Month: September 2010

The Dish noted last week that Christine O'Donnell's lesbian sister had a Facebook page in which she revealed the following:

I have studied and practiced many therapeutic methods, as well as many different spiritual practices, such as; The Eastern Philosophies of Buddhism, Taoism, Sidha yoga with Brahma khumaris and other yoga practices for self realization. Western philosophies of Christianity, Science of mind, Course in miracles, Catholicism, Native American Spiritualities, Judaism, Muslim, Sufi, Ancient Alchemy of the Emerald Tablet, Metaphysics, Wicca, Pagan and many other world spiritualities.

(My italics). Thanks to good old Bill Maher, we now also know that O'Donnell herself "dabbled in witchdraft" in her own words (see above). Again, one has to remember how uncannily close to Sarah Palin this makes her. Palin too believes in the reality of witchcraft and its power, even though, like O'Donnell in the Maher clip, she sees it as evil:

The video shows Palin standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from "every form of witchcraft." "Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan," Muthee said as two attendants placed their hands on Palin's shoulders.

Karl Rove actually says O'Donnell needs to explain her remarks on this. Does Karl Rove think Sarah Palin should have explained what she was doing being given a special blessing to protect her from witchcraft? For a good laugh, Michelle Malkin defends O'Donnell here. Other right-wing bloggers are now calling Karl Rove "a DC talking head few people give a damn about." Powerline's John Hinderaker says:

I'm sorry, but politics is not about snatching random people out of the crowd and making them one of 100 United States Senators.

Really? How about a 40 hour Google search that gave us Sarah Palin? Seriously, how can you see O'Donnell as unacceptable because she is a raving, unqualified media whore … and have Sarah Palin as your front-runner for the nomination? What exactly is the difference between them, as far as being qualified to be a Senator, let alone a president?

Habiba Nosheen reports on the rise of religious search engines, which can filter out inappropriate websites like porn but also tailor results in very specific ways:

Shea Houdmann runs SeekFind, a Colorado Springs-based Christian search engine that only returns results from websites that are consistent with the Bible. He says SeekFind is designed "to promote what we believe to be biblical truth" and excludes sites that don't meet that standard.

Houdmann says a search on his site would not turn up pornography. If you search “gay marriage,” you would get results that argue against gay marriage. And if you type in “Democratic Party,” your first search result is a site on Marxism.

Others include Jewogle for Jews and I'mHalal, a Muslim search engine that started in the Netherlands:

Husain Benyounis, a 44-year-old Muslim man from New Zealand, starting using I’mHalal about eight months ago, and now he says he’s a fan.

He says the search engine offered him content that he can trust would be appropriate for him as a practicing Muslim. And he is much more comfortable allowing his teenage son to surf the Web using I'mHalal. For example, a search for “sex” would return results giving the Islamic view on sexuality.

Copyranter can't take this seriously:

Black humor is—maybe?—not the tone you want to use in an anorexia awareness ad. This one, via the Tel Aviv office of ad agency McCann Erickson, is for an Israeli nonprofit called Beitech. "15% of women who suffer from anorexia will die this year." Looks like a Photoshopped stock image. Obvious stupid creative mistake: Coffins are damn heavy even empty.

Gary Wenk blurs the two:

For example, potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants contain solanine and α-chaconine, substances that can enhance the action of acetylcholine, a chemical in your brain that is vital to memory formation. Your mood might be enhanced slightly by eating fava beans because they contain L-DOPA, a precursor to the production of dopamine, the reward chemical in your brain. Whether these food-borne compounds actually affect your brain depends upon how much you consume and your own personal physiology. This might explain why some people find it quite rewarding to eat potatoes or eggplants.

Morphine-like chemicals capable of acting upon the brain are produced in your intestines when you consume milk, eggs, cheese, spinach, mushrooms, pumpkin, and various fish and grains. Dairy products in particular contain a protein known as casein, which enzymes in your intestines can convert into beta-casomorphin. In newborns, that beta-casomorphin can easily pass out of the immature gut and into the developing brain to produce euphoria.

