Wonders of the Solar System - Empire of the Sun

There is one object around which all activity in the solar system revolves, both literally and figuratively: that massive nuclear fusion reactor we call the sun. We wouldn't be here without it, so send any complaints its way :) In today's visually spectacular documentary from the BBC, Professor Brian Cox travels to some of the best locations in the world to experience and share with us the magnificence and the effects that this great ball of fire produce on our planet.

If you're wondering what kind of awesomeness awaits, let me just mention a full solar eclipse, some incredible time lapse photography of waterfalls at night with the (appearance of the) Milky Way rotating in the background, the magnitude of the magnetic field that protects us from the violence of the Sun, and a mystifying sequence of Northern Lights.

And if you want the simpler audio version, explained in ordinary language by two self-confessed non-scientists, Josh and Chuck from the Stuff You Should Know podcast, give this a listen:

And if you still can't get enough, you should watch the documentary Secrets of the Sun.
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Scientists Successfully Teach Gorilla It Will Die Someday

We used to think ourselves unique among the creatures of the world and blithely thought never the twain shall meet.

The more we learn about our evolutionary cousins, however, the more we come to understand just how close we are, and though we may have once felt proud of the uniqueness of our being-toward-death, scientists have finally been able to close this existential gulf by teaching a gorilla it will one day die... probably quite soon :)

No word yet on whether this gorilla (or the orangutan on the picture to the right) was subjected to a crash course on the existentialism of Martin Heidegger and Jean Paul Sartre.

For some reason, this reminds me of that time scientists dissected a colleague to find out how scientists work :)
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Ghost of Anne Frank: 'Stop Reading My Diary'

When I was in high school, I had my reservations about reading her personal diary... and now it seems my hesitation was not without justification :)

Check out more hilariousness from The Onion.
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The Human Sexes 05: The Maternal Dilemma

Being a man is not always easy, but being a woman must be the equivalent of tight-rope walking... while balancing children, a career and a personally satisfying life. In today's episode of the documentary series The Human Sexes, Desmond Morris explores the multitude of strategies women all over the world have developed in order to deal with their seemingly mutually exclusive drives toward forming a family (which requires almost unimaginable amounts of attention, energy and effort), versus their desire for personal and professional success.

As you'll see, it seems humans are starting to learn a few lessons from our marsupial cousins. And if you're one of those people who advocate for more 'natural' approaches to giving birth, the documentary shows you just how it's really done :)

It's impolite to ask the man how many children he has?!? Shouldn't it be impolite of him not to know?

Anyway, now you know a neat new little trick to rock a baby to sleep :)
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The Matrix - What Is Real?

What does it mean for something to be real? The answer to this question may seem obvious at first glance, and perhaps hardly worth the question itself, but a quick moment's reflection confronts us with one of the most profound philosophical abysses, the answer to which we ordinarily assume forms the basis of the rest of our beliefs. Nietzsche once said that "when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you." This abyss may be the exception, especially if it's not there...

As Morpheus quickly demonstrates in the following scene from The Matrix (which is the modern version of Plato's Myth of the Cave) the very act of perception, which we normally take for granted as representing reality, distorts the real into what can be perceived by us. How different is our perception of what is from what is? Welcome to the world of philosophy...

Check out more lessons on philosophy from The Matrix.
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Sam Harris - Science Can Answer Moral Questions

Because of our long history of conquest, imperialism and xenophobia, we in the West have learned the hard way (though only as perpetrators) that we can't simply assume, and consequently impose, our beliefs and values on societies whose worldview differ from our own. We know better now, but there was a time when those who were different from us were immediately assumed to be primitive and inferior, and in dire need of whatever we happened to consider cultural and intellectual enlightenment at the time. And, of course, we made sure they got a strong dose of our medicine, even if they didn't want it.

Given this embarrassing track record, it should be no surprise to anyone that the pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme, and that tolerance and non-judgment have now become two of the most cherished values in modern liberal democracies, even to the point of lunacy. We now take offense at those who take offense, we criticize those who criticize, we are intolerant of the intolerant, and we'll bend over backwards to accommodate any non-mainstream belief, no matter how quirky, delusional, irrational or even dangerous.

In short, we have become a society of indolent relativists too afraid to think critically for ourselves or to stand on principle for our beliefs, and in this thought-provoking TEDTalk presentation, Sam Harris makes a strong case that objective moral progress can and must be achieved, and that it's high time we grow up and reject relativism and other irrational beliefs.

