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A really interesting, but unfortunately unsurprising, study indicates that the same hormone that helps us bond with others, also makes us preemptively aggressive towards those outside that group with which we bond: Our findings show that oxytocin, a neuropeptide functioning as both a neurotransmitter and hormone, plays a critical role in driving in-group love and [...]
Archive for June, 2010
Oxytocin Linked To Both Trust And, Now, Defensive Aggression
June 16th, 2010 
Daniel Fincke 
Posted in Psychology, Religion 
Tags: In-group Loyalty, Out-group aggression, Oxytocin, Parochial Altruism 
No Comments »Daily Hilarity: What Being A Scientologist Means
June 16th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
Posted in Atheist Videos, Comedy, Hilarious, Parody, Religulous, Satire, Unintentional Comedy Tags: Scientology 2 Comments »Follow The Closing Arguments Of The Proposition 8 Trial Today
June 16th, 2010 Daniel Fincke And you can follow them as they are live-blogged on the Proposition 8 Trial Tracker website, which was an invaluable resource during testimony, filled with fascinating in-depth accounts of the arguments everyday. They’ve also started rolling already today on their Twitter feed and on their Facebook page. Here is the schedule for the arguments, all [...]
Scientology’s Abusive Treatment Of Children
June 16th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Scarlett Hanna is the daughter of Australia’s head of Scientology, Vicki Dunstan. An interesting trend here as the son of the founder (L. Ron Hubbard) of scientology, Ron DeWolfe (changed his name!), as well as the brother and niece of the current international leader (David Miscavige) have also all escaped and denounced the cult. (via [...]
Posted in Religion, Religious Extremism, Videos Tags: Cults, David Miscavige, L. Ron Hubbard, Ron DeWolfe, Scarlett Hanna, Scientology, Sheila Huber, Vicki Dunstan No Comments »Accusations That Scientologists Were Forced Into Abortions By Scientology’s Sea Organization
June 16th, 2010 Daniel Fincke The St. Petersburg Times reports that more than a dozen women are claiming to have been pressured into abortions when they worked for Scientology’s religious order, the Sea Organization: Some said colleagues and supervisors pressured them to abort their pregnancies and remain productive workers without the distraction of raising children. Terminating a pregnancy and staying [...]
Posted in Religion, Religious Extremism Tags: Abortion, Cults, Scientology and Children, Sea Org, Sea Organization, St. Petersburg Times No Comments »The Thinking Atheist Runs Down The Basics Of Scientology
June 16th, 2010 Daniel Fincke (via Wag the Wog and Atheist Media Blog) Y0ur Thoughts?
Haiti’s Human Trafficking Problem Exacerbated By Earthquake
June 16th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
North Carolinian Congressman Bob Etheridge Pushes Around Student
June 16th, 2010 Daniel Fincke This is nuts: Your Thoughts?
Olbermann And Matthews Rip Obama’s Oval Office Speech
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Thanks to Terri Lee for the heads up. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Barack Obama, Politics Tags: BP Oil Crisis, Chris Matthews, Howard Fineman, Keith Olbermann No Comments »The Rise Of Islamo-Erotica
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke (Image: “God Is Great” by Makan Emadi) Betwa Shermer has a really interesting piece about Muslim artists in America who incorporate nudes into their art. Defenses of nudity in art as permissible by Islamic standards: The Lebanese-born artist, who now lives in New York, insists that the taboo stems from a conservative society and not [...]
Posted in Arts, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Islam, Koran, Photography, Religion, Religious Moderates, Religious Rights, Religious Secularism, Separation of Church and State Tags: "God Is Great" by Makan Emadi, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Betwa Shermer, Columbia University, Erotica, Harper College, Iranians in America, Islamic Art, Islamo-Erotica, Khalid Al Tahmazi, Makam Emadi, Makan Emdai, Marilyn Monroe, Nada Shabout, Normandie's Hejab, Nudes, Paintings, University of North Texas, Zainab Bahrani No Comments »Russian Orthodox Church Wants Creationism In Schools
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Sigh. The Russian Orthodox Church called recently for creationism to be taught along with evolution in Russian schools, according to Reuters. Senior Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion said, “The time has come for the monopoly of Darwinism and the deceptive idea that science in general contradicts religion. These ideas should be left in the past,” Reuters [...]
Spanish Singer Prosecuted For Cooking A Crucifix In 1978
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Here’s the offending video: And the story of the penalties to be paid for it: Musician Javier Krahe faces a fine of £159,000 after stills from the spoof cookery show, which involved baking an effigy of Christ for three days, were shown on television in 2004 during an interview with the star. Despite the length [...]
Daily Hilarity: Boston Globe Tailors Print Edition For Three Remaining Subscribers
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Desperate times call for desperate measures in the newspaper business: Your Thoughts?
