"In my house growing up," gushed New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson, "the Times substituted for religion." Many readers of America's bastion of liberal journalism surely agreed. And they no doubt appreciated reading on Sunday, in the paper's venerable Week in Review section, some thoughtful advice on child rearing; specifically, what to tell the kids (without scaring them) that, yes, the world will one day come to an end. It's an issue with religious overtimes, of course, but in The Times it was strictly a secular subject, mixed in with dollops of parental angst. Or as Times' contributor Bill Franzen explained: Recently I was lying on a blanket in the backyard between my 7-year-old twins, Mark and Missy. We were up way past bedtime, savoring a spectacularly starry night sky. I really got going about supernova explosions of massive stars and about how this results in tremendous gamma-ray bursts that can shoot deadly beams of intense...(Read Full Post)