Yesterday, the Chicago Sun-Times published an excerpt from the book Blasphemy: How the Religious Right Is Hijacking Our Declaration of Independence, by Alan Dershowitz. The issue: separation of church and state. Mr. Dershowitz shows a surprising lack of understand. Essentially he says the religious right wants to break down the "wall of separation in Church and State" to form a state-run religion. A religion run by the government is exactly what the religious right does not want. Therefore Dershowitz is actually in agreement on this point and in agreement with Thomas Jefferson. When Jefferson coined the phrase in a letter to the Danbury Baptists, he was trying to protect the free practice of religion by not setting a federally sponsored religion. The religious right see a twisting of this original intent. Instead of protecting religion, the past few decades shows rulings and legislation impinging on religious freedom.

David Crowder Band's next album, Remedy, seems set for Sept. 25, 2007. Yeah!

Marijuana: Risk for Schizophrenia

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Originally uploaded by munghole.

A study published by The Lancet, strongly links marijuana use with the risk of developing schizophrenia. Users have a 41% increase risk of psychosis and higher with heavier use. Of note is, if Britain stopped its marijuana consumption, ~800 cases of schizophrenia would be prevented. (see article at Reuters).

NY Times article on restaurants for people with celiac disease. It is useful to know if you have friends who have the condition. It frees you up to go out to eat and not have to always check in advance if the restaurant offers gluten free food.

Rambling on Tolerance (modified)
It seem unavoidable that we operate by stereotypes. How do people sum or size others up? By pattern recognition. We match from past experiences with people of the similar body habitus, complexion, fashion sense, posture, demeanor, vocal inflections, vocabulary, etc. How do people make a judgment call or determine first impression? At times it is an essential tool in order to screen people in the interview process, auditions, airports... not to say that our ability to match is perfect. Mass data (people) under time constraints demands practicality.

In part I poo-poo the notion of tolerance. What is tolerance? It is the notion of not acting out against something attributed negatively. Our P.C. nation has no tolerance for stereotyping that is matched with negative emotions (hatred, anger, annoyance); though it has spread to avoiding almost any form generalization (which is impractical). This band-aid on a heart issue will not resolve by putting on a front. Yet everyone is required to assume the front and pretend without necessarily addressing the core. Doesn't this just add another layer of deception? Then again we should strive to live at peace with others so it could suffice as a temporary salve.

As for tolerance in terms of "being open to new ideas or change," fine. There should be a willingness to entertain and understand new things, within reasonable limits. After all, experience is not an end-all (unless you're an existentialist), otherwise everyone would try, for example, street drugs. But we don't need experience to necessarily choose wisely.

At the other side of the spectrum there are elements we can not tolerant: injustice, evil and the likes... In conclusion, tolerance is too broad an agenda to set, that could lead to oversight of practicality and core issues.

(There is a distinction between tolerance and patience. Patience is tied closely with contentment and enduring stress, duress, boredom.) Okay, I'll get off my soapbox.

Break & Down

Break in.
Break locks.
Break chains.
Break free.
Breakfast.
Break ties.
Break promises.
Break hearts.
Break spirits.
Breakdown.

Down to the details.
Down to a science.
Down to the bone.

Down to an artform.
Down to the last second.

LOLCats.com. Woot! (in the same lines as dpac)

Saw Ratatouille. Awesome... consummate satisfaction! And the animated short, Lifted, made me laugh out loud. I'm amazed at how Pixar pulls it off that movie magic each time. How do they keep it fresh? Working there is a dream job for many people I'm sure.

Chinese Steam Buns Made from Cardboard.