Why you need to speak up, especially after louts speak up.

New research reveals even if only one or two members of a group repeats an opinion, it is likely to be seen by others as representative of the whole group. Why does this occur? It boils down to availability and memory.  Compare this to the famous social psychology experiments run by Soloman Asch…

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Because Muslims are “barbarians” let’s start a war to bring on the end of the world . . .

Nothing like going to Washington D.C. to promote preemptive war with the support of your 50 million supporters.  That organization is Christians United for Israel (CUFI).  They do nothing with more energy than they divide the world into us and them, good and evil.  They've got the support of many…

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Who needs atheists when Christians start asking obvious questions?

Here's an article presenting nine questions by a Christian about Christianity. Good questions, such as: 2. How have the words of man (e.g. Virtually the entire Bible, minus direct quotes from Jesus) become equal with what we believe to be the words of God? How is what Paul said equal to…

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My (belated) introduction to the world of iPod

Last week, a dear friend asked me if I had an iPod.  I told her I did not.  She knows that I like to listen to lectures and interviews and so does she.  She told me that numerous interviews can be downloaded for free through Apple’s iTunes site. She gave me a tour of the site and convinced me that you can, indeed, download thousands upon thousands of intriguing sounding interviews from NPR and numerous other sources. 

She saw that I was intrigued with this possibility.  She also knew that I ride a bike to work and I therefore was not able to listen to live radio during my commute.  She suggested that if I had an iPod, I could listen to all kinds of interesting things as I pedal to to work.  In fact, she went so far as to ask me whether I would promise to use an iPod if she gave me one.  I said “sure.” She ducked into the next room and emerged with a small box containing an iPod Shuffle, a device that is about as big as a postage stamp.  The shuffle holds 20 hours of music or interviews in its 1 GB memory.  The tiny kit comes with a charger/USB port that allows you to drag tunes and interviews into the Shuffle through the use of the iTunes interface.  It is all incredibly slick and easy to use.  I accepted this tiny though generous gift, only half-expecting it to work when I …

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