Gabriel Gudding's Blog, page 4

the better angels of our nature: how violence has declined

Steven Pinker's 800 pg reminder as to how far we've come.

the only way out is in

vipassana in an alabama prison
donaldson correctional facility

the only way out is in - vipassana

sinking of the edmund fitzgerald

On this day November 10 1975 the then largest freighter on the largest lake on the planet's largest body of freshwater, the Great Lakes, in whose region I was born, sank in a storm at 19:10 eastern, in 11 meter waves, in Canadian waters, 29 crew members perished.

Three songs in growing up really stirred in me a growing awareness of energy in words, not the best songs but the last remains my

the intellectual virtue of kindness

Andrew Sullivan, at the Daily Dish, posts an email I sent about the criticisms some have leveled against Harvard for asking students to take a pledge of kindness. I like Andrew's blog a lot, though I disagree with him often (he's a theist, for one thing):
"This notion that intellectual rigor and kindness do not make good bedfellows is really misguided. It seems predicated on that old unexamined (

On being kind to animals - Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, award...

On being kind to animals - Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, award-winning astrophysicist, author, and director of the Hayden Planetarium.

on this day in 1848

MY DEAR WIFE

I have not written to you a long while, but here I am in the land of Sodom where all the people's brains are turned the wrong way. I was glad to see John yesterday, and should like to have gone back with him, for I am very weary of being here. You might come and fetch me away, for I think I have been here long enough.

I write this in a green meadow by the side of the river agen

June 11 1963

"As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him"
- David Halberstam, witness, New York Times correspondent


Thích Quảng Đức practicing vipassana


"The Vietnamese monk, by burning himself, says with all his strength and determination that he can endure the greatest of sufferings to protect his people..." -

gil scott-heron april 1 1949 - may 27 2011

such a lovely man

for those who also

More and more studies indicate that nearly as many men as women are the victims of physical and emotional domestic abuse. If you're a man and being domestically abused, the times are changing: there are more and more resources for you. You don't have to stay in an abusive relationship.