The Way Things Are

The Religion of Harvest

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:29:00 -0400

As October creeps upon us most modern society in the Northern Hemisphere is buckling down for an annual harvest celebration. Some may know this as being ?Thanksgiving?, others may call it ?Harvest Home?, some call it ?Samhain? and still others ?Harvest Festival?. Nearly every culture celebrates it in one form another and almost every culture has...

The People vs Aristotle

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:48:00 -0400

In the case of the People versus Aristotle, Aristotle is charged with the Conspiracy to Destroy Human Rights. Okay. Opening statements, please.

Scientist Praises Alternative Therapies

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:00:00 -0400

A dubious scientist has conducted an in-depth study of alternative therapies and deduced - to her surprise - that they are not merely mumbo jumbo. Kathy Sykes said that she had previously been cautious about using alternative therapies. She explains, "I would rather put my faith in conventional medicine, which has been put through...

Pruning the Tree of Science

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:26:00 -0400

by Chet Raymo

Scientific knowledge grows organically, like a tree. Every piece of published research is like a new bud on a twig. The bud is connected to every other bud on the tree. Two buds may be very close together, on the same twig, or very far apart, so that to trace the connection one would...

Religion 2.0

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:21:00 -0400

When I first heard about "Web 2.0" I thought that maybe the countries of the world were going to shut down the Internet and reboot into a newer more fantastic version of the Internet. I didn't realize until much later that it was an evolution of the web in general. It actually wasn't until I heard the term "Web 3.0"...

Copyright Schmopyright

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:57:00 -0400

I don�t believe in �owning� knowledge. Too many people and too many organizations have too many times used knowledge as power over others. We are all people and we all have the right to knowledge. Fortunately for me, I�m not the only one that feels this way. The copyleft movement describes my feelings perfectly.

Hospital Apologizes for Ghost Nurse

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 07:49:00 -0400

A Welsh hospital has issued an apology to a Cancer patient after a nurse claiming to be a medium told her that she had seen a ghost on the ward. Gillian Davies, 48, complained about this incident, along with the general level of care she received at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Denbighshire, near Rhyl.

Mode control - both auto. Descent engine command override off. Engine arm - off. 413 is in.

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:23:00 -0400

Thirty-nine years ago this month, the Apollo 11 mission landed on the Earth's Moon imprinting in history what many consider one of the greatest achievements of mankind. The mission launched on July 16, 1969 under command of Neil Armstrong. Four days later, Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin stepped foot on the surface of the moon completing an...

Fairy Work

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:35:00 -0400

Yesterday I pulled the yellow flowers off the few dandelions in our grassy garden before they went to seed. Today, a few more yellow flowers. I'm always astonished that a dandelion can make a flower overnight.

How Corporations, Robots and God Deal with Emotional Problems

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:03:00 -0400

Remember in 2001 A Space Odyssey when Hal goes nuts? If you don't, just think back to the expression What are you doing, Dave? to conjure images a psychopathic machine going after someone. Or on the cinematic flip-side, what about darling little Pinocchio who yearned to be a real boy in spite of his wooden pre-disposition? These tales offer...