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I was reading an profile of Jonathan Haidt in the Chronicle of Higher Education shortly after he released a new book on tribalism and moral reasoning and came across the following quote:

Though he's an atheist, he lambasts the liberal scientists of New Atheism for focusing on what religious people believe rather than how religion binds them into communities.

The article then incorporated a response to this from Sam Harris:

Haidt's "relentlessly self-deceived" understanding of faith makes it seem as if God and revelation were somehow peripheral issues in religion, fumes Sam Harris, one of "the Four Horsemen" of New Atheism and author of The End of Faith. "This is rather like saying that uncontrolled cell growth is a peripheral issue in cancer biology," Harris e-mails me.

Here I think that I have to side with Harris for the most part. Of course, there's an element of truth to Haidt's assertion that there's a lot of group dynamics at play - particularly since many folks who call themselves Christian seem to know little of the BIble.

Reading offers Brazilian prisoners quicker escape

"Inmates in four federal prisons holding some of Brazil’s most notorious criminals will be able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced." It's a bit strange perhaps but this actually doesn't sound like a terrible idea to me.

Why do some Muslims hate America? Researchers offer an intriguing new answer

"Analysis of a huge amount of survey data collected from 13,000 Muslims in 21 countries showed that those countries where people expressed the most anti-American views were also those where two powerful political elites (one Islamist and one secular) were competing fiercely with each other for supporters."

On Orbitz, Mac Users Steered to Pricier Hotels

"Orbitz Worldwide Inc. has found that people who use Apple Inc.'s Mac computers spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels, so the online travel agency is starting to show them different, and sometimes costlier, travel options than Windows visitors see."

Kinderkookkafe: The Restaurant Run by Kids

"The place is part restaurant, part cooking school and part day care. Parents drop their kids off in the afternoon and return to eat the meal the children have made. While the kids are there, they are taught how to cook, serve and wait." I'm guessing they get around child labour laws by only serving the parents of the kids?

The halakhic condom – a solution for Orthodox women?

The weirdness of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. "for women with shorter cycles, ovulation occurs before they go to the mikveh, and they can’t conceive. Even though they’re technically healthy, Jewish law has rendered these women “halakhically infertile.”" So basically they're using condoms in this case with the intent of getting women pregnant.

A documentary on wrongful convictions and those who've been exonerated (which I'm currently awaiting a copy of in the mail):

Teen Dating Violence: One In Six U.S. Students Age 12 Are Victimized, Survey Shows

On acceptability: "Moreover, while only 7 percent of students strongly agreed it was acceptable for a boy to hit his girlfriend under certain circumstances, half agreed that it was okay for a girl to do so."

Unplugged metal detector triggers JFK chaos: sources

Oops! This performance of security theatre got messed up a bit. On the other hand, the metal detectors are at least somewhat useful - the "full-body" scanners not so much (remember that in their real-world testing an agent with a gun got through undetected not just once, but every time she tried)

‘Exergames’ Don’t Cure Young Couch Potatoes

"How is it possible that children who play active video games do not emerge well ahead in physical activity? One of the authors of the Pediatrics article, Anthony Barnett, an exercise physiologist who is a consultant at the University of Hong Kong, explains that the phenomenon is well known in the field. “When you prescribe increased physical activity, overall activity remains the same because the subjects compensate by reducing other physical activities during the day,” he says."

Zero-fat salad dressings may be hurting, not helping

Basic idea; you need some fat to help absorb nutrients from veggies.