“There is nothing that is too obvious of an absurdity to be firmly planted in the human head as long as you begin to instill before the age of five by constantly repeating it

with an air of great seriousness.”

– Arthur Schopenhauer

“Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most obvious conclusion is that they are all wrong.”

-- Christopher Hitchens

“Society attacks early, when the child…

For weeks, the NFL was involved in a controversy as contentious as the Protestant Reformation: a salary dispute with and concomitant lockout of referees...and their replacement by lower-level officials who have already made countless blunders, failed to understand football's elaborate rules, and even counted an interception as a touchdown by the player who never caught the ball.

Their ineptitude has enraged the fans. In Baltimore, they united into a "fuck you" chant that the…

"As a beautiful flower that is full of hue but lacks fragrance, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who does not practice it."

The Dhammapada

Informed of a former colleague’s decision to have a bar mitzvah in middle age, I can’t help but look for reasons, since the ceremony is completely optional at this point in life.

For a complex variety of reasons, many of them personal, some Jewish adults genuinely want to reconnect with their…