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June 19, 1865: Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas are finally informed of their freedom.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is a holiday in the United States that commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas in 1865. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a portmanteau of June and 19th and is recognized as a state holiday or special day observance in the United States.
In addition to recognizing Juneteenth, the Ohio General Assembly passed a bill in 2006 setting aside September 22 as Emancipation Day in Ohio because on September 22, 1863, the African American community in Gallipolis, Ohio, began what has become the longest, continuous celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation on the first anniversary of Lincoln's preliminary proclamation.
8 U.S. states have not recognized Juneteenth through state legislative resolution or bill: Arizona, Hawaii, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah.
Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had a minimal immediate effect on most slaves' day-to-day lives, particularly in the Confederate States of America. Texas, as a part of the Confederacy, was resistant to the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth commemorates June 18 and 19, 1865.
June 18 is the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves. On June 19, 1865, while standing on the balcony of Galveston's Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of
"General Order No. 3":
"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."
That day has since become known as Juneteenth, a name coming from a portmanteau of the word June and the suffix,"teenth", as in "Nineteenth", coined by 1903. Former slaves in Galveston rejoiced in the streets with jubilant celebrations. Juneteenth celebrations began in Texas the following year.
Across many parts of Texas, freed people pooled their funds to purchase land specifically for their communities and increasingly large Juneteenth gatherings — including Houston's Emancipation Park, Mexia's Booker T. Washington Park, and Emancipation Park in Austin.
In Arkansas, the small town of Wilmar has consistently observed "June Dinner" from almost the time of the Emancipation, well over one hundred years (except for one year during the Great Depression).
Traditions include an enunciated public reading of the Emancipation Proclamation as a reminder that the slaves have been proclaimed free. The events are celebratory and festive. Many African-American families use this opportunity to retrace their ancestry to the ancestors who were held in bondage for centuries, exchange artifacts, debunk family myths, and stress responsibility and striving to be the best you can be.
Celebrants often sing traditional songs as well such as Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Lift Every Voice and Sing; and poetry from black authors like Maya Angelou.
Juneteenth celebrations also include a wide range of festivities to celebrate African- American heritage, such as parades, rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, or park parties that include such things as African-American music and dancing or contests of physical strength and intellect. Some of the events may include black cowboys, historical reenactments, or Miss Juneteenth contests.
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Supersuckers Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto ON September 20
Published Sep 23, 2008It took almost 20 years but punk rocknroll stalwarts rhe Supersuckers have finally created a term for their raucous live show: "Awesome-netics, a warped twist on L. Ron Hubbards questionable Dianetics methodology.
Sure it may sound cheesy but when watching bassist/singer Eddie Spaghetti, guitarists Dan "Thunder Bolton and Ron "trose Heathman enthusiastically hammer their way through almost two hours of high-energy rocknroll to a packed Horseshoe Tavern, the amusing play on words was perfectly fitting.
These were not the same Supersuckers that have been awkwardly meandering through half-hearted sets since the loss of original drummer Dan "Dancing Eagle Seagle. Having finally found their skin-pounding soul mate in former Reverend Horton Heat drummer Scott Churilla, the band were actually better than ever, displaying a fine unison of youthful exuberance and mature professionalism.
While the Supersuckers have always been good, on this evening they were great thanks to Churilla. His excellence and sheer power has injected new life into the Supersuckers and nobody knows it better than the band themselves. They constantly praised him throughout the show while whipping out a set comprised of songs dating as far back as debut album, The Smoke Of Hell ("Coattail Rider, "Hell City, Hell), crowd-pleasers from Sacrilicious ("Bad, Bad, Bad, "Born With A Tail), The Evil Powers Of Rock N Roll, Motherfuckers Be Trippin and two enticing new tunes from a forthcoming album.
A clear sign that there was a new energy and vitality within the Suckers camp just waiting to be unleashed, even Heathman was compelled to watch Spaghettis formidable (albeit anticlimactic) show-opening acoustic country performance aided by electric guitarist Jordan Shapiro.
After a gruelling dry spell, the Supersuckers delivered qualities theyve been missing or just plain lacked for years: loudness, aggression, confidence and good old pelvic rock. Hell, even Spaghettis staple banter flourished with new life proving that while it sounded like a load of overbearing mock-pride as of late, thanks to the inclusion of Churilla, the Supersuckers may very well be the "Greatest RockNRoll Band In the World once again.


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"Frank Tashlin, who directed this escapade in the broadest of styles, did manage to catch a truly humorous bit in having Poirot loudly interrogate a suspect in bed over the snores of his wife. And he has captured pictorial London, including the bridle path in Hyde Park."
— A. H. Weiler de NY Times


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The Answers that Atheists Hope No One Has? (Chapter Two)
The effort of Christian apologists, traditionally, is twofold. The first is to apologize for the wrongdoings of the church and anything that might scare away would-be Christians. The second, which has become the most common in modern times, is to offer an intellectual or rational defense of the faith. Apologetics is most commonly effective on those who already harbor some semblance of belief in God and yet many Christian authors target their books at skeptics or, at least, at Christians attempting to address skeptics.
In the last installment of this series I began my examination and rebuttal of the book The Questions Christians Hope No One Asks (With Answers) by popular Christian apologist Mark Mittelberg. Mittelberg is a Christian speaker, evangelist, apologist and best-selling author. In the first chapter he went over some of the basic arguments for God's existence that one can level at the would-be skeptics but as an atheist and skeptic I found those arguments less than convincing.
In this hub I will continue on to Chapter Two of the book and keep my fingers crossed that Mark will be able to present some good answers to the tough objections his book addresses. As always any excerpts used are credited to Mark Mittelberg and Tyndale House Publishers and are used for critique and criticism.
Question 2 - It's Evolution Baby
For those who didn't read the first installment the basic premise of the book is that they surveyed 1000 Christians asking them what they found to be the toughest objections or questions about their faith in God and Christianity. They then took the top 10 most common questions and it is those 10 questions that form the content of Mittelberg's book as he gives his answers in hopes that young Christians will minister to their more skeptical friends.
While question 1 was about why God was so hard to prove and was, in fact, impossible to detect using our senses question 2 is about where God can possibly fit into modern science when evolution has already explained the origin of species. As the book says isn't God "out of a job" due to the discovery of evolution? Well, according to Mark Mittelberg, not exactly.
The Origin of Life
Mark starts out the chapter illustrating that there is a distinction between evolution, the explanation for how life diverged from a common ancestor in the vast array of species we have today, and the actual origin of life. Some Creationists and Christians out there would do well to take Mark's example here and understand that while evolution explains how we can get from birds to dinosaurs and apes to man evolution does not offer an explanation for how those first early organisms from which all of us are descended got their start.
This gap in our knowledge, this simmering primordial pool of human ignorance, is where Mark believes his God can offer an explanation that science cannot.
The Recipe for Life
So Mark, it seems, has grasped that the origin of life and the origin of species are two different things. However Mark seems to not even have a high school level understanding of chemistry or evolution because he seems confused about where the ingredients for life came from. I hate to break this to you Mark but the ingredients for life happen to be the same elements that the Earth is made of.
If life developed naturally, as someone like myself believes, then it should be adapted to its environment and should be made of ingredients that are readily available at the time. It should also be no surprise that lifeforms that originate on Earth eat and breathe things that are abundantly available here (and that is exactly what we see).
