The Sad, Sad Story of Physeter: Chris Taylor, who does wonderful pieces about taxonomy and is my hero, has a report on the changes of name for the sperm whale, from the 18th century onwards.
The Cult of Christ: Grrlscientist links to a video that makes out that Christianity is a cult. I think there’s a deeper point. Religions like to characterise those that are less common than they are as “cults”, but really all religions are cults. Classical historians refer to the “cult of Apollo” and so on, but these were full fledged religious institutions and rituals. Wiley Miller once said that the gold standard of a religion is one million followers, which is as good as any other standard.
The Third Replicator: Sue Blackmore is on a tear, lately. She has continued her program of replication-based cultural evolution, positing a “third kind” of replicator, which she calls “temes” (I suggested “techmemes”). However, as I now consider memes either a shorthand term for “things which evolve in culture”, or based on a mistaken notion of what is required for evolution (I much prefer the notion reproducer, as you will see from the Stanford entry on replication), I think that this is an unnecessary extrapolation (sorry, Sue). Things evolve that reproduce themselves; if there are independent reproducers in technology, they are not yet evident to me. But thanks for the mention in a NYT blog 
I tend to go along with the notion that a cult is characterised by an authoritarian leadership and the use of psychological manipulation to control members. Obviously a fair chunk of Christianity is exactly like that, and a larger chunk somewhat so.
Watching the video, the segment starting at 4:00 (“if you’ve ever lied, you’re a liar”, etc) is all too familiar to me. In the sorts of churches I used to attend, it represents the views of those members at the extreme illiberal end of the spectrum, so I’ve encountered it quite often and could reply to it at length. (My reply as a nonbeliever differs little from the reply I’d have given as a believer, except that the latter would’ve been even longer as I was more invested in the issue.)
Who is the speaker in the segment beginning at 8:50? I think I have actually had a close encounter with her — I think she was a guest speaker at a function I attended in the 90s, and gave me a private prophecy. I’ve still got the mp3, and I’m convinced it’s her.
Here http://www.box.net/shared/m23uhr49tz is the prophecy that I personally received from the woman in the video, whoever she is. Feel free to analyse/laugh/both in light of the fact that I would go on to not believe in God.
I think this is true of all religions. Every religion has one or more authoritative leaders who use psychological manipulation to maintain obedience and adherence. They all think the other guys are cult-like, but they fail to see it in their own religion.
Amen!
I like this one – “A religion is a cult with an army.”
I forget who said that.
I said this one: “A cult is a religion whose leader isn’t dead yet.” Half dozen other ways to phrase it.
I get the vid blocked, second time in a couple of days with Channel four vids. Bit odd as I live in the U.K. and they are partly funded from my licence fee to make this stuff.
Also class regional developments that stem from popular devotion as cults, i.e cult of St Bridget, in Ireland or Western Isles of Scotland. i.e it’s a new development.
“A religious or political cult, by contrast, also has a high degree of tension with the surrounding society, but its beliefs are, within the context of that society, new and innovative.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sect