Category: All Things Considered

Well it seems the network problem got fixed

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So for the past few weeks I’d been noticing between the hours of 19:30 hours and 20:30 house (That’s 7:30PM and 8:30PM – or if you prefer 23:30 to 00:30 UTC) my network connection through Cox Communications would go away for a couple minutes then come back.

So last night I logged into my firewall and watched the status page. First I noted DNS failed for YouTube and then I saw the IP address drop.

Once it came back up I tagged Cox Communications on Facebook. And wonder of wonders the problem didn’t happen this evening.

Amazing.

 

The Rovers still rove

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Some good news from NASA regarding the Mars Rovers.

I still find it amazing that those rovers were only supposed to be on the surface of Mars for 90 sols (Martian Days). They’ve now been up for 1,271 sols, or 14.1 times longer than they were supposed to be active.

Those rovers are a testament to engineering at its very best. It is nice to see that it still exists somewhere in the U.S. and NASA still pulls it off.

What I can’t imagine is the excess data being sent by the rovers. They had their hands full with 90 sols of info, now they’ve got much more than that. While the Viking landers may have found life, the rovers Opportunity and Spirit may help us get a much more focused picture of what that life on Mars actually happens to be.

So kudos to NASA and Steve Squyres on the re-starting of the rovers. For a while there I thought all was lost but it isn’t.

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Now playing: Jack Johnson – Better Together
via FoxyTunes

Atheist Brigade on NPR

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Oh my, this is good. All Things Considered has published the podcast of their show “Atheist Brigade Takes Arguments to the Tolerant”.

One of the initial quotes in the piece says that Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris wield logic like a bludgeon. A delightful way of saying that both are strident atheists.

Of course an earlier quote says that the new Atheist Brigade uses reason and ridicule, mostly ridicule. Of course religion is ridiculous, how can anyone not see that it is?

Look, belief in a sky fairy is ridiculous. It abdicates responsibility for self.