None of the major components to life are super-rare and all of the ingredients that go to make up life were easily available on the early Earth. Perhaps if we were made of titanium or platinum and our brains were solid gold Mark would be able to remark on how utterly impossible a natural origin for us would seem, after all those elements don't make up a large percentage of the Earth. Instead we are made primarily of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
As for the origin of DNA and the very first organisms experiments have shown that using the same sorts of ingredients that would have been there on early Earth it is possible for amino acids to form. Even RNA, a more simple molecule than DNA through which life may have started, have been produced in experiments going all the way back to the 1960s. RNA is one of the basic building blocks of life and we know that it can form through chemical interactions with no supernatural influence. All life, at its base, is about self-replicating molecules – NATURAL CHEMISTRY.
If Mark had taken the time to research some of the scientific work done in the field of abiogenesis he would understand that the origin of the first very primitive organisms is not the insoluble obstacle in the way of evolution that he seems to think it is. Something tells me that no matter the evidence he would still want to hold God up as the one and only possible explanation for life. I can't be sure but I get the feeling that Mark's loyalty doesn't rest with the truth wherever the evidence might lead but rests solely with the faith and ministry that provides his livelihood.
Yes there is still a lot of work to be done in pinpointing how exactly life came together in those early years billions of years ago however experiments have shown time and time again that it could happen. Invoking the supernatural simply is not necessary, and isn't a satisfying or scientifically rigorous answer.
Mark's Macro-Misunderstanding
Mark also suffers from the common Creationist misconception about micro and macroevolution being two different things. For some reason that I still do not understand Creationists and certain types of Christians cannot or will not wrap their heads around this. I think perhaps educating themselves on evolution would probably clear up the problem but they have a vested interest in not doing that.
Instead they concede, due to constant observation, that the small incremental changes of evolution do occur BUT invoke some unexplained obstacle that prevents these changes from adding up over time. They will admit to the affects of evolution in the diverging breeds of dogs but refuse to admit that those exact sort of changes, if they continued on for enough generations, would have a cumulative effect resulting in one or more new species.
In other words Mark seems to accept the basic biological mechanism of evolution, that is genetic variation over time through artificial or natural selection BUT rejects that these changes would or could ever add up to anything more than slight variations WITHIN a species. This can only be based on a misunderstanding of how evolution works. One would hope that if an apologist is going to tell Christians how to argue with the scientifically literate, the atheists, and the skeptics, that he would at least gain a high school level understanding of the subject he's talking about.
Mark doesn't strike me as the type who believes in a 6,000 year old Earth as thus far he has been willing to entertain mainstream science up to a point. It seems to me that he should be able to wrap his head around the fact that if breeds of dogs can diverge the way they have in a few thousand years then obviously life can change drastically in a matter of a few million years. Yet Mark acts as if this is some great challenge to Darwin's theory when actually Speciation, the emergence of new species through evolution, is both an observable reality and the natural conclusion of accepting that the minor changes can occur.
Each major change, like say from a land animal to a whale, is itself made up of millions of changes, changes that transition a foot into a fin, nostrils into blowholes and which slowly shrink the hip bones until nothing but vestigial remnants are left.
If you take the fossil record regarding whales into account you get one piece of the picture. Now compare whales genetically to other animals, another piece of where they fit evolutionarily speaking. Now compare their behavior, morphology, reproduction and so on. Once you have all your findings put it together to serve as the big picture.
Every piece of information about whales confirms that whales evolved from ancient land mammals. When each line of evidence from every different angle of study points toward descent from a common ancestor - one that walked on land rather than swimming in the sea – there is no reason to deny that macroevolution is going on.
Of course all Mark has to do to correct his ignorance on the subject of evolution is a little research, a few hours of self-education would erase his misconceptions. In his position he would probably benefit from the extra education rather than continue to misinform his Christian audience into embarrassing themselves in front of skeptics.
Mark's Main Three Objections
Mark's three main obstacles to set up in front of Darwin's theory are: the origin of the Universe, the origin of life and the encoding of all the information (DNA) required to make a lifeform. In order for evolution to ever have a chance in the first place all three of these things must be possible without a God. Unfortunately for Mark all three of these are possible without God and actually, in my opinion, make far more sense without adding in an all powerful supernatural agent.
We'll deal with Mark's first objection where he once again misunderstands how science works and how scientists think by stating this.
The Big Bang
Wow, Mark sure does seem to have an anti-science chip on his shoulder in this excerpt doesn't he? How dare those arrogant scientists discount his God as a possible explanation for the Big Bang! I also find it funny that he presumes to understand the Big Bang better than scientists do calling it a metaphysical and physical event as if scientists don't consider the full depth surrounding the very origin of our entire Universe. I have to wonder if Mark had just come back from a debate with a particularly arrogant atheist scientist to throw science under the bus in this way.
Mark seems very confused about the Big Bang and the way scientists go about investigating things. He seems to think that scientists posted up the Big Bang as a Godless alternative to creation and have just neglected to try to explain the how and why it took place.
The Big Bang being accepted was the result of observations and evidence, something Mark himself pointed out in the first chapter, we know that billions of years ago everything in the Universe expanded out of a singularity. What we don't know is where that singularity of roiling energy came from and what, if anything, caused it to expand into our present Universe.
Of course modern science is still investigating the origin of the Universe and there is no definitive answer. Mark accepts the evidence that exists for the Big Bang so he agrees that it happened but he is sad that science does not take the God hypothesis seriously.
Surely Mark should understand that the same observation and evidence required to establish that the Big Bang happened at all would be needed to establish his God as well right? After all one cannot simply assert that God exists and is the cause of the Universe without having something to back it up.
All Mark has presented us with is a flawed tired old First Cause argument. Logical arguments are the purview of philosophers, not scientists. In science you need more than mere logic because you need evidence (not that the logic of the first cause argument is sound anyway).
We don't actually know what sort of cause our Universe needs, if it needs one to begin with. The idea of causation breaks down, as does our basic understanding of reality, the moment we try to figure out what went on BEFORE the Big Bang. You see the very idea of BEFORE the Big Bang is itself problematic because time and space as we know them did not exist. Rather than being evidence of his God if anything the Big Bang is an obstacle to his God and not because it provides us with a godless origin to the Universe. Saying that something, ANYTHING, existed before there was a Universe is highly speculative at best and incoherent at worst.
To say that a LIVING being could exist without time, without space simply makes no sense. As far as I know to fit the criteria of existing something has to take up space for an amount of time and be detectable. It makes no sense to say that this God could have power without anything to act upon - could have moral goodness without any other beings to interact with - could have omniscience without anything outside of itself to know - could have omnipresence when space and time do not exist yet.
Like it or not the Big Bang is the curtain beyond which we currently cannot peer and asserting a timeless, spaceless God does nothing to get us any closer to the answer.
Anti-Science Bias
Mark accuses science of bias but presents us with no evidence. He asserts, for no good reason, that science has it out for God. Perhaps science does have it out for the cherished myths and superstitions we once held dear as a species. Science stole the lightning bolt from the clenched fist of Zeus and stole the rainbow from the apologetic genocidal God of the Bible because science is in the business of discovery. Mark seems happy to acknowledge science up to a point but once science begins poking in areas that threaten his cherished beliefs in some way suddenly science is the tool of atheists to deny God.
Funnily enough if we were to take Mark's words from earlier and turn them around we could easily use this same paragraph to argue against his position.
