Terry Firma, though born and Journalism-school-educated in Europe, has lived in the U.S. for the past 20-odd years. Stateside, his feature articles have been published in the New York Times, Reason, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Wired. Terry was the founder and Main Mischief Maker of Moral Compass, a now-dormant site that pokes fun at the delusional claim by people of faith that a belief in God equips them with superior moral standards. He was the Editor-in-Chief of two Manhattan-based magazines until he decided to give up commercial publishing for professional photography... with a lot of blogging on the side. These days, he lives in an old seaside farmhouse in Maine with his wife, three kids, and two big dogs.
I learned a great new word from Daniel Dennett recently, one that I can see myself using rather a lot from now on (you’ve been warned): deepity. Deepity is the quality found in a statement whose author takes a failed stab at profundity. It seems deep at first glance, but it’s actually squishy and meaningless when you examine it. Deepity is probably the most useful neologism since Stephen Colbert’s “truthiness.” Here’s some deepity for you: Read more
It doesn’t matter how atrociously written the prose is, how unlikely the story, or how obscure or unreliable the site. Even if you put the word HOAX over the headline, hordes of people will still treat a made-up tale as if it were real. This dystopian fantasy, recounted here by a site called Top Info Post, started last year (possibly with this Italian web publication) and is still doing the rounds on Facebook. Read more
The satan of the Old Testament was merely a not-especially-powerful angel in God’s employ, tasked with correcting and disciplining sinners. A millennium or two later, that supernatural being had morphed into humankind’s most-feared enemy — so evil, cunning, and potent that he could outwit the Creator Himself. The devil tempted and tricked mortals into sin and ruled over a fiery underworld where his helpers gleefully tortured those who had transgressed against the will of the Almighty. How did that remarkable transformation come about? Paul Gallagher has an interesting write-up on that at Dangerous Minds: Read more
God Gazarov, 26, is a native Russian who says he was named after his grandfather. The Brooklyn jewelry store owner has built up a decent credit score (in the 720 range), but that’s only if you believe Experian and TransUnion. The third credit reporting agency, Equifax, has put God through, well, hell, suspecting that he doesn’t exist. Apparently, the unusual first name raised red flags over at Equifax. Read more
