Category Archives: uncategorized

Just before 7 p.m. on Halloween of 2017, Donald Trump Jr. posted a tweet of his daughter tilting her orange bucket of candy toward the camera, and staring up forlornly at the photographer. Appended to the darling photo was a … Continue reading →

Because it’s time! Yes, this by-Election *should* become a referendum on the “mansion tax” idea and everyone should support it by voting for Jean Swanson on Oct 14 (or before). There is no downside! or as UBC economist Thomas Davidoff … Continue reading →

Various links to comments on the Damore “memo” Source: OneTab shared tabs

Source: How To Know You’re In a Mass Hysteria Bubble | Scott Adams’ Blog Scott Adams (of ‘Dilbert’ fame) is an often quite funny cartoonist with some sharp insights into ironic aspects of human relationships. But as a writer of … Continue reading →

The shallowness of much of modern academic philosophy is demonstrated by the level of attention devoted to the “puzzle” of why most people (other than Buddhist monks, economists, and other psychopaths)  resist pushing the fat man in person but are … Continue reading →

Dalton Conley Speaks Out on Race in an interview at Nautilus (which I saw via 3QD). He says a lot that is sensible but his denial that “race” can be a “scientific category” is based more on wishful thinking than on reason. … Continue reading →

In this article at 3quarksdaily, Grace Boey almost changes my mind. I have long felt that the delegation of moral authority that religion almost always leads to is harmful, but the way Boey puts things makes me feel I need to … Continue reading →

In 3quarksdaily: The Galileo Trial: Faux News from the 17th Century, Leanne Ogasawara refers to several misconceptions about Galileo but her main point is suspect. She refers to a number of resources on the issue, some of which I have not … Continue reading →

Prompted by the impact of increased labour costs on American Airlines’ stock valuation, Matt Breunig writes in Jacobin (coming to my attention via 3QD): If Naidu and others are right, Piketty’s theory of how wealth and income inequality develop may be … Continue reading →

According to a story by astrophysicist Ethan Siegel in this week’s Forbes magazine: Science Busts The Biggest Myth Ever About Why Bridges Collapse . Wow! That headline reads as if “science” has just made a new myth-busting discovery and the article tells … Continue reading →

Razib Khan at Gene Expression: The misrepresentation of genetic science in the Vox piece on race and IQ  objects to this Vox piece about Charles Murray. I have a number of concerns about the Vox piece but curiously the main claim that … Continue reading →

Why are only two of the world’s top 100 chess players women? There may be many factors at play here – including social expectations etc, as well as possible gender differences in average measures of either ability or interest. But … Continue reading →

Stephen Downes comments on critique of post-modernism with reference to whether or not it is a “fact” that tennis balls don’t fit into wine bottles. Despite the failure of a particular bit of language to unambiguously cover all aspects of … Continue reading →

I like to think of Donald Trump as just obsessively glued to his computer in the middle of the night much like the fat boy he speculated was responsible for the DNC hacking (though more devoted to taking offense and picking … Continue reading →

Source: Statistician Nate Silver says conventional wisdom, not data, killed 2016 election forecasts Actually, I suspect that many people were confusing chances of winning with expected share of the vote. Perhaps not consciously, but not surprising as we are so … Continue reading →

The reason we don’t yet have the flying cars imagined by early 20th century “futurists” is not because of mechanical infeasibility (though the energy cost may be substantial) so much as because of the problem of traffic control. Accident avoidance in crowded … Continue reading →

Two very different recent events raise the same issue. How to confront the temptation to abandon one’s principles when one’s opponents do so without penalty. And in both cases I think The Atlantic has presented a view worth noting. One … Continue reading →

  How did they fly? (or did they always have strong winds or cliffs to jump off?) And why do they have beak-like snouts like birds? (while bats do not)Source: Fossils of giant pterosaurs found in Transylvania

Anyone distressed by the amount of distrust of real science in the world today need only look at the overstated (and actually false) headline in this bit of “science” journalism to find an explanation. Of course torture doesn’t always work. And … Continue reading →

And he repeatedly lied. But the media in attendance weren’t allowed to follow up or to question him on his lies.For example, Trump wrongly stated that “the Democratic National Committee was totally open to be hacked. They did a very … Continue reading →