I’m sad to say that most of the scientific material in this book of excerpts from Einstein’s publications and speeches, material aimed at a general audience, went right over my head. Much more interesting were the discussions of such topics as religion and science, international peace, nuclear war, and Germany, Israel, and the Jewish people. […]

I’ve become interested Unitarian Universalism. It seems to me that the ideal religion would be one that focuses on the common message of all religions (deeper meaning, a guiding force, community, compassion, discipline) without getting too focused on the hocus-pocus. That seems to be pretty close to the central tenet of Unitarianism.
As we were leaving […]

Just finished this book, which is about the relationship between (largely Buddhist) spirituality and the world of science, and have some thoughts.
The thing that impresses me the most about the Dalai Lama is his willingness to eschew Buddhist “orthodoxy” (if it can be called that) when he feels it is necessary. Specifically, Buddhist texts, like […]

Well, as he promised on Real Time with Bill Maher, Congressman Frank has introduced a bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. If you support the cause, head over to the Marijuana Policy Project and use their handy system to let your representatives know!
“The Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008,” introduced […]

Of course, no one has any idea how cherry-picked these answers are.
Fascinating. Notice how these people care just as much about the intent of the woman as they do about the death of the fetus. What a tragic issue- you can almost see a path to unity, but the act itself is so divisive that […]

Great article in the Times about how our brains are hard-wired, not just for retaliation against injury, but for disproportionate retaliation. Regarding a psychological experiment where test subjects were instructed to lightly push each other over and over again with equal force:
What began as a game of soft touches quickly became a game of moderate […]

I just got back from seeing Al Gore’s new movie about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth (check out the trailer). On the way back, my roomates and I were discussing how excellent it was; the film is enormously informative and persuasive, but it is also very entertaining, which is saying a lot when you consider […]

Da Vinci Code Undermines Faith, Survey Claims
Spoiler Alert!
Can’t say I was particularly suprised by the findings reported in this MSNBC story a week or so ago. The poll indicates that British readers of the novel are twice as likely (59% to 30%) to believe its claim that Jesus may have sired a child with Mary […]