Heaving Dead Cats » movies

Scientific Explanation For Supernatural Events

Johnny — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:10:12 +0000

Most people look back on history, and see supernatural explanation attached to events that we can now explain scientifically. The sun setting and rising, the weather, crops growing and dieing, lightning, tides, etc. One of the things that still amazes me though is how so many religious people cling to a literal interpretation of the Bible. Thus clinging to a belief that the supernatural explanations in the Bible really are supernatural events; even though there are scientific explanations for most.

Most of us (skeptics, non-believers, etc) know there is no historical, archeological, or other scientific evidence for the Israelites residing in and exodus from Egypt. But if we suspend our skepticism for a moment, could there be some scientific explanation for some of the supernatural events?

Ten plagues. Ten scientific explanations.

In 1400 B.C., a group of nervous Egyptians saw the Nile turn red. But what they thought was blood was actually an algae bloom which killed the fish, which prior to that had been living off the eggs of frogs. Those uneaten eggs turned into record numbers of baby frogs who subsequently fled to the land and died. Their little rotting frog bodies attracted lice and flies. The lice carried the bluetongue virus, which killed 70% of Egypt’s livestock. The flies carried glanders, a bacterial infection which in humans causes boils. Soon afterwards, the Nile River Valley was hit with a three-day sandstorm otherwise known as the plague of darkness. During the sandstorm, intense heat can combine with an approaching cold front to create not only hail, but also electrical storms which would have looked to the ancient Egyptians like fire from the sky. The subsequent wind would have blown the Ethiopian locust population off course and right into downtown Cairo. Hail is wet, locusts leave droppings, spread both on your grain, and you have got mycrotoxins. Dinnertime in ancient Egypt meant the first-born child got the biggest portion which in this case meant he ate the most toxins, so he died. Ten plagues. Ten scientific explanations.

For a more dramatic delivery, here’s the audio version:

This is an excerpt from The Reaping starring Hilary Swank. Although Hollywood is giving us a dramatic delivery, and simplifying it, they are just spouting pseudoscience.

Okay you can resume your skepticism again. There is still no historical, archeological, or other scientific evidence for the plagues, but at least there is a plausible scientific explanation for supernatural events.

Entertainment That Enlightens 1

Neece — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:13:26 +0000

Today I thought I’d share some books, movies and podcasts with you. Like anyone else, I love being entertained. I go through phases where I only read textbooks, then sometimes I only want fiction. I’ve noticed that even when I’m only reading fiction I still seem to always get something more from the book, though. Right now I’m in a fiction phase, pointedly ignoring the dozens of textbooks I have piling up. Yet I still want to share the good ones with you because they are much deeper than just a light read. I also thought it was high time to share my favorite podcasts and some great movies with you. What all these things have in common, aside from being entertaining, is that they are all enlightening too. Bonus!

So let’s start with podcasts. A couple years ago I finally realized that even though most people love music, I don’t care for it much. I prefer listening to people talk about interesting or funny things. Most of the time when I’m working on the computer, I like it quiet. If I’m designing t-shirts, I listen to Ricky Gervais’ podcasts which are really funny and quirky. But whenever I clean or cook I like to have people talk to me. So I am always looking for great podcasts. I love learning interesting things, so most of these are science oriented.

My Favorite Podcasts:

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe: Intelligent, witty, always interesting. My favorite podcast. I look forward to the new episode every week. Great stuff!
The Skeptics’ Guide 5×5: Only 5 minutes long, it briefly covers one topic. A good companion to the SGU.
The Naked Scientists: British, intelligent and always chock full of science and interesting stuff.
Ask the Naked Scientists: This is a podcast dedicated to answering any kind of science questions. They know just about everything. I always learn cool stuff here.
Freethought Radio: I have taken a break from this one, but I still get them. I find them a bit overbearing sometimes, but when it comes to religion, it’s usually good to know what’s going on in the world. They are always talking about their billboard campaign though, which personally I think isn’t nearly as amazing as they do.
Quirks & Quarks: A Canadian podcast about science. I find they have good interviews on new science before most other podcasts, but that might just be the schedule or something.
Reasonable Doubts: I’m new to this podcast which a friend just told me about a month ago. He said, it’s the SGU but about religion instead of science. These three guys know their stuff and I get a lot out of each episode. It’s for people who don’t just take things on faith.
Science Talk: Scientific American’s podcast. Quite enjoyable and educational.
Ricky Gervais: His podcasts are pretty funny. He has an infectious laugh. I love his Guides To stuff. He and his friends Steve Merchant and the irrepressible Karl Pilkington are just perfect together. I literally laugh out loud sometimes.
Breaking Science: I am just downloading all of the episodes of this podcast right this very minute. I found it while getting links for the other podcasts. It’s from the Naked Scientists, so I am sure I’ll like it.

Enlightening Movies I’ve Seen Recently:

The Day of the Triffids: Ok, stick with me. Back in the early 80’s the BBC did a mini-series based on the book of the same name. I read it when I was young but my nearly perfect husband Butch wanted to watch this for some reason, so I sighed dramatically, expecting to hate it. The special effects are pretty awful, but they are used sparingly. The Triffids are actually not half bad. But the acting is quite good. I recently got the book and will read it when Butch is done with it. Why I recommend it is because it’s one of those movies that makes you think about how we do things and what would happen if almost everyone were struck blind. I found the way people reacted was fascinating. Most people wanted to wait for help to come. They just knew it would be there soon. Anyway, it’s a very good social commentary.

