{"id":3157,"date":"2015-11-13T15:10:59","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T23:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?page_id=3157"},"modified":"2020-10-05T14:12:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T21:12:51","slug":"toc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/about\/toc\/","title":{"rendered":"ToC"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 2018: This page isn’t up to date, but might still serve as a useful page to search.<\/p>\n

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Saturday, December 31, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nGeorge Michael<\/td>\nlinks to YouTube videos, with lyric quotes, of two favorite songs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, December 29, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Robert Silverberg, 1<\/td>\nan introduction; comments and summaries of specific stories to follow<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 13, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nOur New Post-Fact World<\/td>\nare conservatives living in a post-factual world any different than believing in religious myths?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, November 9, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nThe Election<\/td>\nquoting comments from David Remnick and Paul Krugman<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, October 21, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour, Days 11-15: Genoa, Florence, Pisa, Rome<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 13, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour, Day 10: Monte-Carlo<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 13, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour, Day 9: Marseille<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, October 12, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour, Day 8: Barcelona<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, October 11, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour, Day 7: Palma de Mallorca, and Further Sundry Observations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, October 9, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour, Day 6: Alicante; Sundry Observations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, October 7, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour, Days 4-5: On the Boat; C\u00e1diz; M\u00e1laga<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, October 5, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour, Day 3: Lisbon: The Tour, the Tower, the Castle, and Dinner<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, October 4, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n2016 European Tour Days 1-2: Lisbon<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 26, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Cognitive Biases, Trump, and Reality<\/td>\na cognitive bias codex; how this relates to Trump; and again, why people who think the world is worse off are wrong<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, September 9, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nObduction, 2<\/td>\nand its abrupt conclusion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, September 7, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nObduction, 1<\/td>\nabout the video game<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, August 17, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nPhilip Roth, INDIGNATION<\/td>\nabout both the film and the book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, August 17, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: World maps; religions as movies; movie physics; flat-earthers; Trump and his followers; webs v walls; wrong about the future; negativity bias<\/td>\nfrom WaPo, Adam-Troy Castro, The New Yorker, Friedman, Jim Holt on Chuck Klosterman’s book, and Adam Lee–this last more about why people feel badly even though the world is better than ever before<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, August 6, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n522+135+6<\/td>\nmore about The Witness, and its ‘challenge’<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, August 5, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nYou Will Love This One<\/td>\nabout the Crowded House song<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 27, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nThe Witness<\/td>\nabout the video game, which has been preoccupying me for some weeks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, July 5, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Academia, Creationists, Christians and Trump, Plait on the GOP, Evil, Victims<\/td>\nwhy there are not more conservatives in academia; why Christians in particular hate evolution; crackpot Phil Robertson; why Christians support Trump; Plait on GOP denial of science; the subject of evil; why conservatives blame victims, cf Haidt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 30, 2016<\/a><\/td>\n15 Ways of Buying a Book, Part 1<\/td>\npersonal history that illustrates the pace of change; 2nd part forthcoming, as of jan2017<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 24, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nThomas Paine, THE AGE OF REASON (1796)<\/td>\nreview\/summary of the book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, June 22, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Friedman on historical change, why evangelicals like Trump, Paulos on math and biography, Gawande on science, the case against reality<\/td>\nwhy people feel worse off even though this is the best time in history to be alive; Tarico; Paulos; Gawande’s great summary of how science works; religion’s worst ideas; how humans don\u2019t perceive reality because evolution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, June 21, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Three More NT Epistles; Revelation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 20, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Hebrews, James<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 17, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Colossians, Ephesians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 16, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Romans<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, June 15, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nThe Orlando Shooter and the Evil of Religious Fundamentalism<\/td>\nanimus toward minitorities inherent in religious tribalism<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, June 12, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nFamily & Personal History, 2016\/1<\/td>\nentry on project to scan old photos and record family history<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, June 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nNever Be the Same Again<\/td>\nthe Darren Hayes song<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, June 7, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nCarl Sagan, THE VARIETIES OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCE (2006): History is a battle of inadequate myths<\/td>\nreview of the book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, June 7, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nGrowing Up with Books<\/td>\npersonal essay on the books I grew up with in my household<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, June 7, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Genesis, part 2<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, June 4, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nTwo Interviews about Current Books, about Reproductive Technologies and Social Cohesion<\/td>\nGreely on the end of sex; Junger on tribes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 3, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nSean Carroll, THE BIG PICTURE<\/td>\nreview of the CalTech physicist’s foundational book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 2, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nPersonal History: The Radio at Sunset<\/td>\nrecalling a radio broadcast song of the Lord’s Prayer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 2, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Genesis, part 1<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, June 1, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: The Literary Canon and the Bible; Americans Compared to the Rest of the World; Rush<\/td>\nflaws of the literary canon; the ways in which America is not the greatest; ignoring Rush Limbaugh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 29, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nEquus, part 1<\/td>\na key passage from that play\/film; there are others which I’ll follow up on<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, May 26, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Luck; Facebook and social bubbles; being openly secular<\/td>\nRobert H. Frank on how success is largely about luck; Bruni on Facebook; coming out as secular<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, May 26, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Innovation, Optimism, Conspiracy Theories, and Liberals<\/td>\nlife in the 19th century; why optimism is uncool despite times being better than ever; George Johnson; why educated people are liberal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, May 19, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nDan Barker on Meaning without Divine Dictates, and the Slave Mentality<\/td>\nreview of his book LIFE DRIVEN PURPOSE<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, May 17, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nJames A. Lindsay on the Obsolescence of Theism<\/td>\nreview of book EVERYBODY IS WRONG ABOUT GOD, about which I was not terribly impressed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 11, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nEhrman, JESUS BEFORE THE GOSPELS: Memories, Stories, and the Gospels<\/td>\nreview of the book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Two from Today\u2019s NYT<\/td>\nTrump’s contradictions; and Kristof on ‘liberal intolerance’, about which I am skeptical<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Epistles of Paul, 2<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Epistles of Paul, 1<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReligious Liberty and Christian Theology<\/td>\nhow religious liberty is about privileging Christianity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nSean Carroll Interview<\/td>\nthe scientific worldview, and how not every effect has a cause<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, April 30, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Truth and Slavery<\/td>\nin retrospect, about early signs of the ‘post-fact’ era deployed by conservatives; comments about Cruz and David Barton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 21, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Acts<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, April 18, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible: Divorce and Homosexuality<\/td>\npassages from Louis Crompton’s book on homosexuality throughout history<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, April 9, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Irrational Voters; Republicans and Gays; Religious Liberty v Progress<\/td>\nRobert Sapolsky, Frank Bruni, Timothy Egan, Jesse Bering<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading In and Around the Bible, 5: John<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nFounding Father Thomas Paine and the Bible<\/td>\nan essay about his views in Free Inquiry<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nTrump, Abortion, Conservatives, and Guns<\/td>\nhow Trump’s suggestion that women be punished for abortion upset everyone–why?; as with guns, conservative irrationality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, April 6, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nPaul Kalanithi, WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR<\/td>\nreview of a shortish, moving, book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, April 6, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nOliver Sacks, GRATITUDE<\/td>\nreview of another short book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, April 6, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nCarlo Rovelli, SEVEN BRIEF LESSONS ON PHYSICS<\/td>\nreview of the short book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 1, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: the mystery of monogamy; why people cannot live with doubt<\/td>\nBarash on monogamy; Linker on doubt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 1, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading Around the Bible, 4: Luke<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, March 31, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Historical Jesus; God\u2019s Plan; Sagan on religion v science<\/td>\nthe non-historical Jesus; reading New Testament in order; religious archetypes; another ten commandments; etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, March 24, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Terrorists and Threats<\/td>\nFiore and Kristof; why people are afraid of the wrong things<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 23, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading Around the Bible, 3: Mark<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 21, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nAllen Steele, ARKWRIGHT<\/td>\nreview of the novel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 21, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading Around the Bible, 2: Matthew<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, March 19, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Trump; Democrats v Republicans; American exceptionalism; government regulations<\/td>\nTrump and how people who are racist, misogynist, hyper-religious, and anti-science, are virtually all Republicans; Rubio’s complaint about Obama; Kristof on regulations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, March 13, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Trump; Magic; Scalia and science; Cruz; God of the gap<\/td>\nTrump is a racist reaction to Obama; the supposed disappearance of magic in the world; Scalia’s hatred of science; etc<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 9, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReading Around the Bible, 1<\/td>\nfirst in a series<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 1, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nRereading HOW TO READ A BOOK<\/td>\na foundation title<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, February 27, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nThoughts on Jo Walton\u2019s WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK SO GREAT<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 25, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nGilovich, 2, part 2<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 24, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nGilovich, 2, part 1<\/td>\nand his new book, THE WISEST ONE IN THE ROOM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 23, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nGilovich, 1<\/td>\nreview of HOW WE KNOW WHAT ISN’T SO<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 17, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReview: Woody Allen\u2019s Magic in the Moonlight<\/td>\nthe film about a stage magician, a debunker of psychics, who suspects he might be wrong<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, February 13, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nNYRoB on PKD\u2019s The Man in the High Castle<\/td>\na relatively unsnobbish review in the New York Review of Books, about sf<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 9, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Susan Jacoby; Erasure; Boars and the Sixth Extinction; Jerry Brown and Jean-Pierre Dupuy<\/td>\nAmerican pandering to religion; how news can be erased from history; more on extinction; enlightened doomsaying<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, February 5, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Living in the Real World<\/td>\nthe cluelessness of some college students; flat-earthers; Republicans appeal to the radical right by denying science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 4, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nItem\u2019s from Sunday\u2019s New York Times: Pace of Change; Criticism; Religion in Politics; Creative Children<\/td>\nhas the pace of change slowed? AO Scott on criticism; etc<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 28, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nOn Trying to Read 100 Books a Year<\/td>\nkeeping lists, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 25, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nSyllabuses and Sfadb.com rankings<\/td>\nan online resource, and a sketch of plans for sfadb rankings<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 23, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nMy memories of David G. Hartwell<\/td>\nwho had just died<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 23, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson, Consilience, 