Originally posted May 2004 Credits: Thanks to Bob, clear-sighted as always, as well as to George for kindness, and Ian for perspective. Also, if this subject interests you, I recommend my “Firestarter” titled Tolerance FAQ, take II. I’ve been watching the joy and euphoria spreading through San Francisco and parts of the Bay Area as…
by Barbara Ehrenreich & Deidre English A review of one of my textbooks: a tiny little pamphlet — less than 50 pages! – with a powerful message that’s both creepily and effectively illustrated with a few small woodcut reproductions. Operating under the premise that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, the authors…
Truth is a slippery concept. The only thing slipperier I can think of, at this exceedingly late hour, is contested memory fought over to define truth. It’s funny the things that stick in your mind. Think of something incredibly meaningful to you as a small child, then ask a parent about it. Odds are they…
Advertising & Emotional Manipulation An interesting sidenote: studies have shown people look at advertising for only seconds at most, unless the ad somehow catches their interest. If the ad can do that, you look at it longer, and are more likely to remember the brand name. This means advertisers must pack a great deal of…
Women and War in History Historically speaking, this is nonsense. Women have been warriors throughout the ages, both in cultures which honored them, and in those which tried to suppress them. If the subject interests you (and I always encourage research), please read through the Women Warriors section on the fascinating web site GenderGap. There’s…
Originally posted March 2004 Credits:Thanks to Bob and George for thoughtful reasoning and feedback. src=”http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120×240.gif” >width=”120″ height=”240″ border=”0″ usemap=”#boxmap-p8″ alt=”Shop >at Amazon.com”>Please be warned there are spoilers in this review. I noticed in the paper today how many Oscars were won by Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, which were based on J. R….
I’ve finished one of my required readings for class: Rita Gross’s fascinating Feminism & Religion. I wish I’d read this book years ago. One of the most critical points the book makes, which was a sort of “aHA!” moment for me when I read it, was that a religion which purports to welcome and offer…
It’s always entertaining to re-read old college papers, especially when you’ve learned more since then. In the case of Feminism & the Bible: Examining the Christian Myth of Creation, the handful of later realizations or learnings I had were interesting enough to me that I thought I’d relate them here. For example, most people know…
This is a class assignment to critique Huber’s article “Biodiversity vs. Bioengineering?” solely on the issue of whether the use of deception was sound argumentation technique. Huber’s short but fascinating article appears in The Environmental Predicament, shown to the left. From the article, I quote the most personally relevant portions: [T]here are still transcendentally important…
Conclusions Gathering together all the ramblings and data we’ve gone through so far, we can now hopefully reach some useful insights on dealing with issues such as these (Note: please consider the pronoun ‘you’ to be a general reference term for myself and any readers): First, let’s state the goals for which we performed this…