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Boston Globe header for section featuring my 1999 essay.

Click here to read both Boston Globe's summarized version and original full version.

 

#2023IPA #GabbyBookAwards




“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring" - Carl Sagan




NOT INTENDED TO BE
A FACTUAL STATEMENT?

essay by Stephen Branch 4/22/11
The incubating chrysalis of rhetorical slime has
finally blossomed into the full blown glorification
and justifiable utilization of deceit.


Neither Sinner Nor Saint
essay by Stephen Branch  6/1/07
The measure of this paradox would be laughable if
it weren't so sad. The absurdity of it all would seem beyond comprehension but for the actual
corroborating depravity within the Bible itself
.


The general philosophical difference between Democrats and Republicans might be described by advancing the familiar adage:
Give a man a fish; he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish; he'll eat for a lifetime. Members of both parties will teach
a man to fish.
But only Democrats will give the man a fish to eat while he learns.
- Stephen Branch -

“How sad that in the 21st century the vast majority of Americans haven’t evolved beyond believing in magical and unproved ideas,
like God and heaven and hell. Without critical and independent thinking, we make it easy for politicians to manipulate us into war, advertisers to persuade us to go broke buying unnecessary things and religious leaders to convince us that they have any more
understanding of the truths of the universe than we do.”

- Arlen Grossman


 

Quotable Quotes
Right-wing propagandists like Limbaugh and Coulter are essentially entertainers, entertainers who stimulate prejudice, selfishness and meanness the way a comedian works for laughs or a tragedian plays for tears. Theirs is a new art form, exclusive to America and bewilderingly successful. In place of traditional conservative ideology, they offer their audience partisan belligerence and a complete package of mail-order hatreds, designed for the conceptually and ethically impaired.
- Hal Crowther -

A philosophical opinion about the nature of the universe, which is held by the great majority of America's
top scientists and probably by the elite intelligentsia generally, is so abhorrent to the American electorate
that no candidate for popular election dare confirm it in public. If I am right, this means that high office in
the greatest country in the world is barred to the very people best qualified to hold it, unless they are
prepared to lie about their beliefs. American political opportunities are loaded against those who are simultaneously intelligent and honest.
- Richard Dawkins -


A human being is a part of a whole, called by us   - universe - , a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
- Albert Einstein -

We still inhabit the prehistory of our race, and have not caught up with the immense discoveries about our own nature and the nature of the universe. The unspooling of the skein of the genome has effectively abolished racism and creationism, and the amazing findings of Hubble and Hawking have allowed us to guess at the origins of the cosmos. But how much more addictive is the familiar old garbage about tribe and nation and faith. - Christopher Hitchens -

Our collective survival lies in recognizing that religion is not the solution; neither is nationalism. Both are divisive, embedding in us false notions of superiority and arrogant pride that are difficult to erase. We have but one choice: the path of secular humanism, based upon the principles of logic and reason. This alone offers the hope of providing everybody on this globe with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Pervez Hoodbhoy

MORE QUOTES


Quote of the Day

 


 

Tortured Acronyms
Why do people call an "ATM" an "ATM Machine"?

ATM Machine................ATM - automated teller machine
ABS Brakes....................ABS - antilock braking system
PIN Number.............PIN - personal identification number
VIN Number................VIN - vehicle identification number
HIV Virus................HIV - human immunodeficiency virus
LED Light...............................LED - light-emitting diode

know some more?....send them in!

 

Why are people
so gullible???

The P. T. Barnum Effect
seems to explain, in part at least,
why so many people think that pseudosciences "work".


Baloney Detection Kit
Warning signs that suggest deception. Based on the book by Carl Sagan "The Demon Haunted World". The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:
WWW.CARLSAGAN.COM
(excerpted from The Planetary Society Australian Volunteer Coordinators Prepared by Michael Paine )
 

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