A bit of science for this Monday! Just look...

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A bit of science for this Monday! Just look at how much we are learning about the universe around us. Also, it's discoveries like this that continue to provide our species with great demotions, while at the same time giving us a unique viewpoint of our own amazing ability to actually do these things. We are both insignificant and special at the same time! A nearby star rings in the new year | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine Astronomy | dust | I am fascinated by junk floating around stars. And no, not paparazzi, har har. I mean circumstellar material, literally gas and dust orbiting other stars. We se View or comment on Larian LeQuella's post »

My New Year Resolution?

The other day my wife informed me that I actually have more readers on this blog than I ever imagined.  Generally, I make posts that are geared towards an audience that has mostly free thinkers and people looking for specific information on those type of philosophies.  In many of these posts, I have been pretty insulting to theistic belief systems.  Let's just say that I have taken a Christopher Hitchens approach.

Well, given that some of the folks reading (that I really didn't suspect were actually reading) are theists, maybe I shouldn't outright insult them that much.  Now, I don't want to accommodate them in any way, however I may need to be a little less abrasive.  So she did give me a new years resolution to go for, which is to be less of a dick to theists.

I will do my best to be less of a dick, however I have some caveats and addendums to that...

• Disagreement is not an attack.  All too often, a theists will play the victim card just because someone doesn't agree with them.  That's bullshit and a total coward act.  If you pull that, the gloves come off.
• If you actually believe the literal word of the bible, think the world is about 6,000 years old, and all that associated baggage, I have to attack that.  Those bronze age fables are so wrong in so many ways that you are living in a fantasy.  In a society where we DNA sequencing, spacecraft, electron microscopes, computers, aircraft, etc. having those sort of delusions are nearly criminal.  I cannot abide or coddle that sort of insanity.  Sorry.
• An idea, no matter whose it is, does not merit automatic respect.  This applies to atheists as well as theists.  What matters is the evidential support that the idea can bring forth.  If you get upset because your precious idea doesn't have any evidence, then think instead of being stuck on it.
• Understand what the word evidence means!  A personal experience, while real to you, in your brain, isn't proof.  Generally, I find that what most people experience is easy to explain via numerous natural phenomenon that they are totally unaware of.  Remember, an extraordinary claim will require extraordinary evidence.
• When I link to someone else's article, those are their words, not mine.  Try to keep up!

I'm sure that I'll come up with several more addendums to this as time goes on, although I will try to limit myself.  As you can see, I have spouted off about these things before, so it's not exactly something new. After I am done with all the QualiaSoup videos, I also want to take another stab at the whole question of why I don't actually believe in a god.  I know that Ricky Gervais and Gretta Christina tackled this question pretty well, but I think I'll do it in my own words too.  Who knows, maybe I'll send it to PZ Myers and see if he'll put it up.

Does this sound like a fair resolution to carry forward?

Another orbit? Why, you don’t look a rotation older than 4.56 billion years!

Start the new year with SCIENCE!  I'm going to take a quick break from posting QualiaSoup videos because this is also really cool.  Dr. Plait (The Bad Astronomer) has a great explanation on orbital phenomenon.  Generally people don't care about things like that, except when an arbitrary demarcation point has been made (such as a calendar).  So last night a lot of folks stayed up late, drank champagne, and kissed their loved ones.  But what does it actually mean?  Not a whole heck of a lot really, but astronomically speaking, there's a few opportunities to discuss how our planet behaves, and the effects it causes here.  And I really think that's cool!

Yay! It’s a new year!

But what does that mean, exactly?

The year, of course, is the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun, right? Well, not exactly. It depends on what you mean by "year", and how you measure it. This takes a wee bit of explaining, so while the antacid is dissolving in your stomach to remedy last night’s excesses, sit back and let me tell you the tale of the year.

First, I will ignore a few things. For example, time zones. These were invented by a sadistic watchmaker, who only wanted to keep people in thrall of his devious plans. So for now, let’s just ignore them, and assume that for these purposes you spend a whole year (whatever length of time that turns out to be) planted in one spot.

