsters at the genius bar. Along with items like wireless extension cables, I recommend checking them out today.

Metro.co.uk Has unearthed an animal new to science (to the delights of 12 year old girls everywhere)

And, last but not least UVP is resurrecting the RickRoll with a Kevin Smith created muppets video.

Enjoy the greatest holiday of them all folks; I'm off to call the parents and tell them that because of a recent one night stand they are going to be grandparents.

New Muppets Bloopers Video

2011-04-01T13:07:00.000-06:00

So, I'm really late with this, but still a great day for a muppets video:

Extended Dr Who Trailer for 2011 Trip to America

2011-04-01T12:51:00.001-06:00

Swear to Thor, this is the last Who trailer for a while. I'm just drooling for a season with Stephen Moffat as head writer =)

The collected power of the upcoming Easter nerdgasm could power a small city.

First Full Length Trailer for New Dr Who 2011!

2011-03-30T10:55:00.002-06:00

Did anyone else catch the last Doctor's TARDIS at 37 seconds? Go to the YouTube comment boards for wild speculation on that =)

And BTW finally beat the Nerdist to the punch! Thx AJHorseGirl

Flying Robots Learn to Juggle

2011-03-30T10:44:00.000-06:00

Scientists teaching robots how to play sports . . . talk about the blind leading the blind.

Record Companies Sue for the GDP of the World

2011-03-29T15:27:00.000-06:00

It's no secret that record companies have fallen on hard times as of late. Sites like Pirate Bay and ISO Hunt are becoming more popular every day, siphoning off greater and greater percentages of an already dwindling income stream. At the same time, it's slowly dawning on any artist creative enough to do something new or interesting that Pro Tools isn't going to want to recoup expenses. Combine that all with an industry wide cocaine problem that it couldn't kick from the Mötley Crüe days and it's a recipe for disaster. Maybe it was these factors that slowly drove execs at thirteen different record companies completely insane.

A mere two years after the popular file sharing program had any relevance, thirteen different record companies have elected to sue Limewire for 75 trillion dollars. Yes, that is trillion with a "T," 17 trillion more than the estimated GDP of the world. That's right, in Batman Villainesque fashion, they want all the money in the world. Said one exec "Our initial suit was for eleventy-kajillion dollars until I was informed that eleventy-kajillion isn't actually a number."

The judge in the case, Kimba Wood (a name that should only be said by James Earl Jones as an animated lion) has already called the request "absurd."

While it's easy to think of the suit as silly or ridiculous, the record companies have based the amount of their claim on an interpretation of Section 504(c)(1) of the Copyright Act which provides for damages in any case where two or more parties are involved. If one extrapolates the fine for each case to the thousands of users trading millions of files on programs like Limewire, the number is still silly and ridiculous.

Happy Birthday Richard Dawkins!

2011-03-26T12:45:00.000-06:00

According to Pharyngula, today is Richard Dawkins' seventieth birthday, and since I'm not one for checking facts I'm going to assume P.Z. is right.

Happy Birthday Dawkins!

Damn gutsy for an atheist to give a speech in Virginia, much less a town named "Lynchburg"

WTF, OMG is now a word . . . LOL, I Heart the Oxford English Dictionary

2011-03-25T13:06:00.001-06:00

According to a CNN article, The Oxford English Dictionary, one of the world standards in determining English language usage, has recognized a few new words, and you are going to <3 all of them.

From now on, aside from being an excellent way to tell if girls at a party are too young for you, the words LOL and OMG are going to be included in the Oxford English Dictionary. Surprisingly, this won't be the first time that teenage girls have been the inspiration for new words; Modern research suggests Shakespeare had them on his mind when he coined the words "arouse," "obscene," and "bedroom," but scholars still debate the specifics.

In addition to the newcomers, FYI has made the cut, a mere twenty years after everyone but your aunt who sends you the YouTube videos of kittens stopped using it.

Last but not least, the word "heart" will have a new sanctioned usage as a verb; as in, "I heart nonsense like this" or "I heart it when they make it so easy."

Sure, some people are going to rail against this, and others are going to love it; me personally, I'm in the middle. But mark my words, if "friending" ever gets the go ahead, I'm taking my ball and going home, and I'll see my loyal readers on my new Spanish Language blog "Proyecto Sin Titulo Vanidad"

Dr. Who Prequel to the "Impossible Astronaut"

2011-03-25T12:24:00.000-06:00

Need I say more?

I swear someone at the Nerdist has an inside connection at the BBC, they always beat me to the punch on these.

Into Dudes? . . . There's an App for That

2011-03-20T19:34:00.001-06:00

Thank God he's not gay anymore!
Or should that be Xenu

I'm so embarrassed about that joke, mainly because 200,000 other bloggers are going to make the exact same one, but how could I not.

According to Slashdot, Apple has greenlit an app by Exodus International designed to help gay individuals become heterosexual. Apple considers the app to have "no objectionable material," giving it a four rating. So far, there is no report on how the app actually works, but I strongly suspect that it allows your Iphone to emit a small electrical shock whenever an attractive male walks by. Said a spokesman for Exodus International, "we are choosing to focus our efforts on the male gay populations because lesbians, while still sinners, are much much hotter than their male counterparts."

A petition has been launched by Truth Wins Out asking Steve Jobs to remove the app immediately.

***UPDATE***

Apple has removed the app. Now, IMHO this is a less than ideal outcome. I prefer people not to be censored, so I would have liked the rating changed on the app, but since I figured that was unlikely, I supported the petition to have it removed. It's almost impossible to strike a reasonable middle ground.

Super Perigee Moon

2011-03-19T17:12:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the late notice on this one, but if you get a chance to check it out, tonight is a super perigee moon.

I'll let the monotone voice over guy explain:

New Dr Who Short!

2011-03-19T15:58:00.001-06:00

A short for Red Nose Day Enjoy!

Two Amys!!! Clearly Stephen Moffat has been getting my letters!

Feel Like Your Real Estate Agent Isn't "Pro-Rape" Enough For You?

2011-03-19T13:53:00.001-06:00

I don't even know what to say to this . . . nothing like a little bit of rape to spice up an ad for high end condos, that's just business school 101

At least they maintained the horrified look in her eye right up until the end . . .

Physics Professor Ann Coulter Mouths Off About Topic She Doesn't Understand

2011-03-18T13:52:00.000-06:00

It was one thing when I just thought she was a bitch, but now she's not even living in reality; do you think she knows that The Hulk was fiction? The good news is that maybe she'll decide to irradiate herself.

Now that's just good science.

Oh, and just to clear things up, I am extremely pro nuclear power; I just think good science should be the promotion method, not Ann Coulter's imagination.

Celtic Woman Violinist Maread Nesbitt

2011-03-17T12:48:00.003-06:00

Oh great . . . One three minute clip and now I have a violin playing pixie fetish . . . that should be an easy one to satisfy . . .

Holy crap! She's so hot that the first time I posted this clip I forgot to make a joke about the dude in the leather vest! Fortunately I came to my senses . . . I'm thinking something in the Lorenzo Lamas/Renegade area, but these kinds of decisions have to be made carefully.

A Happy St Patrik's Day From Dr Who

2011-03-17T06:16:00.001-06:00

I don't know if you people realize how hard the average St Patrick's Day video on YouTube sucks; I mean, I almost went with John Mayer *shudders.* But, that was before I found this Flogging Molly/Dr Who fan video sitting at the nexus of a nerd-tastic vortex of awesomeness, and realized my readers would appreciate this waaaaaay more than something with leprechauns and rainbows.

Happy St Patrick's Day to all my fellow nerds!!! I'll be sure to have a green beer and toast to all of you.

"WikiLeaks Guy" Subjected to Cruel and Unusual Treatment

2011-03-16T11:08:00.000-06:00

The title says it all. According to a CNN opinion article Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier suspected of revealing classified secrets to wikileaks, has been subjected to cruel and unusual treatment in the Quantico Marine Corps Brig. Manning has been forced to sleep naked sans pillows or blankets on the grounds that he may commit suicide, even though Manning and his lawyers both contend that he isn't a suicide risk.

So, I could debate what is and isn't "cruel and unusual" treatment all day, but I really just wanted to give my friends at the military a little advice. First, there is a small chance that if you mistreat the "wikileaks guy," it's going to get out. And secondly, the naked thing again? Isn't it time guards at military bases learned a new tune? You're turning a very proud military tradition into the darkest reenactment of "Porky's" ever.

Happy Pi Day

2011-03-14T17:30:00.002-06:00

Thanks to the Nerdist, Chris Hardwick for throwing this awesomeness up, and for writing the song with Mike Phirman.

Oh, btw, the digits of pi are accurate =)

Good News! Dr Oz is Blowing the Last of His Credibility!

2011-03-14T13:14:00.000-06:00

Over the last seven years, we've known Dr Oz as Oprah's lovable lap dog; sitting up and begging Oprah for fifteen more minutes of fame, while promoting pseudoscience to bored housewives everywhere.

