So Long to Ya, 2010

Well, dear readers, 2010 is drawing to a close. As you well know, this has been a tough year for lots of people out there. It's also been a difficult year for me personally, but I do hope I've managed to share some interesting material and stimulate your minds in ways that will inspire you to think critically, to find awe in the world around you, and to become a more educated citizen of the world.Cheers to a happy new yea...

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Kim Jong Il Ends Nuclear Program for Lead in Next 'Batman'

It's not unprecedented for The Onion to publish some fake story that's so completely within the realm of plausibility that: a) lots of people (and even journalists, corporations and governments) are convinced by it, b) you gotta double check to make sure it is in fact a fake story, and c) it may prove itself one day to be completely prophetic and therefore true.And of course, when the story is about Kim Jon Il pulling bat shit crazy stunts, there's...

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Silent Monks Singing Halleluia: Epic WIN

Whatever one's thoughts on religion, it is an undeniable fact that some of the best art of all time is associated with religious devotion. Sure, many great artists were commissioned by the church and they went where the money was, but I'm sure at least a moderate number of them thought their art was a way of expressing an aspect of the transcendent.Now, demonstrating that sometimes a whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that many apparent...

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An Existentialist Take on Christmas

Sure, everyone loves Christmas. And what's not to like? Good company, good food, exchanging gifts, the priceless look of uninhibited happiness in children, to say nothing of the delicious milk and cookies left by the fireplace? :)But have you ever wondered whether Santa himself loves the holiday? Does his annual pilgrimage around the world not remind you of a futility not unlike that of Sisyphus and his cursed boulder? In today's video, Santa becomes...

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The History of the Two-Party Vote

If you happen to enjoy demographic data being animated, like when Hans Rosling does it (here or here), or when a map shows you the march of democracy across human history, or even when a map shows you what Presidents were in office during different wars, then you are going to really enjoy this: an animation of the two-party vote system in the good ol' U.S of A. since 1920.Now, I'm no serious student of American history, so I was really surprised...

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Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

So you probably know that last night there was a lunar eclipse, the first in something like 732 years to coincide with the winter solstice, so it was the kind of event that could help me justify to myself taking a break from grading term papers and final exams to breathe some fresh air and commute with nature... or as close as you can do that in New York City...I went out to my local park with camera and tripod in hand and did my best to photograph...

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Debate - Is Islam a Religion of Peace?

The question of whether Islam is a religion of peace is, as any intelligent person realizes, extremely complex. When debating any issue, philosophers are fond of trying to define their terms so that the conversation is focused and everyone understands what everyone else is talking about.In that spirit, for instance, one could try to make a distinction between the religion of Islam itself and what some individuals do in its name. The fact that some...

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Spelling Matters

Tkae a look at the piecutre to the rghit and try to see if you can uesdnatnrd waht it syas. In fcat, trehe is a vrey good chncae taht you've arladey raed tihs bfeore beascue it's one of thsoe eamil frwodars knwon to inuntdae ibnoxes ernheyrewe and awe teihr rcienietps.Now, I don't know what your reaction has been, but I've always found it annoying because it seems so obviously contrived to fool lazy, unsuspecting readers who are only too happy to...

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The Scanner's Prayer

If there is one thing most of us think is private, it's our thoughts. And the only time we tend to be okay with our private thoughts being heard by anyone would be when we silently pray.If you happen to work with an MRI machine, however, you probably know that if there is anyone who can read your thoughts, it's that machine. So, before you have to use one, recite this prayer (and mean it... you can't fool it):Our scanner, which art from Siemens,Hallowed...

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Tiny Triumphs - Lethal Drug Shortage Irony

No, I'm not talking about the fact that the standard practice is to sterilize the needle for a lethal injection (it does make one wonder, though), or even about the fact that the lethal drug has an expiration date...I'll just let Stephen Colbert explain:The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30ctd style="padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;" colspan="2" Tiny Triumphs - Lethal Drug Shortagewww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor &...

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Has Dilbert Refuted Sam Harris?

You've probably seen Sam Harris argue that science can answer moral questions because science deals with facts and values are a sort of fact (logic buffs should see straight through the problems with this argument). Lots of thinkers have weighed in on this issue, but as far as I'm aware, no one has challenged the idea of values to begin with... except Dilbert :)I'll be posting a series of presentations on the topic of science and morality in the...

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The Antikythera Mechanism - Recreated with Legos

About a hundred years ago, a bunch of sponge divers doing their underwater thing stumbled upon an artifact whose complexity indicated it was some sort of calculating machine, but it would be decades before investigators would figure out exactly what this machine, now known as the Antikythera Mechanism, was designed to calculate: the cycles of the solar system, including the exact position of the sun, the moon and the planets. This information, of...

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Report: U.S. Kids Get Majority of Antibiotics from McDonald's

And here we've been complaining about our lack of a healthcare system that attends to the medical needs of the poor:)Check out more hilariousness from The Onio...

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Three Minute Philosophy - David Hume

There are many many reasons to like philosophy, but if I had to settle on just one, I would probably have to say that what I love about it is its inherent playful ability to turn the conventional wisdom of our time and what seems intuitively obvious into something downright bizarre and highly questionable. Needless to say, it does require a peculiar kind of personality to be comfortable with ambiguity and open questions, but isn't that exactly what...

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Cosmos: Travels in Space and Time

Continuing his exploration of the Cosmos, Carl Sagan takes us today on an exploration of interstellar and time travel, the likes of which no human being has ever actually experienced so far.In order to explain this idea, and after giving a quick lesson on constellations, he goes to the Tuscany area of Italy (home of Leonardo da Vinci and childhood residence of Albert Einstein), and conducts some thought experiments in order to illustrate the strange...

