An interesting excerpt from an article last year, from the Daily Beast: “The Heart Association’s Junk Science Diet“: In fact, most people who have heart attacks don’t have elevations in bad cholesterol. They are much more likely to have metabolic syndrome—a condition that puts you at high risk for diabetes and heart disease. Metabolic syndrome … Eat More Fat
Well, to provide a tl;dr answer to the question posed in the blog title, He might shoot a lot of B.C. Egyptians, particularly first born sons. He’d also maybe shoot Canaanites—all of them. Lots of the contextual “What would Jesus do in x situation? Let’s find out,” hypotheticals end up being an ad absurdum argument, … Who Would Jesus Shoot? AKA, Stop Putting Jesus in a Clown Suit
Make me a sandwich, bitch,” is a semi-literal phrase used less as a command and more as a denigration, for obvious reasons. I came across a screenshot of someone on Twitter tweeting it, so I did some searches on the phrase, both with and without the comma. Nearly all usages I’ve seen online do no … Commas Are Still Useful
If a man has to set his passions on a subject, let it be an inconsequential thing: sports, music, food. The worst thing, if his affections for the subject become too engaged and inflamed, is a barroom brawl, an insult hurled online at a different band’s fan, or food thrown across the restaurant table. Even … Directing One’s Passions
With the news of Ridley Scott planning to direct a trilogy of films as Prometheus sequels, I intentionally fell into reading more explanations and speculations about Prometheus. I came up with two and a half more unexplained elements from the film that will hopefully be addressed. 1. This one is minor, so I’ll get it … Further Thoughts On Prometheus
I just started a membership at the local Planet Fitness. Nothing truly groundbreaking, but it’s a huge personal switch from me after exercising for years in the ol’ basement for many years. Since I’ve posted here before, though rarely, on fitness, I thought I’d share a few observations. 1. Working out in public requires a … Personal Fitness Note
I don’t normally comment on these “dawww that’s cute” type of stories, but I’ve been seeing this too much to ignore it. Story here, original Facebook post here. I was about to write it off as another useless social media story with a gratuitous selfie of Julia for maximum attention generation, until I read that … That Julia Price Story is Suspect
1. “Refugee,” much like “slave,” used in this modern context, may be wildly different than mentions of “refugee” in some translations of the Bible. X doesn’t always mean x, especially when there’s a good few thousand years worth of linguistic, cultural, and technological differences. 2. Universal moral imperatives, especially for something so complex as this … Random Thoughts on the Syrian Diaspora Issue
This isn’t actually a movie proper, but a splicing together of all the Clone Wars episodes, which were of varying length. So it’s more a succession of vignettes than anything. These are the episodes from the 2003-2005 series, not the more extensive CGI series from 2008 (titled, The Clone Wars). I don’t recall if that … Humpday Movie – Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 Series, HD)
I changed a few things on the site, to make things a little wonky. The biggest change were the drawer dropdowns I used for the navigation. The plugin seemed to take up a lot of the load time, and the experience wasn’t ideal on mobile, so I ditched it. There’s only one navigable page—the “About” … Another Site Design Update
I remember watching the Rocky movies countless times when I was younger, and I never thought the semi-iconic scene in Rocky III where Rocky finally out-sprints Apollo Creed was implicitly homosexual. Watching it now, one has to wonder how much attitudes have changed, such that the filmmakers back then (1982) never thought twice that this … Rocky and Mutual Male Touching
This has probably already been said somewhere, but given what we know from the trailers, other sources, and basic cinematic tropes, I can predict one of the crucial plot element at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We know Luke Skywalker is in exile for some reason. He’s in
Consider this a public service announcement post, since I had some issues with getting my copy of Halo 2 to work, even after doing research online. I have an Xbox 360 E, and they require an internal drive to make original Xbox games compatible. However, the internal drive must be an official Microsoft hard drive, … How to Play Xbox Games on an XBox 360
After upgrading to Windows 10, I saw that the Mozilla Manifesto was directly linked from the Firefox’s default “new tab” screen (for the record, I’m a Chrome guy). With Mozilla’s recent dalliances with progressive politics, I wanted to see if it infected their official statement of purpose. It mostly didn’t, thankfully, but it is rather … Mozilla’s Manifesto Is Eh