Among Dr Oz's favorite causes is the push for Integrated medicine. Integrated medicine being the practice of pairing alternative (pretend) treatments with traditional (proven to be effective by rigorous clinical trials) treatments. A practice which not only serves to further blur the line between effective medical interventions and dangerous pseudoscience, but one that can do real physical harm by promoting either unsafe treatments, or the forgoing of standard treatments in favor of magic based ones. Don't believe me? Whatstheharm.net

Another of Dr Oz's favorite tropes is energy based treatments. Although often safer (if paired with real treatments) because of the lack of a real effect, energy based treatments like reiki, acupuncture, and therapeutic touch are an even better indicator of Dr Oz's misunderstanding of physical reality. As Brian Dunning (of Skeptoid fame) once pointed out, energy is not a glowing orb floating through space waiting to cure us of disease if only we puncture the right meridians, nor is it an aura enveloping the human body to be manipulated by moving very slowly in lose fitting clothes in the park. Energy is the ability to do work. Under most circumstances, if the word "energy" in a sentence can't be replaced by the phrase "ability to do work" or "measure of ability to do work," it is being used improperly. I hate to say it, but Dr Who and Star Trek both got it wrong on this one *wipes away a single tear* as did Dr Oz.

But now Dr Oz, refusing to be outdone by Montel Williams, has decided to move away from promoting dangerous physical practices (at least for the day) , and focus on pseudo-scientific psychological therapies. On March Fifteenth, he will be playing host to charlatan, fraud, fake, con-artist, swindler, all round bastard, and reigning biggest douche in the universe . . . that's right, John Edward.

The focus of the episode will be whether or not lying about seeing an elderly man who liked doing things which involved stuff (thank you South Park) is therapeutic to the bereaved, or callously and maliciously manipulates their emotions in a way which lines the pocket of the cold-reader, and prolongs the state of trauma in which the victim of the con is living. I'd tell you in which camp I fall, but that might reveal my journalistic bias =)

Of course, as a skeptic, I'm required to keep an open mind about the existence of psychics; I can't prove John Edward is a cold reading fraud, but for his level of accuracy he might as well be. There are a myriad of honest cold readers who are capable of doing what he does, only better. In that spirit, I'd like to close with a video of Mark Edward doing a cold reading via a banana; undeniably the funniest use of a banana since Ray Comfort.

Quake and Tsunami Do a Few Really Cool Things

2011-03-12T11:50:00.002-07:00

While it's impossible to not feel for the masses killed or affected by the earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan, the power of the event is insanely interesting, so I though I'd share a few quick facts garnered from CNN.

The quake (an 8.9 in magnitude) managed to produce a wave reaching approximately 6 miles high upon reaching inland Miyagi (no Karate Kid joke necessary), which moved the island of Japan over 8 feet (according to the USGS), and shifted the earth on it's axis over 4 inches . There is no word yet on how the axis shift is going to affect the science of astrology.

The quake produced 160 aftershocks in the first 24 hours, 141 of which reached a 5.0 magnitude. Having been raised in California, I would like to point out that a 5.0 is still a severe earthquake; many people underestimate the power of aftershocks because of the tone they usually take in the news. Of course, the Richter Scale is an exponential scale, not a linear one, so an 8.9 earthquake is nearly 4 orders of magnitude more violent than a 5.0.

The tectonic movement responsible for the quake which caused the subsequent tsunami occurred over a 250 x 100 mile stretch of land, when the plates shifted by almost 60 feet

I GET TO SEE CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS!

2011-03-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

No real content here, I just had to brag to my loyal readers that Christopher Hitchens is coming to my town for a debate and I'm rocking a ticket.

Fort those of you who aren't familiar with the man, Chris Hitchens is a scotched up, chain smoking atheist who happens to be mother fucking brilliant. Yes, that is correct, "brilliant" would be an insult, you have to say "mother fucking brilliant" when referring to someone on the level of Hitchens; in fact, I think it's on the inside panel of the dust jacket of his last book.

Here's a quick look at him trouncing William Lane Craig

Up! Gets Real

2011-03-08T11:47:00.001-07:00

This is the kind of awesomeness engineers get to be involved in kids . . .

This is exactly the kind of science popularization we need. What better chance for a lesson in buoyancies, principles of air flow, the engineering problems involved in something like this . . . the list is almost endless.

Thanks to the Nerdist for the heads up.

Copying is Not Theft

2011-03-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

Since I plan on doing a post on internet piracy in the next few days, I thought I'd tease it with a quick video a friend of mine sent me from YouTube:

What I find truly awesome about this video is that if you go to YouTube, this is labeled as the "official version." . . . I wonder if they are aware of the irony . . .

More Free Science DVDs from HHMI

2011-03-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

Just a quick heads up; the Howard Hughes Medical institute has a new collection of free DVDs out, with topics like AIDS and Viral Outbreaks. I've mentioned the HHMI before, and if you haven't checked them out you really should. They provide completely free (not even a shipping charge) DVDs on science topics to anyone who requests them, all you have to do is create a user name (don't worry, there isn't any spam).

Their DVDs are accurate to the topic and well produced. Oh, and you can order multiple copies for learning institutions if you would like.

I Want a Four Legged Dog Robot!

2011-03-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

I expect at least one Star Wars - "walker" joke from my loyal readers =)

The voice over blows me away; this is maybe the coolest thing I have seen so far this year and somehow the engineer describing it makes it sound dry and boring. Scientists, please, for the love of God, read a book on PT Barnum. For the rest of you, if you know what's good for you, you'll watch this with the sound muted.

Gay Sex - Only One of These Gentlemen is Joking

2011-02-23T23:14:00.002-07:00

Or at least I choose to believe that one of them is joking. See if you can figure out who:

Quick medical caveat: if your penis looks anything like a spray bottle, get thee to a physician post-haste !!!

For the life of me, I've never been able to figure out why the specifics of gay sex are the concern of anyone but those involved. I'm just glad these two are bringing good science to an important issue.

Thanks to the Friendly Atheist for the second clip.

Evolve a Car

2011-02-13T22:47:00.000-07:00

Quick one today. The other night at skeptics in the pub, a friend of mine showed me this very cool web time waster. "Box Car 2D" is a program which develops a car using a genetic algorithm. The program throws together a "car" from random polygons and occasionally throws wheels on it. Twenty cars are tested to see which travel the furthest in the least amount of time, and the ones that perform the best "mate," to produce the next generation. In the beginning most of the cars are terrible, many not even having wheels, but after awhile through random mutation, (I recommend turning the program on then going and having lunch) the cars become more highly adapted to succeed in their environment. Given some time, very successful little cars make their way across the on screen obstacles. This is a great tool for explaining basic evolution through random mutation.

There is also a very fun option to make your own cars and test them . . . I'm pretty embarrassed how much time got spent doing that today.

Happy Darwin Day!

2011-02-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, February 12th is Darwin's Birthday; which, as most historians believe, is the event most singularly responsible for the rise of Hitler and the Jewish Holocaust. But did you know that according to religious leaders in the US, in addition to Hitler, Darwin can be rightly blamed for:
Note: I only made up the last one, the others are real.

9-11,
Polygamy,
Sodomy,
Infertility (although, that isn't really fair; if you encourage Sodomy there will likely be a drop in birth rates)
WWI,
Racial Tension,
WWII,
Charles Manson,
The Irish Potato Famine,
Jeffrey Dahmer,
Ted Bundy,
Cats and Dogs Not Getting Along,
and That Horrible Movie With the Top Two Contestants From Season I of American Idol

The list of perfectly logical tragedies we've experienced since the idea of "descent with modification," started keeping us from properly loving Jesus is staggering . . . I wonder if Darwin knew that his book would lead to Katrina flooding New Orleans when he was sketching those finches . . .

Fortunately, as a "Darwinist," my innate hate for human prosperity keeps me in good cheer despite all the horrific plagues my beliefs have beset upon the earth. Not only do I personally celebrate Darwin day by impregnating as many women as possible then relying on Malthusian controls to weed out the sickest and ugliest of the young, but I encourage others to do likewise with spectacular videos like this:

Happy Birthday Darwin!!!

Mark Knopfler is Perverting the Minds of Canadian Children

2011-02-12T02:56:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council or NAMBLA (cheers Daily Show) has recently banned the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" in perpetuity because it contains the lines "that little faggot has his own jet airplane, that little faggot he's a millionaire," citing the "Gays Are Weaker, Sadder, and Less Competent Than us, so Lets Protect Them and in Doing So Not Only Tacitly Imply Our Superiority, but Make Sure Those Limp Wristed Homos Know Where They Stand" bill of 2008. I agree, it doesn't have quite the same ring to it that "The Emancipation Proclamation" does, but you can't fault them for trying.

