I just received a notice from Consumer's Union (publisher of Consumer Reports) that infuriates me. I have to say, though, this USDA proposal is par for the course for this administration. This particular proposal would allow corporations to say that milk is "organic" when it is not. As one of the many people…
Today I was day-dreaming about taking another field trip to a fundamentalist evangelical church. In my dream, though, I wasn’t going to church to simply observe all the folks getting terrified over getting barbecued in hell. Nor was I there to promote my new and improved version of the Ten Commandments.
No, in this dream I was a Martian anthropologist starting my field studies on Earth. Out of raw luck, I landed my saucer on the parking lot of a fundamentalist church and walked in to begin studying the animals that I found inside. Here are the field notes from my dream:
I walked in church and noticed lots of animals. In impeccable English (I studied English a bit in Martian high school) I asked, “Where do the animals sit?”
One of the “men” in charge told me that “animals are not allowed in the church, only people.” As he said “people,” he pointed to some of the animals.
I inquired, “But aren’t those people animals?”
This brought on a half-dazed squirmy look. He looked at me like I was from Mars, which I was, of course. He protested that he didn’t think of people as “animals.”
Because I was confused, I pulled out my textbook on Animal Behavior, 7th Edition, by John Alcock (2001). I glanced at the table of contents, which contained a long list of attributes pertaining to “animals.” I then quickly read further.
Chapter 8 covered “feeding behaviors,” indicating that animals ate food. I happened to …
This acclaimed film looks at the amazing life of the renowned historian, activist and author. Following his early days as a shipyard labor organizer and bombardier in World War II, Zinn became an academic rebel and leader of civil disobedience in a time of institutionalized racism and war. His influential…
Irreducible complexity refers to a system (e.g., a living organism) in which the various parts work together to produce a given function, such that the function will not occur if any of the parts is removed. Creationists claim irreducible complexity disproves evolution. Evolution refers to the natural adaptation of a species…
I'm something of an amateur historian. I find most rewarding research that shows how someone--an individual, a community, a movement--got to where they ended up. It's the most instructive part of studying history, because you can begin to see how things relate, how one incident, taken in isolation, may make…