11.02.09
Posted in Art, Jesse Galef, Science at 9:00 am by Jesse Galef
This post is by Jesse Galef
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My dad puts special time and talent into carving unique and beautiful pumpkins each year. He bases his design on a specific story, sketches out an elaborate image, and uses special carving tools instead of a knife. I thought that looking at pictures would be a nice way to start the week. This pumpkin is actually from a couple of years ago, but it seems particularly appropriate for us. All descriptions and pictures were taken by my dad, Barry Galef, and more pictures from other years’ are up on his website.
As part of a charity auction, my dad was challenged to show all of 20th century physics on his pumpkin. My dad rose to the occasion:
The last few years I’ve donated a Jack O’ Lantern to a charity auction. A friend was the highest bidder this year, and I offered him the chance to weigh in on the design. He said I’d done enough old folk tales, and wanted something modern. “Oh, like Kafka’s ‘Metamorphoses?’”No. I want . . . the whole history of 20th Century Physics! It must have both the special and general theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, Schrodinger’s Cat, and Einstein insisting that God does not play dice with the universe!” At first I thought he was out of his gourd, but later realized he was truly inspired. I proceeded to try my best.
In my illustration, I show God the Father as pictured by Michaelangelo along with Albert Einstein. God is tossing the dice — but every face on his dice has only a single pip! Thus, any way they fall, we end up with snake eyes. So Einstein is both right and wrong: the dice are tossed, but God has no doubt of the result.
Einstein is shown as God’s right-hand man, perhaps an unintended blasphemy. Albert is flipping Schrodinger’s Cat, in a reference to the randomness of flipping a coin.
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| Einstein flipping Schrodinger’s cat |
Alive, dead, alive, dead… |
My take on Schrodinger’s cat is that (1) even before we open the box, the cat itself observes whether it’s been poisoned or not, thereby collapsing its own probability wave, and (2) unlike a flipped coin, which lands on heads or tails by random chance, a flipped cat always lands on its feet!
You could say that I’ve left out a lot of 20th century physics. In response, I can claim to have included dark matter, dark energy, and black holes in the design. You just can’t see them. And I do show the curvature of space.
I give my dad a lot of credit for my love of science and my cleverness, and I think this pumpkin is an excellent illustration of why. It’s a shame he didn’t pass on his artisic talent as well…
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10.21.09
Posted in Art, General at 1:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
And with the click of a button and the help of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (blessed be His name), I now have a new desktop image for my laptop:
(created by Milek, via Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster)
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10.19.09
Posted in Art, General at 6:00 am by Hemant Mehta
I rarely understand modern art, but I appreciate whenever traditional views are challenged, and this will certainly do the trick.
Paul Fryer’s newest work brings together race, religion, and a gorilla… on a crucifix:
[Fryer] insists he wants to highlight the plight of the Western Lowland Gorillas, and to challenge the Christian notion that animals do not have souls. But he does not want to cause offence.
Right… I’m sure no one will take any offense at all. (Artists know damn well when their work will offend somebody, so they need to stop saying otherwise. It’d be more honest if they said they wanted to challenge peoples’ mindsets and get them to think differently.)
Just to be clear, Fryer is not calling Jesus a gorilla.
(Though, from an evolutionary perspective, using that image to say we share a common ancestor would be very interesting…)
For his next piece of work, Fryer crucifies Jesus in slightly more modern times. There’s no cross. Instead, we see Jesus in an electric chair.
Oh. And Jesus is black.
In his contemporary version of a Pieta, a life-like black Christ is depicted in an electric chair. An earlier version, featuring a white Christ, provoked protests in the French town of Gap earlier this year.
…
“If they had had the chair in Christ’s time, people would be wearing little electric chairs now,” Fryer said.
That’s a Lenny Bruce line, by the way.
It’s all not-so-surprisingly controversial. You expect Bill Donohue will flip his shit in 5… 4… 3…
I never understand why people get offended by things like this. It doesn’t change or diminish what you believe happened. It’s not inciting violence nor is it directly or indirectly hurting anyone. It’s just one person’s reworking of several well-known themes.