Naturalism for Dummies
Mark asserts, falsely, that science functions under philosophical naturalism. What he appears to be attempting to do here is smear the character of scientists making them out to be godless atheists with an agenda to keep God out. In actuality he is just revealing his own ignorance of how science works. Science functions under METHODOLOGICAL Naturalism not Philosophical Naturalism. Philosophical Naturalism is the belief that the natural world is all there is and that there is no supernatural realm while methodological naturalism is just an admission that supernatural claims are difficult to prove with the scientific method.
For example someone could test the efficacy of praying to a certain God and find a positive result however this would not definitively prove that it was that God who answered the prayers. You could measure and detect the effect that the supernatural had, provided it has a measurable effect, but the causes are nearly impossible to determine. Because the supernatural can break all the typically observed laws of nature it is difficult if not impossible to definitely prove or disprove supernatural claims. Of course no scientific test has ever confirmed an actual supernatural effect.
Methodological naturalism is the default way in which science investigates things because science deals with empirical data, physical evidence, measurable phenomenon, objectively verifiable results, repetition, practical application and predictions, etc.
Mark's anti-science diatribe is nothing more than him misunderstanding the way in which science works and how difficult it is for there to be any reliable epistemological rules for investigating something as nebulous and ill-defined as the supernatural or God. To be taken seriously the God hypothesis must have some evidence behind it, some observations or data confirming it, some reason to assume that it is the best explanation - not just flawed arguments and poorly justified assertions.
The Origin of Stuff
Mark spends the remainder of this small section, which is dedicated to his first objection about the origin of the Universe, claiming that the lack of an explanation for the origin of matter and energy is the perfect sort of gap in which to stick the God of the Bible. Never mind that Genesis, and indeed all the information about nature contained in the Bible, are wrong on almost every single point they mention, the Bible says there was a beginning and so does science so therefore God!
The whole thing amounts to one pathetic Argument from Ignorance along with a few mentions that there are indeed scientists who believe in God. Well that settles it then → Some scientists believe, two billion Christians believe, so there you go (argument from popularity). Plus scientists haven't explained everything about the Universe yet, so there's plenty of intellectual wiggle room to shove down a flag and claim that pocket of ignorance for Yahweh!
The Origin of Life (sigh, again)
The next section is dedicated to Mark trying to make the origin of life sound more implausible by casting doubt on the idea that natural chemistry alone can explain the natural chemical interactions that got life started. Never mind that every last component that makes up life was, and is still, present on Earth. Never mind that every single biological process that goes on today is a derivative of the chemistry of early life all of which functions perfectly naturally without any spookiness or supernatural intervention. Disregard attempts by scientists which have yielded stunning results including the fact that RNA and amino acids could have formed without miracles or divine intervention.
Nope, God is the best answer and Darwin's theory is helpless without God to, at the very least, explain that first formation of life.
Mark's entire argument here is an argument from ignorance that amounts to nothing more than "science doesn't have an explanation for x therefore I am justified in believing God is the explanation for x". His best "evidence" is that there are no fossils that show the building blocks of life forming as our earliest fossils show early single-celled organisms after they had formed.
Information Formation
Human DNA is mostly made up of junk. In fact there are organisms far more "simple" than us that contain more DNA than we have. I say that to preface this section because it is another misunderstanding from Mark on how biology works. The whole sections is dedicated to making DNA sound super complex and full of information that is highly specialized and therefore clearly the sort of thing that we would say is designed.
In my research for this series most of the sources I've come across agree that, just going by the 3 billion or so base pairs in the average human genome, the genome could fit within less than a gigabyte of storage. Most USB flash drives these days are probably 4 gigabytes at minimum, meaning that a human genome could fit on a flash drive with room for at least three others.
Yes as naturally forming molecules go DNA is fairly complex but the information it carries isn't something spooky or in need of supernatural answers because the information it carries is CHEMICAL in nature. Life is, on a basic biological level, genes trying to replicate which is why one of our deepest biological drives is to have sex and thus reproduce our genes. Mark doesn't understand the difference between "information" conveyed between interacting chemicals and actual complex communication between intelligent lifeforms.
Conflating chemical information of DNA with all other forms of information in order to imply that DNA must have an artificial origin is a desperate grasping at straws at best and purposefully misleading at worst.
Cherished Myths
The only problem for Mark is that DNA does bear all the characteristics of having originated naturally (not RANDOMLY however) in the same way that stars are birthed from stellar nebulae, whole galaxies coalesce or the Giant's Causeway of Ireland formed.
Many of us have mentally grown beyond groping for supernatural or superstitious answers for things in the natural world around us. When we look for an explanation of the Grand Canyon, for example, most of us don't go grasping for folklore or mythology about how Paul Bunyan carved it in an afternoon while dragging his axe behind him.
For something as complex as DNA suddenly the supernatural can seem tempting to fill that gulf in our understanding of reality. The question, 'How and why did this come into existence' can very easily be patted over by the 'God' answer, it's just that easy. But for those of us who value reliable knowledge and truth it is not satisfying to just stick God in wherever something is complicated or unknown.
Unlike Mark I don't cherish any myths to the point of believing that they are literally true because I like to base as many of my beliefs as possible on a reasoned consideration of the evidence. So where Mark sees science as intrusive, intimidating and arrogant I see it as a necessary and fascinating pursuit that enriches our lives. Science results in advances in technology and medicine as well as providing a constantly updating body of knowledge that we do our best to correct as new more accurate information is available.
The kind of information Mark is talking about in his example is not the same. DNA, like I said, is full of junk. At least 8% of our DNA is actually viral genetic code that has sewed itself into our genetic make-up. So looking at DNA and thinking you have found some meaningful message delivered from a divine source is like looking at the fluffy shape of a cloud and drawing words or pictures. The patterns and information of DNA are chemical ones, natural ones, and there is no good reason to think otherwise (certainly none coming from Mark at this point).
Playing his Hand
At the end of each chapter Mark directs his Christian audience in how exactly to approach skeptics and atheists with his answers. In the last chapter we saw how he thinks many atheists are just angry or emotionally damaged or have made a "lifestyle choice" that separates them from their faith. Here Mark plays his hand about his lack of criticism for evolution itself.
You Gotta Know When to Fold Em
On the one hand I could commend Mark for admitting that he has very little to say on evolution and in directing his troops to avoid directly addressing the topic he is saving those Christians the embarrassment. From what little Mark said about evolution he appears to suffer from the same misconceptions that most Creationists do and thus I can only imagine his education on the subject of evolution is incomplete.
On the other hand I could condemn him for his absurd GOTCHYA style rebuttal to evolution where he rejects the observations and evidence for evolution by demanding that science first explain where the Universe came from. This amounts to someone arguing with Isaac Newton that gravity can't be true because he hasn't explained how birds can fly - seriously it is that stupid.
Mark talks in this chapter as if Darwin himself is still alive and well and defending evolution as solely his theory. Yes Darwin was the first to propose and publish findings regarding evolution but other scientists of the day were discovering evidence that was leading them toward similar conclusions. Furthermore since his death we have acquired mountains and mountains of evidence for evolution the strongest of which is the very DNA that Mark seems to think is evidence of God.
That same DNA proves that all life on Earth is related, that is to say related genetically. The same DNA that exonerates or convicts prisoners on death row. The same DNA that proves paternity on your favorite daytime "who is the Father" show is the DNA that proves that human beings share a common ancestor with chimpanzees and all other apes and indeed all other life on Earth.