Nigerian Oil Spill Victims Fight Foreign Oil Companies
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke 1.5 million tons of oil spilled in Nigeria over the last 50 years, with no accountability from foreign oil companies: Your Thoughts?
Posted in News, Politics, Videos, World Affairs Tags: Africa, Corporate Irresponsibility, Neo-Colonialism, Nigeria, Nigerian Delta, Oil Spills, Shell Oil, Yvonne Ndege No Comments »Is Shari’a Law “Inevitable” For UK Muslims?
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, claims it is: Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4′s World at One that the UK has to “face up to the fact” that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system. Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social [...]
Confronting Conservative Christians With The Consequences Of Their Homophobia
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Last month there was a day of silence in schools to promote awareness of schools about the dangers gay students experience. In solidarity with their gay peers who are frequently bullied into silence, students were encouraged (by outside activist groups, not by schools themselves) to voluntarily refrain from speaking in school all day. Unsurprisingly, for [...]
Posted in Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Featured, Homophobia, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Political Secularism, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Secularism, Separation of Church and State Tags: "Hate The Sin, Bob Dutko, Bullying Of Gay Students, Love The Sinner", Religious Radio Talk Show Hosts, Talk Radio, Teege No Comments »“Come Closer Together”: The Beatles Mashed With Nine Inch Nails
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke DJ Zebra’s incredible mash up of two classic songs from a few years back is more than a gimmick, it’s a legitimate work of art in its own right: By the way, Trent Reznor just released his first album not as Nine Inch Nails, How to Destroy Angels. His new group is also called How [...]
Posted in Indie Music, Music Tags: '90s Alternative Music, Beatles, Classic Rock, DJ Zebra, How To Destroy Angels, Industrial, Mash-ups, Nine Inch Nails, Novelties, Techno, Trent Reznor No Comments »Huge Jesus Statue Struck By Lightning
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke He must have done something to really piss God off. You don’t think he suggested a change to the official policy on gays, do you? The full story is from the Associated Press and the photo comes from them too. Your Thoughts?
Cults Of Inerrant Leaders
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Glenn Greenwald summarizes an atrocity of institutionalized injustice, whereby the executive branch of the United States has the power to abduct and torture innocent people with impunity: The Supreme Court today denied a petition of review from Maher Arar, the Canadian and Syrian citizen who was abducted by the U.S. Government at a stopover at JFK Airport when returning [...]
Posted in Andrew Sullivan, Authoritarianism, Barack Obama, Civil Liberties, Featured, George W. Bush, Law, Law & Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics Tags: Canada, Glenn Greenwald, Maher Arar, Omnipotence, Superpower, Syria, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Torture, United States Supreme Court No Comments »Church “Adopts” A Public School With Aims Of Converting Students And Their Families
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Completely devoid of any principled conscience that would object to mixing church and state, a principal and a church partner to proselytize a public school, using a budget crisis as an excuse: When his budget for pencils, paper, and other essential supplies was cut by a third this school year, the principal of Combee Elementary [...]
How Science Inspired Democracy In The Modern World
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Summary of the video and the contents of the whole lecture: Timothy Ferris, Former Editor of Rolling Stone and Professor Emeritus at U.C. Berkeley, makes the case that science inspired the spread of democracy. Just as the scientific revolution rescued billions from poverty, fear, hunger and disease, Ferris argues that the Enlightenment values it inspired [...]
Judge Judy Berates Unqualified Evangelists Offering Drug Rehabilitation
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Now if only we could get her on the case of Michelle Bachmann. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Christianity, Psychology, Religion, Secularism Tags: Faith Based Rehabilitation, Judge Judy, Michele Bachmann No Comments »Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A START
June 14th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Here’s a meme that came my way through Facebook (thanks Tiffany!): Go to Newsweek and press the following arrow keys in succession Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right and then the letters B A and ENTER” (you know, like it’s still 1991 and you’re playing CONTRA on Nintendo and you want to be [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tags: Any One Else But You, CONTRA, Fun, Memes, Moldy Peaches, Newsweek, Nintendo, Novelties, Zombies No Comments »Camels With Hammers Solicits Your Design Help!
June 14th, 2010 Daniel Fincke So, here’s the deal. We’re in the process of upgrading the site to improve the blog in a number of ways, hopefully by our year anniversary as “Camels With Hammers” (June 22). The most visible and obvious change coming is a total aesthetic redesign. Essentially, we’ll be turning on the lights and ditching all the [...]
Michael Shermer On “The Pattern Behind Self-Deception”
June 14th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Shermer does TED and explains how two of the brain’s most basic, hard-wired traits, useful for survival, backfire on us: Your Thoughts?
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