Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Everyone knows that liberals and conservatives butt heads when it comes to world views, but scientists have now shown that their brains are actually built differently.

Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.

“We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala,” the study said.

Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, according to which political views a person holds, but this is the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same regions.

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Beijing police sweep Christian worshipers into detention

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing police on Sunday detained dozens of worshipers from an unapproved Christian church who were trying to hold services in a public space after they were evicted from their usual place of worship, a parishioner said.

Leaders of the unregistered Shouwang church had told members to gather at an open-air venue in Beijing for Sunday morning services, but police, apparently alerted to their plans, taped off the area and took away people who showed up to take part.

China’s Communist government allows worship only in state-approved churches, but many Christians belong to unregistered congregations. Such “house churches” are subjected to varying degrees of harassment by authorities.

More than 60 million Christians are believed to worship in China’s independent churches, compared with about 20 million who worship in the state church, according to scholars and church activists.

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Bag of Randomness

  • As much fun as I had over the weekend with my closest friend in Abilene, I ended up getting some king of crazy congestion that has me dragging around coughing up a lung.
  • I saw some really crazy stuff this weekend, and I wish I was only fast enough with my camera to document what I saw.    But the craziest thing I saw was when I was driving back home about ten minutes from the house.  A truck was driving just outside DFW Airport and some kind of box in the truck bed was on fire.  The driver and passenger looked like they were in their young twenties and both just had a look on their face that indicate they had no idea on how to deal with the situation – heck, I wouldn’t either.  But here’s a photo I was able to quickly snap.
  • After eating dinner with my friends on Saturday night we were driving back to our meeting location and I noticed a limo outside a burger place.
  • When I was living in Abilene over a decade ago I really liked to eat at a place called La Popular.  It was a small Mexican foot joint that served some great breakfast tacos, and it appears that they now have several locations in the area.  But one thing caught my attention at one of the new locations, in particular, the cock fighting decor painted on the building.
  • When we first arrived in Abilene we ate at a burger place that served jalapeno ketchup.  Apparently, it goes great with just about anything.
  • Road trips and Trivial Pursuit cards can make for some entertainment.
  • We always start out scholarship selection meetings with a devotion, and this year’s devotion was  about having a “conviction” for Christ.  I had a hard time with the lesson at first because I felt that conviction had a negative connotation, but per the first definition here it doesn’t, but I’m more use to this one.  I just feel our desire for Christ shouldn’t come out of feeling guilty but out of love.  It turns out that I was the only person that felt confused by the definition, so I guess I continue to prove myself the idiot of the group.  But I got the overall message of the devotion and I think that’s important.
  • I’ve always been critical of Matt Chandler being a bit of a cliche pastor, someone that throws out easy and sometimes cheesy rhetoric that fires up a crowed.  In some kind of organized pastoral debate, a pastor that looks like he came straight out of Twilight movie calls him out on it towards the end of this clip, but you don’t get to hear is response.
  • The air conditioning is out on my car, again.  I’m getting close to pulling the trigger on something new.
  • I caught a little bit of the first annual Comedy Awards last night on Comedy Central and caught Bill Murray very eloquently presenting David Letterman with the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence.  One interesting tidbit about the presentation was that Letterman walked through the same curtains that Carson last walked through.  Man, those were some very bright and colorful curtains, and I thought it was a nice tribute to Carson.
  • A nice picture of Obama and a kid at the Lincoln Memorial
  • Words used to advertise to boys and girls
  • GEICO is an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Program.
  • Push Cakes sounds like a nifty idea
  • Taco Bell Testing Shells Made of Nacho Cheese Doritos?
  • Reading 100 All TIME Novels
  • Tiger giving birth – YouTube
  • How local news is going mobile
  • This should settle any debate about what Rob Bell believes – Rob Bell Comes Clean
  • 100% of his body is tattooed – YouTube
  • Interesting audition tapes of the cast of LOST – Matthew Fox reads for Sawyer
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