All posts tagged: Desperately

Book Excerpt: Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation

Book Excerpt: Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation

Published by skeptic

Excerpted from Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation by Greg M. Epstein. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright 2024. One could write a book about what humanism even is, and indeed I already have. Along with earlier meanings, the word has been used for just over a century now for the study and practice of, as I explained in a book that attempted to provide the shortest possible definition with its title, Good Without God.3 But for now, let’s sum the concept up with a line coauthored by Carl Sagan, the great astrophysicist and science educator, and Ann Druyan, best known as Sagan’s wife and the producer of his legendary PBS show Cosmos: “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.” This scientific poetry is key to understanding the best of modern humanism. Sagan and Druyan brought together the human longing for explanation that animated the first lines of the Hebrew Bible (“In the beginning, God created …

Boeing Desperately Hoping Nothing Bad Happens When It Launches Astronauts Tonight

Boeing Desperately Hoping Nothing Bad Happens When It Launches Astronauts Tonight

Published by skeptic

The stakes are incredibly high. Fingers Crossed Boeing is set to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station on board its Starliner space capsule later tonight — and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The aerospace giant has been reeling from a number of disasters plaguing its avionics department, and the development of its much-maligned spacecraft hasn’t been spared, either. The Starliner project has faced years of delays, technical hiccups, failed launches, and a budget overrun of $1.5 billion as of last year. Despite the very real risks involved, the two crew members set to take the capsule for its crewed maiden voyage late on Monday are optimistic about the launch. “I’m not going to say that ride is going to be super calm,” NASA astronaut Suni Williams told Fox Weather last week, “but we’ll be OK.” Positive Vibes The team behind Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has been through a lot together. “No matter what is going on around us, no matter how difficult the situation, the people on this team just keep their heads down doing the things that, …

Meghan Markle desperately wants to be liked and ‘is fighting so hard to be relevant’ | Royal | News

Meghan Markle desperately wants to be liked and ‘is fighting so hard to be relevant’ | Royal | News

Published by skeptic

Meghan Markle has been really busy with her new lifestyle brand, but one royal expert thinks it goes beyond being career-driven – it’s that she wants to be liked. To Di For Daily’s Kinsey Schofield recently appeared on Talk TV and said: “I think people really dislike Meghan Markle and it must absolutely destroy her or you wouldn’t see her fighting so hard to be relevant.” She added: “I believe that this is a real PR push for Meghan Markle, even in the descriptions of these shows — cooking, gardening, entertainment and friendship — give me a barf bag.” Schofield seems less than impressed by the description, but that’s not the worst of it, the royal expert noticed that Prince Harry isn’t mentioned in the Deadline Hollywood announcements. She continued: “When you share the article on Deadline, the headline is ‘Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is launching two Netflix shows,” there’s no mention of Harry.” “If you look at Deadline’s Facebook page, there’s no mention of Harry in the description.” READ MORE: Harry and Meghan …

In Terrifying Audio, Police Desperately Try to Clear Bridge Before Impact

In Terrifying Audio, Police Desperately Try to Clear Bridge Before Impact

Published by skeptic

“The whole bridge just fell down!” Hacksaw Bridge Just before 1:30 am, a massive 95,000-ton cargo ship issued an urgent “mayday” signal, warning first responders to clear the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Moments later, the vessel smashed into a piling, sending several sections of the massive structure into the river below. Terrifying audio, uploaded by the YouTube channel Broadcastify and spotted by Business Insider, documents the harrowing moments leading up to the disaster, with officers desperately trying to clear the bridge. “I need one of you guys on the south side, one of you guys on the north side,” one officer said, roughly three minutes before the collision. “Hold all traffic on the key bridge.” “C-13 dispatch!” another officer exclaimed as the disaster unfolded. “The whole bridge just fell down! Star… whoever, everybody, the whole bridge just collapsed.” Stop All Traffic The radio messages paint a dire scene as officials try to get in touch with crew workers who were busy fixing potholes on the bridge at the time. “10-4, all traffic on the key …

4 Tiny Things Kids Desperately Need From Their Parents During Divorce | Cherie Morris

4 Tiny Things Kids Desperately Need From Their Parents During Divorce | Cherie Morris

Published by skeptic

If you’re separated and/or divorced, you surely have a lot to manage (logistically and emotionally). In addition to navigating the ups and downs of divorce yourself, if you have children, you’re likely worried about how they’re handling it, as well. The good news is — children of divorce can be just fine. It depends on how you manage yourself and how you navigate your interactions with them during this time of chaos. Here are the four things your children desperately need from you right now. Here are 4 things all kids desperately need from their parents during divorce: 1. They need you to love them as you always have You know your love for your children hasn’t changed and kids should know, by having you tell them explicitly, that you love them now as much as ever. RELATED: 3 Ways The Most Responsible Parents Protect Their Kids During Divorce 2. They need you to let them love their other parent openly and enthusiastically You are getting the divorce, not your kids. Although they may see you express emotion, and that is …

