Two More Gaps

Big losers

2010-03-26T19:36:00.000+08:00

As soon as The Biggest Loser made waves in Australia, it gave me the heebie jeebies. Just like Alcoholics Anonymous isn't exactly a healthy way to get clean, and ignoring the fact that really it's an issue you need to deal with yourself, I found a recent episode of TBL to be horrifying.

I was watching it either before or after a show I wanted to see, and people were getting visibly upset about their experience of having to vote someone out. Sure, they're all volunteers. They all accepted the fact they are going to be on screen in front of a captive audience, no less, outpouring their hearts and souls. Can this really be a healthy alternative.

From what I understand, losing weight in this manner isn't too flash for the body either.

So what are they doing this for? Surely all these emotions in regard to losing weight, and understanding people are in the same boat also requiring physical and mental help, can be obtained with other means. Meditation? Counselling? Certainly not standing in front of a TV camera. This just should not be sensationalised. All these people need is hard yakka. A sole person's struggle.

I really can't find the words...

Don't worry, be happy

2010-03-26T12:33:00.000+08:00

This latest application from Facebook, reported here, highlights something that continues to pain me regarding holidays and events- particularly those with religious overtones.

Why does it require such events to make people happy? In fact, these events cause many people to be unhappy - highlighting poverty differences, invoking past memories etc.

Does it really require a special day such as christmas to give someone a present, just because you love them?

I disagree.

Imposing Religion on Children is...

2010-02-24T23:36:00.001+08:00

Possibly not quite the words I would have used, but a great article on the ethics behind teaching religion to children. I like a good moral dilemma.

It pains me everytime I see "xyz catholic primary" - that's 6-12 year olds, for non-Aussies.

Donations

2010-02-24T23:15:00.001+08:00

I had two moving thoughts tonight.

One was towards Trinity Bates' 8 year old friend who spoke in front of a crowd saying "she was my friend" :-(

The other relates to the advert showing a full force of life savers watching over a little girl about to put some carefree strides into the ocean.

I support the lifesavers - I donate funds. It also makes me think - a potential wild thought - what would be more productive
a) spending money on cancer cure projects in the home to find the cure
b) investing in children of the future, great science projects and awareness. Fuel the intelligence, just like in the Sputnik/Apollo days.

Curious.

Morality

2010-02-20T13:13:00.000+08:00

Morality is a topic that really seems to get under my skin, particularly when those of the religious variety try to claim "christian morals". Perhaps 9-10 years ago, well before I became a self educated skeptic, but when I knew I was in fact a confident atheist, someone suggested that my morals could be likened to the "christian morals", and even back then that really didn't sit right with me.

Then I read the chapter on Morality in Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion.

Nowadays when I read through my RSS feed, those with "moral" in the title immediately grab my attention.

A close second is indoctrinating kids with religion. TAM covered this recently, and it reminds me of Arianne Sherine's poster shown above. On reading this little ditty about attempting to teach kids to think for themselves, it reminded me of a few other posts recently that caught my eye - and I thought I better re-read.

This one was a real headf`k to read, but the bit in bold says it all
If the ultimate explanation of my obligation to X (e.g., my obligation not to torture others, my obligation not to steal your children, and so on) is that my failure to X will result in punishment, then we are no longer talking about moral obligation.

ie, if you don't do what I say, I'll punish you with (hell/not be saved/mortality). So don't do it because it's altruistic, do it in fear of punishment.

Such a big piece of hypocracy that must be lost on a good percentage of believers.

Here Mark the 40y/o atheist rips apart the ten commandments - and does a brilliant job.

And their shortcomings...

Other Shortcomings of the Ten Commandments: I am sure there are others, but here are just a few off the top of my head:

Child Molestation: This should be a no-brainer if you’re making commandments.
Rape: Ditto
Slavery: At one time, Christians justified slavery using verses in the Bible. Now we know better. Why wasn’t something about slavery included in the ultimate moral code?
Equality: Women, blacks and now gays have all struggled for equality. Why didn’t something about basic human rights get included in the Christian moral code?

And even then, it seems to me that the Bible is grossly inadequate compared to other sources of morality. Which sources? How about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (a clearly secular document)? I’m sorry but, on issues of human rights, the Bible doesn’t even hold a candle.

This still doesn't make me feel better every time I drive past a catholic primary school :-(

How to melt down the internet

2010-02-17T23:04:00.000+08:00

I had a revelation today, I thought of something that could put a lot of strain on the internet.

Every now and then big news happens that really boost hits on various websites - typically the death of a celebrity spark people looking up news sites for confirmation; IMDB to look at acting history; Twitter to chat about the event; Facebook to do the same; blogs and so on.