3<\/td>\n(I never did finish writing up notes and blogging about this book)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 23, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Narrative; the Limits of Rationality<\/td>\nmore on narrative; self-help groups to be less wrong<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 18, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nFilm Review: JOY<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 16, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson, Consilience, 2<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, January 13, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson, Consilience, 1<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Fear, Terrorism, Fear, and Religion<\/td>\nthe Krauss essay again; Rubio’s allegiance to religion above all else<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, January 12, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReview: The Outsider Test for Faith<\/td>\nthe book by John W. Loftus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, January 10, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nFilm review: THE REVENANT<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, January 8, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Conspiracy Theories, Cognitive Biases; Changing Minds; All Stories<\/td>\ncomments from book reviews; what has made you change your mind?; two essays about narratives v reality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 7, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nFilm Review: Room<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, January 6, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLink and Comment: Terrorism and Republican Fear-Mongering<\/td>\nan essay by Lawrence Krauss<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, January 6, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nLink and Comment: The Year in Religion, and Adults<\/td>\ncomment of Jeffrey Tayler’s that echoes mine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, January 6, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nReview of David Silverman<\/td>\nhis book FIGHTING GOD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, January 3, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nFilm review: BRIDGE OF SPIES<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 2, 2016<\/a><\/td>\nFilm review: THE BIG SHORT<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, December 31, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nScience Fiction As a Prism in the Dawn<\/td>\nsubtitle for my book? (allusion to sagan)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, December 31, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nReview of “The Danish Girl”<\/td>\nthe film<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, December 31, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Yearning for the Golden Past<\/td>\nthe persistent conservative narrative is the struggle to return to a golden past — how it has always been so<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, December 31, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nReview of “Carol”<\/td>\nthe film<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 28, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Narrative of Narratives<\/td>\nhow the idea of ‘narrative’ is becoming a cultural meme<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRefining My Thesis<\/td>\nabout sf v fantasy v horror<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSean Carroll\u2019s Reading List<\/td>\nthat he’s using for his forthcoming book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nAlan Lightman on Cosmology and Human Meaning<\/td>\nfrom a Harper’s essay<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 21, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Science and Math and Religion<\/td>\nsurvival traits; magical thinking; fear of god<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 21, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Politics and Religion<\/td>\nessays by Jeffrey Tayler; conservatives and false narratives; apologists for Islam<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, December 20, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nOn Seeing The Nutcracker ballet<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, December 20, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nElizabeth Kolbert on Climate Change and Florida<\/td>\nfrom an essay in The New Yorker<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, December 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nChris Mooney\u2019s THE REPUBLICAN BRAIN<\/td>\nreview of the book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 15, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments from Sunday\u2019s New York Times<\/td>\npoliticians who lie; Bible v Quran; Douthat on Islam<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 14, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSpotlight<\/td>\nreview of the film<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, December 11, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nHarper\u2019s on Environmentalism, etc.<\/td>\nabout “rethinking extinction”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, December 11, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nJohn Crowley on Narrative<\/td>\nfrom an essay in Harper’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, December 10, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments from last Sunday\u2019s New York Times<\/td>\nhow people are easily conned, and other psychological matters<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, December 9, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nJonathan Haidt\u2019s THE RIGHTEOUS MIND: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 8, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nMore notes and comments about Haidt\u2019s THE RIGHTEOUS MIND<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, December 4, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nJonathan Haidt\u2019s THE RIGHTEOUS MIND: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, November 30, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSunday\u2019s New York Times: Links and Comments<\/td>\nabout the inevitability of climate change; reviews of books by Lisa Randall and Matt Ridley<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Sacred truths, Catholic priorities, and Santorum advice, vs. Individualism and the arc of moral history<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, November 20, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Haidt, Krugman, Cruz and Swanson, Evolution v Creationism and Iowa Home-Schoolers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, November 19, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Bruni on Cruz; Flip-flopping presidents are most effective; political persuasion; Republicans\u2019 economic narrative; Lisa Randall, a new Trek<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, November 14, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nReview of Alastair Reynolds\u2019 SLOW BULLETS<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, November 13, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe World\u2019s Young: a review of Robert Charles Wilson\u2019s THE AFFINITIES<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, November 12, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nReading Haidt, arcs of history, false balance, how liberal views are closer to the truth, and science fiction<\/td>\ncomments about first part of Haidt’s book; op-ed about universities need more conservatives, and letter in response, how sf is a heuristic for stepping around mental biases<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 10, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: Raising kids with or without faith; Benford hosts evolution debate; Lake Wobegon effect<\/td>\nSlate article on how some nonbelieving parents nevertheless feel need to raise kids with faith; quote from NYRSF about Benford hosting debate between Rose and Johnson; Ira Flatow and guest about Lake Wobegon effect (seld-enhancement bias)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, November 9, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Early Heinlein, part 3: If This Goes On<\/td>\nsummary of story and what this says about american temptation to succumb to theocracy, e.g. Cruz and Santorum; quotes from his description of story never written about Nehemiah Scudder<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, November 8, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nTayler, Bruni, et al [long title]<\/td>\nTayler on Carson’s religion and confusing faith with rationality; Bruni on repeat of civil rights law in Houston; essay by Lee McINtyre on denialism and how beliefs should be based on evidence; how Einstein’s relativity was resisted on political grounds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, November 7, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nBen Carson and the range of human psychology; Michael Shermer and the perception of the real world<\/td>\nNew Republic piece about how Ben Carson is example of how smart people can believe crazy things, as Shermer explored in 1997 book; Mooney and Haidt books and the range of human psychology, and presumed reasons for why the entire range exists\u2026because the mind evolved to facilite survival, not perceive reality; does this matter? new item by Shermer on exactly this point.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, November 6, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Early Heinlein, part 2<\/td>\nthe stories in The Green Hills of Earth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 3, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nNarrative vs Reality<\/td>\nrepublican politics truly dangerous; Rubio? No, he speaks well but perpetuates discredited claims about Hillary (i.e. he’s lying)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 3, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe 2015 Republican Clown Circus<\/td>\nother advanced countries rolling their eyes? Trump, Carson, and the three attending a kill-the-gays rally in Iowa; Carson welcomes the apocalypse, and building an ark; why there isn’t really a liberal media conspiracy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, November 1, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Bay Area and the California Dream<\/td>\nliving in the bay area, radio interview about how california is changing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, November 1, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nInfrastructre: New Pages<\/td>\nadding Links and Comments and SF Examples<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, November 1, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments<\/td>\nZuckerman on how religion corresponds inversely to societal well-being, around the world and among the states; more murders in Bangladesh of those critical of religion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, October 30, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments: This Week’s American Politics; \u2026Heinlein<\/td>\nthe crazy remarks of Ben Carson; Mencken quote; GOP’s problem with the truth; Tyson on how voters themselves are the problem; Barton’s junk history (and narrative and self-enhancement); Tayler on how GOP wants a theocracy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 26, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Early Heinlein, part 1<\/td>\nsome background, and then Orphans of the Sky and generation starship stories<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, October 25, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments from Today’s NYT<\/td>\nas traditional religion fades in Norway, belief in ghosts rises; Bruni on the catholic church and what family really means; how resistance to GMOs is as bad in europe as in US, with aside about bananas; about the NPR voice<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, October 25, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nPhilip Glass: Naqoyqatsi: Religion<\/td>\nbest track from that film score<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSfadb progress<\/td>\nadding more citations and anthology reprints<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nContemplating a Lost in Space Rewatch<\/td>\nhow most early favorite TV shows I’ve only seen in reruns, and thus incompletely; how LIS got awful but had some genuinely wondrous moments early on<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSundry Links and Comments<\/td>\nPW on book about transforming human perception; Coyne on a world where beliefs are proportional to evidence; how tweaking the brain affects belief in god and prejudice toward immigrants; how ‘politically incorrect’ is used to excuse any kind of bad behavior<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, October 21, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Isaac Asimov, part 4<\/td>\nlongish comments about Nightfall, The Dead Past, The Last Question, The Ugly Little Boy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 19, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nMy Father’s Books: and Cambridge, Illinois<\/td>\nabout a book called Tomorrow’s House, published in 1946; how my father’s sister declined his offer to design their house<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 19, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and Comments from Sunday’s NYT<\/td>\nIndian writers protest government silence on violence; George Johnson on the gambler’s fallacy; Q&A w\/Matt Ridley, including best books and worst (the Bible); Mlodinow reviews two books on sense and predictions<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, October 16, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nJonny Quest rewatch<\/td>\nsummary, history, points, favorite episodes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 15, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLost in Space, Season 4<\/td>\na list of episode descriptions I found in my files from years ago\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 8, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSean Carroll on everything<\/td>\nhis forthcoming book, and links to his one equation and a video of his best arguments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 5, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Martian, the movie<\/td>\nshort review from Fb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, September 30, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLying with Phony Graphs<\/td>\nabout an absurd chart the anti-abortion people think means something (is the right intellectually incompetent?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, September 30, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLawrence M. Krauss on Ben Carson<\/td>\nNykr essay, in which Krauss spells out Carson’s misconceptions, with comment from Coyne on how science is not faith<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, September 29, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Atlantic on triggers warnings; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the war on reason<\/td>\nhow trigger warnings are a kind of conservative resistance to ideas that would challenge orthodoxy; Abdul-Jabbar on conservative resistance and the biological culprits<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 28, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nPolitics: Religion vs. Rationality<\/td>\nTayler on how journalists defer to religious pieties<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 28, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nEvolution and the Teenaged Brian<\/td>\nKolbert review of 2 bks about why teenagers take risks and how this makes sense evolutionarily<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 28, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nOliver Sacks on SF<\/td>\nparagraph discussing Forster’s “The Machine Stops”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 28, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nDavid Brooks: American Exceptionalism vs Conservatism<\/td>\nhow America’s founders were exception in building something for the future; today’s conservatives yearn for a lost past that never existed, and fears the future; evidence that immigrants are a good thing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 28, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSalman Rushdie, two quotes<\/td>\none about faith and reason; one about examining the stories inside which we live, including nation, family, religion\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 28, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nBen Carson follow-up<\/td>\nwhy people don’t “believe” in science–because social bonds are more important than acknowledging reality, for survival; Carson and Huckabee share the values of their followers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, September 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nAbout Ben Carson<\/td>\nPhil Plait and Jerry Coyne point out the evidence of evolution and dismantle creationist canards; how someone can be so smart and so dumb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 21, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Isaac Asimov, part 3<\/td>\nabout “Reason”, the creationist robot; how it illustrates that what one