Monthly Archives: May 2013

Like Gay Marriage, Pot Legalization Appears To Be An Irreversible Trend

Posted on May 31, 2013 by

The momentum for pot legalization is getting an awesome push from an entrepreneur determined to make his company the Starbucks of marijuana. This is at The Stranger: Jamen Shively, CEO of Seattle-based Diego Pellicer, announced plans this afternoon to invest … Continue reading →

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Dionysus Asks, “When’s the Last Time You Really Danced?”

Posted on May 31, 2013 by

Daft Punk meets Soul Train. The French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter (who make up Daft Punk) were both born in the 1970s, so this seems an apt remix for one of their songs. And the dancers, in terms of age, are pushing 60 now. … Continue reading →

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Eight Reasons People Believe Conspiracy Theories

Posted on May 30, 2013 by

There was a great bit of reportage by Maggie Koerth-Baker on critical thinking (or rather, its failure) in The New York Times recently. The article explored the psychology behind conspiracy theories, honing in on eight key reasons so many people believe in them: … Continue reading →

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The Lowdown on the Religions of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, Krishna, Moses, and Paul Kurtz

Posted on May 29, 2013 by

The six great world religions come with messages of good news and bad. Here’s the lowdown: Islam and Christianity. Good news: God and heaven are real and you can go there! Bad news: Get with the program or God will … Continue reading →

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Buckminster Fuller to the Rescue?

Posted on May 28, 2013 by

Dome homes for tornado country? And might geodesic–as opposed to rounded concrete–domes provide at least some of the same benefits for a fraction of the cost? I wonder why Buckminster Fuller-style dome homes aren’t more popular everywhere. _____ _____

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Entered Emory, Fell Out of Emory, $60,000 in Debt

Posted on May 28, 2013 by

A cautionary tale of students from lumpen proletariat American families (families that sell their labor but have no assets to speak of) in the New York Times recently: Angelica Gonzales marched through high school in Goth armor — black boots, chains … Continue reading →

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The Diligent Shall Rule

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

Or at least annoy. Focus and never give up.

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The Ghost Army Trailer

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

This documentary, soon to be aired on PBS, looks really good. 1000 people–some of whom would go on to have careers in art, fashion, and design–were commissioned to do a head-fake on the Nazis late in World War II, simulating … Continue reading →

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What It Feels Like To Be Beautiful Without A Mirror

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

Kjerstin Gruys explains: I remember the time I felt most beautiful. […] I was camping with my husband. We were on a long hike through a forest in California, and I couldn’t help but admire all the redwood trees surrounding … Continue reading →

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Rush Limbaugh: “Bill Nye is not a scientist!”

Posted on May 21, 2013 by

Rush Limbaugh, in the last hour of his show today, unhappy about Bill Nye’s views on global warming, said the following: “Bill Nye is not a scientist!” Is this true? If Nye’s Wikipedia page is to be believed, it is … Continue reading →

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Hell Belief

Posted on May 21, 2013 by

Three problems with it: Hell belief is authoritarian. If it is true that most people go to hell, and it is eternal torture over flames to be there, then the only way to save yourself from such a ridiculous fate … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Charles Hood

Posted on May 19, 2013 by

__________ Poet and photographer Charles Hood’s most recent book, South x South, based on a trip he made to Antarctica in 2011, has just been published by Ohio University Press (2013). Jordan Davis, poetry editor of The Nation, writes the … Continue reading →

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A Film That Appears To Be Worth Seeing

Posted on May 17, 2013 by

This looks good and has gotten a lot of recent attention and critical acclaim. It has also generated controversy. It opens in New York and Los Angeles May 24, 2013. Directed by Rasha Burshtein, an Orthodox Jewish woman who lives … Continue reading →

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Monster with Big Testicles in House Next Door

Posted on May 16, 2013 by

Quite a thing to discover. A man who participates in neighborhood barbecues also kidnaps and imprisons women. This is Hannah Arendt’s “the banality of evil” right next door. Charles Ramsey gives a compelling interview on his rescue of Amanda Berry: … Continue reading →

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The GOP: Unhinged, Yet Still (Kind of) Popular?

Posted on May 16, 2013 by

Andrew Sullivan recently made the following observation: [T]he GOP Obama faces is arguably the most partisan, factional and deranged that it has been since I started observing it in the mid-1980s. Yes, and the GOP is nevertheless on track to gain … Continue reading →

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The Tao of Emily, the Calm of Lao Tzu, and Trouble from Blake

Posted on May 14, 2013 by

Below are two couplets of flower power yin-yang from Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,” written in 1850 when she was aged nineteen. Insofar as anybody knows, it’s the first poem she’d ever written … Continue reading →

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Is Mind a Fluke of Nature?

Posted on May 13, 2013 by

According to atheist and University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne, probably: As for mind being nothing but a fluke of nature, well, that’s probably true, at least the human mind, since I don’t see our evolution as inevitable (it may … Continue reading →

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David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” 2005 Kenyon College Commencement Address

Posted on May 11, 2013 by

Wallace is totally the Buddha in this speech, preaching attentional choice, vigilance in looking, and imaginative awareness. It’s a shame he hit bottom in 2008 and, in the grip of a severe depression (a recurrent scourge that plagued his life), … Continue reading →

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Rush Limbaugh Blames Women for Advertiser Boycott Success

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

This is at Salon this week: Limbaugh, in case you’d forgotten, called Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” after the Georgetown University student spoke out in support of insurance mandates for contraceptives. He later apologized – profusely so – but the damage was done. … Continue reading →

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Emily Dickinson’s Poem, “My Life had stood–a Loaded Gun–“

Posted on May 8, 2013 by

I’d like to offer an existentialist interpretation of Emily Dickinson’s famously perplexing poem, “My Life had stood–A Loaded Gun–” (poem 754 in her collected works). Here’s the poem: My Life had stood–a Loaded Gun– In Corners–till a Day The Owner … Continue reading →

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