Heaving Dead Cats » randomness

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Neece — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:18:26 +0000

All day long I’ve been thinking about you. I wanted to write a nice post for you for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I am feeling a bit frustrated and unable to focus on anything.

So, I thought I’d use this space to share some Lolcat love and also what I’m thankful for.

One thing I’m really grateful for is you, the people who read my thoughts and musings. It means a lot to me, so thanks!

I’m really grateful to science and scientists who have done such amazing work over the ages to observe and research the world around us. I am especially grateful to the science of medicines that make my life better, like allergy relievers, eye drops, ibuprofen and acetaminophen, acid reducers, just to name a few. Also hand cream makes my life better too. And eyeglasses, thanks Ben Franklin (…oh, he invented bifocals. Well, thanks to Ben Franklin anyway. He’s a founding father. But thanks to whoever invented eyeglasses!)

Thanks to Tempur Pedic, and big TV’s, the inventor of the personal computer and the internet. Thanks to whoever came up with ergonomic stuff like keyboards and trackballs, and comfy office chairs! And dual monitors, too.

Thanks to my awesome longsuffering husband Butch, who lets me do basically whatever I like (don’t worry, he gets treated well in return!) and who loves me and makes me happy everyday, and to my awesome dogs that drive me crazy. I love my little family!

Thanks to my awesome friends and the people that are or have become like family to me. You know who you are. I love you.

Thanks to our founding fathers for the Bill of Rights, and making sure we had freedom of religion, and from religion in there, as well as freedom of speech, and the right to bear arms.

Thank you so much to the all rats and bonobos and monkeys and chimps and e. coli that die in the name of science every day. Thanks for research (oh, yeah.. see above.. obviously I really love science!)

Thanks for online research, from Google and Wikipedia to WolframAlpha and beyond. And for online shopping!

Thanks to the great people at my favorite podcasts for keeping me company and teaching me awesome stuff: The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, Reasonable Doubts, The Naked Scientists and also to Mr. Deity, Edward Current and Ricky Gervais.

Thanks for delicious food. (But please keep working on making food that tastes good, is good for me AND doesn’t make me fat or give me acid reflux! kthnx!)

Thank you baby Jesus.. haha.. just kidding!

Ok, that’s a good start. I’m sure there’s much more, but you get the idea.

Thanks again to you for reading. I really love your comments too. It makes my day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

FREE Scanning Electron Micrographs of Just About Anything

Johnny — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:35:45 +0000

An interesting offer from ASPEX
November 10, 2009 2:54 PM – by PZ Myers

I had my doubts about this; I got an offer from ASPEX corporation to let people get free scanning electron micrographs of just about anything. They make a desktop SEM (Scanning Electron Micrograph), and all you have to do is fill out a form and mail it in with your sample of a dead bug or a microchip or bacon, and presto, within a few weeks they’ll have it scanned in and the image available on their website.

I asked them if they knew how many readers I have, and they said no problem, they can handle it.

Huh.

Well, you heard them. Scavenge your trash cans, dig into your local sources of vermin and oddments, and send them in. I’m thinking this could be really fun for any school teachers out there — you could have the whole class looking for interesting specimens to zoom in on. You can see their current galleries for ideas.

Follow the instructions here to get your dead bugs and rotten food scanned for free.

If you do send something in to get scanned be sure to note that you found them via PZ; and be sure to come back here and share your scan with the rest of us!

Interesting Randomness

Neece — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:12:33 +0000

I’m sorry for neglecting you, my friends. You see, exciting things are afoot here and I am super busy herding cats. I’ll fill you in on Tuesday and you’ll see what’s been keeping me so busy. WOOT!

So for today, I’m going to link to some interesting stuff that you might enjoy.

Here’s an interesting bit of religious nuttery: Maine diocese asks catholics to fast against gay marriage. The article also mentions how lame fasting is for catholics: They get to eat one full meal in the day, up to 2 snacks and they can drink all they want. WTF? How is that fasting? That’s more than I eat in a day normally!

On a much happier note, Mutations make evolution irreversible! Researchers resurrected (pun intended?) ancient proteins to find that evolution can only go forward. Very wicked cool.

