Posted by Norm at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Thinking can undermine religious faith, study finds (tip to Pedantsareus)

Those who think more analytically are less inclined to be religious believers than are those who tend to follow a gut instinct, researchers conclude.

• Teach the Books, Touch the Heart

FRANZ KAFKA wrote that “a book must be the ax for the frozen sea inside us.” I once shared this quotation with a class of seventh graders, and it didn’t seem to require any explanation.

• Wasting Our Minds

• Study Points to Roles for Industry and Organics in Agriculture

Posted by Norm at 8:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)

Kimmel doesn't usually get political, seems he had a lot of stuff bottled up.

Posted by Andyo at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Andrew Sullivan gets all militant about religion and creationism!

• The Paradox Paradox

• An owl is 70% feathers

• eZine for Democrats

Posted by Norm at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

• The hummingbird, the devil, and I

• Why Bill Gates Is A Hero And Donald Trump Is A Zero

• THE STORY OF LUCRETIUS’ “ON THE NATURE OF THINGS"

• GMO Labeling And “The China Scenario”

• American Chestnut Returns to New York City

Posted by Norm at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

• Indian skeptic charged with "blasphemy" for revealing secret behind "miracle" of weeping cross

• Wallaby tool use?

• Can Drinking Make You Conservative? (and Other Questions About the Political Brain)

• Yet more evidence that "natural" doesn't necessarily mean safer

• Modern Agricultural Production Continues to Increase Yields

Paarlberg said conventional farming today is “dramatically different” from conventional farming in the 1960s. One big factor affecting higher yields was the commercial introduction in 1996 of disease- and insect-resistant seeds improved through biotechnology, also known as genetically modified seeds.

Biotech-modified maize, for instance, protects against infections from the corn borer insect without requiring the use of chemical spreads, he said. Resistant soybeans have replaced multiple sprayings of toxic herbicides and pesticides. And because biotech crops resist insects and weeds, less mechanical tillage is needed, reducing the amount of diesel fuel exhaust going into the air and conserving soil.

• HBO Buys TV Rights To ‘The Central Park Effect’: SXSW

I'm looking forward to this.

• Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs?

Posted by Norm at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (44)

This is gonna be interesting. If I were the Republicans, it would be a no-brainer. Latinos are growing and xenophobes and racists aren't. But then the only hook conservatives would keep are homophobia and religious misogyny... hmm. What a choice, what a choice.

Posted by Andyo at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)