Thread: Have just realised it’s the traditional season for journalists & ‘opinion writers’ to trot out their ‘science v religion’ rants. Science is not a religion; if u think it is you’re not a scientist. Scientists are generally not all atheists either. 👇

I once had a chat with a respected & heroic Scottish professor of science (won’t be too specific as I don’t want to share his identity) which turned into a real heart to heart. This man was a personal hero to me.
He was born into extreme poverty as a child in the Gorbals in Glasgow. His dad died when he was 14 & he got a job to support his mother. Later he put himself thru A-Levels & was awarded a scholarship to a famous University. That’s heroic.
His abilities, kindness, understanding & support to colleagues, staff & students was legendary. As were the books & papers he wrote. His campaigning ranged from social issues to conservation. It’s no exaggeration to say he changed his adopted country.
So in the heart to heart, amongst ancient oak bookshelves, I asked him what did he make of ghosts (rather than how I’d ask now - what does the scientific community think of ghosts). Maturity means thinking how you pose questions (& maybe one day I will!).
So his eyes crinkled & he laughed with surprise. ‘Well’, he said, ‘it’s impossible to prove that they don’t exist (here he was teaching me the ‘prove a negative argument’). ‘And no one has proved that they do. So it’s a case of ‘not proven’ (a Scottish legal term - look it up)’.
Then he leaned forward & said almost wistfully ‘wouldn’t it be a very bleak world if there wasn’t any mystery?’ He sat back. ‘And there’d be nothing for us to do’, - gesturing towards me. I left delighted to have been called a scientist for the first time by a scientist &
It was later i considered the many layers of the conversation. Now as to God, does she exist? Is the Dagda grumbling at my lack of hunting or is the God of Christian Fundamentalists upset with me for trying not to hate people? Well I don’t believe in bleak worlds.
So have a mysterious Winter Solstice & remember to be good. Merry Christmas! (And yes I know there are some celebrity scientists who are ATHEISTS! I’m not sure they don’t believe in a higher power, but I am sure they like to be angry). Let’s just live & let love.
The drawing of the Madonna & Child is for someone who does believe in God & is one of those people that you meet that radiates a spiritual goodness (I’ve met only three in my life). Now I see it on a tiny screen She looks like She’s looking to our right, but zoom in &
She’s looking down & to the left. Mystery! Nollaig Shona Daoibh go Léir! (& remember correlation & causation are two different & mysterious things).
Just to be clear I’m not doing down religiosity or atheism. As long as each is personal, & not forced on others, we’re grand!

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**Thread on Bravery of Sikhs**
(I am forced to do this due to continuous hounding of Sikh Extremists since yesterday)

Rani Jindan Kaur, wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh had illegitimate relations with Lal Singh (PM of Ranjit Singh). Along with Lal Singh, she attacked Jammu, burnt - https://t.co/EfjAq59AyI


Hindu villages of Jasrota, caused rebellion in Jammu, attacked Kishtwar.

Ancestors of Raja Ranjit Singh, The Sansi Tribe used to give daughters as concubines to Jahangir.


The Ludhiana Political Agency (Later NW Fronties Prov) was formed by less than 4000 British soldiers who advanced from Delhi and reached Ludhiana, receiving submissions of all sikh chiefs along the way. The submission of the troops of Raja of Lahore (Ranjit Singh) at Ambala.

Dabistan a contemporary book on Sikh History tells us that Guru Hargobind broke Naina devi Idol Same source describes Guru Hargobind serving a eunuch
YarKhan. (ref was proudly shared by a sikh on twitter)
Gobind Singh followed Bahadur Shah to Deccan to fight for him.


In Zafarnama, Guru Gobind Singh states that the reason he was in conflict with the Hill Rajas was that while they were worshiping idols, while he was an idol-breaker.

And idiot Hindus place him along Maharana, Prithviraj and Shivaji as saviours of Dharma.
The entire discussion around Facebook’s disclosures of what happened in 2016 is very frustrating. No exec stopped any investigations, but there were a lot of heated discussions about what to publish and when.


In the spring and summer of 2016, as reported by the Times, activity we traced to GRU was reported to the FBI. This was the standard model of interaction companies used for nation-state attacks against likely US targeted.

In the Spring of 2017, after a deep dive into the Fake News phenomena, the security team wanted to publish an update that covered what we had learned. At this point, we didn’t have any advertising content or the big IRA cluster, but we did know about the GRU model.

This report when through dozens of edits as different equities were represented. I did not have any meetings with Sheryl on the paper, but I can’t speak to whether she was in the loop with my higher-ups.

In the end, the difficult question of attribution was settled by us pointing to the DNI report instead of saying Russia or GRU directly. In my pre-briefs with members of Congress, I made it clear that we believed this action was GRU.