Monicks: Unleashed

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Written by Monicks on July 17, 2011 · 4 Comments 

What would you add to this job description?

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Written by Monicks on July 10, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

Absolutely stunning photograph of Atlantis’ Final Flight launch

Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls July 8, 2011

Space shuttle Atlantis is seen as it lifts off from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A at 11:29 a.m. EDT.

The launch of Atlantis on the STS-135 mission, is the final flight of the Shuttle Program.

via nasa.gov

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Written by Monicks on July 11, 2011 · 1 Comment 

Carl Sagan

❝The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.❞

~ Carl Sagan

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Written by Monicks on July 11, 2011 · 1 Comment 

A musical celebration of humanity, its origins, and achievements, contrasted with a somber look at our environmentally destructive tendencies and deep similarities with other primates. Featuring Jacob Bronowski, Alice Roberts, Carolyn Porco, Jane Goodall, Robert Sapolsky, Neil deGrasse Tyson and David Attenborough.

 

Lyrics:

[Jacob Bronowski]
Man is a singular creature;
He has a set of gifts which make him unique among the animals
So that unlike them, he is not a figure in the landscape
He is the shaper of the landscape

[Alice Roberts]
We are all children of Africa
They say this is where it all began

[Bronowski]
In a parched African landscape
Man first put his foot to the ground

[Roberts]
Africa was our only home
for tens of thousands of years
until a small handful of people made their way
out of Africa

[Carolyn Porco]
These beings with soaring imagination
Eventually flung themselves and their machines
Into interplanetary space

[Roberts]
We are all children of africa
This landscape has been home to humans
Two hundred thousand years

[Porco]
We have come so far
All of this is cause for great celebration
We have come so far
This is a story about us

[Roberts]
Those early Europeans
Were people like you and me
But it is humbling
When you see the challenges they faced

People like you and me
Overcame the Neaderthals
People like you and me
Made it through the ice age

[Refrain]

[Jane Goodall]
We are not the only beings
With personalities, minds, and feelings
Chimpanzees have very clear personalities

[Robert Sapolsky]
Take a chimp brain foetally
And let it go two or three more rounds of division
And out comes symphonies and ideology

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]
Everything that we are
That distinguishes us from chimps
Emerges from that one percent
Difference in DNA

[Roberts]
People like you and me
Overcame the Neaderthals
People like you and me
Made it through the ice age

[Refrain]

[David Attenborough]
Using his burgeoning intelligence,
This most successful of all mammals
Has exploited the environment to produce food
For an ever increasing population.

Instead of controlling the environment
For the benefit of the population
Perhaps it’s time we controlled the population
To allow the survival of the environment

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Written by Monicks on July 11, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

 

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Written by Monicks on July 13, 2011 · Leave a Comment

You’re using Google Plus? Great! This little chart is gonna help you use G+ more productively, we can nerd out together.

If you want to “circle” me, the link to my Google+ profile is right there on the sidebar. →

Keep this little chart handy until you learn all the tricks.

Not using Goggle+ yet? Email me, I’ll invite you.

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Written by Monicks on July 6, 2011 · 1 Comment

It makes perfect sense. Ha!

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Written by Monicks on July 6, 2011 · 3 Comments

Sometimes we take wildlife pictures that we see in books and magazines for granted; seldom does it give you the impressions that they were taken easily. The truth is, photographing animals (especially in wildlife) is very involved, such a moment could only be told through some timely amazing shots. For someone who loves animals, photographing them can be both very fulfilling and frustrating at the same time. Excellent animal photography requires experience, knowledge and patience.

Animals can make very eye catching subjects to photograph in wild. Taking wildlife photography in a place where the animals don’t fear humans makes your task a bit difficult. In their natural environment, animals often provide many opportunities for taking dramatic shots. Let’s now take a look at some of these dramatic images of animal photography to see emotions in the wild nature.

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OUR CONTEST IS NOW LIVE! Check out the rules page for full details. START TWEETING NOW! http://bit.ly/mzyLoB GOOD LUCK! #atheism #atheistFri Jul 08 16:09:14  via HootSuite

Written by Monicks on July 5, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Originally posted on Think Atheist

We, at Think Atheist have launched a new contest: Win a signed copy of Dr. Stephen Law’s new book Believing Bullshit: How Not To Get Sucked Into an Intellectual Black Hole. (Amazon, Amazon UK, B&N)

The description of the book reads as follows:

Wacky and ridiculous belief systems abound. Members of the Heaven’s Gate suicide cult believed they were taking a ride to heaven on board a UFO. Muslim suicide bombers expect to be greeted after death by 72 heavenly virgins. And many fundamentalist Christians insist the entire universe is just 6,000 years old.

Of course it’s not only cults and religions that promote bizarre beliefs. Significant numbers of people believe that aliens built the pyramids, that the Holocaust never happened, and that the World Trade Center was brought down by the US government.

How do such ridiculous views succeed in entrenching themselves in the minds of sane, intelligent, college-educated people and turn them into the willing slaves of claptrap? How, in particular, do the true believers manage to convince themselves that they are the rational, reasonable ones and that everyone else is deluded?

Believing Bullshit identifies eight key mechanisms that can transform a set of ideas into a psychological flytrap. Philosopher Stephen Law suggests that, like the black holes of outer space, from which nothing, not even light, can escape, our contemporary cultural landscape contains numerous intellectual black-holes—belief systems constructed in such a way that unwary passers-by can similarly find themselves drawn in. While such self-sealing bubbles of belief will most easily trap the gullible or poorly educated, even the most intelligent and educated of us are potentially vulnerable. Some of the world’s greatest thinkers have fallen in, never to escape.

Law’s witty, insightful critique will help immunize readers against the wiles of cultists, religious and political zealots, conspiracy theorists, promoters of flaky alternative medicines, and various other nutcases by clearly setting out the tricks of the trade by which such insidious belief systems are created and maintained.

The contest is really simple, all you need to do is tweet. Read all the details on Think Atheist.

Check out Dr. Law’s blog and read the interview he gave to New Scientist on the subject of the book.

So there you go everyone! Thanks to Prometheus Books and Dr. Law for being so gracious! Create your Twitter profile. Get ready!

—>

Categories: Books - Tags: Atheism, Atheist, Atheists, Believing Bullshit, Believing Bullshit: How Not To Get Sucked Into an Intellectual Black Hole, book giveaway, Contest, free book, Monicks, Stephen Law, Think Atheist

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