I wasn't the first to catch it, Google tells me: http://tonyortega.org/2013/05/15/chi…

I love that the certificates on the wall are for completion of Scientology 'courses' (you can see them clearly if you pause at :45). The "OT" in the framed documents on the right stands for "Operating Thetan", a 'spiritual level' above 'Clear' in the 'Church' of 'Scientology'.

(Whew; I didn't know if I'd have enough…

"No other country claims to be the Greatest Country in the world..."

Also, a nota bene, re: the use of the word "silly" to refer to religious believers. From "Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meanings" (Random House, 2008), as cited by grammar.about.com:

Agreed. There's a third path (more than that, actually) between accommodating nonsense, and deriding it: that of neutral disagreement. When in the course of my secular activism, what I tell believers (when it is relevant to tell them anything at all) is that I think they are mistaken about the way the world works, and…

Agreed. There's a third path (more than that, actually) between accommodating nonsense, and deriding it: that of neutral disagreement. When in the course of my secular activism, what I tell believers (when it is relevant to tell them anything at all) is that I think they are mistaken about the way the world works, and…

I would also like to know if the Lifehacker contacted this quack, or if the quack came calling in search of self-promotion.

Nothing unusual about that (or about the kid's suffering, poor guy). In child development and psychoanalytic circles, such an animal is called a "transitional object" (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_object#In_child_psychology).

How neat would it be if player-made characters, with stats and abilities earned in game play, could be turned into cards usable in this game...

I suspect what's at their core is not evil as much as an absence of good. And a great deal of narcissism, and a great deal of indifference. Which, perhaps, amounts to evil, if you like I don't subscribe to a supernatural view of the world.

(Not that the size of any body part has much of a bearing on that person's character; but I see what you did there.)

I'm inclined to ask why a non-poem is being presented as a literary text, but for my fear of seeming like I'm calling into question the effort to expand the canon to include non-white, non-male authors. My question REALLY is, why is this (rather weak) poem the one selected for the exam, when there are more…

I experience this feeling quite often, perhaps one out of every thing times that I'm driving. I've never given in to the urge, but I have spent a lot of time worrying over why I'd be experiencing such a self-destructive impulse.

But surely we are permitted to hazard a guess, informed as we are by his behavior? (I certainly agree that the hypothesis that he himself is gay shouldn't be linked to his homophobia.)

Ah — a hobbyhorse of yours, then. Whatever misreadings of science may be found in other articles, I still think it's the case here that the author was being entirely ironic.

Yes — but then, the author's being ironic, no? The old hyperbolic trope of "If you knew anything about..."

This. The Katie Baker asks, "How come Austen's popularity continues to climb?", and then dismisses a fact which seems to me to explain most of Austen's popularity: "it goes without saying that Austen is way wittier and more talented than her modern day counterparts." It's her writing ability — her wit and talent with…

Feel free to suggest more for the list.

I found myself thinking the same thing while reading this article.

This is a conversation a number of people involved in secular activism (and community organizing among secular people) are having. Some folks think it's important, others think it less of a priority, but there you are. I've been collating all the responses I can find, at…