Death of a Madman

by

I need not name him, the subject line says it all. Normally the loss of any human life is a tragedy, but in this specific instance we find an exception to that rule. An individual such as this who was relentlessly driven on a self-appointed celestial mission to inflict a delusional belief-system upon innocents by force made him exceedingly dangerous, not just in theory, but in practise, for he inspired many to spill blood on an industrial scale.

There is much I’d be tempted to write, but others have already done a far better job than I could ever muster, so I’ll simply draw your attention to the words of two such writers.

Read more

Bottled Water – Healthy or a con job?

by

For some reason, water appears to draw a lot of woo these days. The prime example is of course the concept of bottled water. Despite having the stuff on tap, we now have a thriving industry worth about $60 Billion per year; we are awash with brands that promise us both spring water and also purified healthier tap water. In fact, this entire industry is described as  the great con of the century here where it says within a UK Independent newspaper report …

Bottled water is “one of the greatest cons of the 20th century”, due to it being “vastly overpriced” with little to “differentiate it from tap water” according to water companies.

Read more

First-ever demo of a 3-D invisibility cloak for visible light

by

Joachim Fischer of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany will present the first-ever demonstration of a three-dimensional invisibility cloak that works for visible light at at 10:15 a.m. Monday, May 2 at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO: 2011), which runs May 1–6 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Wow … Harry Potter reality here I come … this sounds amazing. So here are some details.

Read more

Why do Americans still dislike atheists?

by

Gregory Paul and Phil Zuckerman published an article in yesterdays Washington Post ….

Long after blacks and Jews have made great strides, and even as homosexuals gain respect, acceptance and new rights, there is still a group that lots of Americans just don’t like much: atheists. Those who don’t believe in God are widely considered to be immoral, wicked and angry. They can’t join the Boy Scouts. Atheist soldiers are rated potentially deficient when they do not score as sufficiently “spiritual” in military psychological evaluations. Surveys find that most Americans refuse or are reluctant to marry or vote for nontheists; in other words, nonbelievers are one minority still commonly denied in practical terms the right to assume office despite the constitutional ban on religious tests.

Read more

The “Arguing from Authority” fallacy

by

I suspect that perhaps most are familiar with the fallacy of arguing from authority, but just in case not, then in essence, this is the basis for it.

A claim is correct because the claim has been made by somebody who is authoritative.

OK, if it is a well known fallacy, then why write about it? Well, I’d like to take a look at three real-world examples to illustrate that there are multiple variations of this, and that no variation is an exception. This includes:

  • Fake Credentials – A supposed expert making claims, but their Ph.D. is fake
  • Out-Of-Context Credentials – A supposed expert making claims, but the subject of their degree has nothing to do with the claim
  • Real Credentials, but a bullshit claim – An true expert, with a real claim, but no actual evidence for the claim

So lets take a look at each of these it turn.

Read more

Exit mobile version