After a some comments I made on one of Mike Duran’s post, “Does Christian Fiction Have a Race Problem?”, I was set to write a lot of about the politicized nature of the modern diversity concept. Stefan Molyneux beat me and saved me some writing time, so I’d advise you to watch the video below. … The Diversity Issue
A cut and paste post while I’m busy finishing up Pale Blue Scratch. I recently finished a staycation and was busy annoying everyone on Facebook with my humdrum, activities in the dense suburbs of Pittsburgh. Here they are, serialized for your pleasure—because what’s more entertaining than what an average white American male does in his … The Staycation Dad Chronicles
Though I don’t have the formal education on this, like some do, to point to primary sources, but Medieval thought in general held sin, especially blasphemy, to cause actual harm in the physical world. This puts a different spin on witch trials and inquisitions, since committing blasphemy could be considered no different than assault. One … Of Blasphemy and Trigger Warnings
Inspired both by Ed’s posts about riding out in Oklahoma County and by the fact that I finally took Functional out on a non-commuting ride this season, here’s a very photo-heavy post of the route I did with some friends/in-laws. For the Pittsburgh area, it was a very flat ride with some nice views along the … Photos: Allegheny Valley Bike Ride
Growing up with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as a favorite movie, I got the impression that slavery was all about capturing young able-bodied children for mine work. Roots sat on the head-end of my timeline but if I saw that I’d have additional prejudices about slavery. Most of us who have grown … Doubleplusungood Thoughts on Slavery
There are about four stop signs near my house on the way to the bus stop that I generally ignore. Two of them literally have no consequence if one is obedient to them or not. I guess I should explain that I’m riding my bike when I fly through these, but some people have a … The Epistemology of Road Signs
Bear with me if you’ve never seen Castle in the Sky, or you’ve forgotten it. Some time ago, on Facebook or on some message board had mentioned the odd interest the pirates took in Sheeta’s presence on their ship. If I had a clip of the relevant scenes, I would link them here, but it’s … Castle in the Sky – Sheeta and the Pirates
I listen to a playlist of video game music at work or when I’m writing. Like film scores, most of it is designed to be unobtrusive enough to help someone maintain focus on something else. There are two songs in my playlist that intruded into my attention the other day though, through tiny idiosyncrasies like … Getting Trolled By Video Game Music
If you’ve already read the post title, do I need to provide a spoiler warning? Marnie, who turned out to be Anna’s grandmother, had told her about her life at the mansion and her relationship and life with Kazuhiko during one of Marnie’s bed-ridden bouts with her chronic fevers (note that Marnie’s caretaking duties put … When Marnie Was There – Ending Analysis
I, perhaps for the last time, switched and customized the theme here at the blog, using WordPress twenty twelve as a base. I tried to get rid of as many barriers as I could, experience-wise, especially if you on a mobile device. There are more details on my UX portfolio page, for those of you … Theme Updated and Customized – Fire When Ready
Story here, if you haven’t caught wind yet. Right now there are obvious choices being talked about: Susan B. Anthony (universal suffrage is silly), Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of a former head bureaucrat) or local favorite: Rachel Carson (malaria lover). I personally have little interest in who is picked save for one reason. However, these items … Ayn Rand Should Be On the New Ten Dollar Bill
A very non-serious post. I scrounged up from different sources these three desktop backgrounds that feature the intro screen for Xenoblade Chronicles, that shows the different times of day. I had to do some Photoshop work on them to get the positioning, proportions, files size, and colors mostly coordinated between pictures. I think they’re aesthetically … Xenoblade Time of Day Desktop Backgrounds
This article raises some interesting questions. How far should a scientific discipline go in its theories of “the possible?” before it stops being a science? For all it’s been romanticized, no one mentions the study of science can be an exhausting rat race with professional jealousies and money grabs. I’m willing to believe that half … Physical Limits
Back in my day, I had an outspoken atheist professor who said at the start of every semester that if we didn’t like something in his class: “Tough shit. Suck it up or leave.” I didn’t care because he was funny and was good at learnin’ me logic and philosophy, and I actually got to … The Occident Is Doomed
