It is done. The very last US Troops¹ left Iraq a few moments ago, according to reports. And when I say “wheels up” I speak metaphorically, because I think they may have driven over into Kuwait.
Continue reading Last US Troops: Wheels Up in Iraq →

Sunday Morning: “The Knowledge of Good and Evil”

Listen to Glenn Kleier on Atheists Talk #146, Sunday, December 18, 2011.

Glenn Kleier will join Atheists Talk this Sunday to discuss his rousing new suspense thriller, The Knowledge of Good and Evil. Kleier has a background in advertising, marketing and communication. In 1998 he published his first book, The Last Day, which received international acclaim from reviewers. His works of fiction are known for their suspense and controversial interplay of religion and politics in our modern global society.

In The Knowledge of Good and Evil, Kleier examines religious skepticism, belief and faith. The book’s main character is Ian, a paranormal investigator and television report who was deeply damaged by the death of his parents when he was a child. He struggles with religion and his anger at God. When he learns of a journey that may prove the existence of God and Heaven, he becomes determined to undertake it. But while he seeks this knowledge, he is blocked by a secret society that will do everything in its power to keep him out.

Details here.

Sunday Evening: Here Is a Human Being
Skeptically Speaking:

This week, we’re digging into the genome, the molecular blueprint that our bodies use to build themselves. We’ll discuss DNA, genetics, and personal genomics with Dr. Misha Angrist, Assistant Professor at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, and author of Here Is a Human Being: At the Dawn of Personal Genomics. And on the podcast, we’ll speak to Dr. Thomas Perls, Director of the New England Centenarian Study, about his work on the Archon Genomics X Prize.

We record live with Misha Angrist on Sunday, December 18 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will be available to download at 9 pm MT on Friday, December 23.

CLICK HERE

Skeptically Speaking:

This week, we’re digging into the genome, the molecular blueprint that our bodies use to build themselves. We’ll discuss DNA, genetics, and personal genomics with Dr. Misha Angrist, Assistant Professor at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, and author of Here Is a Human Being: At the Dawn of Personal Genomics. And on the podcast, we’ll speak to Dr. Thomas Perls, Director of the New England Centenarian Study, about his work on the Archon Genomics X Prize.

We record live with Misha Angrist on Sunday, December 18 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will be available to download at 9 pm MT on Friday, December 23.

CLICK HERE

Apparently, up to this point, it was OK to fake pictures in ads using “Photoshop” (which is not always “Photoshop”) to alter a photograph. For instance, Proctor and Gamble recently had an ad of some mascara that makes your eyelashes look really big, but since the mascara “didn’t work as advertised,” as it were, the just “Photoshopped” (or “GIMPed” or whatever) the eyebrows to make them look like what customers wanted, instead of what the product actually did.

It is actually rather astonishing that in 2011 it is still the case that industry lobbyists own this issue and have not allowed our representatives to make and maintain a legal and regulatory system that makes it not OK to lie to us blatantly. WTF?

Anyway, a non-governmental and voluntary watchdog agency is now pretending to get all huffy about this problem and promises it won’t happen again: Continue reading Interesting new idea: No faking ads →

Listen to Glenn Kleier on Atheists Talk #146, Sunday, December 18, 2011.

Glenn Kleier will join Atheists Talk this Sunday to discuss his rousing new suspense thriller, The Knowledge of Good and Evil. Kleier has a background in advertising, marketing and communication. In 1998 he published his first book, The Last Day, which received international acclaim from reviewers. His works of fiction are known for their suspense and controversial interplay of religion and politics in our modern global society.

In The Knowledge of Good and Evil, Kleier examines religious skepticism, belief and faith. The book’s main character is Ian, a paranormal investigator and television report who was deeply damaged by the death of his parents when he was a child. He struggles with religion and his anger at God. When he learns of a journey that may prove the existence of God and Heaven, he becomes determined to undertake it. But while he seeks this knowledge, he is blocked by a secret society that will do everything in its power to keep him out.

Details here.

Now that the authorities have confiscated the computers of a few contrarian bloggers to see whether they can find evidence of who hacked the University of East Anglia’s e-mail servers, Lord Monckton is incensed! INCENSED, I tell you! He says he’s going to go after the climate scientists whose e-mails were stolen and have them prosecuted for fraud. Why him? Because the bumbling police don’t know much about climatology, so they need help to understand the “fraud”.

Read on!

The discovery of the carcass of Jerry Falwell on the floor of an obscure office in Virginia has almost zero significance, except perhaps for two categories of the species labeled “credulous idiot.” The first such category consists of those who expected Falwell (and themselves) to be bodily raptured out of the biosphere and assumed into the heavens, leaving pilotless planes and driverless trucks and taxis to crash with their innocent victims as collateral damage. This group is so stupid and uncultured that it may perhaps be forgiven. It is so far “left behind” that almost its only pleasure is to gloat at the idea of others being abandoned in the same condition…

Read the rest here.

Why is the Robin’s breast red? Why are any of the parts of any birds colorful? To make it easier for birders to identify them, of course!

But seriously, Science has a more interesting set of answers, and some recently published research on European Robins helps to examine this question in some detail.

There are several reasons that scientists have postulated for any kind of signaling seen in animals, and bird’s colors are clearly some kind of signal. Here’s a short list of them:

Read On

Or, “The Ultimate Deer John Letter”

More of my unused shortlist of presents.

For music, consider the latest Florence + The Machine , something by my nephew, XFactor contestant LeRoy Bell, or one of my latest fav’s, Holly MIranda.

I’m actually giving someone the The Robert Downy Sherlock Holmes Movie, because I think it is important to own the canon. Speaking of canon, a gift of Most of the harry potter movies is always nice (I just got mine a while back) the latest and last movie, which just came out., or the Star Wars Collection, or The Lord of the Rings. Anyway, something canonical.

Or, if documentary is more your style or your giftee is, say, a biology teacher or something, consider Life of Birds, or The Planet Earth.

Also, have a look at these items produced by friends of mine: The Listening Project, a documentary about the view others take of US policy; the mockumentary “… and on the seventh day, God Rocked”, or Flock of Dodo’s … not current but still very good.

The Washington Post reports:

Christopher Hitchens, a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, “Islamic fascists” and religious faith of any kind, died Thursday “from pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer,” according to Vanity Fair, the magazine for which Mr. Hitchens worked. He was 62.

The Washington Post reports:

Christopher Hitchens, a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, “Islamic fascists” and religious faith of any kind, died Thursday “from pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer,” according to Vanity Fair, the magazine for which Mr. Hitchens worked. He was 62.

The good news is that I’ve got a nice little piece in print over at American Scientist; It is a double book review concerning human evolution. Please go have a look and maybe say something nice.

The bad news isn’t really bad news, but it is, well, not pretty. I posted a link to a story about how the coppers are moving in on this gang of thieves and their co-conspirators who stole and then disseminated a bunch of emails … you’ve heard of it: Climate Gate. Well, they (the co-conspirators and their allies) have shown up on my blot and I’m currently being threatened in public with a bunch of law suits, which nicely matches with the private threats I get from the same group which often include threats of violence.

Check it out.

They don’t have any science to back their claim that there is no such thing as global warming or other climate change, so they do this.

Oh, as long as I’m pointing to other things, please visit my latest (monthly) post at 10,000 Birds, this one being about why Robins have red breasts.