You Can Make a Difference Effortlessly or By Playing a Game

I was listening to the Naked Scientists Podcast yesterday and Joe Jasinski talked about the World Community Grid. Basically, people all over the world donate their computer's downtime to help science. Here is Joe explaining how it works:

The World Community Grid is a group of researchers and a group of ordinary citizens who have combined their efforts to build what is in fact in some sense, one of the world’s largest supercomputers to solve problems that we believe are beneficial to mankind. Anybody can join. It’s using your own PC or computers to join a network of computers [around the world] and those computers are used by the scientists who are doing projects with the World Community Grid to do computations that would otherwise be impossible for them to do because they don't have enough computing power.

So the way it works is you go to worldcommunitygrid.org and you can sign up your machine or machines and we download a screensaver to your machine, and when you're not using your computer, which is most of the time actually even if you have it on and you're sitting in front of it, we can do some computations. Then we send the results back to a centralised computer which we call the head node.

After we’ve done enough of these computations, we present the data to the principal investigators, the scientists who are exploring things on the World Community Grid, and they can then understand their problem and hopefully discover something new like a new drug to treat HIV/AIDS or for dengue fever, or maybe finding new kinds of plastic materials that would make cheap solar cells available.

So you, little ol' you, can make a difference almost effortlessly. This is a great way to be a Citizen Scientist. By the way, WCG is non-profit.

I signed up and downloaded the screensaver. I changed my preferences so that WCG gets 10 GB of hard drive space, and can have 20% of RAM when I'm using the computer, then 75% when I'm away from the computer (I didn't want it running at 100% because I don't want my computer to stay too hot).

I read that it uses about the same electricity as turning on a light, so the cost to me is negligible. But as I write, my computer is working on solutions to AIDs and cancer, and I'm also computing for the LHC (see below) and folding proteins. Yesterday, it worked on solutions for clean water, clean energy and a drug search for some nasty parasite called Leishmaniasis.

You get to pick which projects you want to contribute to. You can choose to work on all of them, which is what I did. Here is the active list right now:

• Drug search for Leishmaniasis, a parasitic tropical disease which infects over 2 million people in 97 countries


• Computing for Clean Water


• The Clean Energy Project Phase 2 - solar cells and energy storage device calculations


• Discovering Dengue Drugs Phase 2 - Dengue is a viral disease


• Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy Phase 2


• Help Fight Childhood Cancer - finding drugs that disable 3 particular proteins associated with neuroblastoma


• Help Conquer Cancer - improve the results of x-ray crystallography in order to increase understanding of cancer and its treatment


• Human Proteome Folding Phase 2


• Fight AIDs at Home - using computation methods to identify candidate drugs to block HIV protease (structure-based drug design)

Here are the 9 projects that have been completed.

You can also join a Team! I recommend Rational Atheists United for Science, which is what I have joined. If you form a team, let us know so we can join it.

They are on Facebook at World Community Grid. They are also the founders of a group called People for a Smarter Planet. This page has several groups that you can participate in, such as CityOne (a game you can play to help science), Creek Watch (a nifty smart phone app), World Community Grid and the Goldstine Fellowship.

Suppose you want to do even more for science? How about Foldit! You can play a game that could make a huge difference. In fact, it has already! Foldit is a protein folding game that you can download and play on your computer. Here is the science behind the game.

Here is where it gets supremely cool. A protein causing AIDs in rhesus monkeys that hadn't been solved for 15 years was resolved by Foldit players and confirmed by x-ray crytallography! Here is the paper.

Don't have time to play a game? Rosetta uses distributed computers (like WCG) to compute protein folding. You install a screensaver and it does computations when you are idle.

Both WCG and Rosetta run the same program, BOINC. SETI@home, Climateprediction.net, LHC@Home (you can help the Large Hadron Collider!) and others also use this system so you can connect to whatever projects you like (this link has a big list!).

Once you have BOINC installed, go to Tools > Attach to project or account manager > then select which projects you like. Super easy to do!

If you join and get started, let us know! And if you join a team or form one on any of  the projects let us know that too.

Another Prayer Experiment!

I was thinking about a follow-up study to The Great Prayer Experiment. By the way, that prayer was April 7. It is now the 19th, 12 days later. Results: Null. Nothing. Nada. Nil. Nein.

So here's my new study.

1. Pray to God for something specific.


2. Pray to something else for something completely different and equally specific.


3. Ask myself for something specific.

See which, if any, produces results.

So what should I pray for? It needs to be tangible, not like the last prayer which was too open-ended (but it was a pilot study), and it needs to be within a set time frame. God should be able to handle this easily if he's omnipotent.

