Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! [dare to know] “Have courage to …
Category Archive: culture
Jun 28 2008
The American Electorate: “I’m Voting for Stupid”
American anti-intellectualism could end up destroying this country within the next decade. Our decades-long assault on intellect is turning us into a backwater. Just consider these results from a Programme for International Student Assessment study: the United States ranked nearly dead last in math, smack in the middle of the below average column. Search for …
May 31 2008
Friends, Americans, countrymen, lend me your dictionaries!
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nicole Palmby. You killed grammar. Prepare to die. Okay, not really. But I needed some sort of introduction for my first post as sub-blogger of Dana’s Wonderful World of Snark. I am Nicole Palmby. And while you may not have killed grammar, it certainly is on its deathbed, …
May 20 2008
Robert T. Bakker Just Got Right Up My Nose
That’s right. That Robert T. Bakker. The dinosaur guy. The one who gave me all sorts of delicious ideas when I was using dinosaurs as the springboard to building a better dragon. He got so far up my nose tonight he made my brain recoil. Brian Switek at Laelaps interviewed Dr. Bakker several weeks ago. …
May 14 2008
Gather Round, Ye Elitist Bastards
(Postdated so everybody gets to play.) Right, my darlings. We’re overwhelmingly for a Carnival of the Elitist Bastards, which must mean we’re all elitist bastards. ¡Viva los bastardos del elitista! For those of you just joining us, or who haven’t yet decided to make your opinions known, there’s still time. Go here and weigh in. …
May 11 2008
Liv Tyler and Human Sexuality
I don’t slavishly follow celebrity news, but AOL’s newsfeed does, and yesterday it popped up an announcement about Liv Tyler splitting from her hubby. Then there’s the provocative post Paul’s got up over at his place, and it comes down to one thing. Time to confront my latent potential for bisexuality once again. There’s a …
Apr 30 2008
John Derbyshire Gives Blogger Heart Failure
I hear your two questions: “Who the fuck is John Derbyshire?” and “Which blogger?” This blogger. Me. And this is John Derbyshire. Everybody say “Hi, John!” Yes, I’m asking you to say hello to a conservative columnist. A cheery hello, at that. Even though he’s a homophobic racist hypocrite (as he admits himself), we can …
Apr 26 2008
Book Meme Mania
Book memes! I got these from John Lynch at Stranger Fruit, by way of PZ. And I’m gonna do them both. Just because I’m the kind of person who lurves literature. Actually, no. I love really good books and I hate pretentious fuckers who claim to love books but love prestige more. Allow me to …
Apr 25 2008
And Now, A Note From Our Senior Teen Correspondent
Editor’s note: I met Kaden a few years ago in a writer’s forum, and he blew me away. It’s rare for an adult to actually meet a teenager who can think rings around the smartest people you know. So we became fast friends, and I’ve almost given up arguing with him because he’s too frequently …
Apr 18 2008
Expelled: a Boon to Humanity
Nonono, my darlings, there’s no need to worry: I haven’t seen the film and been converted. That’s about as likely as me developing a deep and abiding love for my uterus. Considering I’d be first in line for a home hysterectomy kit, you can suss out the odds. They’re roughly the same as a meteor …
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