TMBG Cool!

Gotta love the stylophone.

Since Ph1lom4n Likes It So Much ...

Hat tip to PZ over at Pharyngula, of course.

Free will...Revisited

Now that I've exercised my free will and had a few beers, I think I can respond to the comments. Thank you so much for all the great comments. I started to type this in the comments section of "Free will...?". Then I wondered whether anyone would have seen the comment being the post is three years old, plus it was getting long for a comment. So I did the old cut 'n' paste and here we are.

In response to Coralius, your comment about emergent behavior is a great possible explanation of free will, even though I know other possibilities exist. I realize now that there is a lot about the brain, the universe, and the nature of reality that we don't understand, not the least of which is free will. It's amazing looking back on my post after three years and seeing how I've changed. I can see better now the fact that certain things may currently be beyond our scope of understanding.

In response to Ranson, I believe adding a randomizing agent like a drug to a determined system like the brain would create random will. I don't think random will equates with free will. But then I'm not sure the brain is necessarily a determined system.

In response to Aradia, looking back at my post I realize I wasn't too clear about the point I was trying to make. I was trying to say that our will is either determined or random, neither of which would be free. But I must concede that the emergent behavior theory sounds promising for free will, plus the fact that I realize better now how little we currently know about the brain, the mind, and the nature of reality. By the way, I like the dendrite salad stuck in the salad spinner rather than the salad shooter. The salad shooter analogy creates images of a hole in my head with my brains flying out of it. Very disturbing. The salad spinner means neural activity contained and normal. Well, mostly normal.

So I guess the gist of it is that I'm left with more questions than answers. But that's okay. That's good for science. When questions end, so does science. Then you're left with dogma. Ooo...Scary stuff! Been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt, literally. So now I'm gonna toss back a few free will lagers and bask in the warm glow of my free will.

Extended Arm of the Republican Party

Why does it seem to me that the white evangelicals have become the extended arm of the Republican party? I mean I know that they vote Republican for the obvious reasons of gay marriage and abortion. They don't stop there though. They're vehemently against the Democrats new Health Care proposal, and not just because of abortion funding and alleged death panels, but also because of fears of rationing. They also support the Republican low-tax and strict immigration policies. Let's not forget their denial that humans are responsible for global warming. What do taxes and global warming have to do with being a good Christian? Absolutely nothing! It looks like in order to be a good white evangelical you need to support the Republican party. It's a package deal. I guess that leaves out the black evangelicals which overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party. Yes, they are against abortion and gay marriage. But other than this, they are generally liberal. And the few black evangelicals who are Republican are the exception, not the rule. This leads me to another issue. The great racial divide in the Christian church. The most segregated time of the week is Sunday morning where whites meet in their churches and blacks in theirs. I never realized until recently how divided Christians are divided on both political and racial lines. What happened to "Love thy neighbor"?

Sylvia Browne's Evil Internet Minion

Sylvia Browne doesn't even come close to deserving the respect she deserves. And now she has evil minions doing her intartubes dirty work for her. Check out what you can do over at Skeptools.

(Note: It's always possible that the person who did this is not related to her in any way. I don't know. Nor do I care. He's a douche any way you slice it, which means he fits in quite nicely with the old fraud.)

Cross-posted to Revolvo Inritus.

I win.

YouTube Funny

It's a little choppy, but still worth a watch.

Nifty Optical Illusion

Check out this nifty trick with a picture of a castle.

Optical Illusion

(Hat tip to BAB, Phil Plait is awesome)

The Oldest Book I Own

Here's a little meme I found out about over on Abnormal Interests. The oldest book I own, to my knowledge, is a copy of Tom Swift and his Planet Stone by Victor Appleton from 1935. The link leads to a cover, but it doesn't match the one I have. Mine's plain brown. The book's not in the greatest condition, but it's still readable, if you're careful. After that, it's probably one of my Heinlein paperbacks from the late 50s. Man, you gotta love that funky cover art.

I know, I'm a piker.

PZ Myers Is A True Geek

Does PZ Myers of Pharyngula fame....*gasp*....play Dungeons & Dragons? You be the judge:

Pharyngula Possible D&D Link

I'm shocked. Truly shocked. Pleased, but shocked.