Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Intro to FORA.tv

I encountered FORA.tv while researching Stephen Chu today and decided I'd pass on some links to serve as an introduction.

Stephen Chu: A New Energy Program
Obama's new Energy Secretary Stephen Chu speaks on Energy Policy in 2007. Chu refers to slides not on camera. Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.
Patrick McCully on Dams and Global Warming

Victor Davis Hanson: Obama, Palin, and the Culture Wars

Neal Stephenson: Science Fiction as a Literary Genre

Intelligence of the Unconscious

The Search for a World Like Our Own: Imagine Earth 2.0

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Epiphany

Jan 6th, the Epiphany, traditionally marks the end of the Christmas season. Last week while I was musing about the significance of the Epiphany and why Christmas, a religious holiday, is also a public holiday and I came to the conclusion that the justification for it is that Christ is honorable. Many other public figures deemed to be honorable are similarly recognized. Most humanists would no doubt consider Christ an honorable man. They may have some doubts about deification and Easter as a public holiday but Humanism and Christianity do have much in common.