Blog Stats
- 2,667,782 readers since June 2008
Recent Comments
- Marcos Borges on Judge William Adams Alludes to the Bible as He Beats His Daughter, Hallie
- Roy West on Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: Stacked Corpses
- Blue Beazley on In 1935, Were Cary Grant and Randolf Scott Sex Partners? No, But These Images Look Rather Camp
- Gabry on Michael Jackson Pedophile Reality Check: Is It Mean to Suspect that Michael Jackson Might Have Been a Pedophile?
- Dave on Dissipation-Driven Adaptive Organization: Is Jeremy England The Next Charles Darwin?
- Chris on Dissipation-Driven Adaptive Organization: Is Jeremy England The Next Charles Darwin?
- Oliver Stark on Matthew 27:51-53: The Bible’s “Night of the Living Dead” Passage
- Oliver Stark on Matthew 27:51-53: The Bible’s “Night of the Living Dead” Passage
- Oliver Stark on Matthew 27:51-53: The Bible’s “Night of the Living Dead” Passage
- Michael Rehkop on Fraudulant Attribution: Gilgamesh, Moses, the Apostle Matthew—and Ancient Authorship
- Terry on Fraudulant Attribution: Gilgamesh, Moses, the Apostle Matthew—and Ancient Authorship
- Anonymous on Emily Dickinson, Lesbian?: Her Letter to Susan Gilbert, in June of 1852, Might Tell Us Less Than You Think
- Anonymous on Emily Dickinson, Lesbian?: Her Letter to Susan Gilbert, in June of 1852, Might Tell Us Less Than You Think
- Yes She Was on Emily Dickinson, Lesbian?: Her Letter to Susan Gilbert, in June of 1852, Might Tell Us Less Than You Think
- Bret Stephens and Andrew Sullivan: A Not-So-Dynamic Duo ~ Full Magazine on Andrew Sullivan Apologizes for Comparing Larry Summers to a Christ Killing Jewish Moneylender in a Hieronymus Bosch Painting
Top Posts
- Emily Dickinson, Lesbian?: Her Letter to Susan Gilbert, in June of 1852, Might Tell Us Less Than You Think
- How Crazy is Dr. David Jeremiah?
- What, Exactly, Is Wrong With Bestiality?
- Clit Rubbing Bonobos: A Clue to the Evolutionary Origin of Human Homosexuality?
- Ludwig Wittgenstein for Beginners
- Matthew 27:51-53: The Bible's "Night of the Living Dead" Passage
- What is a Human, Really? Thinking about Definition via Aristotle
- What is an Etiological Narrative? And Might Confusion About Its Nature Be the Source for Fundamentalist Religion?
- "We Rule You, We Fool You": Classic 1911 Poster Depicting Capitalism Titled "Pyramid of Capitalist System"
- In 1935, Were Cary Grant and Randolf Scott Sex Partners? No, But These Images Look Rather Camp
-
Recent Posts
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.10: Emerson’s “Circles”
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.9: Imitation And Emulation With An Eye On Competition
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.8: Selection And Editing
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.7: Audience And Rhetorical Strategy
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.6: Moving From First Sentence To Thesis
Recent Haiku Tweets
- AOC says it well. twitter.com/CNN/status/108… 4 months ago
- nytimes.com/interactive/20… 9 months ago
- RT @mrchan: So much has changed in America, and yet so much hasn't https://t.co/x2mthUr4Kc 11 months ago
- Perfect. twitter.com/newsundayheral… 2 years ago
- RT @goldenglobes: At tonight's #GoldenGlobes we honor Hollywood legend Meryl Streep with the prestigious Cecil B. Demille Award. https://t.… 2 years ago
Monthly Archives: May 2012
Mike Bost Speaks Truth to Power
I don’t know if Mike Bost, an Illinois state legislator, is a Republican or a Democrat, but I’m impressed with his lucidity in the midst of strong emotion. His complaint: a giant bill has come to him without sufficient time … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged activism, America, democracy, freedom of speech, mike boss
2 Comments
The Bed, the Bath, the Bus—and the Motorcycle: Where Craig Venter Gets His Ideas
Thinkers tend to refer to the “bed, the bath, and the bus” as places where they get their ideas, and Virginia Woolfe famously wrote of the need for a room of one’s own. Likewise, Daniel Dennett recently praised his morning … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged craig venter, creativity, dna, genome, Nietzsche, science, solitude, Zarathustra
Leave a comment
Zygmunt Bauman On What Made The Holocaust Possible (And Whether Something Like It Could Happen Again)
In Modernity and the Holocaust (2000 edition), sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (b. 1925) explores the question of responsibility: who or what is responsible for the direction of the modern world? He explores this question via the prism of the Holocaust and has a provocative thesis: … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged activism, freedom, moloch, rage against the machine, sociology, the Holocaust, thoreau, zygmunt bauman
3 Comments
Ask an Interesting Question, Get an Interesting Answer. Michio Kaku’s Question: What Happens to Our Analysis When We Recall That We’re Scarcely Different from Our Paleolithic Ancestors of 100,000 Years Ago?
