Picture: Fun with anti-theism

Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is one of the finest (and funniest) novels of the 20th century, and it's a book you must simply read if you haven't. Yossarian, the main character, also expresses some epic anti-theism... and I thought I'd create one of those quote-y picture-y things with his sentiments. So, I present:

Full quote is here.

On a slightly more serious note, the problem of evil of course remains a powerful argument against the existence of a personal, loving, God. Despite centuries of theodicy idiocy, no one has yet successful answered Epicurus' simple query.

Video(s): They Might Be Giants awesomeness

They Might Be Giants, in case you don't know, is a truly awesome alternative rock band. (My wife and I were given a CD by them for a wedding gift - I've been a fan ever since). The following two videos - the second correcting the first - illustrates why you, too, should think them awesome...

 

And...



Direct links are here and here.

Updated: the original version of "Why Does the Sun Shine" is also pretty cool.

It's been a while...

So I haven't blogged in a while - not in nearly 8 months, in fact. The reasons for this are multifarious, but the two most prominent reasons are Consilience (podcasting in very time consuming) and a demanding job. But, I really do miss blogging.

So I will blog again... occasionally at least.

The African science, rationalism and skepticism blogroll for May

This is the updated African science and skepticism blogroll for May 2011... If you know of blogs not listed here, please let me know. Also: add it to your blog! Tweet it! Do a post like this one! (Email me, and I'll send you the HTML).

Note: I generally remove blogs that have been inactive for more than 6 months, so if you're no longer on the list and have resumed blogging, please email me.

• 01 and the universe
• Acinonyx Scepticus
• African Jungle **new**
• Amanuensis
  
• ASSAf Blog
• Botswana Skeptic 
• Bomoko and other nonsense words
  
• CamCheck
• Chris McEvoy
• Communicating Science, the African Way
  
• Defollyant's AntiBlog
  
• Deon Barnard 
• Digital Immigrant 
• Ewan’s Corner
• Expensive Beliefs
• Fluxosaurus's Blog
• Free Society Institute Blog 
• Freethought Kampala 
• Grumpy Old Man
• Hello Universe, This Is Nessie
• Ionian Enchantment
• Lenny Says 
• Legends From a Small Country
• Leo Igwe's Blog
• Limbic Nutrition
• McBrolloks
• Nathan Bond's TART Remarks
  
• Orion Spur
  
• Other Things Amanzi
• Pickled Bushman
• Psychohistorian
  
• Quackdown 
• Quitstorm
• Retroid Raving
• Roy Jobson
• SALT Astronomy
• Science Blog
• Scorched
• Somali Atheism
• Stop Danie Krügel
• Synapses
• The Indelible Stamp
• The Science Of Sport
• The Skeptic Black Sheep
• The Skeptic Detective
• Updendo Wa Asili 
• Waxing Apocalyptic

The African science, rationalism and skepticism blogroll for April

This is the updated African science and skepticism blogroll for April 2011... If you know of blogs not listed here, please let me know. Also: add it to your blog! Tweet it! Do a post like this one! (Email me, and I'll send you the HTML).

Note: I generally remove blogs that have been inactive for more than 6 months, so if you're no longer on the list and have resumed blogging, please email me.

• 01 and the universe
• Acinonyx Scepticus
• Amanuensis
  
• ASSAf Blog
• Botswana Skeptic 
• Bomoko and other nonsense words
  
• CamCheck
• Chris McEvoy
• Communicating Science, the African Way
  
• Defollyant's AntiBlog
  
• Deon Barnard 
• Digital Immigrant 
• Ewan’s Corner
• Expensive Beliefs
• Fluxosaurus's Blog
• Free Society Institute Blog 
• Freethought Kampala 
• Geekery
• Grumpy Old Man
• Hello Universe, This Is Nessie
• Ionian Enchantment
• Lenny Says 
• Legends From a Small Country
• Leo Igwe's Blog
• Limbic Nutrition
• McBrolloks
• Nathan Bond's TART Remarks
  
• Orion Spur
  
• Other Things Amanzi
• Pickled Bushman
• Psychohistorian
  
• Quackdown 
• Quitstorm
• Retroid Raving
• Roy Jobson
• SALT Astronomy
• Science Blog
• Scorched
• Somali Atheism
• Stop Danie Krügel
• Synapses
• The Indelible Stamp
• The Science Of Sport
• The Skeptic Black Sheep
• The Skeptic Detective
• Updendo Wa Asili 
• Waxing Apocalyptic

Video: Big History

David Christian, a professor of history at San Diego State University, recently delivered an excellent talk at TED about "big history". The video is embedded below and the direct link is here.

Interviewing Carl Zimmer....

Carl Zimmer is one of my favorite science journalists, so I was very pleased when he agreed to be interviewed for Consilience. While we already have about a million questions to ask him, we thought it would be a good idea to crowd-source some questions as well. If you have anything you'd like us to ask Carl, please fill out this form.

Oh, there's a "bonus" question in the above form: who else would you like us to interview? We have a star-studded wish-list, but we'll have to see who ends up agreeing to be interviewed. (We've only had one "no" so far: from Terry Pratchett's agent - Terry is sick, so he agrees to very few interviews. Alas).

Consilience: Episode 4

The fourth episode of our podcast, Consilience, is out! Highlights this week (mp3 / 23.2mb) include how some Zimbabwean churches are killing their parishioners, pharmacy chain Dischem promoting quack Patrick Holford's visit to South Africa, and distinguishing between different types of Red Giant star. We also pilot our new segment "101" (about evolution this episode).

The file's page on Archive.org is here, and it's also embedded below:



By the way: we're still waiting to be added to the iTunes directory. In the mean time, it is possible to subscribe with iTunes (or any other podcasting software); in iTunes, go to Advanced Options > Subscribe to a Podcast and put in this feed address.