by Carl Howard | Feb 6, 2012 | Atrocities and Oppression, Biases and Fallacies, Blog Topics, History, Race, Science and Skepticism
An awesome letter has been making the rounds on the internet. It’s a 1865 reply by Jourdan Anderson (a former slave) to his former master Colonel P.H. Anderson. P.H. Anderson wrote asking Jourdan Anderson* to come back to work for him. Jourdan Anderson was living in...
by Carl Howard | Feb 5, 2012 | Biases and Fallacies, Blog Topics, Charity and Philanthropy, Resources, Food and Environment
With the recent Susan G. Komen For The Cure brouhaha, the question of what charities (especially very large charities) spend their money on has been in discussion once more. If you’ve been under a rock, a quick recap. Susan G Komen has recently cut funding to a...
by Carl Howard | Jan 12, 2012 | Blog Topics, Language, Mind, Psychology and Consciousness, Science and Skepticism
It’s very common to mention Orwell’s 1984 when criticising a tyrannical/repressive/linguistically manipulative government/corporation/individual. This is often followed by praise of Orwell and how wise and prophetic his 1984 was. I find these comparisons ridiculous...
by Carl Howard | Jan 9, 2012 | Biases and Fallacies, Blog Topics, Charity and Philanthropy, Science and Skepticism, Society
I thought a brief foray into cartooning (using material from other people’s hard work) would explain things better than words: I think ultimately it’s just another example of folk-Kantianism (ie. caring mostly about the “intent” of an act, quite literally an...
by Carl Howard | Jan 4, 2012 | Atheism and Religion, Blog Topics, Mind, Psychology and Consciousness, Science and Skepticism
The news are full of cases where very religious people do extremely ridiculous or cruel things. For example, there’s Javon Thompson, a 1 year old starved to death by his cult member family because he did not say “amen” during mealtime. Or more recently, a 7 year old...
by Carl Howard | Dec 8, 2011 | Biases and Fallacies, Blog Topics, Race, Resources, Food and Environment, Society
t’s recently come up in a Facebook discussion that I don’t think the idea of a “Third World” has much merit. I’ve posted on this briefly a few years ago but I hope I’ve learnt a thing or two since then! Just to get things clear, there are definitions of First/Third...
