Astronomy, News, Science

The Loneliest Robots

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Spare a thought for Voyager 2.

The spacecraft, which has been in operation for just over 32 years reached a humbling milestone this week; 20 years since the closest approach to Neptune. On August 25th, 1989 it came within 5000 km of the big, blue gas giant, taking spectacularly beautiful ‘close-ups’ that Adams, Galle and Le Verrier could only have dreamt of (see pictures after the jump). Just 5 hours later, it made its closest approach to Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, which is spiraling in slowly to its eventual demise.

Voyager 2 is so far the only probe to have visited Neptune (and Uranus) completing the reconnaissance of our Solar System’s main planets. I was only three years old at the time, but thanks to the achievements of the Voyager programme, I grew up with books containing a complete set of stunning photographs and they inspired me no end. Every time I look through my old books, I remember not to take this for granted. Most of the planets’ discoverers lived long before they were seen up close and it is only through the hard work of many scientists and engineers that in the time I live, we have landed probes on alien worlds (Huygens on Titan, 2005), we’ll soon be exploring dwarf planets (Dawn to Ceres, New Horizons to Pluto) and we’re continuously discovering other Solar Systems of all flavours. I can’t help but wonder how exploration will have improved hundreds of years after I’m gone, and how the distant planets being discovered today might also be seen in close up.

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Philosophy, Reason, Religion

Certainty.

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Most scholars who write about the ancient world feel obliged to warn their readers that our knowledge can be at best partial and that certainty is seldom attained. A book about a first-century Jew who lived in a rather unimportant part of the Roman empire must be prefaced by such a warning. We know about Jesus from books written a few decades after his death, probably by people who were not among his followers during his lifetime. They quote him in Greek, which was not his primary language, and in any case the differences among our sources show that his words and deeds were not perfectly preserved. We have very little information about him apart from the works written to glorify him. Today, we do not have good documentation for such out-of-the-way places as Palestine; nor did the authors of our sources. They had no archives and no official records of any kind. They did not even have access to good maps. These limitations, which were common in the ancient world, result in a good deal of uncertainty.

“Preface,’ The Historical Figure of Jesus. E. P. Sanders.

Literature, Philosophy, Reason, Religion

Why Do We Care?

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One of the most common rebuttals I face, generally from well-meaning friends, is the old chestnut: “Why do you care? What’s wrong with religion if it doesn’t directly affect you? Why can’t you leave people alone?”

This stance neatly condemns any attacks on “soft” theism/deism whilst open-endedly permitting criticism of religion that does directly affect me, or people in general.

I am constantly at pains to sculpt my position with the utmost clarity. I don’t like religion. I don’t like unfounded beliefs that have more in common with delusional fairy tales than a rational response to the universe; similarly I am compelled to wax vitriol against beliefs in the supernatural, in the pseudoscientific. But as far as religion goes, I am restrained.

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Reason

I know exactly what you’re thinking

15 Comments

At the weekends I like to get out of the house and go for a long, leisurely walk around the village in which I live. I put on my ipod, call up the latest episode of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe and saunter down the road lost in my own little relaxing world. Only this weekend something strange happened, something that is almost beyond my ability to explain. There I was walking along when all of a sudden this irresistible urge to veer from my normal route overcame me. Forces beyond my control caused me to cross the road and head in a direction I normally would not travel. It was as though my actions were not my own, as if some cosmic force were guiding my every step, propelling me on an unalterable course to a destination known only to the fickle whims of fate. I felt a pull on my non-existent soul drawing me on, across another road and inextricably to the window of our local electronics store where, behind the glass like a gift from a higher power or an ancestral spirit, I found the subject of my next blog post. For before me I read these words:

 

Do You Need Love and Relationship Advice?

 

In this world one does not live without problems. Yet, why endure them when they can be solved. An ancient method known to few exists for solving all matters of concern to you whether it be Love, Marriage, Health, Business or other matters you wish to discuss.

 

I am a caring and gifted 3rd Generation psychic advisor that specializes in love relationship advice. I have helped many people from all walks of life and I can help you! I have been doing readings for over 22 years and with the help of the Tarot cards, Angel cards, Crystal Ball, Energy work, Chakra reading and Spiritual work I can assist you in making your dreams come true.

 

I provide “fast” and accurate readings. If you have questions, I have answers and guidance. Helping you to understand and work through the events in your life is my gifted purpose. Honest, accurate, and reliable readings.

 

I am available for telephone readings as well as 45, 60 and 90 minute private sessions (prices vary). I also offer email readings for just $4.99!£4.99!

 

WARNING!!

WHEN YOU CALL YOU WILL RECEIVE TRUTH FROM THE SPIRITS AND SOMETIMES ANSWERS YOU MAY NOT WANT TO HEAR!!

 

Oh goody, the perfect excuse to talk about cold reading.

 

Continue reading I know exactly what you’re thinking →

Reason, Religion, Science

Gleeful Public Evisceration

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So the other day my free copy of Creation or Evolution, Does It Really Matter What You Believe? arrived on my doormat. As those of you who read the Pharyngula blog (and if you don’t you really should) will no doubt remember PZ was recently complaining about some awful creationist ads that keep appearing along side his posts over at ScienceBlogs. Unable to do anything to get them removed the betenticalled one came up with a cunning plan. He asked that his readers simply take them up on their offer of a completely free 60 page glossy booklet on creation vs evolution, read it and then “all join in a gleeful public evisceration of their crappy little booklet.” If he is going to be forced to give them publicity then “it will be the harshest, nastiest, meanest publicity possible, we will do everything we can to make sure that when someone googles their organization or their booklet, all that comes back is a mountain of snarling contempt.” Well, I thought, sign me up for a bit of that. My copy has now arrived and seeing that there is a PDF version available online you can all read along at home. Let the gleeful public evisceration begin.