Here's my prayer to God (the Abrahamic God, to be specific):

Woe Is Me

~UPDATE: My friend Doug fought through his drug haze (he just had surgery and is on painkillers) to tirelessly help me figure out what was wrong. Apparently it is a plugin! So now the links work, but you'll notice that some little features are gone. I will be working on it.

Thanks so much Doug, you rock!

~

Somehow I have developed a problem with all of my links on Heaving Dead Cats. I just wanted to let you know I'm working feverishly to figure out the problem and fix it.

So far I've figured out that there's some magical file called .htaccess. And there are pretty permalinks that won't behave (only the default ugly one works... there's a moral to that story, I bet). And I am pulling my hair out.

I might start praying to the Geek Gods or something. If you know about htaccess and permalinks, please email me. I will be so grateful!

Advice For Freethinking Kids?

The other day I got an email from an atheist couple who have two kids, one 9 and one 10. They asked me for information regarding websites or literature that might deal with "god pressure" for kids at school. This would be the 4th and 5th grade. Apparently kids at their school are proselytizing and mocking these 2 kids for not believing.

The parents don't want their kids to feel like freaks and also want to help them counter the exasperated 'you don't believe in god!' remarks. Sam, the father, admits that it can be lonely to not believe in god sometimes. I understand. I feel that way too, although not as much as before I belonged to Morgantown Atheists.

Diane, the mother, says they are open to ideas and suggestions. She says they have friends who aren't religious but still believe in god. It's not the same thing.

Seeing as how only about 10% of the population would go so far as to actually use the dreaded A-word, it can be isolating to be godless in a sea of believers. As I've mentioned, I still keep my atheism to myself when around Butch's family. Some of them know we're atheists but it's never been brought up or mentioned. This means that a huge part of what I spend my time thinking about and being an activist over can't be talked about when I spend time with others. It's kind of lonely, in a way.

Skeptic? Atheist? Then Help Fix Wikipedia

I read an article by Daniel Loxton, editor of Junior Skeptic, which was about how skeptics need to pitch in and help make Wikipedia, the people's encyclopedia, a science-based resource. He says the skeptical movement has a great opportunity to help propagate accurate and scientific information with this public resource that is so widely used.

It's free and easy to contribute either a small correction or whole pages. You just need to be able to cite references. If you can add a resource to the page, you can even link directly to good skeptical websites for people. You don't need permission, and with simple edits, you don't need any coding skills.

Best of all, it’s rewarding and fun to use your skeptical knowledge to enhance an essential public resource. Furthermore, we know from our internal traffic statistics that people really do follow up on the skeptical resources cited in Wikipedia articles.

Tim Farley gives an in-depth primer on Why Skeptics Should Pay Close Attention to Wikipedia.

You can read a rundown of some basics and rules, as well as get a bunch of useful links on how to get started here.

The Wikiproject Rational Skepticism is an association of skeptical Wikipedia editors. They vigilantly keep track of articles to make sure vandalism doesn't happen. When it does, they make sure someone can go in and fix the problems quickly to get the right information back up on the site.

Another project is the Skepticwiki, which is a standalone site devoted exclusively to skepticism. It shares the wiki encyclopedia format.

Many skeptical topics are well covered on Wikipedia. But where a skeptical eye is really needed is in paranormal topics.

When people turn to Wikipedia for information on iridology or “reptoids” or chiropractic, that article may often be the only source they consult. Or, if they do consult further sources, these may often be the sources cited in the Wikipedia article. Either way, paranormal proponents have been quick to load Wikipedia with content and citations that are friendly to their own claims. Sometimes, these articles are virtual commercials for paranormal industries. In those cases, skeptics can perform a valuable public service by bringing paranormal articles up to the NPoV standard with descriptions of skeptical criticism and references to relevant skeptical sources.

On lesser-known subjects, paranormal proponents have the freedom to make sweeping, biased, and wildly unsupported claims. These low-quality articles stand unchallenged until a skeptic eventually happens to review them. Finding and fixing these is fun and satisfying for skeptical editors. Because those articles are so bad, they are easy to improve — and edits will tend to stand for a longer time.

If you have suggestions for topics to edit, or if you have edited articles, let us know!

Getting Sick of Militant christians In My Family

I just reactivated my Facebook account. (please befriend me, if you like! I'm Neece Campione over there. Just let me know you're from here!) So much of my family seems to only converse by Facebook these days, so I gave in and finally went back to it. If you can't beat 'em.... Oh jeez... I just got a fever and reactivated my Twitter account too (ZeNeece over there) oh the madness!

