April 2010
27 posts
Chimpanzees Prefer Fair Play to Reaping an Unjust... →
3stripedsocks:
Is fairness, as the basis of the social contract, found in the non-human world? Apparently so.
notevensurewhy:
Great article. Funny/tragic that after however many hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution we now have to look to chimps to see what real solidarity, in the face of an irrational and unfair universe, might look like.
Wired.com interview with soldier in Apache video. →
Worth a read.
Age of Reason: The Dragon In My Garage by Carl... →
“A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage”
Suppose (I’m following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you’d want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries,…
“Volcanologists say the fireworks exploding from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on...”
– Get ready for decades of Icelandic fireworks - environment - 16 April 2010 - New Scientist (via deltamualpha)
Billy Bragg confronts BNP candidate in public. →
Video.
I kept hoping he was gonna grab a guitar and improv a quick ditty.
Watchfriendlyatheist:
A kid born in New Delhi today can expect to live as long as the richest man in the world did 100 years ago. Think about that. It’s an incredible fact. And why is it true? Smallpox. Smallpox killed billions of people on this planet. It reshaped the demography of the globe in a way that no war ever has. It’s gone. It’s vanished. We vanquished it. Puff. In the rich...
It feels so good
Moderator: We're here today to debate the hot new topic, evolution versus Intelligent Des---
(Scientist pulls out baseball baat.)
Moderator: Hey, what are you doing?
(Scientist breaks Intelligent Design advocate's kneecap.)
Intelligent Design advocate: YEAAARRRRGGGHHHH! YOU BROKE MY KNEECAP!
Scientist: Perhaps it only appears that I broke your kneecap. Certainly, all the evidence points to the hypothesis I broke your kneecap. For example, your kneecap is broken; it appears to be a fresh wound; and I am holding a baseball bat, which is spattered with your blood. However, a mere preponderance of evidence doesn't mean anything. Perhaps your kneecap was designed that way. Certainly, there are some features of the current situation that are inexplicable according to the "naturalistic" explanation you have just advanced, such as the exact contours of the excruciating pain that you are experiencing right now.
Intelligent Design advocate: AAAAH! THE PAIN!
Scientist: Frankly, I personally find it completely implausible that the random actions of a scientist such as myself could cause pain of this particular kind. I have no precise explanation for why I find this hypothesis implausible --- it just is. Your knee must have been designed that way!
Intelligent Design advocate: YOU BASTARD! YOU KNOW YOU DID IT!
Scientist: I surely do not. How can we know anything for certain? Frankly, I think we should expose people to all points of view. Furthermore, you should really re-examine whether your hypothesis is scientific at all: the breaking of your kneecap happened in the past, so we can't rewind and run it over again, like a laboratory experiment. Even if we could, it wouldn't prove that I broke your kneecap the previous time. Plus, let's not even get into the fact that the entire universe might have just popped into existence right before I said this sentence, with all the evidence of my alleged kneecap-breaking already pre-formed.
Intelligent Design advocate: That's a load of bullshit sophistry! Get me a doctor and a lawyer, not necessarily in that order, and we'll see how that plays in court!
Scientist (turning to audience): And so we see, ladies and gentlemen, when push comes to shove, advocates of Intelligent Design do not actually believe any of the arguments that they profess to believe. When it comes to matters that hit home, they prefer evidence, the scientific method, testable hypotheses, and naturalistic explanations. In fact, they strongly privilege naturalistic explanations over supernatural hocus-pocus or metaphysical wankery. It is only within the reality-distortion field of their ideological crusade that they give credence to the flimsy, ridiculous arguments which we so commonly see on display. I must confess, it kind of felt good, for once, to be the one spouting free-form bullshit; it's so terribly easy and relaxing, compared to marshaling rigorous arguments backed up by empirical evidence. But I fear that if I were to continue, then it would be habit-forming, and bad for my soul. Therefore, I bid you adieu.
Spinal Flap →
In April 2008, Simon Singh wrote a short piece for the Guardian website about the quackery propping up chiropractic therapy and the absurd, unsubstantiated claims made by chiropractors.
The piece was taken down two months later when the British Chiropractic Association sued Singh for libel over the contents of the article, which featured such shocking smears as:
“The British Chiropractic...
Age of Reason: Reposting because so few people... →
Eleven-year-old Kara Neumann died of diabetic ketoacidosis on Easter Sunday, 2008. Like the man in whose name her parents killed her, she died agonizingly slowly, over the course of a few days, due to dehydration and shock. Unlike what her parents believe to be true of the man in whose name…
Everything you need to know about fast food →
(via 3stripedsocks)
but were too hungry to ask?
Perspective « Andre Navarro →
ltcoblivious:
eddiecurrent:
He’s right. After Palin, what could hurt McCain?
Swedish Armed Forces - Teamwork Test →
This is AWESOME. Join a random team of 4 to solve puzzles against the clock. Doing well gives other players more time to complete their puzzles. Play a few games - teams of okay players can run for ages, it’s only when you get stuck with a total newb that you’re really screwed. If this is what being in the Armed Forces actually involved, I’d sign up tomorrow.
(via Whitechapel)
deltamualpha:
At some point, everyone who uses the GIMP breaks down and admits to themselves it’s time to go pirate Photoshop.
haha - link because tumblr doesn’t like the image
The Glue Society →
these guys were behind the God’s Eye View a couple of years back - google earth pics of biblical scenes - but their site is worth a look itself, on account of the übercool retro stylings.
Hard consciousness problems are hard. →
metaphor to the rescue:
“In the theater of consciousness, a spotlight of selective attention shines a bright spot on stage. The bright spot reveals the contents of consciousness, actors moving in and out, making speeches or interacting with each other. Behind the scenes, also in the dark, are the director (executive processes), stagehands, script writers, scene designers and so forth. They...
