Green Oasis

more like “whenever I get around to it links”

Science

• Science, Evolution, and Creationism—“In the book Science, Evolution, and Creationism, a group of experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine explain the fundamental methods of science, document the overwhelming evidence in support of biological evolution, and evaluate the alternative perspectives offered by advocates of various kinds of creationism, including ‘intelligent design.’”

Freethought

• Tree of Knowledge Book List—Start reading.

Politics

• “You Don’t Understand Our Audience”: What I learned about network television at Dateline NBC—Anyone who thinks being informed about the world consists of watching television news should read this. (via Dangerous Intersections)
• Is Waterboarding Torture?—“At the time my lungs emptied and I began to draw water, I would have sold my children to escape. There was no choice, or chance, and willpower was not involved.… If I had the choice of being waterboarded by a third party or having my fingers smashed one at a time by a sledgehammer, I’d take the fingers, no question. It’s horrible, terrible, inhuman torture. I can hardly imagine worse. I’d prefer permanent damage and disability to experiencing it again. I’d give up anything, say anything, do anything.”

Sexuality

• Deaf Bunny (NSFW)—a fascinating, ahem, look into the sexual lives of the deaf. Yes, some of the sign language needs no translation (cf. Deaf Gone Wild).
• Nerdcore Calendar (NSFW)—I would be more interested in something like the MIT Girls Calendar. (via CV Rick)
• What’s Wrong With Lust?—an insightful definition of lust: sexual greed.

Religion

• Mr. Deity and the Murder
• The best article on Mormonism and politics that I’ve read all year—“Mormon doctrine consists in the Old Testament (except the parts that aren’t doctrine), the New Testament (except the parts that aren’t doctrine), the Book of Mormon (except the parts that aren’t doctrine), the Doctrine and Covenants (except the parts that aren’t doctrine), and the Pearl of Great Price (except the parts that aren’t doctrine). All of these, as augmented by statements from church leaders (except the ones that aren’t doctrine).… And how do we know which aren’t doctrine? Well, we rely on scripture (except the part that isn’t doctrine) and church leader statements (except the non-doctrinal ones) to determine which ones are doctrine. And finally, there is no one Rosetta Stone giving an explanation of which statements really matter, and which don’t.” Very well said.
• Saint Sorta—“A pagan woman [Hypatia of Alexandria] murdered by Christians for her beliefs was transformed into a Christian woman [St. Catherine of Alexandria] murdered by pagans for her beliefs.” A better definition of irony I can’t conceive.

Stuff

• keybr.com - Typing at the speed of thought—Typing is by far the most consistently useful class I took in high school. (via kottke.org)

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.

providing quality procrastination products since last week

Religion

• Duelity—side-by-side remix of evolution and creationism, or “You got your Christianity in my science! No, you got your science in my Christianity!” (via kottke.org)
• Covers for publications from The Family—wait for it… “You got your Christianity in my porn! No, you got your porn in my Christianity!”
• The Flashlight—Domokun presents a wonderful allegory.
• Dueling Deities—Why pick only one? Gotta catch ‘em all! (via Friendly Atheist)
• Mr. Deity and the Notes—”How about we take care of the scarring?”
• Mr. Deity and the Really Cheap Meal—”I loves me the virgins.”

Humanism

• Challenging the Paramounce of Happiness—Lynet puts some flesh on the shadows of my thoughts and doubts about utilitarianism. She also linked to the wonderful Ursula K. Le Guin short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.
• Humanist Symposium 12

Science

• Functional Neuroimaging of Belief, Disbelief, and Uncertainty—Sam Harris provides research indicating that our discernment between truth and falsehood may have more to do with the primitive brain than with higher brain functions.
• My Favorite Experiments: Bransford and Johnson—Chris explains a more modern theory of memory that makes more sense to me than the simplistic video-camera model that I’ve held for most of my life.
• Remember This—National Geographic also delves into human memory with fascinating case studies of a 41-year-old woman who remembers every day of her life since age 11 and another man who remembers only “his most recent thought”.
• The Situation of Ideology - Part II—The Situationist describes how our situation influences our political ideology.

food for procrastination… one day late

• Mind, Matter, or God—Various people from different contemplative traditions discuss materialism, rationality, and how they perceive the new atheism.
• The Biggest Jerk—I’m a sucker for masturbation posts. This one is from a Jewish perspective.
• Natural Generosity—Secular parents can use the holiday season to nurture their children’s innate desire to act generously.
• You Can Prove a Negative—Why we should stop worrying and learn to love inductive reasoning.
• A Closer Look at the Interior Situation—The Situationist adds another witness that what we see is mediated by who we are and what we believe.
• Did Victorian era doctors use vibrators to treat hysteric female patients with orgasm therapy?—The title says it all about another informative column from Cecil at The Straight Dope. (Do you think I have a masturbation fetish?)