So I saw another of those bumper stickers: “My God Is An Awesome God”.
Uh, isn’t “awesome” pretty much par for the course when it comes to gods? And what about that “an” part? Are these people polytheists? “An” implies that there are others, and if that’s the case should folks perhaps be looking for one that’s more awesomer?
Just askin’.
A nice lady just told me to “have a happy day.” Barring unforseen events I expect to, more-or-less, but it got me to thinking about what that means. What, exactly (or even generally) is a happy day? Continue reading
I believe it is fine to debate religious ideas, within reason. However, we need to understand that when people’s core beliefs are threatened they become defensive and inflexible regardless of the content of those beliefs. To pound, willy-nilly, on issues they find threatening will only stifle debate, not extend it. Furthermore, to attempt to alter someone’s core beliefs without offering something that will adequately replace the framework of his life is to attempt cruelty of the first order.
USA Today, the second-largest newspaper in the country after The Wall Street Journal, is undergoing a company-wide shift in focus from print to digital content. With that shift comes the biggest overhaul in staff structure since it opened in 1982. The staff soon will be cut by 9 percent (approximately 130 employees). The reorganization is meant to put more focus on digital media like smart phones and tablets.
All 12-step programs use some variation of the following as their first step: “We admitted we were powerless over (insert addiction here)–that our lives had become unmanageable.” Many of us had trouble admitting to ourselves that we were powerless, and in some cases were unable to come to terms with the idea that our lives were unmanageable. So here’s as simple an explanation as I can come up with.
http://sunrisedetox.com/blog/2010/08/27/the-first-step-is-no-theory-part-1/
A bacterium, Salmonella Enteritidis, can be on both the outside and inside of eggs that appear to be normal, and if the eggs are eaten raw or undercooked, the bacterium can cause illness.
What can I do to reduce my risk of getting Salmonella Enteritidis from eggs? Tips to Reduce Your Risk of Salmonella from Egg – CDC Features
Scientists, skeptical by both nature and training, always urge a dose of caution when looking at any one event as evidence of climate change. They look at the totality of events and discover patterns that help determine how our climate is changing.
Deniers, on the other hand, are eager opportunists, who will use single points of data, or single events (remember Snowmaggedon?) to claim that the patterns do not exist. Theirs is a world of scientific dishonesty and misinformation.
And it is the high level of professional skepticism–not the useless back-and-forth encouraged by deniers—that makes the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real and caused by man all the more powerful. 97 to 98 percent of climate researchers support the fundamental conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The head of the National Academy of Sciences has indicated that we know more about the link between man and climate change than we do smoking and lung cancer. More…
http://energy.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/is-climate-change-causing-wild.php#1623153
http://news.discovery.com/human/glass-water-weight-loss.html
This summer, that apparent thaw in Cuban-American relations accelerated dramatically. In June, the House Agriculture Committee voted to reverse a decades-long ban on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba and to ease restrictions on the sale of American commodities there. In July, two senators followed suit by announcing a bipartisan bill that would also facilitate travel to Cuba, which they claimed enjoyed two-thirds support in Congress. And last week, the White House reportedly stepped into the fray again, with signals that the president would issue an executive order to further open existing travel opportunities for American students, teachers and researchers, possibly before Labor Day. For its part, Cuba released 52 of its 167 political prisoners in a July deal brokered by the Catholic Church, which many see as an important precursor for normalization of relations between the two countries.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/24/ten-reasons-to-lift-the-cuba-embargo/
The collective lack of sun exposure is a recent phenomenon for humans, and our bodies are still struggling with the evolutionary changes. The drop in vitamin D levels in many people is seen as a public health challenged, and has led to an increase in the number of store-bought foods with artificially enhanced vitamin D. However, not everybody buys these products and the result is high rates of vitamin D deficiency.