If you’re offended, then criticize the supposed artistry. Don’t get offended because you dislike the interpretation. Just because you find something sacred doesn’t mean the rest of us have to follow in step.
What does Fryer say about his perceived “attacks” on religion?
… The symbols and iconography belong to me as much as anyone else. They are mine to do with as I see fit. I mean, what the fuck does anything have to do with anything? Why does everything have to be explained? Okay… I’ll try. The figure of Christ isn’t just in the electric chair he’s starved and he’s black. Hundreds more black people have been executed in the chair than white people. More black people starve to death than white people by what you could call a significant margin too. We still execute people 2,000 years after Christ’s death. And he was black too. Back then the guy must have thought he was wasting his breath. God only knows what he would think if he saw the world today. It’s just as well he was resurrected because if he was in the grave he’d be turning in it. As for the apes, at the rate we’re killing them all the lowland gorillas will be dead by the year 2020. Do animals have souls? What a question. We should be asking the same question of ourselves.
The exhibit featuring these works and several more is called The Age of the Marvellous and it can be seen at Holy Trinity Church, 1 Marylebone Rd, London, NW1 4DU through Thursday.
(via LA Atheism Examiner)
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09.28.09
Posted in Art, General, Pop Culture at 11:00 am by Hemant Mehta
Yesterday, I mentioned that Jazz bassist Ben Allison recently outed himself as an atheist. Apparently, he’s not the only musician taking that path.
The band A.F.I. (A Fire Inside) has a new album coming out tomorrow titled “Crash Love.”
One song on the album is titled “Sacrilege” and the lyrics allude to a pro-atheist stance:
How could you recognize
and cherish hysteric fairy tales.
They’ve come to life.
Now sit by and listen…
the whole world wails.
…
How is it divine
when it’s flawed design?
Fill the cracks with faith I can’t find.
Oh please believe I’m doing just fine.
For what’s deceased I shall never grieve.
Just let your faith die.
Did I say “allude to”? I meant they come right out and say it: religious beliefs are absurd and we’d all be better off without the superstition.
Meanwhile, David Bazan was the frontman for (as the submitter put it) “one of the few historical non-sucky Christian bands” Pedro the Lion. But his faith is slipping, too.
His new solo album, “Curse Your Branches,” came out earlier this month.
According to the LA Times review, he’s come a long way since his Christian days:
Bazan built an intensely devoted following inside the Christian community during his decade-long run with Pedro, asking tough questions of religion from the perspective of a thoughtful believer. Here, though, the doubt that Bazan has always scratched at takes a firmer, more certain form: “I clung to miracles I have not seen,” he admits in “Bearing Witness,” “From ancient autographs I cannot read.”
The past tense there is crucial: “Curse Your Branches” documents Bazan’s coming to terms with his newfound agnosticism , a change of heart he credits in “When We Fell” to his inability to accept “the threat of hell hanging over my head like a halo.” (”In what medieval kingdom does justice work this way?” he wonders later in that song.)
How exciting!
Now, we just need one of these artists to make it big enough so they can sing these lyrics on TV or at an awards show.
Speaking of which, can we have a Grammy category for Best Contemporary Atheist Album? Kathy Griffin could present it…
(Thanks to Jay and David for the links!)
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Posted in Art, General at 6:00 am by Hemant Mehta
***Update***: I made an error with the original posting. No band opted out of the festival; only sponsors did. The posting now reflects that. Sorry for any confusion
…
The Charlotte Pop Fest ‘09 took place this weekend — it’s a music festival that featured the likes of The Smithereens, Jill Sobule, and several bands/singers I’ve never heard of.
But I’m interested because all the proceeds from the event went to a great cause:
This year Charlotte Pop Fest will celebrate the life of Charles Darwin and all proceeds from the event will benefit the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. The year 2009 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book The Origin of Species.
The organizer, James Deem, said he just wanted to raise awareness for science education.
“It’s just really important,” Deem said. “There’s not that many people raising money for science.”
But, of course, some people are offended by the prospect of science education and the idea that their personal sacred cows are challenged at RDFRS.
