What is Critical Thinking?

Here is a short primer on critical thinking for you.

Mully410 Flickr Views Top 80,000

Whoville?
Originally uploaded by Mully410

This week, my Flickr photos exceeded 80,000 views. Wow! Thanks for viewing. Here is a run-down of some interesting bits about the 1788 public photos I've published on my photostream.

The above photo, Whoville?, is the most viewed photo. There have been nearly 3000 views of it so far.

55 of my photos have been tagged as favorites by people I don't even know. Thanks everyone! Here is the most favorited photo:

This Venus, Jupiter Moon conjunction is also the most interesting of my photos according to Flickr and has the most comments. Click here to view my "other people's favorites" set.

This photo below of Minnesota Viking Chester Taylor is modified with tiltshift maker and is the most up voted of my posts on Reddit.com with 68 ups and 18 downs.



And finally, this is my most popular video posted on Flickr:

See the Geminids Meteor Shower This Weekend

The Geminids are one of the best meteor showers. It comes around every December. The peak this year is around the 13th or 14th of December. Go here for everything you always wanted to know about the Geminids.

It will be cold here in Minnesota...duh...so dress warm. Once you think you have all your warmest clothing on, put on some more. Then get in a sleeping bag and relax in your lawn chair around 8pm. Recliners work best. Face easterly and kickback.

Don't let the picture of telescopes fool you. Using a telescope or binoculars for meteor showers is pointless and ineffective.

Minneapolis Skeptics - Drinking Skeptically- December 10 - Note the New Venue!

Announcing a new Meetup for Minneapolis Skeptics!

What: Minneapolis Skeptics - Drinking Skeptically- December 10 - Note the New Venue!

When: December 10, 2009 5:00 PM

Where:
Be'Wiched Deli
800 Washington Ave. North
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612.767.4330

Our regular venue got booked before I could reserve it for December. Thanks to one our our esteemed members, I think I found a suitable replacement at Be'Wiched Deli. (anyone detect the irony?) They don't have a private room like Common Roots but they will block off a section for us. Check out their website: http://www.bewicheddeli.com/

As you already know, we don't always have a topic or formal discussion at our Drinking Skeptically events. 'Tis the season and all that so why don't we bring our favorite Christmas woo-woo. It could be implausible gift items, strange myths or idiotic predictions. Religion is an easy target, especially at this time of year, so let's try to be more creative and find some other ridiculous topics.

Learn more here:
http://www.meetup.com/Minneapolis-Skeptics/calendar/11915538/

Touchdown-Tiltshift

touchdown-tiltshift
Originally uploaded by Mully410

Minnesota Viking, Chester Taylor, stretches for a touchdown in this 2008 pre-season game versus the Seattle Seahawks. This Tilt-Shift modified photo got over 700 views in just a few hours. Tilt-Shift Maker alters your photos as if you used a tilt-shift lens. This makes the subjects of the photo appear to be tiny action figures. My favorite one is the wagon teams at the state fair.

Please vote up Chester Taylor at Reddit! Thanks!

Critical Thinking Club, St. Paul - Bah! Humbug! A critical look at charitable giving

Here are the details for another timely topic at the Critical Thinking Club of St. Paul. I have struggled to find many suitably secular charities. I wonder if this will help:

In 2008, charitable giving to 1,514,821 tax-exempt organizations amounted to more than $300 billion or 2.2 percent of our GDP. Nancy L. Raybin, chair of Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Non-Profits confirms the public’s perceived magnanimity of this statistic, “… the American public agrees with us that charitable giving is an integral part of the country’s economic fabric.” Charitable giving has become a sacred cow that only Scrooge would dare to question. In this interactive presentation, we will critically examine charitable giving, keeping in mind that the Critical Thinking Club is one of those 1,514,821 tax-exempt organizations.

Critical Thinking Club, St. Paul
Location: Kelly Inn, Rice Street and I-94
Date: December 13, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m. to Noon
Presenter: Dr. Laura Hutt
Topic: “Bah! Humbug!” A critical look at charitable giving

Breakfast Buffet $10.00 Coffee only $3.00. We need to plan for the room setup and meal, so if you are going to attend, please RSVP to criticalthinkingclub@gmail.com by the end of the day Thursday.

