Jonathan Haidt: Religion, Evolution, and the Ecstacy of Self-Transcendence

Let's do this: Finding what's 'wrong'

A fantastic less-than-four-minute TED Talk by Damon Horowitz about Philosophy in Prison.

New Stooges movie based on life at Loaves and Fishes

The leading characters in the new Stooges movie are based on the top three administraitors at Loaves and Fishes (obviously).  [The "1D" mentioned in text in the pic above refers to the movie being shown in a new format:  One dimension.]

"Black-and-White Hats" --  known to homeless inmates as "Green Hats" in garb they formerly wore -- stand aready at the entrance of Fiendship Park, formally called [as the arch over the park entrance says] "Sisters of Mercy Orphanage."

As at Loaves and Fishes, in the movie nuns appeal to a lower power, Mephistopheles.  

A new movie that opens on April 13, titled The Three Stooges, is based on life at the Sacramento homeless-services charity Loaves & Fishes. The three central characters in the film are based on top adminstraitors at the bumbling, fumbling non-profit.

The movie involves the Stooges living a Life of Reilly in their luxurious administration suites high atop the Clem Kadiddlehopper Warehouse, Welcoming Center [Hello, helloo, hellooo: $$$] and Firing Range*, a distant trek apart from the "little people," homeless folk, who are penned in at the Sisters of Mercy Orphanage and Mud Wallow.

In the early part of the movie, the stooges try to chop each other in the knee, wham each other on the nose and poke each other in the eye, but find contentment sticking a finger up their own noses.  Later, the stooges find greater contentment sticking their finger up a place south of the small of their back (and far south of the small of their brains).

The Head Stooge takes it on herself to go visit "the little people," one day, when she finds out the church ladies are in Fiendship Park passing out sack lunches.  "I must honor everybody with my presence!" she announces. "They shall have my benediction."

Quickly, Head Stooge puts on a fluffy blouse and sparkly Ellen Degeneres pants that she bought from pennies.  "Well, at least they're 'generes' in the waste line," cracks Larry.  "Woot! Woot! Woot!" says Curly Joe.

At Fiendship Park, Head Stooge offers grace to each and all, and luxurates in the feelings of love that each of the homeless scum must surely be feeling for her.

"Eat me, Mother Teresa,"  Head Stooge thinks to herself, regarding whom she thinks is her prime competition for Top Saint.  "When you're left in a cavern on the bottom floor, I'll have a top-floor, corner mansion in the Humongous Cube in New Jerusalem!  I'll have a sky roof! And I'll be 1375 miles away from homeless scum, who'll be way way way down there on their safe ground below! Bwa-ha-ha!  Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
----
* Curly Joe recently fired Mark Bell, the Poet Laureate of Homeless World, author of "The Hobo Speaks." ... following in the L&F practice of always kicking a homeless person when he challenges the demigods.

How to steal a bicycle

Of course, I am not advocating for the theft of bicycles. Quite the contrary. Bike theft is a problem in Sacramento. Homeless guys are thought to be common culprits in this activity -- and I believe that there are more than a few homeless guys who do steal bikes (with "common culprits" being an overstatement).

Homeless guys, too, have their bikes snatched on many occasions. As the video shows, a bicycle can be stolen while the public watches. There are several reasons for this: In a crowd, if something that might be illegal occurs, each person will tend to believe that someone else will take on the responsibility (and the stupid burden) of reporting the apparent crime. Too, it is easy to presume [that is, to adopt a self-serving rationalization] that someone trying to bust the lock on a bike (or jimmy the window on a car) is the owner of the bike (or car) and that the likelihood that a crime is occurring is small.

I think the moral lesson here is that we should all look out for each other and if we have a camera of some kind, take a picture or make a film of what's going down. And if no one else is evidently calling the coppers, we should -- even if our call seems pretty likely to end up being a waste of people's time rather than a day saver for some bike (or car) owner who is in the process of being victimized.

Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice

Whoa. I didn't think the first six minutes of this TED Talk was special, but after that slow opening, it knocked my socks off with a series of insights into incarceration, poverty and our nation that I hope never to get out of my head.

  Thanks to Bradley Horowitz (a VP at GooglePlus) whose GooglePlus post alerted me to the Talk.