Monthly Archives: February 2023

There are “Theories” and then there are “Theories”

I have an idea I haven’t heard or read anyone express before: that some of the confusion about science on the one hand, and the legitimacy of crazy, sometimes deliberately fabricated, nonsensical ideas about what’s going on in the world … Continue reading

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Zodiacal Light, and The Well

Two more items for today, which I decided not to squeeze into the previous post.

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Items from Big Think about Science and Philosophy

How fast is the Earth moving, and in what direction? How the ancient Greek philosophers were mostly wrong but blazed conceptual trails. And thought experiments that challenge conventional thinking.

Posted in Philosophy, Science | Leave a comment

More about the Crazy Fringes

The crazy fringes being Fox News, Fox & Friends, Arizona Republicans, and conservatives who believe in witches and demons. With a palette cleansing quote from Carl Sagan.

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I do not think this study means what this writer thinks it means

(Added Sunday: another take on the same study from a writer at Vox.) NYT, Bret Stephens, 21 Feb 2023: The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned? A conservative columnist for the NY Times claims a meta-study on … Continue reading

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Two Philosophical Bits

Are you the same person you were last week? How long should you shop?

Posted in Philosophy, science fiction | Leave a comment

Arguing to Win, Not to Be Right

Two books about how to argue; more on the “national divorce”; and items about the right-wing battle for the next century, train deregulation, a new target list of enemies, and buying your way onto bestseller lists. Here’s a review in … Continue reading

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Red and Blue and Diversity

About a fringe notion to split the US into separate nations of red and blue states; and about the range of human nature and the value of diversity. Haven’t run this item yet; it seemed so fringe, a couple days … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Morality, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

The Gaps Between Beliefs and Reality

Items today about how Americans treat Presidents’ Day and other holidays; about more Republicans lying on their resumes; why Fox News viewers don’t care the network is lying to them; and why Putin’s fabulations about his war in Ukraine appeal … Continue reading

Posted in Lunacy, Narrative, Philosophy, Politics | Leave a comment

The Western Tradition

Two related items today. Florida’s idea of a Christian, Western tradition that students should be tested to, instead of SAT; and a professor’s debunking of a “grand narrative of Western Civilization”, via a book review at PW. Hemant Mehta, Friendly … Continue reading

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