For meeting announcements for all Critical Thinking Club chapters, bookmark http://www.crest-o-the-hill.org/CTC/index.htm

Intolerant? I hope so.

I'm not a big fan of the hard-core militant tone of this guy but I have to admit that I got a bit inspired by this video. He makes some interesting points. Go ahead and watch the video and I'll make some comments below:



The manner that this guy presents his beliefs is too aggressive, almost scary, for my tastes. As the chief organizer of Minneapolis Skeptics, I do my best to tone down the anti-religion rhetoric and believe I've been successful for the most part. I want our group to focus on skepticism and education. As skeptics we must be open to changing our minds when presented with evidence. I have yet to see convincing evidence for a god/God/gods but am open to it. However such an extraordinary claim will require very extraordinary evidence. Something along the lines of Morgan Freeman granting me super powers or compelling me to build an ark while animals follow me around. I'm not holding out much hope of that happening.

That said...I am intolerant towards: racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-science crackpots, anti-vaxers, Oprah, closed mindedness, faith healers, psychics, astrologists, chiropractors, Nazis, murder, theft, cheating, conspiracy theorists, homeopathy, starvation, dictators, stupidity, genocide and those fucking annoying holiday diamond/jewelry commercials on TV.

Happy Thanksgiving - Here are some Turkeys

Yes wild turkeys can fly. Turn down your sound because the wind on my mic may be annoying.

Galileoscope Review

Note the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe Sticker

As you know, my Galileoscopes finally showed up last week. The first night I viewed Jupiter. It's particularly bright this time of year and is visible from my backyard. The Galileoscope gave me a pretty clear view of 3 of Jupiter's moons. I checked my StarmapPro app and saw one of the moons was either in front of or behind Jupiter that night. Most of the time I can see 4 moons with my binoculars. Jupiter was shrouded in what appears to be a fuzzy smudge around the edges. I wonder if I got a finger print on one of the lenses. Regardless, I think I could barely see some tan in the disc of Jupiter. I've seen it a lot in bigger scopes so perhaps my mind was playing tricks or the atmosphere wasn't cooperating. I'll keep trying.

Last night, I trekked a couple blocks from my house to catch ISS and Atlantis fly by. After that, I stuck the Galileoscope on the tripod. The first thing I noticed was: my tripod isn't very stable. The brisk wind giggled it around pretty good. In between wind gusts, I got a very nice view of the crescent Moon. Very good detail of the craters and shadows. The earth-shine was also impressive through the scope. I looking forward to night with a full moon. The fuzzy apparition around Jupiter was still present. I'm thinking of taking the scope apart to clean the lens but I really don't want to cut the stickers. Perhaps I'll build the spare and see how well that works.

I was only using the 25X setup because I heard negative feedback on the 2X barlow.

I've been toying with the idea of getting a decent telescope so this was a great learning experience for me. I definitely do not want a refractor like the Galileoscope. It's too difficult to maneuver my body around to see high in the sky targets through the eyepiece. I'm also having second thoughts on a dobsonian mount for a big reflector. It's a trade-off though. Dobs mounts are cheaper which means more money for aperture. Bigger aperture means more light. hmmm. I'll probably keep thinking about it and saving my money. A nice 8" or 10" on an equatorial mount is too much for my budget at this time (although I'm open for a Christmas present).

International Space Station and Space Shuttle Atlantis Flew by my Neighborhood

ISS Atlantis
Originally uploaded by Mully410

I hope you got out to view the ISS and Shuttle tonight. I warned you yesterday. I waved at all the astronauts when they flew near my house tonight. They probably didn't see me because it was quite dark out and they were about 800 miles away. The above is the first shot I took (click it to embiggen). My camera shutter only stays open long enough to get a short streak of light. Go here for the full set. I also have some pics of ISS with Endeavour attached from earlier this year and some shots of ISS with Discovery trailing from about a year ago.