Weekend Links — 8.1.10

Finally remembered is the brave and multi-talented  Garland of Arabia , a mentor to Lawrence of Arabia, who said Garland was “much more use than I could be” in blowing up railroads and teaching the Bedouin to do it, and thereby aiding England during World War I.

The government’s dietary instructions may well be bad for you , but evidence suggests it’s not going to tell you.

Pyschological experiments seem to show that poorer people are more generous than rich people .

The Amish are growing in numbers and moving westward .

“”If I ever had doubts before about the possibilities of this country, they are now gone. Truly. We are nothing less than a scintillating success story. That is our destiny,” declares Desmond Tutu, interviewed as he begins his retirement from public life .

More and more young girls are being put on the pill in England. “The UK is facilitating the sexualisation of young people at an ever younger age,” said the head of the Christian Medical Fellowship.

An English surgeon argues that new rules limiting the hours new doctors can work are bad for doctors and patients , and shares his diary for a month.

S. M. Hutchens explains the moral dilemma of agnosticism , arguing that “there is no such thing as an atheist or agnostic.” He doubts “whether agnosticism, or a least the fixed neutral attitude on God implied by the idea of agnosticism, can exist comfortably on the logic of its own grounds, either.”