ANYHOO... where was I? Oh, yeah. Facebook and family. What's the deal with everyone being so god this, jesus that lately? And they're so in-my-face about it. I am pretty sure they all know I'm an atheist. Where's the respect? Why can't they tone it down? It's incredibly - dare I say it - offensive to me to have to be bombarded with this sheeple thinking every day. My friends are all atheists (how interesting, don't you think? LOL), but the family... they're unbearable. In the last week, every conversation with them has involved their invocation of their holy lord and savior, all to my irritation.

Now, I know you will probably disagree with me, but I haven't said a word to any of them. I've politely ignored the pleas that I pray for them or the requests for a miracle to save them from their bad situations (which they got themselves into ... sans god). Being on Facebook really has it in my face even more. They want to chat with me all day and it seems that the invocations to god come fast and furious. It's maddening. Or the stuff they leave on their pages - it's like swimming in a pool of religious hallmark cards, and all the papercuts that would cause.

I know that this is my fault. I've kept my mouth shut all these years and now they just walk all over me. One of them actually gets really frustrated and snippy with me when I say happy holidays instead of merry christmas. She goes on and on about putting the christ back in christmas all through december. Unbearable. Oh, I should mention, 98% of these family members are in-laws. Yeah, that's probably important, isn't it?

So, I feel like I've reached a crossroads. Granted, it's my fault for indulging them for so long. But how do I restore my sanity now? Do I say, 'HEY, you are all idiots! There's no invisible sky daddy!" Ok, that's a bit harsh. Um, do I post pro-atheist stuff all over my facebook page? Hmm, that's so passive aggressive, and easy for them to ignore, which would leave me where I am now.

I want to be nice and respectful. But no one is respecting me. I'm so sick of their god being thrown in my face all the time. I have a feeling that most of them will be offended by any little thing I do or say, then will pointedly ignore that it was said, and just shout jesus-isms from the rooftops even louder.

So I'm asking for your help. Like I said, I am pretty sure most of them already know I'm an atheist. I give them respect but get none in return. How do I get some sanity back? Is it even possible? Or do I have to just become a hermit in a shack in the woods, and get myself a nice old typewriter? I'm so frustrated!

Tweenbots Show How Wonderful Humans Can Be

Unlike most atheists I know, I don't really consider myself a humanist, but maybe that's because I really don't know the full definition. Let's look it up.

Humanism affirms the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal human qualities, particularly rationality, without resorting to the supernatural or alleged divine authority from religious texts. Humanism can be considered as a process by which truth and morality is sought through human investigation; as such, views on morals can change when new knowledge and information is discovered. In focusing on the capacity for self-determination, humanism rejects transcendental justifications, such as a dependence on faith, the supernatural, or texts of allegedly divine origin. Humanists endorse universal morality based on the commonality of the human condition, suggesting that solutions to human social and cultural problems cannot be parochial.

While I agree in principle with that definition, I have become rather cynical and jaded. My experience of people is less noble and dignified. Most people seem self-serving, narcissistic and self-centered. I've found that many people refrain from immoral acts only out of fear of punishment or guilt. Also, I've found that people in general don't seek truth or look outside themselves much at all. They simply go about their lives to get by as comfortably as possible, mitigated by guilt and fear.

Of course there are lots of exceptions of extraordinary people. But in general my view of the human race is more like children in adult bodies, basically just going through life like a ball in a pinball machine, bouncing off of things and careening around randomly. I think it takes supreme effort to break free of this thoughtless kind of life, where you run on belief systems formed in early childhood. It takes critical and creative thinking to break free of the mold we are indoctrinated into as children.

But, sometimes I am surprised and delighted by humanity. It doesn't happen often, so when it does, I feel the desire to share my warm fuzzies with everyone. This is one of those moments. I was stumbling around the interwebs when I came upon Tweenbots. In this 3 and a half minute video, Tweenbot is traversing Washington Square Park. He does it in 42 minutes with 29 people helping him.

Help Identify This Microscope!

I got my microscope! And I need your help. This thing is awesome (I think), but I have no idea what it is. It has no name on it. I have no idea even what the magnification is. I've dusted it carefully and now I'm waiting for UPS to deliver the slides and slide covers. I am still trying to figure out how to get a temporary light source to work, then I have to figure out a permanent lighting solution.

Oh... at the end of the technical bits, I need to rant a bit, in case you're interested.



OK! The slides arrived. I've looked up Optical Microscopes and I know more than I did already. Don't think you're off the hook though. I still need you.

