Devil's Advocate? - Dr. William Gray

I may not agree with his interpretation but I respect his right to freely speak. This is the first of several videos I captured of Dr. William Gray's Science cafe presentation put on by Beet Street. His talk was June 9th from 6-7 PM at Avogadro's number restaurant in Fort Collins, CO. Professor Gray is world famous for his unique ability to predict severe hurricane seasons. I am not endorsing his opinion by putting this on my website but trying to incite climate scientists and laymen all over the globe to brush up on their communication skills and emphasize how important it is to clearly explain data we do have.

Picasso's Guernica

Bonobo Handshake

Listen to Vanessa Woods talk about a peaceful species.
"How many people do you feel like killing once you've just had an orgasm?"

Stephen Hawking on God

Birds in Oil

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Debunks 2012 Armageddon

I recorded this after the James Webb telescope panel discussion in Battery Park at the World Science Festival last Friday.

Faith and Science: World Science Festival precedent 2008

Today I will be covering the "Faith and Science" panel discussion at the World Science Festival in New York City. Here is the online video precedent for this talk from 2008. If you have any questions you'd like me to try and pose to Dr. Ayala or any of the other panelists please leave them for me in the comments section below.

  

3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Competition

Hello Friends! Please look here for this year's entries to the 3 Quarks Daily Science blogging competition for the "Top Quark." Tom Paine's Ghost has one entry titled "Swimming in Ethanol's Ethos" Once you have perused the entries you can VOTE HERE. This year the competition will be judged by Richard Dawkins. The public voting window will close June 7th. there are only a few days left to vote so please spread the word!

Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Scientific Literacy - World Science Festival 2010

I shot this from about 8 feet away with my Canon rebel T1i. I uploaded it to YouTube last night and it took 6 HOURS!!!  Though I slept through most of that please enjoy the extra quality by clicking the resolution up to 720 and watch the sweat glisten off his face in all its "highly defined" glory! Here he is responding to an audience member's question - "should all people be scientifically literate, and if so, why?"

Live Blogging - The World Science Festival 2010

I originally composed this bit as a response to this discussion started by Sean Carroll happening over at 3QD. As someone on the inside looking out I may have a unique vantage point on the whole Templeton foundation funded World Science Festival. On Wednesday June 2nd I flew all the way from Fort Collins, CO to New York City to volunteer at the World Science Festival and catch up with some old friends. I attended the Moth main-stage storytelling event last night, recorded some great stories, and got to meet nearly all the speakers - my favorites were Kristen Baldwin and Leonard Mlodinow . Tonight I attended the James Webb space telescope panel discussion. Because the night sky was cloudy and there were no stars to be seen, Neil DeGrass Tyson was gracious enough to come and speak to the crowd. When a question was asked about the compatibility of faith and science he was quick to point out that the WSF is funded in part by the Templeton foundation, who he said had "come knocking on his door" before about promoting discussion between scientists and people of faith. He gave an ingenious answer to the compatibility question. He said "religion needs to discuss religion with itself first" and get all that sorted out before it can talk to science. Meaning that religion in all its gory history has caused some of the most egregious human suffering in the record books and therefore needs to have peace (all the competing ideals) before any kind of scientific discussion of faith could conceivably begin. He had a LOT of other things to say and Brian Greene and his son even came out to give him a hug on stage as he had a very sweaty, humid but intimate discussion with the large crowd. What a night! I will be uploading some of his talks on my website tonight. I will also attend the controversial "Faith and Science" talk tomorrow at 4 PM. For those readers in New York the venue has been changed to the Rosenthal Pavilion which is at 60 Washington sq. on the 10th floor - this is NYU's Kimmel Center. I have been assigned by the World Science Festival itself to cover the talk and write about it for the WSF blog. I will syndicate it on my own web site but it should be interesting regardless!

 Please check it out and respond to the coverage. 

PS. As I was performing my duties as a runner tonight I was able to visit the site of Thomas Paine's death where a memorial plaque is mounted. The Tavern - Marie's Crisis - is a tiny basement of a bar with ebullient patrons full of show tunes ready to sing with tiny rum and cokes in hand. An awe inspiring juxtaposition of deep history and happy apathy. I wonder what Thomas Paine would think if he walked down those stairs today? And if he would engage in conversation with Dr. Tyson?