Reading Time: 7 minutes We’re often taught that love is the solution to hate. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” There is some wisdom here. But King’s vision of brotherly love is quite demanding. And love can be a dangerous emotion. Love can cause us to do unreasonable things. Indeed, […]
love
Posted inFilm/TV
‘My Mister’: Kind of a love story about something else
Reading Time: 4 minutes Long before I experienced the beguilingly and sometimes joltingly offbeat South Korean drama Parasite, which so deservedly won the Academy Award for best picture in 2020—the first-ever Korean winner—I’ve been a huge fan of that country’s ever-enthralling movies and TV series. Thank goodness for mega-streamer Netflix, which stocks a massive archive of new and older […]
Posted inTrue Story
An unconscious nudge
Reading Time: 4 minutes What is the hand of God? Is it something that reaches out and does dramatic things, or is it more subtle, a reminder we might not be alone?
Posted inDeath & Dying
The cruel arithmetic of a Highland graveyard
Reading Time: 4 minutes At the edge of the Nevis Forest in the Scottish Highlands, up on a hillock barely visible from my hike on the West Highland Way, I saw the rusting spikes of a very old iron fence. A cemetery. Had to be. I climbed up the hill and walked through the small gate into the untended […]
Posted inMeaning & Purpose
Contradicting the universe
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of the hardest things about being a fully secular human is realizing that the universe couldn’t possibly care less whether I am happy or safe, or fulfilled, or even alive. It doesn’t help that most of the pieces of the universe all around me—the ones shaped like me—care about my happiness only fractionally more […]
Posted inGeneral
The empathy of rats, again
Reading Time: 4 minutes A lot of folks still don’t realize that animals can do quite a few of the things we used to think only humans can do. Empathy is one trait I’ve heard those folks reach for as a human-only trait. Today, let me show you how they’re wrong: rats can, indeed, display the quality of empathy toward other rats.
Posted inScience
We’re Made Out of Meat (Journey Into Hell #3)
Reading Time: 10 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about Hell — as a concept, yes, but especially as a beloved threat from toxic Christians. Constantly, such Christians deploy this threat to strong-arm new victims into complying with their various demands. Of course, they also use it to keep existing Christians’ butts parked firmly in pews. […]
Posted inOff-Topic
The Evolving Appeal of Cinderella (LSP #189)
Reading Time: 7 minutes As narratives go, Cinderella has alternated between capturing American women’s imaginations to repelling them, then back again to charming them. Today, Lord Snow Presides over a fairy tale that speaks to how we feel, ultimately, about relationships — and people are examining this age-old love narrative from a modern perspective.
Posted inCartoons, General
Blinky and Scandal
Reading Time: < 1 minute Anteater Jack returns! Year of the Bat
Posted inCartoons, General
The Feeling’s Mutual
Reading Time: < 1 minute Blinky has found love. It’s so nice when you can find someone who just gets you and you know you are exactly on the same page with. Support Blinky & Sal on Patreon and check out the barbarian adventures of Barb on Webtoon. Blinky AND Todd Almighty PLUSHIES handmade by Team Manticore!