While watching the “Beyond Belief” conference, mention was made several times by the various presenters of whom they held to be their personal heroes. Many of them mentioned the obvious pillars of modern science; Einstein, Darwin, and Newton. And I’d agree that those men were and are great heroes of science. However they weren’t my heroes because I wasn’t a scientist and I could barely understand the theories they offered in my school science classes. My heroes were heroes because when I read their books, I fully understood what they … Continue reading
lemegeton
I’ve finished watching all of the recorded discussions from the 2006 “Beyond Belief” conference. All in all I think it was time (near 20 hours) well spent. I must say that I was rather surprised at what some of the panelists believed and just plain didn’t understand what is at stake in this dialogue. The two biggest “thick heads,” were Scott Atran and Melvin Konner. Both were perfect apologists for organized religion, and particularly deferential to Islam. Another, almost comic interjection by Jim Woodward was his misunderstanding as to why there … Continue reading
I’ve been watching the recorded symposium, “Beyond Belief; Science, Religion, Reason and Survival,” recorded by The Science Network concerning the divide between science and religion and it’s quite impressive. And at times incredulous. Impressive in that some of the speakers are incredibly eloquent and inspiring about the future of reason. Persons like Steven Weinberg, Sam Harris (who is just amazing!), and Neil deGrasse (who is also a great orator), and, of course, Richard Dawkins. I’d only had experience with Richard Dawkins through his book and BBC program “The God Delusion,” and … Continue reading
This week I discovered two programs on PBS that caught my nostalgia. The first one, Tracks Ahead, is about trains and model railroading. I grew up with HO train sets and race tracks. And once the channel-surfing fell to that program, I was enthralled. Our family never had the space to build a permanent layout, so I only got to set up circles or figure eight’s in my bedroom for a few days at time before I had to put my toys away. At one point I did get a 4×8 … Continue reading
I’ve fallen into the “Alt-Zone” once again. This time in Oblivion. After playing my Argonian, and really liking some of his special racial abilities (namely speed, virtual immunity to poison and disease, and the ability to breath under water – esp. helpful for one of the mage guild quests), I was curious what the Khajit might have to offer. I also wanted to see if I couldn’t really stick with a melee style character this time. Now some (a lot) of folks would groan loadly that I made a Khajit … Continue reading