“It doesn’t seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil — which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama.”
Category Archives: Kool Stuff
Caturday’s Astronomy Pix for May 20-26, 2012
English: Partial Lunar eclipse (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A Partial Eclipse Over Manila Bay
A Close Pass of Saturn’s Moon Dione
A Partial Solar Eclipse over Texas
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Launches to the Space Station
All the Water on Europa
Scorpius in Red and Blue
At the Edge of NGC 891
English: SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Mockup? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Caturday’s Astronomy Pix is a weekly installment, published each weekend between 7:31 and 8:30 AM, with links to each daily entry on NASA’s website Astronomy Picture of the Day. I hope you enjoy looking at these often breathtaking images as much as I do.
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5th Day’s Links Sceptique for May 24, 2012
So far so good, this is another consecutive week when I’ve found time to get off my duff and post an installment in this series. My time management skills are improving…
For those with a phobia of spiders, listen up: A paper’s been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of a promising therapy that changes the brain’s response to fear. I know someone (You know who you are, wink, wink…) who could benefit from that.
This gives me a little hope of a victory for reason over rationalization: Climate-change denier (not the contrarians or sceptics, mind you, just the deniers) organizations are doling out the rope they’ll use to hang themselves — the long term consequences of using dishonest tactics to promote an ideological agenda based on faulty premises and flawed reasoning — What can I say?
For us nerds, James Doohan’s, ‘Scotty’ of Star Trek, ashes have been launched into space on the SpaceX falcon rocket.
Also for us nerds, there’s Mythbuster’s Adam Savages 13-year Quest to Build a Real Sci-Fi Gun…
The topic that never dies — alleged Bigfoot genetic samples will be analyzed as Oxford University goes Yeti hunting — *sigh*
Ancient, dinosaur-aged bacteria are living like Spartans (minus the swords, spears and shields, of course) at the sea bottom to this day.
Here’s the complete coverage of the SpaceX launch to the International Space Station…
For this morning’s video,using the unaltered faces of celebrities, an optical illusion known as…
The Flashed-Face Distortion Effect
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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5th Day’s Links Sceptique for May 17, 2012
I hope your Norse Storm Hammer God’s day is doing better than expected. This week, I’ve got a few interesting bookmarks that I just had to evilly inflict upon you, my unsuspecting readers…
MuaHaHaHaHa!
*ahem*
First, I’ve found a piece on Big Think that’ll prove very handy in debating theists on social media like Twitter, Getting Apologists to Go Off-Script…and making them think on their own for a response to inquisitive atheists!
Well, I’ve done a bit of posting on Blaise Pascal’s pet argument this week, but for every argument around for that long, there’s a counterargument — so forget Pascal — I’ll place my bet on the Atheist’s Wager instead!
Should atheists leave religion alone? — As the author suggests, hardly. Especially when would-be theocrats strive evermore to keep their social privilege and get more of the same in the culture wars with secularists.
Space is big — mindbogglingly big, more so than our monkey brains can easily handle — and here is how we go about measuring the universe despite all that.
This is something I’ve posted on myself as a recurring theme on this site, but not as well as this on The Curse of Certainty and the Liberating Embrace of Uncertainty, on NPR…
Once again, that cranky English guy who gave us gravity and the Laws of Motion is making the rounds in a set of incredible videos of Ike Newton’s experiments with alchemy…and some of the chemistry tricks that alchemists used to con people into thinking that they transmuted elements…
Looking for new ways to get better search results? Google Knowledge Graph: Search Results Packed with Worlds of Information — ’nuff said.
The search for the mythical Mokele Mbembe is on! (Again???) Jurassic Lark? Expedition to Seek Living Dinosaurs in Africa — Ah, more fun from the cryptozoology enthusiasts — even as untrained amateurs, they just might discover something of interest, but I’m not holding my breath on it…
This touches on one of my favoritest (sic) topics — on extraterrestrial life, somewhere, in some form — The 6 Most Likely Places to Find Alien Life.
On two of the less illustrious and campier episodes of the original Doctor Who series, its in-your-face politics!
Finally, though I’m hardly fit to determine how much of this is real, it looks good and totally rocks, too!
Dr. Who Meets Metal!
