Saturday Morning Shares - 03-30-2013

Here's the links & tweets to share from the last week.  Most were also shared on this Facebook page or retweeted.  Please feel free to add any fun or informative stories I missed in the comments.

Random Stuff:

5 Alternatives to Unfriending Someone on Facebook (via @mashable)

Top NewsMax headlines. For those thinking NewMax reports news, you'd be wrong. It's all conservative BS twitpic.com/cdqyfx
— Clay Skot (@ClaySkot) March 23, 2013

Tea Partiers boycotting FOX News for being too leftist. (via @jteberhard)

(via George Takei)

Science!:

Gay Stuff:

GLAAD to Fox News: You're on Thin Ice (via The Advocate magazine)

(via Americans Against the Tea Party)

Religion Stuff:

(via Steven Olsen)

‘Militant Atheism’ Isn’t a Religion; It’s an Oxymoron (via @hemantmehta)

Creationist offers $10,000 to anyone willing to challenge literal interpretation of Genesis in court (via Bob)

How Skeptics Can Break the Cycle of False Beliefs (via Becky)

(via @hemantmehta)

Secular Coalition of America's Weekly Update:

National Secular Movement Update Call (03/28/2013)

Asshole Of The Week:

Once you redefine marriage - who's to say you can't redefine it again - and again - and again? "Do you Fluffy take this human..."
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) March 26, 2013

Funniness:

Is it ok to ask a very pregnant librarian if she's overdue?
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) March 25, 2013

Sometimes Science Happens In Nebraska

Living in Nebraska means not having a lot in the realm of science happening around me.  Usually, the only bright spot on that subject comes from the presence of Nebraska oldest non-theist group, REASON^[1].  But the University of Nebraska recently did something newsworthy^[2][3].

The precise methodology of Richard Feynman’s famous double-slit thought-experiment – a cornerstone of quantum mechanics that showed how electrons behave as both a particle and a wave – has been followed in full for the very first time.

I'm not all that into the particulars of physics, possibly because I don't understand most of it.  But I'm quite happy that there some who are into it enough, and understand it well enough, to have achieved this scientific landmark.  I'm even happier that it happened in Nebraska.

You cannot stop progress or science.  Even in a red state.

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1.  http://www.reason.ws/
2.  http://youtu.be/EGq8w03-Goc
3.  http://www.iop.org/news/13/mar/page_59670.html

Saturday Morning Shares - 03-09-2013

Slow news week?  Here's a few things I found worth sharing.  Please feel free to add to it in the comments.

Random:

(via @ThinkGeek)

Science!:

Is This Star Older Than the Universe? (via @mashable)

Rare Photos Capture Two Comets Together in Night Sky (via @mashable)

Forest Whitaker's Non-Profit Thinks Tech Will Bring Peace to Africa (via @mashable)

About Religion:

Secular Coalition of America's Weekly Conference Call (03-07-2013)

Asshole Of The Week:

Anti-faith secularists are holding up scientific progress: USCCB pro-life official

Science vs Religion - HIV Edition

Science and religion are at odds with other on a regular basis^[1][2].  Science explains how old the universe is^[3], how old our planet is^[4], and how we evolved over millions of years^[5].  Religion pretends science is not real^[6].  Science says to use condoms to reduce the spread of HIV & AIDS^[7].  Religion spreads lies about condoms^[8].

On the subject of HIV, science may have just made an incredible advancement.  By curing it^[9].

Doctors announced on Sunday that a baby had been cured of an H.I.V. infection for the first time, a startling development that could change how infected newborns are treated and sharply reduce the number of children living with the virus that causes AIDS.

 Even in rural Mississippi, science can help people.  I'm sure religion will come along shortly to try to undo this progress.  Probably also from rural Mississippi.

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1.  http://www.iep.utm.edu/s-rel/
2.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_between_religion_and_science
3.  http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_age.html
4.  http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dalrymple/scientific_age_earth.html
5.  http://www.livescience.com/474-controversy-evolution-works.html
6.  http://www.missiontoamerica.com/genesis/six-thousand-years.html
7.  http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/byAudience/ForPatientAdvocates/HIVandAIDSActivities/ucm126372.htm
8.  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june11/vatican_05-30.html
9.  http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/health/for-first-time-baby-cured-of-hiv-doctors-say.xml

Yay Science!

Greta Christina is someone who constantly does stuff to make me love her more.  So, her not being at Skepticon 5 was a disappointment.  Especially considering the reason she's not here.

But even in recovery from major surgery, she gave an amazing talk (via Skype). 

She's had a shitty year, but remains positive.  A positivity that may only be rivaled by Jerry DeWitt (more on that in a future post).

She praised her doctors for the surgery, and the inventors of the technology that allowed her to deliver this talk.  She also mentioned the weird things her brain has been doing during this time, and how being a skeptic & atheist helped her recognize it.

But the best line was clearly, "I don't have cancer. . . Yay science."

Yay science indeed.  We already lost Hitchens to cancer.  But we got to keep the perpetually awesome Greta Christina around for a bit longer.  Science may not solve all problems.  But it makes our world better than it otherwise would be.

We Should Try Science In America

I doubt I have to convince many inclined to read a blog with the word "atheist" in the title how awesome science is.  It brings us new and amazing things on a regular basis.  And that brings us to Glow-in-the-Dark Highways.  

By mid-2013, the country will use photo-luminizing powder to replace road markings and ultimately produce glow-in-the-dark tarmacs, Wired.Co.UK reports.

The powder will charge on sunlight, soaking up enough energy to power 10 hours worth of highway light during nighttime. Special paint will also be used to draw snowflakes across the roads. The snowflakes will only become visible when the temperature dips to a certain point, indicating to commuters that the surface is likely slippery.

This is in the Netherlands.  Not America.  The Netherlands.  And this is just one thing.  They have further plans.

Within the next five years, the Netherlands hopes to add interactive lights along highway routes that power on when cars pass them and even wind-powered illumination.

I'm not so jingoistic as to think European shouldn't be doing cool stuff.  But it would be nice if it were that they doing cool stuff too, instead of them doing it while we do nothing.  Can you see something innovative like that happening in America?  I can't.  At least not with today's current political environment.  We're too worried about cutting everyone's taxes instead of paying our bills.  How could we be expected to actually make the investments that would get us the technology of the future?

(found via @mashable)

Religion In The Brain

An interesting study has been done, showing some differences in how the brains of the religious work in comparison to atheist brains.  

... Dr. Newberg believes that for the brain, praying to God in the Judeo-Christian tradition is similar to talking to people. ... While observing atheists meditating or "contemplating God," Dr. Newberg did not observe any of the brain activity in the frontal lobe that he observed in religious people.

 Many theists like to claim atheists actually do believe in their god.  If the people making such claims were susceptible to facts, this study would put those claims to rest.  I would love to see the same study done on schizophrenics to see how their scans compare to the scans of believers in prayer.

I like the study, but I'm not a fan of the silly comment at the end of the clip about it:

And if God only exists inside our brains, that does not mean God is not real.

Uh . . . yeah, it does.  Things that only exist in your brain are what is commonly known as imaginary.  Unless I'm mistaken, things that are imaginary are not typically real.

(found via @Alyssa_Milano)