Regarding Richard Mourdock’s “rape babies are a gift from God” comment… It’s fun to see people all over the internet making fun of Mourdock saying that a pregnancy which results from rape should be considered a gift from God, because that life is something God intended to happen. They can […]
Read MoreDigital dualism enables internet idiocy; monism motivates meaning
First things first– if you haven’t already, go over to technosociology and read Zeynep Tufekci’s excellent post Free Speech and Power: From Reddit Creeps to anti-Muslim Videos, It’s Not *Just* “Free Speech.” You can probably glean the subject matter from that title, but the post is a very nuanced and […]
Read MoreDemonology
Art by Sandro Castelli It’s getting close to Halloween, so let’s talk about demons. I’m going to define a demon as a non-human agent who works in the world– the existence we inhabit– to create evil. Now, yes, I’ve said that I don’t believe in evil, that evil is a […]
Read MoreProcotting
I can’t seem to find a word that denotes a deliberate decision to patronize a business in response to a boycott by others, so I’m going to say I’m procotting Home Depot. Here’s why: The American Family Association has announced yet another boycott, or perhaps a continuation of an already […]
Read MoreI’m tripping over you, God
Cross-posted from State of Formation. In a Newsweek article grandiosely (to put it lightly) entitled Proof of Heaven: A Doctor’s Experience With the Afterlife published yesterday, Dr. Eben Alexander recounts a story of what it was like to visit Heaven (apparently) and speak with God (apparently) which supposedly took place while he was in a coma […]
Read More$75k happy
This is a bit old, but I just came across it– an article in Time reports on a study which says that money can buy you happiness, but it reaches diminishing returns past $75,000 or so. That is, people whose yearly salary is around $75,000 seem to have reached the […]
Read MoreSam Harris on a NDE as drug trip
I wrote this week about Eben Alexander’s account of his must-be-true experience with the afterlife, which made the cover story in Newsweek. Now I see Sam Harris has weighed in on the topic, and he definitely has opinions. First, he incredulously asks how a neurosurgeon could deliver such an account: Everything—absolutely […]
Read MorePolitical dietary supplement
Joe Biden seen here impersonating the debate’s audience. Been watching the presidential and vice-presidential debates? Yes? What’s wrong with you? Just kidding, so have I. And there may be many things wrong with me, but I don’t think being curious to see how the people aspiring to rule the country handle […]
Read MoreI would recommend….
…buying stand-up comedian Tig Notaro’s set off fellow comedian Louis CK’s web site. But before you listen to it, I would really recommend listening to listening to the Professor Blastoff podcast. In general, but especially since episode 63. Here’s the iTunes link. Hat tip to Kara, who pointed me in […]
Read MoreTripping a little more
A few more thoughts on Eben Alexander’s near-death experience: PZ Myers describes the story in a post called Newsweek panders to the deluded again, which isn’t an inaccurate label (it is indeed a delusion to say that the experience of one questionably conscious neurosurgeon “proves” anything, much less the existence of […]
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