Everyone do the raindance!

UPDATE: http://www.randi.org/jr/2007-06/061507.html#i2



Last week, James Randi reported that the Australian Prime Minister called for the whole country, in the face of a very serious drought the country is having, to "literally and without any irony, pray for rain over the next six to eight weeks."

Today on the BBC there is a news story about how six people have been confirmed deceased and two more are still missing after a huge storm has hit the east coast of Australia.

"This is the worst storm and the worst damage our electricity network has seen for more than 30 years," EnergyAustralia executive general manager Geoff Lilliss was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

I'm not entirely sure this is what Mr Howard had in mind... Maybe too many people prayed and God overcompensated? Or perhaps He got grouchy because all the voices in His Holy Head woke Him up. He is a vengeful god after all.

Or maybe, just maybe, -now, hold on to yourselves, this is going to be quite a shocking new idea here- maybe... God is imaginary and weather follows the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states: "shit happens".

Watch this space in case Mr Randi uses my information in a future Swift.

Randi's Swift for June 1, 2007: http://www.randi.org/jr/2007-06/060107.html

The BBC news story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6736687.stm

What you think you know.

The short-enough-to-read-immediately article here is very good at explaining why psychologists are the professional group least likely to believe in ghosts, amongst other things (if you don't understand the connection, maybe it's you!).

I apply the same sort of thing to fairies, God, and geography.

Hardly surprising...

Despite what his predecessor, the evil atheist John-Paul II, said, it seems Pope Benedict XVI ("Paparazzi" as he's known to the German press) has changed official Vatican policy about yet another thing: the theory of evolution by natural selection as a means to explain biodervsity, is no longer valid, apparently. James Randi reports and comments on the quotes here.

I suppose there's really no point in suggesting to him the other "alternative" to evolution, that is to say Flying Spaghetti Monster creationism.

Does this make sense to you?

New Agers get on my nerves, because I consider it an insult to my intelligence that they would have me take them seriously. An example from today's JREF Swift:

Q: What happens when you die, Deepak?

Chopra: What happens when you die, is you return to where you always are. If you realize right now that there's no such thing as a person, you'll be all set.

Q: What do you mean, I'll be all set?

Chopra: Then if you shift your identity to that consciousness that is differentiating as observer and observant, you'll know there's nothing to fear.

Q: You have no fear of death.

Chopra: No Sir! Why? Because I don't exist in the first place!

Q: Can you get reincarnated as a soul?

Chopra: [Sighs] Wisps of memory and threads of desire, which are specks of information, latch onto specks of consciousness and show up as recycled human beings. But in the bigger picture, the observer, the observed, the process of observation, is a single reality.

Q: So... Deepak Chopra, as I know him [questioner taps the sitting Chopra solidly on the knee for effect] my friend Chopra... doesn't exist?

Chopra: A transient behavior of... the total universe.

Deepak Chopra... waste of space.
It's all playing on words generally associated with a bit of quantum physics, "the observer, the observed", without ever actually saying anything.
Metatwaddle like this is dangerous, because people start believing they're thinking when in fact, it's all just "quack, quack, quack".
This is why critical thinking and education are important.

Also, from a simpler linguistics point of view, look at "[sighs]" when the word "soul" is metnioned. Here is the mark of someone who might actually be clever and has realised that there really is no such thing, and reckons that he has to go further with the weirdness to convince his fans that what he's got is the end-product of a long chain of reasoning.
Unless, of course, he's really talking major bollocks completely detached from any form of even (slightly) reasonable spirituality.

Blasphemy Challenge Blasphemy

It's becoming increasingly popular of late, and I've agreed to be swept away by it, because it is jolly important, after all: God. Religion.
There's a huge list of different issues about this, from people who think the Bible is true because it says so in the Bible, and that any other claimed Holy Book is just a pack of lies because it isn't their Holy Book, to atheists debating just how much damage religion is doing. I wouldn't anyone to take my word for it, because that's not how this freethinking thing works. Just Google "Richard Dawkins", "James Randi", "Skeptic", "Rational Response", stuff like that. YouTube is overflowing with stuff.
So as I said I want to take part. Because my bullshit-meter has been ringing for far too long now and I want to vent some anger. Na! and, while we're on the subject, Cl! too.
OK so the one I want to point out this time is the Blasphemy Challenge: YouTube yourself denying the power and existence of the Holy Ghost, thus committing the only unforgiveable sin in Christianity (and get a free DVD! price-one soul). Pretty silly, but irritating enough to have ellicited a response in the form of Challenge Blasphemy (clever play on words there you see!), where they ask you to YouTube yourself saying you confess Jesus.

Now, all other idiocy aside, I don't see where the conflict is. Clearly, the upset Christians of Challenge Blasphemy didn't read the Blasphemy Challenge properly. Where is the contradiction in denying the Holy Ghost and accepting Jesus? (We'll ignore the 3=1 mess for purposes of simplicity.) Protestants do it all the time (apparently). A but then the Protestants are going to Hell along with the atheists. Unless it's the Catholics.

I almost feel sorry for Deists now...

Astronomy 101

This clip shows that even in France, there are many misinformed people:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8493010508114425938

Ignorance is not criminal in itself (the pursuit of ignorance is something else), so there is nothing to forgive here. But what is most shocking is the lack of some very basic education. Given something like that, it's hardly surprising what other rubbish people about skyrocks.

This reminds me of something Wittgenstein is reported to have said (I heard it from Dawkins):
Wittgenstein is having a discussion with a friend who says
"Is it not to be expected that people think the Sun is in orbit round the Earth rather than the other way around? After all, that's what it looks like."
To which Wittgenstein replied:
"But what it look like if it were the other way around? After all, it is the other way around."

That's it for the weekend, had planned more (in fact there's already something started) but I went out yesterday evening so be pleased about that instead!

Muslims in Orbit

From JREF's Swift, because I just had to, this is so great:

Next year, we’re told, Malaysia will be sending a Muslim astronaut into space via the Russian space program. This poses several tricky problems for the Malaysian government's efforts to promote what it calls “Islam Hadhari,” or civilized Islam. This variation encourages Muslims to embrace education, science and technology. About equality for women and such other basics, we’re not told…

Consider the busy day of an astronaut, and know that a Muslim on board the space station will be confounded by the fact that he experiences more than a dozen sunrises and sunsets within each 24 hours, each event requiring that an appropriate prayer be offered. He’ll be very busy. And, since Muslims always wash before they pray, and water is a precious substance in space, attempting to wash up is also expensive and impractical, especially in weightlessness, where the water will be distributed all over the place.

Even before facing those difficulties, facing Mecca – essential for prayer – will be pretty tough in zero-gravity, and may lead to catastrophic spinning of the devotee as he tries to keep pointing toward a rapidly-moving target below.

As reader Andrew Williams comments, “It appears that Muslims might have to evolve in their views regarding life in space. Unfortunately, evolution runs against the grain in most religions.”

Progress has its penalties…

I'm not entirely sure Mohammed would approve, although I have a bit of an idea what he might look like...