Why Evolution Is True

Jerry Coyne isn't the most fluent speaker, but he does get the point across in the following (long) video.  I've meant to order and by his book Why Evolution Is True but I've been so busy lately that I know I wouldn't get around to reading it for a while anyway.

He covers the evidence for the five aspects of evolution theory, evidence which makes evolution true.

It is a real shame that so many people deny evolution and farcical that many feel the need to show their willful ignorance on the internet with tired comments on Youtube videos or forums.  Denying evolution goes hand in hand with overall ignorance and the maintaining of religious bigots with their idiot religious based discriminatory laws.

Jerry Coyne's blog:  Why Evolution Is True

Now for a rebuttal on why evolution is not true:


Why Evolution Is True
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Vintage)

Obama Attempts To Spread Atheism To Muslim World

There is a big deal being made of Barack Obama's request to NASA  "...to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and engineering -- science, math and engineering."

At first, I thought this is kind of like trying to be nice and pacify an 8 year old kid with strong temper temper tantrum tendencies so that he might like you, and pull off less tantrums at least that might involve you.  But it is much deeper (in a simple way) than that, and I give Obama lots of credit here.

Obama is actually trying to get the Muslim world to embrace science, but embracing science, I mean really embracing it, leads to the disbelief of the supernatural.  It doesn't always work to the fullest extent, but it drives people close enough, and in this case, there might be a lot less Muslims in a decade or so, and for sure, a lot less Muslims who will carry out, or condone, blowing themselves up for Allah.

I could be wrong.  I hope I'm not.

But if I am wrong, maybe Obama has something devious up his sleeve.   It isn't a secret that many Muslims are all into conquering land and cultures.  Maybe Obama is attempting to do his own knock off Twilight Zone thingy.  Remember To Serve Man?  Obama may have To Serve Muslims in mind.  That's right, eventually make it a large goal to colonize Mars.  Make a big deal about it, and maybe the Muslim world will be into conquering Mars ahead of Europe, Israel, and Dearborn, Michigan.

This Needs More Viewers

And since my blog is ranked within the top 10 million blogs in the blogosphere, I figure it is my duty to share this video on what America would be like if the tables were turned and atheists were the intolerant majority:
 
HT: Camels With Hammer

Dear Mr. Swanson

Dear Mr. Swanson, if you can't figure out how to make it so a brownie cooks the same time as the rest of a frozen dinner, don't put the brownie in the dessert slot. No self respecting man is going to microwave for four minutes, gently take the brownie out of the tray, and then cook the rest for another 2 minutes.

For one thing, where am I supposed to put the dang brownie.  I'm not going to eat it first.  No self respecting man eats dessert first.

Surely in today's day and age you can think of a dessert that needs six minutes to cook.  I don't care what it is.  Let it be apple sauce for all I care.  Nobody buys a frozen dinner because of the dessert.  They buy them for convenience sake.  And it isn't convenient to carve out a brownie and dirty up a clean plate when you have a perfectly good disposable tray to eat the entire dinner from.

Isn't it humiliating enough for me to buy and eat a frozen dinner to begin with.  Are you purposely trying to strip me of the last shred of dignity I have left?

The only thing I can conclude is that someone in your company is making royalties for every brownie sold.  Maybe someone who has photographs of you in bed with someone other than Mrs. Swanson, perhaps?

The Goldilocks Zone

I love the term Goldilocks (Habitable) Zone. It refers to the zone in a solar system that isn't too cold and isn't too hot, but just right when it comes to having a planet that could have life on it.

The current Kepler mission is out to find planets in such zones in different solar systems.

To me, as a layman, it only makes sense that in many solar systems that a such a zone would exist. The closer a planet is to its sun, the hotter it would be, so there has to be a point that is just right for life.

Of course, radiation may make certain solar systems uninhabitable (at least according to my understanding of how these things work), plus if a planet is gaseous it most likely can't handle life. And there are many stars that have no planets, or any planets that fall into the Goldilocks Zone.

Pretty much they are looking for rocky planets that can have water or have water.

Another thing that is fairly intuitive is that as suns get cooler, the Goldilocks Zone shifts to planets closer to their Sun. Makes sense that Mars might have been in that zone at one time, and it might still be, as scientists are now finding that some microbes can live at minus 80 degrees.

With billions of stars in the universe and billions of solar systems as well, there could be millions or billions of habitable planets out there.

This gets me thinking. Since those of us with a clue know how evolution works, you have to wonder how many of these planets have evolved humans that are very similar to us. Are there species out there that put our intellect to shame, how about the way our bodies function. Can something with a ginormous brain live on just energy from their sun; a really smart plant that walks around and has their own version of the internet.

But when you look and see the similarities of animals on this planet including man, there only seems a few ways to go. Mammals, the smartest animal here, either have two or four legs, a heart and a brain. We know how all these body parts came about.
Are worm like beings capable of being the dominant creature on a planet? With huge brains?

It also brings about some interesting speculation regarding religion. I'm pretty convinced that has man evolved, superstition was a necessary evil. It made life passable believing that lightning and other things that couldn't be explained had to be pawned off to a supernatural being or as a supernatural event. With self awareness came awareness of death, and without a supernatural belief attached to it, I could see it driving our ancestors crazy. So the invention of Gods probably paved the way for man to evolve to the point where we are now.

Was it really necessary? I think so. And if I'm right, it is probably necessary on every planet that has life forms that have equal or better brain power and self awareness that we have.

As Christianity dominates Earth right now as the number one religion, I wonder what kind of religions dominate other planets.

Another thought: How do Religious Fundamentalist Earthlings deal with the news of life on other planets.

Like most things, they probably don't really think about it. Many might think there are no other "humans" out there so God doesn't really care about life on the billions or other planets.

Some might think that Jesus has been busy visiting all kinds of planets and dying for their sins. Lots of Second Comings have to happen too. I wonder where Earth ranks on his list:)