If, indeed, human beings are scarcely different from their Paleolithic ancestors of 100,000 years ago, what are the implications of this for the object or subject of your current attention? Here are some questions for foregrounding this issue: Of nature: … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged analysis, critical thinking, Darwin, evolution, evolutionary psychology, michio kaku, paleolithic ancestors, reason
2 Comments
No More Jesus Bashing: John Loftus Throws in the Towel
John Loftus, the ex-Christian author, has had enough. He’s recently decided to stop blogging and writing books debunking Christianity. Here’s part of what he wrote at his blog earlier this month: I have no more desire to engage Christians. They … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged abuse, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, Christianity, fundamentalism, Jesus
18 Comments
Ask an Interesting Question, Get an Interesting Answer. Stephen Knapp and Walter Benn Michael’s Anti-Critical Theory Question: What Happens if We Don’t Separate Meaning from Intention and Knowledge from Interpretation? Will This Kill Critical Theory?
Within the humanities, contemporary critical theorizing typically entails political commitments, predominantly from the left, accompanied by some line of attack or qualification on Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle (his idea that every communicative act necessarily requires a speaker or author, a message, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged college, critical theory, God, literature, meaning, philosophy, reason, the author
Leave a comment
Ask an Interesting Question, Get an Interesting Answer. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Question: Who Wins and Who Loses Under Globalization?
Some globalism questions for the object or subject of your contemplation. Of nature: How is this natural object or ecosystem affected by globalization? Of art, literature, architecture, goods-for-sale, photography, advertising, or media: How is this object of human fashioning changed … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged art, college, globalism, literature, Politics, psychology, questions, seeing, vision
Leave a comment
“Cool Braining” Should Be The New Phrase For Yawning
Or, perhaps, “empathy enhancing.” __________ I take from the above video that maybe “hot heads” should not just count to ten in an effort to not blow up at other people, but perhaps try yawning (“cool braining” or “empathy enhancing”) … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged anger, empathy, love, nonviolence, occupy, peace, psychology, the brain, yawning
Leave a comment
Agnosticism and the Uncanny
Imagine that you find a stranger attractive, and each time you see that person, you notice that he or she in turn notices you. Now let’s imagine you approach that person and say the following: “It’s uncanny how we keep … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, Jesus, philosophy, uncanny
1 Comment
Philip Roth On The Novel Verses The Screen
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged books, computers, internet, literature, novels, philip roth, poetry, screens
2 Comments
Emer O’Toole Says Shakespeare is Globally Popular Because of Colonialism
If a student were to ask me why people, the world over, read and put on performances of Shakespeare’s plays, I would basically say the following: A difficult achievement is universally recognizable. Shakespeare has done something, aesthetically and imaginatively, very far … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged art, beauty, colonialism, drama, literature, postmodernism, Shakespeare, Shakespeare festival
4 Comments
Evolution’s Eccentricity: Head Injury Savants And The Right Way To Organize Society
Imagine banging your head and suddenly having a talent for piano playing (or oil painting, or doing complex mathematics). It’s a real phenomenon. Here’s an example: __________ To my mind, this suggests that individuals are a lot like birds. Birds … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged compulsion, determinism, freedom, intelligence, obsession, philosophy, slavery, talent
Leave a comment
Does God Want You To Be Curious?
In a recent interview, science writer Philip Ball talks about his new book on curiosity, and implicates religion in stifling it: It’s certainly true that the instinct to know more about our environment must go back as far as humanity … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, curiosity, God, Islam, Jesus, Judaism, Mohammad, philosophy, science
13 Comments