believes isn’t always relevant; story is a parody of self-centered human creationists (like Ben Carson)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, September 19, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nWe Are in a Post-Reality [Science-Fictional!] World<\/td>\nthe first republican debate and untrue assertions about the economy, Fiorina’s business record; why is this happening? Internet enables reality bubbles? How 9\/11 assaulted americans’ presumed exceptionalism, perhaps<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, September 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Wollheim’s The Universe Makers<\/td>\nlong review\/summary including the 8-point cosmogony<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, September 16, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRobinson’s SF of the 20th Century<\/td>\nsummary and review<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, September 15, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nlinks on scale of the universe; io9 link to sf books taught in colleges<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, September 13, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nwhether there will ever be a theory of everything; whether western values are losing their sway; Tayler on Ted Cruz whose theocracy would threaten the rule of law, and fundamentalist fantasy history<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, September 12, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nthe religious right and Kim Davis; Vox on how The Village is a masterpiece; essay on how fear motivates anti-vaxxers; links<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, September 11, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Isaac Asimov, part 2<\/td>\nsummary of reading, bullet points, list of best stories<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, September 9, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nKrauss essay on how scientists s\/b militant atheists; Huckabee’s demagoguery and Kim Davis; how Santorum lies about climate change<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, September 8, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nTayler on how O’Reilly’s misperceptions of ‘nihilism’ and atheism; NYT on the alarm over scientific studies that aren’t replicated<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, September 1, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nPuppygate and the Progressive Nature of Science Fiction<\/td>\nquoting Gary K. Wolfe’s account in Chicago Tribune<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, September 1, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nexample of how religious groups reject education; animated map of how major religions have spread across the world; Tyson explains the universe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, August 28, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Isaac Asimov, part 1<\/td>\nthe pulpy prose, quotes from I, Robot<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, August 26, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nhand-picked truths: NYT George Johnson on religious traditionalists and those who understand science; Adam Lee on how religion is slow to act when it comes to moral progress<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, August 25, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nSalon calls out David Barton, the ‘Tea Party’s evangelical quack’; (narrative!); Tayler on how religious con artists are using religion for evil<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, August 25, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nB&N links to 8 dated sf novels, and the paradox of SF as being about the future, while overtaken by history; New Statesman piece about reading the ‘100 best’ sf\/f novels and finding them shockingly offensive; links to several summaries about Hugo results and the puppygate kerfuffle; Asimov’s “Reason”; Gaiman\/Ishiguro conversation about Chinese acceptance of SF<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, August 21, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nmostly uncommented links: Connor Wood on how reason won’t save the world; Tarioco on why atheists are as moral as anyone else; a PDF teacher’s guide for the Wesleyan Anthology of SF; io9 link to a timeline of future SF; Onion on God’s plan to wean humans off religion; Jeffrey Tayler on how faith is a character flaw (great quotes as always)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, August 19, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Methodical, Cheerful, Bluntness of Isaac Asimov<\/td>\nabout his book The Roving Mind, with essays about the religious radicals, and why SF authors don’t ‘believe’ is flying saucers, et al; example of his thinking in essay about idea of telepathy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, August 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments: Derek Muller and the Beauty of Nihilism<\/td>\nlovely video about the author visiting Chernobyl, and his insights about permanence and decay, and how ‘nihilism’, the idea of ultimate meaninglessnes, is liberating and emboldening<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, August 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nautism and the perception of reality; Florida tries to ban Mark Haddon’s book, because the autistic character matter-of-factly rejects god; Time Mag essay on autism; Silberman’s book NeuroTribes; Atlantic essay on trigger warnings<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, August 17, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nPvC Bibliographies<\/td>\nabout adding a bibliography page beneath Provisional Conclusions; and about resorting my shelves of sf\/f nonfiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, August 17, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nBay Heat<\/td>\nwarm weekend; smoke from fires 100 miles north; attending surprise birthday party for friends<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, August 12, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nKen MacLeod on science fiction<\/td>\nMacLeod essay about ‘science fiction: taking science personally’; how SF is a way about thinking about the world; great quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, August 10, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nJames Morrow: The Madonna and the Starship<\/td>\nreview, with a couple quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, August 10, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nDennis Overbye on the Fermi Paradox, with a take by Nick Bostrom; comment about Brian Attebery book ‘Stories about Stories’; Slate review of book by Wilczek about nature’s deep design; a Bangladesh blogger hacked to death; how Huckabee makes up science to support his worldview<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, August 9, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Lottery and Jim and Mary G<\/td>\ncomments, quotes, about these two stories, and what relates them<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, August 7, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nStephen King, Revival<\/td>\nreview with quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, August 3, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nAdam Lee on how progressives can’t maintain fealty to the Bible, and the ‘Manhattan Option’, Christians withdrawing into insular communities; an essay about about the film 2001 was wildly over-optimisic; Sean Carroll on why the universe is so big; cool NdG Tyson video that explains the universe in 8 minutes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, July 30, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nAndy Weir, The Martian<\/td>\nbrief comments about the book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 29, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nCixin Liu, The Three-Body Problem<\/td>\nsummary, review, qualms<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, July 27, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nFollow-up thought about KSR’s Aurora<\/td>\nhow I don’t *necessarily* agree; human history shows a pattern of overcoming things once thought impossible<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, July 23, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nKim Stanley Robinson, Aurora<\/td>\nFb post, review, how KSR might be my favorite SF author; comments and a quote<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, July 21, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nNYT’s charts about changing attitudes about civil rights; how a professor resigned from Bryan College rather than sign its statement of faith<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 15, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Irish Need Not Apply<\/td>\nNYT Timothy Egan challenges Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants, with quotes from the 1850s that demonized Irish immigrant, on similar grounds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, July 13, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nWeinberg essay with his famous quote; Slate on Trek v Wars; Vox on how the world is getting better; Skeptic.com on how God is such a terrible writer, and if the Bible really were the word of God, it should have been so much better<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, July 13, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSteven Weinberg, To Explain the World<\/td>\nsummary, with one quote<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 8, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nNPR interview on how human psychology is affecting criminal justice, especially the unreliability of eye-witness testimony; LAT op-ed about how evangelicals were once as opposed to divorce as they now are about same-sex marriage; Bruni about RF Kennedy and his anti-vax stance, Jim Carrey, Phil Plait in response; Anthony Doerr on favorite science books; Tayler on the Supreme Court, the End Times, the changing definition of marriage; NYT graphs on changing acceptance of social issues<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, July 5, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nA Just Ended (perhaps) Arc of History<\/td>\nabout the confederate flags coming down, in southern states; the film Selma<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, July 2, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLewis Thomas, Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler\u2019s Ninth Symphony<\/td>\nsummary with many profound quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 1, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nAdam Lee’s statement of principles, and Lee on why the religious right is against government social programs; quote about narrative; Jeffrey Tayler on Scalia, who rejects science and the law for religion (FDS: faith-derangement syndrome); also Tayler on the laughable bad Christian movies that prey on the gullible; Atlantic on why religious conflict won’t end<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, June 30, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nElizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction<\/td>\nsummary with quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 26, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nLewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell<\/td>\nbrief notes, quoting first two para’s [did not reread the entire book]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 26, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Arc of History: The Expansion of Marriage<\/td>\nthe Supreme Court decision, and how it supports my PvC, with a Matt Baume video about the range of historical ideas of marriage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 26, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nRereading Carl Sagan’s The Cosmic Connection<\/td>\nsummary with many great quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, June 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nNYT George Johnson on ‘lucky numbers’ (universal parameters); how the paleo diet isn’t relevant to modern humanity; anti-intellectualism and how people interpret events in the context of personal narratives, and how religious scolds see every tornado as due to something they personally disapprove of; Pinker interview about how capitalism is killing war, and how to understand the media<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, June 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nJames Morrow: We’re not tourists on this planet, we’re citizens<\/td>\nquotes from Morrow Locus interview, about the enlightenment, his new novel, Gould and Bryan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, June 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nAlan Lightman, The Accidental Universe<\/td>\nsummary and quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Human Impact on Earth; About Book Culling<\/td>\nSlate link to photos of human impact on earth, and video link at end (astronauts, the overview effect), why I must have culled that book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Sixth Extinction and the Pope’s Encyclical<\/td>\nseveral links about this issue; the pope statement avoids the issue of population; Krauss quote<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nBible System Updates<\/td>\nquotes from New Yorker humor about version updates to the Bible<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nNarrativium and Lies-to-Children<\/td>\nPratchett\/Stewart\/Cohen’s brilliant Science of Discworld, with recurrent themes about narrative and how big questions are simplified for children; many quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 11, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nCoyne Q&A w\/NatGeo; links about Louisiana teaching creationism, Santorum and J’Witnesses about avoiding education; how Max Planck managed to change his mind; human progress pro and con; theology of atheism; Egan on the arrogance of Jeb; telescopes in Hawaii; Pinker on how capitalism is killing war; Game of Thrones and climate change; outsider test for the right faith<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 8, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nNYT essay be Frank and Gleiser about crisis in physics, whether modern ‘theories’ are proper; Sapolsky on the evolution of embracing strangers (his son graduates high school); a North Korean who defected and who then realized his homosexuality, and a parallel story about realizing the idea of transgender — ideas which totalitarian, and religious, societies suppress; Kolbert on the idea of colonizing Mars<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, June 2, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nUpon returning from a wedding<\/td>\nessay about rethinking pvc’s based on returning from wedding in Tennessee<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, May 26, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks about comments<\/td>\nabout religious parents shielding their children from reality: behind the scenes reports about the Duggars TV show; Atlantic article about habits that will become unthinkable, including home-schooling; Slate article about a creationist kid determined not to learn about evolution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, May 25, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nHow science works, concerning the retracting gay marriage study, and the ironies<\/td>\ngeneral issue of studies that can’t be replicated, and how the study about changing peoples’ minds about gay marriage was revealed to be a fraud — this is how science works; Huckabee *defends* the Duggars, i.e. some people *never* change their minds; but populations do, as Ireland approves same-sex marriage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nBodega Bay and The Birds<\/td>\nthe drive, the film, links to sites about movie locations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 22, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nabout the Duggars, one son charged with molestation, and the irony of the fundamentalist family accusing gays of being child molesters, with Mark Joseph Stern on how they’re a cult; Coyne’s recommended books; Dennett on the end of religion; commentary about Dawkins, and my disagreement; Tayler on politicians’ professions of faith, especially Obama’s national day of prayer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, May 21, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nInstant Insanity<\/td>\nabout that puzzle; personal history<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 20, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nSlate on how presidents *should* change their minds (flip-flop); Coyne’s new book and summary at New Scientist, with quote; article about how all fiction follows six basic storylines (narrative!); trigger warnings and Coyne on how literature *should* be triggering<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, May 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nlinks to news about the decline of religion in the US; Mlodinow on how common narratives about famous scientific discoveries are over-simplifications (narrative); NPR on how TV show finales affect the stock market (narrative!)