Monthly Archives: April 2010

Albert Einstein vs. Sarah Palin

Physicist Lawrence Krauss, as a prelude to a recent essay that he wrote for New Humanist, paired an Albert Einstein observation with a tweet from Sarah Palin, and I thought the effect was striking. Here are the quotes: “The unleashed power of the … Continue reading

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Biologist Jerry Coyne vs. Adam and Eve

At his blog this week, Jerry Coyne calls out the BioLogos Foundation, a self-professed reconciler of good science with reasonable religion, for not unequivocally rejecting the historicity of Adam and Eve: BioLogos does not take an official position on the historicity of … Continue reading

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“A Parable for Thomas”: a poem by Santi Tafarella

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 . Beauty is noticing the lonely Boulder on yonder hill casting                                                                                                                                                                                                                               . In your way a long black Tongue declaring that, yes,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                . The sun is rising, and you Need not ascend yourself                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 . The hill, nor touch … Continue reading

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A gorgeous image of a cow in the Swiss Alps accompanied by the opening stanzas of James Dickey’s “The Heaven of Animals” (1961)

From Wikipedia Commons:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  . And from James Dickey: Here they are. The soft eyes open. If they have lived in a wood It is a wood. If they have lived on plains It is grass rolling Under their … Continue reading

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Robert Campin (1375-1444): the truth will out?

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I get a “the truth will out” vibe from the paintings of Robert Campin—a sort of protective concealment-revelation cycle of some sort functioning as a subtext in at least some of … Continue reading

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When you can’t spell socialism, but you know you don’t like it one bit

See here for a Flicker page devoted to teabonics. Here’s an example:

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The Bangles’ “In Your Room”

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Barack Obama will be at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles

According to the Huffington Post, in late April President Barack Obama is going to be in Los Angeles attending a fund raiser for Senator Barbara Boxer, and on learning this I thought, “Hey, I’m nearby, and I’d like to go to … Continue reading

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A lesson in growing up: I know that you are offended—and no, I won’t be apologizing or adjusting my language to match your sensibilities

I’m here. I have unorthodox views. I’m expressing them directly. Deal with it. Philip Pullman asserts his right to set the rhetorical tone and intellectual content of the messages that he sends and the right of people to give them attention … Continue reading

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Queer the Census

How do you view yourself? When filling out the census, you needn’t let others tell you who or what you are.

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Innocence to experience—to emotional blackmale

After the gorilla’s existentialist period of Camus-like despair, I suppose that the next episode will be devoted to his religious conversion: a trainer comforts the gorilla by convincing him that he doesn’t really die—but nevertheless might go to hell if he … Continue reading

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Are you a member of the faith community—or the doubting community?

Because every other year or so I teach the Bible as literature course at my college, I was asked to be on a panel discussing how to deal with religion in the classroom. The event was held last night and one … Continue reading

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