Random Observations about...
October 2007

The Technological Singularity and the Chinese Room

Background Other than the volumes I speak indirectly, I don't say much about myself on this blog. Readers get to...

Believing Your Beliefs

Is it wrong to believe your beliefs are right, and others are wrong? Really, who doesn't? Via MCJ, a snippet...

How the UN Promotes Evil

If I can be trite, evil is bit like a football team: it has both offensive and defensive aspects. With...

Failure by Design

One of the beautiful things about socialism (and many other non-functional political programs) is that (a) they don't work, and...

Incoherent Sentence Award

This week, goes to Hope for Peace and Justice: Religious dialogue is so dominated by conservative churches, denominations and para-church...

Thomas Müntzer

One of the things I look for in history are recurring patterns. In particular, I'm intrigued by the idea that...

Al Gore's Carbon Calculator

What's the average cost of a electric bill in the US? According to this study, back in 2004, it was...

God Bless the "Friendly Atheists"

Though I sometimes bash the more obnoxious examples of atheists on this blog, I like to give credit where due....

Open Comments Thread

Well, it's that time again! Have your say, rant, inquire, bemoan, or otherwise comment about anything that strikes your fancy....

Life Skills 101: Reality

This is the first posting in what I hope will be a series, marked, as this is, with the subject...

The Christian Divorce Rate

Christians are, in theory, supposed to have a stronger commitment to marriage -- and a greater opposition to divorce --...

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger

"For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge."...

White Liberal Guilt

Like a huge percentage of this country, I was raised in Christian home, and brought to church on Sundays. When...

Shopping Mall Nostalgia

Lileks is showing old photos of Southdale, which Wikipedia gracelessly refers to as "the nation's oldest climate controlled mall." Scroll...

Affirmative Action: In Favor of the Little Guy?

If you have any friends, relatives, or co-workers who have a strong affinity for, shall we say, left-leaning politics, one...

Wanted: Beta Males?

Do most women want "beta" males, as a Times Online columnist suggests? As best I know, men and women have...

Spot the Missing Religion?

Via Libby Purves: The £125,000 sculpture is the work of Norfolk artist Colin Self and shows [a Buddha] with a...

Cox & Forkum Throw in the Towel

Cox & Forkum have produced some of the most powerful right-leaning political cartoons of the last seven years. Their art...

Open Comments Thread

Well, this was interesting last week, so I think we'll open up another one and see what (if anything) develops....

Everybody Dance Now!

What is it about despots, that they so often fancy themselves as great artists and thinkers? Nero reputedly "craved attention"...

Dalrymple on the Universal Right to Healthcare

"Theodore Dalrymple" comments on a recent spate of articles in The Lancet ("one of the most influential medical journals in...

What's the Value of 25 Downloaded Songs?

According to the RIAA, the answer is: nearly $4 million dollars. A Principled Mom A while ago, the RIAA came...

Radiohead Circumvents EMI

When we speak about "intellectual property" today, what people generally think about is protecting content currently owned and created by...

"Confronting" Evil?

I thought this was worth quoting wholesale, in light of recent (separate) discussions here on the topic of dissent and...

iBricks

The New York Times reports that Apple -- that loving, cute company -- is apparently taking aggressive moves to punish...

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