richard dawkins: the evolution of the eye

on the daily motion, bang goes the theory:


richard dawkins explains evolution of the eye

also on RDF.

malleabili

like it? click it!
press 'L' to embiggen in the dark.

view of a structure found at the national technical university of athens' department of architecture. the location is geomapped.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

do physicists believe in god?

here's a sample...



via pharyngula

anger

click
or embiggen, if you must.

no.. not his. mine.

the greek people are being asked told to sacrifice, yet this kind of nonsense continues to plague the country.

no, i don't understand -- and i hope i never do.

this is a statue of archbishop damaskinos papandreou on mitropoleos square in athens, greece, geotagged... and, of course, the image is no reflection on the person.

his personality is irrelevant.

somehow, greek public life must extricate itself from its religious institutions.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

divine impulses: christopher hitchens on a lifetime spent rebuking 'supernatural and superstitious claims'

this is part 5/5:



previous parts here:
part 1
parts 2 and 3
part 4

©2010 helen sotiriadis

modern theology

modern theology is what you get after science has painted religion into a corner, exposing it for the barren wasteland that it is. modern theology is the indignant fury of an idea whose time is over, dissipating under the scrutiny of reason and logic.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

the fragrant sunset

like it? click it!
embiggen

another image from the archives: bei hai with the white pagoda and the sun setting behind xiang shan gong yuan [video from the fragrant hills]. shot from jing shan gong yuan, the hill directly north of the forbidden city, beijing, china, on may 24th, 2008.

this image was shot just a bit after this one, but processed last night. i wish i'd known more about photography then.

this is geotagged, looking northwest.


©2010 helen sotiriadis

danbo squared

like it? click it!
press 'L' to embiggen.

danbo is happy when she's sad, and sad, when happy.

horizontal and vertical reflections with two pieces of tinted glass.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

oh my god!

it's black&white



via pharyngula

eye contact

like it? click it!
embiggen

i shot this with the canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro plus a marumi close-up +4 filter, using EOS utility's remote live view. you can see the reflection of my eye in the software window on the monitor.

you can also see my contact lens.

i started out trying one of those super-close-ups of the iris, but it really isn't that interesting so i backed off.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

divine impulses: christopher hitchens, on what religious people say about his diagnosis

part 4/5, on what religious people say about his diagnosis:



previous post

©2010 helen sotiriadis

your facade

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with apologies to master rita vita finzi.

no, it's not like that, but i'm in a tearing-down mood; however, the colors are straight out of the camera.

at kosmopolis center on kifisias avenue in marousi, athens, greece, geotagged.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

divine impulses: more with christopher hitchens

i've already posted part 1/5 here.

here are two more parts:

2/5, divine impulses: christopher hitchens on 'the false promise of eternity':



part 3/5, divine impulses: christopher hitchens on his life's work, is not embeddable yet, but i'll add it as soon as it's available. link here.

EDIT: embedded:

diasyndesis

like it? click it!
embiggen

yesterday i had to teach till 10pm. when i finally got home, i still wanted to busy myself with photography but had done no shooting all day, so i started digging deep into my archive of RAWs -- and thankfully i'm an image packrat and almost never delete a capture.

that was a painful experience -- how awful the images are! i started shooting regularly in china, but not only did i know next to nothing, i had no idea what i didn't know. i'm thankful that i started, and i can see i've improved, so i guess i shouldn't feel so bad, but really, so few frames are salvageable!

then this morning, i saw a wonderful video by lisa greenfield, called the future of the brain, that immediately flew and embedded itself into my blog, all about the mind, the brain and how its structure defines us. i knew most of this information already, but the video presented things in a comprehensive manner and i enjoyed it thoroughly. together with the improvement of my skills that i perceived last night, it gave me a very deep insight into the nature of our existence, the plasticity of minds, and why we should substitute anger with compassion for others who don't think like we do.