So what news could possibly trump all this and generate really serious activity on a global scale, across all countries, creeds, religions, ages, sexes...

My suggestion would be the confirmation of life on a world other than Earth.

It would have the most profound effect in religious circles, and obviously atheists alike. I think it it would incur such a boom of communication it would put such a strain everywhere, not just the net.

Thoughts?

Nationalism and humanity

2010-02-17T22:53:00.000+08:00

I had a thought the other day. I'm reading through a fantastic book by Stephen Baxter called Voyage. I'm also listening to Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot on audiobook.

Put these two together, I thought about the concept of first settlers to Mars. Let's suppose their nationality is USA, or at least NASA has collaborated with perhaps ESA and have their big letters stencilled on the booster. Man (or woman) sets foot on the red ~~earth~~ dust and claims the planet for all people of the USA. Of course not! Besides all the deals that have been done about space exploration, and no country being able to claim any space for their own benefit, it would cause a massive uproar.

Wind the clock back 200 years, English white man set foot on Australian shores to claim Terra Australis for the mother kingdom. Local aborigines obviously detested the concept and still do today. The same goes for aboriginal cultures around the world.

Wind the clock back anothe 40,000 years, Java man walks/canoes to Arnham Land and sets foot on Australia for the first time, slowly settling their tribes where they can.

This would have happened before this in lands closer to Africa/middle east. When Neanderthal and Homo Sapien lived in the same time (apologies if I have my species incorrect), there would have been warring tribes (if they could be categorised as such), potentially mating amongst the two groups. Eventually our ancestors won over, so to speak.

So why should the timing of the appearance of a particular species of man into a certain area mean they should claim ownership of the land.

If I may be so bold and put this into contemporary context - why should Australian aborigines have any more claim over the great southern land than Anglo-white man?

We are both of the same species, race really is skin deep and should not be considered. Sure, the way anglos conquered this land was poor form, but that is the past and we have to deal with our situation today. While preserving cultures of both, can we not appreciate we are of the same species and land cannot be owned by anyone?

I know I'm not articulating this any where near as clearly as I was thinking about it, and I'm sure many people have considered these arguments in the past. But I had to get these thoughts out.

Hurtle / Wizz / Just Miss / Close call / ... harmless

2010-01-14T23:00:00.001+08:00

I do wonder sometimes about our Aunty ABC here in Australia. I know some people in the industry, and I forward some examples and comments occasionally, but this particular image does baffle me somewhat.

And funnily enough the headline of this news item I found in a news aggregator does great justice to how Phil Plait headlines his article on this topic, and mentions others at the end.

But back to the image at hand - it's not to scale in size nor distance. And since the article mentions "hurtling 1/3 distance between Earth and Moon", I wonder if the uneducated might see this image and think the moon really is this close and think "wow, what a really near miss!"

But then again, what might the same people think if they started wondering what the big fuss was about trying to get to the moon - was it a big hoax after all?! Why did it take 3 days?!

Storm in a wine glass

2010-01-14T15:57:00.000+08:00

When I come across these things, I really gotta think about posting them straight away because everyone seems to grab a hold of things real quickly!

Not that I'm really trying to beat people at the post, but it's nice to have news before it's old sometimes, and he's an aussie fellow.

Tim Minchin's Storm being animated - what a great idea and good work to the team on the task.

The poem, if I may call it that, is such a good, succinct detailing of the skeptic mind at work. I think it's required viewing for all new (and old) skeptics, plus those people on the fence. I sure hope it does go viral.

Evolution is a fraud?

2010-01-08T09:05:00.000+08:00

I don't think so.

However yesterday I received the usual email from Amazon listing books I might like to read. One of them was "Why Evolution is a Fraud - A Secular & Common Sense Deconstruction." I doubt it.

Certainly not from what I've been able to read about it, through reviews and the chapter listing on the link above. Take Chapter 4 - Racist roots bare poisonous fruits. The author says rarely (when?) is primitive man portrayed as blonde and blue eyed, but always Africans and Australian Aborigines. Duh. But this goes even further - check out some of the links from this page - "Stop the invasion, secure our borders" Some political website that wants to strengthen the US borders to stop the invasion of illegal immigrants. So who'se calling who racist?! Evolutionists are stating facts. Go look at a hairless chimp - what colour are they?!

