July 2011
46 posts
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Using Harry Potter to Explain My Religion
by Eric Nelson, guest contributor
Still frame from “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
In addition to providing me with a least a decade’s worth of entertainment, J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series has also given me a fresh and hopefully meaningful way to explain my not-always-easy-to explain religion to others. And given that practically half the world has either read or seen...
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“Whole Foods has become the first prominent supermarket chain to run a Ramadan...”
– —from Neal Ungerleider’s piece “Whole Foods Celebrates, Monetizes Ramadan” in Fast Company
~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
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“For touring, my Kindle is just about the greatest thing I own. I have a few...”
– —Moby lays out his media diet. Read the rest at The Atlantic Wire.
(via theatlantic)
~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
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Where Are the Poor in This Debt Ceiling Debate?
by Debra Dean Murphy, guest contributor
It’s by turns infuriating and farcical.
It has become increasingly clear that the debt ceiling and deficit reduction dramas are manufactured emergencies driven by electoral politics, though the consequences of inaction are very real. The desire to stay in office, to hold on to this or that position of leadership, to stick it to one’s despised...
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“I’m pretty much agnostic at this point in my life. But I find atheism just as...”
– —Vince Gilligan, creator of the award-winning television series Breaking Bad
Now in its fourth season, the show traces the moral evolution of Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston), a middle-aged chemistry teacher who becomes a meth maker after he’s diagnosed with lung cancer....
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“Reich’s piece brings back some searing memories, with (for me) an...”
– — Fred Child, host of Performance Today
The classical music aficionado and public radio host weighed in on his show’s Facebook page with a brief perspective on the new cover art for the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steve Reich’s latest work, WTC 9/11, from Nonesuch Records. Released...
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Ramadan 2011: The Blessings of a 16-Hour Fast and...
by Ayman Amer, guest contributor
(photo: Mohammad Khedmati/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Ramadan this year starts Monday, August 1st. Every year it comes 11 days earlier because Muslims follow a lunar calendar. A lunar year is only 355 days long. So my Ramadan comes sometimes in super freezing Iowa winters and sometimes in hyper sizzling hot and humid summers.
When Ramadan comes in winter. It is...
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Anonymous asked: I'm curious what your thoughts are on the cacophony of End Times predictions out there today. It would be interesting to do a show featuring theologians and scientists on this subject. Perhaps something to calm the storm?
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WatchThe Dismantling of Lives: Coming Through for Someone Else
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
“It’s a prime time of my life, and I basically gave it away.”
Julie Winokur uprooted her husband Ed Kashi and two children from San Francisco, California to New Jersey to take care of Herbie, her 83-year-old father with dementia. This film is an intimate portrait of a family who is...
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Haile Selassie I: The Lion of Judah and King of...
by Susan Leem, associate producer
A Rastafarian holds the former Ethiopian flag with the golden crowned lion, a version used during Emperor Selassie’s reign. (photo: Aaron Maasho/AFP/Getty Images)
When social activist Marcus Garvey said ”Look to Africa where a black king shall be crowned, he shall be the Redeemer” in 1920, Rastafarians found their answer a decade later in the...
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Are Theological Conversations on Homosexuality...
by Jared Vázquez, guest contributor
At Wallingford United Methodist Church in Seattle, Washington, the pastor invites everyone to the communion table on Easter Sunday. (photo: © Michael Spencer/Flickr)
I admit that I was taken by surprise when I saw this tweet summarizing theologian and biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann as saying that theological conversations about homosexuality are futile....
Anonymous asked: Which episode includes a general reading a letter about standing down--demonstrating the power of powerlessness?
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“If you’re conflicted about whether to spend money on a material good (say, a...”
– —from Gary Belsky and Tom Gilovich’s article in Time, “Want Happiness? Don’t Buy More Stuff — Go on Vacation”
This one article is responsible for convincing my wife to take a road trip to Montana in a couple weeks. After days of debate, I’ve learned that Belsky and Gilovich carry more...
