The other day, I watched a 3 part special about what makes us uniquely human from the rest of the animals on the planet, namely chimps. It was very interesting and I wanted to share it with you. I’m linking to each full length video and then below I will link to Science Talk’s interviews with Alda about the show and other interesting things.
Here’s some information from PBS:
After some three and a half billion years of life’s evolution on this planet – and after almost two million years since people recognizable as human first walked its surface – a new human burst upon the scene, apparently unannounced.
It was us.
Until then our ancestors had shared the planet with other human species. But soon there was only us, possessors of something that gave us unprecedented power over our environment and everything else alive. That something was – is – the Human Spark.
What is the nature of human uniqueness? Where did the Human Spark ignite, and when? And perhaps most tantalizingly, why?
In a three-part series broadcast on PBS in January 2010, Alan Alda takes these questions personally, visiting with dozens of scientists on three continents, and participating directly in many experiments – including the detailed examination of his own brain. Read the rest of this entry »
Hello everyone. Sometimes a whim overtakes me and I just want to do a bit of sprucing up. I updated the theme I use here at HDC and it screwed things up a bit (like my header). Then I decided to look for a new theme that might work a bit better than the one I’m using now. So bear with me. I’m going to do some fiddling around which means things might look a bit wonky while I try to make it work.
If you see errors or problems, try refreshing after a few minutes, because I might be working on it. Or if you have comments, suggestions or complaints, comment away!
Here you go, Bill Maher rants about American hubris. 4 minute video:
I love it when someone popular and intelligent addresses a sensitive topic that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I’ve been wondering for the past 8 years or more why we think America is so great right now.
There is a difference between patriotism and nationalism:
Patriotism: devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.
Nationalism: same as patriotism but also the idea that your national culture and interests are superior to any other.
While I am patriotic and I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather move to, we can’t sit back on our laurels from previous generations and just let this fine country continue to rot in its own arrogance and ignorance. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s to an interesting year coming to a close, and the beginning of a fresh new year full of change and promise.
I hope you’re all having fun with your celebrations and being safe getting to and from any parties.
This change is really just an arbitrary moment in time. A time to take stock, and a time to celebrate.
Next year will be awesome. I know, that’s my optimism speaking, but we’ll make it the best year it can be.
Thank you for helping me be my best this year. Luvz U guyz!
Aww, damnit, I was aiming for posting at exactly midnight. But my awesome husband just called to wish me a Happy New Year. Damn, I love that guy. Ok, thank you again for being such great readers and commenters. Suggestions always welcome, as are guest posters.
Since I’m already late, how about one more lolcat? Let’s see if I can find a really good one. (actually the optimist pessimist is one of my favs at the moment )
Hello! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Douglas and I maintain the website Global-Atheist. Neece has been kind enough to allow me to mar up the place with my ramblings. I’m a member of the left-wing conspiracy and a godless heathen. Pleasure to meetcha! (Oh no, Sarah Palin folk talk… what will we do without you?)
As my first post I wanted to show you a little golden nugget of a map. It’s a beautiful map in my eyes and shows just how far our country has come in the last eight years, or even the past four.
How the counties of the United States voted when compared to 2004.
I think this map speaks volumes about how fed up the population of the United States have been when it comes to the direction of this country. The gist of the map is this: the more blue the county, the more democratic it voted this election; and the more red, the more republican. As you can see by this map, only the “bible belt” voted more republican and I really don’t think this is much of a surprise. (Christian Protip: Obama is the Antichrist and the rapture is coming soon.) Read the rest of this entry »
First, let’s do the other goodness. The political bit follows. My friend has been busy lately and I want to share what he’s been doing.
Global Atheist is an aggregate site that refreshes every 15 minutes. It’s a great place to scan lots of awesome skeptical and atheist sites at once.
Now for the Rambling Political Bit:
After about 2 years of campaigning and general political nastiness, it’s over. We’ll have a new president soon! Change is in the air! President Barack Obama. I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad it’s done.
It seems that most of America is probably relieved and happy today, while some people (like my parents) are very angry and busy selling off their stocks so that they can leave the country. Maybe they can move to Canada. Oh wait, Canada really IS a socialist country. Just teasing.
Hopefully things will settle down, and people will get on with their lives. My phone didn’t ring all day from the Republican party, telling me how to think, so it was nice to have some peace and quiet.
I feel like there is so much potential for positive change. I hope good things will be able to happen with a new administration.
What does it mean to us, the little people, to have a new president? Hopefully a lot. In my humble opinion, things can only get better after the past 8 years. Apparently most of America agrees that it was time for something different. WOOT!
In a giant leap for clean energy, MIT professor Daniel Nocera and his team, have developed a simple method to split water molecules and produce oxygen gas. This paves the way for large scale use of solar power.
Getting energy from the sun isn’t the hard part, it seems. It’s storing that energy that has been a problem.
These guys at MIT were inspired by how plants perform photosynthesis. Their revolutionary method uses abundant, non-toxic natural materials.
I won’t get into all the details, but I just wanted to share it with you because it seems pretty important and wonderful.
Here’s a link to MIT where they have a video of Daniel Nocera describing the new process and a lot more details.
This is just the beginning though. It’s still not really cost effective, but other scientists will be able to run with it and we’ll see where it all leads us in the near future.
Nocera hopes that within 10 years, we’ll be able to power our homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power our own household fuel cell.
Of course, the power companies will not like this. But hopefully it will all happen anyway.
The other day, I watched a 3 part special about what makes us uniquely human from the rest of the animals on the planet, namely chimps. It was very interesting and I wanted to share it with you. I’m linking to each full length video and then below I will link to Science Talk’s interviews with Alda about the show and other interesting things.
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A Little Spring Cleaning at HDC
Hello everyone. Sometimes a whim overtakes me and I just want to do a bit of sprucing up. I updated the theme I use here at HDC and it screwed things up a bit (like my header). Then I decided to look for a new theme that might work a bit better than the one I’m using now. So bear with me. I’m going to do some fiddling around which means things might look a bit wonky while I try to make it work.
If you see errors or problems, try refreshing after a few minutes, because I might be working on it. Or if you have comments, suggestions or complaints, comment away!