I'm really keen to see what he says about the fossil record, but I don't want to give him any money. Chapter 8's description details something that is one of my greatest bug-bears - that atheists live outside the bounds of a moral society. Open your eyes a little bit and you'll see moral actions throughout the animal kingdom. He tries to throw objective truth to the reader, yet he takes the bible as his objective truth? How? How can you call evolution a pseudo-science, yet accept many other forms of science as a basis to confirm scientific facts you've interpreted out of the bible?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say anything published by Red State Publishing isn't going to be entirely objective. How about considering the fact that happy people exist outside your beloved country.

Ok, rant over.

No, wait, I've got one more!

"This is nonsense, folks. First, evolutionists tell us that land animals evolved from sea creatures. Now they are trying a new approach, claiming sea creatures evolved from land animals. Dog are still dogs, but they claim that some of the dogs long ago evolved into dolphins. These "scientists" claim the dolphin evolved from the dog while the rest of the dogs didn't evolved into anything. They simply remained dogs."

Cough.

Halal humane?

2009-12-23T13:38:00.000+08:00

I received an e-mail recently complaining about the Muslim traditions that are creeping into Australia.

While that is an issue, the concept of halal was mentioned in the e-mail. From what I've seen and read, halal meats aren't prepared all that humanely. Read and watch and tell me if you still disagree!

Personally I prefer kangaroo meat. These roos are often killed in their natural habitat, killed instantly via bullet to the head, and they don't know it's coming. And it's better for the environment than having grazing pastures for cattle that fart and belch all day.

Only trouble is one must reconcile our actions against what happens in nature every day, with every species on the food chain. Take a lioness killing a wildebeest - she will wrap her crushing jaws around the throat, which is potentially more "humane" than the halal process since the creature will often pass out within seconds due to lack of oxygen.

Think about that during your next kebab, and remember tribal africans have the knowledge to kill animals instantly with a bow and arrow for centuries. (I wish I could find that video - I saw it on Discovery one time)

Speciation

2009-12-19T12:57:00.000+08:00

Uncanny. For the past few weeks I've been pondering one of the most ubiquitous arguments the creationists have - how one species can change to another. I'm slowly making my way through Richard Dawkins' TGSOE, and I've just come to the chapter on the said topic.

I'm wondering however, are there some good evolution-based books out there that cover speciation in great detail - for the layman?

From what I've seen, creationists say sure, snakes on islands get smaller, birds change shape, finches get different shape beaks etc - but they're still snakes, still birds.

I'm certainly no advocate for the crockaduck, but I would like to learn more about this issue. Jerry Coyne touched on it in Why Evolution is True, but some of the details went over my computer nerd head - I'm not fully wired up for biology just yet!

We've got great fossil evidence proving species evolve, but none of the big name biology books I've read so far really challenge the topic of speciation. I'm sure one of Dawkins' books may do a good job, and ultimately I'd like to get through all of his.. baby steps. But if someone can give me the heads up on which one would do this well... I'd appreciate it.

Censorship in Australia blows...

2009-12-16T11:24:00.000+08:00

On one hand, we are finally being given some form of voice in regard to games ratings. We currently don't have a R18+ rating in Australia, which means some games that won't be modified just won't make it over hear. I'm not a gamer, I really won't be affected, but it seems one person, South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson seems to be the one person that decides what's going on. How can we live in a democracy, yet have power yielded on some topics by one individual?

And on the other hand, internet filtering whether we want it or not seems to be heading our way. Sure, child abuse and criminal instructions shouldn't be available, but this isn't the right way to go about it.

This censorship just seems to be a minor, weakened version of what China currently goes through every single day. As my dad always used to say, we're big enough and ugly enough to look after ourselves.

Information really is beautiful

2009-12-16T09:40:00.000+08:00

Well, this particular image isn't superbly beautiful, but it does portray an excellent comparison for climate change.

There are other images in this site that truly are beautiful, in regard to information. A picture paints a thousand words. I particularly like the one showing where the dollar is spent. A little bit of artistic licence on that one to make it tessellate, but what's art without artistic licence?

The problem I have is ever since reading State of Fear by Michael Crichton, I have been mildly skeptical of the climate change issue (NOT a denier). I've never had all the facts, and I certainly won't pretend I understand them all, but it seems to be one of the most difficult arguments scientists are having to make.

I think one of the final comments on this image says it all. Basically yes, we are experiencing a natural phenomena that is producing a change in the overall climate, but we are adding to this affect with our emissions and we are out of step with it, hence amplifying the issue.

TAM! Sydney 2010

2009-12-15T12:53:00.000+08:00

Uncanny. I sent an e-mail to a friend about not being able to make it to the Atheist Convention in Melbourne, and commenting that atheism and skepticism communities in Australia are rising rapidly and I predicted that more such event will be held in future - the next day I received an e-mail notification about TAM! Sydney, 2010.

