Parents invest more time and money in their kids than ever, but the shocking lesson of twin and adoption research is that upbringing is much less important than genetics in the long run. There are so many things wrong with Bryan Caplan’s reasoning outlined in this article. I think the…
Author: chanson
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Mom Strikes Back Edition!
There seemed to be a lot of posts (and exhibits) about feminism this past week. Topics included women’s bodies and what they choose to wear on them. Also, power dynamics between women and men, not to mention women’s speech, women’s invisibility, with a dash of discussion on race and transgender…
Which is your favorite song from “The Book of Mormon”?
Which is your favorite song from “The Book of Mormon”?survey software Chino put a link to the cast recording of God’s Favorite Musical in our sidebar a while ago, but I didn’t take the time to listen to the songs until people here started discussing them. My new advice: don’t…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Conflicted Edition!
The big news is (as I’m sure I don’t have to tell you) Osama Bin Laden is dead. And reactions are all over the spectrum. My own reaction was like one of Leah’s commenters: I think that Due Process is a civilisatory achievement designed to remove bias and with it…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Boundaries Edition!
This week Rob explained one reason outsiders have trouble understanding Mormon experiences: others don’t always get that Mormons have a different idea about boundaries. Take, for example, a Mormon mom who got angry that someone politely declined her kid’s proselytizing effort (because — if it’s a kid then politeness dictates…
Easter Sunday in Outer Blogness!
I’ve never quite committed to memory the algorithm for figuring out the date of Easter each year (other than “look on my calendar”). Anyway, it appears to be Easter here in Switzerland today, and probably elsewhere. Also, many people celebrated Earth Day as well. In the holiday spirit, it has…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Gender Equality Edition!
When LDS spokesman Michael Otterson decided to describe what Mormon equality looks like, which led to a fair amount of commentary. (On a related[?] note, there was some new interest in the question of why people don’t like Mormons and problems with LDS PR stragegy.) The General Conference commentary isn’t…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Other People’s Opinions Edition!
This week’s journey through Mormonism covered the ground of caring or not about others’ opinions and possible reactions. Sometimes it’s fun to make a big stink and a smackdown. And Simply Sarah and Andrew S are simply examining and expressing their own place in the X-Mormon journey. Some nevermos get…
Struggling in the depths of Mormon faith: Stephen Carter’s “What of the Night?”
I also learned that the great stories of the world have second acts. This may seem like a silly thing to say, but so many stories set up the problem (the job of the first act) and then resolve it (the job of the third act) with little to no…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: The Mormon Moment Edition!
It’s not just a musical anymore, it’s in sci-fi films, books, and other interesting plays, even politics — everything is coming up Mormon!!! Meanwhile — rather than capitalizing on it with another shocker-conference — the CoJCoL-dS decided to go with their previous conference strategy of boring the pants off everyone…