Claiming that one must first explain the Universe and where matter and energy came from in order to do biology, is absurd. It's like saying that before you can prove that the Earth goes around the sun you have to explain where the sun came from to begin with. This is nothing more than a bullshit red herring fallacy.
It isn't like Mark is redirecting the argument using these red herrings in order to funnel it toward a subject he has good arguments for. He brings up the same flawed First Cause argument and Fine Tuning argument here as well as his attempts to conflate the chemical information of DNA with obvious human creations (human creations which fit perfectly within naturalism since humans are part of the natural world). His arguments are very weak overall and bring absolutely nothing new or clever to the realm of Christian apologetics.
Later on in the chapter, as Mark begins to repeat himself, Mark says this:
The Tree of Life
Sorry Mark but you should have at least brushed up a little on your science before writing this book. I assume by hard evidence Mark either means fossils or he means he wants to see a bird turn into a dog right in front of him (or some other asinine nonsense). Of course I can't tell what Mark means here only he could answer that. What I can say is that DNA proves that all life on this planet is related. This isn't something you can wish away by clicking your heels together and repeating "Common Design, Common Designer" this is the FACT that all creatures on Earth are genetically related.
Every living thing on this planet is part of one family all stemming back to the same origin. No we haven't worked out all the details of evolution but the DNA proves it, we're all related. Whether a God was involved in directing our evolution who can say? Whether a God sparked that first organism? NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE. One thing seems clear, you should read up on a subject before you put ink to paper or fingers to keyboard.
Why would a Christian not want to look at this beautiful world, which they believe God ordained to be here, and look at the beautiful organisms on it, and accept that we are related to them? Why do they fear evolution as if it erases God? Even the question this chapter is meant to answer asks whether or not evolution has put God out of a job. If your belief in God is important to you, than go ahead and keep it, but don't oppose science or have a chip on your shoulder about its discoveries. Don't shove your God into gaps in our understanding just because some part of your mythology turned out not to be literally true.
There is great beauty in accepting what the DNA proves, that we are all one family, that the Earth is alive with organisms that all share a common ancestry and a common fate.
For the remainder of the chapter Mark simply outlines various forms of creationism, from those who accept evolution like William Lane Craig, to those who believe the Earth is only a few thousand years old. Mark doesn't cast too much judgment on any of these and uses them simply to illustrate that no matter which direction you take you can still maintain your faith.
And that is where Mark is correct. In face of the facts presented by science and the mysteries science has left to solve (and there are many) plenty of believers hold tight to their faith. But too many seem afraid of science, seem to see it as an enemy to cherished beliefs and myths, instead of seeing it as enriching their knowledge of God's Universe.
Science is not there to put God out of a job, it's there to explore the NATURAL world and that is why the supernatural is so often left out of science.
As an atheist I am awed by the truths that science has uncovered and the beauties the Universe holds. While I do believe that the world would be a better place if believers gave up their faith in God I do not see such a thing as necessary. As long as a believer is willing to stand beside me in awe of the Cosmos and let the investigations of science continue to unravel the mysteries it holds they have earned my respect. But those who stand in opposition to inquiry, those who brainwash their kids with anti-science beliefs and those who willfully misrepresent how science works and what science does have lost that respect.
Where Mark Mittelberg fits on that spectrum I don't know.
If you've made it this far I thank you for reading. I hope you will come back next week when I tackle Chapter Three where Mark attempts to answer a question about the validity and reliability of the Bible.
You're right about religious fundamentalism. I find nothing more scary than finding bright people who have become "Born Again" or any of the other sects that bled off the orthodox churches.
They have invented clever ways of preaching the old gospel to a populace that seems starved for moral guidance. They've got their own TV shows and semi-rock bands on stage. They are definitely engaging an alarming number of people.
Like you, I'm not optimistic about any great change in the statistics. The Roman/Greek orthodoxy could have an enormous impact upon these sects if they were only to give in about how much of the Bible is myth. And we've seen some movement in this regard. At least the Roman Catholic church has acknowledged that the universe began in a Big Bang and they are leaning toward acceptance that evolution may be part of God's greater design -- going against the Adam & Eve concept presented in the Bible.
There are a lot of really intelligent people who decided to become priests (e.g., the Jesuits) -- and they may hold a minority opinion, but I think their combined voices are being heard in the Vatican, as they see people straying away.
People seem to be flocking to the Evangelicals because there is no equivocation plus they can just attend church via television and immerse themselves in the simplistic idea that believing in Jesus will be an answer to everything.
For me, this has always been damn scary stuff. It frightens me to see huge stadiums filled with people adopting simple answers to complex questions.
In our day and age, you wouldn't expect to find a mindless herd, all bowing their heads to a Jesus that cannot be supported by fact (outside the Bible). The number of people who still cling to their Bibles is unsettling to say the least.
What disturbs me the most is that Evangelicals and other sects contribute generously toward our presidential candidates. Some candidates even run on a platform of appearing more religious than their counterparts, and that's egregious as well.
When you take all of this into consideration, it's a kind of miracle that science has even gained a foothold in our civilization. From a broad perspective, we are mostly a backward-thinking bunch of chimps that only circumstantially happened to evolve (in small part) beyond the point of just being sun worshipers. Even our modern-day atmosphere runs interference against science -- although it has proven its worth repeatedly.
What can you do beyond what you are doing, which is admirable. You still have the energy and resolve to tangle with zealots and others. I haven't the patience left in me to deal with religious people -- and I don't care how they approach me on the subject. I just go dead silent because I haven't the energy to refute them, and I don't basically give a damn.
They may see me as a lost soul, but I just try to live a moral life -- one that doesn't cause harm to others and even has a minimal impact upon the environment. You remember that beginning to many "Kung Fu" episodes where a master's voice advises, "If you can can walk across this rice paper and leave no trace, then you will have learned" ... or something close to that. This Buddhist concept is what we should all be striving toward -- leaving no footprint. It's completely contrary to the Western idea of leaving an impression.
Achilles went into battle to create an impression of himself. To be remembered is the only thing of value. That's what our Western culture teaches us. Earn a Nobel award, an Academy award, something -- or just be forgotten.
I adhere more to the Buddhist concept of leaving no trace of oneself. The Buddhist monks create these lovely sand paintings then wipe them out -- as an illustration that life is impermanent. We in the West are fixated on a sense of permanence -- so we must behave this way (and not that) in order to attain the permanence of heaven.
Are we really so craven, so deprevated that our outstanding wish remains for an impermanent life? I guess that must be the case. People are so terrified of dying and becoming one with nothingness that they'll battle on to their dying days that science's exclusion of God is a kind of heresy.
None of this bodes well for the longevity of our species.
You hit upon a critical point in this chapter. I think many Christians feel they MUST take the Bible in a literal context, and science goes against the grain, thus creating a kind of antagonism. If believers could only accept that the Old Testament is derived (at least in some part) upon mythology, there wouldn't be the need to defend anything (or not so much).
This staunch (almost militaristic) protection of the Old Testament nowadays appears as a kind of fading artifact from when the church held political power. A person wouldn't dare posit an opposing view to the church's teachings for fear of being tortured or burned alive. That's a pretty strong incentive for keeping your mouth shut and going with the flow.
Over the years, with the separation of church and state, the power of the church has waned but certainly not disappeared.
