Yes, I’m doing that “sensationalist headline” thing the popular news media is so famous for.
But … I hope this is true. It would be damned cool if it was. At the same time, I’ve learned — not as a scientist, because I’m not one, but as a reader of news and onetime newspaper editor — that what you read in headlines is often misleading. And you can’t even trust the stories that follow.
But here it is: Breaking News from the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine
In Life’s Darkest Hours, remind yourself of this: There’s chocolate.
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Few people know that most of the early programmers at Microsoft were total emos. For instance, the first version of Clippy included the phrase, “Hi, it looks like you’re writing a suicide note! Would you like some help?” Continue reading “Short Stack #11”
[If you get nothing else out of this post, know this: I am (WE are!) asking for input. Seriously, I think this thing might work. Also: If you can’t help in any other way, but like the idea, you can Facebook, tweet, Google-Plus, or otherwise snork (social network) the hell out of this post.]
I know you all, avid readers that you are, saw my recent post on The Book of Good Living.
It’s kind of a no-brainer, don’t you think? A book of lessons and rules designed not to control you or lessen your freedom, but to help you grow and become complete. And to help in building a society of justice, equality, and opportunity.
It would be the handbook, the basic operating manual, that should come with every human life.
And I’m sure you read the comments. A number of readers were very excited by the idea. Continue reading “The Book of Good Living: Moving Forward”
Neil deGrasse Tyson asks for help on Facebook:
I hardly ever ask questions on this wall, but I feel compelled: Tuesday I’ll be at the White House. If you had one sentence for the President, what would it be?
My response was:
Mr. President, let’s amp up U.S. science education by devoting ourselves as a nation to an Apollo-type program in medicine: Launch “ABCD by 2023” to discover even more effective treatments – or cures! – for Alzheimer’s, Birth defects, Cancer, and Diabetes.
Such a visionary national project would appeal, for obvious reasons, to seniors, parents, children, and anybody who has ever lost a loved one, or feared losing a loved one, to any of these killers of body and mind.
Not only would it save millions of our loved ones …
It would give education a shot in the arm. It would provide huge numbers of jobs. It would get America investing in itself again through advanced research. It would underscore the value of attracting and retaining bright young minds from all over the planet. And it would provide the major spin-off of a fantastic body of new knowledge.
So yes, Neil, tell him THIS.
Had a thought last night:
Those of us who are atheists, we all came from somewhere. And it’s not such a reach to think that somewhere in our back trails, there are others who might appreciate a hand, in order to get where we got.
I grew up in Houston, Texas, went to a high school with shitkickers and country people. Good enough people, but also people mired in religion. I keep in touch with a few of them, and unfortunately, they’ve gotten MORE goddy rather than less, over the years.
I think one of the reasons might be Continue reading “Are You Doing Your Part to Kill God?”
Warning: The following post is long, and may contain insults to French people. And Christians. And probably frogs.
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I’d like to propose to you a daring hypothesis.
You may be surprised by it. You may be stunned. You might even be shocked. Because this is such a daring idea, some of you reading this right now may actually be horrified. There’s even the possibility – distant, but real, so I have to warn you – that one or more people about to read the following hypothesis will suffer deep psychological damage and end up under permanent psychiatric care, or possibly even comatose.
I don’t really want to just spring it on you suddenly. This is something so new, so different, so deeply significant, that I feel very strongly that it should have its own screen. It’s just not something I feel okay with plopping down in a sea of insignificant words, as if it were one common grain of sand on a vast beach.
This is something so special it demands treatment you’d immediately consider … unusual.
So. If you think you’re ready for it, brace yourself and look below the break. Here it comes: Continue reading “The Brassican Heresy”
My atheist brothers and sisters, I have seen the light. At last I understand the true threat. And I need your help.
Last week in South Carolina, former House Speaker and current GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich laid into the media for its ugly inclination against Christians. Continue reading “Announcing: Save The Christians!™”
