Friday Link Dump 4/26/13

LH

• How to Step Outside of Your (God)Box
• The Left Hemispheres Podcast Ep. 17: Oh Islamophobia, you bad girl.

As always please direct questions, comments, suggestions, or discussion via email at lefthemispheres@gmail.com. Of course you can also find us on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter @lefthemispheres.

Please subscribe to the podcast via iTunes and consider rating us or check us out on Libsyn.

CULTURE

• No, you're not entitled to your opinion “You are only entitled to what you can argue for.”
• Dartmouth College Cancels Classes After Sexual Assault Protesters Receive Rape Threats Thank you misogynistic asshole for calling even more attention to this protest.
• Fox's Bolling: Rep. Ellison Is "The Muslim Apologist In Congress" And "Very Dangerous" Steve says, “Hannity also compared Ellison's use of the Quran for his swearing-in ceremony to using "Hitler's Mein Kampf, which is the Nazi bible."
• You want to know what the Nazi's used as a bible? The Bible.
• Pennsylvania Democrat tells GOP to uphold Constitution, not Bible
• The Gun Vote and 2014: Will There Be an Electoral Price?  
• The rightwing donors who fuel America’s culture wars Don’t be alarmed.  They’re all old white men.
• US Supreme Court To Decide Whether Or Not Genes Can Be Patented This is a tricky one.
• Thank You Thursdays: The cross-dressing Kurd Men For Equality

ATHEISM

• Should Atheists Be Expected to Repudiate Stupid Statements from Prominent Atheists? I am guilty of this too.  If you don't examine your own beliefs from time to time, you are not a skeptic.
• Bombing Suspect Cites Islamic Extremist Beliefs as Motive I don’t know why, but I was hoping that this was motivated by something else.
• Andrew Sullivan on ‘High-Minded Nonsense’ of Liberals on Tsarnaev Brothers
• The A-Unicornist: It's important to criticize Islam uh, yeah.
• What Martial Arts Have to Do With Atheism

SCIENCE...DAMMIT

• 1.5 million-year-old human footprints found
• What Happens When You Wring Out a Washcloth in Space?
• BBC - Future - Science & Environment - Is race perception automatic? Race recognition may have been helpful to identify group affiliation in the past.  That is largely outdated at this point unless you are looking for minority republicans.
• Pictures: Green Walls May Cut Pollution in Cities  
• American Psychological Association promotes pseudotherapies. Again.
• A breakdown of nervous breakdowns
• A Dangerous Method: Can Sex Restore Mental Health? I think this is worth a try.
• The Math: What Life On Kepler-62e Would Be Like  Heavy.  I mean like 50% added mass.
• Astronomers discover two water worlds orbiting star Kepler-62
• Has NASA been watching Top Gear?
• New Technique Turns Brain Transparent, Gives Scientists Direct Look Into Brain Just soak it in vinegar like an egg. It's not brain surgery.

Wish I would have thought of this as a kid.


via The Thinking Atheist


Wait for it...

The Left Hemispheres Podcast Ep. 17: Oh Islamophobia, you bad girl.

As always please direct questions, comments, suggestions, or discussion via email at lefthemispheres(at)gmail.com. Of course you can also find us on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter @lefthemispheres.

Please subscribe to the podcast via iTunes and consider rating us or check us out on Libsyn.

Friday Link Dump 4/19/13

Yeah it's been all over the Internet,
but it really just sums up the week. 

Boston Marathon

Of course everyone at LH is saddened by the senseless violence, the suffering it has caused and the ramifications that are yet to come. I do not want to provide a series of news links to articles about the attack that everyone has already read ad nauseum. I just want to provide one:

Atheists Giving Aid - Boston Marathon Tragedy

If you haven’t already donated, please consider doing so. There is no minimum (or maximum!) so please try to help the victims and their families out.  

Also, please consider also donating to the victims of the West Texas Explosion. It’s been a real shitty week, folks.

Ok. Onward.

LH

• The Ocean "Anthropocentric"

Atheism

• Methodological Humanism – Beyond Belief and Disbelief
• Mishegas! The Atheist News Game
• Lots of people are awful, but not everyone who disagrees with you is
• A bizarre critique of Christopher Hitchens: he wasn’t a skeptic about his cancer

Science

• Science and Religion Cannot Be Reconciled by Victor Stenger
• Merely a Taste of Beer Can Trigger a Rush of Chemical Pleasure in the Brain
• Higgs data could spell trouble for leading Big Bang theory
• Happiness is…thinking you get laid more often than your friends
• Justices Appear Skeptical Of Patenting Human Genes
• Researchers May Have Finally Detected a Dark Matter Particle
• The Shadow Biosphere? Life on Earth… but not as we know it
• Why Does Music Feel So Good?
• A Point of View: Science, magic, and madness
• Polar Mapping of Structures in the Universe

