On religion, science, and The Breakfast Club
Hellraiser: The Breakfast Club‘s John Bender, played by Jud Nelson Note: This is a reworked version of a post published back in 2011. If all goes well, this version will be showing up at Huffpost later this week. A few posts ago I discussed the Bronze Age Goat Herder Conceit. This is the idea, held [...]
Too simple to be wrong: the Bronze Age Goat Herder Conceit
My favorite goat herder: the constellation Auriga, copyright Sergey Mikhaylov. Auriga is usually called the Charioteer, but he’s almost always pictured as a goatherd on celestial maps. For those of us at mid-northern latitudes, he’s high overhead for most of these long winter nights. Image source: Bigstock Note: This is a reworked version of a [...]
On HHDL and the ironic practice of religion
Dalai Lama, London, 1996. Photograph by Steve Pyke. Used with permission of the photographer Back in early September, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shared the following via Facebook: All the world’s religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness, can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today [...]
Quiz: Why do people have trouble believing in God?
Michelangelo‘s Creation of Adam with a significant 21st-century alteration. Can you find it? Source: www.fotodiario2.it That’s the question I’m asking after reading physicist Marcelo Gleiser’s post published last week at 13.7. Pointing to the problems with creationism and the fact that that belief in evolution decreases as church attendance increases, he asks, “Why do so [...]
War is over: top ten R&S peacemakers of 2011
The billboard came before the song. This NYC photograph is from December 1969; “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” was released two years later. Image source: The Rock File I’ve a new article up at Religion Dispatches. Here’s the lede: This year has marked, I believe, the beginning of the end of the war between science [...]
Keep Austin somewhat less weird
Lucky LaRue, Altoids That Bite, 2009. At the South Austin Popular Culture Center. This is the kind of weirdness we like. There are kinds not so likeable. Used with permission of the artist. Image source: redbubble.com it hurts a bit that I’ve never been to weird Austin, Republic of Texas. Alas for me: Everyone I [...]
Twinkle, twinkle, little nonradially-pulsating delta Cepheid
Radial equations from the analysis of convection within pulsating variable stars. You should see the nonradial equations. Stars are pretty, sure. But when you stop to think about them, they get all complicated and stuff. Image source: Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series A friend of mine told me a story recently, and it made me laugh: [...]
