Ruse covers himself with even more glory. Brown quotes B&W.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
So Much for Peace, Schools, Doctors 
Mar 6th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘He was asking about whether the village had a school when the attack came.’… Read the rest
Dennett Replies to Wieseltier
Mar 6th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The very idea of an intensive scientific exploration of religion so upsets Wieseltier that he resorts to flagrant falsehoods’… Read the rest
NY Times on Reactions to Wieseltier Review
Mar 6th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Michael Ruse may find it hard to get people to reply to his emails from now on.… Read the rest
Mileva Marić: Einstein’s Wife
Mar 6th, 2006 | By Allen EstersonIt must have been around 1990 that I first read newspaper reports about the claims that Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Marić, had made substantial contributions to his early achievements in physics. The contentions seem not to have made much headway in the UK, and, after two popular biographies of Einstein published in 1993 rejected the claims, I presumed the story had ended up in the backwaters of speculative notions on great scientific figures. How wrong I was.
Towards the end of 2005 my attention was drawn to the fact that the claims had gained a new lease of life through the production of an Australian documentary “Einstein’s Wife”, which was broadcast in the United States in 2003 by Public Broadcasting … Read the rest
Esther Goes to High School
Mar 5th, 2006 10:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Little Professor has been watching the dramatization of Bleak House.
I battered my head against the wall when Esther described Ada’s and Richard’s lodgings as a “damn poky little place.”
Oh, ya. I know that battering. It happens when it becomes suddenly abruptly clear that the people doing the dramatization simply don’t realize that people a century ago didn’t do everything exactly the way we do. That things were, you know, different then? Not the same? Otherwise? Dissimilar? Not identical?
I can think of a few examples that made me want to batter. The tv dramatization of Middlemarch, when disagreement first started to surface between Dorothea and Casaubon – and the way it surfaced was that Casaubon said … Read the rest
HS Teacher Suspended After Criticising Bush
Mar 5th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Conservative talk radio functions as an arm of the police.… Read the rest
Scott McLemee Interviews Michael Kazin
Mar 5th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Revisionist scholarship on Bryan might persuade the general reader to rethink ‘the Great Commoner.’… Read the rest
Missouri Legislature Recognizes ‘Christian God’
Mar 5th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Some Christians, Jews express irritation; atheists not consulted.… Read the rest
Taliban Presence ‘More Menacing Than Ever’
Mar 5th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Have closed down about 200 schools and killed dozens of people in the past year.… Read the rest
Rural Life in India
Mar 5th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Local newspaper counts 28 human sacrifices in western Uttar Pradesh in last four months.… Read the rest
Rural Life in Iran
Mar 5th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘This is a village and we don’t bother with such things as human rights here.’… Read the rest
Swinners
Mar 4th, 2006 6:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’ve been wanting to mutter a few words about this exchange between Dennett and Swinburne. Actually it’s Swinburne I want to mutter about.
…if there is a God of the traditional kind – omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly free and perfectly good – we have every reason to expect that he will bring about the existence of good things; and one especially good thing is the existence of embodied creatures such as ourselves who have a choice between good and evil and can influence the world and each other in various ways.
Why is that an especially good thing? Why is it a good thing at all? In what sense is it a good thing? Above all, to whom is it a … Read the rest
David Irving: the London Trial [audio]
Mar 4th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Irving, Lipstadt, Evans, judge, defense counsel discuss.… Read the rest
Researcher Backs Animal Testing for Cosmetics
Mar 4th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Other researchers disagree; cosmetic testing is banned in the UK.… Read the rest
Oklahoma Passes ‘Alternative Views’ Bill
Mar 4th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Opponents said alternative theories on the origin of life are a matter of faith, not science.… Read the rest
Pink News on Clare Short’s Meeting
Mar 4th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Short said ‘We seek to dispel much of the lies and propaganda surrounding Hizb ut-Tahrir.’… Read the rest
Canadian Supreme Court OKs Dagger in School
Mar 4th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Some hail victory for religious freedom, others prefer dagger-free schools.… Read the rest
Irving Makes New Denial in Interviews
Mar 4th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Austrian prosecutors said they would have to act over fresh denial of Holocaust by Irving.… Read the rest
Irving Risks Longer Sentence
Mar 4th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
After expressing remorse in court Irving returned to the attack on the Today Programme. … Read the rest
