Category Archives: Quote at Length

Religion and Community

Posted on Thursday 5 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Another provocative, insightful essay by Connor Wood, expanding on the theme of the earlier essay I linked, this one keying off the conclusion of a study done by three psychologists. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scienceonreligion/2013/09/ritual-creates-tribesand-tribalism/ The study concludes it’s not religious belief, per se, … Continue reading →

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Progressives and Regressives

Posted on Wednesday 4 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

The passage cited in the previous post reminded me of a Facebook post from Robert Reich, several weeks ago, which I managed to track down via Google and capture here for my reference. Why is it that most progressives live … Continue reading →

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Conservatives and Liberals, and why we need both

Posted on Wednesday 4 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

I came across new blog on the vast Patheos website, Science on Religion, and this post by one Connor Wood, a PhD student at Boston University in religion and science, a post called Calling an End to the Culture Wars, … Continue reading →

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Does anyone ever change their minds about anything?

Posted on Tuesday 3 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Via Andrew Sullivan Why Even Your Best Arguments Never Work The arguments people make are those that appear the strongest to themselves and the people who already agree with them. But such arguments tend to be meaningless to people who … Continue reading →

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An Irish Poem

Posted on Tuesday 27 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

As a follow-up to my two posts of photos from Ireland. At a lovely Dublin bookshop called Hodges Figgis [no website of their own, but apparently associated with Waterstones], I bought a copy of Joyce’s DUBLINERS and a slim volume … Continue reading →

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Plinks: Adam Frank, PZ Myers, Hendrik Hertzberg

Posted on Thursday 22 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Just after yesterday’s post about Donald Prothero, on “The Serious Consequences of Science Illiteracy”, comes this op-ed by scientist Adam Frank in the New York Times, which says pretty much the same thing…. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/opinion/welcome-to-the-age-of-denial.html The triumph of Western science led … Continue reading →

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Plinks: Steven Pinker, Carl Zimmer, Anti-Intellect, History Chart, Weigel on Card

Posted on Monday 19 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

A collection of quotes from what I thought were interesting articles and posts and tweets, over the past week or more (I should post more often). (And actually, I’m saving a few for later posts.) Perhaps I will call posts … Continue reading →

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Stories, Narratives, Facts

Posted on Friday 9 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon has an excerpt from a new book by David McRaney, You Are Now Less Dumb. I think I’ll quote from the excerpt, just because (at the moment) I can. The people who came before you invented science because your … Continue reading →

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Cory Doctorow on Father’s Day, and Scientific Method

Posted on Sunday 14 July 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Popular Mechanics: What My Father Taught Me: Cory Doctorow My dad was really good at making me think everything through. The scientific method is a totally counterintuitive thing because it begins by saying: You can’t trust your memory or your … Continue reading →

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