They say that without religion, we would not have the Sistine Chapel or Handel’s Messiah or the cathedral at Rouens. Well, without atheism Julia Sweeney would not have made Letting Go of God. After an hour of listening to Julia’s … Continue reading →

Skip this one unless you are really into Ted talks and/or Elizabeth Gilbert. Or maybe just skip to the last minute for her inspirational idea. Elizabeth recounts the Greek idea that genius is not something we are, it’s something we … Continue reading →

You probably know that the US spends more of its GDP on health care than any other OECD nation (for better outcomes). Yet every major country spends very significantly less of its national output on health than we do. As … Continue reading →

Marvellous visualization of where friends tend to cluster in Facebook. Apparently everyone in Dixie knows someone in Atlanta and all the Mormons are friends with each other. My latest visualization shows the information by location, with connections drawn between places … Continue reading →

Well, I made it through the first 100 and the most striking thing about the list is that they sure like those greatest hits albums at Rolling Stone… and the Beatles. Although, oddly, they didn’t include any Beatles Greatest Hits … Continue reading →

Albatross – Take One http://www.raggedclown.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/albatross.mp3 Performed by The Ragged Clown It still needs some work but it’s a pretty good first try even if I say so myself.