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, May 12, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nBad Astronomy, 1<\/td>\ncomments about Plait’s book, in particular how our perceptions often conflict with reality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, May 11, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\ncontrast the imaginary war on religion with the very real war on abortion; LAT on the end of Mad Men, how obsession about shows goes back to Star Trek, what this says about the need for narrative; review of book about Supreme Court and gay marriage; links about X Minus One, a christian comedian, latest Jeffrey Tayler<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, May 7, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nNatalie Angier, The Canon<\/td>\nsummary, comments about her odd style<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 6, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nVox, channeling Krugman, on why balancing the budget has intuitive appeal but isn’t actually advisable; link to piece about why atheists are an existential threat to believers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, May 5, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nDennett interview about why religions are cracking; Atlantic piece about how autism correlates with nonbelief in god, while high social skills correlate with narcissism and gullibility to charlatans (mind!); worst predictions of all time; Tayler essay on Ted Cruz and responding to dumb critique from Matt Barber<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, May 4, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nhow the american economy does worse under Republicans, because of their ideology; NPR report about study of how to change peoples’ minds about gay marriage and abortions [a study later debunked for fraud]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 1, 2015<\/a><\/td>\na month’s worth of linkes and comments<\/td>\neverything is available on the internet, but there are no renaissance people anymore; job-stealing immigrants are a myth; Luhrmann on faith vs facts, different kinds of mental creatures?; Coyne on two readers who say evolution helped them give up religion; Dennett on why the future of religion is bleak; …<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nditto<\/td>\n5 ways the world could end; resource links about history and homosexuality; how religious right and big business are dumbing down America (the history of american anti-intellectualism; Cruz, Rubio; Asimov quote); Tayler essay also quotes Asimov, about reading the Bible; Gerrold quote on the problem with claiming morals are from a holy book; Marcotte on 10 myths about atheists, including the moral code thing again; …<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nditto<\/td>\narticle about how christianity invented children [arc of history]; letter to Dan Savage about medieval attitudes about sex [ditto]; Nykr on how religious zealots *kill* atheist bloggers and satirical journalists; Hutson on the science of superstition; more uncommented links; Bruni on how christians prioritize ancient texts over everything mankind has learned since they were written; Santorum quote<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, April 27, 2015<\/a><\/td>\ninteresting items from Sunday’s new york times<\/td>\nBruni imagines what Jindal and Bush would say if asked whether they would attend a gay wedding; Wm Eskridge anticipates argument before Supreme Court on same-sex marriage, compared to previous civil rights battles resisted by the church; how revealing a story or film is suspenseful destroys the suspense (narrative); Dowd and Garland on Ex Machina<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nNa\u00efve Physics<\/td>\narticle about why anti-vaxxers *know* they’re right; what this says about how people form beliefs, or ‘na\u00efve theories’<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 23, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\ntwo links about the vastness of space; Sean Carroll on how the laws underlying the physics of everyday life are completely understood; Steven Weinberg’s best science books; Slate on why creationists pray we never discover alien life [we wouldn’t be *special*!]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 23, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nTayler on Bill O’Reilly and the rank stupidity of their religion, with long quotes; how nonbelievers are longer keeping silent with their ridicule of preposterous beliefs; the war is between rationalists and the faithful “cleaving to fatuous fables\u2026”; and a second Tayler essay on Rubio, Cruz, and others as God-fearing clowns, including Hillary; would like to ask them if they endorse all those horrible passages in Leviticus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, April 20, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nSettle in, Catching up, Puppygate<\/td>\nunpacking etc; how the worst puppy is racist, homophobic, and christian<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 9, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nwrong-headed Republican analogies to anti-gay discrimination (Ted Cruz!); what’s happening in science fiction with the puppy slates for the Hugo awards, and how the core members are extreme religious zealots; comment from Rock and Ledge; they should find another line of work if they can’t serve everyone<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 3, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nabout various ‘religious freedom’ laws, obviously intended to discriminate against gays and lesbians; how christians can’t get along with others; Nathaniel Frank essay on how christians are concerned only about this one issue, not the ability to stone adulterers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, March 20, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nunpacking books<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, March 19, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nellenberg, part 3<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nCommon Core techniques and why conservatives rotely reject them<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlink and comments<\/td>\nSlate on rejection of modernity, ISIS, Toffler<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, March 13, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nPlait on Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot; Steve Shives video on five stupid things about the 10 commandments; NYT on how conservative politicians abroad are more accepting of evolution, and how evangelicals simply don’t understand it; Achenbach on believing science and tribalism; Plait’s answers for creationists; Bryant Fischer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, March 12, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nFox news makes stuff up because there isn’t enough real news to sustain 24 hours; link to TED talk by Haidt on moral roots; Lawrence Wright on how scientology is similar to mormonism; Krugman on how Republican warnings of inflation have never happened; Bruni spells how how US support of Israel is driven by Christian prophecy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 10, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nPowers of 10 video link; how Florida is banning the term ‘climate change’ (Orwell!); how insurance industry knows better (follow the money); how right-wing predictions of doom for obamacare have not come true<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 9, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nVox link to maps about space; Brandeis quote; Salon on motives behind climate denial; another narrative challenged in how AA doesn’t actually work very often; 4 steps to becoming conservative; Salon excerpt from bk about finding God in reality; two PW reviews; Dan Savage on the right-wing myth that progress is always too risky, and debunks it<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 4, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nlinks at Vox about the viral dress (how you can’t believe what you see); essay on why some christians will never accept same-sex marriage (a creepy, mystical narrative); salon essay about the right’s fear of education, and santorum, examples of controlling the narrative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 4, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nmore about sf\/f\/h<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 3, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nmusings about sf, f, and horror<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 3, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlink and comment<\/td>\nlanguage creationists: are there any? Prob not because that issue doesn’t affect human vanity the way evolution does<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 2, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlink and comment<\/td>\nThe Fed: NYT essay on how the 2008 financial crisis shook writer to the core, like the loss of certainty without god<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 25, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nSlate and Quora identify humanism as the philosophical position of Star Trek; Cleese on why it’s so easy to make fun of organised churches<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nOliver Sacks on facing death; 1830 example of a pious American against trains; Tayler on the need to offend religion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, February 20, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nfilm: Boyhood<\/td>\nwhat might have been<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 18, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nBukowski quote; Wells quote; why GOP rejects evolution; skeptic vs denier; another state banning history that challenges american exceptionalism<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 17, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nsong: Beck, Turn Away<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, February 13, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nAdam Gopnik on Obama and critics, how there is no moral high ground, because we’re all still climbing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 12, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nrobert wright on brian wms (fallible memory is perhaps a feature, not a bug); Marcotte on criticism of that obama speech, and how the religious *lie* by invoking religious itself as justification; new study that shows kids of gay parents are just fine; how republican denial of evolution is a way of saying “i am one of you…”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 11, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nellenberg, part 2<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 11, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nanti-vaxxers motivated by fear?; link to an ‘anti-braker’, who asks the comments be kept respectful (ha ha)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 10, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nprovisional conclusions<\/td>\nrestoring the original page, slightly edited<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 10, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nBrian Williams and how memory is fallible, with links to Slate and NYT; Saletan on reactions to Obama’s speech on religious violence — how republic critics are inadvertantly aiding the islamic right<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, February 9, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nhow the internet lets everyone see the right-wingers ranting against the gays, et al; Bruni takes on Santorum and Huckabee and others; RWW on film Light Win; Salon’s Tayler on not defering to religion; Morford on EO Wilson; Achenbach at NaGeo on why reasonable people doubt science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, February 8, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nJordan Ellenberg, How Not to Be Wrong<\/td>\nreview: first part of summary and discussion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, February 7, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nNPR on what’s firmly known about the size and age of the universe; Plait on claim you can fit all the planets between earth and moon, with video<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 5, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\ndavid brooks reaction to zuckerman’s book is dimwitted, and dennet responds with a letter, quoted; how anti-vaxxer beliefs imply some huge conspiracy, and only a few non-scientists know the truth; Michelle Malkin demonizes a 6th grader; Tarico on why christian heaven would actually be hell<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 4, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and quotes<\/td>\nletter by david p. barash about leon wieseltier essay against science; op ed about how kids turn out fine, whatever parenting philosophy is used; how right-wing attacks on history are another example of the importance of narrative (david barton!)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 4, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments about vaccine denial<\/td>\nquotes and links from Frank Bruni, Shankar Vedantam, Phil Plait, others; how all this is about narrative over evidence<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, February 2, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nnew blog title and header pic<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, February 2, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nShermer on KQED and interviewed by Harris; Krauss in New Yorker refuting WSJ editorial; jehovah’s witness guy rants against higher education [of course]; salon excerpt of book on how no ‘soul’ exists independent of the brain<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, January 25, 2015<\/a><\/td>\n10 Provisional Conclusion about Life, the Universe, and Everything, subject, of course, to revision based on evidence<\/td>\ninitial set<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 24, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nA Secular Ten Non-Commandments<\/td>\nfrom the bayer\/figdor book, plus reader ideas, adam lee’s set<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, January 21, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nnarrative as reality; reality as narrative<\/td>\nkrugman on how evidence doesn’t matter to many; they just get angry; my comment on how narrative matters more<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 19, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and quotes: Shermer, McEwan<\/td>\nfrom the moral arc; mcewan essay on fb and homepage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 19, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nBruni on Jeb and religious liberty; cases of bakeries refusing to make cakes; Zuckerman how godless kids turn out fine; Tarico notes that if the bible were law, most people you know would qualify for death; phil plait on ted cruz overseeing NASA; Pinker on a line from shakespeare [quote this]; io9 two links about logical fallacies and arguments for god<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 17, 2015<\/a><\/td>\npacking books<\/td>\nwith thoughts about why people keep so many books, even knowing they’ll never read all of them (answer: because you never know which ones you’ll want to read next month, or next year)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, January 16, 2015<\/a><\/td>\npassages by benford<\/td>\nfrom his story ‘lady with fox’, and letter to nyrsf about how science is liberating<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, January 16, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nsong: Hero<\/td>\nfrom Boyhood<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 15, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nsean carroll on afterlife, life, death, happiness, our place in the universe<\/td>\nvideo, summary and quotes, including point about 2nd law of thermo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, January 14, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nspace suite video (link this); asapscience on how nice guys finish first; Fidalgo on myths–narrative matters most; article about europeans asking american why is the US crazy?