the brilliant penn jillette makes a living from being a skeptic. skepticism he reports in the la times isnt good enough for the reality based community however not on matters central to the canon someone asked us about global warming or climate change or however theyre branding it now. teller and i were both silent on stage for a bit too long and then i said i didnt know. i elaborated on i dont k...
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christians must be very careful not to claim that science can never prove a biological basis for sexual orientation. we can and must insist that no scientific finding can change the basic sinfulness of all homosexual behavior. the general trend of the research points to at least some biological factors behind sexual attraction gender identity and sexual orientation. this does not alter gods moral ...
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1. the christian paradox how a faithful nation gets jesus wrong the link to this excellent harpers article has been in my bookmarks list for ages. i was saving it for a moment when i could find some time to thoughtfully write about it. i clearly havent found that time so ill just throw the link at you. its lengthy but half as lengthy as it appears because its accidentally printed twice but do tak...
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in part one of this series i used langston hughess poem let america be america again to sharpen some of the inconsistencies in obamas speech about patriotism. here i want to dig deeper into what appears to be a fundamental aspect of whats wrong with obamas visionhis acceptance of righwing mythology about the nature of antiwar activism from the vietnam era. in this diary and the next i draw primari...
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saturday morning 0705008 kent couch tries flying lawn chair lifted by helium balloons from oregon to idaho the political establishment and telecom immunity why it matters cnn protesters interrupt bushs speech at monticello flashback ten years ago bin laden demanded barrel of oil should cost 144a believe me its torture man rips head from hitler wax figure in ber...
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i feel a bit churlish criticizing somebody who volunteered to undergo waterboarding and reported that yes it is torture considering a i would never volunteer to be tortured for an article myself and b christopher hitchens unrelenting support of the war might make some people receptive to hearing that waterboarding is torture who wouldnt be receptive to hearing it from say me. but then again its no...
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slate has just finished an excellent fivepart series on two recent books which have attempted to paint men and women as vastly different in mind brain and behaviour by exaggerating the science of sex difference. the books in question are louann brizendines the female brain and susan pinkers the sexual paradox. both have been influential because the authors write from an explicitly feminist angle...
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gotta say i despise sanctimonious liberals of this stripe. longstoryshort christopher hitchens not the sanctimonious liberal used to believe that waterboarding wasnt torture until he was shamed into trying it out for himself. he changed his tune but didnt really call attention to the fact that he had been wrong before. so chet scoville the sanctimonious liberal at......
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link comments......
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obviously im very busy mixing fireworks and alcohol this weekend but ive somehow managed to squeeze in a links post. youve likely seen this already but a bookseller in georgia represent discovered an amazing porn stash in hollowed out books.a booksaga is definitely a new favorite featuring great writing and really funny stories of life as a small town bookseller.a thanks to william for the link. ...
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jack shafer explains why the latest report on overdose deaths attributable to prescription drugs is mostly exaggerated. weve seen this all before. shafer debunks a media account of a study on prescription drug overdoses in florida. florida is also where the oxycontin panic started back in 2003due in part to drug warriors and the media making the very same mistakes about a similar report from sam...
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the washington post leads with and everyone else fronts sen. barack obama suggesting that his plan for withdrawal from iraq isnt set in stone and he reserves the right to continue to refine his policies after meeting with commanders on the ground. a few hours later he called a second news conference where he was visibly frustrated and emphasized that his position has not changed and he intends to ...
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happy independence day dear american readers now lets blow some stuff up just kidding ive decided were going with all bookrelated links this week because thats whats piling up in my rss feed. one year on field study in africa. what books do you take along id load up my kindle get a solarcharger for it and spend a lot of time with middlemarch i bet. buy books for iraq sell books to a used bo...
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son yaellarda karesel aesaenma ile ilgili bir aok haber okumu dinlemisinizdir. karesel aesaenma ile birlikte aevreye zarar vermeyen alternatif enerji kaynaklaraeyla ilgili projelerin sayaesae da artaeyor. gane enerjisi razgar enerjisi hidrojen yakaet dalga enerjisi mekanik enerji gibi alternatif enerji kaynaklarae projelere tema olmutur. bunlardan biri de bayanlaraen koarken veya haezlae yararken ...
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tampa bay online article about nathans finals joey chestnut interview for tampa bay online q do you and kobayashi actually hate each other a we might like each other in 15 years when were done. a lot of us are close friends. hall hunt article in first coast news afp article about nathans finals. kobayashi says he will eat at least 60 hdb japan today article about nathans finals little italy ...
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whither the semicolon slate asks if modern life has killed the semicolon. let the record state that i am a fan of this punctuation mark there are certain functions it performs rather elegantly.semicolons can link independent clauses without the need for a coordinating conjunction as above and they can clarify complex series. theyre also useful for winky emoticons......
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slate submitted by dw573if kobayashis jaw had crapped out six months ago few would have noticed. but this is hot dog season. when the champ implied that he might not compete in this wednesdays big contest at coney island the 29yearolds refusenik mandible was the lead story on the new york times web site. discuss.........
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joshua gans at game theorist musings on economics and child rearing blogging about disciplining his youngest child when it comes down to it this blog is a censored version of my parenting life. it is not and i do not claim it to be a full record. and when it comes to child no.3 who is soon to turn 4 the terrible twos have seemed to lasted well beyond what one would have hoped. same here at girl d...
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kit kittredge an american girl opened nationwide in theaters this week. the movie which tells the story of a girl growing up during the great depression is the first bigscreen film based on the american girl dolls. pleasant co. founded in 1986 and later sold to mattel made american girl a cultural phenomenon by marketing lines of dolls with their own books accessories and even furniturenot to ment...
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you read the familiar lament when critics review a surefire blockbuster it doesnt matter what i write people will go see it anyway. thats mostly true for hollywoods bigbudget releases but as erik lundegaard points out in making the case that we need movie critics these arbiters of taste have a measurable effect on boxoffice receipts. using basic math and the compendium of critical reviews from rot...
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in case you thought the rebuilding at the world trade center siteawas going along as planned a long overdue and candid letter released this week from the port authority of ny nj is your dose of reality. since the attacks of 911 public officials mostly former during governor patakis administration created a mirage of productive activity at the 16 acres of ground zero. what the project needed from ...
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south dakotas unbelievable new abortion law the south dakota law requires doctors to give patients who come for an abortion a written statement telling them that the abortion will terminate the life of a whole separate unique living human being and that they have an existing relationship with that unborn human being that is constitutionally protected. what does the constitutionally protected part ...
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...ice. well yes. but then what the reduction of homosexuality to neurobiology doesnt mean your sexual orientation cant be controlled. it just means the person controlling it wont be you. httpwww.slate.comdefault.aspxid2193841......
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when we took the time earlier in the week to compare rogers iphone and blackberry voice and data rates we were surprised at how well the iphone 3g fared. comparing atts iphone and blackberry plans however were surprised by the similarities unless you need visual voicemail there is absolutely no difference between atts plans. this is actually bad news for 3g iphone buyers because it means that att ...
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what are the economics at least in terms of fuel efficiency between driving with the air conditioner on and driving with 360 ac i.e. with the windows rolled down air conditioning draws on power which reduces mileage. windows open increase drag which reduces mileage. not surprisingly theres no easy answer it varies wildly with the vehicle in question the temp the speed etc. but the simple rule of t...
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