I’m not going to lie, this might be one of the greatest things ever written. I’ve had too many first dates with the Storms of the world, especially since moving to Vancouver where critical thinking skills seem to be out of fashion. It’s perfectly reasonable to say that we don’t know how to explain everything …
Tag Archive: General
Jun 17 2010
Do Canadians have a common culture?
Back in April, I talked about Canada’s unique position when it comes to race and identity. Specifically, I talked about the fact that Canada doesn’t have a unified national identity, and that this allowed us to absorb culture from all over the world in a way that other countries can’t. It appears that about half …
Jun 15 2010
Fuck you too, Somalia
No sooner do I write a summary of my warm, fuzzy feelings about the World Cup, when I read that Islamic militants in Somalia are executing people for watching the matches on TV. Of course it’s couched in religious justification (it always is). So while the rest of the world is trying to come together …
Jun 15 2010
The World Cup – South Africa struggles to modernize
I’m not a soccer fan. I’m not a sports fan in general, but I’d much rather watch hockey or basketball than soccer. When the Olympics came to Vancouver, I didn’t pay much attention except to the overall medal count. There is one thing about sport that I think is absolutely fantastic though – it’s the …
Jun 14 2010
Do you believe in flying teapots?
I grow very tired of hearing people tell me that atheism is the same as religion. “I believe there is a God, and you believe there isn’t. We both BELIEVE something – it’s the same!” This is the problem when one makes assertions based on “common sense” (a.k.a. not thinking before you speak), and is …
Jun 12 2010
What you missed this week: June 7th – 11th
This was a big week here at the Manifesto: I talked about the virtue of keeping your self-worth separate from your ideas (which for some reason became a mini internet sensation, with more than 5000 hits this week alone); I updated you on Pakistan’s Youtube and Facebook ban; You got to watch footage from a …
Jun 11 2010
Movie Friday: Religion… not just INTELLECTUALLY bankrupt
I have a headache after watching this video: No mention of the fact that the “Christian” United States and its ultra-capitalist system is what got the recession rolling in the first place. No mention of the complete contradiction inherent in the argument that people shouldn’t wait around for the government to help… they should just …
Jun 09 2010
Racist beating of black man in Courtenay, BC
This doesn’t exactly fill me with a feeling of safety: A swarming attack on a black man in this Vancouver Island community began when one of the accused hurled a racial slur, a court heard on Thursday. Three men riding home in a truck (way to buck the stereotype there, guys) came across a black …
Jun 07 2010
CFI Vancouver Skeptics ‘welcome’ Deepak Chopra
On Friday, June 4th, Vancouver was the recipient of Dr. Deepak Chopra – quantum mystic, magic thinker, and purveyor of high-quality woo. In the interest of promoting the cause of evidence-based science and thought, skeptics from Vancouver’s chapter of the Center for Inquiry were on hand to engage the audience on their way into the …
Jun 07 2010
I am not my ideas
A few years ago I met a girl at a party, and we hit it off pretty well. She was an anthropology student, and I had just finished reading Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, so we were talking about how history intersects anthropology. Basically it was a night full of nerd foreplay. …
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