The first computer
Dec 17, 2008 Religion, Uncategorized
IBM? No. Apple? No. Who made the first computer?
The Greeks? So cool.
What would the world have been like if the Greeks had expanded their empire instead of the Christians? I suppose we’ll never know.
A Bible for All Seasons
Dec 15, 2008 Uncategorized
I know it’s a time honored tradition to justify and validate different political and social agendas using the Bible: prejudice, the divine right of kings, invasion, genocide, torture – you name it. This is what has been happening for centuries and Christians seem OK with it.
Now there are two new Bibles to choose from!
The “Illuminated Bible” is a version for people that don’t want to be reminded that the Bible is a relic of the ancient world. It illustrates the story with modern photographs and has all the passage numbering removed so it reads more like a normal book.
The “Green Bible” is a book for tree hugging Christians. This version highlights passages that can be used to validate the environmental agenda. Now I am an environmentalist, so this may sound strange, but I think the Green Bible is the more dangerous of the two, or at least the more revealing of the two.
Image if every modern group that has an agenda made themselves a Bible. We could have the “Born Agains Bible.” We could have the “Pro Prop 8″ Bible. We could have a “Free Market” Bible. We could have the Mormon Bible. (oh wait… we do)
Christianity has always changed and morphed in an attempt to stay relevant. The rituals change. The interpretations change. In fact the very words change from version to version and language to language. Religion has evolved just like every other long-running institution. But it’s important that we see this process for what it is because the evolution of the Bible moves at a pace that may not be recognizable in your lifetime.
The Bible was written by men, to control and align other men for a common cause. It is one of those flexible documents that can be bent and interpreted to justify just about anything you want. So go ahead, pick up a new Bible today!
More info on these two new Bibles at NPR.org.
Fake plants save planet!
Dec 10, 2008 Uncategorized
OK… Not yet, but here is the latest hopeful invention. Pump in water, add some sunshine, and BLAM! out comes oxygen and hydrogen for your fuel cell.
Daniel Nocera at MIT is touting his synthetic photosynthesis.The only question is whether or not it can be scaled to global production.
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21536/
One of these days someone is going to invent the game changing energy source. One of these fracking days!
Where’s My Babelfish?
Dec 8, 2008 Uncategorized
OK. So the iPhone is, like, god’s phone, so where is my universal translator, damn it? Let your iPhone translate any speech (through the microphone) into your native language (through the ear bud).
Where? WHERE?!
10 most important movies of the last 10 years
Dec 2, 2008 Movies and TV, Society
Me and my Dad have a deal. We each create a list of 10 movies. We then trade lists and watch every movie on the list. In this way we each share ideas and a joy of film.
But this year, I am going to include some documentaries on my list, the most obvious being “An Inconvienet Truth”.
What are the most important, best, and mind blowing movies of the past 10 years?