Church leaders should read the writing on the wall and realize that science and technology have become our new religion (of sorts), and they could spare themselves a lot of grief by just saying that science is merely another device/mechanism of God -- what would be wrong with that? You get to keep God in the picture and you totally deflect any contest with science. But no, the church is so terribly steeped in its conservative view that the only reality is reflected via the Bible that it's basically shooting itself in the foot.
In order for the orthodox religions to continue, they will eventually have to yield ground -- especially about the Old Testament. If the clergy hold fast to its literal translation of the Bible, their attendance is going to continue to diminish to a point of irrelevancy.
This is not necessarily a good thing even for atheists who find the church to be an out-worn tire. While the church still huddles in an outdated reality, most people in the Western world still believe in God. That's not something to be dismissed lightly. Many of these people believe in God and science simultaneously ... so why shouldn't the church just update its programme? If the majority of people still believe in God that means they need to believe in something supernatural. Science is never going to completely win over this huge number of believers because it doesn't even pretend to offer them a moral code. Providing moral guidance isn't something we are naturally good at. You and I have discussed this before. You tend to think that homo sapiens would get along just fine without religious instruction -- and to a large extent I agree, but what about moral instruction? You hold a more optimistic view about our species than myself (or so I gather). I don't think our species is inherently altruistic. On the contrary, what other species do we know of that engages in worldwide wars? There are nearly seven billion of us now on the planet and having a code of ethics seems mandatory.
The church could provide guidance on issues of morality and ethics, and is well-situated to do so, but it must first join the 21st Century, dismiss the myth aspects of the Bible (just call all disproven concepts as symbolism) then apply itself less to doctrine and more toward actual instruction in what it means to lead a decent, moral life.


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HM Revenue & Customs no longer accepts payments for self-assessment tax bills at the Post Office or by personal credit card.
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A number of the recommendations appear to be empty diplospeak, but here are the most noticable things about the Report of the Iraq Study Group that seem to matter
Note how Saudi Arabia and Turkey are not mentioned in the following list. Good. Kowtowing to those enemies of the peoples of Iraq has gotten us into this mess:
RECOMMENDATION 5: The Support Group should consist of Iraq and all the states bordering Iraq, including Iran and Syria; the key regional states, including Egypt and the Gulf States; the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council; the European Union; and, of course, Iraq itself. Other countries—for instance, Germany, Japan and South Korea—that might be willing to contribute to resolving political, diplomatic, and security problems affecting Iraq could also become members.
No War with Iran. Good. We are in a war against al Qaeda on a global scale, and with al Qaeda in Iraq and the Baath Party is Mesopotamia. Using the aftermath of 9/11 to confront Iran was a bizarre mistake.
RECOMMENDATION 10: The issue of Iran's nuclear programs should continue to be dealt with by the United Nations Security Council and its five permanent members (i.e., the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China) plus Germany.
The victory in Iraq will not be an excuse to cease fighting, but merely recalibration. Good. Our forces must be put to better use.
RECOMMENDATION 18: It is critical for the United States to provide additional political, economic, and military support for Afghanistan, including resources that might become available as combat forces are moved from Iraq.
RECOMMENDATION 35: The United States must make active efforts to engage all parties in Iraq, with the exception of al Qaeda. The United States must find a way to talk to Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Moqtada al-Sadr, and militia and insurgent leaders.
Recommendations 21, 26, 27 28, and 30 would be disastrous if we were willing to enforce them. Fortunately, we are not:
RECOMMENDATION 40: The United States should not make an open-ended commitment to keep large numbers of American troops deployed in Iraq.
RECOMMENDATION 41: The United States must make it clear to the Iraqi government that the United States could carry out its plans, including planned redeployments, even if Iraq does not implement its planned changes. America's other security needs and the future of our military cannot be made hostage to the actions or inactions of the Iraqi government.
RECOMMENDATION 42: We should seek to complete the training and equipping mission by the first quarter of 2008, as stated by General George Casey on October 24, 2006.
RECOMMENDATION 43: Military priorities in Iraq must change, with the highest priority given to the training, equipping, advising, and support mission and to counterterrorism operations.
More analysis is available from ZenPundit.


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Palm Announces Pre Plus And Pixi Plus For Verizon
No comments · Posted by admin in Palm Pre Plus, Verizon Wireless
The biggest news coming from Palm at CES is that it will be offering two new(ish) devices exclusively from Verizon Wireless. The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus bring new features to each device plus a cool mobile hotspot application.
Both of these revised devices will be available from Verizon Wireless on January 25. Pricing was not disclosed.
The Pre Plus differs from the original in that it has a redesigned exterior, improved navigation, two times the storage (16GB), and it will now ship with a Touchstone-compatible back cover.
The Pixi Plus now includes Wi-Fi, which was not previously available on the Sprint version.
Both devices will have a new application exclusive to Verizon which turns them into mobile hotspots. Similar to a Novatel MiFi, it uses Verizon's 3G network to connect to the Internet. It will then allow up to five other devices to tether via Wi-Fi for Internet access.
Read the full story on InformationWeek.
Add new tag · Consumer Electronics Show · Novatel Wireless · pixi · Pixi Plus · Sprint · VerizonWireless · Wi-Fi · Wireless
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MURRAY, Ky. — Two Murray State University students pursuing degrees in political science spent their summers experiencing the Kentucky political system in action through regional internship opportunities.
Jodi Henon of Bowling Green interned at the state office of U.S. Senator Rand Paul, while Christopher Stewart of Kuttawa worked as a student intern for the Lyon County Courthouse.
"This was a great opportunity to witness the impact our government has on citizens from a new perspective," Henon said. "Through this internship, I was able to gain personal experience that is relative to my area of study and to relate course materials to real-life situations."
Henon is a junior at Murray State pursuing a double major in political science and accounting. With aspirations to work as a lawyer, Henon sought after an internship position that would allow her to gain a better understanding of the processes behind how laws are made.
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"I plan on going into public service later in my life," Stewart said, "and I hope this experience helps to make me a better person for that job in the future."
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Habitat selection shows fundamental differences depending on the activity considered, in particular in spatiotemporal scales involved. Estimating a foraging patch quality may take only up the time to try to find a food item (Figure 5). The equivalent rule for assessing a breeding patch quality implies attempting to breed to obtain information on expected breeding success in this patch, thus spending time and energy for one breeding attempt there, which may represent a significant portion of life span. In other words, foraging decisions are more dynamic than breeding habitat decisions. Breeding habitat choice may occur only once in life, when individuals decide whether to stay on or leave the natal site (natal site fidelity vs. dispersal). In mobile iteroparous species, individuals can change breeding sites between breeding events (breeding dispersal), but in many species, once the breeding place has been selected, individuals remain on that place for the whole breeding season.
□ Before experiment □ After experiment
350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
Corvids playback (n=24)
Songbirds playback (n = 10)
Corvids playback (n=24)
Songbirds playback (n = 10)
Experimental treatment
Figure 6 An example of breeding habitat selection. Influence of the perceived nest predation risk on (a) dispersal distance and (b) nest site preferences in Siberian jays (Perisoreus infaustus). When exposed to nest predator playbacks (corvids) compared to control playbacks (songbirds) or no playback during breeding, individuals changed their breeding site choice in the following year. Data from Eggers S, Griesser M, Nystrand M, and Ekman J (2006) Predation risk induces changes in nest-site selection and clutch size in the Siberian jay. Proceedings of the Royal Society London Series B 273: 701-706.