Sometimes It Sucks To Be A Skeptic

I think I understand what it's like to be lost in a world of woo thinking. Maybe even an inkling of what it's like to believe in Jesus as your personal hero.

Butch, my awesome husband, came home Friday night and told me he felt awful. He and I both got a cold about 3 weeks ago and he shook if off in about 4 days while I suffered with a nasty chest cold, congestion and laryngitis until just the other day. I didn't want to hear that he was sick again. It was my birthday weekend, we were supposed to go out to dinner on Sunday (last night), and I was hoping we'd both be feeling well for a change.

Alas, it was not to be. He had a fever, the chills, and was completely miserable. And here's where I realized I felt totally helpless. I can't stand seeing someone I love sick. When Butch or my dogs or someone I care about has a problem or is in pain, I want to fix them. I want to make them at least feel better. But sometimes there's nothing you can do.

OHMYGOSH It's Going To Be SO COOL!

Hey everyone! How are you today? Hopefully all is well and good with you! So I've been trying to think of something really clever to write about for the last day or so and I've had terrible writer's block. A common occurence for me, I know. Then I realized part of the reason I can't think of anything to write about is because I actually have something going on in my life! So what else is a blog for but to regale people with the minutae of your life? :D

My friend Jeff is sending me a real microscope next week! Not like a little toy kid's one, a real one from a lab! It might need some TLC and I know it will need a light, but he says other than that it's in good condition. I'm sooooo excited! I have no idea what the magnification of it is, either. He hasn't even shipped it yet but I can't stop thinking about it.

I've started a list of things I want to look at when I get it. I ordered glass slides which I'll get on Monday. So this is where you come in. First, I had to tell you because I'm giddy over this. Second, because I need your help. What will I be able to see? I really really want to be able to see bacteria.

Thanksgiving and Family Fundie Nonsense

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I'm a bit bummed out that I don't have a great outfit to wear to dinner on Thursday. Like one of the 30 or so anti-religious shirts my husband Butch I have created on Zazzle and Cafepress with maybe some nice black cargo pants. I just don't think I could get one shipped to me in time. Maybe if I order soon, I can have something festive for baby jesus' birthday.

Oh if I only had the nerve. Maybe it's not nerve but respect for the people who throw the family get-togethers - Butch's aunt and uncle. She's a bit on the religious side, so I wouldn't want to upset or offend her. She's the kind of christian that I don't mind at all. I know she's a christian because she goes to church every Sunday, but we've never talked religion and she's never tried to push her faith on me. She is a good person, one of the few christians I know that I truly respect, because she walks the walk without talking the talk, if you know what I mean.

Her mother, on the other hand, she's nasty. The typical fundie moron that is unbearable and full of lies and hatred for anyone who actually thinks for themselves. As a schoolteacher, I just wish she wouldn't be so ignorant about simple facts like oh, I dunno, maybe that we're not a christian nation, and that the founding fathers created a separation of church and state very deliberately.

Confessions Of A Recovering Woo Addict

Lately I've been talking to Jane. (not her real name) I am having trouble talking to her, and I think I figured out why. We knew each other about 10 years ago in a state far, far away. We were acquaintances, but we had a lot in common. (here's where I tell you some dark secrets) We were into many different kinds of woo.

Woo: (n or adj) when you uncritically believe unsubstantiated or unfounded ideas. Short for woo woo, according to the Urban Dictionary, definition 4.

I was into reiki, divination, numerology, you name it. While I was an agnostic back then, I still clung to the idea of a kind of Universal Energy. Not really an intelligence, but kind of "magical" principles to energy that science just hadn't quantified or qualified yet. I held to the beliefs that ancient societies knew secrets that had been lost. Like the Chinese were better at medicine than modern science, or the Mayans had some secret knowledge about the Universe that we were missing out on, as seen in their calendar stopping in 2012.

Fold It- Play A Game For Science!

This is the neatest idea on so many levels. So you need to unwind and play a game. You're tired of windows solitaire. How about playing a game that could contribute to curing a disease? How about helping science with your big awesome brain!?

You can go here to read about the science behind the "game".

So basically, in a really simple nutshell, you're using your intuitive awesome brain to do something that would take computers a huge amount of time and expense to do.

Proteins are part of lots of diseases, so understanding how they fold on themselves is very important.

The Holidays are Fast Approaching!

It's September already. Talk of Thanksgiving and xmas is already starting to fill the air. I'm sure by now the aisles of every Walmart in this country are being switched over to the xmas junk. I've seen xmas stuff out as early as August in previous years. So it's just a matter of time.