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, January 11, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nbradbury’s house torn down, I understand why<\/td>\nbecause no one wants old homes, they want new ones<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, January 9, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nreligious evolution and obsolescence<\/td>\nhow conservative policy does in fact evolve; Jeb Bush plays the religious liberty card to oppose gay civil rights; do politicians actually not understand the constitution? Salon’s Tayler on needing to laugh at religion; comments on what religion has accomplished, but how they are basically tribal; how christians are intent on defining themselves as people who cannot get along with people unlike themselves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 8, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nElves<\/td>\nlines from ‘Boyhood’<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, January 7, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments, mostly about evils of religion<\/td>\nclassic Hitchens essay on mocking religion; a web comic about how to ‘suck’ at your religion; excerpt from ‘how god works’ about why people pray when it obviously doesn’t work; adam lee on peace and atheism; coyne on how babies are assumed to be the religion of their parents; newsweek article on how the bible is misunderstood… (many basic, but excellent, points)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nmore: Tarico on how stories of Jesus became more magical over time; salon article on how few smart people are religious; why do I care about all these subjects? Good as You on Erick Erickson, and how he won’t bother covering certain people any more, they’re irrelevant<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 5, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\npinker & mack on how world is not falling apart (though people think it is); Nyr on 12 lessons for 2015; 7 cultural concepts US doesn’t have; thermodynamic theory of life’s origin (and PZ on why creationists won’t care; they don’t underestand basic anything); Kraus replies to WSJ editorial about science proving god;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nmore: Dennett on free will; Mehta, Christina on death; Osteen quote about not letting facts get in the way of fiction; jeffrey tayler on reza aslan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 5, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nThe Imitation Game<\/td>\nfilm review (another Fb post)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 5, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nChef<\/td>\nfilm review (another Fb post)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 5, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nBirdman<\/td>\nfilm review (Fb post about the film)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nIt’s a Wonderful Life<\/td>\nhow long it takes him to realize he’s in a different place–an idea unfamiliar when the film was made; different now?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, January 4, 2015<\/a><\/td>\nsong: John Legend, Save the night<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 22, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nZuckerman, Living the Secular Life<\/td>\nsummary, plus own comments about how morality obviously does not derive from religion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, December 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nhawking’s theory of everything<\/td>\nabout The Grand Design<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nhitchens’ 10 commandments<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nprothero on why liberals win america’s culture wars<\/td>\nsummary of video talk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, December 10, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments<\/td>\nhow to talk to antigay relatives about same-sex marriage; why evangelicals are against obamacare and civil rights (because they expect the world to end); dawkins on how evolution s\/not be a guide to social policy; video spoofing darwin and ‘jibbers crabst’; quote by orzel about doing science every day; xkcd on bizarre physics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, December 10, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe science of interstellar<\/td>\nnotes about the book by Kip Thorne<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, December 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments\u2026<\/td>\nNYT on fallibility of memory; how Hollywood characterizes math geniuses; Paul Fidalgo on Rick Santorum’s paranoia; Daylight Atheism on how the right-wing welcome Russia’s brutal anti-gay laws (!); Salon reviews a book about hate mail from Christians to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation; Adam Lee on Joel Osteen; Right Wing Watch about David Barton, yet again; Salon on Jefferson’s Bible; Salon on the Bible’s origins; Salon on the right-wing brain, with Chris Mooney; a Christian pastor in Arizona who wants to execute all the gays; a video about a creationist woman who ridicules exhibits in the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, December 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson, Meaning of Human Existence, part 5<\/td>\nlast post about this book, chapters 13 through 15, with many fine quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, December 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson, Meaning of Human Existence, part 4<\/td>\nchapters 11 and 12, with quotes about commonalities of human nature and the human preference for views<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 1, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nInterstellar<\/td>\nreview of film; allusions to 2001; problems; summary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 1, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson, Meaning of Human Existence, part 3<\/td>\nchapters 7 through 10, with quote about why Ets could never invade Earth — or humans settle on an alien planet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, November 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nInherit the Wind<\/td>\nrewatching the movie; key passage; fun facts and asides<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, November 19, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nresuming sfadb development<\/td>\nprogress and ultimate goals [perhaps too much detail]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 18, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nscientific fidelity vs narrative; anti-gay bigotry and socialism; the ecology of faith; Valerie Tarico on religion; Hans Zimmer and conceptual breakthough<\/td>\nSlate on not nitpicking the science in Interstellar–and how to me this is evidence of the value of narrative over reality; Towleroad on an Arizona anti-gay politcian, and how the science does *not* show what she claims; Jerry Coyne on what makes societies religious, and how the worse off a society is, the more religious it is; two article by Valerie Tarico, about how religion does more bad than good, and how religion is ‘going down’; finally, a Hans Zimmer track from The Da Vince Code, a great artistic depiction of conceptual breakthrough<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, November 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson, Meaning of Human Existence, part 2<\/td>\nchapters 4 through 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, November 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson, Meaning of Human Existence, part 1<\/td>\nsummary of early chapters, with many great quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, November 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nHans Zimmer and Interstellar, again<\/td>\nSlate’s J. Bryan Lowder on the brilliant of Zimmer’s score<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 11, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nAnd the moon rose over an open field<\/td>\nSimon & Garfunkel songs: America, Scarborough Fair; Bridge over Troubled Water<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 11, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nInterstellar\u2026 Music<\/td>\ngary westfahl’s reviews; thoughts about criticisms of Hans Zimmer’s music; without having yet seen this film<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, November 10, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsibelius 1 and mahler 6<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, November 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nfundamentalist beliefs, the real world, and science fiction<\/td>\nvideo about a fundamentalist pastor visiting sweden and denmark, mind-boggled about how people there don’t share his beliefs; how he doesn’t get out much, intellectually; how most people live out their lives; about how SF and EO Wilson strive to address the wider universe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, November 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe meaning of human existence<\/td>\nfb post plugging EO Wilson’s new book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, November 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nconservatives, liberals, disgust, social progress<\/td>\nwhy innate tendencies, two steps forward one step back; Frank Bruni on Repulicans resistance of science; how the divide is a function of ‘disgust’ ; with speculation about visceral reactions against homosexuality\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\neducation and faith; reza aslan and religious apologists<\/td>\nPsych Today about how education corrodes religious faith — of course!; Jeffrey Tayler at Salon responds to Reza Aslan, about how “Major religions all contain macabre fables, explicit injunctions for vile behavior no civilized person should accept”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\napophenia, religious apologists, no true scotsman<\/td>\nSlate on apophenia, the tendency to see patterns in random events.. As an element of creativity; how Obama and others dismiss ISIS as not being ‘true Islam’; how *ideas* should always be open to criticism<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nweekend in oakland<\/td>\nlooking at houses, party at Emily & Jeff’s, hike along Skyline<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 30, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsfadb bug fixed, with a hyphen<\/td>\ndetails of the bug fixed; example of how these issues can always be solved<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, October 29, 2014<\/a><\/td>\narthur c. clarke: two religious explorations<\/td>\ndiscussion of The Nine Billion Names of God, and The Star, with hidden spoilers; how these stories illustrate the implications of traditional religious faiths<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, October 28, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nheroic individuals and magical thinking<\/td>\ndennis overbye on film ‘the theory of everything’ and how it over-simplifies hawking’s life; NYT essay on magical thinking affecting us all<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 27, 2014<\/a><\/td>\njourney to the beginning of time<\/td>\ndiscussion of 1960s movie I saw then–about kids going back in time on a rowboat in central park<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, October 24, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nright wing paranoia; conservative propoganda; coming out smart like coming out gay<\/td>\nhow the religious right’s dire predictions have not come true (of course); how conservatives opt for propagand over reality; cute video about how coming out smart would be like coming out gay<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nskiffy flix: assignment outer space<\/td>\ndiscussion of older films, and of this one<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, October 21, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe most beautiful unknown music<\/td>\nrecalling preisner, and then linking video of kilar’s music for the portrait of a lady<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, October 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: savage garden, you can still be free<\/td>\nincluding comments on earlier vs later albums; quotes from other savage garden songs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, October 15, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nwhy christian films are so bad; lgbt issues; the superiotiy of atheist values and ethics<\/td>\nchristian movies are bad because\u2026; how atheist\/freethinkers note gay issues; PZ Myers on how atheist values are superior<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, September 20, 2014<\/a><\/td>\neducation, inculcation, smart kids, evolution and religion, value voter summit<\/td>\nFrank Bruni on banned books week, and what education is about — my comment: the smart kids figure it out; david p. barash on the talk he gives his biology students about evolution v beliefs; value voters summit, about Erick Erickson thinking people who believe in evolution are “dumb and jealous”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, September 18, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments\u2026<\/td>\nSlate on ‘apophenia’ (Jesus in a tortilla, etc); ISIS and No True Scotsman, comment by Jerry Coyne; why 10 commandments are not inspiration for US laws; Ed Brayton ridicules David Barton; Sean Carroll on science v religious beliefs (nice quote about the non-necessity of god)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, September 18, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nEO Wilson on human existence<\/td>\nAndrew Sullivan quoting his book, especially about how individual selection favors sin, group selection favors virtue\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, August 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlatest bug<\/td>\nsfadb bug; how you can always figure out programming errors; overloading css tags<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, August 15, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments: do you believe in blue?<\/td>\npinker on evolutionary significance of music; dennett on free will; PW review of bk about ‘flying dinosaurs’; article about why evolution is not about ‘belief’ but about ‘understanding’<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nditto<\/td>\nright-wing backlash against nd tyson, and andrew leonard on the war against the nerds; greta christina on evidence against intelligent design;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nditto<\/td>\nCoyne on the outsider’s test for everything; The Atlantic on the christian *need* to feel persecuted; Salon on conservative perception of hostility, and the Chris Mooney bk; Donald Prothero on science denial; Salon about man who rethinks faith when he adopts a child; about parenting godless children;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nditto<\/td>\nDan Savage on definitions of marriage; that quote about right-wing boycotts; Mark Joseph Stern on surrogacy and the Christian right; David Barton; Fox News’ fear of atheists<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, July 24, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments\u2026<\/td>\nreviews of Dinesh’s movie lashing out at howard zinn; PZ Myers on john c. wright and his ideas about how people should live their lives and how sex is *only* for reproductive<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, July 24, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and comments\u2026<\/td>\nken ham thinks aliens would be consigned to hell (aside about sf that addresses religion); timothy egan on how conflicts around the world are faith-driven; valerie tarico on evil things christians do; adam frank on how religious apologists are always about *their* religion; nathaniel frank on mark regnerus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, July 15, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsfadb; Mahler 5<\/td>\nabout the introspective passage in mahler 5; video of bernstein performance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, July 15, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: the boxer<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nodds and ends\u2026<\/td>\nNYT on conservative rejection of science; Jerry Coyne; how christians feel persecuted by gays (!); how Dinesh Di’Souza thinks the whole world is against him<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsam harris on morality and the christian god<\/td>\nquotes from a sam harris audio about how christian morality is actually despicable; how it builds on a tradition of human sacrifice.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, July 8, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nanother apologetic<\/td>\nreaction to essay about atheism on slate — how such apologetics invariably defend *their own* religion, ignoring all others; and how they claim sophisticated theologians don’t cling to fundamentalist myths — despite the vast population who do<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, July 8, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nliterary sf authors<\/td>\nthought: aside from outsiders, do more literary writers genreally write short fiction?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, July 7, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nparents and children<\/td>\nabout study showing kids raised by same-sex parents healthier and happier\u2026; mark joseph stern on how such kids are hurt by their parents so much as by the animus of conservatives (nice quote); my observations about there being *two* parents; kids and sex; my thoughts about the irony of gays in straight marriages that therefore propogate gay genes! and how gays are having children anyway; so there.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, July 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nwe’ll ride on the rain\u2026 we’ll worship the wind<\/td>\nabout song “if you go away”, several versions\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, July 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ngrayling on ehrenreich<\/td>\ngrayling on ehrenreich bk Living with a Wild God, about her mystical experience.