Posts tagged: Science
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
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
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
Don’t Diss Darwin
The NCSE has created a new site, Don’t Diss Darwin, to combat Ray Comfort’s mutilated copies of Darwin’s Origin of Species to be given away at “100 top universities” in the US (19 18, Nov. 2009) and Canada (24, Nov. 2009).
I thought someone should do the same thing to some of Comfort’s books, but if you added an introduction and cut all the nonsense out, you’d be left with nothing but the introduction.
Via: RichardDawkins.net
UPDATE: Comfort changed his plan in an attempt to counter some rationalist’s plans. He’s giving the books out TODAY. (Via: Pharyngula)
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.
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
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
We Are All Connected
Symphony of Science has done it again. This time with appearances by Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye.
Check out their previous video, grab MP3 and FLAC files of the songs as well as video downloads at their website.
Surrounded by ignorance
Just watch this… as the video progresses, try to NOT let your mouth hang open in disbelief.
Oh… My… God! Now, I know many people are genuinely ignorant of things that don’t really affect them in their day-to-day lives. But really, America? This level of ignorance is just absurd. Apparently there are people living among us who don’t know how many sides a triangle has and don’t see something wrong on a map where the entire country of Australia is labeled “Iran” or “North Korea”.We also seem to have had THREE world wars and Hiroshima and Nagasaki are only famous for sumo wrestling.
Wow.
Via: Unrelated TechCrunch post.
A Glorious Dawn
This is just chock full of awesomeness.
Via: Pharyngula
Everything is amazing and nobody is happy
Comedian Louis C.K. reminds us just how much modern technology we take for granted.
Links in case embedding gets cut off: here and here
Isaac Asimov – The Answer for Humanity (1989)
Isaac Asimov delivers a keynote speech for the Humanist Institute’s 1st Annual Meeting on January 14, 1989. The topics lay an interesting parallel with current events. It’s almost like nothing’s happened in all this time.
The Arrival Of Homo Evolutis
In this humorous and inspirational talk, Juan Enriquez discusses the present state and future advances awaiting the human species.
Via: TED
