1. When too much Rapture is barely enough

Comment #204591 by Rational_G on July 5, 2008 at 10:00 am

More evidence that we all have to keep on fighting the fight against ignorance and superstition.

2. The Emptiness of Theology

Comment #204353 by Rational_G on July 4, 2008 at 9:02 pm

Great stuff.

3. Carlin on Religion

Comment #204244 by Rational_G on July 4, 2008 at 1:43 pm

Teratornis:

Carlin was always touring, using airplanes a lot and burning aviation fuel so I guess he was no good.

4. Sharia law 'could have UK role'

Comment #204243 by Rational_G on July 4, 2008 at 1:26 pm

Fuck Sharia law.

5. Did newborn Earth harbour life?

Comment #203806 by Rational_G on July 3, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Hmm... maybe panspermia is the answer?

Interesting that life emerges rather quickly in earth's history, whether it be 3.5 billion years ago or 750 million years earlier.

6. Science is thrilling - except in our schools

Comment #203803 by Rational_G on July 3, 2008 at 4:18 pm

Science may be fun - depending upon your teacher, the curriculum, and your own interests. However, the requirement isn't for it to be fun. The requirement is for it to be fundamental.

Do we hear the same whining about literature or history? Everybody is going to find some subject boring.

The problem is poor education, not inadequate entertainment value.

Teenagers think lots of school subjects are boring. Too bad.

Teach the fundamentals well and you will have produced clear thinking citizens.

Quality education, not pandering entertainment.

It's a two way street. The students have to apply themselves and the schools have to produce quality teachers and curriculum.

Unfortunately, our society doesn't place a lot of worth on quality education and well paid teachers. Celebrities in rehab seem to be more worth our attention. It's a problem of setting priorities, not a problem of style.

Making it "fun, fun, fun" is not the answer.

7. Evangelical Christians sign up to a 'Church within a Church'

Comment #203408 by Rational_G on July 2, 2008 at 9:02 pm

This is great. Two groups of assholes fighting over who really has a hot line to God. I hope they both annihilate each other.

8. Obama Wants to Expand Role of Religious Groups

Comment #203364 by Rational_G on July 2, 2008 at 5:55 pm

Carlin on voting.............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToBAuRIIiPo

9. Can't Darwin and God get along?

Comment #202655 by Rational_G on July 1, 2008 at 7:22 pm

Can't Darwin and God get along?........

No.

10. Charles Darwin was not the father of atheism

Comment #202034 by Rational_G on June 30, 2008 at 4:30 pm

What an asshole.

11. Richard Dawkins on Doctor Who

Comment #202028 by Rational_G on June 30, 2008 at 4:12 pm

Uhh guys, Patrick Stewart is a Shakespearean trained actor. He just finished up a run of Macbeth on Broadway in NYC.

12. Aliens need Christ's redemption, too

Comment #201383 by Rational_G on June 29, 2008 at 3:57 pm

What complete nonsense.

13. Richard Dawkins on Doctor Who

Comment #201242 by Rational_G on June 29, 2008 at 1:20 pm

I know I'll get a lot of flack for this but:

Suggest renaming the series: "Doctor What the Fuck For?"

14. Your Brain Lies to You

Comment #201227 by Rational_G on June 29, 2008 at 12:56 pm

Hey, studying the Bible and the Koran is great. It's called "know the enemy".

15. Your Brain Lies to You

Comment #200916 by Rational_G on June 28, 2008 at 1:19 pm

How about just saying we're all Homo Sapiens and move on?

All this talk about which desert monotheistic cult suffers the most is pointless and annoying on a web site dedicated to reason.

16. Your Brain Lies to You

Comment #200884 by Rational_G on June 28, 2008 at 11:44 am

Judaism, Islam, Christianity, whatever.

Fairy tale nonsense all.

17. Your Brain Lies to You

Comment #200794 by Rational_G on June 28, 2008 at 8:46 am

I think these results show not so much that the brain lies to you but rather that our education system has failed to turn out citizens capable of independent, critical thinking.

18. The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete

Comment #200511 by Rational_G on June 27, 2008 at 6:50 pm

This article is complete nonsense.

The scientific method is alive and well.

Science literacy, however..............

19. A secular world is a sane world

Comment #200508 by Rational_G on June 27, 2008 at 6:40 pm

You tell 'em, Pat!

Note to religious:

Keep your stupid bullshit to yourself!

20. Where do US lawmakers stand on science?

Comment #199381 by Rational_G on June 25, 2008 at 4:22 pm

I'm an aerospace engineer and atheist. Not sure about some of my colleagues.

21. Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies

Comment #198377 by Rational_G on June 23, 2008 at 5:00 pm

My favorite comic.

Intellectual and hilarious at the same time - with attitude.

A fellow native NYC Irish motherfucker.

22. On this Day: Galileo Sentenced for Believing Sun Is Center of Universe

Comment #197918 by Rational_G on June 22, 2008 at 10:40 pm

The Catholic Church - anti-science then, anti-science now.

eg. stem cell research

23. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #195740 by Rational_G on June 18, 2008 at 6:16 pm

mesomodel -

Appreciate all your accurate scientific entries.