the structure of beijing's bird nest kind of reminded me of interconnections, thus the title from the corresponding word in greek.

i've geotagged this on flickr.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

lunar halo with jupiter

i wish i'd captured this, but i didn't.

this beautiful image of an ice halo around the moon, accompanied by beautiful jupiter, is brought to you by physicist and photographer jonathan shock, who has a wonderful habit of looking up at the sky.


click image to source or embiggen

want more? check out his other images of halos!
used with permission, so thanks, jon.

susan greenfield: the future of the brain

susan greenfield: the future of the brain
- watch more tech videos at vodpod.

thank you, richard prins

the end of god?

a horizon guide to science and religion



via RDFRS

why you should read science fiction

two bits from literary saturday: science fiction is a genre that everyone should read by walter russell mead:

'science fiction is perhaps best understood by an alternative name for the genre: speculative fiction. it is fiction that asks questions about the human condition and the meaning of life by taking us beyond everyday life. we go to strange planets, far distant futures or even to our own past — in order to learn about who we really are. science fiction takes its readers to far off galaxies in order to help them understand life on earth more clearly.'

and

'we are locked into twentieth century institutions and twentieth century habits of mind. science fiction is the literary genre (ok, true, sometimes a subliterary genre) where the social imagination is being cultivated and developed. young people should read this genre to help open their minds to the extraordinary possibilities that lie before us; we geezers should read it for the same reason. the job of our times is to build a radically new world; speculative fiction helps point the way.'

read the rest...

via io9

daniel dennett: thank goodness for christopher hitchens

on on faith, the washington post.

'if you insist on keeping the myth of the effectiveness of prayer alive, you owe the rest of us a justification in the face of the evidence. pending such a justification, i will excuse you for indulging in your tradition; i know how comforting tradition can be. but i want you to recognize that what you are doing is morally problematic at best.'

and

'those of us rooting for christopher hitchens in his contest with cancer are an open-minded multitude; we wish him the best, not just because we appreciate his great contributions in the past and his talent for giving delight, but because we need him for our future endeavors. he is a most valuable player. and we welcome the prayers of those on the other side of the field as a generous-spirited gesture rather like applauding the injured player on the other team. it is also, of course, a sincere indication that hitch has not yet persuaded them of the futility of what they do. fair enough. stay tuned.'

read it all here.

seed: the divided mind

'science is littered with similarly discredited theories; the soul is one of them.'

'there is a common idea: because the mind seems unified, it really is. many go only a bit further and call that unified mind a “soul.” this step, from self to soul, is an ancient assumption which now forms a bedrock in many religions: a basis for life after death, for religious morality, and a little god within us, a support for a bigger god outside us.

for the believers in the soul, let’s call them soulists, the soul assumption appears to be only the smallest of steps from the existence of a unified mind. yet the soul is a claim for which there isn’t any evidence. today, there isn’t even evidence for that place soulists step off from, the unified mind. neurology and neuroscience, working unseen over the past century, have eroded these ideas, the soul and the unified mind, down to nothing. experiences certainly do feel unified, but to accept these feelings as reality is a mistake. often, the way things feel has nothing to do with how they are.'

the entire piece, here.
via pharyngula.

the black cat

like it? click it!
embiggen.

... and other stories by edgar allan poe.

relaxing at a bookstore in athens.

speaking of books, have you checked out mine?

©2010 helen sotiriadis

christopher hitchens on 'pray for hitchens day'

via AP

:: fifty bits to make you wonder ::

hold on here... what's this?


click!
embiggen in the dark

i made a book!

:: fifty bits to make you wonder :: is a 110-page 25×20 cm [10×8 in] book with fifty images and the briefest of commentaries. anyone who follows my blog knows i like to share what i see and this is yet another medium for just that. you can preview this on the widget below or here -- and, if you have a large enough monitor, you can hit full screen and even read it!

blurb is a print-on-demand self-publishing service: you can order as many -- or as few -- as you like. my copy is hardcover imagewrap with premium paper, and it looks and feels very nice. if you want to order one, it's available here!

i'm toying with the idea of doing more. if you disregard the effort for the images themselves, it wasn't hard to do, and it was really a lot of fun!

