Richard Dawkins Lecture at UC Berkley

The great Richard Dawkins hosts a Q&A at UC Berkley. More>>

Please Don't Divorce Us!

I wonder if the people who created Proposition 8 can actually visualize the families their broad hateful actions are affecting? Do they understand that they are actively breaking up two parent families? Do they realize they could jeopardize adoptions and tear children away from loving parents?

The America I thought I lived in fought against these principles of hate. Why must these so-called Christians take someone else's family away just because they don't approve of it. When did America cede to Theocratic rule?

I don't believe that these people are poor excuses of Christianity, I believe they are poor excuses for human beings.

The Courage Campaign, a progressive organization in California put together this heart warming photo stream of families begging not to be wrenched apart. Please take a look at it here. More>>

Have a Very Merry Heathen Holiday!

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Dr. Kaku on BBC World

The great Michio Kaku discusses the case for multiple universes on BBC World. More>>

Dark Side of the Mo....Jupiter

A Hubble image of Ganymede traveling to the Dark Side of Jupiter. David Gilmour has refused to comment. More>>

What Happens When You Get What You Want?

Let's forget for a second that Intelligent design is utterly unprovable. Let's also bypass that it's a philosophical issue rather than anything remotely adhering to a scientific theory.

What would happen if ID proponents actually succeeded in placing the creation story in American school books? What would be the logistic repercussions brought about by this shift?

In my mind, the most obviously glaring problem would be: Which creation story do we add to our curriculum?

The United States of America has become more and more multicultural throughout the information age and it's unlikely for this fact to change for the foreseeable future. Based on this fact alone, a biology class would morph into a theology class spending large amounts of time on explaining each and every one of the major religion's creation stories. It's also very hard to put each religion's creation story into context without pumping background information on each into the lesson plan.

Don't most curriculum already cover theology in social studies? Why do we need to trod the same ground in science class?

"That would never happen.", you say. "America is a Christian nation!"

OK, let's play ball with that conjecture.

Christianity achieves a massive victory and ID is now to be taught in science class. We will learn the true creation story Joseph Smith was told by the great Angel Moroni.

What? You say the Mormon faith is hogwash and not a mainstream Christian belief system?

The state of Utah would disagree with you.

Do you really think that the denizens of Salt Lake City are going to give up without a fight? The LDS has over 30 billion dollars worth of resources to pour into pushing their agenda, and the prop 8 debacle shows just how willing they are to use them.

Denominations have split and lifelong enmity was created simply from arguments about instrumentation during worship services.

Do you really think that multiple Christian denominations could ever agree on a unified curriculum when each believes that it is the true church?

I seriously doubt it. More>>

Dalek Christmas Tree

Unbelievable Dalek Christmas Tree from Lindsey J. Testolin on Vimeo

This is too awesome for me to even make a joke about. Damn, now I'm going to have to find a new sci-fi mockery of Christmas every day. More>>

Theo Jansen's Amazing Kinetic Sculptures

Theo Jansen takes biology and mechanical engineering and fuses them to make fascinating and unsettling kinetic art. This just goes to show how close the cousins of art and science really are. More>>

LHC to be fired up in June of 2009

I want to see some Higgs bosons! I wonder if Woit and Smolin simultaneously felt a disturbance in the force? More>>

Bad Religion - Materialist

This is the inaugural showing of music which typifies the theme of this blog. If there was a band that was the aural twin to ISOH it would be Bad Religion, so I thought Mr. Graffin's ouvre would be the best place to start.

Materialist is probably the best example of metaphysical-naturalism ever put into song. Ok, it may be the only time this subject has ever been put into song, it's great nonetheless. More>>

Lego Star Wars Nativity

I wish I had some Lego's. More>>

Goblin Shark

Ahh.. the beauty that is nature. Note the majestic Japanese Goblin ShaAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! What the!!! Kill it! Kill it! More>>

Salvation Army of Darkness

There are quite a few reasons I actively dislike the Salvation Army. Dislike may be too mild of a reaction, but I try to stay away from calling organizations parasitic fundamentalist cults in polite company.

Let's start out with the name Salvation Army. Rarely does the word army follow anything that isn't threatening. We will give you salvation whether you like it or not! Considering their record on pouring money into anti-homosexual and anti-equal marriage groups I think that the name may be more appropriate than they intended.

Where does that money that you plunk into the bucket actually go to? I think we would be naive to think that the money goes directly to efforts to stock food banks when the Salvation Army operates a billion dollar network of churches. Why waste money that could be going directly to people in need to a huge religious corporate entity?

Another cult like aspect of the Salvation Army is their perplexing marriage policy. Johnny Harsh, an officer in the S.A. and an ordained minister, was asked to resign due to his engagement to a non member. Supposedly this is for reasons both "practical and spiritual" but this smacks to me of the kind of bizarre exclusionary behavior exhibited by Scientologists and the LDS.

Now let's get down to the real meat of the matter, the bell ringers. That piercing, hellish clang that I can hear inside my head long after the red poncho ed panhandler has left my presence. This is the aural equivalent of someone poking you in the ass with a sharp stick and chanting, "Give me money! Give me money! Give me money! Give me money! Give me money! ...etc." Usually when you are mugged, the criminal has the decency to not make you feel guilty by making sad faces and mournfully ringing a bell before taking your money.

This Christmas season, do a little homework and donate directly to a local food pantry or an equivalent so that your money goes directly to those who need it. Lets stop feeding the Salvation Army's infrastructure and put that money where it belongs. More>>

Dr. Michio Kaku talks about the Physics of the Impossible

Part One


Part Two


How can you not love Dr. Kaku? String theory and quantum physics can be heady topics, so it's quite amazing that Kaku can present much of it to the layman with a healthy dose of pop cultural reference. More>>

Richard Dawkins interviews Derren Brown

Fascinating interview by Richard Dawkins with the famed magician and cold reader Darren Brown. It's amazing that people actually fall for some of the so-called psychics out there, as some of the most famous aren't even that good at cold reading.

Sylvia Brown: I see a strong male figure.

Woman: That must be my father!

Sylvia Brown: Yes, he is sending his love from the beyond!

Woman: *Sob* You are so amazing, that is just like something he would say! More>>

Secular Alliance of Indiana University visits the Creation Museum

This is one of those things that starts out funny and then becomes terrifying. More>>