- Where do a person’s beliefs and views on the afterlife and on religion come from? According to a new study conducted by researchers at Oxford University, religion comes naturally, even instinctively, to human beings. As per the results of a massive new study of cultures all around the world, that tendency toward religion is rooted deep in an individual’s psyche. "We tend to see purpose in the world," Oxford University professor Roger Trigg said. "We see agency. We think that something is there even if you can't see it. ... All this tends to build up to a religious way of thinking." Trigg is co-director of the three-year Oxford-based project, which surveyed more than 40 different studies by dozens of researchers around the world. The studies ranged from China to Poland, from the United States to Micronesia and many countries in between. But in spite of their cultural and geographical differences, the studies all arrived at relatively similar conclusions, including widespread belief in some kind of afterlife and an instinctive tendency to suggest that natural phenomena happen for a purpose. "Children in particular found it very easy to think in religious ways," such as believing in God's omniscience, said Trigg. Researchers also found adults were extremely eager to seize upon explanations that implied an unseen agent at work in the world. One topic Trigg and his team did not explore as part of their research was whether God, gods or an afterlife exist. Justin Barrett, the project's other co-director explained that the validity of a person’s religious beliefs was not one of the study’s aims. "This project does not set out to prove God or gods exist. Just because we find it easier to think in a particular way does not mean that it is true in fact," Barrett said. Oddly enough, Trigg believes both atheists and religious people could use the study to argue their sides of the God debate. "Dawkins would accept our findings and say we've got to grow out of it," Trigg argued of famed secularist Richard Dawkins. Conversely, he insisted people of faith could argue that the universality of religious sentiment serves God's purpose. "Religious people would say, 'If there is a God, then ... he would have given us inclinations to look for him,'" Trigg declared. While deciding whether or not God exists was not part of the study, its findings could definitely have an impact on the notion of religious freedom. If something is deep-seated in human nature and people suppress that part of them, that would seem decidedly unhealthy. In the end, the Oxford study, known as the Cognition, Religion and Theology Project, suggests that religion is not likely to fade from the world any time soon…………
- Two of the NBA’s iconic franchises ended their respective seasons in differing, yet equally disappointing fashion over the past week. The Los Angeles Lakers melted down, were swept by the Dallas Mavericks and went full-on goon in the series’ deciding game by dishing out excessively hard fouls and cheap shots as they went. Coach Phil Jackson made it clear long before the playoffs he was done coaching after this season and the Lakers knew once it was over, they would have to find a new coach. The end was a bit more dignified for the Boston Celtics, who were bounced by the Miami Heat in their Eastern Conference semifinal series 4-1 in a beatdown that signified the end of an era for an aging team. Roster questions abound for the over-the-hill Celtics just as they do for the Lakers and like their bitter rivals from the West Coast, the Celtics had major questions about their coach…….until today. Doc Rivers, who was universally expected to take a season off, watch his son play basketball and possibly do some television work, reversed course and said immediately after the series ended that he planned on returning next season. Then, less than 48 hours after the season ended, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge informed the media at his end-of-season news conference the he and Rivers had agreed to a five-year contract extension. "I think Doc is the best coach in the league, so I think it's great for us, to have him around," Ainge said. The value of the contract is believed to be in the range of $6 to $7 million per year and its announcement was met with immediate and profound approval from Celtics players. "If we're moving forward next year and trying to win a championship, he's one of the main pieces," forward Paul Pierce said. Hearing statements like that would have seemed jarring and out of place as recently as five years ago, when Rivers had not yet won a championship (which he did with the Celtics in 2008) and was known as a coach who juggled his rotation too much and wasn’t a good tactician. He has now coached Boston for seven years after five years in Orlando and also played in the NBA for 13 seasons. He has a career mark of 507-406 and a Coach of the Year honor from his with the Magic to go with his championship ring. His return means the Celtics are likely to bring back their aging core of Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, but unless the team supplements those three with a legitimate center and a deeper, more athletic bench, bringing back Rivers is nothing more than one step in a major rebuilding process…………
- Going to the dentist is never a pleasant experience, even if it’s for a routine cleaning. No one likes lying on them back in an uncomfortable, vinyl-covered chair as a quasi-stranger pries inside your mouth, asks you questions you cannot actually articulate your answers to and charges you or your insurance a ridiculous amount of money for that privilege. Bearing that in mind, one Texas dentist is taking a difference approach to dentistry by adding something many people do actually enjoy to a dentist appointment: alcohol. Knowing that getting buzzed is a) something a lot of people like to do and b) takes the edge off some of life’s more unpleasant experiences, dentist Clint Herzog offers beer and wine to patients in the waiting room at his "Floss Now" dentistry office. The waiting room is tricked out like a nightclub and the bar offers signature, dental-themed drinks to help create the mood. To announce the new addition to his practice, Herzog sent out a direct mail piece offering "free spirits with a cleaning" to help ease the nerves of patients who are apprehensive about climbing into the dentist’s chair. Once the edge is taken off, patients then have their teeth cleaned and their procedures done. To top off a great day at the dentist’s office, Herzog also offers free teeth whitening to patients. "We give free whitening to all of our patients because that's like the adult lollipop," explained Herzog. "I thought it was fantastic especially the whitening part because I pay for that so if I could get it for free why wouldn't I," said Robin Cappel, one of Herzog’s patients. Both the free whitening and the free booze are available at all of Herzong’s offices, with two new locations opening soon in Austin and Houston. So far, no problems have arisen from giving free alcohol to patients, but there seems like a decent chance that at some point there will be one patient who can’t handle his or her liquor well, has one drink too many and gets a bit belligerent when Herzog wants them to open wide and say “AHHHHHHH.” In the event that happens, it may be time to drop a Breathalyzer test outside the door to the exam room………….