 

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Censorship, News, TubeGuardian, YouTube

TubeGuardian has arrived, have we won?

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As you all probably know by now, the first public release of TubeGuardian has shaken up the votebotting scene, but is this the final blow in what has been an epic battle of morality and reason versus closed minded bigotry and censorship? Not in the least! In this blog, I will introduce everyone to TubeGuardian, answer a few common questions, and explain why this software is only the first step in many to come in the war against freedom and expression.

So, what exactly is TubeGuardian, and how does one acquire and use it?

TubeGuardian is software designed to determine and counteract votebot attacks. It can be downloaded right here at the League of Reason. Instructions for use will be posted in the forum entry for this blog post. If you do not know what votebots are, please see CosmicSporks excellent series of blog posts on the topic here. There are three main functions that TubeGuardian executes: gathering statistical information on videos, determining whether a video is under attack, and quickly disabling ratings on videos it determines are under attack. Let’s take each of those functions one at a time and dig a little deeper into how they work.

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Religion

How to do nothing and think you are helping

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You’ve got to love stories like this. If you have looked at the news or even had the most basic of human contact in the last few months then you will know about the swine flu. Well over in Israel, where the flu is simply called “H1N1” because pigs are seen as unclean, they have come up with a rather innovative way of combating the virus. See if you can see a flaw in this plan, you’ll have to really pay attention to spot it:

A group of rabbis and Jewish mystics have taken to the skies over Israel, praying and blowing ceremonial horns in a plane to ward off swine flu.

 

About 50 religious leaders circled over the country on Monday, chanting prayers and blowing horns, called shofars.

 

The flight’s aim was “to stop the pandemic so people will stop dying from it”, Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri was quoted as saying in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

 

Now obviously their mistake here is one of instrumentation. As you all no doubt know ceremonial horns are used for fighting bacterial infections while consecrated pan pipes are the musical instrument of choice when dealing with viruses. But despite this fundamental mistake it seems it may have been effective.

 

“We are certain that, thanks to the prayer, the danger is already behind us,” added Mr Batzri was quoted as saying.

 

Well you can’t argue with that.

Censorship, Reason, YouTube

Finally DMCA’d . . . By A Homophobe! RICHNESS

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I got DMCA’d for this video (mirrored by AndromedasWake) by homophobic moron Youtuber JiLAdren.

I feel quite special. Votebotted and DMCA’d – I’m apparently a threat, and if I’m a threat then I’m sure as hell doing something right.

However, JiLAdren has managed to get the video he tried to censor seen by (over the next few days) thousands of people. He’s exposed me to a wide audience just begging to denounce him as a homophobic coward.

Which brings me to my main point – dprjones provided swift legal advice, AndromedasWake recorded a new intro and mirrored my original video, and people are already starting to mirror it themselves. It’s immensely gratifying. To everyone who’s already mirrored, and to anyone that does, or might, or even thinks about it – thanks. And that goes double to AW and dpr.

You could even pre-emptively mirror my new video on JiLAdren . . . I’m sure he’ll DMCA it in short order, and in any case then you’d have the full set lying in your videos.

League of Reason AWAAAAAYYYYY!

Reason

Demons and witches and aliens…oh my

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Ok firstly this is not the post I was intending to put up. That post, the post I spent most of the weekend researching, writing and re-writing until I was finally happy with it, well that post was deleted when my computer decided to inexplicitly eat my USB stick yesterday. Yes I know I should have had it saved somewhere more reliable, and I won’t make the same mistake again, but you really don’t expect your pc to erase several hundred files for no apparent reason, without any warning in just a fraction of a second. Ah well, we live and learn. I have yet to decide if I can be bothered to rewrite my lost post again, but either way I really should put something up and so I’ve picked a topic, somewhat at random, that every good rational thinker and skeptic should know about. Picture the scene.

 

It’s night and you’re alone in bed sound asleep. Suddenly you wake and quickly become aware that there is someone or something in the room with you that shouldn’t be there. You try to move but find that your body will not respond. The thing moves nearer. Fear grips you with an intensity that you can’t remember ever having experiencing before. You can hear strange noises coming at you from all directions, voices that somehow don’t seem human, unearthly lights flash all around you and now the thing is leaning over you, pressing down on your chest and making it hard to catch your breath. You try to scream out but your voice just won’t come. This is it. The aliens, demons, witches, goblins or even the devil himself has finally come for you.

 

Or maybe, just maybe, there is something else going on.

 

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Astronomy

Calling all Astronomers! Perseids meteor watch this week! #Meteorwatch

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Things are changing. Really.

Internet technology allows people all over the world to connect and viralise information at speeds that would seemingly defy nature’s limits in the eyes of scientists just a few hundred years ago. For the first time ever, the annual Perseids meteor shower will be mass-tweeted by astronomers and enthusiasts worldwide. It’s an initiative proposed by the Newbury Astronomical Society (that’s here in England) and promoted as part of the International Year of Astronomy, and you can be involved!

Firstly, make sure you have a Twitter account. Then make sure you’re following me and the LoR Blog. Got you! Okay, that bit wasn’t essential, but it’s recommended. Definitely be sure to follow Newbury AS though.

Now, you’ll need to understand how hash-tags work. A hash-tag is a search term that you can attach to a tweet, instantly referencing the tweet with the term in Twitter’s database. During the Perseids meteor watch, we’ll be tweeting with the tag #Meteorwatch. By following that page you’ll be able to see the Tweets in real time as people all over the world report meteor sightings. So if it’s cloudy where you are, you can sit in and watch it all unfold online. Beautiful.

Continue reading Calling all Astronomers! Perseids meteor watch this week! #Meteorwatch →