Blog
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The Mystery of Consciousness
Great article in Time about “The Mystery of Consciousness “:
Some mavericks, like the mathematician Roger Penrose, suggest the answer might someday be found in quantum mechanics. But to my ear, this amounts to the feeling that quantum mechanics sure is weird, and consciousness sure is weird, so maybe quantum mechanics can explain consciousness.
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Reality hits reality TV
BBC 4’s Big Brother program has recently created a furor over very ugly behavior. In her exit interview, ejected contestant Jade Goody has a revelation:
“I look like a complete and utter nasty small person — the sort of person I don’t like myself,” but continued: “I am not a racist and I sincerely, with my hand on my heart, apologise to anyone I have offended out there.”
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A Quaker and a King
In his diary entry for Monday 11 January 1663/64, Samuel Pepys records a Quaker woman at the the court of King Charles II:
This morning I stood by the King arguing with a pretty Quaker woman, that delivered to him a desire of hers in writing. The King showed her Sir J. Minnes, as a man the fittest for her quaking religion, saying that his beard was the stiffest thing about him, and again merrily said, looking upon the length of her paper, that if all she desired was of that length she might lose her desires; she modestly saying nothing till he begun seriously to discourse with her, arguing the truth of his spirit against hers; she replying still with these words, “O King!†and thou’d him all along.
None of the commenters has yet identified the woman, and I haven’t looked it up yet. But I’d like to know!
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Tony Blair’s defeatist attitude
The Guardian reports: Carry on flying, says Blair — science will save the planet
Tony Blair today wades into the growing controversy over how individuals can help to tackle global warming by declaring that he has no intention of abandoning long-haul holiday flights to reduce his carbon footprint.
Days after his environment minister branded Ryanair the “irresponsible face of capitalism” for opposing an EU carbon emissions scheme, the prime minister says it is impractical to expect people to make personal sacrifices by taking holidays closer to home.
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Wolf Moon
In honor of tonight’s Wolf Moon, Astronomy Picture of the Day has posted a montage of twenty full moons. Be sure to click through to the twenty frame movie.
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James Brown in the Middle East
Wow, the death of James Brown made the home pages of both Ha’aretz and Al Jazeera. Who knew?
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World Week
The things you learn reading blogs.
World Week celebrates the people of the Earth. It begins on December 25 and ends on December 31.
(Hat tip to Will Shetterly.)
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Retelling the Christmas story
Paul L. over at Showers of Blessings had the good fortune to be part of the Christmas story in La Navidad, and is eloquent as usual in describing the experience.
[M]y friend Greg (one of the wisest of the wise men) talked to me at a rehearsal about the importance of the Living Word, of the Word manifesting and incarnating itself anew all the time, addressing the concrete circumstances of real people, not storybook characters.