The SGU guys and gals will be there, Dr Karl K, along with James Randi - pending health. I'm looking forward to seeing who else may be coming, as further international and Australian speakers are yet to be announced.

These dates I'll definitely try to keep open - and I love the logo!

The Lorax

2009-11-10T13:56:00.002+08:00

Early this year, Seth Godin wrote a post recommending we read The Lorax to our children.

I like Dr Seuss, but I hadn't heard of this particular book. I finally bought a copy today and read it to my youngest children. It was one of those times where clearly you know where the book is going, but you don't know how exactly it will get there.

I admit I did have some chills when I read through the final few pages. I second Seth's recommendation.

It reminded me of a video I received on e-mail once - a tree felling video that shows a very efficient machine chopping, de-barking and slicing trees. While attempting to locate I came across a somewhat worse machine, since it doesn't actually do anything useful with the tree - it is just a big toy that destroys trees.

Now, recently I've been thinking that possibly our environment is going through a periodic change, that our climate is not changing due to mankind (Michael Crichton's State of Fear is a great fiction book on this), and that considering how many extinctions there have been in the past 3.8 billion years, why should we be concerned about saving all current species?

But this book does in fact remind you how much of an impact we as a species are making on other species, regardless of kingdom. The rate of extinction is a concern.

But what's the solution?

Carl Sagan Day!

2009-11-07T00:01:00.001+08:00

Sometimes I do wish I did live in the USA, because there would be more opportunities to visit and participate in events such as this.

I live in the most isolated capital city in the world. I appreciate where I live, I think it's great. Soon there will be the Atheist Convention in Melbourne, which is a 3.5h flight (4h return) which equates to a $800+ investment in flights and accomodation alone. Surely the US citizens have much more opportunity to visit events at lower cost than us.

The Demon Haunted World is still on my list of to-read, it's a quickly growing list...

Sigh.

God Twitters Creation

2009-11-06T21:55:00.000+08:00

I found this very amusing - god twitters creation. (Thanks to the Young Australian Skeptics for the link)

This line in particular got a giggle out of me
God: sorry no tweets yesterday guys. Made the sun moon & stars. turned out 2 be more work than i expected. Theyre bigger than they look
3 days ago

I forwarded this to a few people, including a JW and (I think) 7th Day Adventist friend of mine, who replied with some pedantic responses
- Satan was created too
- The fossils were a result of the flood, 2000 years after creation
- And that god never spoke of apples specifically, but just said that particular tree.

Now, why would he/she create satan?
How, with the wealth of scientific knowledge that we have today, can a grown, educated man still think that fossils are a product of an impossible global flood?
And second to that - 6000 year old earth?! I've read one of his magazines... very thin on strong arguments. It described one situation where scientists can't explain something to do with Saturn, ergo proving a young universe.

Are we not just a pale blue dot?

Proposition 8

2009-11-05T13:11:00.001+08:00

Now the American/Californian proposition 8 didn't get too much air time over here in Australia, but I've just watched a few videos and commericals.

For those who dont' know, it's to do with gay marriage. (sorry for the short sypnosis)

This man spoke up at his church and delivered a polite speech saying he was disatisfied with the church's actions in this regard. He was censored and escorted out of the building, then spoken to at length by a woman whose husband had left her for another man.

Man censorship bugs me. Shouldn't we teach our children to question authority, isn't that what drives knowledge?

Gravitational Lensing

2009-10-30T20:04:00.000+08:00

I love visiting Astronomy Picture of the Day. I look forward to lunchtime (my time) everyday when a new image comes up. Not only to I see a wonderful array of images from all sources, it's a great way to keep up to date with news events, mission progess and there's always links to more sites you can explore.

Of course I have my favourites, and some images that don't do too much for me - but what I do find amazing is the concept of gravitational lensing.

It makes me humbled. I feel small, young, and insignificant in the whole grand scheme of things.

'Divine' Denial of Service attack

2009-10-26T22:58:00.000+08:00

Those of you in tune with the now have probably heard about the denial of service attack on the Rise of Atheism Conference website.

Those friendly folk at the Young Australian Skeptics have organised a few facebook group and event to raise awareness of a, retaliation, for lack of a better word.

At 9am GMT on Sunday Nov 8th, channel your prayers to Yahweh, and flood his inbox with thoughts!

Mr Pharyngula says he won't be participating (for valid reasons), but raise awareness everybody!

... because he doesn't exist.

2009-10-26T08:00:00.000+08:00

I often read my RSS feeds via my iPhone, and forward any entries that peak my interest to my e-mail to read in detail later, forward to others, or give me the ability to watch and listen to videos on privacy.