:: fifty bits to make you wonder :: by helen sotiriadis | make your own book

©2010 helen sotiriadis

subway science

i'll be getting off at the next station.


click it -- it's huge!
by crispian jago
via bOING bOING

star trek commercial in germany

♪♪fly me to the moon♪♪♪



via the bad astronomer

christopher hitchens on preparing for life and death

part 1 of 5, on divine impulses, on the washington post.
part 2 on tuesday.

EDIT: two more parts linked/embedded here.



via daily hitchens

pray for me? christopher hitchens? ... by christopher hitchens

on the washington post.

'the deity whose intercession is being implored is claimed to be omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. it is fully aware of the situation. it can make me a believer if it chooses, or wave away my carcinoma. why should it be swayed by the entreaties of other sinners? my provisional conclusion is that those who practice incantations are doing so as much for their sake as mine: no harm in that to be sure and likely to produce just as much of a result.'

succinctly, here.

reflections of blue

like it? click it!
embiggen in the dark.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

pictures from 'protest the pope 2010'

this series of images was shot by richard heeks. they're great to look through to see the people and the signs were holding, highlighting the issues they care about. you can find the entire set, along with a description of his experience, here.



all images used with permission... so thank you, richard!

EDIT and note: if you have the time/inclination to do so, please tag the names of the speakers on the images? much obliged...

richard dawkins: ratzinger is an enemy of humanity

this is the full intended speech, as posted on the richard dawkins foundation for reason and science, corresponding to the video i embedded earlier.

just a snip:

'it would be unkind to prolong this point, but ratzinger’s speech in edinburgh on thursday was so disgraceful, so hypocritical, so redolent of the sound of stones hurled from within a glass house, i felt that i had to reply.

even if hitler had been an atheist – as stalin more surely was – how dare ratzinger suggest that atheism has any connection whatsoever with their horrific deeds? any more than hitler and stalin’s non-belief in leprechauns or unicorns. any more than their sporting of a moustache – along with franco and saddam hussein. there is no logical pathway from atheism to wickedness. unless, that is, you are steeped in the vile obscenity at the heart of catholic theology. i refer (and i am indebted to paula kirby for the point) to the doctrine of original sin. these people believe – and they teach this to tiny children, at the same time as they teach them the terrifying falsehood of hell – that every baby is “born in sin”. that would be adam’s sin, by the way: adam who, as they themselves now admit, never existed. original sin means that, from the moment we are born, we are wicked, corrupt, damned. unless we believe in their god. or unless we fall for the carrot of heaven and the stick of hell. that, ladies and gentleman, is the disgusting theory that leads them to presume that it was godlessness that made hitler and stalin the monsters that they were. we are all monsters unless redeemed by jesus. what a vile, depraved, inhuman theory to base your life on.'

but the full piece here.

vision

like it? click it!
embiggen

danbo's greedy -- she's always lusting for more gear. little does she know that the thing that makes her images special, is her vision.

camera miniature with interchangeable lenses, from photojojo. of course, it's conen.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

does atheism poison everything?

a debate between david berlinski and christopher hitchens, on september 7th, 2010, in birmingham, alabama, on c-span.


click to view at source

a much-awaited video, a sunday treat.

richard dawkins at protest the pope rally in london sept2010

update: full speech with a better view here




----------

link



and on bbc news

leonard mlodinow: god is unnecessary

speaking about his collaboration with stephen hawking, the grand design, on keith olbermann:

burnett trek

i love star trek -- i love carol burnett.... so, obviously:

lake marathon: after the storm

like it? click it!
embiggen

after months of incessantly clear -- yet boring -- skies, we finally had a thunderstorm and enough clouds to make an interesting sunset.