If you read this blog regularly you know how I feel about censorship, so I won't be taking that tack today. Instead, I'd like to point out that in trying to protect one group from discrimination, the CBSC has really discriminated against everyone. They are, in essence, saying that one group is deserving of their protection and yet other groups are not. But what about the other groups who aren't being protected? Is it ok to call me a "cracker" for being white? Is it ok to call me "nerd" for having a favorite Dr Who writer (Stephen Moffat girlish squeeeeee), what about calling me a "lazy bastard" just because I'm . . . well, a lazy bastard? Why am I not being protected from any and all offensive language that might sully my virgin ears or cause me a moment's distress? Are gays better than me? Or, is it exactly the opposite, are they weaker and in need of more protection? What about lesbians, they are gay, but is their unique ability to play club level unlimited arc softball somehow protecting them from homophobic slurs and thus miking it unnecessary to protect them in the same way as the fanny bandits? Write me a letter if you can figure out what political correctness demands, because I've never been able to figure it out.

CBSC, let me say on behalf of the groups you've chosen to ignore that we are insulted and outraged by your ridiculous censorship laws, and let me say on behalf of the group you've chosen to patronize that they're insulted and outraged by your ridiculous censorship laws.

But, who am I to sermonize, the CBSC has spoken, and if there is one law of the land I always respect it's pompous, sanctimonious, Canadian governing bodies in wigs. So, seeing as "faggot" is out, I figured I'd write a quick list of some of my favorite terms for gay men, and maybe my readers can toss a few back. Remember, only your favorites, we are looking for quality, not quantity

He-dyke
Ass-bandit
Poo-puncher
Puppet-master
Queermosexual
Pole Dandy
Cock Gobbler
Prison Straight
Interpretive Dance Fan
Dandy Whore-hole
and finally . . . Tom Cruise

For a complete list, watch any special with Lisa Lampanelli, the Queen of Mean

And, since the post would never be complete without including the video so offensive as to warrant immediate action, here it is:

The Hamsters are Coming

2011-02-11T09:52:00.001-07:00

Despite my repeated warnings to the U.N. and their subsequent banning of mail both physical and electronic from my addresses, the hamster threat has gone unchecked for years. Now, the hamsters have begun building sophisticated weapons technology. Clearly based on mid 70s ILM Tech, watch here as android-hamster project code named "princess," becomes a reality while the hamster's willing human slaves cheer in delight.

Even our cat allies seem to have been rendered impotent by their walking devices . . . We must stop them!

Clockwork Pac Man Blows My Mind

2011-02-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Why? Why do men climb Everest? Because it's fucking there =)

The Pactuator: a clockwork Pac-Man from Jonathan M. Guberman on Vimeo.

All the comments on the net are about how cool the clockwork mechanism is, but did you guys notice the carvings around the outside? Unbelievable . . . Namco needs to get this guy on their design team.

Mormonism Youth Group Video

2011-02-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

Found this on the friendly atheist, and there isn't a joke I could make that would make it sillier, so here . . . enjoy

On a side note, the guy who did the animation for He-Man sure had some strange hobbies.

Evolution Made Them All

2011-02-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing the church has taught us over the years, it's that if a little kid sings it with an overly sweet timbre, it must be true. With that in mind, Evolutions Made Us All

Evolution Made Us All from Ben Hillman on Vimeo.

If You Want Me to Believe in God

2011-02-04T18:10:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite thought experiments for believers is to ask them “assuming you had absolute proof that God doesn’t exist, irrefutable unquestionable evidence (impossible I know, but it’s a thought experiment) would you be willing to accept that, and change your lifestyle to fit your new knowledge?” In a way, this is related to my post about being wrong, but I won’t go into that here.

Most believers will try one or all of a few tactics. The first common tack I see is claiming that “there could never be any evidence like that,” which is a clear ploy to avoid running the thought experiment to begin with, or a handful of the more self aware believers will admit that they are like Flanders, and could never let the proof out.

But, the variation of response I’m interested in talking about here, is the more debate prone believer who fires back with the question “what evidence would make you believe in God, and could you accept it if it were presented to you.”

Since I’m running the thought experiment as fairly as I can, I’m forced to say that I could and would accept proof of a God were such proof up to the proper standards, but wouldn’t be happy about it. Should God exist, he is an absurd entity, who allows the suffering of millions and refuses to care for and protect his own creations. But I digress; what interests me, is what that proof could be. So, with that in mind, here is a short and undoubtedly incomplete list of things that would make me reconsider (none of these would lead to an instant reprisal on my part) my stance on God:

Direct Interaction: If God decides that I am the new Christ (unlikely, if only because of my hatred of lepers) and directly speaks to me, I would be forced to at least question my belief in the divine. The skeptic in me says that mental illness would be a way more likely explanation for direct communication for God, but fairly running the thought experiment, and assuming that was ruled out; this would make me question my stance.

Direct, Timely, Apropos Evidence of His Effects on Earth: Preachers make a habit of taking floods in New Orleans (even though the worst flooding was in Christian, not debauched, districts), attacks on the world trade center (even though the vast majority of those killed were Christians) and flocks of dying birds (even though there are clear explanations for cases like these) as evidence of God having an impact here on earth, but just like with Nostradamus, these are “post-dictions,” not “predictions.” It is easy to look back on an event and create a post hoc rationalization for its being related to morality here on earth, or prediction in the bible, but it is much more difficult to say “tomorrow, at three p.m. God is going to flood the two hundred block of College avenue via rising levels of the Poudre River,” even though if God was truly in contact with these men, that would seem like a simple request. On the other hand, if it was shown that a man of God was able to call down lightening, or produce tsunamis on demand, I would be forced to reconsider my stance on God. Again, the skeptic in me says that it is much more likely for this to be a new form of technology, as Arthur C. Clark said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic (or God in this case),” but I would be willing to take another look at the issue.

Prediction of the Future in Holy Books: The world is filled with people claiming that their book has been predictive of the future, and the thing many atheists refuse to cede is that if this were true, it would be excellent evidence of a God. The problem is that it’s not true. Holy books make predictions of things like “wars between large nations,” (how on earth could they predict that one) “unpopular political leaders,” (dear God, the prophets were truly divine), and “natural disasters occurring,” (well now I’d be nuts not to believe). What I would need, is a prediction that said something like “in 1970 AMC Gremlins will start combusting due to a poorly thought out gas tank configuration; the AMC will recall the cars, but it will do irreparable harm to their public image, even though the Gremlin will remain oddly popular with small collectors groups well into the 21^st century.” If someone finds me a Qur’an with that information on page forty-two, I’ll reconsider my stance.

Untimely Scientific Knowledge: Recently someone tried to convince me of the accuracy of the Qur’an by pointing out to me that the stages of fetal development are referred to in more or less morphologically accurate terms, e.g. a leach for the first formative stage. The problem with this is that the seventh century was a time in which most pregnancies would have ended in miscarriage, and because humans had developed sight by that point, this isn’t a surprising piece of information for humans to have during this period. Similarly, another friend tried to convince me that the bible’s reference to a round earth proved that it was true, but by that logic I should believe in Zeus, seeing as Eratosthenes had already measured the earth’s diameter to within one percent of its true value. What I would need, in order to reconsider my stance, would be a bible with the math governing nuclear reactions in relation to relativity, and some of the variances that would be expected based on quantum mechanics. Again, if someone gets me a bible with this printed on page two hundred sixty four, then we’ll talk.

Efficacy of Prayer: Medical knowledge is pretty well established in this day and age; if you lose a limb, it’s probably gone for good. Bearing that in mind, if a church prayed for an amputee, and without any other intervention, the limb began to grow back, I would be forced to reconsider my stance on religion.

I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones springing to mind at the moment. So what’s the point? Other than to placate zealots, why am I creating a list of the conditions under which I would possibly alter my opinions on God? The point is that NONE of these things has ever happened, not a one, and yet people still argue that there is “proof,” for the existence of God. An adherence to the status quo does not constitute proof, nor does the universe and it’s residents operating in direct accordance with natural law, and NEVER deviating, not once in the course of 13.7 billion years. Proof for god would entail alterations to physics, changes in nature, and deviations in course, and that is something we simply do not see.

If you have your own examples of things that would make you reconsider (not abandon, but take a second look at) your atheist/agnosticism (whichever term you choose to identify with) please leave it in my comments section; I look forward to the responses.

"Do You Know How Many Times Science Has Been Wrong"

2011-02-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

“Do you know how many times science has been wrong?” I heard this during an argument recently, and it’s an old classic for people with tendencies towards magical thinking; it’s the “Sound of Music” of being irrational if you will.

The idea here is that since science has been wrong in the past, we can’t take any of its findings seriously. Scientists didn’t immediately spot Piltdown Man as a hoax, so evolution must be incorrect. Under certain conditions, the age of fossils can't be accurately judged, so the earth is six thousand years old. Zoologists didn’t confirm the existence of the mountain gorilla till the twentieth century, so the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot have tea together when it’s convenient for both of them; though, it’s hard to schedule between appearing in grainy photographs and lightly brushing the bottom of boats in a relatively geographically unimportant stretch of water in the Scottish Highlands.

