In control? Think again. Our ideas of brain and human nature are myths | Madeleine Bunting | Comment is free | The Guardian
In control? Think again. Our ideas of brain and human nature are mythsThe notion of individual autonomy underpins our society, yet new research suggests this guiding principle is an illusion

Atheist Digest: Evolution
In this series we’re going to explore philosophy, science, theology, psychology, epistemology, and a whole slew of other silly elitist things. We’re going to challenge each other to think, we’re going to inadvertently insult some people, and hopefully we’ll end the day battered, bruised, confused, but just a little more thoughtful and tolerant than before.

Previous articles in this series:

Atheist Digest: Diary Series Introduction

Atheist Digest Two: Semantics

Atheist Digest Three: Belief

Atheist Digest Four: Science, and Scientific Method

An unidentified flying object.

Photograph by: Files, Vancouver Sun

If UFO sightings statistics are anything to go by, the skies over Canada in 2008 must have looked like an extraterrestrial parking lot.

Canadians saw a record number of unidentified flying objects last year, according to a 20-year study of saucer sightings from coast to coast.

Chris Rutkowski, a ‘Ufologist’ and science writer in Manitoba, said Tuesday that in the past two decades, 15,000 Canadians have reported seeing 8,600 UFOs. These include sightings of lights in the sky and disc-shaped objects, reported to authorities ranging from the Department of National Defence to airports, police and the RCMP.

I lifted the money paragraph from a very interesting article in the NYT.  Please take the leap to read the whole thing.  Happily!

Averted Vision – Happy Days Blog – NYTimes.com
I suspect there is something inherently misguided and self-defeating and hopeless about any deliberate campaign to achieve happiness. Perhaps the reason we so often experience happiness only in hindsight, and that chasing it is such a fool’s errand, is that happiness isn’t a goal in itself but is only an aftereffect. It’s the consequence of having lived in the way that we’re supposed to — by which I don’t mean ethically correctly so much as just consciously, fully engaged in the business of living. In this respect it resembles averted vision, a phenomena familiar to backyard astronomers whereby, in order to pick out a very faint star, you have to let your gaze drift casually to the space just next to it; if you look directly at it, it vanishes. And it’s also true, come to think of it, that the only stars we ever see are not the “real” stars, those cataclysms taking place in the present, but always only the light of the untouchable past.

Demons, UFOs and strange voices
A look at the beliefs of deceased investigators John Keel and Lou Gentile.
— Paranormal Review

West Coast Tsunami Threat Higher than Thought
Tsunamis are often triggered by earthquakes, as was the case with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
— LiveScience

Home Burials Offer an Intimate Alternative
The number of home funerals has soared in the last five years.
— NY Times

Scientists reveal secret of girl with ‘all seeing eye’
A 10-year-old girl born with half a brain is able to see normally through one eye.
— PhysOrg.com

Fayette Bigfoot: Drawings
Sketch depicts ‘thin’ hairy hominid.
— Cryptomundo

STANDBY FOLKS We be changing direction………..