this is geotagged on flickr.
more marathon.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

ipad light painting

making future magic, at vimeo:



this is the first time, perhaps, i've felt tempted to buy something ipad-like... or maybe a netbook would do just as well?

via digital learning foundation

selective skepticism

i've been thinking about a post by d.j. grothe and the conversation that followed, as, for instance, on the friendly atheist, about people who claim to be skeptics, yet won't give up their pet beliefs, such as their religions or some kind of woo...

so... how does the term selective skeptic strike you?

jesus&mo: nazi

click to view at source

jump!

like it? click it!
embiggen

i was tempted to lazily entitle this, vertigo but, you see, there's this:

'i've heard an idea proposed, i've no idea how seriously, to account for the sensation of vertigo. it's an idea that i instinctively like and it goes like this. the dizzy sensation we experience when standing in high places is not simply a fear of falling. it's often the case that the only thing likely to make us fall is the actual dizziness itself, so it is, at best, an extremely irrational, even self-fulfilling fear. however, in the distant past of our evolutionary journey toward our current state, we lived in trees. we leapt from tree to tree. there are even those who speculate that we may have something birdlike in our ancestral line. in which case, there may be some part of our mind that, when confronted with a void, expects to be able to leap out into it and even urges us to do so. so what you end up with is a conflict between a primitive, atavistic part of your mind which is saying "jump!" and the more modern, rational part of your mind which is saying, "for christ's sake, don't!" in fact, vertigo is explained by some not as the fear of falling, but as the temptation to jump!'
- douglas adams

errands led me to the center of athens which has its fair share of older buildings. this is not the greatest of specimens, but i couldn't let it pass me by. geotagged on flickr.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

just desserts

like it? click it!
embiggen in the dark

quick... hide! it's the grammar police!

millefeuille procured at despina's at erithrea, athens, greece, geotagged at flickr, a perfect encore to the day's meal.

i don't normally edit in picnik, but i liked the ortonish effect on this one.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

sugata mitra's new experiments in self-teaching

a teacher that can be replaced by a machine, should be. - arthur c clark



'two children watch a TEDtalk. they wanted to be footballers before. after watching 8 TEDtalks, they wanted to become leonardo da vinci.'

speculation: education is a self organising system, where learning is an emergent phenomenon.

book burning etc

at theage:

'the texan pastor's moved on from the koran to a pyre of the god delusion.

in scenes of calm bemusement not seen in the lower united states since john scopes taught innocent schoolchildren evolution, it was reported yesterday that pastor terry jones had given up on his plans to burn 200 korans and was instead planning to incite atheists by soaking a gross of richard dawkins's the god delusion in moonshine and putting a match to them.

atheists, who hadn't been expected to come out in pick-up trucks with gun racks on their rear windows and circle his church with their engines revving like goaded rottweilers, didn't.'

and

'salman rushdie, from a safe-house in greenland, has called for calm and offered pastor jones a truckload of his novel the satanic verses to burn in place of the other texts. he said this should just about satisfy all parties, and if he can't win the nobel prize for literature, then he might as well get it for peace.

"my books have been smoked in both hemispheres," salman said, "so i'm not as easy to upset as some of these one-off authors like mohammed and god."'

the entire giggle here.

via the friendly atheist.

argentina

like it? click it!
embiggen in the dark

for omnivores.

on the menu:
two salads
fries
salsa
tzatziki
the best steak i know

we got to it before the camera came out.

at argentina restaurant, at kalentzi, marathon, greece, geotagged on flickr.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

polly toynbee: sex and death lie at the poisoned heart of religion

at the guardian...