It's an argument based on the very human fear of being wrong, but science is SUPPOSED to be wrong. Scientists use the best evidence available to determine the workings of the natural world, as new evidence is presented they adjust their views. It’s a process that inevitably leads to two things: having to admit you were mistaken occasionally, and developing better, more accurate pictures of how reality works. Sticking with mistaken ideas to avoid appearing “wrong,” is what members of the clergy do when they cling to beliefs that are demonstrably false, it's what holocaust deniers do when they refuse to accept evidence contrary to their beliefs, and that is exactly what we must never do if we want our knowledge of the world around us to grow.

The reason you know that the big list of “science’s mistakes,” were mistakes is that scientists love the idea of finding out when something isn't right. After years of painstaking efforts dedicated to understanding just a small facet of the world around us just a little bit better, a team of researchers gleefully announced that there was a mistake in our understanding of nature. Scientists correct science, not science deniers. Never in the history of time has a psychic, through visions brought on by ether and cigarettes, refined our understanding of the math involved in quantum mechanics. Using science to prove that science is bullshit is like my dog chasing his tail in the living room; eventually he will get tired, dizzy and confused, and end up falling over and breaking the lamp.

Mistakes are not bad, we learn more from our failures than our successes, and if there is one thing to be learned from the mistakes of science, it's not that science can't be trusted, it's that when we look at new frontiers and push our understanding, we are going to have to write in pencil, because we are going to make mistakes; that is the fun in trying to understand our world. There is no greater joy than finding out that there is a deeper level on which to understand something. As Isaac Asimov said, "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not Eureka! But rather, 'hmm... that's funny..." It will be a sad day when mankind is never wrong, when there are no new discoveries to be made, and no new frontiers to understand, when we never hear the words “hmm . . . that’s funny,” again.

Collection of Thoughts: One

2011-02-02T15:09:00.001-07:00

I'm going to try something new with today's post; depending on the response, I may do this a little more often, but it definitely won't become the norm. Today, I'd like to hit on a few issues, none of which I'm really inspired to write a full post about, but that I want to address. With that in mind, here's a few thoughts on a few things:

Red Letter Christianity:

I have been hearing this belief espoused more and more lately; "I don't believe in all Christian ideas, I just believe in the moral teachings of Jesus." In fact, one of my best friends considers himself to be a "Red Letter Christian" (so named because Jesus' words in bibles are typically in red.)

Now there are all sorts of issues with this. Jesus recommended castration in parts of the bible, in the gnostic gospels there are references to him using his divinity to murder a child, and in Luke, he requests that his enemies be brought before him and slain, but those aren't my biggest issues with Red Letter Christianity. My biggest issue with Red Letter Christianity is Jesus' teaching that “It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

I cannot and will not support a man who encouraged censorship. The marketplace of ideas is the most important of human-human interactions, and is our only road to progress as a species; it allows us to evaluate what is true, to push for new understanding, to work together in the effort to grow. Men who do not support that are dooming humanity to mediocrity.

As a side note, what kind of religion can't survive the words of men? Shouldn't God's protection of his favored faith be enough to fend off the slings and arrows of persecution. Seems to me to be a very impotent deity.

Tax Breaks for Churches:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Bam, it's thought number fucking one in the Bill of Rights; the state shouldn't create or sponsor religions, and yet over two-hundred years later, the government is still tacitly endorsing faith by allowing for unconstitutional tax breaks. Regardless of the morality of a business or enterprise, the government has no place supporting one business over another. The government has no right to give tax breaks to God and not strip clubs, and while I have my opinions on which is better, (can you guess which one =) it is unacceptable for either one not to pay their fair share. Constitutionally, religion and debauchery are required to receive the same amount of support, that is to say none.

On a political note, they are also the ONE business that could never fold because of increased taxes. If it weren't unconstitutional, I'd push for them to pay five times what the rest of us do in taxes, and finance the deficit, but I'm not looking for unfair treatment of the church, just parity

You have to admit, it's less crazy than [insert item here]:

I hear this all the time in defense of various religions. "Well, you have to admit that Christianity is less crazy than believing in Norse thunder Gods." Now I could go into a big logical diatribe: . . . false dichotomy . . . . invalid form . . . failed deductive, and poor inductive reasoning, but aside from being boring, other posters have done it better than I could. Instead, what I'd like to argue is that: no, your religion is not less crazy.

Religions, more or less by definition (because of their inclusion of faith), are making claims without evidence. There is just as much evidence for Thor as for Jehovah, just as much evidence for Valhalla as for Heaven, and just as much evidence for their creation myth as yours (I'm not looking it up). They are equally "crazy," and without evidence they will remain equally unjustifiable claims. Have faith if you like, but realize that faith requires "craziness," if by craziness you mean believing in the absurdly unlikely.

If You Go to Jail You Lose Your +1 Mace

2011-01-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

Technically, I believe these gentlemen are playing
Warhammer, but my nerdiness has failed me in this case.

In a decision that can only be described as baffling, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rolled a two, and ruled (in a case decided last September but just released) that "cooperative games [in this case Dungeons and Dragons] can mimic the organization of gangs and lead to the actual development thereof." That's right, Dungeons and Dragons promotes gangs.

For those of you who haven't played (women and the coordinated) Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game in which players take on the role of a mythical character and battle their way through scenarios using dice to determine outcomes.

Because of the ruling, long time dungeon aficionado, and one can only assume virgin, Kevin T. Singer will not be allowed to carry his trusted twenty sided dice behind bars. An absurd decision considering the problems our prisons are facing with prison rape; no guard alive has stopped more sexual encounters than a pair of dice and a D&D manual.

Obviously it's extremely easy to joke about this topic (suggested areas to start with include: the keisterring of twenty sided dice, a shiv with +3 to shower rape, and anything about figuring out exactly how much gold a blowjob and a pack of cigarettes are worth), but this is exactly the problem with the lack of critical thinking in our correctional/law enforcement system. Every year I hear about cuts to law enforcement, overcrowding in prisons, and reductions to the pensions of hard working men and women in uniform, and this is the reason why. Now, I'm not necessarily saying that these programs have all the funding they need, but what do you think it is costs to enforce nonsensical rules like this? Guards are literally going to have to watch that the dice for Stratego aren't being used in a dungeon and dragons like manner.

Take the time to laugh at this story, it's hilarious. But, when you finish reading, bank it in the back of your mind, remember it, remember the waste of time, money, and human concern that can come from a lack of logic and critical thinking; because, if enough of these stories end up in enough minds, maybe things will start to change.

Science is Beautiful: Macropinna microstoma

2011-01-27T15:30:00.001-07:00

Known to science for over seventy years, but not photographed alive before 2004 Macropinna microstoma or the Pacific Barreleye Fish is among planet earths odder residents. The eyes (the green bulbous domes which appear to be the "brain" in the video) are encased in a clear domed lens like structure. The dark spots on the front which look like eyes are actually its nostrils. Living over two-thousand feet below the surface, without modern technological and scientific advances, we may never have had the privilege of seeing this beautiful animal up close.

China Builds Jet-Propelled Water Cannon

2011-01-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Proving that the Chinese are taking the "Asians have small penises" stereotype badly, China has built a jet-propelled water cannon to aid in fighting fires in urban areas. The Canon is capable of delivering over four tons of water per minute over four hundred feet, and cost nearly half a million dollars to build.

Check it out:
e>

Mammoths May Be Making an Encore

2011-01-17T16:05:00.001-07:00

According to a report in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, (of which I never miss an issue) and re-reported by CNN, a team of Russian, Japanese and US scientists are attempting to clone a a mammoth using DNA recovered from frozen remains found in Russia, which is perfect because I am sick of taking my Toyota to the gym. The crotch-rocket guys are getting sort of snarky and it would be nice to put them in their place with a saddled up mammoth.

The cloning process begins with inserting DNA extracted from remains of a frozen mammoth into the egg of an African elephant, hopefully creating a mammoth embryo which can then be gestated by an African elephant surrogate.

The team is being led by Akira Iritani, a professor emeritus at Kyoto University in Japan. Who is building upon techniques developed by Teruhiko Wakayama of Kobe's Riken Center for Developmental Biology, who recently cloned a mouse from DNA which had been frozen for over 16 years. Kinki University (which may be the greatest alma mater of all time) professor Minoru Miyashita will be tasked with actually implanting the embryo into the African elephant, and will be sorely missed after his violent and tragic death during the procedure.

To those who question the value of such a task, let me remind you just how funny it is to watch a biologist descend into alcoholism after realizing he has chosen to study fungi for the next forty years of his life, instead of possibly be the man who brought back the mammoth.

I for one can't wait to see the end result of the project, as well as the looks on the faces of the researchers when they realize just how few facilities are designed to house a sixteen foot tall eight ton mammoth.

Thanks to CSURaven for sending me the story.

A Good Clown Can Assist in Knocking You Up, but not in the Way You Might Imagine

2011-01-17T12:15:00.001-07:00

Bear with me here, I'm going to do everything I can to not make a "clown car/vagina joke," but I'm only human.

