Neil DeGrasse Tyson recounts the most astounding fact about the universe in this short video. How can anyone who listens to these words with an open mind not feel a sense of awe? And yes, this idea tracks the words of Carl Sagan, who pointed out that we are made of star-stuff: I plucked the Tyson video link off of a light-hearted look at the life of Tyson.
Here are a few photos I took at the St. Louis Zoo over the past few weeks. All of these involve physical grooming by primates, three of them featuring two orangutans and one of them involving a larger group of chimpanzees. This is one of the ways these animals know who is their friend or foe.
We human animals groom for this same purpose, but we generally engage in verbal grooming: gossip. Using words rather than physical grooming we can connect with many more fellow humans at one time than any of those animals limited to physical grooming. I make this claim based on the work of Robin Dunbar.
You never know where your life style will be challenged. Here's a quote I spotted on a parked car a few months ago:
I don't know anything about Dusty Smith, but I've seen a few of his videos and enjoyed them. Here's his latest: A video reviewing the "History" Channel's series on the Bible, the entire review taking less than ten minutes. It seems to me that Smith's crusty commentary serves as a counterbalance to the uncritical cherry-picking reading of the Bible characteristic of many American religions. In the following video Dusty asks how self-respecting women can claim to be Christians, even in light of the New Testament.
Why did the alleged God banish the alleged Satan from the alleged heaven? Many Christian accounts of Satan bluntly conclude that Satan was full of pride, causing God to give him the boot. Which leads to the follow:
I don't know who creates these images, which are often posted on Facebook. They sharply challenge assertions commonly made by believers. Sometimes they challenge deeply held theological arguments. And as Ronaldo de Souza once suggested, theology is “intellectual tennis without a net.”