I’ve come to appreciate writers that don’t characterize immoral actors in their work as complete devils. Things that are considered immoral now, but commonplace in past times, is often depicted as being perpetrated by people of ill-character and worth. I’m willing to believe people who perpetrated bad “institutions” (nearly everyone) in the past were normal … Bad Guys and Ancient Knowledge
I’ve seen Shadow Work: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day blogged about and linked from many sources the last few days: Shadow work includes all the unpaid tasks we do on behalf of businesses and organizations. It has slipped into our routines stealthily; most of us do not realize how much of it … Why We Do Shadow Work
A breather post in between marathon writing sessions and some serious future posts. I bought a mountain bike off of Craigslist last week: a late-80s-to-early-90s Specialized Hard Rock. Functional has been in the shop for the past few weeks getting a tune up, so I thought it’s a good idea to finally get a backup … I Bought A Bike
After a bunch of plugin and theme updates, and a WordPress update, the WordPress 2015 theme I was using wasn’t playing well. That is, if you consider not showing any posts at all as “not playing well.” So I switched to the 2011 theme, which always seemed a little more stable to me than other … Switched to WordPress 2011 Theme
I don’t mean to brag, but tThis is the third year in a row I haven’t gotten sick—not the flu or anything else. This is even with living in a small house with a wife and two kids who all got sick, and with a 9-5 type of sit-down desk job. There was a time … Time To Brag About Not Getting Sick Again
Here’s a neat bit of imagery I noticed at the end of the Halo: Reach game. Some backstory (and spoilers, obviously): your player-character arrives on the scene in the beginning of Reach, on the planet Reach, as the replacement for the Spartan’s recently-KIA sixth member. Hence, your player’s name is Noble Six. The end of … Imagery in Halo: Reach
When there’s as decent amount of accumulation of snow or ice, especially on the street, and it rains, parts of the snow or ice on the ground melt and some doesn’t. It depends on the thickness of the snow/ice, how dirty it is, the grade of the hill it’s on, the type of ground it’s … A Possible Metaphor
Just Thomism talks about the Kalām Cosmological Argument, one that I’ve been iffy on: If the universe were ten minutes old, it would make sense to say it was not around 11 minutes ago, but this doesn’t mean there is a physical meaning to “eleven minutes”, and without this physical meaning it makes no sense … Criticism of the Kalām Cosmological Argument
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” -Henry Ward Beecher Even though Pale Blue Scratch will be a self-published book, I won’t be skimping on cover art. My friend Marcia Furman will be depicting one of the devices in a watercolor sketch for book cover. … Of Art and Light – Pale Blue Scratch Email Newsletter #3
The Ghost Box is Mike Duran’s third full novel, about Reagan Moon, a journalist of the paranormal who gets caught up, to put it mildly, in some otherwordly happenings in SoCal. I don’t dabble too much in modern science fiction or paranormal (see below), so I can only really competently comment on Moon’s first person … Book Review: The Ghost Box
I normally pay no attention to legislative news because, as Michael Corleone said, politics and crime are the same thing. Inordinately fixating on the schemes of social deviants does not reside in the realm of the sane. But since the issue of net neutrality has some personal impact as a software engineer, I have some … Net Neutrality is a Bad Idea
There are honest movie trailers and then there are honest movie posters. Here’s my honest movie poster for Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Now get me some bath tokens! Edit: The “bath house is a brothel” theory is contentious. It’s irrelevant to the story at large; just a point of interest. Edit II: This poster is … Honest Movie Poster: Spirited Away
If you’re my friend on Facebook you’ve seen me briefly whine about Scarlett Johansson’s role in the Americanized, live-action version of Ghost in the Shell (GitS). As I’ve said on there, I don’t care much about race qua race in most contexts, but within the GitS fictional world it matters a lot. Since both movies, … Scarlett Johansson’s Race and Ghost in the Shell
I don’t write about music on here often even though I have a large background in it. There is something I wanted to note in the ceremonial passing of 2014 into 2015. Our yearly New Year’s Eve tradition is to blast the Wii with the new release of Just Dance. This past New Year’s was … Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” is a Weird Song
I posted these questions on Facebook and didn’t receive much response, though I should’ve known that site isn’t the greatest medium (*rimshot*) to field science questions that aren’t in meme format. I came across the article linked below while doing book research, and it’s actually an excerpt from a book called Transcending The Speed Of … Is There an Ether or Isn’t There?
