• Atheists -- naughty and nice -- should define themselves
  

  I was somewhat taken aback recently when I found myself on a list of "kinder, gentler atheists"--most of them women--compiled by a religious historian attempting to distinguish between socially acceptable atheism and the presumably mean, hard-line atheism expounded by such demonic figures as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett. This nasty versus nice dichotomy is wholly an invention of believers who are under the mistaken impression that atheism is a religion in need of a good schism.
  



• Neil Gaiman to write Dr Who episode
  

  The author of novels including Coraline and Anansi Boys told fans they could expect to see the episode in early 2011



• Causation, Correlation and Sport Science


• Palin’s Runny, Run-On Sentences Finally Explained

WEARING RATIONALITY BADGES, POPULARIZING NEUTRALITY AND SAYING "I DON'T KNOW" TO POLITICS: COLIN MARSHALL TALKS TO ECONOMIST, BLOGGER AND RATIONALIST ROBIN HANSON

Here is his link that supported what he is seeing in the classroom.

For those of you that don't care to scan that whole article, here is a funny video that mocks the idea.

And here is my reply to Dad.

Dad, I would argue that what you are seeing is not a generational trend but a trend across all generations. We are writing and reading much more short pieces than we were 40 years ago. Same can be said about 18 year olds as 50 year olds. There are both pluses and minuses to the trend.

It's all a matter of degree though. Our current vice president and MLK were both caught plagiarizing work/speeches.

There is a valid question about whether or not there is really any value in rewriting a paper on a topic that can just as well be learned about by a quick Wikipedia search. Certainly there is value in the skill, but the end product is just wastebasket feed.

Maybe Academia should focus on the skills needed to research and communicate in the info age, look at things like finding online sources to support a point, analyzing biases, and debunking logical fallacies in the arguments of others.

Or you could just complain...

• Dragon’s Den And Homeopathy (tip to Phil)


• What Are Notable Atheists Saying About the Tebow Super Bowl Ad?


• Solution to anti-vaccination controversy: build bridges?

  In one way, the anti-vax movement is like creationism: it’s built on preconceived notions, personal bias, and scientific ignorance. But it’s much worse than creationism, for while nobody ever died from rejecting evolution, misguided opposition to vaccination actually kills people.



• Village Idiots


• Fiscal Scare Tactics By PAUL KRUGMAN
  

  Fear-mongering on the deficit as part of the Republican political strategy could end up doing as much harm as the fear-mongering on weapons of mass destruction

  .


• The Gospel Of Luke


• Tolstoy—The Renunciation of Violence

Antonio Vivaldi: Winter from The Four Seasons Here's an interesting interpretation with Gidon Kremer and the Baltic Camerata and views from Scotland accompanying a slightly more traditional interpretation. I found it interesting how both of these tend to speed up the middle movement more than the traditional 20th century interpretations.

Aulis Sallinen, arranged by the Kronos Quartet: Winter Was Hard recording from lala; complete CD here

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 4 in G Major - not written for winter, per se, but the sleigh beels have always conjured up images of winter for me. The last movement was the genesis for this composition, centering itself around the song Das himmlische Leben from The Child's Magic Horn. There's a nice CD collection with Klaus Tennstedt conducting the London Philharmonic, and Lucia Popp (soprano). I have Kathleen Battle with Maazel conducting Vienna, which I can't track down on Amazon; I also own Yoel Levi conducting Atlanta with Frederica von Stade.

If you can find your way through youtube, there's Bernard Haitink conducting the Concertgebouw with Christine Schäfer. This a shorter Mahler work, but everything - every movement is divided up. Starting with I. Bedächtig, nicht eilen, II. In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast, III. Ruhevoll, poco adagio - this is Bernstein with Vienna because there's no video of Haitink and the Concertgebouw on youtube, and finishing with IV. Sehr behaglich. Again, you'll need to search out the other portions of the movements.

Snowbound this weekend? Yeah, you got time.

• I just discovred Drop Box, and find it useful. Actually I'd heard of it but didn't know the details of how it worked. I like it, perhpaps you'll find it useful too.
• The war on Dr Wakefield: only 12 years too late

  Yes, Dr Andrew Wakefield’s MMR-autism theory was dishonest, but he’s not the only one to blame for the great vaccine scare of the past 12 years.

