I’ve been thinking more and more about religion and philosophy, of late. Wondering how serious people are about religion. I guess some are serious enough to study apologetics, and have an excuse ready for anything that looks like an inconsistency or circular argument. A single plague could have wiped Christianity off the map. The same could probably be said for Islam. Both needed to be totalitarian and a pervasive part of life for people. Heretics couldn’t be tolerated, and had to be killed. That’s pretty serious. Because they survived, they destroyed other religions. But, fundamentally, what makes one religion better than another? I would hazard a guess that the answer is: the ability to totally scare the shit out of a person. The winning religions has to offer virgins and clouds, but primarily they had to scare you so badly, that you wouldn’t leave the religion to save your life! Could the elevator ride in the previous post, sum up what most people think about “God’s Creation”? It certainly has Biblical overtones…

This artwork, by Marco Brambilla, was designed to be viewed by people in an elevator, as they rode up and down The Standard building in New York. I might expect some people to loiter and ride up and down a few times, to get the full effect. Pretty cool!

• Thursday at 8pm on @ScienceChannel, Blink, the risks facing astronauts in space with more debris, junk and satellites in orbit. #
• @TaviGreiner I'm not mature and well-grounded. Too flighty. That's a space monkey for ya! Deadlines are a bitch. Too many distractions! in reply to TaviGreiner #
• RT @RamanPfaff: Kodachrome is being retired. http://tinyurl.com/lnnr2q I wonder what Paul Simon thinks. (clever) #
• Good morning! I slept a lot this weekend. I hope that makes today easier. I have phone mtgs all day so I'm working from home. #
• Six killed and over 70 injured in DC Metro collision during rush hour. http://is.gd/19FrI #
• @JamesRivers Facebook is like AOL. Both were hugely popular and crap. If people want customers they go where customers can find them. in reply to JamesRivers #
• RT @leplan: Not Twitter, Facebook Losing The Charm http://socialmedia.globalthoughtz.com/46/ #

In the June issue of Scientific American, there’s an interesting article, “Improbable Planets”. It explains how over the past 15 years, over 300 planets have been discovered, circling other stars, and how they aren’t all where we might have expected.

There are certain places you wouldn’t expect to find life, in the universe. At one time, we thought we’d need to find stars like our yellow sun, if life were to have a chance. It seems that there may be habitable zones around other types of stars, like around red dwarfs (another article), brown dwarfs (hot super-Jupiters, that didn’t quite have the mass to kick of stellar fusion), and even in stranger places, like around neutron stars or white dwarf stars. In all of these cases, debris and gas can swirl around and form an accretion disk around a body, and if given enough time, planets can form. (And, in the case of white dwarfs and neutron stars, the question may be “What survives their death?” These are examples of the leftover core of a star, after it dies in a planetary nebula or supernova explosion.)

NASA’s Kepler mission is hunting for planets, so is the French mission, COROT. They will find earth-sized planets around other stars, and not limit themselves to just the likely places. We will learn a lot. Between discovering life outside of Earth (perhaps, Mars, Titan, Europa…), and developing a stronger theory of where planets might form and whether they might be able to support life, we could make great strides this century in understanding just how likely “living planets” are in the universe.

[Visit Scientific American, and view a video on this topic, or read the article.]

The Dark Ages was certainly a dark and dire time for civilization. I watched a History Channel program on the Dark Ages today (purchased on iTunes and downloaded to my iPod), and it gave me some slight insight on that epoch in history. In the past century, I think civilization has finally gotten to a point where I can cope. I can’t imagine actually living in earlier times, let alone the Dark Ages.

Historically, the Dark Ages are thought to have started around the 5th century, and ended around the 12th century. Rome had done much to improve civilization, over the centuries, what with aqueducts, architecture, engineering, roads and all… but the signs of cultural stagnation were showing. Europe, outside of Rome at this time, was pretty bad off. You had tribes throughout Europe, living hand to mouth, barely surviving, in stark contract to Rome. Since misery loves company, the Goths sacked and laid siege to Rome in the early 5th century, and civilization on a precipice. Add to the fall of Rome, famine and plague, and civilization is pushed off that cliff, and into a six-century free fall.

[Here is the video from the History Channel, on YouTube in several parts. Read more, here.] Be sure to click to continue and read the rest of the post, after the jump!

World War II propaganda posters are cool. I remember finding one in college, and changing it around for the college club I founded (PPSA.com). I think these are cool too. Lane Winfield has turned wartime propaganda into social media propaganda. Visit his website, and Flickr!

Some other wartime propaganda and nostalgia sites:

• WWII Posters on Flickr
• The Powers of Persuasion
• World War II Propaganda, Cartoons, Film, Music, & Art
• WWI & WWII Posters

I enjoyed the animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, on Nickelodian. Season 3 finished up last year, and now they are working on a live action/CGI motion picture. I admit, I am very skeptical with M. Night Shyamalan at the helm as director. His films don’t inspire me. This movie doesn’t need a plot twist at the end, however, it just needs to be true to the original. Do you think he can deliver? Next summer we will know. Here is a trailer, featuring Noah Ringer, as Aang (the Avatar). Noah was discovered at a casting call in Texas, and it seems from this trailer that he knows his martial arts. The rest of the cast is looking good (now). Because of James Cameron’s “Avatar” movie, this film changed its name to The Last Airbender. (Cameron’s “Avatar” looks good, and hits theaters for Christmas 2009!)

It is very upsetting to hear how the Boy Scouts of America discriminates against those with differing beliefs. No, not that they don’t believe in helping young men grow up into good, productive adults. No, not that they are somehow unethical or a bad role model. The Boy Scouts of America has a long tradition of discriminating against homosexuals and atheists. Here is a story about Neil Polzin, an atheist, who has served faithfully in various positions for the Boy Scouts for 15 years. He received a brief letter, telling him that he was to cease all contact and activities with the Boy Scouts. He was also fired from his paid position as Aquatics Director at Camp Cherry Valley.

This man is not a predator, nor is he a risk to have around children. Quite the opposite; he has been an ethical and valuable resource, but as soon as someone complained that his belief system was different, he was forced to pay with his job and reputation. I find this deplorable. I realized that the Boy Scouts discriminated against gays, but for some reason I thought that was in the past. This is evidence that the Boy Scouts of America are in fact the ones who are no good role models – I would never recommend a child participate in activities with this organization again. I was a Cub Scout, and Boy Scout myself. Of course, I never really enjoyed it that much, and gave it up in elementary school, but it did have it’s fun moments. I remember the Pinewood Derby with my Dad… now, the only thing I’ll think of when I hear the name of the organization is that they are a bigoted American group that teaches children to discriminate. This is hateful and wrong. I hope the B.S.A., nationally, is more ethical and tolerant than this branch in California.

[Read the story here.]

Diane Benscoter gives a TED seminar on her 5-year experience as a Moonie. She then was deprogrammed, and became a deprogrammer herself. She discusses her experiences.

This is about how I teach my intro astronomy class. Ask any of my students. It is amazing how well the threat of earth’s imminent destruction keeps the students’ attention!

** From xkcd.com.