Progress on Retardo Montalbán is going well. I should have a editable draft finished very soon. I don’t like being silent here for too long but I also despise meaningless posts, so here’s some things to mitigate that. You are currently viewing WordPress’ 2015 default theme with very little modifications on my part. I have … I Still Live
Not that I am particularly prolific on here, but I’m going to be taking a shortish break from posting while I finish up the first few drafts of Retardo Montalbán. There will be more drafts while Jill does her editing thing but that writing won’t be as rigorous or demanding…unless the bean bang completely misses … Taking A Short Break
You can buy it on Amazon. Here’s a list of things you can do with the paperback that you can’t do with the electronic version: Read 17 more stories Hold it Throw it Hide it from your babysitter Hide it from any babysitter Steal it* Steal it from Kevin Bacon** Bite it Do nothing with … Bored in the Breakroom Print Paperback Is Out
EDIT for all the people finding this post: I didn’t write the quoted text myself. It’s found at the page linked below, on the 16personalities.com site. I specifically picked the negative section because lots of personality quizzes give glowing praise as results, and the 16personalities site is one of the only ones I found that … Myers-Briggs Test Results: INTJ – The Conceited, Nit-Picking Sociopath
I am currently on the first draft stage of Retardo Montalbán, and I have onboarded Jill Domschot as the semi-formal editor of the project. We have a verbal agreement for services and payment, where I will remite payment at the end of her editing duties. So this public post carries with it the accountability factor—mostly … An Update on the Works In Progress
Spurred to action by squinty eye strain and this thread about Google Drive not having a dark theme like Gmail does, I tinkered with the CSS on the Typo theme I use here to make it mostly dark with a not-quite-white text, bucking the design trend of Apple and every website in existence that relies … Dark Is the New Black
If you would permit me a wholly web development-related post, I recently finished a translate jQuery script for my friends’ charity site, Mission to El Salvador. Technically, the script doesn’t translate the English to Spanish, but it replaces the English text and (sometimes) HTML markup. I was forced to do it this way because WordPress … Using jQuery To Translate Websites
One additional thought related to this post. The idea of universal suffrage as an absolute is a strange one if you are one to consider the state as a morally legitimate entity. I, for one, do not believe it is, so this argument is moot but I’m arguing this on a statist’s logical terms. If … Addendum to “Universal Sufferage” Post
I’m currently vacationing in Massachusetts, home to Elizabeth Warren and her corporo-fascism. A new Cheerios commercial portrays a competent dad. Interesting for its novelty but especially attention-starved social justice warriors are going to Tumblr the new paradigm. The Folly of Scientism – “Advocates of scientism today claim the sole mantle of rationality, frequently equating science … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 8
Internet friend Tim O’Neill commented on a HuffPo article on Hypatia. You can guess the tone of the story if you look at the title (“The First Female Astronomer“) and if you know how buzzy the leftoid beehive HuffPo is. Sayeth O’Neill: “Synesius of Cyrene …. asks for her advice on the design of scientific … Utterly Shocking: Recent Article on Hypatia Gets It Wrong
If Seth activated comments on his blog, I might write something like this on a recent post of his. Instead: I think it’s helpful to recognize and factor in for scale. Some software dev firms are too small to really have a “human touch” to be of value (I personally don’t think any company would … Words Mean Things
The short of it: luthier (that’s a “guitar maker,” for you public school kids) Vik Kuletski got slammed as a homophobe because he didn’t care about Cynic’s Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal’s sexual preferences, and said he personally disapproved of it but ultimately didn’t care. Reinert’s and Masvidal’s preferences were of the gayish kind and … Vik Kuletski Expresses Disinterest In Metal Dudes’ Sexual Orientation, Gets Labelled A Hate-Filled Hatey Homophobe. Hate.