• More Faith-Based Follies: One Year Later, Initiative Remains Plagued With Problems

  The one-year anniversary today of the unveiling of President Barack Obama’s version of the “faith-based” initiative has pushed the issue back into the spotlight. Unfortunately, the news is not good.

• Just the Facts Mam
• God on Trial (tip to Christopher)
• If You Thought the Gregg/Conrad Commission was a Bad Idea...

• Weekly Ezine for Democrats


• O'Reilly vs. Stewart Part 1
  
  O'Reilly vs. Stewart Part 2


• The Limits of Atheism


• Faith Healing

  Faith healing is based on belief and is about as far as you can get from science-based medicine, but it is not exempt from science. If it really worked, science would be able to document its cures and would be the only reliable way to validate its effectiveness. Miraculous cures continue to be reported on a regular basis: what are we to make of them? In the Healing Rooms Ministry of Bethel Church in Redding, California, people regularly claim to be healed of cancer, broken bones, multiple sclerosis and many other ailments. Page after page of testimonials of cures are listed on their website. Are these cures real? If not, what is going on?



• Bacon and eggs could help pregnant women boost their baby's intelligence

  According to Britain's Daily Mail newspaper:

  The traditional English breakfast is not normally associated with good health. But scientists have found that eating a plate of bacon and eggs could help pregnant women boost the intelligence of their unborn child. Women are usually given a list of foods to avoid during pregnancy and it is well documented that a pregnant woman's diet can affect her unborn baby. But the new study suggests that a chemical in pork products and eggs can help the baby's growing brain to develop. Scientists at the University of North Carolina have discovered that the micronutrient, called choline, is vital in helping babies in the womb develop parts of their brains linked to memory and recall.
  Before you run out to Denny's for a Grand Slam breakfast, read the rest of the article:

“Two major newspapers did what all mainstream media do best: Get the story wrong. The New York Times published "The Evolution of the God Gene" by Nicholas Wade in which we are told that, "religion has the hallmarks of an evolved behavior, meaning it exists because it was favored by natural selection." We are further informed that religion is "universal because it was wired into our neural circuitry before the ancestral human population dispersed from its African homeland."

As a neurobiologist specializing in evolutionary biology these twin assertions about natural selection and the brain caught my attention. Both claims are wrong. But they are made so frequently as to have become conventional wisdom, like the canard that we only use 10 percent of our brains. Such folklore is a powerful force so these claims largely go unchallenged no matter how false.”

• Questions & Answers: A conversation with Rebecca Goldstein

  Cass Seltzer, the mild-mannered hero of Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's new novel, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God(Pantheon, 416 pages, $17.47(amazon) ), has recently emerged as one of America's favorite public intellectuals. Dubbed an "atheist with a soul" by a fictional Time magazine, for the kindler, gentler argument against God he presents in his best-selling book, "The Varieties of Religious Illusion," he is a palatable alternative to more strident deniers of the divine like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. Descended from a line of Hasidic rabbis, Cass is a professor of psychology at "Frankfurter University" outside Boston (named for a legendary Jewish Supreme Court justice ), but is being wooed away by Harvard. He's also recently begun living with the woman of his dreams, and he can't get over the feeling that somehow his life is blessed, even if he lacks belief in the greater force that might have blessed him.



• From Fish to Infinity

  The best introduction to numbers I’ve ever seen — the clearest and funniest explanation of what they are and why we need them — appears in a “Sesame Street” video called “123 Count With Me.” Humphrey, an amiable but dim-witted fellow with pink fur and a green nose, is working the lunch shift at The Furry Arms hotel, when he takes a call from a room full of penguins. Humphrey listens carefully and then calls out their order to the kitchen: “Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish.” This prompts Ernie to enlighten him about the virtues of the number six.

  Children learn from this that numbers are wonderful shortcuts. Instead of saying the word “fish” exactly as many times as there are penguins, Humphrey could use the more powerful concept of “six.”



• Corrupt to the core


• Pope Benedict XVI attacks Labour's equality push

  The Pope has made an unprecedented attack on the human rights policies of Gordon Brown’s Government, claiming that they threaten religious freedom and urging Catholic bishops to fight back with “missionary zeal”.

  Pope Benedict XVI said that new equality legislation was unjust and violated natural law.



• Our Incredible Shrinking Democracy

  I wish conservatives would stop complaining about big government and start worrying about the real problem - small democracy. I wish we'd all worry more about our incredible shrinking democracy.