Search Terms: “best telescope for sighting mother ships”

I’m always curious to see how people ended up at my blog, so I like reading the different search engine terms that lead people here. Because I’ve made posts about different conspiracy theories and wacky beliefs, I always see some…er, interesting searches that people type in. Mostly stuff about aliens on the moon or Kevin Trudeau, but today someone got here by typing in probably my favourite search terms yet:

“best telescope for sighting mother ships”

I wonder why they’re only interested in the mother ships? Or maybe they already have the best telescope for sighting the regular ships.

Grand Canyon Pereidolia

When we were in Vegas for The Amazing Meeting 7, we went on a day trip to the Grand Canyon. At one point I noticed a rock formation that looked like a statue:

God...or James Randi...or Moses...or Charles Darwin...or rocks...

Saturday Salute to Scientists…The Science and Entertainment Exchange

At the Amazing Meeting 7 in Las Vegas, we got to see Jennifer Ouellette, a science writer and director of the Science and Entertainment Exchange (SEE), speak about the quality of the science that’s portrayed in popular culture (from Wikipedia):

The Science & Entertainment Exchange (the Exchange) is a program of the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS) developed to increase public awareness, knowledge, and understanding of science through its representation in television, film, and other media. The Exchange provides entertainment industry professionals with access to appropriate scientists and engineers who help to encourage effective representations of science and scientists in storylines, special effects, contextual background, and other elements in popular media. The Exchange also helps the science community understand the needs and requirements of the entertainment industry.

Officially launched in November 2008, the Exchange arranges direct consultations between scientists and entertainment professionals who develop science-themed content; it also provides a variety of other services, including scheduling briefings, brainstorming sessions, screenings, and salons. The Exchange is based in Los Angeles, California.

So often, movies and television shows get the science so wrong, and they perpetuate certain myths and untruths about how our universe really works. But there are an increasing amount of shows that are making an effort to get it right, and the Science and Entertainment Exchange is making it easier for writers to have access to scientists in several fields that can inform the scientific aspect of the script.

SEE, I salute you!

Forty Years Ago Man Was on the Moon

It’s been forty years since one of mankind’s greatest accomplishments: putting a human on another world. How freaking cool was that?! I wish I was around to see it live, and as you can tell by reading this list, I hope I’m around to see it happen again.

My eyes welled up when I read NASA’s take on the 40th anniversary, so I’m just going to quote them:

Forty years ago, Apollo astronauts set out on a daring adventure to explore the Moon. They ended up discovering their own planet.

…

It was Christmas Eve, 1968, the close of one of the most turbulent, fractured years in U.S. and world history. The picture offered a much needed new perspective on “home.”For the first time in history, humankind looked at Earth and saw not a jigsaw puzzle of states and countries on an uninspiring flat map – but rather a whole planet, a fragile sphere of dazzling beauty floating alone in a dangerous void. There was a home worthy of careful stewardship.

The late nature photographer Galen Rowell described this photo as “the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.”

In a fitting tribute to the 40th anniversary of the moon missions, the LRO has sent back some pictures of the moon landing site. Head over to this site to have a look, they’re really cool to see. You can see the LM and it’s shadow, and even the paths taken by the astronauts across the surface.

Things I Want to See Before I Die (Part 1)

For some reason I’ve been thinking about my mortality a lot lately, maybe because I recently celebrated a birthday. Since I abandoned my wishful thinking of an afterlife I’ve become more okay with death.  I don’t have irrational fears of hell, I can just shut my eyes and that will be the end.

But the thought that the end is truly the end is also a really sad thought, because we live a time of so much innovation, and I would like to be around to witness it.

I decided that I’m going to make a list of discoveries and advancements that I’d like to see in my lifetime. I hope I can check some of them off soon, and I’ll try to update the list as I think of things…which is why I’m calling this post Part 1.

Here’s the list so far:

1. The discovery of the Higgs-Boson particle
2. Humans back to the Moon
3. Discovery of alien life, hopefully intelligent but bacteria would be cool too!
4. Figuring out what the heck dark matter is
5. Space tourism
6. Nuclear power to replace coal
7. AIDS vaccine

I’ll start off with 7, that’s a pretty ambitious list! Unfortunately I won’t be taking part in discovering or implementing any of these things, but I will idolize the scientists who do so. And I do hope to take part in some space tourism in my lifetime, how awesome would that be?!

What would be on your list?

Jerry Andrus, Remembering the Magician/Inventor

Before The Amazing Meeting 7, I had never heard of Jerry Andrus, but I’m glad I learned about this fascinating man. Stephen Bauer, the attourney who administered Andrus’s estate, spoke in memory of Andrus who died in August of 2007.