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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Caturday’s Astronomy Pix May 6-12, 2012
Original caption from NASA: “S103-E-5037 (21 December 1999)— Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery recorded this rarely seen phenomenon of the full Moon partially obscured by the atmosphere of Earth. The image was recorded with an electronic still camera at 15:15:15 GMT, Dec. 21, 1999.”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the Center of the Omega Nebula
Supermoon Over Paris
The Light of Stars [video]
Shuttle Enterprise Over New York
Green Flash and Super Moon
Sun vs. Super Moon
The Hydra Cluster of Galaxies
Earth and Moon taken from 50 million kilometers by Deep Impact (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Caturday’s Astronomy Pix is a weekly installment, published each weekend between 7:31 and 8:30 AM, with links to each daily entry on NASA’s website Astronomy Picture of the Day. I hope you enjoy looking at these often breathtaking images as much as I do.
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5th Day’s Links Sceptique for May 10, 2012
Well, this week has been fairly uneventful, with some interesting discussions over the past few days, including a debate with a troll on Twitter which I found rather amusing — but I’m being evil again, and I need to quit that for now…
This is something I thought was pretty cool, the Munker Illusion, one that really plays havoc on the human perception of color.
Here is an interesting post on why can smells unlock forgotten memories.
Also, Greg Laden poses an important question, “Should there be a Science Debate in Minnesota?”
As an interesting historical note, an article on Brain Pickings, The Age of Insight: How Art and Science in Early 20th Century Vienna Shaped Modern Culture
I almost forgot to post this link — Oops! — on the identification of neurotransmitters that lead to forgetting.
This is a nice time-lapse video on spectacular aurora borealis in Norway, and the accompanying tunage isn’t bad either.
Also in the news, researchers at MIT have developed something really cool…the first self-replicating, self-assembling machines using magnetic cubes, though at present the research is limited to using 2-dimensional objects due to the size and processing ability of the cubes. It’ll be fantastic once they scale this up to larger and more durable 3D objects.
By A.C. Graying, a video I posted on The Unconsidered Life.
Also, some very good reasons offered by bdwilson1000 on why Common Sense is Worthless in Science…
On TED, sculpting waves in wood and time…
A post I had fun posting earlier this week on Critical Thinking and Motivated Reasoning…
And finally, courtesy of the Left Hemispheres blog, reblogged here, and don’t forget to skip to 3:30 in the vid to get to the meat of the talk…
Daniel Dennett: Is Science Showing That We Don’t Have Free Will?
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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TED – Michael Tilson Thomas: Music and emotion through time
How did classical music develop over the centuries, in written notation, fairly recently the record, and more recently, the re-mix?
We’ve all inherited thousands of years of accumulated musical conventions and taste. Here’s a historical tour of one of our most enduring cultural legacies… Enjoy.
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Caturday’s Astronomy Pix for April 29 – May 5, 2012
PIA08335 Helene (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A Dangerous Sunrise on Gliese 876d
Aurora Over Raufarhöfn
Higgs Boson Explained by Cartoon
Saturn’s Moon Helene in Color
M106 Close Up
Fermi Epicycles: The Vela Pulsar’s Path
Full Moonrise
Cycle of pulsed gamma rays from the Vela pulsar. Constructed from photons detected by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Caturday’s Astronomy Pix is a weekly installment, published each weekend between 7:31 and 8:30 AM, with links to each daily entry on NASA’s website Astronomy Picture of the Day. I hope you enjoy looking at these often breathtaking images as much as I do.
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5th Day’s Links Sceptique for May 3rd, 2011
The 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is back this week, after a several week hiatus…My bad.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if H. P. Lovecraft trod the dark path of “Dear Abby” and “Anne Landers? Here is the advice column of the Author of Providence, and the eldritch horrors unleashed upon the people who write him…
This article on Freethought Blogs by Ben Radford notes that “People Don’t Read, and Why it Matters to Skepticism…” This is something I’ve noticed myself now and then over the last 4+ years of blogging.
My friend Steve on G+ sent me this a while back — an exquisitely drawn book on marine life using an artistic style originating in the Bihar region of India…
Here’s a Periodic Stress Test — see how you score! — on Scientific American…
So you think Lolcats originated with the Internet? Think again — here are examples of the humorous kittehs of the 19th century! Thanks to my friend Kate for reminding me I still had this bookmarked 
Neat! It seems that recently, the researchers of CERN have uncovered a new kind of particle using the LHC. It’s discoveries like this that can open up brand new areas of research…
Feel like getting real? Here’s A Look at the New Skepticism…
Here’s a parapsychologist I can respect, Stanley Krippner, and even James Randi likes him! That’s saying something, in my book…
A good discussion on the Psychology of Fraud: Why Good People do Bad Things, and why I find it more helpful to understand even charlatans.
