Emily Dietle (@emilyhasbooks) is doing a short series of blogposts called “A View From Afar”, which are guest posts from people who live outside of the USA, asking their opinions on the current presidential race going on in the USA currently. I wrote a short piece, an excerpt of which is below: There really is no “afar” anymore. With social media and the Internet being so prevalent in my life, I feel like The American...

Bill Nye recently posted a YouTube video titled “Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children”. I agree with him totally, except for the point that he makes about the denialism being unique to the United States. We see some factors of that here in the Australia, not to mention the denialism coming from certain sectors of Islam. That aside, I think he makes some really salient points here. Watch it below. This caused members of The...

I’m not all negativity, doom, gloom and criticisms. Sometimes I like to share something awe inspiring. And I love space. I really, really, REALLY love space. Remember this? I saw this clip over at PZ Myers’ blog, and thought it was too good to not share with you all. It’s a welcome relief from all the negativity I’ve been putting on the blog, and I hope you can enjoy it as much as I do. Watching the globe spin away...

On Valentines day 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini, then leader of Iran, issued a fatwa against celebrated author Salman Rushdie for the apparent “blasphemy against Islam” contained within the pages of his book entitled “The Satanic Verses”. Christopher Hitchens, a great friend of Rushdie, speaks about his memories of the situation. A fascinating short story you’ve probably not heard before. (8m...

This was so stunning I just HAD to steal this from Badastronomer. “April 24th marks the 22nd anniversary of Hubble’s launch into space. To celebrate it, NASA and ESA released this devastating panoramic view (also available here) of the mighty star-forming region 30 Doradus: Yegads. [Click to embiggen, or get the 4000 x 3200 pixel version, or grab the ginormous 267 Mb 20,323 x 16,259 pixel version. There's also a way cool...

The Global Atheist Convention 2012, held in Melbourne was the site of a spectacle the likes of which never seen before on these shores, the much anticipated GREAT HUG-OFF, between the undisputed champion of hugging (and biologist) PZ Myers, and the underdog and winner of The Biggest Hugging Loser 2010, Martin S Pribble. To be frank, this is possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever been involved in. But it was fun. Thanks PZ. Thanks...