It's pretty exciting that we keep getting closer and closer to:

- detecting earth like planets
- detecting life in our solar system or beyond

24. Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Comment #195732 by Rational_G on June 18, 2008 at 6:06 pm

This is just Platonic metaphysical mumbo jumbo.

"The mathematics is not there till we put it there."
- Sir Arthur Eddington

25. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #195086 by Rational_G on June 17, 2008 at 5:19 pm

By getting spectral data on exoplanets' atmospheres we can determine if they are earth like.

If they are earth like, then life on these planets is probable since Earth's atmospheric content is determined by biology.

26. Kenneth Miller on Colbert Report

Comment #195082 by Rational_G on June 17, 2008 at 5:03 pm

AtheistJon -

Dude. It's a comedy show. And yes it's anti-right wing - which I quite enjoy.

Colbert gets good guests - like Dawkins - who wouldn't be exposed to American TV audiences otherwise. Underneath all the kidding, he is quite good at providing exposure to quality authors - which "serious" American TV shows for the most part ignore. So it's a good thing. And it's funny.

27. Vatican bans Dan Brown film Angels & Demons from Rome churches

Comment #194405 by Rational_G on June 16, 2008 at 5:48 pm

Dan Brown's stories - crap

Catholic Church's stories - total bullshit

They deserve each other.

28. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #194400 by Rational_G on June 16, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Close in planets are faster to detect (faster orbital periods) and easier to detect (greater doppler shift) using the wobble method.

So we have discovered more of these type. The technique is getting better which is why we can detect smaller "super earth size" now as opposed to "gas giant size'' as in Jupiter size, Neptune size etc.

Pretty exciting.

A different method for finding exoplanets is the planetary transit method. The ESA Corot spacecraft uses this method and has found two Jupiter size exoplanets and possibly a smaller one.

See

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/COROT/SEMF0C2MDAF_0.html

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/COROT/SEM9E91YUFF_0.html

No word on whether Jesus has saved these places yet............

29. Prayer to feed the hungry

Comment #193133 by Rational_G on June 14, 2008 at 6:08 pm

Regarding the hysterical, irrational anti GM food types:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIvNopv9Pa8

You might want to look up Richard Dawkin's views on the subject also.

30. Prayer to feed the hungry

Comment #190041 by Rational_G on June 8, 2008 at 9:17 am

Yes, the anti - genetically modified food crowd is irrational.

We've been modifying "natural food" for 10,000 years.

It's called agriculture.

31. Physicist Claims First Real Demonstration of Cold Fusion

Comment #187825 by Rational_G on June 2, 2008 at 7:27 pm

I prefer my fusion cool to hot:

- Weather Report
- Mahavishnu Orchestra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqashW66D7o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3pwEMDCqvQ

32. The Challenge of the New Creationism

Comment #187270 by Rational_G on June 1, 2008 at 5:59 pm

Great talk! Destroys ID. "The war is between religion and rationalism."

33. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #185404 by Rational_G on May 27, 2008 at 6:18 pm

mesomodel:

Nice summary. I'm an aerospace engineer and also have an astronomy degree so I can relate. I think the engineers will build whatever the scientists want - within reason. Lots of tradeoffs, as you know. The scientists want to get into the interesting places and the engineers don't want it to crash. I think the scientists should define the mission objectives and engineers should build it. Management is conservative - they want success and want to minimize risk. And more bells and whistles add to cost.

Perhaps with the recent successes on Mars we can try to be bolder. Nice to see we're getting it right lately. A little luck helps too.


And DamnDirtyApe:

Although this site is rather flat it is pretty interesting. It's the Martian Arctic. There's ice just below the surface and we will get to sample it. Pretty cool.

And the orbiters keep getting better and better, Just look at what Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has done.

We're getting there. Takes a long time.

Hopefully we'll get back to Titan or Europa soon.

MORE ROBOTS!!

34. Religion is a product of evolution, software suggests

Comment #185366 by Rational_G on May 27, 2008 at 4:08 pm

All I know is, under the hood of my iMac is a unix core OS called "darwin"!

35. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #184998 by Rational_G on May 26, 2008 at 4:39 pm

"Probe Lands on Mars, NASA Says"

No, CNN. Probe lands on Mars, TELEMETRY Says.

36. The Mind-Altering Role of Incense in Religion

Comment #184970 by Rational_G on May 26, 2008 at 3:18 pm

This is bullshit. I grew up Catholic, was an altar boy and we made sure the incense was burning real good (just for fun). No buzz. Plus most of the congregation gets nowhere near the incense. The amount of incense needed for a contact high would be huge.

Pure nonsense.

37. Mail-boat record 'proves Darwin stole his original ideas from a Welsh scientist'

Comment #184657 by Rational_G on May 25, 2008 at 10:51 pm

This is complete bullshit.

38. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #184635 by Rational_G on May 25, 2008 at 10:03 pm

scooternyc:

You're kidding - I hope.

39. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #184625 by Rational_G on May 25, 2008 at 9:12 pm

"The narrow sectarian cannot read astronomy with impunity. The creeds of his church shrivel like dried leaves at the door of the observatory."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

40. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #184604 by Rational_G on May 25, 2008 at 8:34 pm

mesomodel:

You must be pretty excited. I know I am. After all the excitement I stepped outside and looked at Mars hanging up there in the western sky, just to make the experience complete.

41. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #184596 by Rational_G on May 25, 2008 at 8:13 pm

The lander WAS hauling ass. 12500 mph = 3.5 miles per second

42. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #184588 by Rational_G on May 25, 2008 at 7:46 pm

Watched the whole thing on NASA TV. Incredible.

What fantastic engineering!

Was able to see the first images come down in real time at approx 9:50 PM EDT on University of Arizona web site.

Awesome!

To get a feel for what they just did, check out this video:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/phx20080327.php

43. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #184142 by Rational_G on May 23, 2008 at 7:11 pm

OrbitalMike: - I'm over on the east coast

Yes, Mitchell was the LMP.

Actually the Apollo Guidance Computer did most of the flying. ;-)

excepting the last few hundred feet altitude, where the LM commanders maneuvered around obstacles and put all that fighter jock experience to good use.

44. Sun's properties not 'fine-tuned' for life

Comment #184138 by Rational_G on May 23, 2008 at 6:45 pm

Concerning the Fermi Paradox, I like Philip Morrison's comments:

"Much better known is the stance I have called Malthusian. It rests on the idea of the exponential improvement in all technology. That must entail, proponents say, an
eventual physical tour by crews or mere automata, of the whole Galaxy. Using various estimates, all of which really exploit mainly the unbounded quality of an exponential rise,
these critics say that we must be the first ever to think of beings afar. otherwise they would have been here already; and where are they? This argument is modified to deliberate
concealment, the "zoo" idea, in which we humans have been preserved, as unwitting pristine specimens, and more. All of this is interesting, but it shares the defect of Malthus.
In the real world, there are no unlimited exponentials. Something limits every growth. We are surely finite beings, and it is likely we will remain finite forever, unless in finite time
we disappear into zero. I do not know what the upper bound of our grasp can be; I suspect it falls short of making a rose garden out of the galaxy. With that finiteness the power of
the argument fades; it all becomes a discussion over the values of limiting parameters that none of us know.

No, the best means to seek the unknown is by experiment, absent a tested theory able to exclude the result we seek - and even then, be careful about the truncation of experience.
Consult any textbook for answers."

45. Sun's properties not 'fine-tuned' for life

Comment #184134 by Rational_G on May 23, 2008 at 6:37 pm

"I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." - J.B.S. Haldane.

That's why we build radio and visible light telescopes, both ground based and space based and launch probes into the heavens. Because we always discover things we never even dreamed of.

"The realities of nature surpass our most ambitious dreams." - Rodin

46. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #183293 by Rational_G on May 21, 2008 at 6:51 pm

emmet -

right on. EE curriculum - the toughest!!

47. Lab agrees to test Shroud of Turin for new theory

Comment #183283 by Rational_G on May 21, 2008 at 6:26 pm

.......More likely "The Cloud of Bullshit"

48. Lab agrees to test Shroud of Turin for new theory

Comment #183281 by Rational_G on May 21, 2008 at 6:21 pm

Shroud of Turin:

....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ............

49. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #183278 by Rational_G on May 21, 2008 at 6:17 pm

I do share Mitchell's connectedness to the Universe - but in a purely natural - not supernatural- way.

We are made of starstuff - but we learned this through rational science, through observation and hard work - not from New Age nonsense. So our connection is real, physical - the iron in our blood, the calcium in our bones - forged in stars.

So when you look up in the sky at night - the connection to those points of light is physical - no sky daddy necessary.

50. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #183276 by Rational_G on May 21, 2008 at 5:58 pm

Hey, he was a good pilot, a good astronaut - maybe doesn't have a such a great scientific theory (EDIT - actually it's pretty looney). He landed a spaceship on the moon - that's not too shabby.

Only the Apollo astronauts have seen the planet Earth as it really is - a fragile colorful oasis floating in the back forbidding space. I don't think one can underestimate what seeing the earth like that does to one's psyche. We can all intellectualize it - but only a few astronauts have actually WITNESSED it - movies and pictures don't count.

I think this experience both awed and scared the shit out of them - understandably so.

OrbitalMike - I too am an aerospace engineer with training in science. I too have noticed a lot of engineers are believers - maybe has something to do with engineers (good ones) being team players rather than free thinking maverick scientists.

I have a lot trouble understanding how they can accept the supernatural - I can't. But then again I have astrophysics training as well as engineering training. Gives one perspective.

I'm the one always telling my coworkers that postulating the supernatural is unnecessary - they can't seem to let it go.