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Monday, December 24, 2018

Happy Holidays

I have been getting a novel complaint about my music videos, which is that they are “hard to understand.” In case you share this impression, you may be overthinking this. These aren’t press-releases about high-temperature superconductors or neutron star matter, it’s me attempting to sing. But since you ask, this one is about the – often awkward – relation between science and religion.



(Soundcloud version here.)

And since tis the season, allow me to mention that you find a donate-button in the top right corner of this website. On this occasion I also wish to express a heart-felt THANK YOU for all of those who this year sent donations. I very much appreciate your support, no matter how small, because it documents that you value my writing.

And here is this years’ family portrait for the Christmas cards.



In Germany, we traditionally celebrate Christmas on the evening of December 24th. So I herewith sign off for the rest of the year. Wish you all Happy Holidays.

19 comments:

  1. Danke :-)

    Und Frohe Weihnachten trotz allem auch von mir.

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  2. May the Krampus be generous toward those who claim Santa Claus is a right, empirical reality is a myth, and charity is a mandatory burden. 5779 claimed years, with whole leap months, and they still believe it is bestowed, לְשָׁנָה טוֹבָה תִכָּתֵבוּ וְתֵּחָתֵמוּ

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dok4wJ4pqo0
    … I demand a higher strength-to-weight ratio. Now, celebrate - then face a clotted 2019.
    化危为机 everybody!

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  3. Ich finde deine Lied "Outer Space" sehr gern. Du musst mehr Musik für uns machen.

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  4. In the Dominican Republic we also celebrate Christmas the evening of the 24th (we call it Noche Buena, which roughly translates to The Good Night). Happy holidays to you and yours and thanks for a 2018 of excellent writing.

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  5. Bless you all, and looking forward to your wonderful articles, videos and blog comments in the coming year!

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  6. Sabine wrote: I have been getting a novel complaint about my music videos, which is that they are “hard to understand.”

    The only thing that's hard to understand is how Sabine has the time to work, blog, take care of a family and do music videos (and I'm sure there's more).

    As for your atheist Ave Maria, I think it has much in common with Schubert's original. In Sabine's version, she's distressed by problems besetting democracy. Sabine asks for help from *anyone* and hopes we'll find our way. In Schubert's version, Scotland is beset with problems and a woman named Ellen asks for protection and guidance.

    In epic stories like this, the men often know what they want, and the way to get it is to fight. The Scottish clans fought for power, and three men fought for the love of Ellen. It's often the women who ask for protection and guidance. *Real men* don't need no stinking guidance.

    It could be said that most of the problems we face today have been caused by men, and as usual the men think that fighting is the solution. In an interesting twist, women today, and even some men, have finally realized that maybe the best way to protect everyone is for men to take guidance from women. :-)

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  7. Merry Christmas Bee, to you and your family and friends

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  8. Sabine,

    Thanks for that lovely video! Like you I am an atheist, but I have gradually come to suspect that consciousness plays a much bigger part in our universe than many think. If that is right, death may or not be the end, because maybe consciousness is conserved (try GOOGLEing NDE's) - so maybe our chances are 50-50!

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  9. A Warm and Merry Christmas to you and yours, and a very Happy and Safe New Year!

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  10. Scientifically there seems to be no evidence for God or no God. My faith is that there is a creator, but I don't comprehend the creator.

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  11. I don't know if Franz Schubert is rolling in his grave, but this about reflects my sense of things. Of course Schubert was in some way pretty secular and quite the playboy. He died of syphilis after all. From the yule log to lighting of menorah these festive displays are about calling the sun back. The Roman had their feast of the unconquered sun and Saturnalia this time of year. The sun always come back, and will for the next 5 billion years. I doubt we will be around to see most of those.

    Enjoy the time now in the moment is all I can think.

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  12. Is he the farter?

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  13. A lovely version of Ave Maria. The music always reflects the spiritual religious theme. Humans have created a mess on
    mother earth, will a GOD help to solve the Human misery? No way! That is the question I ask myself. The only potential to
    improve the hardships is that Humans have the intelligence to rationalize and use its knowledge to avoid misdeeds.

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  14. Merry Christmas !
    Don’t worry, everybody life is the way to create infinite personal space structures by everyday, as physical, real matter, even if you know nothing about it (it is matter for a new physics). Death will stop this creation, but all what you have made will stay forever connected to all around you in new universe.
    Happy New Year!

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  15. Thanks, Sabine. That made me smile. Very inventive.

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  17. xyrtek,

    Well, your first comment I did not publish since you asked me not to, but I have no patience for this kind of nonsense.

    Guess what, yeah, I have heard of vblog's. Trust me, if that's what I wanted to do, I'd do it.

    Second, the donate button isn't mine it's from paypal and I can't customize it. Unless you have a better alternative, that's how it is.

    Same with the link to amazon, I do not make it, it's a widget created by amazon and that's how it is.

    The reason you can presently only order my book from sellers with questionable rating is that it's out of print. Nothing I can do about it.

    In summary, please spare me your ill-informed "advice".

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  18. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  19. xyrtek,

    If you block those widgets, that's not something I can change. Yeah, happy holidays to you too.

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