Passed down through habits...

Here's an interesting thought... Can habits that you have be passed down to your children and grandchildren? A new study suggest so. link

Historic

Most know that yesterday a new health care bill was signed in to existence. Here's an interesting, albeit a bit biased list of truths and facts about the bill. link

design

Here's an interesting report noting a top 10 list of "Darwin and Design" in 2009. I haven't had a chance to follow up on all of the findings and critique it. If you check it out, I'd love to hear your thoughts... http://www.arn.org/top10/2009newsstories.pdf

Pete Caroll

There are many things I've appreciated about Pete Carroll’s coaching. He is somewhat outside the box, but certainly understands the game. His "always compete" mantra, though a bit cliché' certainly has worked. Despite some of the "alleged" controversies, I feel like he has a big heart and is a great coach. While I'll always follow the Trojans, I'm curious to see what he'll do in Seattle. Here’s a great article about some of community work he’s done:
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/mar/10/the-pete-carroll-you-may-not-know-he-saw-a/

March Madness...

I filled out my bracket for March Madness. I went pretty traditional this year, but with a few Surprises. I smell upset Michigan State and New Mexico. Always fun to see how I do...

Seeking God in Science...

Here's a book written by an atheist which defends Intelligent Design. I'm interested in checking this one out.

Thisistrue.com

This website has some great articles: check it out.

Appendix has a purpose? Get out of town!

Old article. But interesting.



*I'm not so conviced that everything necessarily has to have a purpose for there to be a creator... If we find things that are not beneficial from niether an evolutionary stand point nor seem intelligent, it wouldn't bother me.

From my very uneducated perspective, I've often viewed the world as more artistic and abstract than anything else.

Can atheist believe in Absolutes?

Perhaps I'm hearing things wrong (I suffered from ear infections as a kid) but the anthem I hear from many atheist rung from the rooftops is they are standing for absolute truth. They know religion is absolutely wrong and they have a heavy conviction for what is right.

Check out this article about Sam Harris. Doesn't it sound like he's speaking of absolutes?

atheist just as ethical as church goers...

does "believing God" or attending church change behavior? according to this article and others I've read, the answer is no...



Interestingly enough - my belief in God has played a HUGE role in how I act. I've seen several of my behaviors change... not sure why it's not that way for everyone.

Marriage last longer if you don't live together before hand.

Check out this study by CDC:

Age of Intellectualism...

There is this growing deisre in our society (especially by those 30 and younger...) to be seen as "free thinking" and intelligent. There is also the growing idea that "free thinking intellectuals" are agnostic towards religion, spiritualism, and absolution. To be intelligent, you must only believe in that which can be empirically proven.
The problem with this is that so much we think is "factual" can be interpreted so many ways.

My prediction is that in about 10-15 years there will be some "new" major discoveries that will show us how unreliable "factual" things are. This has the potential of causing a major paradigm shift by changing what we see as reality.

Another study on Marriage

Here's an article by the New York Times showing how lengths of marriages decrease when couple live together before marriage. Seems completely counter cultural.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/us/03marry.html?ref=us

2 new books

One of the complaints I hear against religion is that it no longer serves any purpose and has been and continues to be dangerous to our society. Dawkins, Hitchens, and many others deemed as "new Atheist" attack religion as a posion to our society.

Here are two books that have recieved good reviews and seem to look at the historical and philosophical avenues to show the benifits of religion. Love to hear your reviews after reading it. (Is religion dangerous by Keith Ward - and An Atheist Defends Religion by Bruce Sheiman)

Bology based Bathrooms...

Here's an interesting article highlighting a case in Maine in which the legality of gender based restrooms is being challenged. Interesting to hear how this ends up.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=126662