According to an article on CNN.com, a study recently carried out at the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Zrifin, Israel, indicates that women were 16% more likely to become pregnant after undergoing in vitro fertilization when clowns entertained them with "jokes, magic tricks and other comedic acts;" in addition, the study strongly supports the conclusion that Israeli doctors have way too much time on their hands.

The study’s principal author, Dr. Shevach Friedler, a graduate of the Jacques Lecoq school of mime and theatre in Paris, France, physician specializing in IVF, and 2011 winner of the UVP award for most disparate fields of study was quoted in a 2006 Nature.com interview as saying, "My background is in clowning and movement. I'm also a physician who works in IVF. I thought we could combine the two." [QFT] Dr. Friedler experimented with squeak toys and boxers tied to excessively long ropes of handkerchiefs before moving on to direct entertainment by clowns, but found that internal preparations were not only ineffective, but significantly reduced the size of his Ob-Gyn practice.

The proposed mechanism for the effect is a reduction in the severe stress experienced by those undergoing IVF, but critics have pointed out that finding clowns funny is a strong indicator of mental illness, and thus further research is warranted.

All kidding aside, this is an excellent example of an area of study that would seem absurd at first glance yielding extremely interesting and important results. Infertility is one of the most painful setbacks a would-be parent could experience, impacting millions of couples each year, and without Dr Friedler being allowed enough freedom to head in interesting directions, this information wouldn't have been brought to the attention of the medical community.

During the 2008 election, Sarah Palin mocked fruit-fly research as being unimportant, silly and a waste of money, without understanding the importance of general research, and the knowledge of genetics which has been garnered from such studies. These types of statements from someone so close to the White House paired with near constant reminders in the news of importance of "silly" research should impress upon science supporters just how critical it is to push for funding and autonomy in the scientific arena. Regardless of how you vote, support science.

But at Least She Didn't Vaccinate Him

2011-01-16T11:27:00.004-07:00

According to ~~child abuse~~ baby yoga enthusiast Lena Fokina, this treatment strengthens your babies body, and enhances energy between mother and child. I can't really argue with her on either count; steel pins implanted by a surgeon before your skull has fully knitted would definitely "strengthen your body," hell, maybe he'll end up fighting crime with his new bionic powers . . . or he'll end up in a scoliosis brace. And, from a strictly physics perspective, she is transferring a lot of energy to that child.

I would love to make some point about how modern science has demonstrated that babies joints and bones are still developing and need to be treated with care, that child rearing based on evidence and a rational understanding of the world works best and produces the healthiest children, that education of parents is paramount to any society flourishing. But, if you have ever seen footage of an ape caring for it's young, you know that science, rationality, and a strong intellect aren't necessary for basic child care. The flying spaghetti monster gave gibbons more sense than this woman.

Warning: You can see this video by pressing [play] below, but you can never "unsee" it.

Interestingly enough, the reason the video cuts off at 5:27 is that 5:28 through 1:15:36 is just a social services S.W.A.T. team relentlessly beating this woman with night sticks . . . at least that is the way it goes in my mind.

I don't think we do enough shunning these days, I'm up for a good old fashion shun.

Thanks go to CSURaven for making me hate humanity this early on a Sunday.

Being Gay Kills Flocks of Birds . . . Now That's Just Good Science

2011-01-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

I think we all knew it was eventually going to come to this. The gays have grown tired of each other and are fucking birds now, at least that was my take away.

My favorite part is "God is speaking to us, but we don't always know what he's saying." That sentence should have been followed with "but since I'm holier than all of you, I'm willing to interpret from on high."

As frustrating as this is, it's actually an excellent teaching moment; this is a great example of Confirmation Bias. In confirmation bias, we come to a conclusion then tend to notice the hits (which confirm our preset belief) and forget the misses (which would tend to invalidate the belief). One of the more common examples of this is the belief that people are particularly crazy, dangerous, violent, or accident prone during a full moon (which is actually where the term "lunacy" comes from). Full moons come and go every month, usually without incident, but when an incident does occur, we often notice the full moon and think to ourselves "ah, it's a full moon, that is why there were so many car wrecks on my drive home tonight." Statistical studies have shown over and over that there is no basis for the belief, but (by definition) we only notice the things that we notice, so we never see the near monthly evidence that the belief is false.

In much the same way, Cindy Jacobs has started with the preset belief that God punishes sinful behaviors, so when an incident occurs that could be interpreted to confirm the belief, she is ready and waiting to remember that hit. She hasn't factored in the thousands of gay pride parades which occur annually without birds falling from the skies, the millions of homosexual acts which occur without killing the birds roosting nearby, and the fact that many bird species, for instance penguins, have actually been shown to demonstrate homosexual behavior themselves. But, as of yet, no one has found two gay penguins, in flagrante delicto, little legs akimbo blowing each other. She has fallen victim to a case of confirmation bias.

Now, as much as it pains me to say it, this isn't her fault. The human brain is wired to see patterns were none exist. , and her mistake here is one that we all make every day (although, usually our variants of confirmation bias don't tend to lead to human rights violations). I for instance truly believe that if a program is running poorly on my computer, it helps keep it from crashing if I sit and watch it run. There is no data to confirm this, and absolutely no logical reason it should be so, but my brain has noticed a pattern (by remembering the hits and forgetting the misses) and developed a "superstition" if you will; and isn't that the basis of all religions?

My Crush on Buzz Aldrin Continues

2011-01-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

Buzz Aldrin is a bit nuts, but at least he is an insane for good; I'd way rather he be with us than against us =)

Thanks to CSU Raven for sending me this.

Happy New Years

2010-12-31T17:55:00.002-07:00

Happy New Years

A Few Quick Thoughts for Those Traveling by Plane

2010-12-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

Air travel has always been a deeply spiritual, almost meditative experience for me. Sure, I hate weather delays and TSA sexual assault protocols as much as everyone else, but there is no better place to reassess your life than trapped in an aluminum tube at thirty six thousand feet with people you wouldn't hire to scrape gum off the sidewalk. In addition to the personal "wakeup call" benefits of flying, nothing brings out the warm, jubilant spirit of mankind faster than being herded like sheep to an area where they will be photographed naked and groped . . . fa la la la la . . .

Anyways, since over the next few days so many people are going to be grinding the enamel off of their teeth, making fists so tight their nails break the skin, and praying to their dear and fluffy lord that they can maintain their wits long enough to avoid bitch slapping a skycap, I thought I'd toss out a few quick airline videos.

First, the good: German passengers (that's right, the Germans have picked up the baton of personal liberties) are protesting backscatter body scanners with nude demonstrations in airports. Two thoughts here: First off, I wasn't there for the sixties, but from what I understand this naked photographs of children in airports bullshit would never have gone down. What the hell happened America? And secondly, you will NEVER be safe. If you have any doubts about that, read Phil Plait's "Death From the Skies" You could die at any instant for absolutely no reason; if that thought makes you uncomfortable, tough; life is going to kill you. To this day, death is batting a thousand; relinquishing the sanctity of your own body to feel a bit safer is not only a sprint towards fascism, it's ineffectual. You are way more likely to die in your car on the way to the airport, or swimming at your destination, or from the saturated fat in the shitty airline food than you are to ever have an issue with violence on a plane. 9-11 scared all of us, but it's time we regrow our collective pair and get on with our lives.

What a strange happenstance that the cameraman chose to focus on the toned woman in her twenties . . .

Now for the bad news: In what I can only assume is a meta-protest against the Russian school system, passengers stranded at a Moscow airport due to weather conditions have started to angrily drum and pound in protest. At the writing of this post, there has been no response from "weather," but the demonstrators are hopeful that it will acquiesce to at least some of their demands. Exactly why the Russian demonstrators are so eager to board jets with iced up wings and taxi down skating-rinkesque runways is uncertain, but I think we can all relate to being willing to plummet from the sky rather than eat one more god damn Wetzel's Pretzel.

A Few Thoughts on Christmas

2010-12-25T12:33:00.002-07:00

Garfield had his shit together, none of that sanctimonious Linus bullshit. Have a great day guys!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone Tim Minchin - White Wine in the Sun

2010-12-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

Undeniably my favorite Christmas song. Tim Minchin embodies skepticism and reason better than most of us, and he manages to completely sum up why I love the holiday; he's gotten rid of the bad without losing the good; skeptics take note. Have a great day everyone.

The Pogues & Kirsty McColl Fairytale Of New York

2010-12-24T12:23:00.001-07:00

Alright! That's it! Nominations are officially closed for my Christmas songs list, no fucking clue where all of you were a week ago when I was struggling. Credit for this one goes to a buddy of mine, but I'm pretty sure he found it on the Nerdist or some other aggregator, so not 100% sure where the credit lies, he doesn't have a blog so I'll just tell you once again to read the Nerdist.

By the way, if you are into Irish rock, the Pogues are a great band to check out (though I was almost forced to disqualify them from my Ipod because of their association with that awful Hilary Swank movie, "P.S. I Love You," the girl I was dating forced me to see it for her birthday and in retrospect I should have just dumped her on the spot, I won't be seeing that movie again if it's playing in my eyelids)

BTW, Best line: "You scumbag you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot"

Newsong Christmas Shoes (With Critique by Patton Oswalt)

2010-12-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

So, I meant for Tim Minchin's "White Wine in the Sun" to round up my Christmas selections; it is by far my favorite Christmas song, by one of my favorite performers.

