Links With Your Coffee - Wednesday
- God is Dead, Unless Its Time to Sell a Movie
Aren't we waging a holy war to stop this kind of heresy?
from the comments ( tip to John) - Google's cheaper-than-coal target
The Californian firm wants to make green energy sources of electricity cheaper than that produced from coal.
Its new initiative is known as RE less than C, and will focus initially on solar thermal power, wind power and enhanced geothermal systems.
The support, to be channelled through philanthropic arm Google.org, will go to firms, R&D labs and universities. - Scholar looks at abiding interest in the ‘Great American Novel’ — The Harvard University Gazette
Literary critics tend to discredit the concept of a “Great American Novel” as nothing more than media hype — an arbitrary appellation that has more to do with pipe dreams than merit. And yet, what would-be author hasn’t imagined, when putting pen to paper, what it would feel like to be hailed as the greatest chronicler of the age?
- Check republics | New Humanist
This summer the Iraq Chess Federation’s annual tournament took place at Kufa, near Najaf. It was a serious contest, attended by regional champions from all over the country. Between games there was feasting and rejoicing as a ray of optimism briefly shone through the prevailing bleakness.
The event was especially significant since the influential Shia clergyman Grand Ayatollah Sistani had only just announced his belief that chess should be “absolutely forbidden”. And this is in the country where the modern game is believed to have originated – at the court of the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid in Baghdad ten centuries ago. - Scientific Method: Evidence, Not Faith - New York Times
- Ajatus Kirjat - Katselet viestiketjua - No Philosophy please: We're Finnish
The biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat (circulation approximately a million) dedicated a whole front page of the culture section to an ancient philosopher with a headline: "Plato can mess up your mind".
Comments
Chess-players are smart people. There's bound to be a couple of atheists around that table.
So, what was the penalty he proposed for the crime of playing chess? Wait, I don't even have to guess.
I'm fairly confused at the angle the NYtimes article is taking with that line. "Aren't we waging a holy war to stop this kind of heresy?" Is that a bad joke about religious extremeists killing innocents? Is that a serious comment about a holy war against athiests?
Also, the title of the article is pretty damn condesending too.
Yeah, what is going on at the NYT? A number of the comments were from angry athiests complaining about the anti-atheist tone the paper is taking.
re: google.
about damned time! there should be a further step however: how about encouraging or requiring buildings with large numbers of tennants, like office buildings and tenement housing, to install energy saving measures like solar and wind generators. as it stands now, if you own a condo in a building, and want to put it in, you're not allowed unless the whole building says ok, even if you volunteer to pay for it yourself.
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