Reading fiction ‘improves empathy’, study finds
The psychology of fiction is a small but growing area of research, according to Keith Oatley, a professor in the department of human development and applied psychology at the University of Toronto and a published novelist himself, who details the latest findings in the area in his [...]

I’ve been repeating this to myself recently:
“The shock of discovering that most of the power in the world is held by ignorant and greedy people can really bum you out at first; but after you’ve lived with it a few decades, it becomes, like cancer and other plagues, just another problem that we will solve [...]

Interesting: Who Runs the World ? – Network Analysis Reveals ‘Super Entity’ of Global Corporate Control
In the first such analysis ever conducted, Swiss economic researchers have conducted a global network analysis of the most powerful transnational corporations (TNCs). Their results have revealed a core of 787 firms with control of 80% of this network, and [...]

New rule.  If the Republican base ever complains about something, it is always something they want to do themselves.  So death panels=a secret desire to kill people off.   Calling something unconstitutional is really the desire to merge church and state. I’m not nearly as repulsed by people cheering the death penalty – because that’s [...]

Andrew Sullivan’s got a nice post on Republicanism as Religion.
[The current GOP] can only think in doctrines, because the alternative is living in a complicated, global, modern world they both do not understand and also despise. Taxes are therefore always bad. Government is never good. Foreign enemies must be pre-emptively attacked. Islam is not a [...]

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult

Pandering to fundamentalism is a full-time vocation in the GOP. Beginning in the 1970s, religious cranks ceased simply to be a minor public nuisance in this country and grew into the major element of the Republican rank and file. Pat [...]

This is worth watching (via).

A few years ago, Harvard psychiatrist John Mack, a leading researcher in the alien encounter phenomenon, approached me after seeing my recent film The Jew in the Lotus. He wanted me to consider making a movie about encounters with these alien life forms. I told him no. I knew next to [...]

Fascinating stuff (via):
Vivisecting Verses – DARPA Investigates the Neurobiology of Narratives
DARPA’s current interest in narratives is an interesting development at an agency known for unique scientific inquiries. On April 25 and 26th DARPA held a conference called Narrative Networks (N2): The Neurobiology of Narratives. The purpose of this conference was to follow up a Feburary [...]

Big news: Michele Bachmann believes in God. I am continually mystified by what sparks outrage. While I’m glad Bachmann’s recent statement on the hurricane is bringing attention to her fanaticism, the statement itself is so unsurprising that it’s perplexing that people suddenly care. She said:
I don’t know how much God has to [...]

This just gets crazier, and more entertaining…

(via)