Month: May 2009

Mango Dave Murdered?

David Schnittlich dreamed of retiring to the Caribbean. So he bought his favorite restaurant there and became Mango Dave.

The Police aren’t saying much about their investigation, but rumor  has it that he was found dead in his backyard, apparently from a blow to his head. It doesn’t look good for his ex-girlfriend. We’ll see, bit judging from the comments after the “Fantasy Island” Forbes article linked below, he wasn’t as beloved as the Anguilla Forum would lead you to believe (under “Mango Dave”)

via Fantasy Island – Forbes.com.

French Excel at Eating, Sleeping

Norwegians spend the most time at leisure, just over a quarter of their day, while at the low end, Mexicans spend just 16 percent of their time having fun.

The French still win in the sleeping and eating categories, spending on average nearly 9 hours a day in bed. For the French, leisure continues in the waking hours, with more than 2 hours a day spent eating and drinking — nearly twice as much time at the table as Americans, Canadians or Mexicans.

Americans also like their sleep, spending some 8.5 hours a day doing just that.

via Survey: French Excel at Eating, Sleeping – TIME. Continue reading “French Excel at Eating, Sleeping”

 Dharma Bummer

dharmabums-reduxAs many as 4 million Americans now practice Buddhism, surpassing the total of Episcopalians. Of these Buddhists, half have post-graduate degrees, according to one survey.

Four years ago, I joined a Buddhist meditation class and began talking to (and reading books by) intellectuals sympathetic to Buddhism. Eventually, and regretfully, I concluded that Buddhism is not much more rational than the Catholicism I lapsed from in my youth; Buddhism’s moral and metaphysical worldview cannot easily be reconciled with science—or, more generally, with modern humanistic values.

All religions, including Buddhism, stem from our narcissistic wish to believe that the universe was created for our benefit, as a stage for our spiritual quests. In contrast, science tells us that we are incidental, accidental. Far from being the raison d’être of the universe, we appeared through sheer happenstance, and we could vanish in the same way. This is not a comforting viewpoint, but science, unlike religion, seeks truth regardless of how it makes us feel. Buddhism raises radical questions about our inner and outer reality, but it is finally not radical enough to accommodate science’s disturbing perspective. The remaining question is whether any form of spirituality can.

via Why I ditched Buddhism. – By John Horgan – Slate Magazine.