Rat Walks Again

This picture and story captures what's so heart-wrenching about the whole subject of animal experimentation. 




Rats with a spinal cord injury
that left their hind legs completely paralyzed learned to walk again on
their own after an intensive training course that included electrical
stimulation of the brain and the spine, scientists reported on Thursday.
Obviously the rats don't just have

Conference Behavior

I think this is funny.  So you
give a speech at a conference, and afterwards a couple comes up to you and
hands you a business card, saying (essentially) "care to join
us?"  For details and the card see
here.   Question:  when
should moronic behavior be treated as private vice, to be discouraged
informally; and when should moronic behavior be proscribed by the quasi-legal
standards of a community

My Sweet Lord

Song for the day is "My Sweet Lord" -- we've been having a George Harrison fest, as a result of watching the new(ish) Martin Scorsese movie about his life (which is very good).  There's something utterly ingenious about religious thinking.  I've noticed, as I age, that I'm getting more and more creaky, and it really, really sucks. Being a believer let's you think, as you fall apart, that you're

Attachment Parenting

I guess I have to read Elisabeth Badinter's book The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women, but I think it's going to be supremely irritating, judging by this review and Katha Pollitt's column, both in The Nation.  The bad guy du jour is "attachment parenting," which says good mothers/parents need to be in super-contact with their children, wearing them in slings,

Coyne on Evolution and Religion

Jerry Coyne has a new article out on how religiosity gets in the way of Americans accepting evolution.  I'm surprised he continues a pattern of reasoning that was widely criticized over a year ago.  First he dismisses religious scientists as "proof" of religion-science compatibility--




Some argue that the mere existence of religious scientists proves this compatibility,
but that is specious.

The Second Sexism (plus a mystery or two)

I have my eye on the book The Second Sexism -- to read it, or not to read it?  We will certainly review it at The Philosophers' Magazine and Benatar is writing an essay on discrimination against men for the magazine.  If nothing else, the book is intriguing, and it sure has a clever title. But ...

Honestly, I cannot say that I feel the problem of sexism against men looms large, especially

The Republican Brain

Something about the title of this book elicits skepticism. I wouldn't read a book called The Liberal Brain, if it were written by a conservative (did Ann Coulter actually write a book with that title)?  Why expect objectivity from a liberal trying to dissect the Republican brain?  Actually, if you read the book, you do get an answer.  Liberals, more than Conservatives, love to be fair and

#1,000

Erick Swenson, Untitled 2000, The Modern, Fort Worth

This seems to be my 1000th post* here at In Living Color - 1000 in just about exactly 5 years of blogging.  I was thinking I would write a fascinating retrospective but ... zzzzzz. Honestly, it would be boring.  Please.

Instead, let's have some footnotes.  I've been working on my TPM column, which is going to be about the artist Erick

Religion for Atheists

When Alain De Botton gets done building his temple for atheists, I'd like to be appointed the music director.  Let's definitely have a lot of Bjork.  Why?   Because her music creates the sort of experience religious people get to have, and De Botton thinks the godless should have as well.  Or perhaps more like it -- a successor experience. Something grand, emotional, and full of wonder, but

What a Philosopher Looks Like

I'm really enjoying these pictures.  They show that philosophers don't all look the same and don't spend all their time with their heads buried in books.  That's great, but hey--there is a look. Philosophers look a bit more natural, disheveled, and unconventional than most people.  The men are less clean-cut, the women are less coiffed and artificial.  There are more men than women, and white

Breaking -- Obama Defends Gay Marriage!

Joe Biden deserves credit for forcing his hand!

Maurice Sendak Talks to Stephen Colbert

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1
www.colbertnation.com


Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogVideo Archive




The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 2
www.colbertnation.com


Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogVideo Archive

Everyone's Talking About ...

Markets. Scott Carney's book The Red Market  is one of the most interesting things I read (and blogged about) last year. It's about the international market in hair, blood, kidneys, eggs, sperm, wombs ... and children.  Carney confines himself mostly to reporting the facts about these strange markets, but you get a strong sense that he thinks there's something fundamentally wrong with them all.

What it's like to spend the whole day grading exams

Yes, those are the fires of hell.

Ethics minus religion = thin gruel?

Didn't see this until now -- "Room for Debate" at the New York Times, with Rhys Southan weighing in interestingly (as usual).

Elsewhere in vegan-world, Gary Francione has an interesting, long essay about moral realism and "new atheism".  It bothers him, as it does me, that new atheists often accept the following equation:  ETHICS minus RELIGION = THIN GRUEL.  In academic ethics, that equation is

NYT Meat Contest Winner

It's Jay Bost, here and below. 




As a vegetarian who returned to meat-eating, I find the question “Is
meat-eating ethical?” one that is in my head and heart constantly. The
reasons I became a vegetarian, then a vegan and then again a
conscientious meat-eater were all ethical. The ethical reasons of why
NOT to eat meat are obvious: animals are raised and killed in cruel
conditions; grain

Must Read

If you read Brian Leiter, you will have read the funniest review on earth this morning.  If you don't read him, today you must.  The reviewer is Nina Strohminger. The book is The Meaning of Disgust, by Colin McGinn.  She didn't like it.  As a book reviews editor I'm just plain jealous.  Why can't I get people to write reviews like this?  (By the way, what's the magazine/journal?  I can't tell

The Geography of Faith

Here's a reason to be a skeptic that holds up at first, but crumbles on reflection:  religious beliefs depend on where a person lives.  Via Jerry Coyne, here are two amusing maps:






If having a belief depends on where you live, the suspicion is that the belief is shaped by non-rational forces instead of being a consequence of the way the world is.  We shouldn't take these kinds of beliefs too