But, as always happens, I stumbled across something too amazing to skip. If you are Christian or deeply unlucky, odds are you are familiar with "Christmas Shoes" by the band Newsong.

Newsong does something I like to call "sucking in the name of the lord," which is my term for this weird idea that Christians have that it doesn't matter at what skill level you can perform, so long as you are trying to praise Jesus (though, I find it telling that it's how they pick their pop bands but not how they pick their heart surgeons, Jesus is important and all, right up until the point where someone needs to inflate a balloon in your arteries).

Anyways, Newsong delivers on the trope in spades: hack lyrics, incompetent musicianship, but damned if they don't say Jesus every eight bars.

The reason this song wasn't going to make the cut was that I couldn't seem to find a good video of the Patton Oswalt bit on the song, and without that I would just be left with the diseased rantings of a syphilitic mind that is "Christmas Shoes," and I hope you all trust me enough to know that I would never NEVER do that to you. But, when a reader came through and found an animated version of Patton Oswalts Christmas shoes that wasn't available last time I looked, I couldn't resist, so without further adieu "Christmas Shoes," followed by the commentary of a man funnier than I will ever be, "Patton Oswalt." (oh, and if you love this song, or find mocking deeply spiritual people offensive, what the hell are you doing reading my blog?)

I recommend checking out about 30 seconds of this so you get the gist only if you haven't heard it.

A Garfield Christmas

2010-12-22T16:33:00.002-07:00

This is really just a present for me =) I defy anyone not to get choked up when Odie gives Garfield his present. Oh, and don't worry everyone, I'll be back to my science based, nerd powered sarcasm in three days.

Space Station Sighting Opportunities

2010-12-21T17:28:00.001-07:00

So checking out the lunar eclipse last night reminded me of this very cool site someone turned me on to a few months back. Because the space station's orbit is only 173 to 286 miles above sea level, it is visible every couple of days from earth, and Nasa has put up a sighting opportunity calculator to help you know when and where in the sky it is visible from your location. It's a very cool chance to see one of the most impressive feats of engineering in human history. Sightings are easiest on moonless nights and when the space station is closest to directly overhead, and it looks like a slowish shooting star. Good luck, and keep watching the skies (I know, I'm a hack)

Oh, BTW, NASA puts out a free downloadable calendar every year with images from and of the space station, you can check out the PDF here, and even download it in HD resolution. If the HD is rough because of the speed of your net, you can get the link to the non HD version here.

Google Ngram Viewer

2010-12-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Google, in their drive to take me from "marginally unproductive" to "inanimate pile of goo" has released yet another awesome time waster: the "Ngram Viewer." Using the Ngram Viewer you can search the database at Google Books to see the prevalence of different words in the human library in various languages. For instance, I used it to search "Science" and "Religion" (good news, science has passed up religion, but we were getting our asses handed to us for a while).

Here is another one comparing "Faith with Evidence" (awesome news on that front as well)

Check it out, and if you find something cool be sure to let us know about it in the comments section.

Credit goes to CSURaven for letting me know about it.

Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

My guess is most of my readers have heard about this, it would be sort of hard to miss even if you weren't into science news, but there is going to be a lunar eclipse tonight (or tomorrow morning depending on how you want to think about it).

As we all know, the lunar eclipse happens when we have angered or displeased the Moon God in some way. If we want to survive into the new year, I recommend blood sacrifices, drinking sacramental wine out of a goat skin bag, and orgies. But, since that advice just makes good sense most nights anyways, I'm probably preaching to the choir.

The eclipse should reach totality at 2:41ish EST, and last about 72 minutes. For more information, check out this link.

Dr Who Christmas Song

2010-12-18T16:30:00.001-07:00

I'm still in love with Karen Gillan, even if she is as tone deaf as my newfoundland.

Sheryl Crow & Eric Clapton - Merry Christmas Baby

2010-12-17T16:32:00.001-07:00

You have no idea how big a pain in the ass this was to get, couldn't find the video with decent sound, so I eventually decided to strip the sound off and put the CD audio in it. If it doesn't line up perfectly, you spend your afternoon fixing it =P I've decided it's good enough!

So, in the spirit of doing a half assed job, here is Eric Clapton and Sheryl Crow with Merry Christmas Baby

South Park Christmas Songs

2010-12-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

It's a very South Park Christmas

Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
Tags: SOUTH
PARK more...

What you think the joke is here says A LOT about you:

Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
Tags: SOUTH
PARK more...

B.B. King & John Popper - Back Door Santa

2010-12-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite version of the Clarence Carter track. If this doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will.

Pope Leers at Half Naked Men

2010-12-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

It's almost like they're in on the joke at this point:

I've seen gay porn straighter than that

Via PZ Myers over at phrayngula

Will Vinton - Claymation Christmas

2010-12-14T18:11:00.001-07:00

Thought I would get all the Carol of the Bells ones out of the way in one day:

BTW, if you haven't seen Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas, it's one of my favorites.

Nobody Does Christmas Like the Muppets

2010-12-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

(Pretty sure I had this one up here before, but I don't want the reader who can't watch this twice)

Weird Al Christmas Songs

2010-12-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Weird Al gets a bad wrap, but if I hear one more alt comedy loving, UCB worshiping, Largo going, indie comedy fan bash him, there is going to be hell to pay. Sure, some of his stuff seems dated, when you're in year thirty of your comedy career lets see how your early stuff stacks up. Anyways, here are two classic Christmas songs from the accordion slinging one himself: Weird Al Yankovic.

(oh, and "Christmas at Ground Zero" predates 9-11 by about 15 years , so I don't want to hear it)

Enjoy:

Minnesota Metrodome Collapse

2010-12-12T11:52:00.001-07:00

In their defense, what kind of prophet could have predicted snow in Minnesota?

Steve Martin Holiday Wish

2010-12-12T11:17:00.002-07:00

At least he starts out on a good note, that is better than I would do.

The California Raisins - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

2010-12-11T20:34:00.002-07:00

That's that good ol' time family racism =) but I can't help but love it.

On a subnote, I've always loved that the other reindeer suddenly accepted Rudolph when he could help them. Remember children, there's nothing wrong with bigotry . . . unless the person can assist you in some way.

Bonus Factoid: Did you know Canadians sing "like Wayne Gretzky after the "you'll go down in hist-o-ry" part? Canada, shit like that is why you are never going to get to be the fifty-first state.

Jonathan Couton - Chiron Beta Prime

2010-12-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, Christmas music is unfathomably bad, and if you are lucky enough to be working retail this time of year it's probably on an 8 hour loop. So, in the spirit of the holidays, I'll be posting a few Christmas songs that don't suck. To kick things off, here's Jonathan Coulton with Chiron Beta Prime:

I've Never Seen Something Make More Sense - Norwegian Celebrity Lip Sync Vidio

2010-12-03T16:12:00.001-07:00

World's Biggest Stars Lip Dub Let It Be - watch more funny videos

Bonus irony points to them for including Fab Morvan from Milli Vanilli

Leaked Craig Ferguson Dr Who Cold Open

2010-12-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

This was pulled from a recent Late Show recently because apparently Craig didn't have the rights to the music. But, fortunately for us, someone over there knows how to use YouTube (I'm looking at you Mr, Ferguson).

Quick thought: Why is Matt Smith wearing a cleavage shirt?

Via the Nerdist

Axis of Awesome - Four Chord Song

2010-11-21T11:59:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don't know me in person, I used to be a music teacher, and for those of you who do know me in person, I'm sorry you have to hear this lecture yet again.

To be perfectly fair, they are playing a bit fast and loose with the keys, but the general sentiment is dead on. (oh, and you would be shocked how many songs don't even use that fourth chord)

Visual Representation of Contradictions in the Bible

2010-11-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

This is a great visual representation of the contradictions of the bible from project-reason.org, each red line connects a bible verse to another one (in some cases two or three) that directly contradicts it.

Thanks to CSURaven for sending me this, here is the full sized PDF version.

Giving up Logic for Sex

2010-11-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

When did I give permission for a television program of my sex life?

I suppose it isn't compromising your values if it's for a really good cause.

Jonathan Coulton - The Presidents

2010-11-05T20:47:00.000-06:00

I just felt electiony (is too a word)

Engine Falls Off of Plane - Pilot Calls it a "Technical Issue"

2010-11-04T14:58:00.000-06:00

This guy must have balls of steel. This was recorded shortly after an engine fell off of this Airbus A380 . . .there fictional action stars who don't have this kind of steely resolve.

You can clearly see damage on the wing. I don't know if people would be able to understand my intercom message with me sobbing and continually screaming "for the love of God, we're all going to die!!!"

Play With Gravity

2010-11-03T17:02:00.000-06:00

This seemed like the kind of thing that my readers might like, it's mildly addictive if you have the right temperament.

