A Pagan's Blog

Photo by Guy Edwards Sam Harris, a meditating Village Atheist, has a letter in the latest Nature. He takes the magazine to task for praising a Christian scientist, Francis Collins, for “engaging ‘with people of faith to explore how science — both in its mode of thought and its results — is consistent with their…

One of the most interesting things intellectually about the rise of the net is how the gift economy is pushing into turf long dominated by the commodity economy. See here and here. Today this is particularly the case with news, and the future of our country may depend on it. News used to be dominated…

http://www.getcalhoun.com/news/ccgazette/ccgissue1/HoneyGoodForAllergies!.htm Last week I had the opportunity to taste three different local Sonoma County honeys. I was amazed at the differences between them. One even tasted strongly of butterscotch! Apparently honey is powerfully influenced by the nectar bees use in its production, far more powerfully so than the watered down varieties corporate America provides us…

Years ago I ran a small company selling my artwork on stationery, envelopes, and note cards, along with occasional prints. It grew until I was marketing in many western national parks and stationery stores. I also sold at art and craft fairs. DiZerega Graphics enabled me to write a dissertation without a mountain of debt,…

www.eggtempera.com/bergt/leda.html Update: Aug. 13. In the post below I suggested the key issue underlying the seeming confusions over what the political “Left” and political “Right” mean is their different evaluations of hierarchy. I became interested in this issue while trying to understand why some liberals have proven consistent defenders of liberty and others have made…

(Update on Aug. 5) The terms “Left” and “Right” first arose during the French Revolution. At the time they had very distinct meanings as to political loyalties. Since then the terms have remained but their meanings have become progressively more blurred. In a post to a libertarian blog where I often serve as a kind…

Last October I heard Juan Enriquez give a stimulating talk on why national identity was a brand name loyalty to which could never taken for granted. I blogged about his talk here. The July/August issue of Orion has a wonderful article discussing the prospects for secession movements in the US. Exemplified by its three most…

PZ Myers is one of my favorite science bloggers, despite his pretty superficial discussions of religion. I read his Pharyngula pretty regularly. Mark Kleiman at The Reality Based Community is one of my favorite social science bloggers, again despite some important differences of opinion between us on drug policies, where his is one of the…

The radical right rarely takes people on concerning the facts of an issue because so often the facts rebut their positions. Character assassination is so much more fun. The latest smear by those who thinking caring for the well being of others assaults their right to take what they want is that Al Gore is…

For many years I supported myself as an artist. It’s how I got my Ph.D. without a mountain of debt. Before I turned my site into a blog it had a link to many of my favorite pen and ink drawings, but when it became a blog I put off re-creating a link to them…

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