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, July 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nprothero on the unpersuadables<\/td>\nreview of bk by Will Storr, with quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, July 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nrereading wolfe’s fifth head of cerberus<\/td>\nsummary, quotes, conclusions<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ntwo books to look forward to<\/td>\nwilson meaning of human existence; pinker sense of style<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnature’s god<\/td>\nLAT review of bk by Matthew Stewart on nature’s god and how america wsa not founded as a christian nation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlies and false witness<\/td>\nsalon on david barton; christian persecution and another christian movie; alternet on religious freedom meaning forcing faith on others<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 27, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nprimitive values, mature ethics, failure of religious texts<\/td>\na-unicornist: nothing in the bible that couldn’t have been written by ordinary people; examples of what might have been<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 27, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nanother ten commandments – actually, two<\/td>\nvalerie tarico on how the bible as two sets; golden rule; her set, in biblical language<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nann druyan on cosmos<\/td>\npartially repeating earlier post! Oops!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsf and the perception of a greater truth<\/td>\nquote from edgar pangborn; discovering the world is not what your church said it was<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 20, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlinks, quotes, comments<\/td>\namanda marcotte on the right’s abandonment of science and rationality; NOM’s failed rally in DC; David Horsey cartoon on Obama; two io9 posts on pseduo-science (toxins) and misused scientific ideas<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 19, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmahler 6<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 19, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nann druyan on cosmos<\/td>\no’hehir interviews her; science and spirituality, how science is more spiritually satisfying; her rereading of the garden of eden<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and quotes..<\/td>\ncharles blow on religious poll; krugman on climate change denial; slate on politics and DNA; Coyne on a Grayling essays; Alternate on the right’s embrace of ignorance; Lev Grossman on being a father; Salon on bk by Steve Jones; Christian love; Benford on values and morality; Wired on heaven movies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnotes on adam lee<\/td>\nsummary and comments.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, June 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnotes on peter boghossian<\/td>\nsummary and comments; also link to brin on political bestiary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnotes on greta christina<\/td>\nlong quote about why she’s angry; list of questions she anticipates; list of top ten reasons I don’t believe in god<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, June 12, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnotes on grayling’s case against religion and for humanism<\/td>\nsummary w\/notes, quote first para again; more great quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nunafraid of the dark; highlights from last ep of cosmos<\/td>\nnice quote re exceptionalism; pale blue dot video; summary of principles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsalon on cosmos, Neil deGrasse Tyson, science, denialism<\/td>\n5 important lessons; piketty and chris mooney; conservative resistance to any kind of scientific conclusions; conservative attemps to discredit science; mention of gleiser book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, June 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmathematics and economics<\/td>\nmore on ellenberg; quotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, June 7, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nClarke, childhood’s end, part 3<\/td>\nquotes and passages; summary about what the best sf does\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nClarke, childhood’s end, part 2<\/td>\nthemes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmathematics and reality<\/td>\ninterview, excerpts, ellenberg’s new book how not to be wrong<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, June 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nno one can be an expert on everything<\/td>\nandrew sullivan on how we know anything; how certain fundamentalist beliefs are actively dangerous<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, May 31, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nClarke, childhood’s end, part 1<\/td>\nhistory and summary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, May 31, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsean carroll: the meaning the life<\/td>\nvideo and long quote<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 30, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nbelievers, the bible, the internet, humanity’s future<\/td>\na-unicornist on why theists won’t admit their wrong when evidence is presented to dispute their beliefs; instead they change the subject<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 30, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nkalam, infinities, and intellectual honesty<\/td>\nadam lee on arguments for existence of god; how wm lane craig uses ideas of infinities refute them; math; and doesn’t craig understand the points his critics make? Hypocrisy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, May 27, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nassorted links and quotes<\/td>\nmcelwee on cosmos and how religious right denies enlightenment values; bar ehrman on atheists in the bible belt (you can’t persuade fundamentalists); pz myers on how any document can prove anything; mark joseph stern on fox news (low-rent in literally every way); NYT on neuroscience (calculations of brain cells and connections)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncosmos and the future of humanity<\/td>\ncosmos ep 11; climate change and how our economic systems are all short term<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnoah and science<\/td>\nbrin explores idea of noah vs genetic diversity on earth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nit’s in the DNA<\/td>\nNYT on Bryan college issue, quote implying they believe in DNA too, Coyne pointing out irony<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\na handy list of bible verses that christians tend to ignore<\/td>\nsix items<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe perception of patterns in nature<\/td>\ngeorge johnson in NYT; evidence of designer? Wm paley<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nwhat would make someone change their mind<\/td>\nmore about how people don’t change their minds; maybe possible by changing people’s attitudes about themselves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmy sect is right and yours is wrong – obviously<\/td>\nreaction to comment about church showed kids examples of weird beliefs of *other* religions\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthoughts about family pics<\/td>\nchanged mind about value of taking photos of family, rather than landscapes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, May 19, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nphilip kitcher: soft atheism?<\/td>\nhow he rejects religious doctrines but finds religious traditions valuable; comment–but most people cling to literal religious doctrines<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, May 19, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmining family history<\/td>\nslides<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, May 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nclimate change, denialism, and history’s judgment: with a prediction<\/td>\nand prediction, based on mental biases: nothing will happen until it’s too late<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, May 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: natalie merchant<\/td>\none of two links disabled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, May 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\npersonal history, part 3<\/td>\nphotos of felixstowe;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\npersonal history, part 2<\/td>\nmoving to apple valley;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, May 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthoughts about the legal profession<\/td>\njury duty; party lines; christian prayers; string of federal judge decision re same-sex marriage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\npersonal history, part 1<\/td>\nbirth, england<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nACE and false witness<\/td>\nsomeone’s essay quoting ACE’s philosophy of education, items so lame you have to wonder if they are dumb, or lying<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nvarieties of homophobic experience<\/td>\nsomeone’s study of types of homophobia in the caribbean; quotes about Type G and Type R<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nrainbows and the afterlife<\/td>\nmy metaphor about life and rainbow; no afterlives. ; and how the bible is a mere collection of letters — rough estimate of number of molecules in brain vs words in bible<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ntrek vs wars<\/td>\nlong Gerrold quote about the differences, which I endorse<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, May 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\npassage from clarke, 1<\/td>\nlion of comarre, anticipating the ipod<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 11, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nwhat the bible says about homosexuality<\/td>\nmatthew vines link<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, May 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: blessed are<\/td>\nand how ‘blessed’ is heavily used in certain social contexts (as a way of bragging about being special?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nhike to parker mesa overlook<\/td>\n(my link to photo has been suppressed)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: john grant, where dreams go to die<\/td>\nplus ted talk by someone about subjunctivity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, May 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ngoonan quotes<\/td>\nabout teaching sf; about brain\/mind\/consciousness; how we are our whole bodies, not just our brain<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nanother revised ten commandments<\/td>\na sarcastic example in a facebook photo — yet the ideas do reflect underlying motivations, esp #8; click the link to see photo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, May 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\namateur astronomy and cultural mythology<\/td>\nmore on dipper full of stars; on dawkins’ the magic of reality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, May 1, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncosmos and my amateur astronomy<\/td>\ncosmos and constellations; reading a dipper full of stars, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, April 29, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe range of human perception<\/td>\nchris mooney on another study showing conservatives’ world is scary and threatening; link to asapscience graphic on limitations of human perception<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, April 28, 2014<\/a><\/td>\namerican christianity and conservatism<\/td>\nandrew sullivan on sarah palin’s approval of torture (thus anti-christian); krugman on why conservatives really behind cliven bundy; adam lee on 10 things he’s learned from atlas shrugged<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, April 27, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nDignity of our Lives: “I burst into tears”<\/td>\nrob watson on what a couple tv commercials with gay families meant to him<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 24, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncosmos so far<\/td>\nbetter at describing evidence, political pushback, upsetting creationists<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 24, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: mercy street<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, April 22, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nchristian boycotts<\/td>\njoe my god: when christians do it vs when gay folks do it<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, April 22, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nkalam cosmological argument<\/td>\nsimple rebuttals linked; the premise is assumed; how appealing to god begs the question; appealing to 2nd law of thermo.; if anyone had really proven these issues, we wouldn’t still be debating them<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, April 22, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe reality of sexuality<\/td>\nandrew sullivan on further animals studies that challenge ‘natural law’ idea of simple heterosexuality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, April 20, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nbunnies, eggs, spring<\/td>\ntwo links about the inconsistencies between the gospels<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, April 20, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nThere is only one where this one was<\/td>\nmore on Civil Wars opera<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nAnd only another unknown horseman; there are some things I just will not eat<\/td>\nabout LA Phil performance of Civil Wars<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, April 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ninteresting links<\/td>\ntv show on your inner fish; science v religion and wm jennings bryan; how science is not about authority; no bible msg about same sex marriage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, April 12, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmind\/brain and mathematical intelligence<\/td>\nconcerning a book about a brain injury made a guy a mathematical marvel; implications; mind and brain are one; perhaps truly advanced intelligence would find higher math obvious<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 11, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: mr little jeans, good mistake<\/td>\nlink now invalid<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, April 11, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ndiversity in sf, two examples<\/td>\nwalter on an essay by macfarlane attacked by correia, who says sf authors must pander to conservative bigotry to be commercial; ballard review of clarke<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 10, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: dj koze, homewick<\/td>\nthe “hee hee” song<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, April 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe need to feel special<\/td>\nre a documentary supporting geocentrism; the need to feel special, ideas that appeal to human vanity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, April 7, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nBring her back to me<\/td>\nFrank Ocean’s “Pyramids”; link to video no longer works<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, April 7, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nThe water’s clear and innocent<\/td>\nsong: Radiohead’s Codex, and about Convict Lake<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, April 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: lykke li, no rest for the wicked<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncreation myths<\/td>\nabout the many other creation myths cosmos is also not covering<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncreationists and flat-earthers<\/td>\nsomeone pointing out biblical lines implying flat earth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, April 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\na telescope is a time machine<\/td>\ncosmos on speed of light and looking back in time; how people watch populat SF with no idea of anything means; examples, including LIS, Trek, SW, various issues<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, April 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ngopnik on legitimate forms of knowledge and increasing prosperity<\/td>\ncalmly stating the things that we know; observing how as incomes go up, steeples come down<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, April 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ndeGrasse Tyson on new ideas vs old, and battles against ignorance<\/td>\ntyson on how older ideas are almost never better than newer ones; how sagan thought certain battles had been one, that now are not<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, April 1, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnoah and the advance of civilization<\/td>\nabout the film noah; lewis dartnell on the interdependence of civilization [cf his book]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, March 29, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe greatest generation<\/td>\nin contrast to things ‘better in the old days’, a column about how maybe this generation may be the best.