I saw Star Wars for the first time when I was four year’s old. I’d been a fan long before, thanks to the read-along books and the action figures, but actually seeing the film mad equite an impression on me. One of the things that bugged me, though, were the references to the off-screen “Clone [...]
Time for your vegetables again — these are some of the highlights of my research journeys hither and yon in the great wasteland of cyberspace. Hope you enjoy!
Time for your vegetables again. Here’s some of the fun stuff that’s flitted across my desk in the last few weeks. Crazy Silly Creative Things To start off with our garnish, you could do no better than watching this 3 minute video about what Welshmen really do with sheep. Don’t worry, it’s work safe–but you [...]
I’m on the road, writing short stories and a little on the novels, and exploring the murky rainy depths of the Pacific Northwest. But it’s hard to get the hang of Thursdays, which is why they’re salad days. Neither fabulous restaurants, nor rain nor bad traffic nor dark of overcast day shall keep me from [...]
Last night’s post about the exciting new developments in fringe cosmology provoked some interesting twitter comments. Seems some of the language in the article I linked to (particularly at the end, where it talks about vested interest) reminded some of you of denialist language from one or another favorite science/history denial camps. Specifically, the word [...]
Big Bang contrarians are a dime a dozen, from the crackpots to the respected physicists, like Halton Arp, who like to pick nits at the existing paradigm but don’t have a coherent alternate theory to advance. They’re usually good for an afternoon’s entertainment, but little more than that. Sometimes, though, the exciting stuff happens in [...]
May 19, 2010 is an interesting day in the history of the world, though its significance passed by unnoticed by most people – even people who watch for momentous events. But today, two thing happened that will, in their knock-on effects, change the world in ways every bit as profound as the discovery of DNA. [...]
This post is my first in a dialogue with Scott Roche about whether or not science and religion are truly competing for the same intellectual and spiritual space in the world. Read Scott’s opening post here. Twitter is a mischievous little meme. On that innocent network yesterday, I noticed fellow podcast novelist, and fabulous debate [...]
Stopping in quickly during a break in my hectic production and writing schedules to drop a handful of links that have recently blown me away in one way or another. First, the coolest biomedical news this year: Synthetic arteries have arrived. Second, some really cool news on dog evolution from two fronts. There’s an article [...]
Are the New Atheists Bad for Science? By J. Daniel Sawyer In an article on Beliefnet this week, Michael Ruse argues that the “new atheists†are a “bloody disaster.†He argues using a mixture of caricatures, complaints, and criticisms, so before I go into why I think the man is full of organic fertilizer on [...]
Subscribe Download Part 2 of the Richard Carrier is now live. We continue our conversation about science in the ancient world, discuss the works and missteps of Rodney Stark and his theory of the scientific revolution, read and discuss ancient documents germaine to the topic, and talk about the reasons for the fall of the [...]
Hey Everyone, It’s been a long time! Before my life was swallowed by the podcast of my novel Predestination and Other Games of Chance, I recorded quite a bit for Reprobates Hour. So now, to kick off part 2 of Season 3, Richard Carrier returns to talk about science in the ancient world. We discuss [...]
Well, my friends (and enemies, and trespassers), I’ve just sold my first article that’s NOT about Linux. My essay “As The Gods Themselves…” about science fiction, religion, and the singularity is now online and available for download in PDF and MP3 format at The Journal Sci Phi. If you enjoy world religions, are wondering where [...]
In my post on the Entitlement Mentality I quoted Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who once said “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” The last several election cycles in America have made it shockingly clear that Americans no longer know the difference between opinion and facts – or, if they do, [...]
Now, let’s go on over to the Republican side of the fence and do some more sacred cow tipping. I could pick on them for their mirror-image myopia on the same issues of environmental stewardship, but let’s go for something more fun. Let’s take the classic Republican relationship with tradition and history.