While I disagree with Sam Harris' analysis of the relationship between science and morality (starting with the fact he equivocates the word 'fact' and commits several categorical mistakes as a result), I do agree that some beliefs, values and practices are just plain silly, no matter where they come from, as the picture below demonstrates :)




Watch out Sports Illustrated models... your days of fame and power are over :)

And if you want to learn about the plight of women in Muslim societies, check out the dramatic short film Submission.
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A Sober Reminder of Our Mortality

Live well and do good work.
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Jon Stewart and the Glenn Beck Reductio ad Absurdum

A reductio ad absurdum is an awesome and powerful logical tool in which you can either a) disprove the assumptions of a given argument by showing that its premises lead to a conclusion that contradicts one of the premises (proving that the original premise must have been false), or b) refute the logic of the argument by using a structurally equivalent argument which obviously results in absurdity (this is also known as refutation by logical analogy).

Philosophers have wielded this weapon throughout the ages to disprove all kinds of ideas, but sometimes it takes a comedian to popularize this method. Here is Professor Stewart :)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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And here is the reductio:

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And here is another instance of Jon Stewart masterfully channeling Glenn Beck :)
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Holy Sh*t - Catholic Sex Scandal Edition... again

When it comes to punishing people, guilty or not, the Catholic Church has an incredible track record for swiftness... unless the guilty is one of their own and the crime could hardly get any more heinous...

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These priests totally misunderstood the whole "suffer the little children unto me" idea, didn't they?
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Jon Stewart Breaks Down Corporations

Lincoln once said that this is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and we all bought the idea hook, line and sinker. What he forgot to tell us is what the government meant by 'people.' It turns out by people the government meant corporations... and Jon Stewart is ready to explain how you can get out of the personal financial mess you've probably in: become a corporation :)

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To be fair to Lincoln, he also said that "corporations have been enthroned, [and] that an era of corruption in high places will follow."
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Great Moments in Irish History, with Denis Leary

St. Patrick's day... today is a great day to bust out the Guinness, the Jameson and the Baileys, and make a delicious car bomb. Man, I loves me that drink :)

Today is also a great day to celebrate our Irish friends' heritage and have some shepherd's pie, but do you know where this tasty traditional dish comes from, how it's made or what magical ingredients are in it? If you want to know, Denis Leary is ready to dish out some historical wisdom about this ancient Irish tradition... Make sure you write down the recipe :)

See you again when I'm sober!
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Richard Dawkins: Growing Up in the Universe - The Genesis of Purpose

Bringing his fascinating lecture series Growing Up in the Universe to a close, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins discusses the way in which our brains represent the transcendence of the world. Our perception of the world is not a pure and accurate representation of what's out there; instead, our brains actively create mental simulations and virtual reality models that help us to anticipate and navigate the world around us, and good thing too!

After using various useful and interesting examples, Dawkins speculates on some of the ways the process of evolution through natural selection may have given rise to the evolution of the human brain, showing in the process the very important lesson that the same powers of the human brain (pattern recognition, statistical outcome anticipation, agency attribution, three-dimensional representation of two-dimensional objects, etc.) have a double edge: these very powers also create the possibility (and perhaps the inevitability) of developing self-deluding beliefs.

The promise of enlightenment can only come from the systematic subjection of our experience and beliefs to the tools of critical thinking and proper assessment of evidence. If we take our subjective experience as the only ground for justifying our attitudes about the external world, we're going to be in a lot of trouble...

I'm all about growing up intellectually (not necessarily otherwise), but why the hate against the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? :(

On another note, taken seriously, these insights from evolutionary biology could help explain many important facts about the human mind, like why we believe in gods, for instance.
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Dan Barber - How I Fell in Love with a Fish

Do you like genuinely delicious food? There is an extent to which that's a tricky question because it presupposes that we actually know what delicious food tastes like. Consider, however, how so much of what we ordinarily consume is full of toxic chemicals, pesticides, natural waste products, and pumped with antibiotics, powerful hormones and even steroids, and you may start to wonder whether you've ever had a real meal in your whole life. Consider next the huge non-sustainable environmental footprint that food production creates and we're looking at a diminishing supply of good quality food...

In this powerful, humorous and thought-provoking presentation, chef/foodie Dan Barber tells the fascinating story of how he fell in love with a ridiculously delicious and sustainable fish raised using a revolutionary farming method. It's truly an inspirational story that points the way to environmental progress and yumminess :)

And if you don't think we're in dire need of methods like this, you might want to ask yourself how many people can live on Planet Earth with our current practices and habits. Quick hint: not that many.

You might also be interested to learn the story of stuff.
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Annie Leonard and Stephen Colbert on Stuff

Your stuff has a dark and secret life, and it's not just, as Colbert fears, that your bean bag is gay. If you've ever wondered where your stuff comes from before you buy it, where it goes after you throw it away, how it affects people all over the world, or the kind of environmental footprint it causes, or what it ultimately says about you (and it's not how cool you are, by the way), then you should watch the short, educational and entertaining animation film The Story of Stuff. Hell, you should even watch it even if you've never wondered any of these questions.

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Annie Leonard
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After you've watched the animation, why not read the book too?
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Is Atheism the New Fundamentalism?