- Steven Tyler’s musical standards are so low at this point, it’s essentially possible to roll over the bar he’s set. Once a person makes the decision to join the running musical abortion that is American Karaoke, all pretenses of musical credibility are gone and no project, no collaborator and no endeavor is beneath a person. Thus, it came as no surprise that Tyler is working with Johnny Depp on a new song, something Tyler recently revealed to Billboard. "We've been hanging out here and there," Depp said at the "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" on May 7. "He's someone I've admired greatly for such a long time. The idea of writing songs with him is a dream come true." Tyler confirmed this week that he and Depp have been hanging out at the actor’s L.A. studio during Tyler’s time off from judging aspiring hack karaoke-ers on American Karaoke. "He asked me, he said, 'I want you to come over' -- he's got a studio here in L.A. -- 'and see if I'm playing "Seasons of Wither" right.' I said, 'Y'know what, Johnny? No matter how you play it, it's gonna be right. It's a beautiful thing,'" Tyler explained. Telling an actor dabbling in music he’s “gonna be right” no matter how he plays a classic song? Wow. American Karaoke clearly pollutes a person’s musical soul and thought pattern quickly and has ruined Tyler’s creative process going forward. In addition to revealing the musical depths he’s sinking to with Depp, Tyler also promoted his new autobiography his new solo single, "(It) Feels So Good." He went on to praise Depp by saying he would want the actor to play him in a movie version of his life. Asked about that possibility, Depp said, "I'll give it a shot. Why not?" Hmm, a role based on the life of a guy who has had more sex, more drugs and rocked more than just about anyone in rock and roll over the past four decades? Yeah, that sounds like it might be fun…………
- Hugo Chavez doesn’t need any help in terrorizing his own populace, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The Venezuelan dictator is perfectly proficient in trampling the rights of his citizenry without any outside help, so why are leftist guerrillas with FARC offering Venezuela's intelligence agency "training in urban terrorism involving targeted killings" and suggesting they were willing to assassinate opponents of Chavez? According to a new study of the Colombian rebels' records, that’s exactly what the group has done over the past several years. In turn, Chavez offered to provide FARC with $300 million and weapons. In the end (and fortunately for the Venezuelan people) those deals apparently fell through, according to e-mails and documents seized from a key FARC leader. Venezuelan officials quickly disputed the report, which was provided by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. The book-length document breaks down the Colombian rebels' relationship with Venezuela and Ecuador in painstaking detail, covering nearly three decades’ worth of strategic documents and recent e-mails belonging to FARC leader Luis Edgar Devía Silva, whose nom de guerre was Raul Reyes. Reyes was killed in a 2008 raid, leaving behind the digital records that have just now been sorted through. FARC is commonly known as Latin America's oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped insurgency of Marxist origin even though its involvement in Marxist goals is presently minimal. Still, both the United States and European Union consider FARC a terrorist group. The group gained tractions in Venezuela after Chavez became president/dictator in 1999 despite the dictator’s claims that his country would remain neutral in the conflict between FARC and the Colombian government. Neutrality wasn’t the applicable term when Chavez's government funded FARC's office in Caracas and gave it access to Venezuela's intelligence services, something else contained in the report. "Following the 2002 coup which briefly removed Chavez from power...," the report said, "FARC also responded to requests from (Venezuela's intelligence service) to provide training in urban terrorism involving targeted killings and the use of explosives. Furthermore, the archive offers tantalizing but ultimately unproven suggestions that FARC may have undertaken assassinations of Chavez's political opponents on behalf of the Venezuelan state.” The initial Venezuelan response came from the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, which ripped the documents as unreliable and dismissed the credibility of the British institute's book, which is called "The FARC Files: Venezuela, Ecuador and the Secret Archive of Raul Reyes." Beyond that, Colombian officials refused comment on the report and cited only "basic inaccuracies" in it. What no one questions is the affable relationship between Venezuela and FARC and their mutual dislike of the U.S. FARC’s involvement in Ecuador has been less substantial, the report found, but the group was still able to establish strongholds in Ecuador's border regions next to Colombia in the 1990s, where the rebels produced and sold cocaine for income. Its presence in Ecuador grew as Ecuadorian politics moved left and FARC "was successful in fomenting discord between Ecuador and Colombia," the study said. Ultimately, the report doesn’t paint an especially optimistic picture of FARC’s future, saying it has now fallen "to a low ebb" following Colombia's security crackdowns through the countryside where the rebels have been based and is suffering desertions. Of course, none of that will make as many headlines as the idea that a foreign terrorist group is offering help in murdering another country’s opposition voices…………
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