Month: January 2009

My Political Views
I am a far-left moderate social libertarian
Left: 7.62, Libertarian: 1.94

Political Spectrum Quiz

Foreign Policy:

On the left side are pacifists and anti-war activists. On the right side are those who want a strong military that intervenes around the world. You scored: -8.44
My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -8.44

Political Spectrum Quiz

Culture:

Where are you in the culture war? On the liberal side, or the conservative side? This scale may apply more to the US than other countries. You scored: -7.54
My Culture War Stance
Score: -7.54

Political Spectrum Quiz

The brain is a stubborn organ. Once its primary set of beliefs has been established, the brain finds it difficult to integrate opposing ideas and beliefs. This has profound consequences for individuals and society, and helps to explain why some people cannot abandon destructive beliefs, be they religious, political, or psychological.

We are not born with a specific belief in God, or for that matter, any religious belief. Instead we learn to believe or disbelieve in God. As Richard Dawkins aptly puts it, children are not Jewish or Christian or Muslim. Rather, they are taught to believe in one set of ideas and they are taught to disbelieve in others. With enough repetition, these beliefs asd disbeliefs become neurologically embedded in memory, from which they influence future behaviors and thoughts. Thus the more time you devote to believing in God–or making money or waging war–the more those beliefs become an integral part of your reality.

Fortunately, the neural plasticity of our brains allows us to make subtle (and sometimes dramatic) alterations of our systems of belief. Thus, when we are exposed to new ideas, we have the biological ability to alter our earlier beliefs. But we rarely abandon them fully. For Francis Collins, author of the recent book The Language of God, Christianity held great meaning and value in his life, but his research as a geneticist required him to immerse himself in naturalistic explanations of the universe. The result was a transformation–an evolution of sorts–of his religious beliefs. Collins maintains his faith in God, but it is not the biblical God of his childhood.

Vote “I’d Wear It” or you’re no friend of mine!

http://www.typetees.com/score/1097914/Every_week_is_shark_week

From http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/science/27essa.html?_r=2

Science is not a monument of received Truth but something that people do to look for truth.

That endeavor, which has transformed the world in the last few centuries, does indeed teach values. Those values, among others, are honesty, doubt, respect for evidence, openness, accountability and tolerance and indeed hunger for opposing points of view. These are the unabashedly pragmatic working principles that guide the buzzing, testing, poking, probing, argumentative, gossiping, gadgety, joking, dreaming and tendentious cloud of activity — the writer and biologist Lewis Thomas once likened it to an anthill — that is slowly and thoroughly penetrating every nook and cranny of the world.

According to Entertainment Weekly,

M. Night Shyamalan has found the cast for The Last Airbender, his upcoming live-action film based on the popular anime-inspired Nickelodeon series. The youthful group is mostly filled with unknowns who are likely to be household names by the time Paramount opens the first in its potential three-film franchise in July 2010.

All Asian characters, portrayed by white actors.

Read more RIGHT HERE

Unfortunately, our mechanisms of perception can catch only glimpses of the reality that surrounds us, and by the time these fragments of sensation reach our consciousness, we will have constructed an internal reality that is quite different from the way the world actually is. Thus, at the core of our knowledge, we find that we embrace many unconscious assumptions that never have been proven to be true.

One thing this bus deal has allowed for is more reading – when I actually score a seat, that is.

Two things have become apparent over the past week:

1. It doesn’t matter if I go to bed at 11pm or at 2am, I don’t want to get up at 8.
2. The earlier I get up, the more crowded transit is, and the more time I spend waiting for a skytrain or B-Line that I can actually fit on.

This is the thing I most dislike about my current living situation. Things will get better when the weather’s nicer, my cold is gone, and I can bike to work again.

I’m joining Marielle for her show “All Fall Down” again today (Thursday), from 13.00-14.00(PT) on 101.9fm CiTR in Vancouver.
http://www.weallfalldowncitr.blogspot.com/