Interesting stuff to think about:  a new study measuring personal freedom has concluded that the most liberal states in the union are the least free.

“The problem is that the cultural values of liberal governments seem on balance to require more regulation of individual behavior than do the cultural values of conservative governments,” say the ( Read more... )

Jesus is rumored to have told his followers to love their enemies, to turn the other cheek, and to give to those who steal from them.

American churchgoers don't seem to have gotten the memo.  A recent study found that the more a person attends church, the more likely they are to approve of the torture of terrorism suspects.  White evangelical ( Read more... )

Some day I may grow up and get tired of immature dick jokes but it's not going to be today.  After learning about Google Earth, this kid climbed on his parents' roof and painted a 60 foot wang.  The parents didn't find out until it was spotted by a helicopter pilot who contacted the Sun newspaper.


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President Obama had a foot-in-mouth moment last night on The Tonight Show when he said of his bowling performance "That was like the Special Olympics or something."  He must have realized as soon as it came out that, funny or not, it was a stupid thing for a US President to say, and he called the chairman of the Special Olympics later from Air ( Read more... )

Here's the great contemporary philosopher, Daniel Dennett talking about evolution and psychology and making some very insightful points.  He argues that common sense has got it backwards when it comes to how our preferences work.

This video is pretty much 100% guaranteed to break your brain.  Michael Shermer of the Skeptics Society interviews a "research scientist" from a young-earth Creation Museum in Kentucky.  Shermer's patience and charity are truly remarkable - he asks great questions and doesn't laugh out loud at her answers even once.

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If 10 minutes into this video you ( Read more... )

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The word on the street is that Sanjay Gupta is being vetted for Surgeon General by the Obama transition team.  How fitting that an article penned by Dr. Gupta arguing against the legalization of marijuana should show up in Time magazine today.

Gupta's argument is essentially that pot should be illegal because it's bad for you.  To prove this, he ( Read more... )

One afternoon a student said "Roshi, I don't really understand what's going on. I mean, we sit in zazen and we gassho to each other and everything, and Felicia got enlightened when the bottom fell out of her water-bucket, and Todd got enlightened when you popped him one with your staff, and people work on koans and get enlightened, but I've been ( Read more... )

Do you have the worlds ugliest couch?

Not if it's less ugly than this one:


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