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 26, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ngeorges delerue<\/td>\nlistening to CDs; video link to the day of the dolphin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\neternal verities, not<\/td>\nslate piece about how evangelical attitudes about abortion have changed since the 60s (so much for eternal truths)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncosmos and creationism<\/td>\nsomeone pointing out that nd tyson actually does pay a lot of attention to creationist ideas, e.g. the eyeball<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nreligion and science, natural or not<\/td>\nconnor wood on the robert mccauley bk Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsam harris’ upcoming waking up<\/td>\nabout what might replace organized religion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, March 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlucius shepard, RIP; readerly notice<\/td>\nhow many sf writers get taken for granted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, March 21, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe cozy cosmos vs growing up<\/td>\nadam lee on cosmos; my comments about why shouldn’t the universe be flat and domed, and then the analogy about a child discovering the world<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, March 20, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsophisticated theology, proofs of god, humanism, religious persecution, morality<\/td>\ncoyne on new bk by david bentley hart; his own list of bks to read about atheism (before you criticize it); humorous list of 7 things that prove god read; stephen fry videos; what religious persecution really is; coyne on a survey about religion and morality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 18, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsame-sex marriage, context, and the pursuit of happiness<\/td>\nabout online debates among several; my own history about the idea of marriage; how sf by le guin and delany explored unconventional relationships; an essay called ‘the arc of history’ and how moral positions evolve as ‘new information and possibilities become available; and that anonymous commentator to dan savage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nst joshi work habits; the only common-sense position<\/td>\n9-5 schedule; and how because academics take atheism to be a given, it’s up to amateurs to make the public case<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nchanging my mind<\/td>\nI used to think you could change people’s minds based on evidence; salon review of book called ‘the unpersuadables’<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nevolutionary politics<\/td>\nan analysis of how conservatives and liberals reflect different strategies for transmitting dna\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nbig bang evidence<\/td>\nphil plait commenting on why anyone should care<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ngod and morality<\/td>\nUS is outlier in beliving morality derives from God; as are southern states; whereas prosperity has inverse realtionship<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ntruth-claims?<\/td>\nsam harris’ characterization of Christianity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, March 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\npolitical parties, religion, individualism<\/td>\ngreat quotes from connor wood about how religion succeeds through minimizing cognitive overload, how individualism doesn’t exist outside wealthy democracies\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, March 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\na fellow heir of carl sagan<\/td>\nhow someone lost their faith for lack of evidence, and science, in contrast to his fundamentalist childhood home<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 12, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsteven pinker: work habits<\/td>\nworking seven days a week sometimes until 3am, until the book is done; also link to MIT video of Pinker<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 12, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nfox, certainty, arrogance, evidence, and cosmos<\/td>\nfollow up to guy who’s father lost to fox news; how certainty is dangerous; the idea that science is arrogant for drawing conclusions that challenge faith. Quote from sam harris<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 11, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nhidebound, unreflecting, blind<\/td>\nandrew sullivan on christians who feel persecuted for not approving of same-sex marriage — because they focus on a few lines in a book that talks about so much else.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 11, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nReligion vs Cosmos<\/td>\nandrew leonard on criticism of cosmos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 10, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncosmos is great so far, but it’s missing something<\/td>\nneeds more bg about *why* scientists believe all these things<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, March 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nbilly budd<\/td>\nseeing the opera in LA, with YouTube link to an earlier performance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, March 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nagnotology, science denialism, and joan slonczewski<\/td>\ntobacco industry => antivaxxers; quote from joan s about how deniers are being manipulated<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, March 8, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nfrom bible stories to science fiction<\/td>\nMorford on the christian movie son of god; philip pullman as example of sf\/f on religious themes\/ cf sfe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, March 8, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nbeing wrong over and over again<\/td>\nquote from o’hehir about film about higgs boson<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, March 7, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: turn away<\/td>\nlink no longer works<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, March 7, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmore links<\/td>\njust a comment that I’ve added links to the sidebar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, March 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nhollywood, god, stories, and cosmos<\/td>\ncoyne, krauss on why hollywood doesn’t make movies about atheists; need for narrative; being ‘atheist’ is sorta negative, try to emphasize the positive, as sagan did<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, March 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnew links<\/td>\nconsolidating links<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nregenerus, same-sex marriage, and false witness<\/td>\nhow do their reconcile their actions with their commandment? Are they dimwits, or hypocrites?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, March 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncoyne on bryan’s myth, vs reality<\/td>\nCoyne on how Bryan College is forcing faculty to swear to historical existence of adam and eve<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncosmos and beyond<\/td>\nlooking forward to the new series; Smithsonian on carl sagan’s universe, my own; link to book about atheists and how reality is more awesome than religion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nanti-vaxxers and irrationality<\/td>\nyou can’t change their minds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, March 3, 2014<\/a><\/td>\neducation vs indoctrination<\/td>\nBray college making faculty sign pledges to teach 6-day creation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, March 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nfrozen and its supposed gay agenda<\/td>\nand wondering why some critics are so obsessed about the gays<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, February 28, 2014<\/a><\/td>\npanic and alarm, part two<\/td>\ndwindling christian right lashes out at civil rights<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 27, 2014<\/a><\/td>\npanic and alarm (and why this is about SF)<\/td>\nSalon essay about someone whose father “disappeared into the paranoid, outraged worldview of Fox News”, with my essay on how science fiction evolved and what it means (later put on the ‘about science fiction’ page)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 27, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nwhy the world is this way rather than that way<\/td>\nSean Carroll on why the world is not the way you’d expect if theism were true [parallels theme in richard carrier book]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nUganda, scott lively, arizona, mark regnerus, gay denialism<\/td>\nhow christianity seems to align with anti-homosexuality; Scott Lively’s vicious african campaign; the discredited Regnerus; Stern on a bizarre denial of gay existence; with a big FOOTNOTE with my thoughts about why people object to homosexuality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nJosh Barro<\/td>\nlinks by Barro about how there are two americas and one is better; about pat robertson<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, February 23, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nA Better World<\/td>\ndaniel dennett would educate children — but can never work because parents<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, February 21, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nDebates about science, creationism, accommodationism<\/td>\nmcelwee and saletan debate about whether a creationist can be a scientist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, February 21, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nwishful thinking vs what we know about how the world works<\/td>\nsean carroll on the soul; link to his laws of physics entirely understood<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, February 17, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe passing of blind obedience to decaying creeds<\/td>\nAdam Lee and a rival blogger who deleted his comments rather than replying<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nprothero and vick on that debate<\/td>\nagain, how the question asked by creationists weren’t serious; they betray a lack of desire to understand the real world<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nhow god works<\/td>\nhow god always agrees with you; slave holders thought so<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsam family values<\/td>\nsaletan on how michael sam’s family will be better than his father’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nconservative values<\/td>\nmotivated by fear, of the unknown, of the other, of rational engagement with the real world<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 12, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nnatural selection; family values<\/td>\nDarwin Day and the problem with calling evolution ‘darwinism’<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, February 11, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nscience and fundamentalist<\/td>\nConnor Wood on how both sides should adjust their stances<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, February 10, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nfor creationists, intellectual inquiry is a sin<\/td>\nStern on a TV doc about darwin; the fear that if there is no god, there are no rules; creationists reject the enlightenment, human ability to reason<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, February 10, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncreationists and curiosity<\/td>\nif creationists really cared about these issues, they could find the evidence easily enough; but curiosity has been associated with excessive pride<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, February 8, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: down in thehole<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, February 8, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nsong: ghost of tom joad<\/td>\nlink no longer works<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, February 8, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmooney on our not-to-scientific minds<\/td>\nlink to article by mooney at mother jones, including 7 reasons why it’s easier for humans to believe in god than evolution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, February 7, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nmore questions and answers<\/td>\ncoyne wonders if creationists truly think science is a big conspiracy; another blogger with exasperated replies to dumb creationist questions<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, February 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nanswers for creationists<\/td>\nphil plait doing a buzzfeed thing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nthe narcissism of today’s homophobia<\/td>\nre: the song “same thing” and grammy awards; christians can’t wrap their minds around the idea that some people are different; how dare they be happy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nfive reasons why secular humanism is winning<\/td>\nevidence and reason leads to naturalism<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, February 5, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ncomments about ham\/nye debate<\/td>\nsome people think, others believe; examples of the closed system of creation; how debates don’t change people’s minds; quotes from Castro, Coyne, Stern, Stoker, McElwee, Plait<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, February 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nbruckner 8<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, February 2, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nNebraska<\/td>\nfilm review<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nlink dump: sites and resources<\/td>\nevil bible, one true god, logical fallacies, etc<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 25, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nfurther on up the road<\/td>\nspringsteen song<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, January 24, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nfundamentalist curricula<\/td>\nabout ACE; how a high school student discovered it was lying about evolution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, January 24, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nare some folks beyond rational thinking?<\/td>\nhow some people are beyond rational thinking; how yet it doesn’t matter what people believe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 20, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nA-Unicornist<\/td>\nreferences to books about atheism; books nd tyson recommends<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 20, 2014<\/a><\/td>\ndeciding what is true<\/td>\nThe Atlantic on Rush Limbaugh; Coyne on how americans would cling to religion even if belief proven untrue; humans not rational<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 20, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nreview of Dallas Buyers Club<\/td>\nrepost from Fb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nI Visit You in Another Dream<\/td>\nsong: Springsteen, paradise<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nVast universe<\/td>\nquote from Max Tegmark, who has a new book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 16, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nhomosexuality and morality<\/td>\npeople who think homosexuality is immoral really mean they think it’s icky; reference to Corvino<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, January 14, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nage of ignorance<\/td>\nlist of nonsense some people believe in; santorum and home schooling<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 13, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nDebate Consternation<\/td>\nwhether Bill Nye should do that debate<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\natheism as luxury?<\/td>\nConnor Wood: because ritual and conformance are easy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nWhy Religion is oppressive<\/td>\nreligious morals are based on values of primitive societies; not applicable to modern society<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nWhy Drugs are expensive<\/td>\nsullivan on how “drugs are expensive because the science of drug discovery is hard”; capitalism and what is the alternative?