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Changing Views of Pluto

If you haven't checked out Neil deGrasse Tyson's best-selling book The Pluto Files, or heard one of his presentations explaining why Pluto got demoted to dwarf planet--or promoted to king of the Kuiper Belt, depending on how you look at it--you should check it out. The story of all the hate-mail he's received from children is worth it all by itself :)In the meantime, though, here is a short but fascinating introduction by NASA to the history of our...

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Ada Lovelace - The Enchantress of Numbers

Historically, women haven't always had access to formal education because we men are dicks, and we've rationalized our repression of women with the wildest and most inexcusable of excuses. But in those rare cases when individual women have had the fortune of receiving an education, they've certainly known how to leave their mark.I don't know who my favorite female intellectual is (probably Émilie du Châtelet), but one who ranks in the top 10 would...

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Doodling in Math Class: Snakes + Graph Theory

The following video is so unbelievably awesome I have no words to describe it... all I can say without spoiling the experience is that you're in for a quick four minutes of mathematical and artistic beauty that will inspire you to think for days on end.Just try to keep up...Oh, and I want this chick to mother my children :)And if you want to play with some more math, trying messing around with a Möbius strip,or do some Möbius Transformations over...

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The Gretch Who Saved the War on Christmas

So what's up with this growing trend of majorities considering themselves the victims of discrimination just because they don't get absolutely everything they want?As predictable as that winter will be cold, Fox News goes out of its way to decry the persecution of Christians just because some people are referring to the holiday... as a holiday.I mean, let's face it, petty arguments about a holiday celebrating the birth of our savior is as American...

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Democrats Are Finally Growing a Spine!

Having lost the most recent election despite having done some good work for the past two years (that's how wussy these people have been, that they allow themselves to get voted out of office simply because they don't have to guts to stand up for their own values and work record), it seems at least a few Democrats are starting to wake up from their wimpy slumber and stand up to conservatives.Some of the inspiration comes from Senator Bernie Sanders,...

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Rep. Steve King Is a Racist Douchebag

One could argue that it takes major balls to make the claim that minorities (like blacks and native Americans) owe reparations to white people for past injustices (like the cost of slavery), but a better argument might be that what it takes is a complete lack of a functioning brain.Thankfully, Stephen Colbert knows how to put things in perspective:The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30ctd style="padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;" colspan="2" The Word...

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200 countries, 200 years, all in 4 minutes

If you've seen Hans Rosling's TEDTalk presentation before, I think you'd agree with me that if his training weren't in health and demographics, his alternate career would have been as a sports announcer.I don't know what he knows about sports, but the man knows how to make things entertaining and dramatic. And when he joins forces with the folks at the BBC to animate statistical data, great and beautiful things are bound to happen, as the following...

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The Blietzkrieg on Grinchitude - Atheist Billboard & Capitol Christmas Tree Edition

So there is this silly battle of billboards between atheists and the religious. One group puts up a sign, the other group gets outraged about it and puts up one of its own... lather, rinse, repeat... it's the most boring and pointless ping-pong game I've ever seen.Luckily, Stephen Colbert reports in the following clip that the Lincoln Tunnel Authority has won the battle with a sign everyone will agree with :)Also (and this is the best part), it seems...

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Anderson Cooper gets pwned by Bonobo

If you've been keeping up with this blog for a while, you probably already know just how intelligent bonobos can be. You might be surprised to find, however, that despite his journalistic professionalism, Anderson Cooper is not exactly what you might call a social butterfly.But even if you combine those two facts, you might still be surprised to see just how a bonobo recently pwned Cooper and took him way out of his comfort zone :)Don't forget to...

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God Drops Steve Johnson's Ball

You may have noticed in the past that narcissistic and narrow-minded celebrities and athletes tend to attribute their victories to God. Of course, they don't seem to notice that while they're hogging all of God's short attention span, millions of people all over the world are suffering and dying from lack of divine intervention. That's okay, though... celebrities and their petty needs are more important.Anyway, when Steve Johnson failed to catch...

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Wile E. Coyote Finally Catches the Road Runner

There are times when you become so obsessed with an idea or desire that it consumes you and turns the entirety of your life into an all-encompassing project to fulfill what has by now become your mission in life. Wile E. Coyote's obsession with catching and eating the Road Runner is a case in point.What we may fail to realize, however, is that once we've managed to fulfill that self-imposed purpose, our life might become devoid of purpose... unless,...

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Christopher Hitchens & Tony Blair Debate on Religion

In a civilized and thought-provoking debate that took place just this past week in Toronto, former British Prime Minister and recent Catholic convert Tony Blair defended the motion that religion is a force for good in the world. Opposing the motion with all his cerebral might was his compatriot, the journalist and public intellectual Christopher Hitchens.As the eager audience seems to have correctly anticipated, the intellectual engagement was stimulating,...

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The Awesomest Sentence I Read Today

I've totally neglected this type of blog entry for a while, but maybe now I'll get it started again. Anyway, this is from an essay on gay rights, written by Jonathan Rauch, quoting James Q. Wilson:Of all the institutions through which men may pass--schools, factories, the military--marriage has the largest [domesticating] effect.Rauch then argues that the domestication of men ought to be one of the top three social functions of marriage. Wow....

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Irreducible Complexity Cut Down to Size

Unless you live in hillbilly territory, it's difficult nowadays to be a creationist and not get immediately laughed at. So, what do you do if you believe in the half-baked idea that some designer designed biological organisms as they are? You dress it up with sophisticated-sounding technical terms like 'irreducible complexity', and you also make sure to surround its mention with liberal-sounding principles like tolerance of other views, teaching...

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