Selecting a habitat or patch often implies different habitat requirements for different activities, and may thus follow different decision rules. However, different types of habitat selection may strongly interact and therefore be traded off against one another, for instance, in species searching for food and reproductive sites simultaneously. Even when selecting a breeding and foraging location are distinct activities during the life cycle, selecting a breeding habitat constrains foraging during the whole breeding period, especially in species spatially constrained during reproduction, for example, sessile and territorially breeding species. Furthermore, breeding habitat choice is often strongly linked with mate choice, which implies that constraints linked to sexual selection also influence breeding habitat choice, while they are unlikely to influence foraging habitat choice.
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What's Wrong With the Nordic Model?
Criminalisation and repressive policing of sex work is linked to increased risk of violence, HIV and sexually transmitted infections.¹
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
The Nordic Model of sex work laws criminalises all clients of sex workers. No state or territory in Australia has ever adopted this legal framework; however, a number of other countries have.
The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) is an international organisation representing sex workers' rights organisations around the world, including those in countries which have adopted the Nordic Model. Summarising the NSWP's explanation²:
The 'Nordic Model' is used to describe the approach – first promoted and implemented in Sweden – of criminalising the purchase of sexual services under a broader ideological framework that sees all sex work as violence. The Nordic Model aims to eradicate sex work both in the short term via criminalisation and fines for paying for sexual services, and in the long term by creating an understanding of sex work as inherently harmful to both the individual and society. Under this framework all sex workers are viewed as victims lacking agency, and sex work is seen as something that is impossible to choose or to consent to.
NSWP relies on feedback from sex workers who have actually worked under Nordic Model laws. They identify a number of problems created by the Nordic Model, as summarised here:²
- Increased barriers to accessing healthcare.
- Undermining of sex workers' ability to implement safety measures (feedback from UK and Canada).
- Sex workers reported needing to take more risks in order to meet client demands (feedback from France).
- Sex workers reported that clients had greater bargaining power (feedback from France).
- Street based sex workers had less time to negotiate with clients.
- Eviction of sex workers from housing (feedback from Norway).
- Disproportionate negative impact on migrant sex workers.
- Increased policing of consenting adults who choose to work in the sex industry.
- Incorrect conflation of sex work with violence against women.
- Treatment of sex workers as victims, not workers.
- Increased levels of social stigma against sex workers.
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Criminalisation and repressive policing of sex work linked to increased risk of violence, HIV and sexually transmitted infections (11 December 2018) London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Global Network of Sex Work Projects, Challenging the Introduction of the Nordic Model (2018), NSWP
Last updated: 21 December 2019


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Secondary Cross-Country 2019
Apr 26th 2019
After a rainy start to the week, perfect running weather greeted our secondary students at Teralba Park for the Secondary Interhouse Cross Country.
The points were extremely close, proving that every runner makes a difference. For the first time ever, we had a tie for 3rd place between Booth and Graham houses. Elliott ended up winning the day by only a two point margin over Wesley.
Congratulations to our Age Champions:
12 years: Eva E & Arthur D
13 years: Emma C & Elijah B
14 years: Grace D & Ethan K
15 years: Franceska D & Gabriel G
16 years: Brooklyn D & Zayden W
Open: Hannah B & Jacob L


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Online Flower delivery in Vizag
Flowers are the beautiful creations of nature. They do have the utmost importance in every sphere of human life. Flowers are the major things that make an occasion colorful and meaningful. Country Oven is here to make your occasion more special with our flowers. You just need to choose the type of flowers that you are needed.
Your order will be arranged to delightfully convey your feelings and represent your personal message. We take pride in ensuring that each floral arrangement is beautifully styled with the utmost craftsmanship to arrive in perfect condition. Gift flowers to your loved ones and make them feel special for now and then.


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| 1.1°C Dublin
The determined lady in very short shorts leaped from her car and bounced away as if on springs under the dripping horse chestnuts of Donadea Forest Park.
That was our first 'serious pelter' sighting of the day, and not the last by any means.
Most of the competitors in the Donadea 10K race, though, seemed happy to take things at a rather steadier pace. In twos, fives and tens they went trotting off down the leaf-strewn path, arms pumping, adrenaline a-squirt.
The ladies and gentlemen of Donadea Running Club weren't the only folk out and about among the chestnuts and beeches this morning. Situated where it is, less than an hour's drive east of Dublin in the gently rolling landscape of north Kildare, the former estate of the Aylmer family has become a powerful magnet for outdoor enthusiasts in its present guise as Donadea Forest Park.
Coillte manages 10 of these Forest Parks across the country, and with their multiple facilities, well-surfaced waymarked routes and family-friendly atmosphere, they've proved a big hit with walkers, from toddlers to yompers, as well as with kite-flyers, tai-chi fans, kickabouters, and the sprinters who gallop their paths.
As soon as Jane and I had got in among the woods ourselves, there wasn't a sound to be heard. The panting and pounding runners might have been in another world -- Planet Pain, probably.
We trod a carpet of rich golden beech leaves under trees that steamed the vapour of yesterday's downpours. Stands of rosebay willowherb, iconic plant of disturbed ground, showed tall spiky stalks, the pinky-purple flowers so eye-catching in summer now shrunk away to nothing, the pale green of each spear-blade leaf edged with the dull gold of vegetable decay.
"Eerie light," said Jane, exploring the undergrowth. "Grimm's Fairy Tales!" Brackens spread their peacock tails, hart's tongues crinkled in the gloom. A mossy stump stood half-rotted, its velvety table piled with the tempting-looking fungi called Granny's Cakes.
Brambles, leaf mould and subtly gleaming fungi exhaled the dark, fruity smell that tells of deep old winter not far off.
It was hard to believe we were sharing these woods with 600 runners, until we rounded a corner and found them bearing right down on us. A bunch of tightly muscled greyhounds at first; then a whole river of runners in flood.
We stood right back and let them pass, sweating, snorting, grimacing, doing their best and then some. The strong whiff of hard-worked horseflesh hung in the air. A wheezing, malodorous, steaming army, but admirable, even enviable, for all that.
One little lad, spotting his uncle, suddenly leaped up in the air beside me, smacking his palms together and squealing out, "Go, Barney! Come on, Barney! Only six to go!" I wouldn't have been surprised to see Barney, struggling and well back in the field, fall dead on hearing that. Instead, he dredged up a watery smile and raised a tremulous thumb.
After the runners had passed we went on, through woods once more wrapped in silence. Round another bend we came on Competitor 332, a tiny baby slung in front of his mother and kicking fit to beat the band. Beyond stood the runners' friends and relations, water bottles and bananas at the ready, waiting beside a pair of dark stone obelisks -- a memorial to the dead of 9/11. McMahon, O'Rourke, Leahy, Callahan, Farrelly: no need to ask where so many of the Twin Towers victims had their family origins.
Perhaps some of their ancestors were those who, in the Famine years, built stone walls along the streams through the Aylmer estate to earn their bread.
We rounded the lake and came by the derelict hulk of Donadea Castle, unroofed in the 50s and left to rot. Blank windows crowded with ivy, battlements shaggy with bushes, gated and barred, the Gothic house seemed a desert island amid the waves of cheerful runners, their families and friends, all streaming away laughing and teasing at the end of the race.