Interesting fact about the Shakers. Enforcing celibacy in mixed communities would seem to be an impossible task, but the Shakers set up a strict hierarchy of Elders and Eldresses and deacons and deaconesses to enforce the sexual prohibition. Shakers who spent time outside the community were interrogated upon their return. Outside visitors were held to … The Shakers and Abstinence
Well, not really Mickey Mouse or Disney, but Lucasfilms: As of now, the official Star Wars canon consists of the six existing movies and the recent Clone Wars TV series. “These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align,” explained the announcement on … Mickey Mouse Has Force-Choked the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Chad Whitacre at Gittip posted about Julie Ann Horvath’s departure from GitHub*, and he invokes, with all the richness of proper proggy vocabulary, the secularized original sin so beloved by wealthy, white, leftoid man-dorks: Speaking personally as someone who ticks all the standard boxes of privilege (straight white male, etc.), knowing that my conversations and … Gittip On Horvath
Again from The World’s Last Night, Lewis, in a roundabout way, addresses the “all the jobs, everywhere, all the time, for everyone, forever” angle heard during election season nationwide. Such would seem to be the inevitable result of a society which depends predominantly on buying and selling. In a rational world, things would be made … C.S. Lewis On Full Employment Fetishism
I’m posting this video because I’ve just finished a playthrough of this game. I had played it on the original SNES system twenty years ago and could “sense” how good of a game it was. Since it was pre-Internet days I was pretty much he only person I knew who really got into RPGs. It … Final Fantasy 6 Final Battle and Ending
I’ve had the problem with my 2007 Macbook described here in the video, to the point where the screen didn’t light up at all. The customer service guy at the Apple store said I probably needed a new LCD lamp when in fact it’s just the inverter cable. The stores don’t carry the parts for … How To Fix A Macbook Inverter Cable, Sort Of
From an old old article in The Atlantic: “The Undertaker’s Racket“: Cemetery salesmen are also prone to confuse fact with fiction to their own advantage in discussing the law. Cemeteries derive a substantial income from the sale of vaults. The vault, a cement enclosure for the casket, is not only a money-maker; it facilitates upkeep … Funerals in America are Expensive and Weird
As promised in a post almost a month ago, I’m happy to report back that I’ve remained flu-free. There were a few days, a few weekends ago, where I thought I was coming down with a bug, but nothing came of it. Sorry, Virus Men. Go pound sand and come back next year.
Yeah, you can depict things how you like in books or film, particularly animated ones, but the main motivation behind Millennium Actress illustrates a realistic bit of attraction psychology. Chiyoko spends her entire life chasing down a man with whom she spent only about a half a day, whose face she never fully saw, because … Millennium Actress – Full Movie
A few nights ago I Skyped with a good friend of many years who is struggling with severe under- and non-employment. He doesn’t have a steady job but does odd, mostly web-based projects that come along. I’ve been in that dodge, too, earlier in life. Sometimes it springs out of mistakes you’ve made in the … Waiting It Out
I decided to take out the jQuery I mentioned in my last design post and just the plain Okay theme with a few small UI changes in an external CSS file. I installed a plugin that will automatically add the Creative Commons footer to every blog post. I noticed that plenty of colophons on personal … Unnecessary Blog Design Update
I was going to do an original post on this but Wintery Knight did it sooner and better. Quoting J.W. Wartick: The depiction of the multiverse with little-to-no qualification was alarming, for there is much debate over whether there even is such a multiverse, and if there is, to what extent it may be called … Utterly Shocking: First Episode of Cosmos Reboot Contains Unscientific Propositions
I’m a softie for album art explanations; I’ve posts in the hundreds combined on Buzzgrinder and Noisecreep, et al., on album art design and the stories behind them. Former colleague and radio guy (radio-bro? bro-adio? brodio?) Sean Cannon interviewed Damien Jurado for his radio show, and Damien mentioned the cover of Brothers and Sisters of … The Story Behind Damien Jurado’s Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son Album Cover
Well, from what I can cobble together from scattered information online (here’s a good post on it), the word for “to be” or “am” in Japanese is “desu.” Sometimes it is shortened as “des” or “dess.” There is no “th” sound in Japanese, so an “s” sound is used as a substitute when porting loan … The Japanese Word for To Be/Death is Awesone
Some more advice for bands from Seth: What happens when Facebook determines your tour announcement is not high-quality content? Or that your line of products that you’ll be selling at this weekends market isn’t high-quality content? … Get your fans, the people who LIKED you, onto an email list. Now. Tell your fans on Facebook … Bands Need to Buy a Domain Name
I know flu season isn’t over yet, but I still haven’t gotten sick yet, even with two kids who came down with something. Who knows if what I’ve been doing is affecting anything, but here’s a few things that may be contributing to my success. 1. No flu shot! I’m not an anti-vaccine guy but … How I Avoided the Flu This Year
“9. Say your bands name clearly on stage after the first song and after your last song. Like, actually say it, not just “heywe’resoandsothanksforcomingout…” but in a way that people may remember it. Say it clear. Not too fast. I hear so many bands do that, “we’reblahblahblahthanksofromingout” while the drummer is still tuning his snare.”