Atheists have been around for a long time, but until recently, they usually tended to keep their free-thinking disbelief to themselves, both because they considered their opinion a personal matter and out of politeness for believers. The rise of increasingly extremist religious fundamentalism over the past few years, however, especially since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, has stimulated a growing numbers of nonbelievers to end their silence and publicly subject religious belief to the same kind of rational scrutiny that we all naturally tend to subject every other kind of belief.

For some, this "new atheism" is perceived as strident, militant and just as fundamentalist and dogmatic as the religions atheists tend to criticize. For others, like philosopher Daniel Dennett, this perception of fundamentalist atheism simply reflects the double-standard of deference we have historically accorded the sacred cows of religion for no particularly good rational reason other than tradition.

In the following fascinating and thought-provoking debate, Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries and journalist Charles Moore team up to defend the motion that the new atheism is the new fundamentalism. On the other corner, with a combined weight of expertise in philosophy and evolutionary biology, A.C. Grayling and Richard Dawkins oppose the motion.

Enjoy the intellectual blood bath :)

Want real fundamentalists? Get a load of the agnostics fundamentalists: The Church of the Holy Undecided :)

Oh, and this is the double-standard cartoon Professor Grayling mentioned:


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To All of You Aspiring News Reporters

If you were a member of your high school newspaper staff, and were infected by the journalistic bug, you might now be considering going to journalism school. Of course, that will mean taking out massive loans and being in debt for the rest of your natural life, and that's if you get lucky and actually find a job...

So why don't you save yourself all that trouble and just learn how to report the news in a few short and hilarious minutes? Given how real professionals do it, it's not like we're going to notice anyway :)

Always eager to push journalistic professionalism to new heights, it seems The Onion has already taken this advice to heart :)

And yes, in case you've been wondering, I've been quite busy lately... sorry :)
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Presidential Reunion

It would be an understatement to say that things weren't peachy when Obama took over the White House. Not only was the country bankrupt from a pointless and ongoing war, but the financial crisis that resulted from the subprime mortgage mess and the runaway out-of-control investment was already causing increasing levels of unemployment from which we have not yet recovered. Add to this all the corrupt politicians who have sold their souls in exchange for corporate and lobbying money (not to mention those stubborn politicians bent on ideological extremism), and it's not much of a surprise to see how little has been accomplished.

Obama inherited some epic problems, the roots of which extend back beyond the ineptitude of his immediate predecessor, and there's a lot of work to be done and corruption to defeat, so it's quite fortunate that Obama was recently visited by the ghosts of administrations past with some encouraging words of wisdom and one horny Bill Clinton :)

And yes, Reagan is already planning a comeback from the grave...

Watch more SNL funnies.
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Gay Gene Isolated, Ostricized

Looks like they also found the homophobic gene :)

Did you also know that smoking is gay?
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Astronomer Discovers Black Hole at Center of His Own Marriage

Why look for black holes across the vastness of interstellar space and time when you could just as easily find one at home? :)

Check out more goodness from The Onion.
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San Francisco (ish) Time Lapse

I've never been to the Bay Area... or the West Coast either, now that I think about it, but after seeing the following amazing time lapse of the San Francisco area (especially the shots of the fog pouring over the city), I'm beginning to seriously realize that I may have to do something about that in the near future...

Who wants to come with me? :)

Check out more amazing time lapses here.
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Daniel Kahneman - Happiness and the Tyranny of the Remembering Self

Happiness is a strange concept: everyone wants to be happy, but no one really knows what happiness is. In philosophy, we sometimes talk about incorrigible phenomenological states: mental states about which you could not possibly be wrong. If you have an experience of dating Megan Fox, for instance, you'd probably be hallucinating or dreaming-unless she's two-timing me :), but if you feel you're in pain, you're in pain, and you can't be deluded about that. This raises the question: is happiness an incorrigible phenomenological state? Are you happy if you think you're happy? Or can you think you're happy and not be happy? And what on earth can this have to do with colonoscopies?

In this fascinating presentation, Daniel Kahneman, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics, discusses the difficulty with understanding (and achieving) happiness. As it turns out, when it comes to happiness, you are divided between a remembering self and an experiencing self, and whenever their interests conflict, guess who's not going to be happy? :)

So there you have it, folks: next time you're getting a colonoscopy, ask your doctor to leave the tube in for just a little bit longer and maybe wiggle it slightly :)
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How Large Is Large?

I don't know about you, but I can't quite get my mind around the magnitude of various bodies in the universe, and I don't just mean the size of galaxies or even the distance between them. Planets the size of Saturn and Jupiter are enough to completely befuddle me, and they are the equivalent of specks of dust in comparison with our sun, which is itself insignificant relative to other stars.

If you're anything like me and need some help to visualize just how incredibly large bodies can get, the following animation should help... although it probably won't help if you're already feeling quite insignificant :)

And if that's still not enough for you, here is more and more.
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