Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Food for the Eagle by Adam Savage
Food for The Eagle
By Adam Savage
Via BoingBoing
Good evening.
I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to read my speech from my new iPad.
Yep. I'm not only a humanist, I'm also an early adopter.
I want to start by saying that, to me, any discourse from me about how one can live a moral existence without religion or the church would sound improperly defensive. That there's an opposite to be defended is absurd and based on a provably false premise. So let's dispense with that.
(To be clear: I'm referring to the humanist axiom "Good without God," whereby "good" means morality. It's provably false that there exists no morality outside of religion, therefore the statement sounds defensive to me.)
By what route does anyone come to believe what they believe? We all like to imagine that it's based on a set of logical facts, but it's often a much more circuitous route.
For me it was pretty simple. I'm actually the fourth generation in my family to have no practical use for the church, or God, or religion. My children continue this trend.
Here are a few things I've learned.
Prayer doesn't work because someone out there is listening, it works because someone in here is listening. I've paid attention. I've pictured what I want to happen in my life. I've meditated extensively on my family, my future, my past actions and what did and didn't work for me about them. I've looked hard at problems and thought hard about their solutions.
See, I order my life by the same mechanism that I use to build things. I cannot proceed to move tools around in the real world until my brain has a clear picture in it of what I'm building. The same goes for my life. I've tried to pay attention. I've tried to picture the way I want things to be, and I've noticed that when I had a clear picture, things often turned out the way I wanted them to.
I've concluded by this that someone is paying attention—I've concluded that it's me. I've noticed that if I'm paying attention to those around me, to myself, to my surroundings, then that is the very definition of empathy. I've noticed that when I pay attention, I'm less selfish, I'm happier—and that the inverse holds true as well.
I think one of the defining moments of adulthood is the realization that nobody's going to take care of you. That you have to do the heavy lifting while you're here. And when you don't, well, you suffer the consequences. At least I have. (And in the empirical study I'm performing about interacting with the universe, I am unfortunately the only test subject I have complete access to, so my data is, as they say, self-selected.) While nobody's going to take care of us, it's incumbent upon us to take care of those around us. That's community.
The fiction of continuity and stability that your parents have painted for you is totally necessary for a growing child. When you realize that it's not the way the world works, it's a chilling moment. It's supremely lonely.
So I understand the desire for someone to be in charge. (As a side note, I believe that the need for conspiracy theories is similar to the need for God.) We'd all like our good and evil to be like it is in the movies: specific and horrible, easy to defeat. But it's not. It's banal.
There's a quote I love: "Evil is a little man afraid for his job." I always thought some famous author said it, but I asked my 200,000 followers on Twitter today, and it turns out that Roy Scheider said it in Blue Thunder.
No one is in charge. And honestly, that's even cooler.
The idea of an ordered and elegant universe is a lovely one. One worth clinging to. But you don't need religion to appreciate the ordered existence. It's not just an idea, it's reality. We're discovering the hidden orders of the universe every day. The inverse square law of gravitation is amazing. Fractals, the theory of relativity, the genome: these are magnificently beautiful constructs.
The nearly infinite set of dominoes that have fallen into each other in order for us to be here tonight is unfathomable. Truly unfathomable. But it is logical. We don't know all the steps in that logic, but we're learning more about it every day. Learning, expanding our consciousness, singly and universally.
As far as I can see, the three main intolerant religions in the world aren't helping in that mission.
For all their talk of charity and knowledge, that they close their eyes to so much—to science, to birth control education, to abuses of power by some of their leaders, to evolution as provable and therefore factual (the list is staggering)—illustrates a wide scope of bigotry.
Now, just to be clear. If you want to believe, or find solace in believing, that someone or something set these particular dominoes in motion—a cosmic finger tipping the balance and then leaving everything else to chance—I can't say anything to that. I don't know.
Though a primary mover is the most complex and thus (given Occam's razor) the least likely of all possible solutions to the particular problem of how we got here, I can't prove it true or false, and there's nothing to really discuss about it.
If Daniel Dennett is right— that there's a human genetic need for religion— then I'd like to imagine that my atheism is proof of evolutionary biology in action.
