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Monthly Archives: February 2010
Anti-gay hysteria is spreading in Africa
BBC reporter Pumza Fihlani: Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama’s criticism of the Ugandan proposals led to huge anti-gay rallies in neighbouring Kenya. Soon after, rumours of a gay wedding near the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa resulted in … Continue reading
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Tagged africa, Christianity, gay equality, gay marriage, gay rights, God, hysteria, Jesus, Kenya, psychology, uganda, witch hunts
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The magnitude-8.8 Chilean quake: what one journalist saw in the immediate aftermath in Talca, 65 miles from the epicenter
According to the AP (February 27, 2010): A journalist emerging into the darkened street scattered with downed power lines saw a man, some of his own bones apparently broken, weeping and caressing the hand of a woman who had died in … Continue reading
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Tagged chile, chile earthquake, death, earthquake, earthquakes, humanity, life, talca
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Reach out and touch someone
Literally. This recently in the New York Times: Students who received a supportive touch on the back or arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not, studies have found. A sympathetic … Continue reading
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Tagged doctors, friendship, humanity, kindness, life, love, nursing, psychology, teachers, touch
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Did Chile’s February 27, 2010 Magnitude-8.8 Earthquake Make the Top Ten Recorded Quakes of All Time?
Yep. According to the AP, it tied for seventh: Saturday’s quake matched a 1906 temblor off the Ecuadorean coast as the seventh-strongest ever recorded in the world.
Raw Footage from Chile in the Aftermath of Its Magnitude 8.8 Earthquake
Saturday morning, February 27, 2010, Santiago, Chile (200 miles from the quake’s epicenter):
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Tagged chile, chile quake, earthquake, human suffering, humanity, quake, seismology, south america
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More news from Chile in the immediate aftermath of this morning’s magnitude 8.8 quake
This from AP: Candia was visiting his wife’s 92-year-old grandmother in Talca when the quake struck. “Everything was falling — chests of drawers, everything,” he said. “I was sleeping with my 8-year-old son Diego and I managed to cover his … Continue reading
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Tagged chile, concepcion, earthquake, earthquakes, human suffering, life, theodicy, tragedy
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News from Chile in the aftermath of its magnitude-8.8 quake
This morning from the BBC: One journalist speaking to Chilean national television from the city of Temuco, 600km south of Santiago, said many people there had left their homes, determined to spend the rest of the night outside. Some people … Continue reading
Two books for thinking about Chile’s devestating magnitude 8.8 earthquake this morning
See here and here.
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Tagged chile, earthquakes, philosophy, suffering, Susan Neiman, theodicy, Voltaire
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Is Chile’s magnitude-8.8 quake the largest that seismologists have ever recorded?
No, but the largest earthquake ever recorded hit the exact same area (central Chile) fifty years ago, on May 22, 1960. It was a magnitude 9.5 earthquake, and here’s how that one was reported in the United States:
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Tagged central chile, chile, chile's earthquake, concepcion, earthquake, earthquakes
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Historical perspective on this morning’s magnitude 8.8 quake in central Chile
In the same area a magnitude 9.5 earthquake struck (May 22, 1960): And in 1939 was another large quake:
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Tagged chile, chile earthquake, concepcion, earthquake, the problem of suffering, tragedy
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Chile’s earthquake and a simulation from the National Geographic Channel
Chile had a magnitude-8.8 earthquake early this morning (Saturday, February 27, 2010). Here’s a National Geographic simulation of the damage a major earthquake in Chile is capable of causing:
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Tagged chile, death, earthquake, earthquakes, humanity, suffering, theodicy, tragedy, tsunamis
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An 8.8 quake hit Chile early this morning (February 27, 2010). Will the damage and loss of life be similar to May 22, 1960 when the largest earthquake ever recorded (9.5 magnitude) hit the same area?
AP early this morning: A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake capable of tremendous damage struck central Chile early Saturday, shaking the capital for a minute and half and setting off a tsunami. . . . The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the … Continue reading
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Tagged chile, earthquake, evil, Pat Robertson, quake, suffering, the problem of suffering, theodicy, tsunami
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Jonathan Rauch on the Contemporary GOP: “Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller got into an argument and George Wallace won”
Jonathan Rauch today posted a seminal analysis of the GOP in the light of George Wallace. A taste: Goldwater served for 30 years as a respected insider in Washington’s most exclusive club, the U.S. Senate; he was never interested in cultural and social … Continue reading
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Tagged America, conservatism, far right, George Wallace, racism, Republicans, rush limbaugh, Sean Hannity, tea party movement, the south
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John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) on Hell Belief and Critical Thinking
In John Stuart Mill’s Autobiography is a brilliant reflection on hell belief: he argues that belief in hell is made paradoxically both strong and weak by an across the board system failure in critical thinking. Here are the two critical thinking errors that Mill … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, critical thinking, God, hell, Jesus, john stuart mill, liberty, Michael Shermer, reason, skeptic, skepticism, the Bible
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The Huffington Post Launches a New Feature: A Religion Page
It’s a tab that you can click over to from the Huffington Post home page, and Ariana Huffington has put a Princeton professor in charge of it. The page will supposedly cover issues surrounding both religion and irreligion, and feature a number of bloggers. I’ll be curious … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, ariana huffington, atheism, atheist, fundamentalism, God, huffington post, Jesus, religion
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Conspiracy Bait: Greenscreens are Everywhere—and Maybe Even Coming to the News
You certainly couldn’t fake a moon landing in 1969, but I suppose that, with contemporary technology, you might almost get away with it today. In the future, will government and corporate officials—and those in our assorted propaganda industries—start using the greenscreen technology below to … Continue reading
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Tagged advertising, conspiracy, conspiracy bait, conspiracy theories, Fox News, greenscreen, media, moon landing, predictions, propaganda, the future
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Sea World’s Dawn Brancheau was Drowned by a Killer Whale Yesterday. Maybe This is What Happened Next
In the afterlife (if there is such a thing, and I hope that there is) I picture a group of people sitting around an outdoor table beneath warm, late summer skies and talking about their mortal lives, including how each … Continue reading
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Tagged dawn brancheau, death, killer whales, life, marine life, NDE, near death experience, near-death experiences, sea world, whales
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Gays are an “abomination” and should “surely be put to death”: Leviticus says it, Miss Beverly Hills 2010 believes it, and that settles it?
Lauren Ashley, Miss Beverly Hills 2010, shares her thoughts on the Bible and gay people with Fox News: “The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. In Leviticus it says, ‘If man lies with mankind as he would lie … Continue reading
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Tagged bigotry, gay, gay equality, gay marriage, God, Jesus, lesbian, leviticus, miss beverly hills, the Bible
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Prometheus Unbound 