Stephen Hawking's "shocking" revelation

Yes I know, I'm at least a week behind the rest of the world but I'm still trying to work time to blog back into my schedule, so bear with me...


-"Physicist Stephen Hawking clarifies his belief on god's role in the creation of the universe"-

That probably should have been the headline surrounding the quote released from Hawking's newest book last week in which he stated that god is not necessary to create the universe. While not an entirely manufactured controversy, the decision to release this particular quote was a fairly obvious, and effective, attempt to Promote Hawking's newest book (which I just finished downloading from itunes BTW.) " The Grand Design" which he co-wrote with Caltech physicist Leonard Mlodinov.

The popular media of course ran with the idea that Hawking had somehow significantly altered or even reversed his original position which it's completely obvious he has not if you've read or heard anything he has written over the past thirty years or so. Fortunately, I was far from the only person to feel this way and aside from a little frothing from the usual conservative and religious sources, the controversy fizzled and died fairly quickly. But not before Fox News, you know the "Fair and balanced" guys who go absolutely ape-shit when anyone suggest that they are anything but- or that they spend 95% of their time spewing christian propaganda, managed to post this little sermon on their website:

"The scientist Stephen Hawking is out with another book that will delight his fellow atheists. Hawking says there is no room for God in science and that a creator is not behind the universe. Gravity, he says, is what united particles after the "Big Bang" and produced our planet, this universe and many other universes in which he believes life also exists.

Here are some verses that refute that: "Anyone who wishes to know God, must first acknowledge he exists;" "Were you there when I laid the foundations of the world?" "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise."

As one translation puts it: "God chose what is nonsense in the world to make the wise feel ashamed. God chose what is weak in the world to make the strong feel ashamed."

And then there are these: “the fool has said in his heart ‘there is no God’” and “the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing.”

If Hawking thinks it’s all foolishness, isn’t that evidence he is perishing?

Cal Thomas is America's most widely syndicated newspaper columnist and a Fox News contributor. "

I'm not about to waste any one's time attempting to point out all the things that are wrong with the above- what I assume is meant to be- editorial comment, but the point of it seems to be this: People who question my god's existence are dumb and dieing. Hawking questions my god's existence-THEREFORE- Hawking must be dumb and dieing so don't listen to him and go nuke a gay whale for Jesus. OK... the gay whale thing is speculation on my part but I think it fits the overall message of the post.
-CAINE-

Image Credit: Image cropped from the cover of: "A Brief History of Time"

Science On TV

Given the nature of my first post I wanted to make sure today's entry was More on target where my intended theme for this blog is concerned. So today's topic is science on TV.

As a fan and nightly viewer of much of the Cartoon networks adult swim line up I'm not about to tell you I think television needs to have some intellectual value, or serve some greater purpose because it certainly doesn't, although I do believe that watching Squidbillies and Metalocalypse will make you a better person. But, If you've ever so much as glanced at a science blog or magazine before then you know the question is constantly being asked, how do we increase the public's awareness, interest and understanding of science? One obvious answer is TV.

With Mythbusters no doubt leading the way there has been a recent surge in legitimate science content on television as of late. Even the Mythbusters themselves have stepped up the scientific content of their already science heavy show this season by dividing many episodes between testing an urban legend style myth and the performance of physics thought experiments, although this week was another all duct ape special. I think this format is perfect because it gives geeks like me the joy of physics without depriving any of us the joy of watching things explode.

Most recently, discovery has added two new shows to its lineup which I have quickly fallen in love with, "Into The universe With Stephen Hawking" and,"How The Universe Works", which is narrated by Mike Rowe and has thus far regularly featured the likes of Micho Kaku and phil plait. Both shows are exceedingly well done, both have excellent audio and video effects and while I do think How The Universe Works delivers more technical scientific content, Into The Universe is my personal favorite.

I don't know how either show has been doing in the ratings as I just don't keep track of that sort of thing. But recent shows like the planet earth specials have shown that if presented correctly, there is an audience for educational programming and I think that these two shows are a major step in the right direction towards finding that audience for science.

-CAINE-

For today's additional content I'm first going to link to the discovery channel web site where you can watch clips and find scheduling information on all of the shows mentioned in todays post. Discovery.com

Next, I'm going to recommend those of you who find the subjects of physics, astronomy or science in general intimidating check out Stephen Hawking's book; "A Briefer History Of Time", this updated version of the original, "A Brief History Of Time", was released specifically in response to those who requested a more accessible version of the book.

Lastly, I'm embedding the first part of Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking: Aliens

Streaming-Madness.net // Watch enlightening documentaries online!
Click the above link to find the rest of this episode plus more cool documentaries.

Image credit: Trevira, Click here to view image in it's original context.