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, January 9, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nTwo posts about Christians and gays<\/td>\ntwo gay brothers who grew up in a christian bubble; response from the mother of lance bass<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, January 6, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nHer<\/td>\nreview of film<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nend of 2013 links and comments<\/td>\nsigns fundamentalism is going down; science is word of the year; graphic about the known world; remembrance of Ian Barbour with quote about beliefs in evolution, “evidence is overwhelming”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, January 4, 2014<\/a><\/td>\nyour brain on religion<\/td>\nexcerpts at Salon of a book by DF Swaab; question isn’t whether god exists but why people are religious, with 10,000 religions all convinced theirs is the one true faith<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, December 27, 2013<\/a><\/td>\ntwo interesting articles<\/td>\nadam lee on conservative resistance (how they fear obama); science on religion on anthropomorphism (we are our brains; religion is about the tendency for our brains to see persons in the world around us)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 23, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nsin against mankind<\/td>\nquote from Grayling by W.K. Clifford: how belief from childhood, upon insufficient evidence, is a sin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 23, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nlinks and quotes about that duck guy<\/td>\nBarro on how there are two americas, and one is better than the other; sullivan on robertson’s ranking of sins; slate on imposing religious worldview on others; how robertson just hates gays; my opinion that the bible is *irrelevant*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, December 23, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nyesterday’s favorite song<\/td>\nsong: Moby, Almost home<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, December 20, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nnew ten commandments<\/td>\nadam lee’s ten commandments, sensible and admirable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, December 18, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nHitchens and the speculative end of religion<\/td>\ncoyne, tayler criticizing mcelwee, on hitchens’ take on the eradication of religion; my take on AC Clarke’s optimism about how religious superstition would fade<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, December 18, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nAwe<\/td>\nawesome scenery attributed to god: magical thinking; perceiving patterns in the world; and about why certain observations, and not disgusting ones, induce perception of god<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, December 18, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nAggressive atheist steps down<\/td>\nMartin S. Pribble decides to focus on the positive rather than the negative; comments about how it doesn’t matter what you ‘believe’ in<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, December 8, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nGetting along without knowing<\/td>\nPatricia Churchland interview about the distress of realizing we are functions of our brains<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, December 7, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nsong: Wake Me Up<\/td>\nit’s credited to Avicii, but he’s the producer, like Moby is the producer of his albums; the singer is Aloe Blacc<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 26, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nFamilies<\/td>\nbrief link to NYT science section on families, with profiles about, among others, a gay couples in their 50s and 60s who’ve adopted 6 kids -!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, November 25, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nIneffability, God thereof<\/td>\nThe Dish on the ineffability of god; reader responses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, November 25, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nA Celebration of Human Ingenuity<\/td>\nThe Dish quotes Ian McEwan on art and science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, November 24, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nThe Trolley Problem<\/td>\nnytbr review of 2 books on trolley problem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 19, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nDavid McRaney 2, Gravity, Haiyan, GRR Martin<\/td>\nsecond comments on McRaney’s second books, about narrative bias, normalcy bias, and especially the self-enhancement bias; and GRRM story “The Way of Cross and Dragon”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 19, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nWhy science is not about faith<\/td>\ncoyne on why science is not about faith<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, November 19, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nwhy people believe in conspiracies<\/td>\nslate article about conspiracy theories and cognitive biases<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, November 11, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nAnother Fermi Paradox idea<\/td>\nSean Carroll on fermi paradox<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, October 29, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nTo put matters at their simplest<\/td>\nopening of AC Grayling’s God Argument<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 21, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nMan in the Sky<\/td>\nquote from The dish, about embracing the void<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 21, 2013<\/a><\/td>\n12 Years a Slave<\/td>\nmovie review<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, October 18, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nconnor wood on atheists<\/td>\nhow atheists have lower social attachments; they are largely single white males; are analytical and logical; how atheists and believers are both adaptive<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, October 18, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nrights are social contracts<\/td>\nlinks to articles about why the right is obsessed with a revisionist history.. David barton; reality checks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 14, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nReview of David McRaney\u2019s You Are Now Less Dumb, part 1<\/td>\nexamples, and how he deliberately avoids discussion of religion or faith; two key essays here, first and last chapters, are about narrative and self-enhancement<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 14, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nReview of David McRaney\u2019s You Are Not So Smart<\/td>\ncognitive biases, heuristics, and logical fallacies; many familiar: confirmation bias, argument from authority, the straw man fallacy, the ad hominem fallacy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, October 14, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nTNT for 2<\/td>\nNeil Finn\/ Pajama Club song; link no longer works<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, October 6, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nLinks and comments<\/td>\nAndrew Sullivan on tea party voters; texas evangelicals want to teach garden of eden in science classes; 2014 forecasts; fake Christian quotes; adam lee on shutdown blues; john scalzi on how ACA matters to writers; slate describes shutdown as if happening in another country; epic propaganda; how california is american exceptionalism<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, October 6, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nGravity<\/td>\nFB post review of the film<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 30, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nGone with inherit the wind<\/td>\nitem about protest that a religious college would stage the play<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, September 28, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nis the younger generation turning away from organized religion?<\/td>\nhow the internet affects shifts; how evangelicals are doubling down<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, September 28, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nThoughts of a Thursday afternoon: after the apocalypse<\/td>\nfoundational essay about what would happen after an apocalypse: humanity would rebuild, with similar but not identical religions, languages, etc, but the same science, eventually<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, September 28, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nmotivated reasoning and religion<\/td>\nhow motivated reasoning works; no one believes all the tenants of their faith; how to build your own religion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 23, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nOdds and ends<\/td>\nShermer on his own struggle; Hutson on magical thinking; sullivan on sunk cost; io9 on magical puzzles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, September 17, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nReview of Cory Doctorow’s Homeland<\/td>\nwith quotes about politics and how the system work<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 16, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nLaw v. science<\/td>\nJesse Bering on age of consent laws, how they illustrate law v science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, September 16, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nmatthew shepard and confirmation bias<\/td>\nis the matthew shepard story an example of conf bias? Like the narrative of the iraq war?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, September 15, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nSunday links and comments<\/td>\nChris Mooney on republican brain; Gunn interview on how sf can save the world; Salon on rantings of pat robertson; Slate on improving life expectancy; Atlantic on survival value of fiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, September 15, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nResource: the dummy’s guide to the one true god<\/td>\nlink to someone’s chart showing how varying are different beliefs about god<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, September 12, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nThe one book I’d have every college student read<\/td>\nHoward Kahane’s Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, September 8, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nSunday links and commentary<\/td>\npz myers on atheist v. sf cons; Essay by a fundamentalist on how he lost his religion; Coyne on how science is not a belief system; Slate on life expectancy; Salon on how politics and math are incompatible; Pareene on republicans and twitter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, September 7, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nDavid Barton, just this once<\/td>\ncrazy things the discredited historian says<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, September 6, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nsong: Alive (Empire of the Sun)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, September 6, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nsong: Mr Little Jeans<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, September 5, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nreligion and community<\/td>\nConnor Wood on how religion is tribalism, and increases happiness within groups even as it promotes violence against other groups; other believers vs atheists<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, September 4, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nProgressives and regressives<\/td>\nrobert reich on why progressives live in coastal cities and ports, conservatives in rural areas; my cmt about why more university profs are liberal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, September 4, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nConservatives and liberals, and why we need both<\/td>\nConnor Wood about how conservatives are at the core of culture, liberals at the edges; the former are happier<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, September 3, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nFrederik Pohl<\/td>\non his death, my recollection of his sea change in the mid-70s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, September 3, 2013<\/a><\/td>\ndoes anyone ever change their minds about anything?<\/td>\nhow even your best arguments never work; self-enhancement and self-affirmation; confirmation bias<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, September 1, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nEndeavour<\/td>\nvisit to museum to see the space shuttle, with photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, August 28, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nRespectful Insolence on the anti-vaxxers; the healthcare crisis<\/td>\nhow anti-vaxxers think–are scientists engaged in some vast conspiracy? And why complaints about big pharma seem misplaced<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, August 27, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nCoyne reponds to Frank; Religion becoming obsolete?; Dawkins’ response<\/td>\nCoyne responds to Adam Frank about science illiteracy, how the problem is religion; HuffPo on religion becoming obsolete; Dawkins on how few Muslims have won nobel prizes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tuesday, August 27, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nAn Irish Poem<\/td>\na Yeats poem about human vanity and how other animals would presume god is in their image; and how some internet commentor thinks it’s about pantheism<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, August 24, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nmore ireland pics<\/td>\nDublin, Trinity College; drive to cliffs of moher<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, August 24, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nDublin notes and pics<\/td>\nabout our Dublin trip back in April; pics of cliffs of moher<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, August 23, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nstuff christian culture likes<\/td>\ninteresting items from a website of that name: bible verses, africa, kirk cameron, homeschooling, etc etc<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, August 22, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nAdam Frank, PZ Myers, Hendrik Hertzberg<\/td>\nNYT op ed on science denial; PZ Myers on how Muslim fundamentalists are just as assertive as christians are about the bible; item by HH in Nykr about contradictory ideas of god; mention of how I might write a bk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, August 21, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nHow to be a successful prophet: applying the jack smith rule<\/td>\nnamed after a long-time LA Times columnist; just predict the opposite of whatever a psychic or fundamentalist doomsayer predicts, and you’ll always be right<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, August 21, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nDonald Prothero on science illiteracy, the Dunning-Kruger effect<\/td>\nabout his book ‘reality check’ and how the ignorant and unskilled are more sure of themselves than actual experts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, August 19, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nSteven Pinkter, Carl Zimmer, Anti-Intellect, History Chart, Weigel on Card<\/td>\nPinker essay on scientism in new republic; Zimmer in NatGeo on evolution denialists; item on belief by ‘Anti-Intellect’; cool history chart linked from Slate; David Weigel on OS Card’s political paranoia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saturday, August 10, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nReview of Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls<\/td>\nwith hidden spoiler discussion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, August 9, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nStories, Narratives, Facts<\/td>\nSalon quote from McRaney’s forthcoming book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, August 8, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nReview of McDevitt & Resnick’s The Cassandra Project<\/td>\nwith hidden spoiler discussion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 24, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nNotes on Daniel Dennett, 1<\/td>\nwith list of a dozen general tools, including e.g ‘intuition pump’, of which I think SF is one<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, July 22, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nTwitter so far<\/td>\ncomments about using it so far<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monday, July 22, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nToday’s Pet Peeve<\/td>\npeople who pronounced the T is often<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wednesday, July 17, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nsong: Moby, a Case for shame<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunday, July 14, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nCory Doctorow on Father’s Day, and scientific method<\/td>\nyou can’t trust your memory or your senses\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Friday, July 12, 2013<\/a><\/td>\nMore Views<\/td>\nthis blog is sequel to what was the Locus Online editorial blog<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 2018: This page isn’t up to date, but might still serve as a useful page to search. Saturday, December 31, 2016 George Michael links to YouTube videos, with lyric quotes, of two favorite songs Thursday, December 29, 2016 Rereading … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":943,"menu_order":70,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3157","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3157"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6779,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3157\/revisions\/6779"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}