A song inspired* by the book of the same name by the Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, of the Bad Astronomy blog.

The book explores the various ways in which the human race could be rendered extinct by astronomical phenomena. It covers various astronomical events, such as asteroid impacts, supernovae explosions, solar flares and gamma ray bursts, among others. So does the song.

Musically its a return to my classic metal style, with a whole pile of short guitar solos to boot.

Click here for the free MP3

* – by inspired I mean I completely plagiarised everything lyrical in the song from the book.

Lyrics:

Chorus:
Death from the skies
The ways we shall die
Time to say goodbye

Verse 1:
Up in the sky
It comes for us
All kinds of pain
Whole world aflame
One hundred percent
Chance of a hit
But we could stop
If we see it

Verse 2:
A star gets bright
Blinded by the light
Destroy the ozone
Topple the food chain
Further away
Burst of gamma rays
Lethal radiation
A new ice age

Verse 3:
Planets in the wrong place
We see nothing
Fall towards it
Spaghettification
A probe lands here
Robot arachnoids
Begin replication
Using all our stuff

Verse 4:
A few billion years
The sun gets bright
Becoming giant
Earth burnt to death
Then eventually
Everything expands
Particle decay
Universal heat death

Coda:
This too shall pass

A worldview is not some kind of coherent whole, it is not something that can be easily summed up by 1 “ism” word. Each of us has assembled their view over the years piece by piece. A little from our friends, some from our teachers, a chunk from the media we’ve absorbed, a lot from our parents with a dash of our own independent thought.

If I was to describe my worldview it would differ at many points to the views of other skeptics, just as it would differ from the view of many Christians or conspiracy theorists or drug addicts. There would also likely be many points of agreement in all of those cases.

When I was a Christian I wrote a few posts on the idea, to quote myself:

Now of course a worldview isn’t just one idea or concept, it is like bricks in a wall – a whole group of ideas connected together to form a cohesive whole. Some bricks aren’t that important to the other bricks, so if they are changed, it doesn’t make much of a difference. So if you change your mind about what is the quickest way from North Ryde to Epping, it doesn’t really affect your whole worldview. Some ideas though, are like the bricks at the foundation of the wall, if you change them, the whole wall crumbles, and you have to rebuild it.

and

So if our worldview is like a wall, and if we don’t have a view on something, it is like a hole in the wall. Similarly, if our view on something is wrong, it won’t fit with the rest of the wall.

Many of us have gaps in our wall, or areas within that wall where we have yet to shine the light of critical thinking. Those places are weak points, places where we can be destroyed, discredited or otherwise damaged when our opponents and the tribulations of life are pushing against us. Sure there are obvious areas where skeptics are less likely to apply critical thought, like religion and politics, and the idea of examining such areas are being promoted by some of the big names like Michael Shermer.

What I find more interesting is the other areas, the stuff we just take as a matter of opinion like: sport, hobbies, music, books and the stuff that we all seem to accept unthinkingly like: love, hate, jealously, and our other “core” emotions and desires.

If we are true skeptics we shouldn’t be afraid of using our reason to examining ALL areas of our personal worldview. Especially the areas we don’t usually examine.

Pic from here

Another in the long line of songs that proves I’m insane.

Watch out for the jazz part, and the twist ending.

Enjoy it if you can.

Click here for the MP3

Image from here

If your definition of god includes air quotes then it is total bollocks.

Just because you can define a theoretical god construct that in no way interacts with our universe in any possibly demonstrable way doesn’t mean that you have somehow disproved atheism – you’ve just proved that you’re an idiot with too much time on your hands.

Protip: If your “god” doesn’t do anything then it is logically equivalent to nothing and should be treated as such.

An instrumental reflecting the dark and dreary mood that seems to swirl around in October.

For whatever reason, this month is historically filled with all kinds of darkness from revolutions to stock market crashes. Not to mention various other personal calamities.

This song is an attempt to capture the melancholy.

Click here to listen to the MP3 – totally free

Image from here

A song about the 1% who rebel against the norm, the ones who strive to forge their own path and in doing so improve the path of the other 99%. It is not just that they want to do their own thing, they are compelled to do so.

They are the activists, entrepreneurs, explorers, inventors and visionaries. Without them humanity would still be hunting and gathering.

Click here for the free mp3

Lyrics:

Verse 1:
I am all alone
But that’s what I like
Out here is my home
For which I will fight
Silently I hunt
Everything is prey
If you get in front
I’ll eat you today

Chorus:
Lone wolf stalking
Across the plains
Cannot conform without
Going insane

Verse 2:
Not part of a pack
On a different path
Taking any tack
Wheat without the chaff
Soon you will follow
With your herd of sheep
But first I must go
Help us all proceed

Image hunted from here