I re-watched this one recently, thankyou Crispian Jago. I posted this on facebook and an atheist friend immediately put Crispian on his feed.

Great song, great collection of images, wonderful time to ponder (he posted this on 11th Sept)

Ray Comfort...

2009-10-24T23:09:00.001+08:00

I decided to watch a few videos on this strange sounding kiwi...

In this one I heard him say "I believe in the woman's right to choose". Now without context, that sounds bad good. (late night) But he was explaining it as if a child heard about atheism at school and Ray was saying this would be a bad thing to hear from your child. Huh?

In this one, he says atheists believe everything came from nothing - scientists say before the big band there was nothing. He finds this absurd. Now think a little harder about this. Um, what was around 6001 years ago, before god created the Earth? Nothing?

And here the ignorant fool apologies for the banana incident, not explaining himself clearly. More like shifting the goldposts, and then further confirming his ignorance about why we chose to change the banana. Not to make it fit nicely in our hand, otherwise I'm sure we might have done that with a watermelon - but to make them edible! And no, we didn't shape big dalmation dogs to fit in our cars - we domesticated the wolf to be our friend. And no, we didn't shape cats to fit in our wive's laps, that would just be sexist.

I don't get this one. So what if the universe isn't eternal? Are you talking about size of timeframe? Either way, check out the Astronomy Cast website and find the episodes on the size and shape of the universe. Then come back to us. And don't think that a paper released in 1965 still has relevance today. Don't forget scientists are quite happy to wipe the slate clean and rethink when new evidence comes to hand.

And wow. Every time I hear "jesus", "miracle", "god" mentioned in a news report I consider it so preachy! No wonder the atheist is aiming to move reference out of "one nation". You're not being racist there are you Ray? I live on a big island in the southern hemisphere, does my opinion count too? If your child gets sick, please don't just pray - take them to a doctor.

What if everything just was always there. Always?

I'll end with this - I saw the best comment on a blog recently suggesting atheism is religion like an empty glass of beer is a beverage. Good onya!

My first Atheist meeting.

2009-10-23T20:02:00.000+08:00

I went to my first Atheist meeting recently, and I feel a little surprised about my reaction.

While I've been a long time non-believer, I like to think of myself as rather balanced. While I'm happy to offer my opinions on religious schooling, theory of evolution and quackery to my friends, I never consider myself militant.

Sure I realised other people out there push their ideas to others, showing the dangers of religion, I was frankly shocked at the almost... elitism, that some of these people showed.

I've been listening to a lot of the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe recently, and often that topic comes up. Things such as people trying to invent new terms for skepticism, such as "Brights", which again shows a little elitism (sorry, my internal thesaurous isn't working on a Friday). Crispian Jago has a little button image stating Skeptical not Cynical, which I thought was rather cute. Especially recently when my atheist friend hadn't really heard about the skeptical movement.

I digress. I recently have been starting from the beginning of the SGU podcast series, and I came across an episode I thought discussed the atheist vs skeptical movement so superbly. I throroughly recommend people having a listen to Episode 10 - at least I think that's the one I mean.

I'm not really sure where I lie, but I certainly would also offer opinions towards some Buddhist idealogies. And I'm not really decided where I'd lie on the atheist/skepticism co-operation, but I certainly agree with a lot of Steve's comments.

I'd like to hit up a skeptic meeting soon, just to draw a comparison.

Just remember everyone, we're all cousins, all one people. Let's be happy with our world and use science to determine why things are so.

The Blue/Red Planet

2009-10-23T19:45:00.002+08:00

Some of the images coming out of the Mars HiRISE orbiter recently are simply stunning.

I find it amazing how diverse this planet really is when it comes to its geological features. This lot featured by Space Gizmo show how it isn't just a dusty red planet.

This one in particular reminds me of a dolphin, perhaps the paradolia I associate with Mars and the crazy friends of Percival Lowell. There are (amongst all the other nutters in the world) people who truly do believe giant dolphins swim in hidden tubes in Mars.

And of course, there are people in the world who haven't really thought about the fact our world is round!

Aussie wins Nobel prize!

2009-10-05T21:56:00.000+08:00

Congratulations molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, winner of a 2009 physiology or medicine Nobel prize.

Turns out it's for her work studying enzymes that regulate activity of telomeres. For those of us without biological background, it's all about why we age.

I wonder if it's one of those curiosities, that if we can crack it, it could be likened to discovering life on another planet - as far as creationists are concerned anyway.

I often wonder how religious folk will react if astrobiology can be irrefutably confirmed...

