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The Irrationale of Rationality
We like to think that we are clever, observant individuals. However, we are much more likely to make incorrect decisions about the world around us than we are to make correct decisions. Our brains...
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Klüver, Death, and Geometry
We're all well acquainted with the concept of a near death experience (NDE from now on). Tunnels with lights at the end, a sense of extreme alm and relaxation, potentially even an out-of-body...
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Pride and Prejudice
There are, at the most fundamental level, four types of people who inhabit the world.There are two different criteria, each of which have either a yea or a nay response, that lead us to the four...
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Evolutionary Enigmas - Ajolote vs Giant Salamander
So, this animal tries to neatly avoid being put into any sort of category. It's a reptile, but it looks like a snake. Well, except for the fact that it has two legs. Yeah, it's a weird little...
View ArticleDoes This Bother Anyone Else?
Solids are nice, tangible things. They won't flow over your desk and spill onto everything. They can be trusted to just sit and stay, like a dog, which conveniently is a solid.Liquids are tricky, but...
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Infinity Has No Rulebook
Think back to the Chinese Room that was laid out in a previous post. There was a man possessing a rulebook with which he manipulated incoming symbols. Now, imagine if the man did not possess a rule...
View ArticleHating on Wikipedia
It's widely known (or, at least, it should be) that I am in love with Wikipedia, that great internet god that will provide you with more information than can be accessed in a lifetime. Unfortunately,...
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Evolutionary Enigmas - Sucker Footed Bat vs. Star-Nosed Mole
Here's a pair of very, very odd animals.Yup, it's hanging from a pair of suction cups. The bat possess them on both its front and back legs, which it uses to stick to and climb along surfaces. It...
View ArticleThe Binary World
We love to categorize our world. Nothing makes us happier than when we can pin something down as definitively under a certain label. No ifs, no buts, no provisos. And we, as a species, whether it's...
View ArticleMy Journey around the Political Horseshoe
"Counselor asks my direction, 'left or right where do you lean son?'Round and round is how I go, frivolous like the swirling snow"I have recently discovered that I'm not nearly as left wing as I had...
View ArticleNature vs. Nurture
One of the questions that everyone has tried to answer since we first began questioning was "Are we a product of our genetics or of our environment?" (I realize that genes were not exactly common...
View ArticleThe Church and Magic
Why is it that the church is incredibly against magic?You think that they'd be natural allies, seeing as they both attempt to explain natural phenomena by using some sort of an over-riding, invisible...
View ArticleHeaven and Inception
What would be in your heaven?"Your" because heaven would have to tailor itself to the individual who inhabited it, because there's no way that one heaven cold possibly be paradise for everyone. There...
View ArticleOde to an Imbecile
Thank God for idiots. True, they are irritating to have an enlightening conversation with, but they fulfill many essential niches in society. Tabulated for your pleasure, I present a list of the many...
View ArticleFord
A Texan was driving in the Israeli desert. He was feeling thirsty, and he noticed a tiny house in the distance, so he drove up and knocked on the door. The owner, a wrinkled old man, let him in and...
View ArticleThespians and Theists
To act is, at its most fundamental, to tell a story, and, when it comes down to it, all religions have their basis in stories. Understandably, who should be the ones who tell these stories but the...
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Dreaming of Rome
Rome is not a matter of geography; Rome is not defined by rivers, or mountains, or even seas; Rome is not a question of blood, or race, or religion; Rome is an ideal.- Marcus Tullius CiceroWe've never...
View ArticleIvan and Pyotr
Two elderly Russian men, Ivan and Pyotr, and watching the installation of a telephone line near their homes."These modern gadgets," sighed Pyotr. "I can never understand how they work.""But it's so...
View ArticleIvan and Pyotr II
Pyotr and Ivan are once again sitting on the bench outside of their homes."Thank you for explaining telephones Ivan. But what I really don't understand is television. I watch the hockey games and the...
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Malthus
Given the recent economic predicaments of countries such as Greece (in the shitter) Italy (lagging behind Greece as usual) Spain (known worldwide for bull runs, which is surprisingly helping them not...
View ArticleThe Insatiate Asophist
In which I try to understand why I don't understand now that I'm olderGrade twelve is seen as a milestone, a landmark year in which the transition between the structured life of a child and the “free”...
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