I've been a full on, black belt atheist for about 8 years now. Every year I hate the holidays a bit more. But until just recently I've kept my godlessness to myself.

When my sister in law insisted last year that people say merry christmas instead of happy holidays, I just rolled my eyes and kept saying what I was comfortable with, even though it made her mad that I was not keeping christ in christmas.

Social Obligations and Avatars

What on earth is Neece on about with that title? Well, I have to ask you a question and I need to let you know that company is coming into town for a week or 10 days or some such nonsense.

Ok, first, I want an avatar! I have no idea how to get one. Can someone please tell me the mystical woo secret of having one when I comment on my own goofy blog? LOLz... ok.. so I'm not the sharpest stick in the tiger trap. :P

Anyway, my husband's family is descending en masse tomorrow (actually tonight now that it's after 2 am) sometime in the evening. So, his two sisters are staying here for over a week and I won't get much time to be in front of my beloved computer.

Hopefully I'll at least gather together some good bible thumping vs atheist banter for you since we'll be surrounded by "good" catholics. At least the food is delicious! LOL!

Wish me luck. I really don't like having company. :( Oh well. Social Obligations and all that nonsense!

De-Christianizing

One of the things I noticed not long after becoming an atheist was how much christianity and religion is soaked into the fabric of society. Here are a few glaring examples:

• Taking Sundays off


• Blue States where they won't sell alcohol on Sundays


• Saying "bless you" when someone sneezes


• Christmas, Easter, St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, All Saints Day, etc., etc....


• Common expressions like oh my god, jesus!, jesus christ, damnit, damn, holy anything, etc., etc...

As an atheist, I wonder, is it necessary to remove and de-christianize ourselves as much as possible? My husband sneezed this morning and I said "bless you." It's a habit to say it. I apologized and said, "you're so good looking" instead. (A Seinfeld episode reference.)

Reason and Polls

I just posted an interesting piece by Sam Harris that I found regarding the truth about atheism. It was written in 2006 for the LA Times and holds some ideas as to how atheists as a general rule view the world, and how religious people view atheists.

Here at Believers Anonymous, I want create a place for folks with a "believing problem" to be able to easily find resources, whether that be an article that concisely talks about atheism, opinions and "testimonies" of other people finding their way, or well, just about anything that might be helpful to you.

This is a journey for me as well, because, while I've been an atheist for a long time, I've come to feel that I need to be a bit more proactive about my lack of faith. Hence the creation of this site, obviously. I'm comfortable in my godlessness, but you might need facts, information and/or support to help you with your beliefs. That information isn't always easy to come by, so it might take awhile.

Anyway, I'm on a Quest for this information. (Any tidbits or suggestions are always welcome, by the way... or help even.. I would love that too!) As I find it, I'll present it to you as best I can. This brings me to a couple small things I want to talk to you about.

An Inadequate Supply of Cold Hard Facts

Here at Believers Anonymous, when it comes to providing you information, only the cold hard facts will do. In some cases, this is not as easy as it may seem, as I've found out today.

I've just spent the last 2 days looking for information on something that I think will be helpful to you. It's about the symbols and stories of christianity and how many if not all of them are merely taken from other earlier religions and myths.

While I know that such things as the cross, the fish symbol, wedding rings, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the trinity, the crucifixion, the theft of all the pagan holidays, the christian vestments and the baptism were all stolen, I don't have any cold hard facts to cite for you.

I've found several sources. Unfortunately they are either laden with agenda and biased, or simply not cited and lacking any validity. While most of those sources basically say the same thing, that doesn't make it fact.

This might be one of those areas where there just isn't a lot of hard evidence. This is stuff that happened thousands of years ago, not to mention that pagan religions and myths were targeted by the church in an attempt to get rid of them during the Dark Ages and at other periods. Also the original texts of the bible have been cut and edited, rewritten and improperly translated so they aren't all that reliable either.

So, I'm on a Quest of biblical proportions (pun intended) to hunt down some great historical information for you. If you happen to have wonderful texts sitting quietly on your shelves, secret stashes of links to great sites that contain hidden treasures of historical facts, or anything else that might be useful, please comment or email me at heavingdeadcats@gmail.com

Help Needed!

Do you have a believing problem?

Do you have information, ideas, resources that others with believing problems might benefit from?

Want to be a part of something fun, interesting, and helpful?

Email me at heavingdeadcats@gmail.com with what you might have to offer and we'll see if we can work together to make HDC a great place.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

26 Sneaky Ways to Improve Your Finances

I love money. I love saving it and spending it. I have a tendency to hoard it, as well. But my love of gadgets and expensive electronics usually wins out in the end.