This article is very helpful to nontheist parents: Raise critical thinkers, not atheists. I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Our very own superhero, Johnny linked us to this video of Michael Shermer on the Young Turks show. Michael Shermer is the man. He coherently and articulately explains religion, a hypothesis regarding jesus’ actual existence, and some other interesting stuff. I would have liked to do a transcript of some of what he said, but I am running out of time. So enjoy this 12 minute video:

Duelity: A Different Take on Creation Versus Evolution

Johnny — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:17:27 +0000

Duelity provides a different take on creation versus evolution. With a slightly humorous, and definitely ironic reversal of roles. The creation story is told in a very scientific manner, while the big bang and evolution story is told in a poetic religious manner.

Besides this seeming like a fairly unique idea, the creators have made the two videos so that you can watch them separately, or at the same time.

Thus: Duelity
Check it out!

Don’t Eat The Weasel = Don’t Have Oral Sex

Johnny — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:54:57 +0000

Leviticus 11: [29] These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, [30] And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.

Neece posted on the Codex Sinaiticus a few days back. One of the books or letters that made it into the Codex is the Epistle of Barnabas.

In the era of early Christian writing, instead of ignoring the old testament laws, he is set on reinterpreting them. Vorjack over on Unreasonable Faith has a funny article on it; and I just couldn’t resist sharing the weasel excerpt:

And my favorite:

Moreover He hath hated the weasel also and with good reason. Thou shalt not, saith He, become such as those men of whom we hear as working iniquity with their mouth for uncleanness, neither shalt thou cleave unto impure women who work iniquity with their mouth. For this animal conceiveth with its mouth. (10:8)

Got that, kids? When Moses said “don’t eat the weasel,” he really meant “don’t have oral sex.”

Maybe I’m over interpreting this over-interpretation, but I don’t care. Because “eat the weasel” is the best euphemism I’ve ever heard.

Observations and Interesting Things

Neece — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:42:37 +0000

A week ago I did a post called 50 Old Testament Inconsistencies. It was just something I thought might be a bit different to share with everyone. I didn’t write it but I linked to where I had found it and also to the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible’s list of contradictions. Apparently some people found it recently and it’s gotten some traffic, mainly by christians who are none too pleased. I guess I hit a nerve.

In my experience, most people don’t know how to argue effectively. I myself am not very good at it. I hate arguing, and conflict in general. But I think personal attacks are really uncalled for, especially when one person states an opinion and the other person counters with a personal attack. It just shows lack of ability to handle a disagreement.

By the way, this is called the Ad Hominem Logical Fallacy as I wrote about previously.

Sometimes I wonder if people do it on purpose because it’s so easy to lash out at someone and so hard to defend. I think they do, the more I see it happen. And frankly I think it’s weak and lazy.

I think we all see the world in a unique way. I don’t even think twins see the world exactly the same, so when it comes to strangers in different parts of the world, living radically different lives, multiplied by the anonymity of being on a computer, not face to face, it gets really easy to attack and be nasty.

Also, for someone who follows the teachings of Christ, isn’t it hypocrisy to attack someone in such a way and be nasty, when in fact wouldn’t that be the best time to lead by example and be even more christlike, kind, loving, compassionate and understanding? There are nice ways to disagree. The Ad Hominem is decidedly not nice.

Why do atheists have to be more christlike, understanding, tolerant and kind than christians? That screams hypocrisy. I’m so sick of it. Do as christ says, not as I do. Bullshit.

On a totally different note, my husband Butch wrote a post on his blog the other day. He talked about the differences between Patriotism and Nationalism. It has a lot of swearing in it, but it’s quite excellent. If you don’t mind a bit of swearing and ranting, it’s a great lesson in the difference of those 2 terms.

To make things even more random, I read this awesome article about Gliocladium roseum. It’s a fungus in Patagonia that actually makes hydrocarbons and their derivatives! The fungus can eat cellulose or sugars and then makes the hydrocarbons which can then be made into biodiesel. I think I’ve got that right. Even just the DNA from the fungus can help make biofuels in the future. So we’ll see what happens with it and if we hear any more about it in the future.

Heaving Dead Cats » randomness

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

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