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

2010-11-02T13:39:00.000-06:00

I've been working on some personal stuff and another side project, so you've been getting the stuff I can just throw up here with a quick one-liner, but I couldn't forget to tell everyone to GET OUT AND VOTE!!! Lord knows the [I couldn't decide which group to slander, insert whichever makes you want to vote most] will.

To the readers who have continued to stick around through my time off, I should be back with new regular posts shortly. But, in the meantime, you should all give The Michigan Skeptics "Drunken Skeptics" podcast a listen. It's hosted by CW (Chris Lindsay) who you may recognize as a regular commenter here, and Michelle Lester-Bell; I'll have a real review of one or two of their episodes up in a week or so, but they are already two postings deep since I promised them a plug.

Comic via xkcd

They Might Be Giants Make It Looks So Easy . . . Oh Well, This Is Pretty Good Too

2010-11-02T10:30:00.000-06:00

Via Nerdist

A List of Things Your Parents Might Not Have Mentioned

2010-10-26T04:54:00.000-06:00

Via the Nerdist

Pee Wee Herman - Don't Do Crack

2010-10-18T18:35:00.000-06:00

Sometimes great art is unintentional:

See other classic anti-drug weirdness here.

Taking the Day Off

2010-10-17T12:37:00.000-06:00

Richard Wiseman On CBS

2010-10-16T16:33:00.001-06:00

Dear God!?! is that an evidence based researcher on a morning show? . . . Dammit I'm hallucinating again, I knew it was a bad idea to give up coffee.

Sure, they're trying to reduce a guru of experimental psychology to a glorified weight loss expert, but I still see this as a step in the right direction.

A quick personality test, while we are on the topic of Wiseman

The Simpsons Deal With Bears and Logical Fallacies

2010-10-16T14:10:00.000-06:00

Specious - Superficially plausible, but actually wrong: "a specious argument."

Homer falsely attributes the lack of bears to the bear patrol, this is a type of "false cause fallacy." Should I be bothered that cartoon makers seem more in step with logic and reason than do news editors? This year when you vote, "won't you please think of the Simpsons!"

Oh, and I've brought you this clip at great personal risk, I hear that Fox has roving death squads set up to "take care," of bloggers who post clips from their shows =)

Horse Psychic in Her Own Words . . . Mostly

2010-10-16T05:04:00.008-06:00

Over the last year or so, the wife of a good friend of mine has been working a few hours a week at a ranch cleaning, feeding and exercising the horses. The owners of the ranch are hard working friendly people who have been extremely inviting to her and my friend. Unfortunately, like many others all over the world, they are being exploited by a talented and clever con-artist; they have hired a horse psychic.

Here, is her unedited about page, with some thoughts of my own:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Work & Contact Me

What I do

I have the ability to work telepathically. (mainly because it beats doing real work) This enables me to work mind to mind with animals. (no no no, the line is "grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals" . . . at least that is how Rex Harrison sang it) I am not a pet “psychic.” I need to ask an animals permission before I can work with them. (Dear God! pet psychics are mind rapists!) I am able to see animals mental pictures, which I translate (she probably means "interpret," that's not a joke, it's just a pet peeve of mine) into words for their human. I also can send pictures to animals when I need to explain something to them. (are different parts of the brain involved in sending versus receiving, because in electronics the difference is non-incidental ) I work back and forth between human and animal in an effort to create understanding between them. My job is not to demand or force an animal to do anything. It is not possible nor would I choose to do so.(It's like I always say, if you are going to have an imaginary trade, ply it ethically)

My agreement with the animals when I started to do the communication work is; I translate as accurately as I am able what an animal shows me. That means no editing on my part. (here I'm split, I'm not sure how I feel about the free expression of made up thoughts a horse might be having) I realized early on my job is to relate the animals point of view.(That's the first thing they teach you in horse-psychic grad school)

I work with all species.(except humans, who unfortunately have the ability to contradict what I say)

Phone work

Most of my work is by phone. (I don't want to have to shower and get dressed before I lie to you) I work by appointment, Monday – Friday. I do half hour and 1 hour sessions. I prefer to set up appointments by phone. Send me an e mail with your phone number and I will call you back. (I'll just have my horse send you a visual image of the number . . . did you get it?) I am not much of a techie. I find e mail does not give me a good sense of people. (yes, cold reading is much harder in text based conversations) The only information I want about an animal is: name, species, sex, age, and breed. (Hold on, you can probe the animals inner most thoughts and feelings, but the chicken vs. horse isn't going to make it across the phone lines?) I do not want to know what the situation is. It is better for me to go in without knowing what is going on. I have learned the work is cleaner this way. (plus it denies me the opportunity for a high probability guess)

On Site Work

I also will come to your home within a 40 mile radius of Ft. Collins, Colorado.. I charge a driving fee on top of my regular fee. It is fun for me to be there with a human and their animal or animals. The work is the same telepathically.(back to this whole phone idea, do the thoughts of the horse travel through the phone line, or do you just hear the thoughts of every animal around you, like an even creepier version of "What Women Want")

Specialties

Horses, I bring a lifetime of working with horses to the table. This enables me to draw on years of training and instructing experience along with being able to see what a horse is showing me.(wait, if you can communicate directly with the horses, why do you need training and instruction?)

My other specialty is animals who are dying. (The sign of a truly healthy mind indeed, wasn't that Dahmer's specialty as a child?) My human clients find it helpful to know how their animal is feeling and what they need or want as the animal goes through what they call the dying rhythm movement. (By the way, "The dying rhythm movement" is the name of my new indie rock band) Animals have taught me a great deal about dying over the years.(for instance: people are easier to take advantage of when they are emotionally vulnerable)

Disclaimer

The work I do is not a substitute for professional veterinary care. It can be complimentary to veterinary care, never a substitute.(You're going to want to talk to someone who knows what they are doing, it increases my odds of being misperceived as useful if the horses don't die from a lack of medical care)

Contact Sandy at:

(Not on your life Sandy, I only linked to your site for ethical reasons of my own)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's easy to laugh at the idea of a horse psychic; in fact it's sort of hard not to, on one of her other pages she says she is "one of God's slow children," and she has a reputation for supplying owners with their horses "true Irish names." But, this woman charges between 80 and 100 dollars an hour to lie to people who are in emotional turmoil with a sick or dying pet.

As this is being written, the owners of the family run ranch I mentioned above are having money troubles; they are having to sell off livestock and make due with fewer employees. This woman is contributing to the loss of jobs, the loss of a family ranch, and the loss of dignity of those involved. Go ahead, I dare you, post "what's the harm?"

Indie Skepticism by Jeff Wagg

2010-10-15T13:52:00.000-06:00

Jeff Wagg of Rational Alchemy has started a project called Indie Skeptics, the idea of which being to give a voice in skepticism to those who don't have one. From the about page:

"Indie Skeptics is a project started by Jeff Wagg to give a voice to people who have something to say about skepticism, but no place to say it. Maybe they don’t want to start their own blog, or perhaps they want to say something that wouldn’t be appropriate for their normal organization – whatever the case, they have a voice here."

I think this is an incredible idea, say what you will about skepticism but it can often be a daunting discussion to enter, and it would be great to see more people getting into the fray without having to give up things like sun tans, sex and leaving their basement in order to make 3+ blog posts a day *ahem*

While we are on the topic of Jeff Wagg, I'd like to give Rational Alchemy a plug. Rational Alchemy (available on itunes) is our local skeptical podcast hosted by Brian Walsh, Jeff Wagg, and Nigel Aves. Like other podcasts about skepticism, you can expect a discussion of current science events and woo, but thanks to KRFC in Fort Collins, it is also one of the only skeptical shows around to have a terrestrial presence. The access to traditional radio makes Rational Alchemy tremendously important to the goal of reaching the 99.9999% of people who aren't going to search: Skepticism while on itunes support them. Like the saying goes, "listen once download twice."

Americans Woefully Misunderstand Global Climate Change, But There's Hope

2010-10-15T11:57:00.000-06:00

There is a story bouncing around the blogosphere (I still hate that word) right now about a Yale survey concerning American's understanding of the state of the science on global climate change. The results were unsurprising. Most American's knowledge of climate change, 52%, is at the F level, and only 8% have enough information on the topic to score at the A or B level. Considering the state of science literacy in our country, and the politicized nature of this topic these numbers seem about right to me.

Specifically:

43% of Americans don't know that the greenhouse effect refers to gases in the atmosphere that trap heat.

50% of Americans fail to understand that global warming is caused mostly by human activities.

55% don't realize that carbon dioxide traps heat from the Earth’s surface.

Three out of four have never heard of coral bleaching or ocean acidification.

And large majorities incorrectly believe that the hole in the ozone layer is connected to global warming, leaving them inadequately prepared to judge potential solutions.

