Newsletter 810
Best of the Moment
The Swingers' Guide To Islam
Aubrey Belford | Global Mail | 11 October 2012
Popular Islam can come in some unlikely guises and Belford has found one of them: A hilltop shrine in Java where thousands of Muslims regularly attend a ritual that involves seeking blessing through having sex with a stranger Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/swingers-guide-islam)
The Dementia Plague
Stephen Hall | MIT Technology Review | 5 October 2012
Greater longevity means more and more old people with dementia requiring lifelong care. Drug industry offers expensive, marginally-effective treatments to desperate families, but reality is bleak: "You don't get better, ever" Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/dementia-plague)
Who Knows What
Massimo Pigliucci | Aeon | 8 October 2012
We divide up attempts to understand our world into the humanities and sciences, with philosophy and social sciences somewhere in the middle. What can we learn from the way we set, and argue over, these disciplinary boundaries? Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/who-knows-what)
Why Does Everyone Love It But Me?
Lisa Levy | Millions | 10 October 2012
Interview with literary critic Daniel Mendelsohn. "You have to dig in your heels a little and resist. It's your duty to use your mind, use your tools, to dissect the object at hand and to look at it, not coldly, but coolly" Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/why-does-everyone-love-it-me)
Is The Afterlife Full Of Fluffy Clouds And Angels?
Colin Blakemore | Telegraph | 10 October 2012
In last week's Newsweek, a neurosurgeon recounted his experience of near-death in, shall we say, remarkable terms. The neuroscientist Colin Blakemore responds Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/afterlife-full-fluffy-clouds-and-angels)
Fact-Checking The Use Of The Word 'Fact'
Jen Doll | Atlantic Wire | 9 October 2012
We all know what a fact is, don't we? Then why do so many of us unthinkingly misuse the word "fact"? Or use it as part of a phrase that would be better eliminated. Often, if it's a fact, you don't need to say that it's a fact Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/fact-checking-use-word-fact)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)
FiveBooks Interview
(https://thebrowser.com/interviews/kenneth-miller-on-arguments-against-creationism)
Kenneth Miller on Arguments against Creationism
The biology professor, and Catholic, tells us what we should read to understand the battle being fought between scientists and creationists
Read on (https://thebrowser.com/interviews/kenneth-miller-on-arguments-against-creationism)
Featured Special Report
(https://thebrowser.com/reports/paying-election)
Paying for the US Election
How much is Romney vs Obama 2012 going to cost? Who's paying? And what do they expect in return? Read on (https://thebrowser.com/reports/paying-election)
Reader Recommendations
polit2k (http://twitter.com/polit2k) The Startling Accuracy of Referring to Politicians as 'Psychopaths' - James Silver - The Atlantic t.co/HrS0J4uu #gfc2 (http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#gfc2) #browsings (http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#browsings)
Book of the Day
Book of the Day (https://thebrowser.com/recommended/what’s-really-wrong-middle-east-by-brian-whitaker)
What’s Really Wrong with the Middle East by Brian Whitaker
Issandr El Amrani says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/issandr-el-amrani-on-understanding-arab-world) : “Whitaker argues that the real problem is not terrorism, but rather the lack of personal freedom in the Arab World” FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive)
Video of the Day
What If The Presidential Election Is A Tie?
(https://thebrowser.com/videos/what-if-presidential-election-tie)
There is an answer. But it's not a very good answer More videos (http://thebrowser.com/videos)
Quote of the Day
Colin Blakemore, on near-death experiences (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9598971/Is-the-afterlife-full-of-fluffy-clouds-and-angels.html)
"Have you ever noticed that more people come back from Heaven than from Hell?"
More quotes (http://thebrowser.com/quotations)