Religion

• Orphan Fever: The Evangelical Movement's Adoption Obsession
• and Why We Should Fear the Evangelical Adoption Boom
• Why do people pretend that religion isn’t responsible for creationism?
• Vatican Reaffirms Plan To Scrutinize U.S. Nuns That guy Francis is real reformer. He’ll drag the Church forward into the 18th century if he has to!  
• News Media is Not a Secularist Cabal Essentially, this is just Christian privilege and whining. Nothing new.
• Study: Belief in an angry God associated with variety of mental illnesses A vengeful god makes monsters of men.
• Pennsylvania Democrat Kicked Out of Christian Band for Supporting Marriage Equality
• Portsmouth's 'Messy Church' trying to bring Bible to life Gotta get ‘em while they're young!
• Whatever Happened to the Young Atheist Whose Family Filed a Lawsuit Against a Christian Rapper and a School District?
• Kicked Out of My Church: How I Learned the “Christian” View of Gay People From a liberal Christian. Honestly, I don't know why people try so hard to square the circle. Just leave. Why beg to be deacons of a church that holds these views if you yourself don't believe that crap? And no, they aren't "good people" if that is the way they think. It's ok to say that to.
• Lovers and Haters

Politics/Assholery

• New Hampshire Republican refers to women as ‘vaginas’ How’s that rebranding going, GOP?
• Myth Busted: The GOP Is Through With the Religious Right
• How The Kermit Gosnell Case Is An Indictment On The Anti-Choice Movement

Culture

• Gay-Friendly Scouting Organization Doubles Its Numbers in One Year
• The feminist comedy of Louis C.K
• DC Introduces First Transgender Character in Mainstream Comics
• Snopes: Mr. Rogers quote "Look for the Helpers" When I saw someone posted a snopes link I have to admit I was scared it was a fake quote. Thankfully it isn't!
• New Zealand Lawmakers Break Into Maori Love Song As Parliament Approves Same Sex Marriage

This provided me a much needed laugh on Tuesday AM. Tony Gwynn  Jr. of the L.A. Dodgers expertly mocks a heckler.


Tony Gwynn Jr. Owns Heckler - Watch More Funny Videos

The Ocean "Anthropocentric"

I know the last Anti-Religion Radio song I posted (Ptolemy Was Wrong) was also The Ocean, but their two albums "Anthropocentric" and "Heliocentric" are too good to not promote. If you like prog metal, philosophy and history you should check them out. All two you of you that might like prog metal...

(the video kind of cuts out a tad early, but it's only a few seconds)

via Aenema8427

Friday Link Dump 4/12/13

LH

• Hector Avalos on Religion and Violence: A New Theory for an Old Problem
• The Left Hemispheres Podcast Interview Ep02- Hemant Mehta
• Derren Brown's Fear and Faith: Inducing Religious Experience
• From One Year Ago: Rock Beyond Belief

Religion and Non

• Over The Line: Kentucky School Officials Are Wrong About Teaching Evolution
• Home-Schooled Biology So Bad It Lost A Lawsuit
• Right Wing Extremists Can’t Read Words Explaining Military Chart On Religious Extremism?
• Is "Islamophobia" Real?
• Without Addressing Religious Discrimination with Taxpayer Money, President Obama Extends Life of Faith-Based Advisory Council
• An Atheist’s Thoughts On Matthew Warren
• Response to Controversy by Sam Harris
• Creationist Explains How Humans Could Have Hunted The Tyrannosaurus Rex Can't get your bullshit in a peer-reviewed science journal? Business Insider! Sure, why not!
• Is it finally time to say goodbye?
• Sen. Rand Paul: America will get better ‘through a spiritual cleansing’
• Toronto Pools Ban Dads After Muslims' Demands
• 'Ashamed' Salvation Army paid $15m to child sex abuse victims, inquiry told

Society and Culture

• Rehtaeh Parsons: Nova Scotia Girl Raped, Bullied, And Commits Suicide When the fuck is this going to stop?
• After Years Of Struggle, Veteran Chooses To End His Life
• Soon the GOP will claim it always supported gay marriage
• Concerns at U.N. Conference on Violence Against Women
• Obama's regressive record makes Nixon look like Che There are legitimate points to criticize him on.
• GLSEN Launches Selfies For Silence
  
• Reddit murder confession
• To (All) the White Girls Who Didn’t Get Into The College Of Their Dreams
• Coulter: The killing of politicians’ children should ‘start with Meghan McCain’ Oh, Ann, you silly, shameless, delusional, fascistic, self-loathing piece of shit.
• Beck: Obama might create a ‘monarchy’ and start decapitating Americans Oh, Glen, you...see above.
• WTF Is Going On In North Carolina? Another New Worthless Bill

Science

• SciFri!
• Sam Parnia – the man who could bring you back from the dead
• Why the Mantis Shrimp is my new favorite animal
• Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer I always have a hard time deciding which section to put articles like this in.  It's a win for science, so....
• Concerning "Your" Children and Their World
• And now Anne Frank is dragged into the anti-vaccine picture Raaaaaaggge!
• Researchers turn brains transparent by sucking out the fat
• Alzheimer's plaque components fight inflammation
• Cultivating Community Through Mis-Information
• Humanity's Closest Ancestor Was Pigeon-Toed, Research Reveals

Videos

Derren Brown's Fear and Faith: Inducing Religious Experience

This is actually Part 2 in this series, but this one focuses on inducing a religious experience in a self-avowed atheist. The point is to explore how humans are hardwired for belief in the supernatural and how that leaves us prone to religious belief. Videos via ErmmTV.