Sea cucumbers are the ‘scum suckers’ corals desperately need

Sea cucumbers are the ‘scum suckers’ corals desperately need

Published by skeptic

Coral reefs all over the world are in serious danger. However, a critical way to keep reefs healthy likely comes from a lowly animal, some of whom spray goo out of their butts in self-defense. According to a study published February 26 in the journal Nature Communications, about 25 percent of coral reef’s health is dependent on sea cucumbers that keep the reefs clean.  [Related: Surprise! These sea cucumbers glow.] Over harvesting a critical member of the reef Coral reefs currently face numerous threats, from ocean temperatures soaring to 100 degrees Fahrenheit to light harming their reproduction to bleaching. Reef health also may depend on sea cucumbers and the role that they play in the reef ecosystem. There are more than 1,200 species of sea cucumbers in the world’s oceans. These marine invertebrates can be less than an inch long up to six feet long and use their butts for both eating and breathing. They gobble up sediments on the ocean floor and on coral reefs similar to robot vacuum cleaners, sucking up, digesting, and …

Joe Biden gives the media a desperately needed lesson about Donald Trump

Joe Biden gives the media a desperately needed lesson about Donald Trump

Published by skeptic

The most disturbing thing I’ve ever heard a president say did not come from Donald Trump. It came from Joe Biden. Speaking with reporters in California on Thursday, the president said this about Donald Trump. “Two of your former colleagues not at the same network personally told me if he wins, they will have to leave the country because he’s threatened to put them in jail,” Biden told Katie Couric. “He embraces political violence,” Biden said of Trump “No president since the Civil War has done that. Embrace it. Encourages it.” Perhaps I should have been shocked at the revelation that Trump, should he return to power, would jail reporters. I wasn’t of course. I had to fight him (and beat him) three times in court during his first administration to keep my White House press pass. I had already privately heard Trump’s threats. It was just disturbing to hear Joe Biden confirm it publicly.   I have already been jailed four times trying to defend my First Amendment rights when I covered a criminal case in …

Northern Ireland Humanists | Five changes our education system desperately needs

Northern Ireland Humanists | Five changes our education system desperately needs

Published by Sam

With Stormont resuming after a 24-month hiatus and an Education Minister who has openly stated his creationist beliefs, we are highlighting five key changes Northern Ireland’s education system desperately needs if it is to catch up with modern society. 1) An end to ‘exclusively Christian’ Religious Education (RE) Four of the largest denominational churches dictate what children are taught in RE in Northern Ireland. The result? Education that focuses more on following ‘holy scripture’ than it does learning about people from different beliefs, including the non-religious (that’s 27% of the population). The recent court case in Northern Ireland said this was not compatible with human rights. 2) A new RE new curriculum following expert advice  We want the Education Minister to do what the Independent Review Panel said to do: to establish a new RE curriculum body and include non-religious perspectives, including humanism. It is time all schools taught an objective and pluralistic syllabus. Inclusive assemblies, not collective worship Goodbye, mandatory daily worship. Hello, inclusive assemblies! We want to replace the requirement for daily acts of Christian worship with assemblies appropriate …

Scientists Desperately Studying How to Hack Climate

Scientists Desperately Studying How to Hack Climate

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These projects are out of science fiction. Climate Boogaloo We are at the throw-the-kitchen-sink stage of our climate change crisis as researchers, backed by big money, are increasingly researching drastic, large-scale geoengineering methods that were once considered taboo because they involve tinkering with natural processes and their consequences are largely unknown, The Wall Street Journal reports. One project that is kicking off this summer tackles the problem of oceanic acidity. The more carbon dioxide our seas absorb, the more acidic our ocean becomes, which is really bad for marine life. In response, a $10 million project at Massachusetts’ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) involves researchers basically dumping thousands of gallons of an alkaline liquid solution — sodium hydroxide — into the sea near Martha’s Vineyard. “When you have heartburn, you eat a Tums that dissolves and makes the liquid in your stomach less acidic,” WHOI associate scientist and project leader Adam Subhas told the WSJ. “By analogy, we’re adding this alkaline material to seawater, and it is letting the ocean take up more CO2 without provoking …