“If you talk to God, you are praying; if God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.”

- fellow thinker
Thomas Szasz
The Second Sin

BBC Three has dropped a repeat episode of the US cartoon Family Guy because it had jokes about Michael Jackson in it (including a shot of Jackson in bed with Stewie the baby).

The Mock the Week comedian Frankie Boyle has quit his column at a Scottish tabloid newspaper because it refused to publish his jokes about Jackson.

And, as was reported on Friday, a scene with Jackson’s sister LaToya has been cut from Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno film (Bruno made fun of her brother’s voice).

But of course there will come a time, as happened with Princess Diana, when it’s deemed socially acceptable for comedians to make cracks about Jackson. All I’d like to know is: how is it decided when that will be? (more…)

After watching and getting past the obvious laughter, it dawned on me that this guy is actually doing what I want to be doing… (more…)

“Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible.  Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking.  It doesn’t have to be like this.  Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future.  With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded.  All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”

- fellow thinker,
Stephen Hawking