Fear and Trembling - The Story of Abraham and Isaac

I'm currently re-reading Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, one of my favorite books of all time: a gripping philosophical and theological analysis of one of the most macabre stories in the Bible: Abraham's unquestioning willingness to sacrifice Isaac, the son that had been promised him by God, and who was destined to start the nation that was to trace its lineage back to Abraham.As I also re-read the biblical story, I noticed that while it tells...

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Penn Jillette's Bullshit Detector

Belief is our default setting. We are wired to believe, and we'd rather believe a completely nonsensical answer than to have to face to the possibility that we don't know. Belief is easy. Questioning and investigating require work, and we are lazy.But since belief comes so easily and automatically to us, there are many who try to exploit that cognitive quirk for their own ends, and they get us to believe in the most insane and asinine ideas one could...

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President Obama's 2013 Inaugural Speech

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60 Seconds Adventures in Economics - The Paradox of Thrift

If you're a long-time follower of our blog, you've probably heard the Hayek vs Keynes rap rap before, and learned all about the boom and bust cycle, but if you haven't, or if you want a different introduction to the short vs long-term, and individual vs collective conflict in economic theory, here's a little introduction to Keynes' paradox of thrift, all part of the Open University's 60 Second Adventures in Thoug...

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An Illustrated Interview with Maurice Sendak

You may remember from last year a two-part interview that Stephen Colbert did with author Maurice Sendak. Unfortunately, soon after the interview, Sendak shed his mortal coil and went the way of the dodo.But it seems that recently someone illustrated an interview Sendak did with NPR's Fresh Air hostess, Terry Gross. Now, I'm not her biggest fan... her questions tend to bore and frustrate me, but it seems that Sendak liked her a lot, and the next...

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