Deem says he’s lost a sponsor because of the event’s support of the Richard Dawkins Foundation and the money he lost forced him to cancel appearances by a couple of the bands.
…
Thorne stressed that the bands are there to play music, not give out a message about atheism or anything else.
Pop Festival attendee Debbie Aintrazi of Mint Hill hopes they don’t.
“If they start going around saying, ‘no, you shouldn’t believe in this, you shouldn’t believe in that’ — that’s when I [get upset],” she said. “I don’t believe in not believing.”
Of course, no one at the festival is telling people to stop having faith. And even the Dawkins Foundation wasn’t formed to convert people. Even if Dawkins would like to do that, that’s not the purpose of the Foundation. The Foundation wants current atheists to go public about it, and they want people to think for themselves instead of blindly accepting whatever some person in a church tells them to believe. The Foundation preaches education, not atheism. But if the former leads to the latter, so be it. That’s just a pleasant byproduct.
This is the press release issued by Deem:
It is with great regret that I have to announce that Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Linus of Hollywood will not be performing at Charlotte Pop Fest this year.
A couple of weeks ago a sponsor, that had originally committed to supporting the event financially, abruptly decided they didn’t want to be associated with the Richard Dawkins Foundation…
The sponsors refused to give money because part of it was going toward science education and it’s namesake is a man who challenges people to question their beliefs.
Very disappointing.
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09.27.09
Posted in Art, Coming Out, General, Pop Culture at 2:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Ben Allison is a jazz bassist whose ninth album, Think Free, will be released in a couple weeks.
What’s the deal with the album’s name? Allison explains:
This is my “coming out” album. I’ve been living with a secret for quite a while. It’s something that most of my friends know about me but I’ve never divulged it in public. Although at least 10 percent of the U.S. population openly admits to being part of this group, there is tremendous pressure not to be vocal about it. And it’s a political third rail. You will almost never hear a politician admit to being one. But I’m tired of dodging the issue and feel I do a disservice to all of those who are not afraid to be outspoken about who they are. It’s time to stand and be counted. The truth is that I’m an … atheist. There, I said it. I guess I’ve known that I was one since I was a little kid. I experimented with theism in high school. Who didn’t? But I’d have to get drunk and kind of force myself. And I’d always feel “wrong” afterwards. And then I’d feel guilty for feeling “wrong.” It was a dysfunctional way to live. Then I moved to Greenwich Village. And all around me were these other atheists. Just doing their thing. It all felt very natural. And I’ve never looked back. Wait, what was the question again?
It’s always nice to hear someone — anyone — come out publicly as an atheist. It makes it all the more acceptable for the next person to do it, too, as Allison himself experienced in Greenwich Village.
Congratulations to him for doing it in such a public way.
(Thanks to Ben for the link!)
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09.18.09
Posted in Art, Books, General at 6:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
The more I see images from the book, the more I can’t wait to read The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb.
Check out this bit from Chapter 19 about when Lot suggests to men from Sodom that they can rape his virgin daughters:
The full book is scheduled to be published in mid-October, though Boing Boing mentions that it could start shipping by next week!
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09.07.09
Posted in Art, General at 2:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Kelli and Daniel witnessed an appearance of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in a pile of rubber bands!
There’s a pun to be made here. I wonder what it is…
In any case, prophet Bobby would be proud.
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09.06.09
Posted in Art, General, Humor, Pseudoscience at 5:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Today’s Doonesbury gets you where it hurts:
Sad, but true. Though, as more of us demand truth via reason and evidence, the easier it will become to drown out the crazy voices.
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09.05.09
Posted in Art, Books, General at 6:00 am by Hemant Mehta
As stated at The Reason Project:
“Made by Mammals” is an unyet published editorial project by Andy Marlow, an English graphic designer based in Madrid. Images were created to accompany and emphasize quotes taken mainly from leading intellectuals such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett who criticize religion and its role in modern society.
The main aim of the book is to provoke thought, reflection and rational debate on religion.
The most thought-provoking image for me was this one:
I suspect someone in Sedalia is seething right now.
(via Heaving Dead Cats)
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