Monthly Archives: June 2007

Justice and Civil Court/Chicken and Egg

The inspiration for this column comes from the recent probation of six teenagers guilty of drunkenly trashing a house in Haddonfield, NJ while the owners were away. The full story behind the $18,000 worth of damages is just as disturbing as the verdict. Not only are teenagers seeking extreme and dangerous levels of intoxication, they [...]

The Future of Catholicism

The increasing numbers of Catholics in developing nations in Africa, South America, and Central America weighed heavily on the last papal election. Many were arguing for the new leader of the Roman Catholic church to be representative of the largest areas of growth in the church. Of course, on the one hand this makes perfect [...]

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are such a perfect food.
Sadly, many people strongly dislike them. I can’t imagine why. They are the perfect evolutionary color–a bright red when ripe to attract vision-oriented primates. They are loaded with nutrients and a vital part of a healthy diet. They are also so versatile–great raw or cooked, on [...]

Innocence and Ignorance

Ignorance of the law is no defense against crime. So, why do people today constantly assert innocence by claiming ignorance (and, usually self-righteously)? I didn’t know. If hear it one more time, I might scream. Most often the reason the person “didn’t know” is because he/she didn’t bother to find out (read direction, information, research [...]

Live on TV

Fast-forwarding through commercials to watch a show isn’t new. We used to do that with VCRs. But with devices like Tivo, you don’t have to wait til the program is over to watch the show. Just give the show a bit of lead time and you can start watching commercial-free. I haven’t watched television much [...]

Evolutionary Process and Normalcy

This is perhaps more of a heuristic extension of natural process to culture and draws together a disparate group of ideas about human tendency (both as products of environment and natural selection and as cultural products and producers). That caveat stated, I wanted to think about modernity and conformity but place it within a [...]