However, I will not ignore the rotation of the Earth. That turns (haha) out to be important.

Let’s take a look at the Earth from a distance. From our imaginary point in space, we look down and see the Earth and the Sun. The Earth is moving, orbiting the Sun. Of course it is, you think to yourself. But how do you measure that? For something to be moving, it has to be moving relative to something else. What can we use as a yardstick against which to measure the Earth’s motion?

Well, we might notice as we float in space that we are surrounded by zillions of pretty stars. We can use them! So we mark the position of the Earth and Sun using the stars as benchmarks, and then watch and wait. Some time later, the Earth has moved in a big circle and is back to where it started in reference to those stars. That’s called a "sidereal year" (sidus is the Latin word for star). How long did that take?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE POST!  (For Science!)

Critical Thinking

This is the video that introduced me to QualiaSoup.  I really would love to have people view this video again and again, and make critical thinking a true New Year resolution.

Skewed views of science

This video addresses one of my biggest complaints when I get into a "debate" with someone.  Not only do I have to debate the numerous factual errors they carry around, but I also have to correct some sort of gross caricature of science they posses.  Hopefully this video will help people understand a bit more about their own ignorance and biases.

The Faith Cake

QuailiaSoup is a fantastic YouTube producer.  He has a series of videos that everyone should really watch.  I am going to post a series of his videos over the next few days/weeks.  Again, I encourage you to watch them, and see how they really ought to be applied in society in general.  Don't be offended or afraid if they strike too close to home for your comfort.  That is what they are supposed to do.  As a species, we can't move forward without at least challenging those things we have always thought were a revealed truth to us.

Science is Cool (and empty?)

Dr. Brian Cox is a scientist (and a musician, TV personality, and all around cool guy).  One of the things that I like the most about him is that he is so enthusiastic about science.  In this video, he does a demonstration that shows not only how we know that an atom consists of mainly nothing, but I think he touches on a great idea of science.  That is, before we knew that atoms were mostly empty space, many imagined them to be like solid balls or in other ways much more material than we now know them to be.

That's probably the greatest strength of science.  That it will actually accept evidence that is contrary to conventional wisdom, as long as that evidence is repeatable, reliable, and presented in a manner that adheres to reality.  Anyway, enjoy this video, and even if you didn't learn anything particularly new, understand that the process of finding these things out is amazing in itself.

Free Thought Blogs: Atheistic christmas.

To tell you the truth, this is more about an opportunity to get some time off from work where everyone else is too  (i.e. not much is happening so I can do so with a clear conscience), and the opportunity to eat some good food and just hang out with the ones I love.  That's it.  So I really forgot that this is generally a "big deal" to a lot of Americans.  Maybe because I have moved up here to a much more secular area of our country.  I am not getting accosted with overt preaching, or the Faux Noise nonsense of some war (in their minds) against this holiday season.  It's actually been one of the more enjoyable for me.  (By the way, I favour the European tradition of doing gifts and stuff on christmas eve.  We have already eaten good food, had good drink, and done our celebration.  I get to sleep in tomorrow.  By the way, our traditional meal consists of lobster, smoked salmon, caviar, champagne, etc.  You know, good stuff I didn't have last month.)

Of course, as someone who doesn't buy into any of the legends surrounding this holiday, I forget that some folks get their panties in a bunch about it for one reason or another.  So Edwin Kagin put things in a bit of a perspective for me when I read this post.  I think I most just shook my head ruefully as I read it.

It is Christmas Eve, and I have almost lived through this year’s annual greatest of holidays. At midnight, Christmas will begin, and twenty-four hours later it will end. It will be over! But not yet. At this writing, the world is shutting down in anticipation. The 24 Hour Kroger closed at 6:00 pm. Gas stations are closing. People are smiling. Even NRP is playing Xmas music.

Lots of people are in church. Children are nestling to greater or lesser degrees of snugness in their beds awaiting, or fearing, the coming of Santa, an anagram for Satan. Lots of people are getting drunk, and lots are getting laid.

