one last thing for today.

I won’t say much about the shooting of the abortion doctor yesterday, because that subject makes religious debate seem downright reasonable and pleasant by comparison, and I have no interest in kicking over that particular bucket of ill-tempered worms.
I will, however, say this:
A genuine apology doesn’t have a “but” in it.  When you say, “I’m [...]

on self-deception.

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on [...]

examining our biases.

A child is brought to a hospital because she’s complaining about severe abdominal pain.  Upon examination, the doctors find a large tumor.  The cancer specialist tells the parents that the tumor is highly operable, but that a failure to do surgery will almost certainly result in the child’s death within a year.
The parents refuse the [...]

the things we inherit.

I grew up in Germany.  Naturally, I was a soccer—–properly: fussball–fan.  When we were kids, we played fussball, because that was what you played.  There were other youth sports, of course, but I was only vaguely aware of them.  Swimming, running, basketball, and handball were something you watched other people do on TV; fussball was [...]

bad news from k-town.

A man with a shotgun walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville and shot seven people, wounding them critically, before being tackled by members of the congregation.  The shooter is in custody.
Other than the little Baptist church where Robin and I got married, TVUUC is the only church I ever set foot [...]

mahmoud, showing off his property.

This is a picture of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his First Lady, attending a conference in Tehran.  I’d tell you her name if I knew it, but I don’t.  Nobody does.  Mahmoud declines to share her name and age.  He does say she’s educated as an engineer, just like Mahmoud himself.  (Maybe they met [...]

being right at all costs.

In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is [...]

let them get married already.

Since the newswires and the Blogosphere are abuzz with commentary on the California Supreme Court ruling regarding gay marriage (and because we haven’t had enough controversy around here lately), let me throw in my two cents on the ruling:
The decision by the CA Supreme Court was 100% correct, and I applaud and welcome it.
Now, before [...]

saturday morning mail bounty.

We now get wireless news at our house!

And here’s a mail item I’d like to title: “Failure to Consider the Target Audience”:

And with that, I’m off to town for my Saturday Dadcation.  Don’t break the Intertubes in my absence, folks.