Ah, the results? Mick Coyle won in 0.34.10, beating his nearest rival by a pretty whopping seven seconds. Baby 322 came in... well, 520th from first, let's say.
And last of all was... hmmm, quite honestly, a gentleman shouldn't tell. And this one won't.
Irish Independent


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Additional information
|1.25 lbs
Wellness Health & Beauty Hair Mask – unique first of its kind worldwide hair treatment. enriched with nuts and herbs components produced from natural sources and A B F E vitamins, plus keratin. all these unique features achieve great improvements, in quality and appearance of hair. a distinct formula that help strengthen the hair building protein. regular use of the product will reduce damage made by chemical treatments, cumulative sun exposure, pool water and hard tap water.
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Mungo's come tuff here, continuing their take over of the new foundation of reggae dancehall and linked up with London mic veteran Kenny Knots, they deliver a sound killer. Kenny Knots has developed his unique and versatile style, nicing up dances worldwide for the last 30 years, starting out as a teenager in the 80s on London's Unity Sound, a nice combination alongside Glasgow's Mungo's Hi Fi.
Artist: Mungo's Hi Fi
Title: Forward Ever
Label: Scotch Bonnet Records
Format: 2xLP.
Category: Reggae Related Releases.
Artist: Ramon Judah & ...
Title: Deliver Me
Label: Reggae Roast
Format: 12".
Category: Reggae Related Releases.


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Francisco de Goya is considered by many to be the father of modern art. Francisco Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Zaragoza Spain on March 30, 1746. Goya lived and painted in Spain until he was twenty, when he left Spain to paint in Italy. Francisco de Goya died in Bordeaux, France.
It was said that a priest discovered Goya's talent when Goya had drawn a picture of a hog on a wall. It was said that a priest told Goya's father, Jose Goya, that his son had a great tallent for the arts and that he should help his son pursue a career in the arts. At age 12 Goya painted 3 works of art for his church.
Goya left for Madrid, Spain in 1763 to go for a scholarship but he failed 3 times in the competitions for painting the wives of kings, in 1766. Although he was not the winner, he did receive a laudatory mention and six votes for his painting. Goya was so excited that he left for Saragosa. There Goya did many paintings which added to his success.
On July 25, 1775 Goya married Josefina Bayeu. Josefina was a director of the San Fernendo Academy. There Goya was commisioned to paint cartoons of contempory customs and holiday activities for the Royal Tapestry factory in Santa Barbra. He did this from 1774 to 1792. He did a total of 54 cartoons in Rococo Style.
In 1779 Goya was finally accepted at the San Fernando Academy when he entered a small classical painting, "Aesop". In 1780 the king of Spain commisioned Goya in 1780 to paint an altar piece for the church. In 1785 he was appionted Lieutenent director of painting at the San Fernando Academy.
Goya became ill in Seville at the end of 1792. He ended up totally deaf and undewent a major personality change. In 1812 his wife died and Goya painted "The Burial of the Sardine" for the parish church of Chinchon in memory of his wife. Goya then retired in 1828 and died of a stroke that very same year. There are many other well known artist that also made a big impact on modern art, such as Picasso, Velazquez and Dali. Many of Goya's master peaces can be found in The Prado Museum in Spain. All of the paintings below can be found in the Prado Museum in Spain.
"Two Old Men" c. 1821-1823
"Men Reading" c. 1819-1823
"Leocadia" c. 1821- 1823
"Fight With Cudgels" c. 1820-1823


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When it comes to buying a camera, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the massive range of available features and price tags to match. Beginning photographers and those looking to upgrade their cameras to a full-frame sensor are faced with a number of choices. If budget is a concern, look toward older, but still popular, models that have less aggressive price tags than more recent releases. While it's been on the market for six years, is the Canon 6D still a camera worth buying?
Background, Release Date and Price
Released in November 2012, the Canon 6D is a powerful tool that's still highly relevant. The Canon 6D was announced a week after the release of Nikon D600, which found immense popularity due to its low price and incredible features. Canon 6D gave stiff competition to Nikon's full-frame DSLR and a new range of products was born.
Thanks to the popularity of these affordable full-frame cameras, even Sony entered the market with its Alpha line. Additionally, Canon 6D faced competition from the company's other popular full-frame model, the 5D Mark III.
Features, Design, and Display
Despite being an old device, Canon 6D is still very relevant thanks to its features that include:
- 20.2 MP full-frame CMOS sensor
- 'Silent' shutter option
- DIGIC 5+ image processor
- 4.5 fps continuous shooting
- External mic for stereo sound recording
- ISO 100-25600 standard, 50-102800 expanded
- 1080p video recording
- 63 zone iFCL metering system
- 11 point AF system, center point cross-type and sensitive to -3 EV
- 97% viewfinder coverage; interchangeable screens (including Eg-D grid and Eg-S fine-focus)
- Single slot for an SD card
- 1040k dot 3:2 3″ ClearView LCD (fixed)
- Built-in GPS and WiFi
- Single-axis electronic level
The Canon 6D looks quite like Nikon D600, especially in terms of dimensions and layout. However, it is slightly lighter (770 grams) and has a slimmer body than the Nikon D600, weighing in at 850 grams.
But, its appearance is not all that distinguishes Canon 6D from Nikon D600 and other similar models. The 6D offers built-in GPS and wifi, which was a rarity back in 2012, especially considering the low price of the unit. Wifi connectivity allows users to remotely control the DSLR with the help of Canon's smartphone app.
The LCD display screen is a generous 3.2 inches, offering 1,040,000 dots. The screen is well articulated but may be a letdown to some since it doesn't have the touch feature that's common in more recent models. While the screen doesn't offer new frills, it displays images and menus quite clearly. It works well outside as well due to controlled reflection. Images and colors appear realistically.
In addition to this, the company also highlighted the product with an "unprecedented low-light focusing sensitivity." 6D offers an ISO range of 100 to 25,600, expandable to 50 to 102,400. The 6D has a reputation for being a low-light champion, and it certainly is, especially when pushed to its limits. Increase the ISO and this camera shines over the competition. According to Canon, it can handle up to -3 EV light, which is the same as a full moon.
The 6D was built using Canon's CMOS sensor, offering 20.2 MP, slightly lower than Canon's pricier model 5D Mark III, which offers 22 MP and the Nikon D600's 24.3.
Canon 6D gets reduced marks for its autofocus system, offering only 11 points, with just one cross-type, sensitive to horizontal and vertical detail. In contrast, the Nikon D600 has 39 points, with 9 cross-type sensors. The 6D's big brother, the Canon 5D Mark III, uses a whopping 61-point autofocus, with 41 cross-type.
Besides the lack of autofocus points, the 6D surprisingly similar to the 5D Mark III in terms of features. It offers silent shooting thanks to silent shutter mode, multiple exposure, and in-camera HDR. However, they don't work as well as they do on the Mark III due to issues with file formatting as they are only available when shooting JPEG images.
While the features of 6D are generally positive, some do miss a few features that were found on previous Canon models but are missing with this camera. These include on-chip phase-detection, which could be an asset in movie mode or live view. Canon also removed the headphone jack on the 6D. However, the camera offers a visual guide that gives you access to audio levels with manual control.
The camera also lacks Canon's popular touchscreen feature. This might not be important to someone who hasn't used a Canon before, but loyal Canon users may miss these features.
Some may also prefer a tilting display screen over the fixed version on the 6D. However, Canon says it's to make sure the camera remains durable and the size is kept down.
