Jupiter, Discovery and ISS

Jupiter and its 4 big moons.

ISS

and Shuttle Discovery

Managed to catch the ISS and Shuttle shortly after undocking today. 7:45pm pass. Not even dark enough to find any good guide stars but Jupiter was visible. Cannon Rebel XTi at 1/1000 sec on 1540mm telescope, 127mm aperature, f12. The Jupiter picture was at 1/3 sec.

Labor on Labor Day

Had to clean a couple of plugs in order to get into the air on Labor day. It was good to bend the wrenches a little.

Creationists, now they’re coming for your children

Dawkins has a new book coming out and he is out and about getting the press stirred up about it.

Evolution is an inescapable fact, and we should celebrate its astonishing power, simplicity and beauty. Evolution is within us, around us, between us, and its workings are embedded in the rocks of aeons past. Given that, in most cases, we don’t live long enough to watch evolution happening before our eyes, we shall revisit the metaphor of the detective coming upon the scene of a crime after the event and making inferences. The aids to inference that lead scientists to the fact of evolution are far more numerous, more convincing, more incontrovertible, than any eyewitness reports that have ever been used, in any court of law, in any century, to establish guilt in any crime. Proof beyond reasonable doubt? Reasonable doubt? That is the understatement of all time.

I have to get this on my Amazon wish list... better yet, go get it at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Polite Atheists we are!

Calling the new atheists violent or strident serves EXACTLY the same function as calling an african-american “uppity”. We’re standing up for our views and being really insanely polite about it considering the effects of religion.

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/michael-ruse-whinges/

Health Care Debate... more

Proposal of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance

E-mail 'analysis' of health bill needs a check-up

Health Care Debate

The cost of health care will increase by $30Trillion+ over the next 10 years without reform. Taxes, premiums, out of pocket, one way or another we will pay it. So, investing a couple of trillion to make a system that slows that down is not a good idea? There will be no free health care, we have to pay somehow. But it is extremely inefficient to pay an insurance company who pays doctors and hospitals who charge not only for my services but also for the services they have to provide for the un or under insured. I agree that cross state deregulation seems to be a good idea and maybe that is an alternative to the public option.

It takes reasonable debate to get there and there are some who are more into the politics and ratings than the debate. Right now the noise is drowning out the reasonable debate.

This country has been debating health care since Teddy Roosevelt. None of the ideas in the plan are new. Even the life counseling issue has been around for years and was initially brought up by a Republican. The only thing that has changed is that finally the American people elected a Congress with the power and will to do something. It is time to do it before the will is lost to politics again.

The system is broken. My 99 year old grandfather has excellent medical coverage because he has been smart about his finances and insurance and has had great medical advice by really good doctors. On the other hand, a couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law died when the hospital sent her back home with some Maalox for chest pain. She has always had medical coverage issues, has always fought with the insurance companies, was her coverage a factor for why she died? I shouldn't even have to ask the question.

Uppity Atheists

Calling the new atheists violent or strident serves EXACTLY the same function as calling an african-american “uppity”. We’re standing up for our views and being really insanely polite about it considering the effects of religion.

I am speaking out more face to face. I can't hide anymore. When religion comes up, I am no longer silent. Not stident or abusive. But my position is clear. I am atheist.

Glen Beck is so stupid

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44D at school?

44D going to school? No, just getting washed.

The Burka

We reject muslim values because they are degrading and offensive.

The whole point of female consealment in Islamic society is that men are not expected to take responsibility for their sexual urges, so that any woman who is not covered up from head to toe is asking to be raped. The Burka therefore ligitimizes rape, it apologizes for rape, it justifies rape. (Are you listening feminists?) This makes it as offensive a public statement as a Klu Klux Klan uniform or a Nazi Swastika and should be treated with exactly same revulsion and contempt.

Muslim men must start treating women as equals, not as possessions.

This comes from Pat Condell's latest YouTube video. It doesn't mean a lot here in this coundry but in Europe, Islamic rights and sensibilities are in debate, appearently. It applies here in the sensibilities Christians demand of their religion, same crap, different problems. The teaching of evolution/creationism in schools, moral authority, abortion and conception. The discussions have been getting more heated and pointed. I hope the American people come to their senses sooner rather than later.

I am fed up.

I am so fed up with the right wing. I seriously don't understand them. Do they really think the health care system we have today is working? Does it make sense to have uninsured/uninsurable people walking around emergency rooms? People who get health care anyway, just paid for by higher insurance and hospital costs? HOW IS THAT NOT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE? What part of 1 + 1 = 2 don't they understand?

The rowdies at the town-hall meetings... I haven't been to one yet. But if they are denying people the right to speak and not participating in the discussion, then they don't have any right to wear any American flags or colors on their clothing. That is about as un-American as you can get. Liz and I want to try to get to a meeting one of these days. I want my congressperson to see I support HR 3200. I have already written to Eshoo that I do.

Limbaugh and Beck. How anyone can stand listening to either of them much less agree with them is a mystery to me. They are morons. No, not morons. Un-American fascists. Very scary people. More scary is that people listen to them.

Obama is blowing it I am afraid. Some kind of push for health care needs to be made. Simple for the simple minded. I wish they had pushed for a single payer plan and just skipped the "bi-partisan" effort. That turned out to be a mistake.

Shit.

I CreoZerg'd all day today

Col Dr PZ Myers and nearly 300 atheists visited the Ken Ham Creation Museum in Kentucky today. I watched via Twitter in between work things. The place is amazingly stupid. They believe dinosaurs roamed with people, everyone was a vegetarian, and the universe was created in 6, 24 hour days. Amazing.

They have a Triceratops with a saddle.

If they didn't eat meat or kill, where did the leather come from? Whatever, I don't care what their explanation is.

Jennifer here has some good pictures:
http://blaghag.blogspot.com/2009/08/creation-museum-hilarity.html

And more here:

http://camelswithhammers.com/2009/08/07/creation-museum-highlight-tweets-130-630pm/

More disturbing is the outright lying they do there in teaching this crap to kids. Kids are born gullible and wired to believe what their parents and elders tell them. To me, what they do to kids here is child abuse.

Moon

MOON: Movie Trailer - Celebrity bloopers here

This is one damn good movie! Classic science fiction at its best. A question is asked, what if. The answer is explored. Beautiful.

The music is also haunting, it is on my iPod now, I play it all the time! :-)

Atheist Bus Ad Pulled in Iowa

http://www.kcci.com/video/20301777/index.html

They didn't like a bus ad that said:

"Don't believe in god? You are not alone."

Too bad, much more publicity received (and for free) than if they had left it alone.

Didn't have a picture of this bus, so below is a English one from last year.

Malkin slapdowns.