Archive for March, 2007

Travel Plans for Toons

Friday, March 30th, 2007

1. Go to Google Maps.
2. Enter New York to London.
3. Receive helpful instructions.

ny2london1.jpg

ny2london2.jpg

Chariots of the Gods… of the Gaps

Friday, March 16th, 2007

Did ancient astronauts provide man with levitation technology used to create the Egyptian pyramids, or Stonehenge? I have heard these breathless hypotheses since I was a kid, particularly in popular television and motion picture documentaries such as Chariots of the Gods, and at that age they certainly caught my imagination. And it is true that about these phenomena we have often had more questions than answers. Unfortunately, there are still many who argue that having more questions than answers is somehow evidence in favor of extraterrestrial intervention.

Wally Wallington is the kind of guy that gives these people indigestion:

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The same argument has long been the refuge of theologians who claim that whatever science does yet not understand, it cannot understand, and therein lies God. Fortunately, many theologians are finally catching on to the fact that this God of the Gaps argument is a rather cramped space into which to stuff their all-powerful deity; and that space gets tighter all the time. They now tip-toe down the road of accepting that science and theology are compatible, comforting themselves with phrases like “non-overlapping magisteria“, either not realizing, or not admitting to their congregants, that at the end of that road lies the dreaded scientific naturalism and higher criticism that turns their God back into the myth of which it is made. Other theologians, sensing the danger, turn their back on this road— and descend into the madness of fundamentalism.

So the cleanup of the various gods, monsters, and aliens hiding in the various gaps is proceeding nicely. Does this mean there is no place for ultimate mystery? For wonder? For awe? No. For science itself provides more mystery and wonder in a thimble of pond water than primitive superstitions can muster from the entire Red Sea.

Never Be Rude to a Christian

Wednesday, March 14th, 2007

Never be rude to a Christian
A Muslim or Mormon or Jew
Never be rude to a holy man
No matter what you do

Never poke fun at a fundie
Or Jesus, Allah or Xenu
And never draBOOM!

Inspired by Monty Python’s Never Be Rude to an Arab.

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If the video goes away, you can click here to hear the song itself.

Apple’s Latest— iRack

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

As an Apple fanatic who watches every Steve Jobs keynote, I have every right to be offended by this.

Good thing I don’t offend easily.

Oh, and it’s funny as hell.

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From MadTV

Oh, and don’t forget to check out Apple’s latest bit of fun iPropaganda: Hello.

Yesterday upon the stair…

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

Yesterday upon the stair / I met a man who wasn't there / he wasn't there again today / Oh how I wish he'd go away. // Yesterday upon the stair / I met a god who wasn't there / he wasn't there again today / Oh how I wish he'd go away.

With apologies to William Hughes Mearns.

Not familiar with Jesus Mythicism? The God Who Wasn’t There is a very good place to start. Another excellent starting point is the recent Point of Inquiry interview with Robert M. Price.

Science vs. Norse Mythology

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

Click the image for the larger version.

via The Pain— When Will it End?

Come Walk With Me

Thursday, March 1st, 2007

Artificial Intelligence has been defined as the study of anything humans do that computers can’t. Once we’ve figured out how to get computers (or robots) to do such a task, it ceases to be AI. Such tasks once included optical character recognition, handwriting recognition, and playing championship Chess. In each case, there were detractors who said that such abilities were purely the province of God’s creation, and pronounced replication of those tasks in mere machines impossible.

When it turned out that machines performing those tasks turned out instead to be inevitable the detractors puffed dismissively, saying that these tasks really weren’t that hard after all, and could be solved in a mechanical fashion. Each time, their God of the gaps shrank just a little bit. The detractors still relish waving at the long line of Sacred Cows, still patiently waiting on Sacred Cow Death Row for their turn to arrive.

Walking the way humans and animals do (by controlled falling and dynamic balancing) has been on the Sacred Cow Death Row for a long time, and looks like it’s about to lose its final appeal for stay of execution.

Boston Dynamics “Big Dog”

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Trevor Blackwell’s Anybots

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(I had the privilege of riding Trevor’s home-made self-balancing scooter at a conference several years ago.)

Thinking the way we do (or even better) is, of course, the holy grail, and the subject of Artificial General Intelligence. Why should this final Sacred Cow’s day not eventually arrive?

Arimaa, anyone?