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Daily Archives: February 27, 2010
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
Posted in Uncategorized
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):
Posted in Uncategorized
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
Posted in Uncategorized
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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Prometheus Unbound 