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- Yeah, in a Minute... is the personal dumping grounds of Paul Landry:
- professional software engineer
- enthusiast / advanced amateur photographer
- (Apple) / Mac / iOS guy
- partially omniscient, witty, tech geek
- user of "adult language" (oh my!)
- 37?!?
- rock / blues / jazz fan
- skeptic, and
- raconteur...
- Yeah, in a Minute... is the personal dumping grounds of Paul Landry:
- NAME AND PRONOUNS:
- "Paul" / "he–him–his"
- FIND ME ON:
- [Twitter],
- [Micro.blog],
- and pretty much everywhere else via [About.me]...
- PHOTO BLOG:
- LASTLY:
- But not leastly, [Fuck Facebook!]
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News Gathering vs. Confirmation Bias
- Remember, if you do not have at least one source of news that you turn to regularly, with which you routinely disagree, then you are not practicing news gathering! You are practicing [confirmation bias].
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Science
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.
— Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996) at p.32.
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
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Tag Archives: religion
Oh God Damn It!
It’s International Blasphemy Day! I make jokes and all, but Blasphemy Day is is actually a very serious day, which: educates individuals and groups about blasphemy laws and defends freedom of expression, especially the open criticism of religion which is criminalized in many countries. Exercise your rights people, lest they wither away.
Also tagged constitution, education, freedom, law/legal
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Just found my next read
Andrew L. Seidel, The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American, Sterling, 2019. Trump’s dictatorial tendencies and mendacity, negative attributes for many voters, poised him perfectly to manipulate the evangelical mind. Like the biblical god evangelicals worship, Trump is a thin-skinned authoritarian with totalitarian tendencies. He craves love and punishes any disloyalty or slight. Evangelicals […]
Jerry Falwell Jr. Taking Leave of Absence From Liberty University
Mr. Falwell, the college’s president and a supporter of President Trump, agreed to a request by the school’s board of trustees. Elizabeth Dias reporting for the paper of record: Jerry Falwell Jr., one of President Trump’s most prominent and controversial evangelical supporters, will take an indefinite leave of absence from his role as president and […]
Finally, Harvard Professor Slammed for Saying Atheists “Can’t Be Trusted” to Hold Office
Charles M. Silver, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in 2011, has written a piece for the Harvard Crimson responding to Vermeule’s comment. Among other things, he notes the lack of public outrage over what Vermeule said. That’s in part due to how […]
U.S. Supreme Court turns away religious bias claim
Yahoo! Finance: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to Walgreens, turning away an appeal by a fired former Florida employee of the pharmacy chain who asked not to work on Saturdays for religious reasons as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The justices declined to review a lower court ruling in […]
Also tagged government, politics, reason
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Pro Tip: It’s not a violation of your religious freedoms…
PRO TIP: It’s not a violation of your religious freedoms (or, religious “rights” if you prefer) to be expected to do your job. If your job entails conducting same-sex marriages, or issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, etc., etc., etc., then that’s the job. And, if your personal beliefs are such that you just can’t […]
Also tagged pro-tip, rational thought / critical thinking
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That doesn’t sound very wise to me…
Wise Man #1: Ahem! Mandy (Brian’s mother): Oh! [falls over in chair] Who are you? Wise Man #1: We are three wise men. Mandy: What? Wise Man #1: We are three wise men. Mandy: Well, what are you doing creeping around a cow shed at two o’clock in the morning? That doesn’t sound very wise […]
Also tagged awesome, entertainment, humor
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The Sacrament
Sacrament: New Oxford American Dictionary: sac•ra•ment |ˈsakrəmənt| noun 1. (in the Christian Church)… 2. (in Roman Catholic use)… 3. a thing of mysterious and sacred significance Dictionary.com: sacrament [sak-ruh-muh nt] noun 1. Ecclesiastical… 2. Also called Holy Sacrament… 3. the consecrated… 4. something regarded as possessing a sacred character or mysterious significance Behold: ‘Nuff said. Join […]
Some Catholics Are Eating Plant-Based Burgers to Avoid Eating “Meat” on Fridays
Friendly Athiest: For Catholics who celebrated Lent yesterday, they’re also supposed to abstain from eating meat on Fridays until Easter. (Hey, don’t ask me to explain religious logic.) But that rule raises an interesting question: What if a practicing Catholic eats a plant-based burger? I love the tag for this article: “Give them credit. They […]
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