Category Archives: social issues

Retail Internet Pricing – Without Slogans

Posted on 2011-04-07 by alan

All sides in the debate on “Usage Based Billing” are off base. The issue is quite complicated and not helped by the use of simplistic slogans which often either ask for the impossible or run counter to the interests of … Continue reading →

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No Shades of Gray?

Posted on 2011-04-05 by alan

Sometimes I find PZMeyers over the top in his denunciations of religion (especially when he tars all with the same brush and goes on to demonize even those who merely point out that error), but this time he’s right on the … Continue reading →

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Where’s the Left Wing Science Denial? Alive and Well in Vancouver I’m Afraid

Posted on 2011-04-04 by alan

Chris Mooney at Discover Magazine is optimistic, asking Where’s the Left Wing Science Denial? But in fact, although there are many reasonable voices (and even George Monbiot has belatedly changed his tune and is now quite critical of the anti-nuke crowd), the … Continue reading →

Posted in social issues | Tagged | 2 Comments

Legitimate Concerns and Overstated Rhetoric

Posted on 2011-04-02 by alan

Colin Macilwain has unfortunately marred a reasonably sensible article in Nature News by adding unsupported inflammatory rhetoric in the opening and closing paragraphs. In between these he refers approvingly to a much better article by Charles Ferguson which appeared a week earlier, and makes … Continue reading →

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UBB – How Should Cost and Price be Linked?

Posted on 2011-03-29 by alan

Michael Geist is concerned because internet service providers do not match price of service at all levels to its actual cost. But when a commodity is in short supply, selling at the cost price will lead to shortages. (In the … Continue reading →

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Anti-Nuclear Inflation

Posted on 2011-03-26 by alan

I was disappointed to see Geoff Olson’s citation  of a totally bogus figure for the number of deaths due to Chernobyl in his anti-nuclear panic piece in the Vancouver Courier on Friday. The particular figure, which he quoted fourth hand … Continue reading →

Posted in politics, technology | Tagged , | 1 Comment

And They have the guns!

Posted on 2011-03-25 by alan

From Discover Magazine:

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New Atheism=The Tea Party?

Posted on 2011-03-23 by alan

I do not self-identify as an “atheist” let alone a “new” one and certainly not a wildebeest (with which I only identify in the context of computer software). But having read a bit of what is written by some of … Continue reading →

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Don’t Stop Darlington

Posted on 2011-03-22 by alan

Here is my (slightly edited) version of the Greenpeace Letter. Dear Premier McGuinty: I’m writing to support your plan to maintain the nuclear option by continuing with the development of new  reactors at Darlington and to encourage you not to be … Continue reading →

Posted in canada, technical issues | Tagged | 1 Comment

The Sine Qua Non

Posted on 2011-03-18 by alan

. . .for inclusion in an interfaith convention is to have a representative to whom one delegates moral authority, be (s)he priest, rabbi, imam, or “secular chaplain”. But that excludes all who reject such immoral authorities whether they be true atheists or … Continue reading →

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Looking a Gift Horse

Posted on 2011-03-18 by alan

(via Michael Geist) Some have objected to restrictive license terms on our nation’s new “Open Data Portal” which would stop someone from using the data “in any way which, in the opinion of Canada, may bring disrepute to or prejudice the … Continue reading →

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no analytics, :-)   ;   no conversation, :-(

Posted on 2011-03-09 by alan

The blog blog analytics issue means little to me as I am here mainly to clarify my own thoughts rather than to find an audience, but D’Arcy Norman’s comment that “distributed blog conversation has basically vanished” disappoints me (especially in the … Continue reading →

Posted in social issues, web | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Sam Harris Responds

Posted on 2011-02-28 by alan

In his latest Response to Critics , Sam Harris spends some (too much) time on the nutbars before getting to the serious cases like Russell Blackford. And before starting with his main response he provides this convenient summary: For those unfamiliar … Continue reading →

Posted in social issues | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Origin of Religion

Posted on 2011-02-28 by alan

How Did God Get Started? by Colin Wells in  Boston University’s  ‘Arion’ magazine gives a part of the story but fails to address some key questions.

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Value of Religion

Posted on 2011-02-27 by alan

The great debate between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens was a bit of a bust – with Blair citing the roles of moderate religious leaders in “bringing together” Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland (without any acknowledgement of the fact … Continue reading →

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Nicholas Christakis: A tale of two videos

Posted on 2011-02-23 by alan

Nicholas Christakis  has a couple of TED videos. This one (on how social networks predict epidemics) struck me as saying something truly interesting. The fact that we can gain predictive value by just asking random people to nominate friends  as … Continue reading →

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Defining Evolution

Posted on 2011-02-21 by alan

When I read the title of this piece (Theologians Lobby Successfully to Change Definition of Evolution | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine)I was prepared to get angry. But instead I am embarrassed on behalf of those who are complaining about … Continue reading →

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The Case for Play

Posted on 2011-02-21 by alan

The Case for Play – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education. “OK kids, you can stop your creative paper folding exercise now and the monitor will collect your products for evaluation. And now, let’s take a break … Continue reading →

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“The Belief Instinct”

Posted on 2011-02-21 by alan

Jesse Bering’s “The Belief Instinct” is described as an exploration of possible sources of religion in cognitive tendencies towards a sense of being observed even when we have no evidence for it. To support this idea he reportedly both cites … Continue reading →

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Learning Theories

Posted on 2011-02-17 by alan

In all of my efforts to participate in Connectivist MOOCS (#CritLit2010, #PLENK2010, #CCK11) I have run into a roadblock when discussion turned to “Learning Theories” and I have found myself unable to express (or perhaps even determine) what I want … Continue reading →

Posted in education | Tagged | 10 Comments