Product placement

2009-10-05T14:16:00.001+08:00

Recently I visited the local newsagency (sorry if this term is unfamiliar in your particular country - a place that sells lotto tickets, newspapers, magazines, gift cards etc) and was perusing my rack of interest. I though the placement of magazines was a little amusing, so I took a photo. Spot the odd one out:

I also visited the ABC Bookshop, and since I recently heard Richard Wiseman on SGU, and previously having seen his work linked by Phil Plait, I thought I'd look out for his recent book. I thought it's placement was also amusing:

No wonder it was a little difficult to find... I haven't yet purchased it, I still need to consume Richard Dawkins' TGSOE that my other half graciously bought me - even though she thinks I'm the biggest nerd!

I've joined a great community.

2009-10-05T12:41:00.000+08:00

My humble blog, Two More Gaps, has been added to The Atheist Blogroll.

My aim isn't to become a prominent blogger, just another voice in the crowd that hopefully contributes on the odd occasion with a good post, and share my perspective as a skeptic.

You can see the rolling version of The Atheist Blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

Possible death from Cervarix vaccine

2009-09-29T10:49:00.000+08:00

A death from a cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix has been reported in my local news website. Great, that means confidence in all vaccines will probably drop.

The best analogy I heard recently regarding medicine was that a big burly bloke could die at the sight of a cute puppy, and a frail old grandmother could survive a hit by a 2x4. Medicince is a fine balance between science and art.

What may tragically kill one will save millions.

Global Atheist Convention

2009-09-29T08:24:00.002+08:00

If anyone would like to sponsor me (I only live in Perth), I would gratefully show my appreciation!

Moon fail

2009-09-25T11:34:00.006+08:00

The news about water on the moon is great and all, but it's a shame some websites missed the picture (pardon the pun) and linked a dodgy image of the moon.

Here is a screengrab, since I didn't know how long the image would last. I think it was at least half a day before it was converted to a shot of Earth from the moon.

My moon identification is a little off today, I'd appreciate the help - I think it's a moon of Saturn, Enceladus maybe? Ironically a moon that scientists already believe has water.

Will I be doing this in March?

2009-08-20T23:33:00.003+08:00

I saw this mentioned on Pharyngula recently, The 2010 Atheist Global Convention in Melbourne, on 12-14 March 2010. I live in Perth, and I travel for work on random occasions to various places around Australia - I wonder if my boss can time some work in Melbourne around that time.

I'm uber keen on going to something like this, but AUD$700+ keen? Not sure.

I wonder if any international (or even domestic) visitors would be coming to Perth while they're down under?

Time + Distance = Incomprehensible

2009-08-20T23:28:00.002+08:00

The (perceivable) universive is massive. This video helps provide a testament to that.

Sometimes I boggle myself just trying to think about where the human species has come in the past 10000 years, let alone 3.5 billion years of life, or 13 billion years of time.

And then distance. 400,000kms to the moon - that's huge! 150m kms to the Sun, heck, light takes 8 minutes to get here - light!

We are a really small speck in the universe. Was it Sagan that said something like, "who are we to consider ourselves so special as to warrant a creator?"

Birds are intelligent.

2009-08-09T13:02:00.004+08:00

There is more than one form of intelligence on this planet. Octopii, dolphins and birds (amongst others) show an interesting to think.

Which somehow reminded me I haven't done any chapter reviews yet of "Why Evolution is True".

It's a book that's got me very interested, and the chapter I thought was going to be the best has certainly taken the cake so far - one on vestigial organs and why things just aren't very intelligently designed after all. But there has also been very interesting prose on whale evolution; reminding us on Darwin's analogy of language to evolution, different ways species does originate...

Amazing. But I wonder would I have the capacity to read On the Origin of Species? Jerry does a good job of referring to it, but I think he may be paraphrasing well to adjust to the layman.

sometimes I seem to forgot a blog title...

2009-08-09T12:58:00.004+08:00

Yep, I find myself with a little time on Sunday arvo while I watch the footy and do a little work.

Phil Plait's recent blog post shows a very impressive galaxy collision - something impossible to map 30 years ago but thanks to the wonders of modern computers and twittering from Pamela Gay - we get this.

I also like that fact it's something that would actually happen over billions of years. Time that's just unfathomable by man/woman.

Paradolia cities/creatures (found on Mars/Saturn moons)

2009-08-09T12:56:00.002+08:00

Dave Beamer has some very interesting videos on youtube.

This man has found things that NASA has failed to find, I don't know why he isn't famous!!

