Michael Blume writes concerning the “personification of the universe” model of religion: Religious traditions seem to derive their motivational, cooperative and then reproductive potentials from the belief in superempirical agents – ranging from deceased ancestors to various spirits, angels and demons to gods, bodhisatvas and alien visitors from outer space to God. . . In … Read more
From Glenn Greenwald, via Ed Brayton of Dispatches who says it’s true for him as well: I always tell people who want to start blogs, it’s a great way to have an outlet. I don’t think I’d be able to pay attention to political issues if I didn’t have the outlet of my blog, like … Read more
On Monday the 18th a trans-woman attempted to use the womens’ restroom at a McDonald’s in Baltimore, MD and was beaten by at least two women. From the video (taken by a McDonald’s employee) it looks like a manager tried to prevent the attack for a while, but then disappeared as it continued. The other McDonald’s … Read more
Terry Jones is on trial this morning by a Michigan jury which is going to decide whether or not he can protest at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn without having paid a $100,000 “peace bond.” If that makes you do a double-take and say “Whaa?” I’m right there with you. If it doesn’t, … Read more
Dawud Walid Anti-Islam pastor Terry Jones takes his show to Michigan…or at least attempts to. In a bid to become to Muslims what Fred Phelps has been to gays and the military, Jones announced that he and his church would be protesting at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, the largest mosque in North … Read more
Here’s a video on how Threadless does their seemingly endless t-shirt photo shoots, featuring photographers Sean Dorgan and Sean Donohue. If you shop at Threadless (and I do, more than I should) you’re probably familiar with how they give each shirt a style of photography and setting to complement its design, and they’re often very … Read more
I find it difficult to imagine how someone could read this without being creeped out by the author rather than the subject of his own disturbance: I saw someone at the airport the other day who really caught my eye. Her beautiful, long blond hair was braided back a la Bo Derek in the movie “10” … Read more
New Hampshire Tea Partiers’ opinions of gay marriage range from apathetic to vaguely supportive. I wonder how many of those people are members of the Free State Project. Check out the guy at 42 seconds in. Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota are trying to ban covert photography of factory farm operations. I would’ve thought that unauthorized … Read more