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Western dominance, Islamist terror, and the Arab imagination, by Sadik J. Al-Azm, emeritus professor at the University of Damascus. (via Aldaily)
comment posted at 6:42 AM on Oct-16-04

The alternative to blind belief is not simply unbelief but a different kind of belief - one that embraces uncertainty and enables us to respect others whom we do not understand, in friendship that serves to forge connections among individuals across their differences - we see deconstruction in action.
comment posted at 11:01 AM on Oct-14-04

Jesus Videos (Scroll All the way down). Vintage 21, a "community of God seekers, God followers, and God doubters" has made a series of excellent videos which take a satirical look of what Jesus is NOT like.
comment posted at 1:54 PM on Oct-13-04

Ron's first Goatse (SFW, honest). Porn star Ron Jeremy is handed a Sidekick presumably displaying a certain infamous image during a meet-n-greet by persons unknown with the foresight to bring a camera. MeFi Jr. Detective League bonus! Who is responsible for this belly-laugh inducing document? [via and linked to themaxx.com, which may indeed contain NSFW material].
comment posted at 7:28 PM on Oct-10-04
comment posted at 7:52 PM on Oct-10-04

Question for a gray Saturday. What is literature for ? Three litblogs -- Conversational Reading, The Reading Experience, and Leonard Bast -- discuss. Curl up and consider.
comment posted at 2:14 PM on Sep-18-04

The World's Most Dangerous Ideas: U.S. and European goals on most issues are quite similar. Both want a peaceful world free from terror, with open trade, growing freedom, and civilized codes of conduct. A Europe that charts its own course just to mark its differences from the United States threatens to fracture global efforts—whether on trade, proliferation, or the Middle East. Europe is too disunited to achieve its goals without the United States; it can only ensure that America’s plans don’t succeed. The result will be a world that muddles along, with the constant danger that unattended problems will flare up disastrously. Instead of win-win, it will be lose-lose—for Europe, for the United States, and for the world.
comment posted at 3:03 PM on Sep-15-04

Why truth matters.
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comment posted at 6:51 PM on Sep-8-04

What is the Higgs Boson, and why do we want to find it?
comment posted at 7:24 PM on Aug-28-04

Sapir/Whorf raises its head again in study of the Piraha tribe. I can't stop thinking about this article which appeared in the Globe and Mail Friday.

A study appearing today in the journal Science reports that the hunter-gatherers seem to be the only group of humans known to have no concept of numbering and counting. Not only that, but adult Piraha apparently can't learn to count or understand the concept of numbers or numerals, even when they asked anthropologists to teach them and have been given basic math lessons for months at a time ... the Piraha are the only people known to have no distinct words for colours.
They have no written language, and no collective memory going back more than two generations. They don't sleep for more than two hours at a time during the night or day. Even when food is available, they frequently starve themselves and their children, Prof. Everett reports.
They communicate almost as much by singing, whistling and humming as by normal speech.
They frequently change their names, because they believe spirits regularly take them over and intrinsically change who they are.
They have no creation myths, tell no fictional stories and have no art.

Can any of our anthropologists or linguists comment? I had thought that narrative was the common link in all human cultures....
comment posted at 3:49 PM on Aug-21-04

You stink, therefore I am. Philosophers and psychologists have been studying the science of disgust, and its proper place in the law. Leon Kass, the chairman of the president's council on bioethics, cites "the wisdom of repugnance" in arguing against cloning. More recently, Martha Nussbaum has written a new book, "Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law," which rejects disgust as a moral guide. She has also written on the role of disgust in the mutilations of women in Gujarat.
comment posted at 2:09 PM on Jul-17-04

Gates talks about our future. Bill gates shows a side that is rarely seen by computer users. Love him or hate him, I just want to know why he doesn't want me to have one of these some time in the next 15 years too.
comment posted at 3:35 AM on Jul-14-04