City of Ember: This was another strange choice by Butch. Again, when I saw the cover and read the description, I sighed dramatically and figured it was going to be pretty sucky. Well, wasn’t I surprised! The acting is great, the story is different and interesting, and the deeper messages are excellent. While it’s for young adults, I found it to be a hidden gem. It’s based on a book by the same name, which I just started reading today. The social commentary is subtle, but if you decide to watch it, just pay attention to how people react and what they say. That’s the real meat of this movie. I won’t say much else. I hope you’ll like it if you give it a chance.

Great Books I’ve Read Recently:

The Heathen’s Guide to World Religions: This is the last text I’ve read. It’s a short book but quite comprehensive and interesting. You can get this from Amazon but if you get it directly from the author it’s much more affordable, probably because the writer gets to keep more of the profit, which is a good thing. This book irreverently looks at all of the major world religions in just the right amount of detail and wit. The only thing that I can complain about is the book should have gone through another proofreader before printing. That kind of stuff is really irritating, but even so, it’s totally worth reading if you want to know the history and some very good information about each world religion. I learned a lot and laughed out loud several times while doing so.

His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass): Wow, wow and wow. We saw the movie awhile ago and it was very good. I decided I wanted to read the book and found out it was a trilogy. While the movie was interesting and well done, the books were excellent. I just finished the last one yesterday. I have to say I’m glad I watched the movie first, because it helped me flesh out the books. But now I want to see the movie again so that it will make it even better. The movie is pretty faithful to the first book. But the book is much richer and deeper, and goes further than where the movie leaves off. I went to Philip Pullman’s website yesterday (the author) and he says it doesn’t look like they’ll make the other 2 movies which is a huge disappointment to me. While the first book touches on some interesting subjects, the 2 following books tackle everything from quantum physics and parallel worlds to the world of god, angels, the world of the dead, the church and so much more. I originally watched the movie because of the controversy. I heard that Philip Pullman wrote the books because he felt the Chronicles of Narnia were shallow attempts at indoctrinating children into christianity. (that’s my wording, not his). And they are. I remember when I read them in my 20’s I was totally disgusted when it suddenly became clear that Aslan was god or jesus or whatever. It seemed like a shallow and shameless attempt to sucker children into the church. Mr. Pullman is an atheist. Which makes reading the Dark Materials trilogy even more interesting. I won’t tell you any specifics but trust me, these books are excellent and well worth the read. Fascinating, thought provoking, page turning excellence.

What I’m Reading Now:

The City of Ember:This is a young adult novel that I just started reading today. So far it’s very good. It’s an easy read, but interesting. It seems that the movie is quite faithful to the book, which I always appreciate. This is the first in a series of 4 books. I read the reviews in the front, and one in particular was helpful. The book (and the movie) basically give a very minimal explanation for why the City of Ember was created over 200 years ago. The movie never really explains, but the review of the book says that the reader finds out as the characters start to learn it themselves. So there is a mystery that will unfold, I gather. Part of the deeper message is that the people of Ember seem to have lost their curiosity, or maybe their circumstances forced them to give it up, I’m not sure yet. Anyway, I didn’t want to put the book down, so that’s a good sign.

Ok, so that’s what I’ve been reading, watching and listening to. Do you have any suggestions you’d like to share? I look forward to your comments, as always!

Penn and Teller, Bullshit!

sheisgod — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:30:14 +0000

Creationism

Holier than Thou

You Don’t Have To Pass An IQ Test To Be In The Senate

Neece — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:01:41 +0000

Stumbling around the web, I found this snippet of Bill Maher’s interview with Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas for the documentary, Religulosity:

So this senator, who helps run the country, believes in a snake talking to Eve in the garden of eden 5,000 years ago. The senator makes a funny though. Yeah, really funny.

Neece’s Book List

Neece — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:00:04 +0000

*Or how a hapless believer lost her faith and became a happy atheist. As you can see from this list, I didn’t read the traditional books to shake off the shackles of my faith.

The Name of the Rose – A novel written by Umberto Eco that opened my eyes, first with the movie, then with the book. It isn’t the easiest read, but I found it well worth it. I’d watch the movie first, to make the book easier to read.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible – Reading all these historical books, I realized I needed a bible to refer to. I picked this one because it’s annotated. I still use so that I can be informed about christianity. Unfortunately as an atheist you might be called upon to know more about christianity than christians, who are known to misquote the bible.

Holy Blood, Holy Grail – Nonfiction written by 3 British historians, this book reads like a novel and is quite fascinating. Very controversial, to say the least, it doesn’t refute the life of Jesus, but it does look at the bible in a totally different way, as a historical text. This book pried my eyes open wide and rocked my foundation. This is the book that Dan Brown obviously read to write that awful formulaic novel, The Da Vinci Code, which I snored through.

The Sign and the Seal – another nonfiction book, this one about the lost ark of the covenant, also reads like a novel. I found it fascinating. Again, this book looks at the bible as a historical text.

*At this point, Fruitloop begins to seriously put together the fact that all religions have been created by men. While Judaism has no set beginning date, christianity and islam are very much dated in time.

Monty Python’s Life of Brian – Ok, this is a movie, I know, but it chronologically belongs here. This movie takes something deadly serious, the birth of christianity, and hilariously shows how easy it is to make sheeple believe and follow just about anyone, if given the right formula.

*Fruitloop takes a World History class in college to get the facts. The textbook is not that exciting but several things stand out:

All religions are created by men, two of the top religions have specific creators and time periods of when they started.
Old religions are somehow mysteriously converted to myths over time.
Religions steal from one another, christianity being the worst culprit. (See the Stolen Stories page)

I’m now searching for a great, objective book of world history, as well as one of the United States. Feel free to recommend some.
Now I ask you, what books did you read to redefine your belief system? What books would you recommend to others and why?

Heaving Dead Cats » movies

Scientific Explanation For Supernatural Events

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