Roger Ebert: The Essential Man

Haiti and the hypocrisy of Christian theology

Ancient Hebrew Cosmology

“Cosmology is the theory and lore of how the world or universe is structured. A kind of map or picture of the cosmos, cosmology is a way of naming things and putting them in their proper places.” James D. Tabor

Note, in the smooth illustration above, that the realm of the dead is called Sheol by the ancient Hebrews, to be distinguished from the Christian version of Hell. The difference is to some extent a matter of semantics. Eternal punishment for sin and life after death are conflated with the word Hell, whereas the “idea of Sheol is negative in contrast to the world of life and light above, but there is no idea of judgment or of reward and punishment.” The fascinating Biblical distinctions are traced through history by James Tabor in the rest of this essay.

Illustration by Michael Paukner (via)

Nick Denton asks Gawker Editor to Step Down, Purchases Cityfile (Or, from the other party’s point of view, Gawker Editor Gets Bumped by Gawker’s Latest Purchase)

“Memories” Trivet, a short story with a twisted wit.

rejectamentalist manifesto — China Miéville’s creative overflow

Professor: We have a ‘moral obligation’ to seed universe with life

How-to recipes are pandering to your fear

Frank Chimero on recipes for success:

“Why do we look for recipes? Because we’re risk averse. If we fail, it’s because someone else gave us the wrong recipe. We get to skip on the blame, but can claim the success.”

I have always been vaguely disgusted by the multitude of how-to articles that roam around the blogging plains like empty-eyed, money-sniffing sheep. They are everywhere you look, yet they’re rarely worth the time it takes to read them. They revisit time and again the same tired topics. In a thousand words they will tell you nothing you don’t already know. One thing is sure, though: the sheep draw hungry stares.

“But, there’s money in recipes. If there’s a recipe, that means there’s a secret. And you can sell a silver bullet. The thing is, most people that are giving you a recipe are pandering to your fear. “What if things go wrong?” “

Fear sells, and reading more of those how-to articles won’t help you overcome it. Here’s a recipe that might be worth a penny: read Chimero’s no-nonsense truth, then put your head down and get your hands dirty.