An Argument With Myself–Jens Lekman NPR’s To The Best of our Knowledge has a series of episodes about science and meaning. Sounds good but if it’s anything like the Can Science be Sacred episode I just listened to, I don’t need to listen to anymore. Firstly, the question is misleading, do they mean can [...]
I spent my Saturday afternoon at a public viewing of Jack Layton’s funeral. I expected it to be good, I was particularly looking forward to hearing Stephen Lewis who is always a well-spoken and rousing speaker. But I also expected some less interesting parts where I would be looking outside wondering what I was doing [...]
Gorgeous Georgie–Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Sam Harris is nothing if not direct when speaking his mind. While I agree with a lot of what he says, I would have thought that, by now, he would have said everything he could have said that would have offended his fans and readers. But he [...]
Why is science such a powerful tool? If we lived in a world where our senses never deceived us and we had the superhuman ability to look at thing objectively, we probably wouldn’t–well, no, we’d still need science but it would just have a different role. But part of science’s role is to try and [...]
I’m in a period where I’m straddling the vibrant optimism of being young and the cynicism that comes all too often with age. As my friends, family, co-workers, everyone I meet, get older, it seems that the passion behind certain ideals wanes–and understandably so. Party time is over. It’s all punch in, punch out, bring [...]
I was listening to CBC radio this morning when there was an interruption for a special update. I thought for sure it was going to be the announcement of the capture of Gaddafi. Sadly, the news wasn’t good, it announced the loss of the NDP’s leader Jack Layton. In my opinion, he was the only [...]
Eyes be closed–Washed Out Two intelligent guys, one of them a bazillionaire and one of them not, talk about extreme affluence. First bazillionaire Warren Buffett in his NYT article Stop Coddling the Super-Rich: OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich [...]
I think I’ve posted about this Dan Ariely study before but this is a great video that explains it clearly and adds some analysis. It’s also only the first part of a series of videos from PBS on wealth inequality in the U.S.? It’s nice to know that topic isn’t completely taboo. Watch the [...]
You never give me your money–The Beatles Today, one good global health read and one good global health listen: 1) Paul Farmer writes this great article in Foreign Affairs called Partners in Help about why charity or foreign aid should be called accompaniment (via Karen Grepin’s Global Health Blog): “Accompaniment” is an elastic term. It [...]
I love big questions and big ideas. Here are 70 academics talking about one of the biggest questions and one of the biggest ideas in human history: is there a god? The first video has 50 atheists and the second video has 20 believers. I love listening to brilliant minds contemplate this type of question. [...]
