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Entries from September 2008
The Hitchens-Turek Debate
September 11, 2008 · 2 Comments
On Tuesday night, I joined my VAA fellows in going to Richmond to see Frank Turek and Christopher Hitchens debate the existence of god, as mentioned in an earlier post. And I took notes. Boy did I take notes. I was jumping up and down in my seat at some points with retorts and comments bubbling out of my brain! I don’t know why I’m so darn hyper sometimes. I’ve written about it and it’s appearing as a two-part post on Brother Richard’s Life Without Faith. Many many thanks to him for taking me on as a guest blogger!
Thanks again to the fabulous guys and gals of the VCU United Secular Alliance for hosting this incredible event. And a “hello!” to their president, Roy, who I finally met in person but have known as the “bionic atheist” online. And of course, to the VAA people who were just great and witty and fun and intelligent and entertaining on the drive there and back, before the debate, after the debate, and at dinner.
Also, *fangirl moment.* So we were waiting on this huuuge line to get Hitchens to sign our books and chat and such. And I knew what I wanted to say, which I wrote about in my long post above, but what I didn’t mention is that I’m an idiot when talking to people I admire and stumble over my words, but I think it came out okay. However, when I went to shake Christopher Hitchens’s hand, he took it up and he kissed it! So of course I’m stumbling even more like a moron, but I think he took my compliment and understood my point. Anyway, that was charming and cool.
Off to go play with my new iPod Touch… I mean, get work done.
Categories: science
Tagged: atheist, Charlottesville, cool, events, religion
LHC startup! And teaching science…
September 10, 2008 · Leave a Comment
If you haven’t already heard today, the Large Hadron Collider was started up beautifully earlier today in Europe. I anxiously await the fantastic results that the experiments will bring! And if you weren’t convinced by the report that clearly stated that the LHC will NOT destroy the Earth, since natural cosmic ray events happen regularly with much higher energies in our atmosphere and WE’RE STILL HERE, then these tests should hold no fear for you. Personally, I think that those who are seriously angry at scientists and ignore these studies and think that we would honestly, seriously, jeopardize the life on this precious planet for such an experiment are missing the whole point.
Jorge Cham talks about his visit to CERN in a five-part comic series, part two of which was posted earlier today. Amid the jokes about the life of a scientist, his cartoonified host, Benoit, talks about the reason for doing this type of work and points out that “we’re knocking on the door of reality.” When asked why he agreed to give Jorge a tour, when he hasn’t even heard of PhD Comics before, he replied “Well, it’s interesting to work on this stuff, but it’s also interesting to share it.” That, ladies and gentlemen, is the essence and the beauty of science education.
P.S. My summary of and reactions to the Hitchens-Turek debate are forthcoming and will be fantabulous… or something.
More tools for your BS detector…
September 9, 2008 · Leave a Comment
…From Michael Blastland at the BBC, a series of articles on how to think critically about the facts reported by the media. Part 5 was noted on Skepchick, and talks about the difference between correlation and causation. This is included in Carl Sagan’s “Baloney Detection Kit” and SGU’s list of Logical Fallacies. Some great conclusions include:
This is one problem with arguments about causality, the belief that any change must have a principal cause, when it may be the result of the many causes that produce nothing more meaningful than random variation.
…
The key is not to stop looking for the cause with the first plausible link you find. Keep your imagination restless for other causes, or the possibility of chance, and it will serve you well.
Blastland’s articles also include bad survey questioning, counting, percentages, and averages, and are engagingly written with relevant examples. The next article will be about “Doubt.” Yet another resource for skeptics and critical thinkers all around!
However, we all know that the decline of pirates is responsible for global warming.
Categories: skeptic
Tagged: critical thinking, fsm, Sagan
Event this week for atheists in Virginia
September 7, 2008 · 2 Comments
On Tuesday,VCU in Richmond is hosting a debate between atheist author Christopher Hitchens and Christian author Frank Turek. It starts at 7pm in the Commonwealth Ballroom in the Student Commons and is free admission.
Although I’ve read some pieces from and seen some video clips of Hitchens, I haven’t actually finished his most recent book, “God is Not Great.” Frank Turek is less known to me, except that he is co-author of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist.” So I imagine that I would disagree with him. In fact, check out the intro video on his webpage. It should be a lively debate! I’ll be taking notes and writing all about it when we get back.
For all the foodies
September 6, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Over at cvillain, 100 Things to Eat Before You Die. I haven’t taken an exact count for myself, but I think I’ve already made quite a dent in the list. I look forward to trying to complete it! (Except for that part about roadkill. I’ll try almost anything…)
To wash down those weird and tasty delectables, make sure you can open your wine bottle, even if you don’t have a corkscrew.
Carnival of Space
September 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Pardon me, I’m still getting used to this Web 2.0 thing. I had a good excuse! I was living under a physics-undergrad-astronomy-grad-student-always-in-classes-rock for a few years! So here is the lovely, alphabetical, Carnival of Space #69.
E.T. Phones Us?
September 5, 2008 · 2 Comments
I meant to write a good post about this cool article I saw on astro-ph the other day, but alas, I’ve been too busy. Luckily, Universe Today already talked about it! If you are astronomically minded, the paper itself is only 5 pages and worth the read.
Can you imagine how different “Contact” would be if Ellie was staring at Cepheid light curves instead of “listening” through the VLA? Okay, not THAT much different in regards to the overall story, but not as fun for the radio-nerds. 
A God Gene?
September 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment
John Cleese explains.
Man, he is so amazing. After watching that, laughing hysterically, then watching it with my friend, I went to check my Gmail and strangely enough I see this headline in the reader above it: “Human Infidelity Linked to Gene.”
Priceless.
Categories: general
Tagged: humor, Monty Python, philosophy, religion
I’m a 7th (and final!) year 