There may be no purpose, but its always good to have a mission. And I know of one fine allegory for an excellent mission should you choose to charge yourself with one: Carlos Castaneda's series of books about his training with a Yaqui indian mystic named Don Juan. There's a lot of controversy about these books being represented as nonfiction. But if you dispense with that representation, and instead take their stories as allegories, they're quite lovely.
At the end of The Eagle's Gift, Don Juan reveals to his student that there's no point to existence. That we're given our brief 70-100 years of consciousness by something the mystics call "The Eagle," named for it's cold, killer demeanor. And when we die, the eagle gobbles our consciousness right back up again.
He explains that the mystics, to give thanks to the eagle for the brief bout of consciousness they're granted, attempt to widen their consciousness as much as possible. This provides a particularly delicious meal for the eagle when it gobbles one up at the end of one's life.
And that, to me, is a fine mission.
Thank you.
— Delivered to the Harvard Humanist Society, April 2010
By Adam Savage
Via BoingBoing
Good evening.
I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to read my speech from my new iPad.
Yep. I'm not only a humanist, I'm also an early adopter.
I want to start by saying that, to me, any discourse from me about how one can live a moral existence without religion or the church would sound improperly defensive. That there's an opposite to be defended is absurd and based on a provably false premise. So let's dispense with that.
(To be clear: I'm referring to the humanist axiom "Good without God," whereby "good" means morality. It's provably false that there exists no morality outside of religion, therefore the statement sounds defensive to me.)
By what route does anyone come to believe what they believe? We all like to imagine that it's based on a set of logical facts, but it's often a much more circuitous route.
For me it was pretty simple. I'm actually the fourth generation in my family to have no practical use for the church, or God, or religion. My children continue this trend.
Here are a few things I've learned.
Prayer doesn't work because someone out there is listening, it works because someone in here is listening. I've paid attention. I've pictured what I want to happen in my life. I've meditated extensively on my family, my future, my past actions and what did and didn't work for me about them. I've looked hard at problems and thought hard about their solutions.
See, I order my life by the same mechanism that I use to build things. I cannot proceed to move tools around in the real world until my brain has a clear picture in it of what I'm building. The same goes for my life. I've tried to pay attention. I've tried to picture the way I want things to be, and I've noticed that when I had a clear picture, things often turned out the way I wanted them to.
I've concluded by this that someone is paying attention—I've concluded that it's me. I've noticed that if I'm paying attention to those around me, to myself, to my surroundings, then that is the very definition of empathy. I've noticed that when I pay attention, I'm less selfish, I'm happier—and that the inverse holds true as well.
I think one of the defining moments of adulthood is the realization that nobody's going to take care of you. That you have to do the heavy lifting while you're here. And when you don't, well, you suffer the consequences. At least I have. (And in the empirical study I'm performing about interacting with the universe, I am unfortunately the only test subject I have complete access to, so my data is, as they say, self-selected.) While nobody's going to take care of us, it's incumbent upon us to take care of those around us. That's community.
The fiction of continuity and stability that your parents have painted for you is totally necessary for a growing child. When you realize that it's not the way the world works, it's a chilling moment. It's supremely lonely.
So I understand the desire for someone to be in charge. (As a side note, I believe that the need for conspiracy theories is similar to the need for God.) We'd all like our good and evil to be like it is in the movies: specific and horrible, easy to defeat. But it's not. It's banal.
There's a quote I love: "Evil is a little man afraid for his job." I always thought some famous author said it, but I asked my 200,000 followers on Twitter today, and it turns out that Roy Scheider said it in Blue Thunder.
No one is in charge. And honestly, that's even cooler.
The idea of an ordered and elegant universe is a lovely one. One worth clinging to. But you don't need religion to appreciate the ordered existence. It's not just an idea, it's reality. We're discovering the hidden orders of the universe every day. The inverse square law of gravitation is amazing. Fractals, the theory of relativity, the genome: these are magnificently beautiful constructs.
The nearly infinite set of dominoes that have fallen into each other in order for us to be here tonight is unfathomable. Truly unfathomable. But it is logical. We don't know all the steps in that logic, but we're learning more about it every day. Learning, expanding our consciousness, singly and universally.
