Samuel Jackson - 'Wake the F++k Up' for Obama

Children's bedtimes stories used to bore me to tears (maybe that's the point?) until I finally came across one that really resonates with the reality of parenting: Go the F**k to Sleep. And if the book itself wasn't already awesome all on its own, the audio version was read by none other than Samuel Jackson. If you haven't heard it yet, have a listen here.

Well, last time he wanted his child to go the fuck to sleep, but he wants you to wake the fuck up because if you don't, and Romney/Ryan get elected, your dreams are probably going to turn into nightmares.

I'm not all that comfortable with having children in political advertisements, but I do love me some swearing, so it's all good :)

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Science vs. Philosophy? Nigga Please...

When it comes to the question of the importance and relevance of philosophy, I'm not sure whether Lawrence Krauss just loves the attention of being polemic, doesn't get just how narrow-minded and simplistic his beliefs are, doesn't realize he's committing some major category mistakes and some basic logical fallacies that a first-year philosophy student would easily identify, or is just too stubborn to admit that he spoke out of his ass without knowing what the hell he is talking about, especially about a subject about which he seems to know very little. For a scientist, you'd think he'd be persuaded by the ample evidence presented to justify philosophy, so whatever the merits of the arguments, his attitude in this case seems entirely unscientific.

It would be easy to create a straw man and dismiss philosophers as illiterate when it comes to science, and depending on the branch of philosophical inquiry, that charge could stick in some cases, but what happens when someone like Massimo Pigliucci, who's both a philosopher and a scientist, enters the discussion? Some major ass kicking!

But if you're not persuaded by the evidence or the logic of the arguments, perhaps a little art will persuade you that philosophy and science are best thought of as cooperative friends, not competitive foes, so in that spirit I present this awesome tattoo I came across recently, which celebrates all of these disciplines as different approaches to enrich our mental life:

I'm wondering whether I ought to brand that ink on my body... thoughts?

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Making Sense of Spelling

If you're a bibliophile and a lover of the beauty and sensuousness of the spoken and written word (like Stephen Fry in this fantastic animated essay), then you probably already know about the  sophistication, the richness, and the history (animated, no less) of the English language.

But if don't have a strong background on grammar and etymology, or if you're learning our language for the first time, you may sometimes find it frustrating, confusing and arbitrary. But let's put that notion to rest. If you can understand the distinction between syntax, semantics and the evolving history of a language, a whole new and fascinating world full of connections and ways of making sense of previously apparent random things starts to emerge. Here's a little taste involving the word "one":

Just beautiful :)

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5 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know about People

If you haven't already, at some point in your life you will most likely have to deliver some sort of presentation to an audience. And if you want it to go well, you need to make sure you know your material inside and out. But while mere knowledge and understanding of the material are necessary conditions for a successful presentation, they are not sufficient.

Remember that you are speaking to an audience, and for your presentation to make an impact on them, you have to understand some things about how their minds work, and find that sweet spot between saying the things you want to say and how those things will resonate with them, so here are 5 things to keep in mind:

If it's nervousness that gets you, just picture your audience naked... and if you're a guy, and your audience consists of really hot women, you might want to make sure there's a podium in front of you, just in case :p

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Ecce Homo Art "Restorator" Alpha Dog

A few weeks ago we posted a video on our Google+ page about a Spanish lady who attempted to "restore" an ecce homo fresco of Jesus. The New York Times also reported on it.

Well, what started out as the presumed Son of God turned in her capable hands into the retarded offspring of Chewbacca, so you'd think she would be hiding in shame... oh, but you underestimate this lady's cojones. Stephen Colbert reports, and congratulates:

The Colbert Report
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Apparently Mitt Romney Can't Stand Half of All Americans, and Most of Them Are Conservatives and the Elderly...

You may have heard a few days ago that Mother Jones released a devastating series of videos showcasing Mitt Romney talking to a bunch of rich buddies and donors, and saying what he REALLY thinks about poor people when he doesn't know there's a camera rolling. Many are calling this the death of his campaign, but given that the Republican constituency is apparently made up of masochists who actively and consistently vote against their own interests, I wouldn't sing victory just yet.

Gotta love these times when corrupt and unethical bastards can get caught on camera for all the world to see. Still, once you investigate who makes up that 47% of Americans Romney disparages, you realize that apparently Romney thinks soldiers, children, the elderly and veterans are a bunch of free-loaders. How "American" of him... But as Jon Stewart shows, if Romney doesn't care about the vote of these "welfare queens," he wouldn't even be able to get his own father's vote...

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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But one of the most interesting things is how these "freeloaders" are distributed geographically, and the cognitive dissonance this is going to create for conservative Romney fans:

But all is not lost. Luckily for Romney, Stephen Colbert comes to his support:

The Colbert Report
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A Russian fuck-pit... figures...

Of course, the folks at Faux News are quick to jump into damage control mode and to work on their special pleading distractions, but Jon Stewart is going to hold their feet to the consistency fire:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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But not only is Romney's own father one of these welfare queens Romney disparages, many of his richest and best buddies have hugely benefited from government tax cuts, tax exemptions and government subsidies:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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How self-deluded (or racist) do you have to be to still want to vote for Romney instead of Obama?

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We May Need a Break, But You Can Still Follow Us

As you probably know already, I consider this blog as purely a project of love and civic duty. It's my way of contributing a little bit to the world by sharing interesting, and hopefully thought-provoking, things I come across. I make no money from it, since I have chosen not to include ads or to solicit donations.