Justin Benton reviews Ocean Surf, “arguably the most important relaxation sounds release of all time”:

Yet for a considerable faction of relaxation sounds purists, critics and fans alike, Ocean Surf is pure overkill; a spanner in the New Age works. Many of these purists argue that—in the strict terms of the sound relaxation genre—Ocean Surf is simply too long, too intense, and too freakin’ loud. Those who take issue with the sheer sonic force of Ocean Surf view the recording as simply another victim of the Loudness War—offering an eye-popping loudness rating of -5 dBFS (decibels relative to full scale).

Perhaps more nefarious among fans of relaxation sounds is Ocean Surf’s numerous associations with suicide.

Copies of Ocean Surf have reportedly been found on the persons of at least eight known suicide victims. One example: Steve Bergens, a 53-year-old high school guidance counselor from suburban Detroit. Bergens, an avid relaxation sounds enthusiast, had battled his own share of demons: substance abuse, manic depression, and two failed marriages. In March of 2003, apropos of nothing, Bergens fled to Dubai with nothing but a copy of Ocean Surf. He booked a room on the 42^nd floor of the Shangri-La Hotel Dubai and, within a few hours of checking in, shattered his hotel window and leapt to his death. When Dubai police entered Bergens’ room to investigate they found Ocean Surf playing at high volume on the room’s stereo system.

David Gelernter contrasts the second law of thermodynamics with religion:

[L]ook at halakha [or religious law], a system that is large and wide-ranging and alive. From outside it seems shapeless, but it has a recurring theme: separation, in space and time. Keeping kosher means separating meat from dairy, kosher from unkosher food. Keeping the Sabbath means separating the day of rest from the forward-tumbling chaos of ordinary time. Keeping the Jewish community alive means maintaining its integrity by keeping it separate, in certain well-defined ways, from the rest of mankind — above all when a Jew marries, casting (in that very act) a sharp beam forward into the foggy future. … For the rabbis, sanctity means separation; means untangling nature, taking the trouble to set things apart. The Second Law helps us see the deeper meaning of Judaism’s obsession with separateness and sanctity. Jews defy nature by defying its most fundamental impulse, the deadly onrush of chaos. Above all, they defy death.

 
Scott Horton interviews Julian Young about his new book, Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography:

Nietzsche wrote that a “deadly insult” had come between himself and Wagner. You suggest that you’ve learned what it was.

Wagner had long disapproved of Nietzsche’s close friendships with men–love he held could only exist between the sexes–and by 1877 he was offended by the developing anti-Wagnerian tenor of Nietzsche’s thought. To Nietzsche’s doctor he wrote that the cause of the patient’s many health problems–which included near blindness–was “unnatural debauchery, with indications of pederasty.” His former disciple was, in other words, (a) incipiently gay and (b) going blind because he masturbated. Somehow Nietzsche learned not only of the existence of the letter but of its the exact wording. That was the “deadly insult.”

Jess McNally explains it and the dangers that can result:

People empathize with people by putting themselves in the other person’s shoes. The more shoes there are, the harder it is to empathize with any single individual. People don’t multiply their feelings of empathy by the number of people involved.

In order to illustrate a larger point, John Donvan and Caren Zucker tell the story of the first man ever diagnosed with autism, and how he lives today as a 77 year old:

The truth is that we often deny to adults with autism the kind of empathy and support we make readily available to children with the condition—or, for that matter, to people with white canes at crosswalks. We underestimate their capabilities, reveal our discomfort in their company, and display impatience when they inconvenience us. The people standing in the back of a long supermarket checkout line aren’t always going to say or do the nice thing when some odd-looking man in front is holding the whole place up because he can’t figure out the credit-card swipe. It’s in that moment, [Dr. Peter] Gerhardt says, that the thumb-on-the-logo trick is a matter of “social survival.” If the man with autism can navigate this situation successfully—and, just as important, be seen doing so—Gerhardt argues that our collective acceptance of people with autism in “our” spaces will tick up a notch. If the man fails, it will go the other way….

Adults present greater challenges: they are big enough to do real violence in the event of a tantrum; they are fully capable of sexual desires, and all that those imply; and they’re bored by many of the activities that can distract and entertain children with autism. “People want to treat these adults like little kids in big bodies,” Gerhardt says. “They can’t. They’re adults.” As such, he argues, they’re equipped, as much as any of us, with the recognizable adult aspiration of wanting to “experience life.”