Bauer “managed the labourious step-by-step decompilation of Jerry’s famous 118-year-old Victorian household. Located in Albany (Oregon) and popularly known as the ‘Castle of Chaos,’ Jerry’s house sheltered an 80-year collection of personal property – a staggering array of magic paraphernalia, optical illusions, inventions, and surprises large and small.” -Quoted from the Speaker Biographies list at TAM.

Here‘s a cool video of The Amazing Randi speaking about Jerry Andrus.

Andrus was a really interesting guy, I encourage you to google & youtube him because I promise you you’ll be entertained! But before you do that, see if you can figure out this illusion created by Andrus:

Bill Prady, Executive Producer of the Big Bang Theory at TAM7

Bill Prady, the Executive Producer and co-creator of one of my favourite shows, the Big Bang Theory, was the keynote speaker at The Amazing Meeting 7 in Las Vegas.

He said something that surprised me, and I think most people who were there: the show has not received any hate  mail! One would think that a show called the Big Bang Theory would have tons of angry letters from creationists. But Prady said he looked, and couldn’t find a single one. He took the time to hunt for them, but the only bad mail he found were creepy letters  to the show’s female lead Kaley Cuoco…yikes!

I’m afraid I can’t recall what Prady said about the lack of angry mail, but I think it’s just because the characters are so likeable. The show follows a group of friends who are also scientists, and it’s full of physics and science fiction references. But the science/geek culture isn’t forced on the audience…The show is more about a group of people just living their lives. The characters have problems with love, family co-workers, you name it. Although they aren’t typical people in that they’re brilliant scientists, they are extremely easy to relate to.

Prady also dealt with the criticisms of the show, which are that the four scientists are huge video game-loving, comic book-reading geeks, and Penny, the main woman on the show, is a ditzy blonde.  I liked what Prady said, and that’s that this is a show about characters. It isn’t meant to give the idea that all scientists are awkward geeks. The show is about geeks who also happen to be scientists. And Penny is not a ditzy blonde. She’s an intelligent woman who is good at life, she just doesn’t have the same interests as the scientists.

I absolutely love this show, and it was a pleasure to learn about how it came to be and how the characters were developed straight from Prady. I hope it has a long run!

Ray Comfort Unconvinced that Evolution is True…Surprise!

I subscribe to the Way of the Master newsletter because it gives me some good laughs. Today I got a great laugh but I was also saddened because people are probably patting Ray Comfort on the back for spewing this crap.

Comfort is a well-known creationist, and along with his sidekick Kirk Cameron, he uses things like the banana and the coke can to “prove” there is a god and that evolution is a LIE AND YOU’RE GOING TO HELL!!!

Moving along…Comfort decided to go and visit the Smithsonian to look at their display on evolution. So far so good, it’s great that he’s taking the time to consider the evidence for evolution. The mounds and mounds of good evidence. But I guess considering the evidence wasn’t on his agenda because this his summary of the visit:

I spent a few days in Washington D.C. and took the time to visit the Smithsonian Museum, particularly to see their exhibit on evolution. After some searching we found it …the crowning glory of the Smithsonian Institute’s evolution display–a family of hairy dummies looking like a cheap window display at a Halloween store. It was underwhelming. I had a similar experience in Paris’s “Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle Grand Galerie De L’Evolution.” The French also had exhibits of thousands of God’s creatures, and tried to justify the name of the museum by displaying one copy of Origin of Species and a stuffed monkey with a “Lucy” sign on it.

God bless,
Ray

Seriously? The Smithsonian’s display didn’t look real enough, therefore God.

I can’t wait to read about PZ Myers’s visit to the Creation Museum.

The Amazing Meeting 7 in Las Vegas

I haven’t posted much new lately, but I have a very good reason for that!

I’ve been in Las Vegas for the past week for The Amazing Meeting 7 (TAM 7), an annual conference on critical thinking.

It was a fantastic experience! I met some cool people, saw some of the skeptics I admire most speak, and also had a fun visit to Vegas.

I’ll be posting lots about what I learned at the meeting, so watch for that over the next couple of weeks!

PM Stephen Harper Pockets Communion Wafer…Maybe

Look what showed up first on my Google news today:

The silliness of the religious never ceases to amaze me. The Prime Minister may or may not have eaten a communion wafer at the funeral of a former governer-general. Maybe he was uncomfortable partaking in this cannibalistic ritual? Seriously, who cares what happened to the wafer. Nobody really thinks it’s the flesh of Christ, do they?

Well apparantly some do. A high ranking church official is demanding to know whether or not it was consumed. His spokesperson says yes. I say who the hell cares?!?!?! I bet the Prime Minister gets shit from all kinds of kooks every day, but the kooks giving him shit this time are part of one of Canada’s most widespread religion means that his people have to waste their precious time reassuring the public that yes, Harper ate his cracker.