Filed by Trevor at 5:32 pm under General
1 Comment

I haven’t forgotten all of you, I swear. About an hour ago I received a phone call from my choir director saying, “Oh, by the way, I got you a ticket to see the Master Chorale tonight at 8. And not the cheap seats, either!” so gone are all of my smart plans for my evening; right now I’m about to hop in the shower and get ready quick enough to be out the door by 6. But I’ll be back soon. In the meantime: Devon, where the hell is that dresser’s manifesto already? I’m salivating!

I’ll let Liza serenade you this evening; without a doubt the best breakup song ever. Cheers, kiddos.

Filed by Bil at 3:57 pm under The Arts, The Science
3 Comments

Virtual human puts doctors inside their patients

Let me preface this by saying that the preceding news article is actually very good news. I worry that what I will say next may give the impression that I am against this “virtual human” as an amazing tool for medical science.

There has been a very interesting discussion going on that I am happy to call attention to yet again, because I think it has the potential to go on and on and on and it’s very cool to me. (It’s an older article from this website and all its following comments.) We have been talking about art and its meanings and manifestations, and somewhere in there is a brief tangent about semantics.

I consider myself a laid-back person, but for some reason I’m a stickler for semantics. I think it’s important that we all know what we’re talking about and express our ideas properly so that others listening may be on the same page. With all our tools of communication nowadays, our language(s) is(are) evolving faster than the ecosystem after a nuclear powerplant meltdown on the Galapagos Islands. In other words, really fast. So whenever I see something, especially a news article, make a linguistic mistake, my first reaction is panic and outrage. I don’t always make sense myself, so I am forgiving of others, but still…grrr.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 1:07 am under Sex Ed
2 Comments

It’s just too good.

Filed by Trevor at 12:24 am under Racism, Religion, Social Issues
1 Comment

I’ve seen many videos on Islamic extremism that have upset me deeply, partially because I refuse to sink to the level of those that brand every Muslim our enemy, but also because I find any manner of religious extremism troubling — especially that which results in bloodshed. I am absolutely at a loss to discover the source of this hatred that has taken our world hostage, and I fail to understand how deposing Arab leaders of sovereign nations is expected to endear us to the Islamic community. On that note, the video below is without question the most moving I have seen on this subject since the start of this wretched war — the infamous exchange with psychologist Wafa Sultan . That a Syrian woman is willing to show her face on Al-Jazeera speaking such blasphemy and heresy requires courage for which our society has no word; I have never agreed with anyone on this matter as wholeheartedly as I do her, and the fact that it is coming from within the Arab community further galvanizes the plainness of her truth. I believe she is doing more good than most for this current crisis in which we have found ourselves, and I encourage you to keep tabs on her work.

One amazing thing, though: notice that no one interrupts her, despite her quite heretical statements, even despite the fact that she is a woman in Western dress. Had this exchange taken place on American television, how much of her message do you think she would have gotten across?

Filed by Trevor at 1:38 am under Atheism, Religion, UU
3 Comments

[NOTE: the purpose of this post was meant as a lead-in to a clip from Julia Sweeney's (of SNL fame) one-woman show Letting Go of God, but it morphed into something else entirely. Nevertheless, I encourage you to have a listen, regardless of how you define your faith. As these past few months have seen considerable change in my religious worldview, it is a relief and comfort to me to hear echoes of my own struggles in her words; I'm interested to hear your opinions on it.]

It should come to no surprise to even casual readers of this website that I’ve been courting atheism for the past couple months; I’m finally at a point in my life where the last of my unchallenged religious beliefs are finally being held to light, one by one, and examined closely for what they truly are. It’s heartbreaking in a way, really, because I was raised to genuinely love Christ and God the Father, and even now as I write this I can still see past the haze of fundamentalist nut-cases to the heart of Jesus’ message. A message, frankly, that I’ve seen made manifest far more sincerely through my participation in a church that doesn’t claim to worship him at all than all my years in the Nazarene faith.
(Keep reading…)