News for October 8
October 8, 2008 by Barbara
Filed under News and Analysis
Why It’s Hard to Change People’s Minds | Sean Gonsalves @AlterNet
Ignorance can be educated. But what’s the antidote to misinformation? Correct information? Not exactly — according to political scientists Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, co-authors of one of the few academic studies on the subject, “When Corrections Fail: The persistence of political misperceptions.” … Nyhan and Reifler’s research indicates that correct information often fails to reduce misperceptions among the ideologically-committed, particularly doctrinaire conservatives.
International Day for Decent Work | European Tribune
Today (Oct. 7) is International Day for Decent Work, pulled together by trade unions and NGOs, with a number of events taking place in different countries. In Belgium, a 2 year campaign on decent work is being launched with the slogan, ‘Workers are no tools’.
Yom Kippur is About Congregations, Not Computers | The Seeker
When I heard that JewishTVnetwork.com would broadcast a Kol Nidre service, the prayers that start the Sabbath of Sabbaths, I thought about it – for a millisecond before I shuddered at the thought. Yet before casting judgment, I consulted a rabbi. “These tech guys– they want everything hand-delivered,” Rabbi Evan Moffic said sarcastically when I told him of this multimedia meshugeneh. In a more serious tone, he agreed that watching a service at the start of Yom Kippur defeats the purpose.
The Company They Keep | On Faith @The Washington Post
On Faith asks its contributors: Obama and Wright. McCain and Keating. Palin and Muthee. To what extent is it right or wrong to judge candidates by the company they keep?
The Man Who Reads Dictionaries | BBC America
Mr Shea, a 37-year-old former furniture remover in New York, has spent 12 months conquering what he describes as the Everest of dictionaries, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), by ploughing through 20 volumes weighing a total of 137lbs. In the process, he became the Morgan Spurlock of lexicologists, devouring words for eight to 10 hours a day, which caused him severe headaches, deteriorating eyesight and injuries to his back and neck. So why bother?
Barbara Schwartz is the editorial director at the Xenia Institute. She lives in Oklahoma City, Okla., and currently is pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa.