As far as I can see, the three main intolerant religions in the world aren't helping in that mission.
For all their talk of charity and knowledge, that they close their eyes to so much—to science, to birth control education, to abuses of power by some of their leaders, to evolution as provable and therefore factual (the list is staggering)—illustrates a wide scope of bigotry.
Now, just to be clear. If you want to believe, or find solace in believing, that someone or something set these particular dominoes in motion—a cosmic finger tipping the balance and then leaving everything else to chance—I can't say anything to that. I don't know.
Though a primary mover is the most complex and thus (given Occam's razor) the least likely of all possible solutions to the particular problem of how we got here, I can't prove it true or false, and there's nothing to really discuss about it.
If Daniel Dennett is right— that there's a human genetic need for religion— then I'd like to imagine that my atheism is proof of evolutionary biology in action.
There may be no purpose, but its always good to have a mission. And I know of one fine allegory for an excellent mission should you choose to charge yourself with one: Carlos Castaneda's series of books about his training with a Yaqui indian mystic named Don Juan. There's a lot of controversy about these books being represented as nonfiction. But if you dispense with that representation, and instead take their stories as allegories, they're quite lovely.
At the end of The Eagle's Gift, Don Juan reveals to his student that there's no point to existence. That we're given our brief 70-100 years of consciousness by something the mystics call "The Eagle," named for it's cold, killer demeanor. And when we die, the eagle gobbles our consciousness right back up again.
He explains that the mystics, to give thanks to the eagle for the brief bout of consciousness they're granted, attempt to widen their consciousness as much as possible. This provides a particularly delicious meal for the eagle when it gobbles one up at the end of one's life.
And that, to me, is a fine mission.
Thank you.
— Delivered to the Harvard Humanist Society, April 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Rick Miller performs Queen’s legendary hit “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Comedian and impersonator Rick Miller performs Queen’s legendary hit “Bohemian Rhapsody”, as if it were a medley sung by 25 famous singers including Steven Tyler, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan.
Only in the movies
* It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending phone conversations.
* During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
* All telephone numbers in America begin with 555.
* Most dogs are immortal.
* If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St. Patrick’s Day parade – at any time of the year.
* All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets which reach up to the armpit level on a woman but only to waist level on the man lying beside her.
* All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.
* It’s easy for anyone to land a plane, provided there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
* Dinosaurs only eat ugly or immoral people.
* Once applied, lipstick will never rub off – even while scuba diving.
* The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No-one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.
* If you need to reload your gun, you will always have more ammunition – even if you haven’t been carrying any before now.
* You’re very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
* Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.
* If your town is threatened by an imminent natural disaster or killer beast, the mayor’s first concern will be the tourist trade or his forthcoming art exhibition.
* The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
* All single women have a cat.
* A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
* If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.
* The Chief of Police is always black.
* When paying for a taxi, don’t look at your wallet. As you take out a bill, just grab one at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.
* If you lose a hand, it will cause the stump of your arm to grow by six inches.
* Interbreeding is genetically possible with any creature from elsewhere in the universe.
* Large loft-style apartments in New York City are well within the price range of most people – whether they are employed or not.
* Kitchens don’t have light switches. When entering a kitchen at night, you should open the fridge door and use that light instead.
* If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear.
* Word processors never display a cursor on screen but will always say: Enter Password Now.
* Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family every morning even though their husband and children never have time to eat it.
* Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.
* Wearing a vest or stripping to the waist can make a man invulnerable to bullets.
* If you find yourself caught up in a misunderstanding that could be cleared up quickly with a simple explanation, for goodness sake, keep your mouth shut.
* The Chief of Police will always suspend his star detective – or give him 48 hours to finish the job.
* When the star detective gets suspended, it’s usually because he has wrecked 20 cars during a pursuit, or because he has offended the mayor.
* A single match will be sufficient to light up a room the size of an average football stadium.
* If a killer is lurking in your house, it’s easy to find him. Just relax and run a bath – even if it’s the middle of the afternoon – then look in your bathroom mirror and he will suddenly appear behind you.
* Medieval peasants had perfect teeth.
* Although in the 20th century it is possible to fire weapons at an object out of our visual range, people of the 23rd century will have lost this technology.
