Category: science holidays
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A Humanist Advent Calendar
Boys with Advent Calendars My mother took my siblings and I through a Christmas Advent calendar one year. A new-ager raised Christian, she held a positive view of the Bible. I can’t recall any of the biblical stories from those sessions preceding the chocolates each night, but I do have a fond nostalgic memories of…
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Science Yearbook 2011
I used to provide a daily list of links on this blog of science stories I found interesting. I gave that up and took down the link-posts to focus on my personal writing, but I still share links through social media. Here’s my favorite science stories of 2011. Space So Long Space Shuttle Credit: Trey…
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Powers of Eleven Day
Pascal’s Triangle, Odd Numbers Highlighted One of the great joys of being human is our incredible powers of pattern recognition. Our brain’s ability to manifest meaningful associations out of the complex morass of sensory stimuli perpetually assaulting us is a cognitive expertise into which computers are only just starting to venture successfully. It’s what allows…
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Celebrating the UN’s “International Day of Peace” with Dr. Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall Vicky and I had the great honor of seeing Jane Goodall at American University in Washington DC this last weekend. The event was a sort of town hall meeting held outdoors in the cool fall air titled Conversation on Peace just a few days before the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. Dr.…
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Yuri’s Night Space Party and the 50th Anniversary of Manned Space Flight
“Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it!” ~ Yuri Gagarin Yuri’s Night 2011 50 years ago, on April 12th, 1961 cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin piloted the Vostok 1 into space, entering the history…
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Happy Super-Duper-Mega-Maxi-Utra-Omni-Uber Awesome Powers of Ten Day!!!
Happy Super-Duper-Mega-Maxi-Utra-Omni-Uber Awesome Powers of Ten Day!!! 10/10/10 is not only an entire power of ten more awesome than the other 99 years’ worth of 10/10 days in this century, 101010 is also the meaning of life in binary! Take a moment of silent reflection at 1010 AM, for yet even two more powers of…
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2009 Year in Science
ideonexus 2009 Science Links Tag Cloud The National Ignition Facility went online, focusing the power of numerous high-powered lasers on a single point to produce the environment inside a star… but then we didn’t hear anything else about it. Space Shuttle Discovery took a bat to space clinging to the external fuel tank. Scarlet Knight…
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The Death of David Hume
I did not mind not existing before I was born, why should I mind not existing after I die? – David Hume David Hume (1711 – 1776) Credit: Scottish National Portrait Gallery On this day, 233 years ago, the philosopher David Hume, author of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, which rejected intelligent design in nature,…
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ALD09post Ada Lovelace Day: Esther Dyson
Happy Ada Lovelace Day! In celebration of Ada Lovelace, only child to Lord Byron and author of the world’s first computer program in 1843 for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, bloggers everywhere are running posts about one of their favorite women in tech. So this year I’d like to introduce everyone to Esther Dyson: Esther Dyson…
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Happy Birthday Isaac Asimov, Supporter of English Spelling Reform
The Science Fiction author, author of over 500 SF and general science books, Vice President of Mensa, and President of the American Humanist Society would be 88 today. Isaac Asimov Credit: Rowena Morrill License An interesting fact about Asimov and other great minds like Richard Feynman, was that they were supporters of reforming the spelling…
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2008 Year in Science Review
Science Etcetera 2008 Tag Cloud Via TagCrowd CNN making the boneheaded decision to dump its science unit, the Origin of Blue Eyes fitting another interesting piece of the human origins puzzle into place, and “Dwarf Planets” becoming “Plutoids” earn an honorable mention for science news in 2008, and the Large Hadron Collider will make next…
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Happy Winter Solstice!
“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley Does the economy have you down? The stress of the holidays getting to you? Tired of getting off work at 5pm to find its dark outside and you missed the daylight? Then cheer up! As of today (in the Northern Hemisphere)…