'women's bodies are the common battleground, symbols of all religions' authority and identity. cover them up with veil or burka, keep them from the altar, shave their heads, give them ritual baths, church them, make them walk a step behind, subject them to men's authority, keep priests celibately free of women, unclean and unworthy. eve is the cause of all temptation in abrahamic faiths. only by suppressing women can priests and imams hold down the power of sex, the flesh and the devil.'

and

'atheists are good haters, they [theists] claim, but feeble compared with the religious sects. atheists have dried-up souls, without spiritual or visionary transcendentalism. to which we say: the human imagination is all we need to hold in awe. live in optimism without fear of judgment and death. there is enough purpose and meaning in life, love and leaving a good legacy. oppose the danger of religious zealotry with the liberating belief that life on earth is precious because this here and now is all there is, and our destiny is in our own hands.'

the entire piece is here.

spring into fall

like it? click it!
embiggen

it's geotagged on flickr.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

gods of science: stephen hawking and brian cox discuss mind over matter

click image to source
here's a bit of the conversation:

<quote>

what is the one bit of science from your field that you think everyone should know?

stephen hawking: science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.

brian cox: that's a wonderfully provocative sentence, actually. a beautiful answer. it's interesting, because you have previously used the word god in a similar way, in my view, to einstein. i am thinking of phrases like "knowing the mind of god", which you used in a brief history of time. in my opinion, einstein was using the word god as a shorthand to convey the majesty and beauty of the laws of physics, and did not intend this to be taken as a sign that he subscribed to a particular religious doctrine. is this the sense in which you have used the term before, and are you trying to clear up any misunderstandings caused by your previous use of the word "god", or have i read too much into your answer?

sh: in a brief history of time i used the word "god" like einstein did as a shorthand for the laws of physics. however, this is not what most people mean by god, so i have decided not to use the term. the laws of physics can explain the universe without the need for a god.

</quote>

i can't know what has happened to make hawking want clarify his view of god -- but his recent statements follow this conversation between him and richard dawkins. in this segment, dawkins explained why he believed that hawking's use of the word god allowed others to exploit and quote mine his writing. my speculation: perhaps hawking only recently realized that it would be better to make his views unambiguous.

audio and transcript on the guardian.

mr.G crosses lake marathon

yesterday we decided to take a drive over to lake marathon [do you know where the word originates?] for a change of scenery and to visit a restaurant i've been meaning to return to for ages. a thunderstorm broke along the way... we'd had some rain about a week ago, but this was the first precipitation you could really sink your teeth into. actually, it was downright dangerous driving for a while there.

but now i think my car is clean.

we had a lovely lunch/dinner and then returned to the lake for some photography.

the lake is actually a reservoir dam. the top of the dam serves as a curved bridge for cars and pedestrians. it's only one lane, so there's a traffic light to control the two directions.

i'm fascinated by this curve and often wonder how to shoot it. yesterday i came up with these.

for some shots, i crouched down low, as i tend to do. as always, it looked peculiar, so, towards the end of my shoot, the guard called to me.

...yes...?

what are you shooting?

the bridge.

why?

i like its geometry.

people usually take a picture of the lake -- not the geometry.

so?

well, it's ok -- but you can't blame me for needing to check.

do you want to see my shots?

no, it's ok.

really? i'm proud of some of them.

no.

are you sure??

no... no...

and he went back into his little office.

i've added this to flickr's map.

playing with BW:


like it? click it!
embiggen

i kind of like the color, square crop too:



closing in with narrow DoF:











©2010 helen sotiriadis

the money tree

$US

sunday queue

queues can be aggravating -- a nightmare... a waste of time... there has to be a better way.

probably.

but, when there's lack of a better way, queues are a sign of civilization... they are indications of mutual respect. they're deeply egalitarian: it doesn't matter who you are, or what you own, if you need a service that has a queue, you stand in line just like everyone else.

have you tried to buy a ticket to the beijing zoo in china? it's a zoo. there's no line... just a mass of people crowding in front of the window. you have to be highly assertive to get to the window without being pushed around. well, i tried in 2007-2008... maybe things have improved there now. after all, they were aware of the issue and they did try change it.

