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Posted 12 months ago at 12:49. 1 comment
As an atheist, I am sometimes challenged to defend my beliefs, or perhaps more accurately, my lack of belief. The Jehovah’s Witnesses next door proved very persistent when we first moved into our current home, for example. My (mercifully) infrequent interrogators question my lack of belief because I have no unified source of knowledge to underpin that belief, often using their “one book” as the basis for comparison.
This is a false dichotomy. For the atheist, there is no one book but many, written by many philosophers and scientists over the ages, each of which undoes a small part of the religious web. My problem historically has been how to arm myself appropriately against such religious inquiry by reading the most important and seminal of those works. How easy it must be to rely on just one book? It would certainly cut down on library fines, not to mention my Amazon bill.
Over the past decade or so, prominent atheists have taken up that charge. Authors like Richard Dawkins
have done much to popularize the atheist “cause.” My most recent discovery is Christopher Hitchens whose book, God Is Not Great, has given me some serious pause for thought. I will also confess that I was turned on to Hitchens by his appearance on The Daily Show and The Hour. See, book tours really do work!
Whereas Dawkins may advocate for “brights” and our need to stick together, Hitchens simply lays it all out: arguments presented by various religious organizations, along with why they are at best wrong and internally inconsistent, and at worst, dangerous. As a reading list, an atheist could do much worse than to use Hitchens’ references section as a starting point. His style isn’t for everyone, though, so if you’re interested in pursuing the matter further, I recommend his Authors@Google talk on YouTube as a starting point. Some basic searching will turn up other priceless nuggets if you’re then so inclined.
Let me reiterate that conversion is not my goal here, I’m merely arming myself with defensive knowledge, sad though it may be that I feel the need to couch it in those particular terms. In no way am I ashamed of my beliefs, but atheists don’t have much of a lobby group.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 11:23. 5 comments
Cocktail Party Physics, which is a truly excellent science blog BTW, recently discussed the technologies built into modern hybrid cars. As someone who just went through the whole car-buying process myself (including serious consideration of hybrids), one feature that caught my eye when car shopping, and is also called out in the Cocktail Party Physics blog entry, was the hybrid’s ability to monitor your gas mileage in real-time.
My question is this: why isn’t this technology available in all North American cars, or at the very least in non-hybrid cars of the same model line? I was dismayed to discover that the hybrid Civic included the mileage display while the non-hybrid Civic I ended up purchasing did not. At the current price of gas, I know that I would change my driving habits if I had instant and ongoing information about how my driving was affecting fuel economy.
Current Tunes: DJ Gregory - Essential Mix - 2003-11-30 | Filed under Auto, Science
Posted 1 year, 5 months ago at 14:39. 0 comments
Kristina and I just signed up for Bullfrog Power. If you live in Ontario, you really should too. If you live elsewhere, more research will be required, but you should still do something:
Current Tunes: Face To Face - I'm Popeye The Sailor Man | Filed under House, In The News, Science
Posted 2 years, 10 months ago at 10:58. 0 comments
Perhaps understandably, we woke up pretty late today. After lunch, I convinced Chris, Sarah, and Ian to visit the one thing in Vegas, I really wanted to see: Celine Dion. Erm, I meant to say, the Shark Reef aquarium at Mandalay Bay. The exhibit was very well done, with much more scientific and conservation merit (read: any) than I was expecting from Las Vegas.
After thanking Chris and Sarah for their hospitality, Ian and I headed back to L.A. once the sun went down to avoid the heat.
Dinner tonight was at Ajisen Ramen in San Gabriel. Mr. Noodles has done the world of ramen a great disservice; fresh ramen is quite fantastic.
Oh, and if anyone offers you some harsmar to drink, it is perfectly safe, even tasty when mixed with mango and coconut, but all things considered, you probably shouldn’t be eating it.
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 07:58. 1 comment
A few little things, lest they fall through the cracks:
- OMG, pwned. (Actually, I pretty sure I’m jealous of your situation, but let’s just keep that between you, me, and the rest of the internet, m’k?)
- As everyone else is reporting, Google Maps are very cool, mainly because toggling between “Map” and “Satellite” in the top-right corner does what I expect.
- Kev brought his PSP to dinner at the Glen last night. It’s pretty slick.
- And in today’s evil-genius news: Troy, the “retarded cousin from Australia.”
Current Tunes: The Tragically Hip - Fight | Filed under Friends, Gaming, Science
Posted 3 years, 5 months ago at 12:23. 1 comment
Boston was grand. Jacob and Phil were great hosts, and as great hosts often do, they were able to share the burden of hospitality with some of the finer establishments in the Boston area. NTS: 5 pints of Magic Hat No. 9 is one pint too many.
The work component of the visit was busy — very busy — but I was left with a good feeling for the upcoming few months at the end of the meeting.
I did manage to see some of the city that wasn’t the inside of bars on Sunday. I purposely arranged my flight out for Sunday evening, even though it meant risking getting stuck overnight in Detroit, so that I would have a fighting chance of seeing the New England Aquarium during the day, and now I have.
I think I still prefer the Monterey Bay aquarium, especially now that they actually have a Great White Shark on display. Hopefully I’ll be able to get out to Monterey to see it before they realize that it’s a bad idea.
Current Tunes: Snoop Dogg feat. Redman - From Long Beach 2 Brick City | Filed under Mozilla, Science, Travel
Posted 3 years, 8 months ago at 11:55. 0 comments
This evening, Kris and I attended the latest in a series of Perspectives on Nature lectures hosted by the Museum of Nature. Tonight’s speaker was Dr. David Schindler, and he was speaking on “The Myth of Abundance: Western Canada’s Water Supply.” It’s always nice to hear scientists who are able to articulate their science without needing to dumb it down.
Sadly, and this is the cynic in me talking, Dr. Schindler was preaching to the choir. I didn’t see a whole lot of the “general” populace in the crowd; the only people who are going to shell out $10 a pop to hear someone talk about water scarcity and the science of conservation are the people who are already scientifically literate and are therefore (hopefully) already aware of the problems, even if only in broad strokes.
Many of the questions after the lecture focused on why society continues to ignore environmental issues that are spinning out of control, even in the face of recent disasters and existing programs and guidelines to make things better. The fact that the Walkerton tragedy doesn’t still keep Ontarians awake at night scares the bejeebus out of me. Do people not know where this place is? This isn’t some cyclone destroying a tropical paradise half a world away. This is your own backyard, people.
Again, my inner-cynic believes that until we have an environmental catastophe that directly impacts health care and the economy for a lot of people, and that also happens sufficiently close to election time, we are unlikely to see science affecting politics in any appreciable way.
Please prove me wrong.
Posted 3 years, 8 months ago at 16:36. 4 comments
As posted on the letterboard outside a local Baptist church:
2 boards plus
3 nails equals
4 given
Current Tunes: Eddie Halliwell - Essential Mix - 2004-08-08 | Filed under Science