You, Sir, are an unprivileged belligerent... The US charge David Hicks, the one Australian in Guantanamo, with being an "unprivileged belligerent". Confused? Try this brief (PDF) from Harvard's Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (cached HTML) and learn how to ensure that your belligerentness stays privileged (and thus grants you rights as a prisoner of war).
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comment posted at 10:14 AM on Jun-12-04

Photoblogging becomes international There are photoblogs from China, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Israel. How about photoblogs by languages: Persian, Chinese, and Malay.
comment posted at 7:22 PM on Jun-9-04

The False Controversy of Stem Cell Research. Kinsley: In fact, thinking it through is a moral obligation, especially if you are on the side of the argument that wants to stop or slow this research. It's not complicated. An embryo used in stem-cell research (and fertility treatments) is three to five days past conception. It consists of a few dozen cells that together are too small to be seen without a microscope. It has no consciousness, no self-awareness, no ability to feel love or pain. The smallest insect is far more human in every respect except potential.
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comment posted at 4:31 AM on Jun-1-04

Pros & Cons of Kerry's Veep Choices 14. Ann Coulter, columnist Pro: Flattering position would silence her exposing of the true evil liberal agenda Con: Is composed entirely of spiders and deadly snakes writhing beneath a latex "skin." Courtesy of McSweeneys
comment posted at 9:11 AM on May-30-04

Scandinavia has had gay marriage for years, and surprise surprise, the institution has not collapsed. It's amazing how rarely Americans take advantage of these sorts of international comparisons...
comment posted at 9:01 PM on May-20-04

Tibetan Buddhist art of Sichuan Province, China.
comment posted at 10:37 AM on May-8-04

Rethinking Zionism. "Although embattled nationalistic movements are a commonplace, no nationalistic cause is as entwined with the larger issues and fault lines of global politics as modern Zionism is. Not least, the crisis of Zionism has implications for the ability of America to achieve its policy goals in the Middle East and in its wider confrontation with Islamic militancy."
comment posted at 8:20 AM on May-4-04

We're all the man now dog and I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
comment posted at 11:57 AM on May-3-04

Lesser Evils

The chief ethical challenge of a war on terror is relatively simple -- to discharge duties to those who have violated their duties to us. Even terrorists, unfortunately, have human rights. We have to respect these because we are fighting a war whose essential prize is preserving the identity of democratic society and preventing it from becoming what terrorists believe it to be. Terrorists seek to provoke us into stripping off the mask of law in order to reveal the black heart of coercion that they believe lurks behind our promises of freedom. We have to show ourselves and the populations whose loyalties we seek that the rule of law is not a mask or an illusion. It is our true nature.
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comment posted at 4:02 PM on May-3-04

It's pilot season! Each May the networks announce their fall schedules. Here are the many, many shows battling for a prime time spot. (continued inside)
comment posted at 9:23 PM on Apr-30-04

On tomorrow's Nightline, "we will show you the pictures, and Ted [Koppel] will read the names, of the men and women from the armed forces who have been killed in combat in Iraq. That’s it. That will be the whole broadcast." Unfortunately, that means no broadcast whatsoever for Sinclair Broadcast Group's ABC affiliates. They've been ordered not to carry it because it's "contrary to the public interest."
comment posted at 10:57 AM on Apr-29-04

After all the hoopla about increasing security, it seems that the requirement for biometric data to be included in passports of those entering the US from visa waiver countries will need to be extended for two years to allow other countries to catch up with the technology, as it seems most countries are unable to meet the deadline. Some countries have put on hold the new technology, while others seem committed to going ahead with it, despite doubts about the readiness of the technology. Of course, if civil liberties groups get their way, the biometric passports may never see the light of day. Specific religious issues complicate the matter to some extent, also. Given that, if the technology to produce biometric passports is available, will it really be that hard for forged passports to be created? Unless a massive world-wide database containing the biometric details of every person was used for data-matching, it is hard to see how these new measures will really make much difference to anyone apart from the companies selling the technology.
comment posted at 7:13 PM on Apr-26-04