Secularists are realizing more and more the importance of organization. Religious folk propagate and reinforce their beliefs with weekly gatherings at formal institutions called “churches,” where they develop an extended social network of other human beings sharing the same beliefs. It’s a fantastic tool for community building and providing a support group that helps to ensure the health and well being of its members.

That’s why I support the idea of Atheist Sunday Schools, recently covered in Time Magazine.

There are all ready many communities online and off, like Atheist Parenting Groups and the American Humanist Association.

The American Founding Fathers can provide guidance on how to conduct such a weekly community-building exercise. Many of them were Deists, who believed that god’s word was found in the natural world, not in books written by men. Secularists don’t need to find god in nature, but there’s nothing wrong in finding meaning and purpose in the appreciation of the natural world.

I could imagine Atheist Sunday Sermons beginning like this:

Let us now read from the Jurassic period, where the fossil record describes a time when…

Let us now read from the field of Quantum Theory, where experiments reveal to us a world where…

Let us now read from the Hubble Telescope, and appreciate the unfathomable enormity of the cosmos and quintillions of possibilities available within its scope…

Where religious Sunday schools are an exercise in imaginative fantasy, atheist Sunday schools should be an exercise in appreciating measurable, quantifiable, and reproducible reality, fostering the virtues of free inquiry and healthy skepticism.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke Photo by Anuradha Ratnaweera

The knighted science fiction author turns 90 years old today.

His book 2001: A Space Odyssey was made into a very trippy, far-out and visually stunning film, but also one that left out so many of the important plot elements that made Clarke’s novel so great. All that flashy, psychedelic stuff happening at the film’s end? That was the astronaut becoming ambassador to the human race, existing at all stages of a human lifetime at once.

2010: Odyssey Two was made into a straightforward science fiction film, with great special effects, but again failed to explain what was going on in the film’s final moments, when Jupiter gets turned into a star in order to thaw out Europa and promote the evolution of life there. We know this, because, in a crucial scene from the novel that gets left out of the movie, an alien life form emerges from the ice of Europa to swallow a Japanese spacecraft that has landed there, attracted by its lights, leaving a sole astronaut to describe what he has witnessed.

2061 and 3001 were also great books, hard SF, and very thought provoking. While I’ve read countless short stories by Clarke, the only other novel I’ve read was Childhood’s End, about an evolutionary leap in the human race and a great, quick read.

Clarke is also an official knight, which isn’t as cool as being a ninja, but pretty dang-gone cool nonetheless.

Happy Birthday and thanks for the futurist inspirations Sir Clarke!!!

I made a trip to DC to take in some science a while back, and I’m just getting to posting the photos.

Today we take in Mammals from all over the National Zoological Park and the Amazonia exhibit there as well.

Red Panda From my Mammals Photo Set

I see zoos as a sort of bank for preserving species. It’s too monumental a task to prevent short-sighted people from destroying their environments, so we shelter these animals in reserves in anticipation of a time when more enlightened minds take charge.

Arapaima From my Amazonia Photo Set

George’s Secret Key to the Universe

George is a restless child. His parents are well-meaning, but oppressively strict environmentalists. They are so anti-technology, that they won’t even let George have a computer. One day George’s pet pig gets out, leading him to meet his strange next door neighbor Annie.

Annie’s father, Eric, is a scientist, who invites George to join the Order of Scientific Inquiry for the Good of Humanity, and learn about the amazing Universe surrounding him through the most powerful computer in the world, Cosmos, which can open portals in time and space to anywhere in the charted galaxy.

But first George must take The scientist’s Oath:

I swear to use my scientific knowledge for the good of Humanity. I promise never to harm any person in my search for enlightenment.

I shall be courageous and careful in my quest for greater knowledge about the mysteries that surround us. I shall not use scientific knowledge for my own personal gain or give it to those who seek to destroy the wonderful planet on which we live.

If I break this oath, may the beauty and wonder of the Universe forever remain hidden from me.

Annie and George take a ride on a comet through the solar system, where they find both danger and enlightenment in this extremely well-told tale that has many twists and turns, villains and heroes, all told with scientific accuracy only one of the world’s leading physicists can provide.

Lucy & Stephen Hawking have written a Hard Science Fiction children’s book, and it’s awesome. I highly recommend it.

I managed to pick up a copy autographed by Lucy Hawking at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum a few weeks back:

Lucy Hawking’s Autograph

Available at Amazon

“Chosen One” Archtype

The Science Creative Quarterly has posted an abrieviated version of my Science Fiction VS Fantasy article. The picture to the right didn’t make the cut, neither did 90% of section II for being contradictory, and neither did some of my more juvenile, however insightful observations about Conan not wiping his butt. So maybe I’ll post the full version here one day in the future.

It’s awesome to have my work appear in such an intellectual and ingenious web site regardless.

Note: I have since posted the non-censored version online.

Roborally

Allow me to introduce you to one of the coolest board games you’ve never heard of. In RoboRally, players steer robots around a factory filled with lasers, pits, and conveyor belts in a race to reach the finish line. Each round, players are dealt a random set of instruction cards, with which they must program their robot with the five moves that will best get them closer to the finish.

I’ve set up a little demonstration of how a typical round plays out. Here are Spinbot (red) and Twonky (purple), racing for the first goal post (green).

Twonky VS Spinbot

Players controlling the robots Spinbot and Twonky are dealt seven random cards, and each pick out five to lay face down in the sequence they think will best serve their goals.

