I’m out in LA for a wedding and needed an appropriate present for the bride. So: 12″ acrylic lamp globe, $29 on ebay, 1/4″ ABS plastic cut plug, 1/4″ ABS plastic base piece, water, cosmetic mica, acrylic glue.
I’m going to do a couple of postings about causality, because it seems to me that how humans experience causality is of paramount importance to a lot of ideas such as “free will”, responsibility, and knowledge.
Presenting a philosophical framework in which to defend these ideas, however, is beyond me – so I’m going to approach the discussion casually, and I’ll be less rigorous about terminology than I’d have to be if I were going to try to defend my thoughts against a full-on skeptical enquiry.
Since some of my comrades here on FTB seem to be posting pictures of birds, I thought I’d offer some footage from my bedroom window a few years ago. It started when the Turkey Committee chair convened the meeting, and rapidly got out of hand. I was on a conference call for about an hour and a half, and the turkeys kept up this level of activity the whole time.
“Aiming to open up access to space technology, protect Earth from cosmic threats and foster peace, proposals for a new space nation have been unveiled”
I had a brainfart the other day, when someone said something about “the commentariat” over at FtB.
So I made the commentariat a logo.
Hugo Award-nominated surrealist poet/author and martial arts grandmaster Chuck Tingle live-tweeted the vice-presidential debates using his own particular spin on reality. It’s an improvement, though there’s a great deal of gratuitous wand-polishing. Actually, there was at the debate, too.
Adult surrealism below the fold.
Let me introduce you to the “intelligence Catch-22.” In case you’re not familiar with Heller’s Catch-22, from the brilliant book by that name, it goes like this:
You cannot possibly get a medical discharge from the military based on insanity, because only insane people want to be in the military; therefore if you want to be discharged from the military you are sane and therefore your discharge is denied.
I have added a new category to Stderr blog: “Genocide”
I’ve added two more books to the recommended books list. (Stderr recommended book policy)
REFUTATION OF PASCAL’S MANNER OF REASONING AS TO HOW WE SHOULD JUDGE MIRACLES.
Jean Meslier
What should we say of religions that based their Divinity upon miracles which they themselves cause to appear suspicious?
Edited from “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky
The First Rule: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.