Judging by its abstract, this paper might be interesting Elissaios Papyrakis and Geethanjali Selvaretnam said: The paper analyses religiosity through a cost-benefit framework, where decisions at each point in time depend on expected social and spiritual benefits attached to religious adherence (both contemporaneously, as well as in the afterlife), the probability of entering heaven in [...]
Categories: Culture,Psychology
Tagged: afterlife, church membership, cost-benefit analysis, Elissaios Papyrakis, Geethanjali Selvaretnam, salvation, The greying church the impact of life expentancy on religiosity, University of East Anglia
- Published:
- 12 April 2011 – 13:19
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Bubble America Due to prejudice, Al Jazeera English is not carried on television or cable in most of the United States. Consequently, most Americans lack a prime source of perspective on events and thinking in the Middle East. That ignorance hurts us. Columnist Frank Rich noted that: The consequence of a decade’s worth of indiscriminate [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: Al Jazeera English, Frank Rich, ignorance, Middle East, prejudice, Wallflowers at the Revolution
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- 6 February 2011 – 11:50
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Gross’ comments showed up in Toronto’s Globe and Mail Business columnist Michael Babad wrote: Bond fund king Bill Gross is stirring things up in his own backyard, criticizing America’s business culture and warning that financier’s have lost the “high ground.” In comments posted on the website of Pacific Investment Management Co., where he is managing [...]
Categories: Culture,Economy,Ethics
Tagged: Bill Gross rips credit raters, Devil's Bargain, Michael Babad, William H. Gross
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- 3 February 2011 – 17:43
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Demagoguery’s not out of style Merriam-Webster defines demagogue as “a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.” When facts are unclear, the determination of demagoguery subjectively depends upon who’s defining it. When facts are clear, demagoguery is somewhat less loosely defined. When facts and prejudices [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: 1930s, Charles Coughlin, demagogue, demagoguery, Father Coughlin, Glenn Beck, Glenn Beck and the echoes of Charles Coughlin, Paul Harris, Sarah Palin
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- 2 February 2011 – 15:13
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
First impressions carry a boatload of your future — and not just once ScienceDaily reported on experimental research by Bertram Gawronski et al.: “Imagine you have a new colleague at work and your impression of that person is not very favourable” explains lead author Bertram Gawronski, Canada Research Chair at The University of Western Ontario. [...]
Categories: Culture,Psychology
Tagged: Bertram Gawronski, De Houwer, Generalization versus contextualization, Rydell, Vevliet, Why First Impressions Are So Persistent
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- 21 January 2011 – 16:26
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Many of us have read or heard about plastic refuse patches in the oceans being akin to the geographic size of Texas I imagine many people have had my reaction, “Gimme a break, media twit.” Professor Angelicque White has the same disbelieving impulse, based on her research and direct observations. Here are extracts of what [...]
Categories: Culture,Environment,Science
Tagged: Angelicque White, gyre, Oceanic Garbage Patch Not Nearly as Big as Portrayed in Media, Oregon State University, Pacific, plastic, vortex
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- 5 January 2011 – 16:03
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Every once in a while, in our mall culture, someone actually “gets it” True Grit is (at least) a minor masterpiece, treating life’s difficulties on multiple levels. That’s a rarity in a culture obsessed with diverting itself from anything uncomfortable. Interestingly, most of the critics whom I read missed one of the movie’s major points. [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: Coen brothers, Eastern spiritual philosophy, grace, karma, Narrative and the Grace of God The New 'True Grit', Stanley Fish, Western spiritual philosophy
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- 29 December 2010 – 18:15
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Fundamentalism’s rapacious tentacles are everywhere The United Kingdom’s Guardian gives us this bit of U.S. news: Religious fundamentalists – Christians on one side, Hindus on the other – say they’ve had enough of yoga’s impact on their respective faiths – and their adherents’ wallets. Sinners, they reckon, even relatively affluent yoga devotees, have only so [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: Deepak Chopra, Stewart J. Lawrence, Yoga's holy wars
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- 22 December 2010 – 18:22
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
TechNewsDaily reported on a study by Forrester Research, Inc. Stuart Fox, writing for TechNewsDaily, reported today that electronic book sales will pass $1 billion this year, according to a study by Forrester Research. Although only 7 percent of book readers buy e-books, that 7 percent happens to be the demographic that is most likely to [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: eBook Sales to Pass $1 Billion By Year's End, electronic books, Stuart Fox, TechNewsDaily
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- 8 November 2010 – 19:45
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Insight is a reluctant visitor to modernity, but Maureen Dowd has some, courtesy of her openness to History and her willingness to think Columnist Dowd’s editorial yesterday compared actress Marilyn Monroe’s tortured desire to learn against the ignorance of the women who stand as icons of today’s rightmost Right. Of Ms. Monroe: Scarred by her schizophrenic [...]
Categories: Culture
Tagged: Making Ignorance Chic, Marilyn Monroe, Maureen Dowd, Sarah Palin
- Published:
- 20 October 2010 – 18:51
- Author:
- By BrainiYak