The Reason for the Season

As Halloween grows in popularity, does anyone remember its connection to All Saints Day?  Just asking....

Update: A reader reminds me of the connection to Samhain as well.  Apologies to my Celtic friends.  

Movie Quiz

What 1977 movie starred Chris Sarandon, Martin Balsam, Eli Wallach, Burgess Meredith, Ava Gardner, Beverly D'Angelo, Jerry Orbach, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Jose Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, and John Carradine?


Highlight directly to the right to reveal the answer:  The Sentinel

Pitted Olives

Question for my readers:  I'm a big fan of Kalamata olives, especially those that have been pitted.  But the brand I've been buying, marked "pitted" clearly, contain the occasional olive with a pit.  From a legal point of view, is the brand liable for these olives, especially if one bites down and breaks a tooth?  This hasn't happened to me, but I'm just curious. 

More Unintended Consequences

The Law of Unintended Consequences can be stated thus: "The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended." Rob Norton, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics  There are plenty of examples in the world that illustrate this effect:  We don't like X; we make a law against X.  X goes up.  

Driving while texting fits this pattern.  Everyone agrees texting while driving is stupid and dangerous.  Many states have made laws outlawing texting while driving.  It turns out, accidents might have increased in some of these states. (hat tip: Radley Balko) As counter-intuitive as this might be, a potential reason is this: if I'm committed to texting while driving, I hide the phone on my lap or at my side.  This makes my driving more hazardous.

Moral: in the future, if there's an action you detest, and think "there oughta be a law," be careful what you wish for!  While the law is not ironclad, it should play a role in your deliberations. 

Quote of the Day

"Seriously, Italy. The Renaissance started in you, and now look at yourself." Kevin at Lowering the Bar in reference to the trial of the Italian seismologists.

Lil Wayne

There's a reason he's a rapper and not a singer:  for proof go here

The Afterlife

Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, has an interesting essay in The Daily Beast in which he describes an experience he had while comatose.  His overall claim is this experience occurred at a time when there was no brain activity in the cortex and thus consciousness is something more than and independent of brain activity.  He also infers that the overall experience was veridical, which would indicate that there is a realm accessible in the afterlife. 

I find the description of his experience fascinating, but the pyrrhonist in me wants to balk at his larger claims.  First, there is the problem of timing: while he believed his experience occurred during a time in which his brain was inactive, it is possible that the experience occurred as his brain was beginning to shut down or that it occurred at the time of awakening.  This would render problematic his claim that the conscious events were somehow independent of neural activity.  Second, vividness of one's dreams does not necessarily imply the truth of the dream.  One is reminded of Descartes' dream argument in Meditation I.  His inner compulsion to believe in the truth of what happened should not obligate us in believing that what he experienced was the afterlife. 

To be fair, his final proposition is one I think merits consideration: near death experiences occur to many people, and there's no reason why they should not be the subject of an investigation of neuroscience.