Category / Misc
My Doctor
I’ve given Matt Smith a full season to woo me over but sadly, he’s just not doing it for me. Therefore, I hereby state… Now and forever after… David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, is MY Doctor.
Now, I’ve been a Doctor Who fan for a while. I have fond memories of watching Tom Baker era episodes during family dinner & I quite like the Peter Davison era as well. I missed initially when the series returned but caught up pretty quickly a few of years ago and have been loving the ride ever since. I liked Christopher Eccleston fairly quickly with his big grinned humor just barely concealing a starch seriousness and pain of recent losses. When the first season came to a close and all we got from Tennant was,
“Hmm, new teeth. That’s weird. Now where was I? Oh yeah, Barcelona!”
… I wasn’t really sure. But then came four seasons of the absolute best television I’ve ever watched. Tennant’s Doctor immediately embodied every humanistic value and idea I hold dear. He approached every situation with compassion, curiosity and reason with a skeptical mind seeking for and usually finding the natural explanation. He engendered the best of humanity in those he met and left them all better people. (Even Jackie)
Tennant’s Doctor also had a dense pain hidden on his face that could come out at any moment in a way that made you realize he’d been holding it back for far too long. He carried a burden but never let it get in his way of doing what he thought had to be done for the good of the universe.
There’s always the possibility that Matt Smith or some future Doctor could swoop in and steal the crown… but I’m highly skeptical. Well, I say skeptical, I mean doubtful. Well, pretty impossible actually, now that I think about it…. anyways… Oh, look at that… That is beautiful!
Neil deGrasse Tyson – What NASA Means to America’s Future
Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of my favorite speakers. The amount of passion he puts into his work in inspiration enough… then you actually listen to what he’s got to say. Here, Tyson speaks out about why NASA and space funding/research is so important to America’s future.
Via: Bad Astronomy Blog
Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir
This is stunning!
Composer and conductor Eric Whitacre used his blog, Facebook and YouTube to put a call out, assemble and audition over 200 singers for his virtual choir. He sent them all sheet music so they could each video themselves performing their individual parts and Whitacre Scottie Haines (thanks Ian) then spliced it all back together to create the truly beautiful, Lux Aurumque.
Here’s the final video.
Via: Mashable
Science can answer moral questions – Sam Harris at TED
Sam Harris argues that science can — and should — have something to say about the great moral questions.
Sam Harris is such a great speaker. I love listening to his lectures. He always makes me think about things in a new light. There are many great points made here.
“How have we convinced ourselves that every culture has a point of view on these subjects that is worth considering? Does the Taliban have a point of view on physics that is worth considering? No. How is their ignorance any less obvious on the subject of human well being?”
I don’t have as much a problem with the commercial imagery of women as Sam does though. Partly because I enjoy the imagery but mostly because I think the U.S. is a little too sexually repressed as it is and, even though it’s mostly accessed through commercial media, I think the desensitization will help in the long run. Every generation is a little more open than the last and won’t be shocked and awed by the same imagery as their parents. The bulk of the media targets the youth and many others just follow suit.
Via: TED Talks
Noah’s Ark-God, Giraffes & Genocide
Don’t get caught using logic!
Great stuff by The Thinking Atheist
Via: Atheist Media Blog
Merry Christmas
And Remember…
Tour the known universe in 6 minutes
The AMNH has put together this amazing tour of the entire known universe based on the most up-to-date astronomical data. Every object is in its correct location, with proper scale and movement.
Here’s the full article to go with it.
Via: Pharyngula
Happy in Paraguay
I simply had to share this. Its a clip of Star Trek: TNG with, more or less, random words dubbed in that just happen to match up with people’s lips. I don’t know anything about Dayjob Orchestra’s music, but their spoof/parody videos are brilliant.
Check out their other similar videos here.
Via: io9
Nell McCafferty gives the church a piece of her mind
Nell McCafferty lashes out at the catholic church, questioning their continued use of titles like “Father”, “Your Grace” and “Lordship” in response to the Vatican’s cover-up of sexual abuse of children by catholic priests and how the reputation of the church was deemed more important than the welfare of children.
I love when she goes off on “What’s holy about the Vatican?” and “What’s holy about the Pope in this context?”
Via: Pharyngula
You only live one life
You only live one life and you make all your mistakes and learn what not to do and that’s the end of you. – Richard P. Feynman
Super powers: XKCD style
They laugh now, but within 10 years the city’s entire criminal class will have quit to work on space research.
I didn’t post anything for Carl Sagan Day or his birthday. I’ve been a little busy lately with a couple of projects. XKCD does a great job as usual. It makes me wonder how many would-have-been criminals are actually working on space research because of Carl Sagan’s amazing influence.
Waiting to be known.
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. – Carl Sagan
When Galaxies Collide
Felicia Day *swoon* (and Sean Astin) try to educate the public about colliding galaxies in this hilarious NASA PSA for the Spitzer Space Telescope.
There are a lot of great little inside jokes in there. “What in the name of Joss Whedon?” And Felicia makes a wonderful point:
It just goes to show you don’t have to make up explosions or doomsday scenarios to make science interesting. Astronomy is pretty interesting on its own.
Via: The Bad Astronomer
‘A Universe From Nothing’ by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009
This is a fantastic and entertaining talk by Lawrence Krauss from the 2009 Atheist Alliance International on current cosmology, the nature and ultimate fate of our universe.
Lawrence Krauss has been one of my favorite speakers since I watched his talk from the first Beyond Belief in 2005. It’s amazing how much information the man can pack into one lecture. My favorite line:
Why is there something rather than nothing? … There has to be. In quantum mechanics, if you have nothing, you’ll always get something.
Via: The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
The inconceivable nature of nature
But you gotta stop and think about it … to really get the pleasure about the complexity; the inconceivable nature of nature. – Richard Feynman