This is of course atrocious, but there is a bright side. Only one in ten Americans said that they were "very well informed," on the issue; while this might not seem like a "bright side," one of the major obstacles to science education is peoples over confidence in their understanding of the topics involved. As opposed to issues like evolution, in which people overestimate their knowledge drastically and tend to refuse further education, when it came to climate change 75% said that they would like to learn more; 75% also said that there should be education about climate change in schools, with 68% supporting national education programs.

I for one plan on seeing the glass as half full. We have a very long way to go in educating the public about global climate change, but it seems that they are willing to learn.

Inattentional "Deafness" - Joshua Bell

2010-10-15T04:53:00.003-06:00

Inattentional Blindness (or in this case deafness) is the phenomenon of being so focused on one activity, for instance avoiding eye-contact on the subway, that you fail to notice unexpected events around you. It's a product of the limited processing power of our brains; if you devote processing power to one area, you will inevitably reduce it in another.

In a striking example of this phenomenon, Joshua Bell, possibly the worlds greatest violinist, busks for nearly an hour in a DC subway. In total, seven people notice the virtuoso, and he makes thirty-two dollars and change while playing his three million dollar Stradivarius.

Via the Washington Post and The Invisible Gorilla

But You Have To Admit, Religion Has Its Upside

2010-10-14T14:31:00.001-06:00

Quick question: if I love Buddy Christ enough,
can I get into heaven?

Yesterday, I posted about an upcoming debate between Christopher Hitchens and Tony Blair, in which the topic will be whether or not religion, as a whole, has been a positive thing. In the post, I more or less made the point, that even if there were pragmatic reasons for tolerating religion (which I’m not sure there are) I’m unwilling to trade my autonomy of thought for a slightly smoother running society (damn I’m having trouble not dropping a Godwin’s Law foul).

After the posting, LadyAtheist responded by saying that “Some of the music is nice. The earliest hospitals were run by the church. Religionists take care of the poor ... when they feel like it. Religion hasn't been 100% destructive. I think it's hyperbole when Hitchens says religion ruins everything, but it definitely has a HUGE downside.” Now, let me say that I have tremendous respect for LadyAtheist, she reads and comments on a lot of the same blogs as I do and is always reasonable, logical, and expresses herself well; the reason I am responding to this notion as a post, and not in my comments section is that this is a very common idea, and one I staunchly disagree with.

To me, this is a clear example of the false cause fallacy, more specifically, confusing correlation with causation; while it’s true that music, medicine, democracy, art, science, etc were invented and developed by religious people, they are in no way a product of the religion itself.

For instance, music was, for thousands of years, an entirely religious enterprise, and some of the greatest pieces ever written were written in reverence of God, but I think it is selling geniuses like Bach short to conclude that they would have been unable to write with such prolific brilliance about topics other than God. Debatably the most stunning musical mind in history was that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who regularly wrote pieces to be performed in bars for drunkards. In fact, just as a bit of trivia, the early church banned the use of the tritone (a musical interval), which is particularly important for playing any music beyond Gregorian chant; if anything, they hindered modern music.

In terms of medicine, the church may have held back modern medicine more than any other entity via their condemnation of science based practices during the dark ages (if they can really be called “science based”). And, their attempts to keep knowledge out of the hands of laypeople undoubtedly robbed the world of great medical minds. That being said, even if one was to conclude that the church’s interest in medicine was a good thing, it would still be more attributable to the people than the religion. Humans want to care for one another, we don’t want to see suffering, and I give the people of the age credit to think that if they had never invested their faith in the church, they still would have tried to care for the sick.

So here is where I take my comeuppance: I do agree that there are adaptive aspects of religion, the main one being community. Art, science, music, medicine I’m firmly of the belief that people would have developed all of these things without religion, and quite possibly developed them in spite of religion; community however . . . for some reason that is different.

Skeptics, atheists and agnostics have been putting a lot of effort into developing communities as of late: skeptics in the pub, TAM, free thinkers groups. And, while I applaud those efforts, they just don’t seem to equal church for the bonding and the connectedness it provides, and which people need.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating maintaining ludicrous religious beliefs just for the community, what I’m saying is this: while I’ll give religion credit for its few positives, I’ll only give credit where credit is due.

Richard Wiseman - The Color Changing Card Trick and Ten Quirky Science Tricks for Parties

2010-10-14T05:27:00.002-06:00

I"m a huge fan of Richard Wiseman, and since I plan on reviewing one of his books either today or tomorrow, I thought i'd prime the pump with some of his best videos.

These are a load of fun, the kids at the Boys & Girls club flipped over the putting the candle out with "air" bit.

I think the first time I saw that clip I felt . . . uneasy, as though I knew I had missed something, but was unsure what, but I'll admit, the man fooled me. BTW, did you see the gorilla?

Mr Show - The Audition

2010-10-13T22:40:00.002-06:00

No setup, I was just in the mood for some David Cross.

Christopher Hitchens and The Value of Religion

2010-10-13T14:40:00.002-06:00

According to The Independent, Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens are planning a debate in Toronto over the value of religion, with Blair defending the motion: “Be it resolved, religion is a force of good for the world,” and Hitchens taking pot shots at that laughable notion in his charmingly British way. However, I do need to applaud Blair on his instincts to take on Hitchens while he is ill, maybe he’ll get tired and the verbal beating about the head will be shorter and less intense.

I’ve always been confused by this notion that believers sometimes slip into when dealing with atheists that, “ok you don’t have to believe it, but you have to admit it’s done a lot of good.” Of course, I vehemently disagree, but that’s neither here nor there, what really bothers me is the casual way in which they condemn humanity to a false construct. In one sentence, they sweepingly endorse our embrace of the imaginary simply because it does some “good.”

A positive outcome is not the only reason to search for truth and understanding, it is not the only reason to investigate the universe we inhabit, and it is not the only reason to assess God in an intellectually honest way; in fact it’s almost tangential. The beauty of intellectual pursuit comes in the understanding itself, not in what it yields.

George Bernard Shaw famously said, “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.” I would add that a pleasant society founded on lies and superstition will never be superior to an honest one.

Tolerance is Great . . . Until You Start Passing Laws

2010-10-13T04:44:00.000-06:00

Ah xkcd . . . teacher, mother, secret lover.

The Bunny Effect - And Why You Don't Remember Disney Land As Well As You Think You Do

2010-10-12T18:57:00.001-06:00

One of the most common points of contention between skeptics and true believers is the value of memory and eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness accounts, (better referred to as anecdotal evidence) are used to prop up beliefs in: ghosts, aliens, God, sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster, all sorts of CAM (complimentary and alternative medicine), among other equally dubious claims.

The debate is usually over the importance these anecdotes should receive. To a scientific skeptic, anecdotes are an excellent indicator of where we should look to find an actual effect. In terms of medicine, it helps guide us as to which phenomena should be the topics of pilot studies, in zoology it can help us to locate and identify species which are legitimately new to science, and in terms of the paranormal it helps us understand exactly which guests should be avoided at dinner parties. But in and of itself, anecdotal evidence is not compelling. There are simply too many ways for our memories to be mistaken.

Since so many of us operate under the erroneous assumption that our eyes are a video camera and our brain is a hard drive, believers are often taken aback at this. One gentleman I was recently discussing this topic with even became irate, shouting that "I was there and you weren't" and demanding that I "stop calling him a liar," when the truth was, I was merely pointing out the flaws in all human memory, not specifically in his, but the distinction was at that point, I'm afraid to say, lost.

It is undeniably hard to accept just how constructive our view of reality is, and just how fungible our memories are, but by better understanding the topic, we may be able to avoid some of the pitfalls of our human fallibility, this is the point of science.

What follows is a short series of videos from 60 Minutes demonstrating some of the foibles of human memory. The expert they are interviewing is Elizabeth Loftus, and while she is a polarizing figure due to her involvement in sexual abuse cases, the science contained in these clips is very representative of the general consensus on memory.

Scientists Create Fearless Zebra Fish

2010-10-12T14:35:00.000-06:00

According to a Science Daily article, researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute have identified the neural pathways governing fear response in Zebra fish. This is, of course, all very interesting and has implications for the treatment of PTSD as well as a multitude of phobias in humans, but far more importantly, this means:

a. I'm one step closer to my unholy army of fearless zebra fish.
b. There is a guy out there with a PhD who just spent weeks of his life scaring the crap out of zebra fish via electric shock.

The science is actually very cool, "Using fluorescent tracers, [researchers] identified a specific pathway connecting the lateral nuclei of the habenula (HbL), via the dorsal interpeduncular nucleus (dIPN), to a structure likely to correspond to regions in the mammalian brain implicated in the modulation of fear behaviors." Transgenic zebra fish, with this connection severed, were then found to freeze in place in response to fear, showing that their fear response had been impaired.

It's odd to think of something as visceral and immersive as intense fear as being a brain phenomenon, but with each step neurologists make we find out more and more that we are merely the product of brain activity.

Sex in a Long Term Relationship Gets Complicated

2010-10-12T05:07:00.004-06:00

For what it's worth, I fantasize about Bruce Campbell too . . . oh, and to all of you who saw the title and thought "how would you know," excellent work, you've been paying attention!