i stayed up late last night doing (what else?) some processing on the day's harvest of pictures, so obviously i was going to sleep in. and i did. at around elevenish, i got up to a symphony of shouting, name-calling and intentionally long-lasting honking over which i drowsily inquired, WTF?

it looks like there's going to be yet another strike somewhere along the chain of distribution for gasoline, which obviously means that the station at the corner across the street is very busy pumping away in an attempt to serve the long line of cars waiting to fill'er'up.

ah... but this is greece, and the station is on a corner... which also means that a few highly clever individuals are attempting to cut in from the intersecting street... inevitably leading to fighting and yelling and horns.

the drivers in the queue proper are mad! they've been waiting a long time! but the cutter-inners, well, 'who says the line is from over there?'

'you're smart and we're malakes*?'

'right now, you're teaching your child that it's ok to cheat.'

well, actually, yes -- that's exactly what these people are teaching their children.

so the bickering and honking goes on and on... i've been going through my email... and it's now half-past noon... and it looks like it'll stop when the station finally sells it all.

am i naive in suspecting that this is going on all over the country? in the birthplace of democracy, a group of people are incapable of respecting a simple queue. isn't it ironic..?

well, i suppose i shouldn't complain too much. at least i don't live near a sunday-morning-bell-ringing-state-endorsed-church.

©2010 helen sotiriadis


* a word that means all sorts of things, take your pick. -- in this context, it means sucker.

identity crisis

toomanytribbles.blogspot.com is probably written by a male somewhere between 26-35 years old. the writing style is academic and happy most of the time.

yeah, right... and i bet the friendly atheist is a little old lady.

quick atheist quotes.

chock full of good ones.

4000 posts

i just realized i've published 4020 blog posts!
some of it's my material, most of it's just spreading worthy memes.

i think it's a good thing to do.

new york by the photograph(ers)

the power of photography can't be denied.



via mojoey and his deep thoughts.

titans of science: david attenborough meets richard dawkins

of mind and matter, on the guardian


click image to source
here's an attenborough snip:
'a physicist will tell me that this armchair is made of vibrations and that it's not really here at all. but when samuel johnson was asked to prove the material existence of reality, he just went up to a big stone and kicked it. i'm with him.'

and dawkins, to attenborough, about the title of dawkins' forthcoming children's book:
'OK. well, you're rather dissing my title...'

read the entire exchange here.

the audio is here.

.. and here is dawkins' critique of the setup for the conversation: an opportunity missed

ozzy

like it? click it!
embiggen in the dark.

it's encouraging to see today's youth develop a deep appreciation for the classics!

ozzy osbourne's going to appear in athens on sept.25th.

in other news, sir henry b., a.k.a. henry beutler, kindly invited me to exhibit some of my work at his flickr group, sir henry and co. you can check it out here!

the first klingon opera

on the rachel maddow show:

visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

also on BBC news

2010 astronomy photographer of the year winners

the winners of the royal observatory of greenwich's 2010 astronomy photographer of the year have been announced!


image by anthony ayiomamitis

i'm so excited to see anthony ayiomamitis' capture of the moon at poseidon's temple at cape sounion in greece among the winners, as we were shooting together that night... the difference being, he knew what he was doing!

click here to see a beautiful slideshow of the images at BBC news!

free your mind, yet again

i made this back in 2007 -- now we're well on our way to 1000 blogs on mojoey's atheist blogroll. i've posted it twice before, but so what? here it is a third time:



the music's from BSG...

mr. credulous

read it here!
via the friendly atheist

danbo through the looking glass

like it? click it!
embiggen

she'll do anything for a picture... even stand on her head.

danbo, with some of her favorite bookeh, seen through her tack sharp canon ef 100mm/f2.8 macro usm lens, as captured by my 50mm/f1.4.

i'm wondering if you can make out some of the books...? nah...