Taken by my daughter, Elena, on her Nabi tablet.
Decided to deploy a new WordPress template: Typo from Okay Themes. I was angling for a minimal one column layout and this is closest to what I wanted. I didn’t want to hack away too much at a an existing theme like I had in the past. Read on for more techy UI details. Otherwise, … New Blog Template Is A Go. You May Rest Easy.
Is to, paradoxically, stop making so many rules.
BabyMetal’s “いいね！- Iine!” (which I believe translates to “Sounds good!”) is probably the only underage jpop-idol metal song with a hip-hop break ever in existence. I could be wrong.
From an old old article, but I came across this line from the newest (?) director of the MET, Thomas Campbell: In an age of instant media and visual overload, there is something profoundly nourishing to the human soul when you come face-to-face with an object, whether it is the product of a lifetime of … A Stupid Quote From A Semi-Important Person
Wise words from C.S. Lewis, for those of us who use “amazing” or “absolutely” x to describe something as impactful as a new casserole recipe. From The Collected Letters of…: Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to … Stop Using “Amazing” To Describe Your New Haircut
Interesting post over at the Freeman blog, touching on how fictional dystopias are formed: Second, let’s say that we are indeed right now living in a capitalist dystopia, yet, for the vast majority of us, it really doesn’t look or feel much like the dismal world of Blade Runner or Elysium. If the hyper-capitalist world … On How Dystopias Are Formed
This is part four of a five-part series, but to me this is the most important/”useful” part. Someone in the comments section mentioned that this is how all currencies are created. I don’t how much truth there is to that but since all fiat currencies need a government behind them to declare “by fiat” that … How American Currency Is Created
No Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Larabars This recipe is totally cribbed from My Whole Food Life but I thought I would repeat it here. Since Larabars don’t put anything goofy in their stuff, replicating them at home is easy to do. Like the Primal Energy Bites recipe I posted a while back, these are … An Atheist Abortion Doctor Read Matt Walsh’s Blog. What He Does The Next Day At The Office Will Completely Blow You Away.
Wintery Knight posted a while back (a while back on the scale of Internet time) about a response to the argument about God’s “hiddenness”—i.e., the phenomenon that God’s existence isn’t more plainly known to everyone in the same way that other, less important things, are apparent. [Michael Murray] argues that if God reveals himself too … Michael Murray’s Response to the “Hiddenness of God” Argument Is Eh
At first I thought that this declaration was due to journalistic bravado, since no academic would ever propose that one narrow study would be so broadly definitive. But then there’s this: After analysing 800 novels available to download at Project Gutenberg Yejin Choi, an assistant professor at Stony Brook University, claims she can predict literary … Math Can Determine Good Books
1. Don’t hurt people. 2. Don’t take/break/use people’s stuff without permission. Does a society really need many more damned laws?
Here’s my plan: Made with draw.io.
