Archive for March, 2008

Facing Down Black Magic

Monday, March 31st, 2008

The original story (with stills, not video) can be found here.
On 3 March 2008, in a popular TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged India’s most “powerful” tantrik (black magician) to demonstrate his powers on him. That was the beginning of an unprecedented experiment. After all his chanting of mantra (magic words) […]

How it Feels to Have a Stroke

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how […]

Ron Weinland: Discussion Part 11

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends! Or perhaps it will start ending in 18 days, like Ron Weinland says. Or perhaps it won’t be until July. Or perhaps…
Part 1 Basic info and links.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5 FAQ
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

Fitna and Submission

Friday, March 28th, 2008

People have died to make these films. People could still die for daring to bring them to you. Perhaps you should watch them.
Fitna

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410

Submission

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7106648073888697427

Ron Weinland: Discussion Part 10

Friday, March 28th, 2008

20 days remain until God will be trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, not to mention loosing the fateful lighting of his terrible swift sword, la de da. So sayeth Ron Weinland. Personally, I thought the opening of the “seventh seal” was a pretty big disappointment after Ron said the […]

Is Belief in a God Reasonable?

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

This is a debate thread, so I can keep the Ron Weinland thread on topic.
The debate here can be on the Christian God specifically, other specific gods such as Allah or Vishnu, or gods in general. It’s OK if you want to say another person is being unreasonable, but I will moderate down comments that […]

Ron Weinland: Discussion Part 9

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

23 shopping days until the Great Tribulation (at least, according to Ron Weinland,) so get out there and pump some of those good ole’ American consumer dollars into the economy! Oh, wait, that won’t help— we’re all doomed… right. You may as well send those dollars to Ron, then— he still seems to want them […]

Ask an Atheist: Longing for the Blue Pill

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

Hi Robert;
I’ve cannibalized most of the day in a most enjoyable fashion — reading bits and pieces from your blog. I’m writing to you in hopes you might share a few thoughts with a struggling agnostic teetering on the edge of atheism. Or, put another way, as a former minister who thought his way out […]

Ron Weinland: Discussion Part 8

Friday, March 21st, 2008

According to Ron Weinland, 27 days remain until the Great Tribulation is supposed to begin in earnest. Traffic is picking up on the discussion here— a sign of The End, or a sign of the power of Google? You decide.
Part 1 Basic info and links.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5 FAQ
Part 6
Part 7

Autonomous Robots

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

The thing that all these robots have in common is that they have a certain amount of autonomy— they are given goals and strategies for achieving those goals, but the particular movements they will make at a given time are not known in advance.
Dexter, from Anybots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXwpIQMUikU

BigDog, from Boston Dynamics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmVaLp8icoU

Asimo from Honda, programmed at Carnegie Mellon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dv0wJDwtuw

Robot […]