Yep, drops of sarcasm are oozing from my laptop keyboard as I type. Sometimes I wonder if some people perceive the world a little differently than others. I can't see what he's on about, but hey - I can't see the objects in those magic eye images. So who am I to criticise?

It reminds me of a website I found a while ago where people are absolutely convinced there are giant dolphins and other such creatures swimming in underground canals in Mars. I thought this sort of idea died with Percival Lowell, before telescopes could really tell what was on Mars.

I say that but a friend of mine is still convinced some craters on Mars actually domes of something that NASA is trying to hide/ignore.

The human mind is an amazing place.

Space Junk

2009-08-03T21:34:00.003+08:00

I think it's amazing that some space junk (if not all?) is tracked to such an extent where they know when it will re-enter the earth's atmosphere and burn up.

This you tube clip shows the bag that was dropped by Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper in Nov 2008 visible in certain conditions from the surface.

Oops!

Get out in the sunshine...

2009-08-02T22:13:00.002+08:00

Sometimes these sorts of things just seem to slip the mind.

A simple fact like wearing a burka can lead to vitamin deficiencies.

I'm quite happy to slip slop slap & slide (on the sunnies) to have a great day at the beach an soak up my vitamin D

Unbelievably sad

2009-08-02T21:45:00.002+08:00

This news story is unbelievably sad.

What I don't completely understand is how the fact the courts who were aware of this last spring (I hate global coverage that refers to seasons), and a daughter who is at the age when she could potentially start questioning her parents actions - could face a situation such as this?

What I'm also unsure about is whether this story is over a year old, and now coming to light with more and more sensitivity to these types of situations. If only a few stories are coming to light, imagine how often this type of stuff actually happens?!

Daylight Atheism describes a situation now when the atheist community seems to be getting more of a voice. This is exactly why I started this kind of a blog. One more whisper in what seems to be an overwhelming minority. Hopefully one day it might head towards "death by a thousand cuts" for religious beliefs, memes, and society acceptance.

Sigh.

How strong is that belief?

2009-07-27T09:10:00.002+08:00

I've just had a revelation - Richard Dawkins mentioned in The God Delusion there is a scale of belief/non belief with about 7 points. He rates himself as #6, where while he has strong belief there is no god, he can't be absolutely certain without a shadow of doubt. Reading his description of points in the scale, that's still extremely strong. But I think that #6 should also include such possibilities as our planet is just one large experiment - a la Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers guide where the Earth was built to calculate the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything as 42. Or anything in that general ballpark. It all seems just as likely as a deity... I think.

It's arrived!

2009-07-27T08:59:00.002+08:00

I'm most excited, the book I ordered - Why Evolution is True, by Jerry A. Coyne has arrived.

I shall be reading that and no doubt commenting as go along...

"It is an interesting and demonstrable fact, that all children are atheists and were religion not inculcated into their minds, they would remain so."
- Ernestine Rose

Pseudo-science placebo effect?

2009-07-23T12:03:00.002+08:00

Upon reading an article on a local news website about the solar eclipse in Asia, the first person to make a comment suggested the absurdity of the superstition/astrology involved with natural phenomena such as the solar eclipse. Amazingly he got harpooned! A friend of mine tried to post a response, mentioning sites like whatstheharm.net, where beliefs in psuedoscience can have dramatic consequences - such as your child dying.

This was due to one of the commenters suggesting that such beliefs can have a placebo effect, suggesting that up to 30% of medical gain is due to the placebo effect (something I remember reading about in New Scientist - but not correlated to pseudoscience - more on double blind tests on pills that are meant to cure colds etc)

The question I have is this: is there an example where the benefits of some form of placebo effect due to a belief in pseudoscience outweighs the potential "side effects"?

And thinking further about this, I was trying to think of what form of benefit such a placebo would have?!

F22 Fighter Jets

2009-07-23T11:49:00.003+08:00

Do you suppose they'll pump the extra cash into the space program?

"Supporters say that there is a need to ensure US air superiority as China and Russia invest in fighter jets."

Hasn't the cold war ended?!

Taking a hit for the team

2009-07-21T12:15:00.004+08:00

Jupiter really is a life saver. It's super mass is central to being the real saviour of humanity & life on Earth.

Once again this massive planet has taken a hit for the team. This image from JPL shows an infrared shot of the latest collision on the planet. Something large was consumed by Jupiter, much better that result (for us) than this object orbiting around finding it's final resting place on Earth. I say once again because it turns out it's been exactly 15 years since a comit hit the gas giant.

We're just a little rocky blog of not much significance. Carl Sagan has an awesome quote on this I must find, and Buzz Aldrin recently made a comment in this regard also, saying once he was on his way to the moon, all borders & wars seemed so insignificant...

