“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the ‘Universe’ -a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings, as something separated from the rest-a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few ( Read more... )

I'd never heard of this place, but the description/history sounds interesting:

The Door to Hell, as local residents at the nearby town of Darvaza have dubbed it, is a 70 meter wide crater in Turkmenistan that has been burning continuously for 35 years. In 1971, geologists drilling for gas deposits uncovered a huge underground cavern, which ( Read more... )

OK, I've never liked Bible literalism; I know there are numerous examples of errors, etc.  But I don't know that I realized that there were Mathematical discrepancies.

1 Kings 7:23   (2 Chronicles 4:2)

He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to ( Read more... )

Good stuff.  I hadn't heard this one.  Apparently, according to Andy Schlafly (yes, son of the notorious Phyllis) thinks that the Theory of Relativity is "part of a pervasive and long-held liberal conspiracy to make people have abortions and stop believing in Jesus":

The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It ( Read more... )

Went to Borders last night and wound up spending hours there sitting and reading John Hodgman's "The Areas of My Expertise" and "More Information Than You Require."  As I was about to leave, I noticed that they had a copy of the latter in the bargain bin for $4 and buy-one-get-one-free.  After much searching, I couldn't find another book in the bin ( Read more... )

Usually I envision sci-fi novels as looking forward and outward.  The novel I am currently reading, Distress by Greg Egan, however, has on several occasions made me reflect and look inward.  (Not that it is an exceptionally good read, it just has some interesting thoughts in it).  Take this excerpt on religion which very closely reflects many of my ( Read more... )

I was just informed by a couple guys in the shop (who had recently watched Angels & Demons, which I haven't seen or read) that a spec of anti-matter, which could be created at FermiLab, could cause a singularity which will swallow the entire world.  So we should stop.  We should also stop space exploration because not only is it costing money in ( Read more... )

I saw these the other night on Colbert.  They're glasses that you infused with liquid silicone until they match the "prescription" that you require to see properly.  It seems like such a simple idea.  They're sending these over to Africa at about $1 each because they can't afford regular eyeglasses.

Science is cool.

One of my failings is that I give up on things too quickly. If it doesn't yield immediate results, it must not be working, so I discard it. This is something that I have known about myself for quite some time, but I have recently been guilty of it in a particular instance and also had it confirmed by a very close friend. So I am making a ( Read more... )

I came across some pictures of Asperatus clouds from the Cloud Appreciation Society.  Some of these cloud formations are terrifying(here, here, here), some are just plain awesome looking (here, here, here), and some are both.  It made me think that maybe these clouds are a reason why some people think that god is going to kill them/destroy the ( Read more... )