Archive for the ‘All’ Category
On-Topic Blogging
At TalkLeft I read There's cat-blogging (see here, here and here), basset blogging, orchid blogging and all sorts of off-topic blogging in the blogosphere on Fridays. I find that a curious thing to say: ".. all sorts of off-topic blogging…". And what, precisely, would be "on-topic blogging"? I told Isaac last night that I knew […]
In: All, Eureka!, Splenetics
The Papal Legacy
But John Paul II's most lasting legacy to Catholicism will come from the episcopal appointments he made. In order to have been named a bishop, a priest must have been seen to be absolutely opposed to masturbation, premarital sex, birth control (including condoms used to prevent the spread of AIDS), abortion, divorce, homosexual relations, married […]
How Astrology Works
For the last little bit, Richard Rockley at Skeptico has been posting answers he's received in response to his "Astrology Challenge", which asks the question "how did they make all this stuff up to begin with", surely a defining question. As he discusses this latest response to his query, he claims to find the explanation […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Splenetics
Tangled Bank XXV
The Tangled Bank XXV, hosted this time at Respectful Insolence (a.k.a. "Orac Knows"), is an example of a phenomenon, until very recently unknown to me, known in the blogoon as a "Blog Carnival". It's a pretty cool idea, actually, so it's nice that someone thought of it. The Tangled Bank, which originated with PZ Myers […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, The Art of Conversation
My Favorite Pope
This week is all-things papacy week, but I don't feel the need to pontificate [!], laud, or excoriate the late John Paul II. Instead, I'll say a few words about my favorite pope: Paul V. Pope Paul V succeeded Leo XI in 1605; he served until his own death in 1621 when he was succeeded […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, The Art of Conversation
Since When?
Over the past two weeks, we have heard descriptions of the Constitution that bear no resemblance to the actual document or any of its relevant interpretations over the past 200 years. Since when does Congress tell the courts how to resolve a particular case? Since when do our national legislators single out one family to […]
We're Single. Really.
Once again, the fabulous Deb Price in the Detroit News: But [Deb Price's partner] Joyce never gets frustrated until she turns her attention to our taxes — hers and mine, that is. To my mother, our mortgage company, our credit union, American Express, my minister and even our Spanish teacher, we're a unit –blended financially […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Was Jesus That Way?
In a story by Elizabeth Day at the Telegraph News [UK], the "Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the United States" is quoted saying interesting things: In answer to a question from the congregation [attending his recent address at the Christ Church of Hamilton and Wenham in […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
The Same Liberty?
We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word many mean for some men to do […]
The Human Clock
I'm fascinated and I'm envious: The Human Clock.
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
The Rapture Wager
Bill Moyers, in "Welcome to Doomsday" (The New York Review of Books), wrote in depth about Dispensationalist (those who believen in the imminent Rapture) dispensing with any need for Environmentalism or any other approach to husbanding the Earth's resources. What does this mean for public policy and the environment? Listen to John Hagee, pastor of […]
In: All, The Art of Conversation
Non-Hostile Casualties
Is it just me? I find the following paragraph very odd and unsettling. Thanks to a mention at the Whiskey Bar, we read this (AP) — As of Saturday, April 2, 2005, at least 1,533 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Fishy Links
This is another entry in the "questionable links" category (for when the times comes that there is such a category here). My news feeds took me to a story, "Love At First … Smell", a diverting story, summarized well by the first paragraph: Why do some males smell better than others? Scientists at Cardiff University, […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Arm-Chair Ears
I think I've been spending far too much of my humankind face-time lately exclusively with our amateur theatre group — it makes me over sensitive to the whining of self-important diva wannabes. Let's consider the case of Mr. Dwight Vibbert (I won't even stoop to mocking his name), who writes, with some agitation, a letter […]
Design Notions
Two pieces from The Panda's Thumb converge on a single issue for me when it comes to "intelligent [so-called] design": In a posting on the Center (for the Renewal of) Science and Culture Media Complaints Division PR man Rob Crowther whines that a recent story in the Seattle Times disses Intelligent Design “theory” by saying […]
In: All, Eureka!, Splenetics
That's a Lot of Big Macs!
While McDonald’s CEO Jack Greenberg makes a healthy $7,331 an hour, young people are toiling away, often for minimum wage, which hasn’t even kept pace with inflation. If it did, the federal minimum wage would be at $8.65 an hour, and if it was pegged to productivity, our lowest paid workers would be netting $16.55 […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Gay Agenda Unifies
So frequently "gay rights issues", and most recently marriage equality issues, are portrayed as divisive — needlessly divisive, since we schismatic homos could so easily stay tucked away in the closet where nature intended us to stay. But wait! Here's validation of the gay agenda from, of all sources, the New York Times! ("Clerics Fighting […]
Against Positive Selection
My usual complaint: it's too far past bedtime to write sufficiently about this topic. It's true, but it's also true that I think the topic is much bigger than I can adequately attend to at this bleary-eyed hour. Nevertheless, I'll sleep better if I jot down a few sentences. (I've alluded to this idea before, […]
In: All, Hermeneutics, It's Only Rocket Science
You Go, Roger Ebert!
The Panda's Thumb suggests "One Thumb Up for the TalkOrigins Archive?" over this startlingly frank piece by Roger Ebert: "Film about volcanoes falls victim to creationists", on the basis on the final paragraph: […] Surely moviegoers deserve the right to decide for themselves what movies to see? "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea," according to the […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Splenetics
"Science" a Dirty Word?
Behold the British Press, willing to say what the American Media apparently prefer not to mention: For Bush, science is a dirty word In America's right-to-die controversy the facts were not allowed to get in the way of evangelical populism Admittedly, the piece was written by Tristram Hunt, a visiting professor of history at Arizona […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science