Unfortunately (for our present purposes), I have a grueling semester ahead of me, with around 200 students for whom I am responsible. I teach at a community college (two, actually), so there are no T.A.'s on whom I could delegate any grading, which means all of it has to be done by me. As such, the blog entries may become more sparse over the next couple of months, but hopefully we'll return to a more consistent schedule once the semester is over.

In the meantime, and if you can't go without your fix of interesting stuff, you can always follow us on all sorts of social networks where I share all sorts of cool articles and links:

• Facebook
• Google+
• Twitter

And if you want to be notified when new blog entries are posted, you can also find us on:

• Google Reader
• Look for us on your Flipboard app
• Your preferred RSS feed reader
• Or get daily email (never more than one email per day)

See you soon!

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Steven Pinker on Taboos, Political Correctness and Dissent

It's Steven Pinker... he's got things to say, and you already know that whether you agree with his views or not, he's always interesting to listen to, and he always manages to stimulate you to think about those interesting things yourself, so why not have a listen to a few things he has to say?

And if you want a longer (and hilarious) treatment of these and other related questions, don't forget you can find his lecture on cursing, veiled threats and other fascinating ways in which our use of language sometimes betrays certain aspects of how our minds work, in this fascinating lecture.

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60 Seconds Adventures in Economics - The Invisible Hand

If you thought the Open University's 60 Second Adventures in Thought were over, think again! Yes, they may be done with paradoxes and strange thought puzzles (for now), but there's plenty of other fascinating things to explore, and they have decided to devote some attention to the field of economics.

Of course, no introduction to economics would be complete without Adam Smith's concept of the "invisible hand," that self-directed mechanism through which markets regulate themselves for the collective benefit of both consumers and producers.

Oddly enough, at least here in America, many of those people who deny the self-directed and amoral process of evolution through natural selection are perfectly comfortable with the equally blind and amoral self-directed market, and some, such as objectivists, actually argue that a completely free, unregulated market is the ultimate expression of a moral society.  Oh yeah, we've got it all...

And if you need a refresher on modern economics, you might want to check out the Hayek vs. Keynes rap.

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How to (and Why) Prove a Mathematical Theory

When it comes to the world of our sensory experience, the idea of "proof" is somewhat misplaced, since there is always the possibility of new evidence contradicting something we previously had every good reason to believe, not to mention the fact it could all be a dream or a simulation in The Matrix!

But in the world of abstract ideas, especially numbers, the kind of reasoning used there does lend itself to proofs because you get to specify exactly what you mean by a certain concept, and then all you have to do is follow a few rules of inference to deduce the logical consequences of your idea.

And we owe a debt of gratitude for the whole idea of theory and proof to the ancient Greeks, people like Pythagoras, Plato and Archimedes. But today we get to learn a little bit about the man who is widely considered the father of geometry, a title appropriate to the scope and importance of his work: he formalized the rules of geometry that mathematicians have relied upon for over two thousand years. That man was Euclid.

QED

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Release the Clinton!

First it was the economy, stupid. But apparently not only did trickle-down Republicans not get it, they regressed and went backwards, so it's time for President Bill Clinton to come back and school everyone in what can only be described as a masterful rhetorical and substantive performance.

And because Republicans don't seem to get the economy stuff, Clinton identifies the source of their confusion: it's arithmetic, stupid! :)

Anyway, here's something that has been sorely missing from the Romney/Ryan campaign: honesty, education, wit, charisma, and an avalanche of specifics that no amount of empty soundbites can compete against.

Take them to school!

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Some Fun Analysis of the DNC

As you may have been able to tell a long time ago already, I have some major problems with Republicans, but to be fair, I also have some major problems with Democrats: mainly the fact that they are big pushovers who don't have the balls to stand up to greedy conservatives and do the right thing for the people they represent.

And I hope this is something that's going to stay, but at least in campaign mode they are finally standing up to the avalanche of conservative propaganda and wild accusations, and kicking some major rhetorical ass!

First let's start with the wonder twins:

And here's where things get more pugilistic and fun:

Ouch!

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Michelle Obama's Speech at the DNC

There are some things about President Obama's first term that we may find infuriating and disappointing, even though his record, though vilified by the opposition, actually shows some amazing improvements that aren't sufficiently touted in the mainstream media. So yeah, there are some disappointments, especially given the promise and the hope that he awoke in us when he first decided to run . That idealism, unfortunately, was on a head-on collision course with the harsh reality of "bipartisan cooperation" (a word that, thanks to Republicans' obsession with not letting a half black man have a second term in the White House, has become an oxymoron) and the reality of having to make difficult ethical, political, strategic and practical choices under pressure from multiple sides.

But as First Lady Michelle Obama reminds us in the following incredible speech, "being president doesn't change who you are, it reveals who you are." And although there are multiple areas for improvement, over the past few years Barack Obama has demonstrated his character, his authenticity, his willingness to work with others (even to the point of frustration for most of us), his compassion for the downtrodden, his undying belief that we should extend opportunities to those who need them, his sympathy for those whose medical bills or college loans would otherwise prevent them from fulfilling their dreams, etc.

What are the odds that for 2016, Barack Obama may become the very first First... what would you call it, First Gentleman? First man? First Sir? First male First Lady? Anyway, look out Hilary! :p

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Abusive Obsessive-Compulsive Has to Punch Wife Exactly 20 Times

You're probably already aware that having a mental disorder is a nightmare in its own right, but have you ever wondered what it would be like to have multiple mental disorders at once? The folks at The Onion have:

In that case, if she's not making mistakes in sets of 20 all at once, the beatings are kind of her fault, right? :)

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