* Restaurant bills will always be 15% less than the amount you are holding in your hand.
* Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant. The room will be subtly lit.
* A person being pursued will always stop and throw something at the person chasing them – even though it takes three times longer to stop and throw the obstacles than it does for the person chasing to jump over them.
* Even when driving down a perfectly straight road it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.
* Newborn babies can babble, crawl and hold their heads steady.
* A cough is usually the sign of a terminal illness.
* All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they’re going to go off.
* As the time at which a bomb will go off gets closer, seconds get longer and longer.
* It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.
* When looking through binoculars, you will always see everything through a figure eight shape.
* At least one in each pair identical twins is born evil.
* In the event of a car chase, there will be two men carrying a large pane of glass through the streets. Later, you will drive through it.
* Make-up can safely be worn to bed without fear of smudging.
* A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
* When in love, it is customary to burst into song. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.
* When confronted by an evil international terrorist, sarcasm and wisecracks are your best weapons.
* One man shooting at 20 men has a better chance of killing them than 20 men firing at 1 man.
* Creepy music coming from a cemetery should always be investigated more closely.
* If a phone line is broken, communication can be restored by manically beating the cradle and yelling “Hello? Hello!!”
* A gang of highly-trained terrorists will always separate and search for an intruder on their own – so they can be killed one by one.
* Should you need to diffuse a bomb, don’t worry about which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one.
* Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.
* Megalomaniacs intent on world domination won’t be able to resist telling their arch nemesis every detail of their evil plans.
* During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
* All telephone numbers in America begin with 555.
* Most dogs are immortal.
* If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St. Patrick’s Day parade – at any time of the year.
* All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets which reach up to the armpit level on a woman but only to waist level on the man lying beside her.
* All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.
* It’s easy for anyone to land a plane, provided there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
* Dinosaurs only eat ugly or immoral people.
* Once applied, lipstick will never rub off – even while scuba diving.
* The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No-one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.
* If you need to reload your gun, you will always have more ammunition – even if you haven’t been carrying any before now.
* You’re very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
* Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.
* If your town is threatened by an imminent natural disaster or killer beast, the mayor’s first concern will be the tourist trade or his forthcoming art exhibition.
* The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
* All single women have a cat.
* A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
* If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.
* The Chief of Police is always black.
* When paying for a taxi, don’t look at your wallet. As you take out a bill, just grab one at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.
* If you lose a hand, it will cause the stump of your arm to grow by six inches.
* Interbreeding is genetically possible with any creature from elsewhere in the universe.
* Large loft-style apartments in New York City are well within the price range of most people – whether they are employed or not.
* Kitchens don’t have light switches. When entering a kitchen at night, you should open the fridge door and use that light instead.
* If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear.
* Word processors never display a cursor on screen but will always say: Enter Password Now.
* Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family every morning even though their husband and children never have time to eat it.
* Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.
* Wearing a vest or stripping to the waist can make a man invulnerable to bullets.
* If you find yourself caught up in a misunderstanding that could be cleared up quickly with a simple explanation, for goodness sake, keep your mouth shut.
* The Chief of Police will always suspend his star detective – or give him 48 hours to finish the job.
* When the star detective gets suspended, it’s usually because he has wrecked 20 cars during a pursuit, or because he has offended the mayor.
* A single match will be sufficient to light up a room the size of an average football stadium.
* If a killer is lurking in your house, it’s easy to find him. Just relax and run a bath – even if it’s the middle of the afternoon – then look in your bathroom mirror and he will suddenly appear behind you.
* Medieval peasants had perfect teeth.
* Although in the 20th century it is possible to fire weapons at an object out of our visual range, people of the 23rd century will have lost this technology.
* Restaurant bills will always be 15% less than the amount you are holding in your hand.
* Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant. The room will be subtly lit.
* A person being pursued will always stop and throw something at the person chasing them – even though it takes three times longer to stop and throw the obstacles than it does for the person chasing to jump over them.
* Even when driving down a perfectly straight road it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.
* Newborn babies can babble, crawl and hold their heads steady.
* A cough is usually the sign of a terminal illness.
* All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they’re going to go off.
