Life as it goes

This is the title of a mind-blowing talk given by prof. Richard Dawkins at a TED Conference. If you like fundamental questions, then you're in for a treat.

The title itself is from a quote by J.B.S. Haldane, a famous British biologist who once wrote:

Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. [...] I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy.

Prof. Dawkins asked deeply philosophical questions: What is about us that makes us capable of supposing anything, thinking and comprehending things? And does this tells us anything about what we can suppose? Are there things about the universe that will be forever beyond our grasps but not beyond the grasps of some superior intelligence? Are there things about the universe that are forever un-graspable by any mind, however superior?

See the video here.

Click to watch the video on YouTube.com

National Geographic has put to test martial art masters who claim to have and use a mysterious power called Chi. With Chi they claim to be able to knock people down without them. Watch the video to see how they do it. Of course there is no such thing as Chi, at least none that science can prove. I particularly enjoyed the excuse given by the master after they failed the test; Very funny.

Every once and then we get so used to a given saying or tradition that we forget what they were supposed to mean in the first place. This is apparently the case of a political TV ad I saw this morning. It's run by Tom Kean Jr., state senator in New Jersey. He talks for long on why his opponent is totally bad and how himself (Tom Kean) is totally good. Then Mr. Kean ends his message with the canonical formula "I'm Tom Kean and I approve this message.". Is there any reason Mr. Kean thinks that a message in his own words and entirely presented by himself still needs his approval?