David Brin discusses the Need to Restore Optimism to Science Fiction, and the need is more urgent than many suppose, after with story after story being dystopic or otherwise dark ‘n gloomy…
Here’s An Optical Illusion that Explains the Origins of Imaginary Monsters…
Why we ignore science — What’s Rational About Risk?
The answer to a common question — What has science ever done for us?
And, my favorite Astrophysicist responds to the question…
Atheist or Agnostic?
5th Day’s Links Sceptique is a selection of links to blogs, news outlets, and cool little sites on the Web that relate to science, reason, skepticism, atheism, the fringes and borderlands of science, memes relating to science or skepticism, and anything that catches my eye or which I’m deluded enough to think might arouse the interest of you, my perspicacious readers. 5th Day’s Links Sceptique is published on Thursdays on the Call.
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Caturday’s Astronomy Pix for April 22-28, 2012
Incredible new Hubble pix: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217 (Photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video)
Flowing Barchan Sand Dunes on Mars
Evaporating Blobs of the Carina Nebula
Rosetta Approaches Asteroid Lutetia
Meteor Over Crater Lake
Morning, Moon, and Mercury
Jupiter and the Moons of Earth
Sutter’s Mill Meteorite
Bolide (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Caturday’s Astronomy Pix is a weekly installment, published each weekend between 7:31 and 8:30 AM, with links to each daily entry on NASA’s website Astronomy Picture of the Day. I hope you enjoy looking at these often breathtaking images as much as I do.
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Mark Twain on the God of scripture
“A God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell — mouths mercy, and invented hell — mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man’s acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship him!”
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Caturday’s Astronomy Pix for April 15-21, 2012
Artists concept of the X-30 aerospace plane flying through Earth's atmosphere on its way to low-Earth orbit. the experimental concept is part of the National Aero-Space Plane Program. The X-30 is planned to demonstrate the technology for airbreathing space launch and hypersonic cruise vehicles. Photograph and caption published in Winds of Change, 75th Anniversary NASA publication (page 117), by James Schultz. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Fata Morgana: A Possibly Titanic Mirage
The Eagle Nebula from Kitt Peak
Antares and Clouds
The Flight Deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour
Discovery Departs
M57: The Ring Nebula
3 Auxiliary Telescopes
magnetometers are mounted at both ends of the solar panel assemblies to isolate them from the spacecraft's magnetic fields (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Caturday’s Astronomy Pix is a weekly installment, published each weekend between 7:31 and 8:30 AM, with links to each daily entry on NASA’s website Astronomy Picture of the Day. I hope you enjoy looking at these often breathtaking images as much as I do.
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Caturday’s Astronomy Pix for April 8-14, 2012
NASA (Photo credit: Luke Bryant)
Io: Moon Over Jupiter
Blue Straggler Stars in Globular Cluster M53
A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Christmas Tree
Geostationary Satellites Beyond the Alps
Yuri’s Planet
A Dust Devil of Mars
Six Moons of Saturn
The reflection nebula NGC 1999 is brilliantly illuminated by V380 Orionis (center), a variable star with about 3.5 times the mass of the Sun. The black patch of sky is a vast hole of empty space and not a dark nebula as previously thought. NASA image (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Caturday’s Astronomy Pix is a weekly installment, published each weekend between 7:31 and 8:30 am EDT, with links to each daily entry on NASA’s website Astronomy Picture of the Day. I hope you enjoy looking at these often breathtaking images as much as I do.
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Caturday’s Astronomy Pix for April 1-7, 2012
Pleiades Star Cluster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dad Quiets Omicron Ceti
Tungurahua Erupts
M46 & M47: Star Clusters Young and Old
Centaurus A
Zodiacal Light Panorama
Venus and the Sisters
Conjunction Haiku
Centaurus A in infared (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Caturday’s Astronomy Pix is a weekly installment, published each weekend between 7:31 and 8:30 am EDT, with links to each daily entry on NASA’s website Astronomy Picture of the Day. I hope you enjoy looking at these often breathtaking images as much as I do.
