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- Yeah, in a Minute... is the personal dumping grounds of Paul Landry:
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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: society
Why Your Health Insurer Doesn’t Care About Your Big Bills
Marshall Allen, writing at ProPublica The United States spends more per person on health care than any other country. A lot more. As a country, by many measures, we are not getting our money’s worth. […] Experts frequently blame this on the high prices charged by doctors and hospitals. But less scrutinized is the role […]
What kind of restaurant is closed on Sundays?
Criminy! What kind of restaurant is closed on Sundays??? For fuck’s sake, it’s 2018, not 1818! Well, to each their own, but if they don’t want my business–fuck ’em.
Neil deGrasse Tyson on America
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Twitter: Let’s Make America Smart Again.
Also tagged education
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Police Union Head Wonders Why Everybody Suddenly Wants Them to Stop Stealing People’s Stuff
If you want to get a sense of how poorly police unions grasp why the citizenry have grown more and more upset with them, check out this absolutely awful commentary by Chuck Canterbury, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, over at The Daily Caller. Canterbury’s here to defend civil asset forfeiture, the process by […]
Also tagged government, law enforcement
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All are equal, but not all are treated equally
Rabbi Shai Held writing at CNN: If you’re white and you don’t believe that white privilege is real, talk to an African-American parent about “the conversation,” in which they teach their children to be cautious and tentative around officers of the law.
Also tagged crime, freedom, government
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A few thoughts on “Voter Photo ID”
I understand the purpose: to help prevent voter fraud; and while reasonable opinions vary as to any supposed secondary or non-stated purpose(s), I don’t feel that reasonable opinions can vary on the importance of eliminating voter fraud. That being said, you have to admit it seems a little peculiar that you need a Photo ID […]
Also tagged government, opinion, politics, reason, skepticism
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Religiosity on the decline, atheism on the rise
A new global survey on faith and atheism, released by WIN-Gallup International, and based on interviews with more than 50,000 people selected from 57 countries — asked participants, “irrespective of whether they attended a place of worship, if they considered themselves to be religious, not religious, or an atheist.” Dominique Mosbergen writing at the Huffington […]
Chick-fil-A and free speech
Teller (@MrTeller) on Twitter: A clear little essay on Chick-fil-A and the 1st Amendment in Boston. In addition to dealing with what the Mayor of Boston, and others such as certain Chicago Aldermen, have said on the matter, the linked piece is actually a clear and concise primer on Chick-fil-A and the First Amendment, and […]
Also tagged freespeech, government, reason, religion
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