Mar 12 2011
In which I describe what’s going on with my cancer, and what will be happening over the next several months. My cancer continues. It has been a while since I wrote about the status of my health. [See Nothing’s Gonna Change My World and Cancer and Stages] I want to take this opportunity to fill …
Jan 01 2011
Terry Hurlbut (@Temlakos on Twitter) authors a column for Examiner.com called Creationism Examiner. On December 30th, 2010, Terry published an article entitled Creationism and science: wider implications. The article was brought to my attention in a post by PZ Myers at Pharyngula. I have, in the past, seen remarks about Biblical literalists attempting to “turn …
Dec 20 2010
An absolutely beautiful comic from xkcd: That echoes my sentiments perfectly! h/t to CyberLizard
Nov 20 2010
I’ve written about Joe Cienkowski on a previous occasion. Some of you may already be familiar with Joe and his ideas about evolution and atheism. I’ve had brief exchanges with Joe on Twitter, and though we disagree, we keep things fairly cordial. Someone was kind enough to recently provide me with one of Joe’s self-published …
Nov 11 2010
Many people are not familiar with the term Dunning-Kruger Effect. The linked Wikipedia article begins with a very good description: The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which an unskilled person makes poor decisions and reaches erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to realize their mistakes. The unskilled therefore suffer …
Oct 22 2010
While driving east on University Avenue in Champaign, Illinois, I was presented with the sight of this billboard. I found that I was not the only person in town who noticed the billboard, and was a bit insulted by it. [I’m not offended by it, as it takes much more to actually offend me.] A …
Aug 13 2010
When I first heard that Christopher Hitchens has cancer, I was a bit saddened. It meant that there was a higher probability that an author who I admire might write fewer words for me to enjoy. The news was a bit closer to home for me than some others because I had been diagnosed with …
Jun 28 2010
I keep hearing the accommodationist mantra that religion is compatible with science (or vice versa). There have recently been issues regarding a person who happens to be a skeptic, while at the same time being Christian (of the Roman Catholic sect), becoming upset that her religious ideas were openly ridiculed by other skeptics. There have …
Jun 19 2010
As many of the people who might read this blog already know, I was recently diagnosed as having Hodgkin’s Disease, or Hodgkin Lymphoma as they prefer to call it now. That was on the 19th of May, just one month ago. I have cancer. I don’t know any way to explain how that makes me …
Feb 22 2010
To be honest and fair to RenewAmerica, I preface this post with the disclaimer that the views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates. Congratulations! Yes, I wish to heartily congratulate RenewAmerica.com for a magnanimous contribution to our society. Many institutions are either …
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