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Monthly Archives: July 2013
Love Your Hippocampus, Don’t Eat It
This should motivate you to manage your stress better. In The New York Times this past weekend was the following on hippocampus research: Peter Gianaros, a neuroscientist at the University of Pittsburgh, […] found that, among a group of 48 … Continue reading
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Tagged Buddhism, exercise, fitness, health, hippocampus, meditation, psychology, stress
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Celebrating Beardage
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Tagged beards, comedy, freedom, happiness, humor, joy, life, music
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Life Perspective from Three Vantages
First vantage. Astronaut Suni Williams on what it’s like to look down on Earth from space: When you’re flying in space some of the things down on Earth seem trivial. Things like politics leave your mind. […] For me, [most] news … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, Buddhism, carpe diem, existentialism, God, life, Nietzsche, space
2 Comments
Charles Darwin Gets the Hook to Jane Austen on British Currency!
__________ Charles Darwin has been on the ten pound bank-note for over a decade, but now The Guardian reports that Jane Austen is about to take a turn there: Austen will take her place on the £10 note in 2017, … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, Charles Darwin, England, evolution, feminism, Jane Austen, science, women's equality, women's rights
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Why I Am an Agnostic and Not an Atheist
As Thomas Aquinas formulated it, I think the first cause argument is sound. To stop the infinite regress, there must be a first cause that has no cause and a first condition that has no conditions, and, as Aquinas puts … Continue reading
Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” with Cate Blanchett in a Blanche DuBois Echoing Role
Woody Allen continues his staggering productivity as a writer and director. His latest film, Blue Jasmine, is getting rave reviews, such as this from David Denby at The New Yorker: Woody Allen, in his startling new movie, “Blue Jasmine,” has adopted … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged comedy, economy, film, life, literature, movies, rich and poor, tragedy, woody allen
1 Comment
Louis Black on Texas v. Illinois, California, and New York
A nice volley in the American culture wars.
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Tagged America, California, comedy, culture wars, humor, illinois, Louis Black, new york, texas
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An Update on My Request to Mayor Parris for the Expression of a Moment of Doubt at City Council Meetings
I’m a member of the doubting community, not the faith community, and since my local city council in Lancaster, CA., gives an alternating member of the faith community a turn every two weeks to say a sectarian prayer at the … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, doubt, faith, God, Lancaster, Mayor Parris, prayer, religion
22 Comments
A Moment of Doubt in Lancaster
The city council meetings in my hometown, Lancaster, California, start with a prayer, a minute or two long, usually to Jesus. I’m not saying these prayers should stop. But as a member, not of the faith community, but of the … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, church and state, God, Lancaster, Mayor Parris, theism
2 Comments
The Hobbits Found on Flores Weren’t Humans
This dramatic news item appeared in The New York Times a week ago: according to a new study, the “hobbits” found in 2003 on the Indonesian island of Flores were almost certainly not human beings: [T]he [new] findings complemented earlier research … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, biology, Darwin, evolution, hobbits, noah's ark, science
8 Comments
“Robo sapiens”
O brave new world! In the science section of The New York Times this week is a report on Atlas, a recently designed robot built for use by the Pentagon: “People love the wizards in Harry Potter or ‘Lord of the Rings,’ but … Continue reading
I Am the Sun (and You are Too)
This morning while riding my bike, I stopped to admire the morning sun breaking through clouds and thought, “How spontaneous the sun is in the streaming of its own life! I wish I could do that.” Then it occurred to … Continue reading
Egypt’s Twelve-Year-Old Thomas Jefferson
The Islamic Brotherhood cult in Egypt is akin to the Nazi cult in 1930s and 1940s Germany, and this sharp young Egyptian sees right through it:
Tennis and Freud
After watching the men’s Wimbledon final today, I would say that tennis is sublimated sword fighting with the addition of ball control.
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Tagged Freud, life, psychology, sex, sports, sublimation, tennis
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Curiosity at Rocknest
A pretty stunning Mars photo from Rocknest was released by NASA a couple of weeks back. Here it is in the event you missed it. __________ Of course, there’s also something distinctly gloomy about the photo, for it shows a … Continue reading
A Good Reason For Meditators To Exercise A Lot (And Not Just Sit On Their Asses)
Want to be a calm Buddha with a highly attentive and awake “diamond mind?” New research suggests that maybe you should get out from under that Bodhi tree you’re sitting under and put on some running shoes instead, for exercise, … Continue reading
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Tagged anxiety, Buddha, Buddhism, depression, exercise, health, meditation, therapy, yoga
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Prometheus Unbound 