Stephen Hawking, and a poll

March 14, 2018 • 12:00 pm

I have to admit at the outset that I’ve never read a single book by Stephen Hawking. Although I know of his accomplishments in physics, including his work on black holes, his idea that the universe began as a singularity, and so on, I never read a single one of his seven popular books (or 5 coauthored books, not to mention his five children’s books written with his daughter). But his willingness to keep on doing physics, despite 55 years of being debilitated by ALS (surely a record), made him a very admirable man.

You can read the New York Times obituary by clicking on this picture:

Most of us know Hawking as an atheist, and that’s how he saw himself, though his occasional and unwise use of “God” metaphors prompted the faithful to embrace him. Wikipedia says this about his lack of faith:

Hawking stated that he was “not religious in the normal sense” and he believed that “the universe is governed by the laws of science”. Hawking stated:

There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.

In 2008, Hawking stated, “The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws”. In an interview published in The Guardian, Hawking regarded the concept of heaven as a myth, believing that there is “no heaven or afterlife” and that such a notion was a “fairy story for people afraid of the dark”.  In 2011, when narrating the first episode of the American television series Curiosity on the Discovery Channel, Hawking declared:

We are each free to believe what we want and it is my view that the simplest explanation is there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization. There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that, I am extremely grateful.

In September 2014 he joined the Starmus Festival as keynote speaker and declared himself an atheist.[313] In an interview with El Mundo, he commented:

Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by ‘we would know the mind of God’ is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn’t. I’m an atheist.

Here’s a poll based on the claim that Hawking’s books, especially A Brief History of Time, are the most popular unread science books in history:

It’s Pi Day!

March 14, 2018 • 10:15 am

Having consumed my share of Costco pies the last few weeks (they’re good, too!), I’m happy to report that it’s Pi Day, celebrated with the following Google Doodle (click on screenshot to go to the Doodle site):

Google itself explains the Doodle here, adding a video and, at the link, a recipe for a scrumptious salted-caramel apple pie. I hope at least one reader makes it:

Happy Pi Day!

Celebrated each year on March 14th (3.14), Pi Day is dedicated to the mathematical constant, Pi. First recognized 30 years ago in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw, Pi Day observers often celebrate with a slice of their favorite pie in honor of the number’s delicious sounding name.

Notated by the Greek letter “𝛑”, pi represents the ratio between a circle’s circumference (perimeter) to its diameter (distance from side to side passing through the center), and is a fundamental element of many mathematical fields, most significantly Geometry. Though modern mathematicians have calculated more than one TRILLION decimal places beyond the standard “3.14,” pi is an irrational number that continues on to infinity! It’s an important ingredient in the formula for the area of a circle, A=𝛑r².

Today’s delectable Doodle – baked & built by award-winning pastry chef and creator of the Cronut® Dominique Ansel – pays homage to this well-rounded mathematical constant by representing the pi formula (circumference divided by diameter) using — what else — pie!

Go behind-the-scenes of today’s Doodle below!

By the way, has anybody ever proven that pi must be an irrational number? Or did it just work out that way?

Note that Pi Day can only apply in parts of the world where they write March 14 as 3/14/20-; most of the world does it wrong, using 14/3/20. Such parts of the world can have NO Pi day, and therefore they don’t deserve pie.

Note, though, that this Doodle’s reach extends much wider than that of a regular Doodle. Only sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and, curiously, Norway and Finland lack the Doodle and and, apparently, pies:

Here are the favorite pies of Professor Ceiling Cat (Emeritus); I am leaving out savory pies:

Malgorzata’s fresh cherry pie made with walnut crust

Pear cream-cheese pie

Peanut-butter/chocolate cream pie

Key lime pie, but only when made with real Key Limes rather than bottled juice. The pie is not nearly as good when made with regular (“Persian”) limes.  There are only a few places in America where you can get the real thing in a restaurant (Manny and Isa’s in Islamorada Florida, on the Keys, used to be one of them, but I don’t know if it’s still there); but you can make it using the tiny Key limes available in many high-class markets.

Blueberry pie, especially when made at Helen’s Restaurant, in Machias, Maine, where they use lowbush blueberries (the small ones) and heap a mixture of cooked and fresh blueberries into an open-top crust, slathering a thick layer of whipped cream all over the top.  Here’s a piece. Hungry?

What’s yours? Anybody eating pie today? I doubt I’ll get the chance.

 

Wednesday: Hili dialogue

March 14, 2018 • 6:30 am

by Grania

While Jerry is gallivanting around I’m in charge of putting up the Hili Dialogues. Good morning from a dark and gloomy Ireland where it is actually trying to snow again.

There is sad news this morning: scientist Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76, which is a respectable age for any human to attain, and all the more so in his case as he had suffered from ALS for over five decades. People are paying tribute to his life and his work over on Twitter.

 

Today is Albert Einstein’s birthday (1879), and also Quincy Jones (1933) and Jerry Greenfield (1951) of Ben & Jerry’s fame. It’s also Pi Day if you are an American and write your dates the wrong way round.

 

In Things On The Internet this morning:

Here’s a baby elephant who thinks she’s a kitten. It’s cute, but I hope she grows out of the habit soon, or things are going to get uncomfortable real fast.

https://twitter.com/Jahkotta/status/972885306868314112

Won’t somebody think of the children?

https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob1/status/973658722839990274

Bats being batty.

https://twitter.com/AnneLouiseAvery/status/973555102312255488

Marine mammals frolicking

Leon the Serious Cat puts in an appearance.

Leon: So, are we going to paint?

In Winnipeg last night, Gus was on the night watch for bunnies:

And we have a few words of wisdom from Poland’s most philosophical cat.

Hili: There are texts worth returning to.
A: Oh yes, and there are some not worth starting on.

In Polish:

Hili: Są teksty, do których warto wracać.
Ja: O tak, ale są i takie, których nie warto zaczynać.

Finally, armchair experts, what’s going on here?

 

Hat-tip: Matthew

When Dan met Annie Laurie

March 13, 2018 • 12:30 pm

Few people realize that the co-Presidents of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker, met when they appeared together on Oprah Winfrey’s “A.M. Chicago” show in 1984. Fewer still remember the time when Oprah was overtly anti-atheist and her show a bit of a tabloid venue—a milder version of Jerry Springer.

You can see the “meeting”, and a lot of anti-atheist hostility, in this rare archival video. Dan, Annie Laurie, and her mother Anne Nicol Gaylor, who founded the FFRF with Annie Laurie in 1976, were invited onto the show to explain and defend atheism.

Dan, who had more hair then, had recently left the ministry, and Annie Laurie and Anne were already known as anti-theist activists. According to Wikipedia, Dan and Annie Laurie began dating six months after this show and got married in 1987.

Note the blatant anti-atheist antagonism evinced by both Oprah and her audience. Anne, Annie Laurie, and Dan all remained remarkably composed in the face of this hostility. I hope to ask them about this episode when I have dinner with these fine nonbelievers tonight (sadly, Anne Gaylor passed away in 2015).