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“The better we understand human psychology and neurology, the more we will...”
– —J. Anderson Thomson, a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia and a trustee of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, and Clare Aukofer, a medical writer, have struck a nerve with their op-ed “Science and Religion: God Didn’t Make Man; Man Made Gods” in...
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“A few recent newsgames do something curious: They hide basic trivia questions...”
– —Simon Ferrari, from “When Moral Systems Miss the Point in Newsgames”
The 2010 Knight News Challenge winner’s post on MediaShift’s Idea Lab blog is a smart assessment of the pitfalls of applying morality or ethical veneers to news quizzes and interactive games. His premise,...
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Anonymous asked: I am looking for Paul's essay on his decision to give anti-depressants to his son, Morgan.
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“When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to...”
– —R. Buckminster Fuller
(via livejamie)
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Personality and Profession: When Who You Are...
by Susan Leem, associate producer
Work of a multitasker. Photo by totalAldo/Flickr, cc by 2.0
To be effective workers, many of us use learned principles of best workplace practices, even though they may counter our natural instincts. But this goes against a common sense idea that your personal tendencies could help you at work. In “Autism and Humanity” this week, Paul Collins cites...
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“Using social media produces a solid, double-digit increase in oxytocin.”
– —Paul Zak, author of Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy, says people who release more oxytocin tend to be happier.
We actually interviewed the professor of economics for our show “The Science of Trust” a couple of years ago. It’s well worth a listen.
(via...
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WatchYour Morals and Ethics Behind Balancing the Federal Budget
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Our colleagues at the Public Insight Network have been getting some good response to the latest incarnation of their federal budget balancer. Designed to engage the American public in a conversation about the tough decisions necessary. Will you raise or lower taxes, cut Medicare benefits, maintain military...
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“Feedback loops are powerful tools that can help people change bad behavior. Just...”
– —from Thomas Goetz’s “The Feedback Loop” in Wired
~Trent Gilliss, senior editor
(via ripandread)
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“The internet is nothing but software fabric that connects the interactions of...”
– —Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president and Google+ project manager in Wired
~Trent Gilliss, senior editor
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“When I listened to the show on the Palestinian camps and found out people could...”
– —Louise Thundercloud added this intriguing comment on our Facebook page to this week’s show, “Pleasure More Than Hope: Inside Aida Camp.”
~Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Anonymous asked: Do you have any pictures or video of Aida Refugee Camp ? if you do, where it is in your website. Thanks.
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Wisdom on Alzheimer's Disease Gained from Nuns
by Susan Leem, associate producer
Dr. Karen Santa Cruz of the University of Minnesota examines one of the 670 brains in the Nun’s Study, looking for signs of dementia. The brain pictured here is more than 75 years old and still looks healthy says Dr. Santa Cruz. (photo: Lorna Benson/MPR News)
The nuns of the School Sisters of Notre Dame made headlines in Time magazine a decade ago for...
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“Every time I read the comments thread on an article about the Israel-Palestine...”
– —Neal Ungerleider, after reading the response to Christopher Hitchens’ piece in Slate
(via ripandread)
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When Yoga Gets Really Real
by Vanessa Reid, guest contributor
When I moved to Jerusalem two years ago, I thought for sure that I would continue my yoga practice, especially after working at ascent magazine and having yoga present in my life in so many ways for so many years. And I thought that I would even find others in this holy city to practice with. A sangha, a space, a teacher. Even other forms of spiritual...
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“Some people I can sign a license for and some I can’t. But it’s exactly the same...”
– —Katherine Hawker, minister of Webster Groves Evangelical United Church of Christ in Missouri, who, along with six other same-sex couples, will be crossing the state line into Iowa this weekend to be legally married.
Katherine Hawker, right, with her partner, Darlene Self. (photo: Lori Rose)
... 