Tag Archives: children

The Evolution of Kindness and Sympathy

A really good evolution education video via the University of California at Berkeley. We’ve evolved to be more like bonobos than sharks, and it’s one reason why I’m not worried that the decline of religion will lead to deteriorating moral … Continue reading

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What Is Truth After Sandy Hook?

Numerous parts of President Obama’s speech at Newtown on Sunday pricked me, but the following was especially jarring: Why are we here? What gives our life meaning? What gives our acts purpose? […] There’s only one thing we can be … Continue reading

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Life from Conception to Age 25

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The Race Talk: Some Things I’ll Tell My Kids about Race (Contra John Derbyshire)

In the event you missed the news, John Derbyshire recently wrote a bewilderingly racist essay that got him removed as a contributing editor to National Review. His topic: what white parents should tell their white children about race, most particularly blacks. … Continue reading

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Christopher Hitchens’ Advice to Young People

A powerful appeal from Hitchens when he was clearly in decline. Carpe diem. _____ Hitchens would have had his 62nd birthday this past week, and Charlie Rose did a powerful roundtable discussion with four of his closest friends—Salmon Rushdie, Martin … Continue reading

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Logos Defamiliarized by a Five Year Old

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What the camel told Nietzsche (Thus Spoke Zarathustra’s “On the Three Metamorphoses” in a nutshell)

I love the burden of today. My lion’s “No” makes way; my sacred “Yes” is child’s play. Zarathustra had his say.

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Carpe Diem: Bobby Darin, in 1973, Singing “If I Were a Carpenter” 9 Months Before His Death

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Image of a Working Mother

Marc Chagall:

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Have an Edgy Thanksgiving!

In the 1970s, All in the Family had an episode (in season six) in which Thanksgiving dinner is disrupted over Michael Stivic’s atheism, and Michael and Gloria’s determination not to raise their baby with a religion:

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H1N1: Yet Another Good Reason to Get Your Flu Shot

At around 6 pm this evening, I listened to a radio host at KFI, the largest radio station in Los Angeles, do a segment on swine flu. The host has a four year old daughter, and he noted that medical researchers … Continue reading

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H1N1 Vaccine: Bankers and Bailout Recipients First

This is the way the world works (in case you just got here). This today at the Huffington Post: Building on a story that BusinessWeek broke, NBC reports that employees at the New York Stock Exchange, bankers at Goldman Sachs … Continue reading

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Trick or Treaters, New York City, Circa 1910

  But they don’t have trick or treat bags, do they? Did kids used to go around and shill for candy back then? Link with more of these: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opiummuseum/4033581631/in/set-72157622380888091/

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Wired Magazine on the Literally Breathtaking Stupidity of Those Declining Vaccinations

The anti-science anti-vaccination hysteria circulating in the United States is having real and serious consequences to public health. Wired magazine has an interesting article on this latest example of young Earth creationism-like mass stupidity spreading across America here. Money quote: In May, The New England … Continue reading

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H1N1 (Swine Flu): Listen to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), Not Rush Limbaugh

Here’s the CDC’s recommendation regarding swine flu vaccination, as reported in the Washington Post: The first swine flu precaution that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests for parents: As soon as a vaccine is available, try to get … Continue reading

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These Three are One? The Theological, Philosophical, and Scientific Mind

I don’t know who made the above video, but I find it moving, and I like the take-away message from it. The philosophical questions of religion, because they dwell upon issues of infinity and moral reasoning, can assist in the … Continue reading

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Swine Flu (H1N1): Tip of the Iceberg?

Swine flu (H1N1) is starting to hit young people hard. According to the Washington Post today, 49 children have died in the U.S. so far. If you don’t get flu and pneumonia vaccine shots this year (for you and your … Continue reading

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Eugenics is Fun! Genetic Tracking of Children in Chinese Summer Camps!

According to this rather sunny CNN report from China, the genetic tests applied to these summer camp toddlers “work even on newborns!” Gee. That means, of course, that the tests could also be applied to preborns, doesn’t it? Did you notice that the … Continue reading

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Striking a Balance?

Philosopher Julian Baggini today: If you are stuck on a mountaintop, the belief that you will get down if you try hard enough is too important to seriously doubt. In contrast, the belief that you will survive no matter what … Continue reading

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Michael Jackson. The Emperor Has No Clothes?

Am I missing something here?  The television media, for the past two days, have been wall-to-wall with Michael Jackson’s death, but it seems that any discussion of his apparently life-long pedophilia compulsions are off-limits. They’re hinted at, they’re alluded to, but nobody … Continue reading

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