Santa Clause is coming to town. Not a very good modern role model actually. Overweight; labor laws scoffer; animal rights ignorer; and—believe it with horror—a smoker!

Some folks will die in car crashes from negligence and some will die by their own hands from, inter alia, pills, or pistols, unable to deal with what they experience as the depression and loneliness of the day. And it will be observed how awful it was for this to happen on Christmas. How dare they stain the wonder and magic of Christmas with their blood?

After the ripping of the packages, some fine meals will be consumed and much booze will be ingested.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE POST.

Get Up Early Tomorrow!

You really need to get up early tomorrow morning.  I know, it's a Saturday, and you want to sleep in, but you'll have a chance to see something pretty cool.  Basically, there will be a lunar eclipse that may coincide with sunrise.  Hopefully the weather in your area cooperates.

I know that generally a lunar eclipse is pretty ho-hum, but this particular confluence of celestial movements actually will be much more noteworthy for many of us.  Dr. Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer) explains more:

Watch The Lunar Eclipse Saturday

Tomorrow (Saturday December 10) the Moon will pass into the Earth’s shadow, causing it to plunge into ruddy darkness, an event called a total lunar eclipse. These happen roughly twice a year somewhere on Earth, but this is the last one visible in North America for more than two years, so even though it’s in the morning it might be worth a look for you.

You can get all the info you need on watching the eclipse from my pal Alan Boyle over at the Cosmic Log, including timing, locations, and where to watch live online, too. NASA has a page with more detailed information as well. This one favors US folks farther west; the Moon will have set when the eclipse really starts for East Coast folks.

But the fun begins when the Moon starts to enter the deepest part of the Earth’s shadow at 12:45 UT (04:45 Pacific US time), and the last bit passes into shadow at 14:06 UT (06:06 Pacific). Deepest eclipse is about 25 minutes after that. Interestingly, for people in the western US, that’s around the same time as sunrise. For me, the Sun rises at 07:12 (Mountain time) Saturday, and the Moon sets at 07:14 — when it’s still partially eclipsed! Unfortunately, the mountains to the west will block my view of the setting Moon.

But for those of you with a clear horizon to the east and west, you may get an extraordinary opportunity to very briefly see the Sun and eclipsed Moon at the same time! Normally this isn’t possible; by definition the Moon and Sun have to be directly opposite each in the sky to get an eclipse at all.

But due to a quirk of geometry and atmospheric physics, it is possible. The Earth’s air acts like a lens, bending the light from objects near the horizon. Because of this effect — I give a full explanation here — you can actually see the Moon for a minute or two after it has physically set; its light is bent "around the corner", so to speak, so both it and the Sun will be over the horizon for a short amount of time. You can face west to see the setting eclipsed Moon, then turn around and see the rising Sun in the East!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF HIS EXPLANATION!

Technical Difficulties (And the war on christmyth)

Well, it seems that I have been rather quiet this past month and haven't said much of anything.  Well, actually, I did put a couple of posts together between work, studying for my PMP, and in general just doing stuff.  However, for some reason, they all got saved as drafts and never actually published.  Oops...  And since I actually put them together ahead of time, I wasn't really monitoring them.  My bad!

Anyway, I will get them up here as soon as I can.  In the meantime, how about a rundown of some of the traditional December posts that will re-affirm the so called "war on christmas"?  I must say though, since having moved up here to New Hampshire, I hear a lot less gnashing of teeth and rending of garments on this subject than I did when I lived down south.  I think that stems a lot more from theists (and New Englanders in general) up here actually understanding that it's a private thing, and dragging everyone else into it whether they want to or not is frowned upon.  Now if only the southern theitards would understand that....

Even less evidence for jebus

Merry christMyth

List of other deities also not born on the 25th

christmas as engineered hate

An atheist's guide to xmas

Santa vs. god

Remember the 2010 war on christmas

Report from the front line of 2010 war on xmas.