THE   FOCUS
centerforatheism.org
       
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
         
 
       
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
         
       

DECEMBER 2, 2010
Volume 6, Issue 46
Published by the Center For Atheism (CFA)
Editor: David Birnkrant
 
The Focus provides links to articles collected from major newspapers and magazines, and is emailed weekly.

This Week in Atheism is a cable show that discusses the articles featured below, every Wednesday at 6:30 PM (EST), Manhattan Cable station 57. 
Live streaming is available at: http://www.mnn.org
       
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
         
 
       
 
  
 
  
 
      
 
  
 
         
 
       
 .

Comments, suggestions and subscription:
info@centerforatheism.org
       
 
 
 
 
 
      
 
 
 
         
 
      
 
  
 
         
 
   
  
 
         
 
       
 .


===================================
FEATURED ARTICLES 

Atheist Groups Promote a Holiday Message: Join Us 
New York Times 
Four separate and competing national organizations representing various streams of atheists, humanists and freethinkers will soon be spreading their gospel ... 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/us/10atheist.html?_r=1 

ATHEISM 

OMG - did you see that billboard? 
Stuff.co.nz 
Paid for by public donations the billboard is part of a wider atheist campaign already seen in London, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. ... 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/4315606/OMG-did-you-see-that-billboard 

An unlikely atheist teaches others 
Iowa State Daily 
Bryan Langfeldt/Iowa State Daily Hector Avalos, professor of philosophy and religious studies, explains his reasoning and logic regarding being an atheist. ... 
http://iowastatedaily.com/news/article_dc15f8b2-eb81-11df-9186-001cc4c002e0.html 

Atheist groups launch ad campaigns this holiday season 
Syracuse.com 
While many Christians cite the birth of Jesus as the "reason for the season," atheists and other godless groups aim to promote reason this holiday season. ... 
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/atheist_groups_launch_ad_campa.html 

BOOKS, FILM, THEATRE, TV, YOU TUBE 

A tournament of atheists, then and now 
Globe and Mail 
Proponents of atheism have found their comfort zone in the modern Western world, where penalties for infidelity are few but the residual sense of outrage is ... 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/a-tournament-of-atheists-then-and-now/article1788258/page1/ 

Theater review: 'The Sunset Limited' at Theatre Theater 
Los Angeles Times 
White (Ron Bottitta) is a professor, a jaded atheist who lives in a world of abstract conceptualization; Black (Tucker Smallwood), an ex-con turned devout ... 
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/11/theater-review-the-sunset-limited-at-theatre-theater.html 

EVOLUTION, CREATIONISM, I.D. 

Textbooks under siege in Louisiana 
National Center for Science Education 
... critics of the textbooks were reported to complain specifically that the textbooks under consideration lacked information about "intelligent design". ... 
http://ncse.com/news/2010/11/textbooks-under-siege-louisiana-006296 

SCIENCE 

Cosmic Curiosity Reveals Ghostly Glow of Dead Quasar 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 6, 2010) — While sorting through hundreds of galaxy images as part of the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project two years ago, Dutch schoolteacher and volunteer astronomer Hanny van Arkel stumbled upon a strange-looking object that baffled professional astronomers. Two years later, a team led by Yale University researchers has discovered that the unique object represents a snapshot in time that reveals surprising clues about the life cycle of black holes... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101103171638.htm 

'Prima Donna' Protein Doesn't Work Well in Pairs 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 6, 2010) — A new study by Rice University bioengineers finds that the workhorse proteins that move cargo inside living cells behave like prima donnas. The protein, called kinesin, is a two-legged molecular machine. Rice's scientists invented tools that could measure the pulling power of kinesin both singly and in pairs, and they have recently reported in Biophysical Journal that kinesins don't work well together -- in part because they are so effective on their own... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101105124243.htm 

Self Awareness Can Help People Navigate Rocky Seas of Relationships 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 6, 2010) — A little self-awareness can help people struggling in the world of relationships, says Jeffrey Hall, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101101082901.htm 

DNA Fingerprinting Traces Global Path of Plague 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 6, 2010) — An international team of scientists has traced major plague pandemics such as the Black Death back to their roots using DNA fingerprinting analysis... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101105151012.htm 

New Statistical Model Moves Human Evolution Back Three Million Years 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2010) — Evolutionary divergence of humans and chimpanzees likely occurred some 8 million years ago rather than the 5 million year estimate widely accepted by scientists, a new statistical model suggests... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101105124241.htm 

Neanderthals Were More Promiscuous Than Modern Humans, Fossil Finger Bones Suggest 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2010) — Fossil finger bones of early human ancestors suggest that Neanderthals were more promiscuous than human populations today, researchers at the universities of Liverpool and Oxford have found... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101103081915.htm 

Human Mind Uses Syntax to Interpret Actions 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2010) — Most people are familiar with the concept that sentences have syntax. A verb, a subject, and an object come together in predictable patterns. But actions have syntax, too; when we watch someone else do something, we assemble their actions to mean something, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101104154559.htm 

Damage to Prefrontal Cortex Compensated by Intact Areas; 'Phantom' Images Stored in Flexible Network Throughout Brain 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2010) — Brain research over the past 30 years has shown that if a part of the brain controlling movement or sensation or language is lost because of a stroke or injury, other parts of the brain can take over the lost function -- often as well as the region that was lost... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101103135241.htm 

New Way to Peer at Distant Galaxies 
ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2010) — A team including University of Hertfordshire astronomers have discovered a new way of finding cosmic zoom lenses, which allows astronomers to peer at galaxies in the distant Universe... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101104193951.htm 

SEPARATION CHURCH / STATE 

Cape mayor wants to place Ten Commandments in City Hall 
The News-Press 
He has asked the city attorney's office to look into the highly controversial issue that calls to question the separation of church and state. ... 
http://www.news-press.com/article/20101110/NEWS0101/101110029/Cape-mayor-wants-to-place-Ten-Commandments-in-City-Hall 

Mayor supports posting of Ten Commandments 
NBC2 News 
The city's mayor is now supporting the idea saying it isn'ta violation of the separation of church and state. Cape Coral's City Hall has seen its share of ... 
http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=13487665 

MISCELLANEOUS 

None 
 ===============================================