The rise of the west and civilization collapses

Phil Plait recently announced that he was starting a new series of Crash Course videos on astronomy.  After watching it, I noticed the really cool Youtube channel that it's on.  I suspect that I'm going to end up wasting dedicating a lot of time on this channel. One series that caught my attention, because it's close to … Continue reading The rise of the west and civilization collapses →

Writing Excuses: New season, a writing course by podcast

Many of my readers and fellow bloggers are aspiring (or practicing) writers.  If you haven't caught it before, 'Writing Excuses' is a podcast about writing in the science fiction and fantasy genre.  If you've ever contemplated doing that kind of writing, it's a pretty awesome podcast to follow, and even if sci-fi/fantasy isn't your chosen … Continue reading Writing Excuses: New season, a writing course by podcast →

Confucianism and the definition of religion

I've noted before that defining religion is difficult.  Simple definitions (such as belief in gods) tend to either exclude some religions (such as Buddhism), or include things that most people don't consider to be a religion (such as constitutional law or science).  Definitions that get the scope about right tend to be hopelessly vague or unwieldy. … Continue reading Confucianism and the definition of religion →

Merry Christmas, and a quick blog update

First, I'm still alive.  Blogging has been light lately, mainly because I'm still struggling with a shoulder injury, which got worse with rehab exercises.  However, most of the issues were caused by one particular exercise, which the physical therapist agreed we could swap out for another.  I stopped doing the bad one yesterday and already I'm feeling much better.  So, … Continue reading Merry Christmas, and a quick blog update →

Wealth may have driven the rise of moralizing religions

One of the things that a lot of people are often surprised to hear, is that most scholars don't believe that religion was always concerned with morality, that moralizing religion didn't exist to any significant extent before the 'Axial Age' circa 500 BC.  Psychologist Nicolas Baumard has a theory about what may have led to moralizing … Continue reading Wealth may have driven the rise of moralizing religions →

xkcd: Spacecraft and launch vehicle payloads, in horses

  Similar to the relative spacecraft and rocket sizes I linked to the other day, here's xkcd's version, in horse units.  At first I thought he was referring to horsepower, but then I realized it was horse mass.  (Click through for full sized version.) via xkcd: Payloads. It's worth noting how large the Saturn V and … Continue reading xkcd: Spacecraft and launch vehicle payloads, in horses →