I also envy Mike Collins, he has probably had the most amazing meditative experience orbiting the moon alone. When he was on the far side, we was the most isolated human ever. Whoa from me.

Apollo sites imaged by LRO

2009-07-20T11:28:00.003+08:00

The blogging/internet world is fast, but content is gold, so I'd like to be on the list of people mentioning at this poignant time announcing the LRO has release the first images (via the Bad Astronomer) of the Apollo landing sites on the moon. (or NASA direct)

Some of my moon hoaxer friends have decided to ignore this evidence, too. Almost reminds me of all the religious folk who constantly ignore the relevant scientific evidence disputing their beliefs.

Can't wait to see the 2-3 times better resolution pics of these sites under good conditions (the right shadows).

Also saw Universe Today mention Buzz Aldrin's autobiography - I think that would be a good read.

Uluru

2009-07-09T11:53:00.003+08:00

There is a bit of news in Australia at the moment about Uluru (Ayers Rock)

(Thankyou NASA for the image)

I've always wanted to climb this rock. It's huge. The views would be awesome, the accomplishment - satisfying.

Now the goverment/tourism commission want to stop people from climbing on it. Reasoning - safety. Over 30 people have died climbing it over 200+ years. This has slowed in recent past by only allowing climbing on days when there is fair conditions - fair enough.

The thing that's grinding people's gears is that the aborigines have wanted to ban climbing it for years. Reasoning - sacred ground.

Now the issue of sacred land in Australia has been going on for years. As a caucasion Australian, I've had sympathy for the Aboriginal people for as long as I understood the issue. Some people have trouble looking past the stereotypes. But this issue rang a bell that perhaps hasn't occurred to me before - the whole idea of sacred ground really is a bit of baloney.

They honour their dead in certain ways - they can't watch film of people that have died - things like that.

But it's a rock.

And someone on the forum there raised a good point - Aborigines really have no greater claim to the land of Australia than the white man/woman. They beat us by 40,000 years - so what? It's the planet Earth, and we're all humans. Why should your religious rites stop the adventurous from climbing a rock?

It was likened to temples and religious monuments around the world.. ahh no. It's still a rock. Should people be stopped from climbing Everest; stop touring the Grand Canyon, stop trekking to the south/north pole?

Nope.

Gadgets

2009-07-08T12:35:00.002+08:00

Excuse me while I play with what gadgets are best to put on one's blog.

Even the visitor map seems either inaccurate or people are stumbling here more than I'd expect right now...

Any suggestions?

Gardasil

2009-07-06T12:30:00.003+08:00

I've always been cautious of putting too much weight into sensationalised news shows such as Today Tonight, but I randomly saw one of last week's episodes when they talked about the cervical cancer vaccinne Gardasil.

Forgetting whether Gardasil has any serious side effects or not, my concern lies with the thoughts on vaccinations a typical viewer may have after watching this sort of coverage.

Vaccinations are important, children need vaccinations to help improve health and life expectancy of the masses. If people are watching 6:30pm sensationalist journalism and daytime TV such as Oprah, who touts the effervescent Jennie McCarthy, perhaps the take up rate for vaccinations will decrease, therefore endangering your children.

What scares me even more though - I heard Oprah is trying to use her billions to open her own channel promoting only shows that have been approved by her. Imagine the sort of 70 hours a week nonsense that would promote!! I'm pretty sure she already has her own radio station, and I'm sure the youtube channel is on the way...

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

2009-06-30T12:00:00.002+08:00

After watching the amazing launch of the LRO, I'm very much looking forward to seeing the high detail happy snaps it will be taking of the lunar surface.

These photos should be able to resolve many interesting details of the Apollo landings, plus the other robotic probes that have previously been sent to the moon.

What I don't know as yet it so what specific resolution, or when these images may start coming through. I have an idea it's by the end of the year to get at least something, and close enough to see the lunar rover and it's tracks - which hopefully is at least something to get the moon hoaxers thinking...

It always happens in threes.

2009-06-26T09:03:00.002+08:00

I never thought my first blog post is going to be about this...

When do you suppose everyone's going to start tying the death of Michael Jackson with other celebrities such as Farrah Fawcett. It won't take long before they find someone else and say "look, celebrity deaths always happen in threes!!"

Other, less well known celebrities always get forgotten about, or there is such a media frenzy (about the king of pop) that others fall by the wayside.

The question remains, who draws the line between celebrity and a "regular" human. Where's the line in the sand between the first set of three and the next? What date range can catch this rule of 3?

Numerology experts, shine your lights!