The Left Hemispheres Podcast Interview Ep02- Hemant Mehta

On March 25th, 2013, Nick interviewed Hemant Mehta at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  Hemant had been invited by the IUP Secular Student Alliance to speak about what an atheist, and particularly a young atheist, must deal with in the U.S.  More details, and a video of the talk can be seen here.  More from Hemant can be found on his blog, Friendly Atheist.

Check out this episode!

Hector Avalos on Religion and Violence: A New Theory for an Old Problem

via the Atheist Community of San Jose

hat tip to Emily Dietle from emilyhasbooks.com

Friday Link Dump 4/5/13

LH

• Bill Hicks Last Performance
• The Friendly Atheist Comes to Town
• Militant Atheism?
• From One Year Ago: The Two Faiths

Religion and Non

• Bangladesh arrests three atheist bloggers
• Roast Belief: The Roast of Jesus Christ Too. Damn. Funny.  Especially if you're a thirtysomething punk from south central Pennsylvania.
• Counter-Apologetics Flashcards
• National Atheist Groups Respond to Growing Incivility in Online Communities
• Pope's foot-wash a final straw for traditionalists At least he's touching the kids appropriately.  Unless he's a foot fetishist, of course.
• Iconic religious images affect the attitudes of Protestants, but not Catholics
• Judge Says World Trade Center Cross Is Secular – Tosses Atheist Lawsuit
• Religious Trauma Syndrome: How Some Organized Religion Leads to Mental Health Problems
• Shroud Of Turin Real? New Research Dates Relic To 1st Century, Time Of Jesus Christ 300BCE-400CE, huh? A lot of people died in that 700 year period. Anybody wanna buy a piece of the true cross?
• North Carolina May Declare Official State Religion Under New Bill What the fuck?!
• North Carolina kills bill to establish a state religion That was quick.  Nevermind.

      There have been several attacks against "new atheists" lately.  They're all pap.  Here are a few articles to bring you up to speed.

• The God Argument: the Case Against Religion and For Humanism by AC Grayling – review
• DEAR FELLOW LIBERAL: An Exchange with Glenn Greenwald Sam Harris' response
• Sam Harris, the New Atheists, and anti-Muslim animus Glenn Greenwald's response
• Aggressive secularisation: the new tyranny Lord Carey is a raving loon. A nutter, as they'd say in his country.

Society and Culture

• Public Opinion on Religion and Science in the United States
• How Many Slaves Work For You?
• New MSNBC Host Karen Finney Just Doesn’t Look Black Enough For Conservative Media Watchdog

Science

• How Far Is It To Mars? These are always neat.
• 2013 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate: The Existence of Nothing
• Pluto's Gate Discovered: The Plutonium 'Gate To Hell' Found In Ancient City Of Hierapolis  Breathe deep, and partake of the holy spirit.
• SciFri!
• New Exremophile Breathes Rocket Fuel Gib mir Benzin!
• Scientists Figure Out What You See While You're Dreaming This could be bad.
• NASA Researchers: Nuclear power will kill fewer people than narural gas Clean, safe, efficient.
• First Migration from Africa Less Than 95,000 Years Ago: Ancient Hunter-Gatherer DNA Challenges Theory of Early Out-Of-Africa Migrations

Videos

The Friendly Atheist Comes to Town

L toR: Co-President Caroline Speer, Faculty Advisor John Mueller,
 Hemant Mehta, Co-President Josiah Racchini

On March 25th, I traveled up to Indiana University of Pennsylvania, my alma mater.  The IUP Secular Student Alliance had invited Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, to speak on the topic of being a young atheist in the US.  I had emailed him prior to see if he would be willing to do an interview, which he was.  It was strange coming back onto campus for an event like this.  I had tried unsuccessfully to start a group with CFI On Campus while I was a student there, so it was exciting to know that there was now an active group of freethinkers.  I met up with Hemant, and we recorded the interview, which I think went well (it will post as a podcast on April 8th). The SSA was kind enough to invite me out to dinner afterwards.  We discussed all the of the usual topics that you would expect from a group like this, and Hemant answered many questions about successfully blogging, organizing, and campus outreach.  It was an excellent night overall.  A big thanks to Hemant for coming to speak and doing the interview, as well as the IUP SSA for bringing him out, spreading the "good news", and including this guy in the action.