Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A must read

Slashdot has this set of concise and succinct points in the comments section of the article about the Creationism 'museum' in Kentucky. Oft-repeated, but the poster does a great job of summing up (and rebutting) the common 'arguments' that creationists spout.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Aargh

India recently made it's first commercial space launch when the PSLV launched an Italian satellite into orbit. No doubt it's a proud moment for India and the scientists who made it possible.
What caught my eye was an small article in the Times of India which mentioned that the launch was scheduled for an 'auspicious' hour (Indian rituals are mostly conducted based on what astrologers and other charlatans decide to be 'auspicious') and that the scientists visited a temple to 'pray for it's success'.
Were propellant and the scientific expertise and manpower that we possess not enough to launch it? Did we have to resort to age old superstitions at such a proud moment?