©2010 helen sotiriadis

curvation

like it? click it!
embiggen

©2010 helen sotiriadis

the VLT at night

i've become greedy... but just look at this:


on flickr

used with permission [thank you].
photographer: josefrancisco salgado

ALMA 16-17 June 2010

flickr

used with permission [thank you].
photographer: josefrancisco salgado

happy 44th, star trek

the man trap, season 1, episode 1, aired september 8th, 1966:



the day we all started to play with gene's sandbox.

athens: a quiet seaside village...

... flanked with white marble columns, where greeks dine on ambrosia.


like it? click it!
embiggen

<quote>

the greek state was not just corrupt but also corrupting. once you saw how it worked you could understand a phenomenon which otherwise made no sense at all: the difficulty greek people have saying a kind word about one another. individual greeks are delightful: funny, warm, smart, and good company. i left two dozen interviews saying to myself, “what great people!” they do not share the sentiment about one another: the hardest thing to do in greece is to get one greek to compliment another behind his back. no success of any kind is regarded without suspicion. everyone is pretty sure everyone is cheating on his taxes, or bribing politicians, or taking bribes, or lying about the value of his real estate. and this total absence of faith in one another is self-reinforcing. the epidemic of lying and cheating and stealing makes any sort of civic life impossible; the collapse of civic life only encourages more lying, cheating, and stealing. lacking faith in one another, they fall back on themselves and their families.

the structure of the greek economy is collectivist, but the country, in spirit, is the opposite of a collective. its real structure is every man for himself. into this system investors had poured hundreds of billions of dollars. and the credit boom had pushed the country over the edge, into total moral collapse.

</quote>

dedicated to all my friends who wished they were here.

geotagged on flickr.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

spiral-tuality xlix

an extraordinary celestial spiral:


©2010 helen sotiriadis

info at hubble

a laser strike at the galactic center

at apod:


yuri beletsky(ESO)

religion is like a penis

no, really.
at eine frage von stil



via joe. my. god.

heavy. metal.

like it? click it!
embiggen, in the dark

©2010 helen sotiriadis

the death star over san francisco

imperial fleet week



via the radula

dear christopher hitchens...

on vanity fair.
very cool.

sneaky

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sneakers?
running shoes?
trainers?
...what are they called in your part of the world..?

shot at thissio station, athens, greece.

geotagged on flickr.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

shop 'till you drop

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at monastiraki, athens, greece, geotagged on flickr.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

shatner as spock

well, not really but pretty close:


click image to source
at soul of star trek

the seven ages of the body

from the video description:

'dr john robb is an archaeologist and has been studying how people have understood the human body over the last 10,000 years.

"it may seem surprising to think the human body has a history. we take it for granted it's a material thing, it's just there"

over time his research shows the body has been seen and portrayed in different ways: the body as an animal, the body politicised, god's body, the body as a machine and as a simultaneous mixture of the above.'

god's response to stephen hawking

at macleod cartoons:


click to read at source

via sentient developments

£20 million

hmmm.... £20 million.... £20 million..... what could i do with £20 million............?

a correlation between poverty and religiosity

click to source

greece and the US are in the same quadrant.

click over to jerry coyne's blog to view large with an analysis.

buy another little piece of my home now, baby

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does it make you feel good?

i'm not a flag person. fortunately, i've had too many waving over my head.

i shot this at monastiraki in athens, greece.

©2010 helen sotiriadis

carl sagan tribute series

that first video was beautiful -- it's now part of a series, which has, till now, 4 parts, added in the playlist below. i'll add more if they're uploaded.

an updated introduction to 'the god delusion'

by richard dawkins

engage!

via gizmodo

jesus&mo: exist

laplace, darwin, hawking...
je n'ai pas eu besoin de cette hypothèse


click to read at source

homesick

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the title's got nothing to do with the image. i just am.

©2010 helen sotiriadis