Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. The Magic of Reality – a quick review of the iPad version of Richard Dawkin’s book

The ebook/app was released on 23 September 2011, and is at version 1.

This is a fantastic book/app. I thoroughly recommend this for its primary audience, children, but also for the young adult in their mid-teen to late teen years. It is clearly written and has interactive media that engages a young person’s mind.

However, there are a few elements with regards to the implementation of this version (the first edition to hit the iPad) that could be improved upon, and I have listed these issues below in the hopes that the publisher takes action to improve the book/app in future editions.

1. There is no dictionary or thesaurus look-up. Implementation of this feature would allow a young person to more easily explore new words.
2. There is no bookmarking feature and I can’t seem to go directly to specific chapters. I sometimes like to bookmark certain pages or go direct to certain chapters so that I can read them again later. It is extremely tedious to scroll through the book’s contents to find something specific that you want to read again.
3. There are no page numbers. On the iPad, page numbers should be easy to implement. I do like to make reference to chapters and page numbers.
4. I found at least on section of text referring to a diagram “below” when the diagram was elsewhere. I assume that this is just an error (it probably is correct in the printed version).
5. The interactive diagram illustrating the sun size and how it fits into the galaxy appears five pages before the text that refers to it. The two should be closer.
6. The diagram with the two prisms, a slit, and red light at the second prism seems incorrect. I think the slit needs to be turned through 90 degrees.
7. There was a section on the spectrograph which mentions a website; what website?
8. The text uses a mixture of metric an imperial measurements for distances e.g. miles, kilometres, etc. It needs to stick to metric (although I can see that metric measurements might be an issue with readers from the USA).
9. The interactive diagram for continental drift is great but, probably due to the projection used, the size of continents changes significantly when moving between equatorial and polar regions. For example, look at the sizes of Greenland and India; they change considerably! This can cause puzzlement to the young reader. I would suggest using a globe projection (such as used by Google Earth) to minimise these size distortions.
10. The diagram of the cross-section of Earth says “tre-acle”. This needs to be corrected.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. My iPad – mini review
2. Richard Dawkins at American Atheists 09
3. Richard Dawkins’ Speech at Protest the Pope March

• Two philosophers defend the indefensible, try unsuccessfully to pwn me and my readers
  http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/two-philosophers-defend-the-indefensible-try-unsuccessfully-to-pwn-me-and-my-readers/

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. PDF Readers…PDF-XChange!
2. Love food, hate waste

• Mason Crumpacker and the Hitchens
  http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/mason-crumpacker-and-the-hitchens-reading-list/

As well as the thoughtful actions of Hitchens, it was heart-warming to see a child being taught the skills of critical thinking and rationality; not being brainwashed and indoctrinated by the dogmas, irrationality and injustices of religion, but being taught how to think for oneself and to come to your own conclusions as to how the world works. Brilliant.

I was much older, perhaps about 13 years of age, before I  consciously started thinking of rationality and critical thinking.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. Christopher Hitchens!
2. Christopher Hitchens: ‘You have to choose your future regrets’ – Andrew Anthony – guardian.co.uk
3. Christopher Hitchens Compilation

• The Pastor from Jesus Camp Has a New Book Out
  http://richarddawkins.net/articles/642972-the-pastor-from-jesus-camp-has-a-new-book-out
• The Pastor from Jesus Camp Has a New Book Out
  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2011/09/06/the-pastor-from-jesus-camp-has-a-new-book-out/

Disgusting. Children should be given the tools for critical thinking; tools that can be used to understand how the world really works. This "Jesus Camp" and other camps of whatever religion keep these tools out of reach and, instead, replace them with delusion, enslaving children to the irrationality and dogmas of religion.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. Pharyngula: Trolling for Jesus
2. Karl Giberson
3. Religion is institutionalised delusion

Religion is institutionalised delusion, a social grouping mechanism for the irrational. But for those within this group who dare to explore with open minds, with the tools of critical thinking, there is hope of a life free from the prisons and poisons of religion.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. Religion enslaves. And religion kills.
2. Islamic bloc drops U.N. drive on defaming religion
3. "defamation of religion"

• The Physics of Relativity and a Lesson in Skepticism
  http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1367-the-physics-of-relativity-and-a-lesson-in-skepticism.html

However, like some of the other commenters at that site, I do take umbrage at calling the Michelson-Morley experiment a “failure” (yes even at Wikipedia). Experiments are to test hypothesis and their predictions. The Michelson-Morley experiment was constructed with care and professionalism and it, alongside other follow-up experiments, found no strong evidence for the hypothesis of the “luminiferous ether”. Together these provided support for Einstein’s special theory of relativity.

And here’s a great video that uses the tale of two wins to explain some of the concepts of the special theory of relativity:

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. No place for critical thinking at Oprah Magazine
2. Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit
3. Idiot educators?

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. Vehement attacks on Quackometer
2. Homeopaths on the attack!
3. Homeopathy is garbage, drivel

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. The end of gods
2. Religion is a human artefact, a prison of the mind
3. Here Be Dragons

• Guess what makes Josh McDowell cry?
  http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/07/guess_what_makes_josh_mcdowell.php

The Internet is certainly a place where a lot of garbage can be found. But it is also a place where there is much valuable information. Access to this information, the knowledge gained, the application of critical thinking, these are the things that are leading people to discover the irrationality of religions and the realisation that a better life is experienced without religion’s cursed dogmatic and soul-destroying controls. The correct title of this article should really be “The greatest threat to Christianity is knowledge”. This is relevant http://www.jesusandmo.net/2011/07/20/books/

Josh’s arguments on sex and pornography are a red-herring; people, especially adolescents, are always interested in sex which is a pretty natural think to do if you think about it, and getting an education about it is pretty essential to help through the pangs of growing up. And there is always legislation and policing to ensure that unlawful content is made inaccessible…this has nothing to do with Christianity or religions but rather in our inherent morals. Yes, think of the children.

Anyway. Dump religion. Live free. Live happy.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

Related posts:

1. Leaving Christianity – “Atheism: A History of God (Part 2)”, and “I’m still Appalled!”
2. Religion enslaves. And religion kills.
3. "defamation of religion"