Monthly Archives: May 2010
Morgan Freeman and the universe
I love these scale-of-the-universe videos. The most impressive, to me, is this one, from the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History: It’s a six-minute condensed version of their incredible planetarium software, the Digital Universe Atlas — which … Continue reading
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Playing God?
Looks like Andrew Revkin has written about some of the same points I’ve made about the intersection of science and ethics, in the wake of J. Craig Venter’s feat: The latest achievement of J. Craig Venter — rebooting a bacterial … Continue reading
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Make a joyful godless noise
Here’s the multi-talented Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers, at the 2010 New Orleans Jazz Fest. Brilliant: They’re wrong, of course; there are plenty of awesome atheist songs to go around. XTC, natch: And as always — and more … Continue reading
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The thrill of the new, the fear of the new
It seems that we’re getting better at manipulating life, and perhaps eventually at creating new forms of it. From the NY Times: The genome pioneer J. Craig Venter has taken another step in his quest to create synthetic life, by … Continue reading
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Why libraries matter, cont’d. (“Who you gonna call?”)
Because when you need to do some research without being bothered by pesky ectoplasmic entities, you can depend on libraries to hire professionals to keep their reading rooms ghost-free. See Improv Everywhere’s blog post for the inside story. And click … Continue reading
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Why libraries matter, cont’d.
Because the greatness of libraries doesn’t exist only in encomiums from famous authors. Libraries visibly change people’s lives today — and their impact is real. From the NY Times: Manga clubs have coalesced in libraries in various Queens neighborhoods — … Continue reading
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Why libraries matter, cont’d.
“Access to knowledge is the superb, the supreme act of truly great civilizations. Of all the institutions that purport to do this, free libraries stand virtually alone in accomplishing this mission. No committee decides who may enter, no crisis of … Continue reading
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Why libraries matter, cont’d.
“I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t be the person that I am, I’m very very certain that without libraries I wouldn’t have the career that I have. …For most of the human race, pretty much all of the lifespan of … Continue reading
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Why libraries matter
“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insights and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from … Continue reading
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Save the libraries!
New York’s public libraries are facing an unprecedented and potentially devastating budget crisis. Whether or not you live in New York, you can help. To skip this post and take action, click here, here, and here. WHAT’S HAPPENING Mayor Michael … Continue reading
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