* As the time at which a bomb will go off gets closer, seconds get longer and longer.
* It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.
* When looking through binoculars, you will always see everything through a figure eight shape.
* At least one in each pair identical twins is born evil.
* In the event of a car chase, there will be two men carrying a large pane of glass through the streets. Later, you will drive through it.
* Make-up can safely be worn to bed without fear of smudging.
* A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
* When in love, it is customary to burst into song. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.
* When confronted by an evil international terrorist, sarcasm and wisecracks are your best weapons.
* One man shooting at 20 men has a better chance of killing them than 20 men firing at 1 man.
* Creepy music coming from a cemetery should always be investigated more closely.
* If a phone line is broken, communication can be restored by manically beating the cradle and yelling “Hello? Hello!!”
* A gang of highly-trained terrorists will always separate and search for an intruder on their own – so they can be killed one by one.
* Should you need to diffuse a bomb, don’t worry about which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one.
* Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.
* Megalomaniacs intent on world domination won’t be able to resist telling their arch nemesis every detail of their evil plans.
Why men are happier than women
As a man:
You can keep your last name and you don’t need to hyphenate it.
The world is your urinal.
The garage is all yours.
Wedding plans take care of themselves. All you have to do is show up and parrot the words.
You don’t absolutely need to have an exclusive, expensive wedding dress you’ll only wear once.
You can be President.
Wrinkles “add character”, you become “more distinguished” with age.
You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park without getting angry looks from the other gender. You can even wear NO shirt to a water park, and nobody will care.
Car mechanics tell you the truth.
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough to last you two years.
You decide whether you want a mustache or not.
People don’t stare at your chest when you’re talking to them (unless you have man-boobs).
New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
One mood all the time.
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes or stains on the floor.
You can play with toys all your life.
You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
You can ‘do’ your nails with a pocket knife.
You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives in 25 minutes. Problem is, you only start shopping on the way to the Christmas party.
You can keep your last name and you don’t need to hyphenate it.
The world is your urinal.
The garage is all yours.
Wedding plans take care of themselves. All you have to do is show up and parrot the words.
You don’t absolutely need to have an exclusive, expensive wedding dress you’ll only wear once.
You can be President.
Wrinkles “add character”, you become “more distinguished” with age.
You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park without getting angry looks from the other gender. You can even wear NO shirt to a water park, and nobody will care.
Car mechanics tell you the truth.
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough to last you two years.
You decide whether you want a mustache or not.
People don’t stare at your chest when you’re talking to them (unless you have man-boobs).
New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
One mood all the time.
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes or stains on the floor.
You can play with toys all your life.
You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
You can ‘do’ your nails with a pocket knife.
You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives in 25 minutes. Problem is, you only start shopping on the way to the Christmas party.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
You know it's cold when...
The Jack freezes
This photo came from Stoney River Lodge, Alaska . The picture was taken on Jan 5th 2010. Minus 51 F.
This photo came from Stoney River Lodge, Alaska . The picture was taken on Jan 5th 2010. Minus 51 F.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Tracy Morgan...
Is a shitty actor. He ruins everthing that he is on. I mute the TV when his mouth starts pooping during 30 Rock.
Flexdex Photon Lightboard
I must have one! Although my Mom would take it away even though I'm almost 40
“Made from clear plastic Lexan/Polycarbonate. Battery lasts for approx. 6 hours. Comes with battery charger and kicktail. One may specify any combination of LED colors.”
via
“Made from clear plastic Lexan/Polycarbonate. Battery lasts for approx. 6 hours. Comes with battery charger and kicktail. One may specify any combination of LED colors.”
via
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Rest in Peace Captain Phil Harris
February 9, 2010: It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad - Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end. For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down. We will remember and celebrate that strength. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. - Jake and Josh Harris
Statement from Discovery - Discovery mourns the loss of dear friend and colleague Captain Phil Harris. He was more than someone on our television screen. Phil was a devoted father and loyal friend to all who knew him. We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart. We share our tremendous sadness over this loss with the millions of viewers who followed Phil's every move. We send our thoughts and prayers to Phil's sons Josh and Jake and the Cornelia Marie crew.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
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