Green Oasis

because I have nothing better to do on the eve of a pagan holiday

Humanism

• “A Relationship Between Physical Things”: Yet Another Rant On What Consciousness And Selfhood Might Be—I really like the analogy of consciousness to a rainbow.
• Love and Aloneness—Unravelling the ego and pride—The Urban Monk discusses how aloneness strips away the illusion of self.
• Words of Wisdom from Walt Whitman—“Not till the sun excludes you, do I exclude you.”

Science

• Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2007
• If We Had No Moon
• Sergei’s Litter—Holy mutant zombie-dogs, Batman!

Religion

• The Witch Children of Nigeria—Why fundamentalist, literalist Christianity is a cancer. The problem for moderate Christians here is that this behavior is justifiable using the Bible, including Jesus’ teachings.
• six things christians do (much) better than secularists—Dale McGowan tries to give credit where credit is due (similar to a post at Friendly Atheist).
• When What You Already Know Just Ain’t So—Equality does an excellent job of demonstrating exactly why “faithful history” is synonymous with propaganda.

For Fun

• laughing matters 2—Dale McGowan considers what makes satire so devastating.
• Through the Fire and Flames, Expert—A beatific description of watching someone play an insanely difficult song on Guitar Hero 3 (via kottke.org)

Sex (also For Fun)

• Banishing the Green-Eyed Monster—Richard Dawkins questions the assumption of monogamy’s moral supremacy.
• Polyamory and the Evolution of a Jealous God—why human males’ large testicles imply a polyamorous past.
• Sex on a Temple Trip
• Is She a Hooker or a Cop?

Drugs (Apparently Not That Fun)

• The War on Drugs and scopolamine, the perfect drug—The War on Drugs is a failure but we refuse to change our strategy. Sound familiar?
• Rape Victim Testifies Before House Judiciary Committee About Halliburton/KBR—One reason, among many, why I don’t believe there is a loving, omnipotent being.