- Battery Type: LP-E6
- Battery Life: 980 (CIPA)
The camera operates on a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery. It offers excellent energy density with little self-discharge.
The Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) ranks the battery life at 980. It can take about 1090 shots on a single charge. However, the number may increase or decrease based on how you use the camera.
Most cameras today use the same battery, including the Canon 5D Mark III and the 5DS.
How Does the Canon 6D Compare?
Here's how 6D stacks up against its closest competition, the Nikon D600:
|Canon 6D
|Nikon D600
|Sensor Resolution
|20.2 million
|24.3 million
|Image Size
|5,472 x 3,648
|6,016 x 4,016
|Sensor Pixel
|Continuous Shooting Speed
|Shutter Durability
|100,000 cycles
|150,000 cycles
|Viewfinder Coverage
|Viewfinder Type
|Yes (built-in)
|145 x 111 x 71mm
|141 x 113 x 82mm
|Native ISO Sensitivity
|Autofocus System
|11-point AF and 1 cross-type sensor
|39-point AF and 9 cross-type sensors
|Boosted ISO Sensitivity
|AF Detection
|Up to f/5.6
|Up to f/8 (center 7 AF points only)
|Maximum Video Resolution
|1920×1080 (1080p) @ 29.97p, 25p, 23.976p
|1920×1080 (1080p) @ 24p, 25p, 30p
|Yes (Built-in)
|Eye-Fi, WU-1B, UT-1
|Size of LCD
|3.2 inches
|3.2 inches
|LCD Resolution
|1,040,000 dots
|921,000 dots
|Battery Life
|900 shots (CIPA
|980 shots (CIPA
Canon's imaging technology has improved since the 6D was originally released. It now offers better ISO performance, improved details and sharpness, and a greater dynamic range. However, the Canon 6D is still a powerhouse with its professional-grade and powerful sensor. Because of that, despite its age, the 6D still shines when it comes to quality.
Don't let the cons fool you – most of the negatives are only due to 6D being an old model or the Canon deliberately removing some features so it didn't compete with their more expensive models. The 6D's biggest drawback appears when it comes to recording videos. However, it's fantastic for landscape, portrait, and wildlife photography.


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- STUK.fi
- What´s new
- Topics
- Radon
- Radon causes lung cancer
- Sources of radon
- Reference values and regulations concerning radon in dwellings
- Radon in Finland
- Radon in new buildings
- Radon mitigation
- Radon-free childhood
- Sun beds
- Use of radiation in health care
- Mobile telephones and base stations
- Transmission of electricity and power lines
- Transmission and distribution of electricity
- Power lines produce electric and magnetic fields
- There is no absolute certainty about the health effects of power lines
- STUK recommends sensible caution
- Transmission lines in urban planning
- Distribution lines and substations
- Household electrical equipment and wiring
- Use of radiation in beauty care
- Lasers
- Nuclear power plants
- Nuclear facility projects
- Safety goals
- Olkiluoto 3
- The nuclear facility project of Fennovoima
- The encapsulation and final disposal facility of spent nuclear fuel
- Decommissioning of the research reactor
- Nuclear waste
- Mining
- Environmental radiation
- Radiation today
- Radiation in Europe - Eurdep
- Radioactivity in outdoor air
- Deposition
- Radioactivity in drinking water
- Radioactivity in milk
- Natural background radiation
- Radioactivity in the Baltic Sea
- Radioactivity in forests
- Radioactivity elsewhere in the world
- Food and drinking water
- Food control in Finland and maximum values for food
- The radiation dose received from food is low
- Wild berries and mushrooms
- Meat, game and fish
- Vegetables
- Low radioactive concentrations in grain
- Radioactivity in drinking water
- Milk
- Emergencies
- What is radiation
- Radon
- STUK supervises
- STUK is a regulatory control authority
- STUK monitors the radiation safety of the environment
- Nuclear safety
- STUK's duties in the supervision of nuclear safety
- STUK sets safety requirements
- Regulatory oversight of facility projects
- Safety analyses
- Regulatory oversight of facilities' operating conditions
- Regulatory oversight of facility modifications
- Regulatory oversight of operations in organizations
- Regulatory oversight of radiation safety
- STUK approves inspection organisations for nuclear facilities
- Regulatory oversight of nuclear waste management
- Nuclear material regulation
- STUK participates in the licensing of nuclear facilities
- STUK's duties in the supervision of nuclear safety
- Nuclear security arrangements
- Practice that causes exposure to natural radiation
- Measurements of mobile phone radiation
- Using non-ionizing radiation in beauty care
- Services
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- About us
- STUK's strategy 2018-2022
- Organization
- Finance
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- Advisory Committees
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- International Nuclear Safety Cooperation
- Cooperation on radiation and nuclear safety in Finland's neighbouring areas
- Cooperation on nuclear safety funded by EU
- Cores - Finnish Consortium for Radiation Safety Research
- International collaboration on radiation safety
- International reviews of STUK's operations
- Contact information
- How to reach us
- STUK online
- Data protection at STUK
- Feedback
- Information on the website
- STUK's mission is to ensure radiation and nuclear safety in Finland
- Radon Free Childhood
Safety classes of laser products
Safety classes of laser products
Laser products are divided into safety classes, with the more dangerous products having a higher number. The current system contains the following classes: 1, 1M, 1C, 2, 2M, 3R, 3B, and 4. The letters signify the characteristics of the laser beam.
Class 1
The laser beam in class 1 laser products is so weak that it poses no threat in any situation, or when the product is designed so that the laser beam is limited to the inside of the device. A laser encased in a device can however still be powerful enough to qualify as a higher class of laser. This is the case with CD players, for example. These kinds of laser products have warnings not to open the protective case. Toys shall not be over class 1 laser products.
Class 1C
Class 1C laser products can cause skin damage as the radiation they produce can exceed the maximum values of skin exposure. Class 1C products are designed to be safe for the eyes. The letter C refers to the word "contact". The products can be used, for example, for cosmetic skin treatments. High-efficiency class 3B or 4 lasers may be encased in class 1C laser products.
Class 2
Laser products only produce visible light and are relatively low power. The maximum output power for class 2 laser products is 1 mW. Usually the blinking of an eye is enough protection for it. Staring at a laser beam that is part of this class can, however, damage the eye. The most powerful laser pointers permitted in Finland and lasers used educationally in schools belong to this class.
Classes 1M and 2M
The beam of laser products which are class 1M or 2M has a large divergence or it is relatively wide at the source of the laser output. Looking at a class 1M or 2M laser can only be dangerous when using a radiation gathering optics, such as a pair of binoculars or a magnifying glass.
Class 3R
Lasers are slightly more powerful than classes 1 and 2. In the visible range the maximum output power for class 3R lasers is 5 mW. A direct hit or a reflection from a smooth surface can cause permanent damage in the eye. Some directional and levelling lasers for professional use belong to this class.
Class 3B
A beam of class 3B laser, whether hitting the eyes directly or reflected on a mirror, is always dangerous for the eyes. The maximum output power for class 3B lasers is 500 mW.
Class 4
The beam of a class 4 laser is so powerful that it can instantaneously burn the skin. The eye can be damaged even from a diffused reflection. A high-power laser can set wood or canvas alight. Class 4 laser products are used in places such as hospitals, in industry as cutting equipment, and in certain show performances as a lighting effect.