Twonky	Spinbot
1. Move 1	1. Move 1
2. Move 2	2. Rotate Left
3. Move 1	3. Move 1
4. Rotate Right	4. Rotate Left
5. Back Up	5. Move 1

Spinbot’s Program

So Spinbot is programmed to move one onto the conveyor belt (1), which will then move it downscreen one square. Spinbot will then turn right (2) and the cog wheel will rotate it another right turn. Spinbot moves forward one, conveyor belt moves one. Spinbot turns left (4), conveyor belt pulls it to the left, forward one (5) and goal!

Twonky’s Program

Twonky’s going to move one (1), get pulled downscreen one, move two (2), get turned right, move one (3), get pulled left one, turn right (4), get pulled left one, back up one (5) and goal!

So what happens when these programs execute simultaneously?

Programs Execute

How this actually plays Out is Spinbot and Twonky move, they both get pulled downscreen one, Twonky is facing Spinbot, so it shoots Spinbot for a point of damage (the more damage a robot takes, the less programmable it becomes), then Twonky moves forward two, pushing Spinbot into the pit, gets turned right, and is free to carry out the rest of its programming code to reach the goal. Twonky wins.

Now consider this scenario with four factory layouts (in the core set), eight goals, and eight robots running around shooting and pushing each other, with factory layouts confusing the mix and players mis-programming their robots (I am a master at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with a mis-programmed move into a pit right in front of the finish line). It’s easy to see why this game becomes an exercise in out-thinking chaos.

There are also plenty of free resources online too, as fans have made their own boards that people can print out and add to their collection. So not only is the game a great learning experience in spatial problem-solving, computer programming, and forward-thinking, but it has a strong DIY aspect as well.

So enjoy some “computer-driven chaos!”

howtoons.com Cloud of Legends

I was all about Do It Yourself (DIY) as a kid. I built a crossbow out of tree branches that shot bamboo arrows, a boat out of an innertube and piece of plywood, and was forever tricking my dirt bike out. Inventors Dr. Saul Griffith and Dr. Joost Bonsen and comic artist Nick Dragotta’s new comic book Howtoon’s, The Possibilities are Endless totally takes me back to those good old days.

If you’d like your kids to know the nine different types of saws, six different types of pliers, how to make PVC marshmellow shooters, two-liter bottle rockets, electric motors out of a ordinary office supplies, count to 1023 on their fingers using binary, knot tying, terrariums, turkey-baster flutes, on and on, the possibilities truly are endless in this great big comic, which inspires kids to pursue their own DIY adventures.

But it doesn’t stop there, the the Howtoons website is a veritable perpetual engine of DIY ideas including Mechanical Toys, Wedgie-proof underwear, Virtual Cannon Balls, and Circus Science. These are just some of the topics covered at Howtoons.com.

My LOL Michael Crichton made it to LOL Quacks. : )

Snap Circuits Junior Set

I picked up a Snap Circuits Junior kit online, and it is undeniably fun. This is like an erector set for electronics.

There are 101 experiments listed in the instruction manual, and I managed to run through most of the experiments over two nights of playing with it. I did come up with a few additional experiments of my own, and so will your child.

Project #6: Lamp & Fan in Parallel

Children aren’t limited to what’s in the kit, and the instruction manual encourages using glasses of water, paperclips, and even your own body in experiments conducting electricity. So an inquisitive young mind will certainly try connecting other foreign parts into their designs.

I did experience on problem with the kit, as the “space war” component only worked erratically, and after much troubleshooting with the kids at Earth 383, we finally concluded that it was a dud. Luckily, individual parts may be ordered from the Elenco Website. I will first try to get a free replacement.

Project #92: Water Space War

Although I nicknamed the toy “Baby’s First Breadboard,” this educational toy is for children “8 and Up.” At the same time, the Junior kit is too simple for anyone over the age of 12, and will only leave your teenager hungry for more components.

So if you can afford it, and you think your teenager would really take an shining to the possibilities Electrical Engineering holds in store for the inquisitive mind, I would recommend the Snap circuits Extreme for $85, which includes a solar panel, the ability to build a digital voice recorder, and computer interface applications.

Project #51: Reflection Detector

I did enjoy the Junior model enough that I plan to purchase an Extreme kit as a stepping stone to eventually building my own breadboarding hobby kit.

Parents take note: If I had this toy when I was a kid, I would’ve had a much happier childhood.

---

A Word of Warning! The kit is not idiot proof. Your can wire the battery pack right back into itself, creating a short circuit, and quickly burn out some parts (but no fire hazard). Just like I’ve run a copper wire right back into a battery a have it heat up.

LED Holiday Tree at Port Discover

LEDs are the future of light, and may soon overtake Compact Fluorescent bulbs as the best choice for efficient home lighting. LEDs don’t have filaments, the part that easily burns out in ordinary bulbs, and they do not product heat like incandescent bulbs.

LEDs also last far longer than standard bulbs, usually 50,000 hours, but sometimes up to 100,000 hours (that’s 30 to 40 years in normal service), compared to Compact Florescent bulbs’ 3,000 to 10,000 hours. Unlike Compact Florescent bulbs, LEDs do not contain mercury, and therefore do not pose as much of an environmental problem in disposal.

The Light Up the World Foundation is using the energy efficient nature of LEDs to bring reading light to Third World Countries all over the world. With the energy it takes to power a single 100-watt Incandescent Bulb, they are lighting up 100 LEDs using the solar, wind, or pedal power.

See Also: Blue Marble’s article Deck the Halls with LEDs