She doesn’t mince words, nor waste them. Economy of language is her greatest strength. She actually wanted me to edit these—I did, but not too much since I didn’t want to destroy her voice for the sake of making perfect “adult” sense. Nor did I want to mar the “sheen” of the stories. What it’s … My Daughter’s Stories Are the Essence of Quick Escalation
Taking a break from the blogging break to post this. I’m reading through Orson Scott Card’s Ender quintet series, currently on Speaker for the Dead (read for free here). Here’s a quote from one of the characters, who gives away the secret weapon (heh) of governments. “My beloved father, this has always been the way … Orson Scott Card Lets a Secret Out
I’m taking December off of my rigorous blogging schedule of maybe posting once or twice a week to finish the first and second drafts of Retardo Montalbán*. It’s verboten form for writers and bloggers to explicitly state things like this, but I’m neither so I don’t recognize those social constraints. There will be one small … Taking A Month Off
This is a redo of my previous post, “The ‘Accumulative Past’ Argument Against God’s Existence”. After some discussion on Facebook I decided to change it up. I thought #1 was a weak premise, even for a skeptic, seeing as time as we know it is an abstraction by itself, and if it’s applied to a … The “Accumulative Existence” Argument Against God’s Existence
Most Christians are too scaredy-cat—skeptics, too dull-witted—to really step into the thinking process of someone different. I, on the other hand, can spend inordinate effort doing so. This argument is very weak because it’s just a framework. A more realer philosopher-guy needs to put some meat on the steps. Additionally, this can only work for … The “Accumulative Past” Argument Against God’s Existence
Not a bad question from an audience skeptic, and a very good response, but it really takes a moment’s thought to realize a ballpark answer. It should be common sense that people of a certain time and place are going to think and act at least a little different (i.e., different than you). The gospels … Why Jesus Didn’t Offer Scientific Proof
Here’s a certain kind of fallacy I’ve noticed that is a specific form of the appeal to consequences fallacy, where one person leverages a premise’s favorable or unfavorable state of affairs to a certain conclusion. The current affluence fallacy appeals to a person’s present sensibilities and comfort levels to imply that a different situation would … The Appeal to Current Affluence Fallacy
I wonder why I’ve never heard about this until now. The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge is offered by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), which says it will pay out one million U.S. dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. I was actually getting ready … The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge
Despite the mild blowback on beards I’ve noticed recently, I formed one. Thus sayeth Clement of Alexandria: How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself and shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, and to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs … I Growed a Beard
I’m not a super-theology buff so don’t yell at me for being a Piper or Wright fanboy. I have seen some N.T. Wright videos and liked them. I have seen some John Piper tweets and liked them. That’s about it. As with some Hitler Reacts videos, it’s hard to really determine who is meant to … Hitler on John Piper and N.T. Wright
A Facebook friend linked to these recently. Most of them are satirical strawman proofs; no need to take them seriously, but some do point out actual weak arguments. There’s too many good ones to point out, but check out one of the Carl Sagan Dragon arguments, number 90: CARL SAGAN’S DRAGON IN MY GARAGE ARGUMENT … Thomism.org’s Proofs Against Theism
Back when mises.org had the forums, someone posed an hypothetical situation (ugh) of a “uncoerced exchange” between a young boy and a group of pedophiles. The boy has no means of acquiring resources somehow, so he exchanges sex with the group of pedophiles for food and shelter, etc. The idea with this situation is that … The “Roving Hordes of Heartless Pedophiles” Fallacy
Intense online debates tend to go only one way. Some hapless dude makes a claim that is more or less self-evidently true, and a high-minded scientismist-debutante asks for “EVIDENCE??”. That’s really not the only way but many debates can follow this simple framework. The implication with this triple-syllabled rejoinder is that a failure to produce … Stop Asking For Evidence
I heard this sentence on last night’s episode of The Walking Dead: “If you weren’t in here already, you’d be here.” It was spoken to a doctor who had gotten sick and was being quarantined with a load of other non-doctor patients. It was meant to show the speaker’s (Herschel’s) regard for the sick doctor’s … Weird Language on The Walking Dead
Via Aeon Skbole’s Facebook, witness the double-surrealism of this video explaining Plato’s Cave analogy of human knowledge narrated by Orson Welles. I know him most as the voice of Unicron because that’s what I grew up with, but that he was the broadcast voice of the fake alien attack that people took seriously yields some … Orson Welles Narrating Plato’s “Parable of the Cave”