People who pride themselves on skepticism and critical thinking sometimes get accused of being as guilty as anyone else of bias, and of favoring their existing viewpoint when examining the facts, with arguments such as, “atheism requires just as much faith as religion.” Such accusations are occasionally true (not as often as they’re used, mind you.) Being totally open-minded
Author: Al Denelsbeck
In the interests of balance
Part of adopting a critical-thinking cap is being willing to look at all sides of an issue, and seriously consider the arguments counter to the views you hold. Anyone who’s poked around on this blog long enough knows that I have an interest in evolution, so I feel obligated to feature Bobbie-The-Jean’s post of 50
High hopes
Yeah, good luck with that…
Apply directly to forehead
Philosophy is a very curious thing, and I’ve been working out my feelings towards it for the past couple of years now. What I think I’ve finally settled on is that it has its uses, but about 10% of what it is usually given credit for.
Most agree that it was born in Greece a few millennia ago – or at least, that this was the period in time that it was structured and recorded. If
Just a pic
Gotta take a break from kittens…
Oh, you want to know just how big my subject really is? Okay, then:
Progress report September 19: Ghosts!
Imagine looking down at your lap and being greeted by this? Freak you right the hell out, wouldn’t it? But no, we’re haunted by the cutest little wraiths any medium has ever seen. Noisy, though.
Since the last report, things have proceeded apace. While the fourth still remains very spooky
Amateur naturalism, part two
This follows on from the series I began here – the topic of this installment is birds. There are some basic observational guidelines contained in that first post, so I’d recommend skimming that one too, even if bugs aren’t your thing (sounds strange, I know, but the possibility exists.)
Now, bird-watching is a common activity, and it’s easy to find plenty of sources that tell
From within or without?
I had mentioned working on some 80s lyrics quizzes a few posts back, and this little exercise sparked the recognition of some interesting aspects of our thought processes, and how they are often misinterpreted. It’s examples like this that I hope can demonstrate the difference between “spiritual guidance” and meaningless neural activity.
First, in case someone is wondering what
Progress report September 15
I told you I would probably be back to let you know how it was going with the kittens, and I should have been back sooner, because a lot has happened since the last post. Let me ‘splain… no, there is too much. Let me sum up.
First off, after having observed their visits daily for a week, we suddenly determined that there are four kittens, not three – not once did all four
Odd memories, part six
Scott Meyer of Basic Instructions fame speaks with the insight of the classic philosophers:
The Nerf designers may actually be missing the point – part of the skills of childhood is repurposing toys to your own ends. Things that are too specific cripple kids’ creative (and destructive) powers.
In my youth, GI Joe was a nine-inch (metric wasn’t invented then) fully-articulated dude