So you have achieved your dream of making a ton of money and have been accepted to membership in an exclusive country club. But you still feel dissatisfied because you do not stand out from your fellow members as being obviously more wealthy than they, since all of you drive the same expensive cars, wear the same expensive clothes, and use the same expensive golf clubs. [Read more…]
Conditional statements (i.e., statements of the form “If p, then q”, where p and q are statements) are staples of logic and are used widely in mathematics, science, philosophy, and everyday life. How do we judge whether such statements are true or not? Normally this is achieved by looking at whether each of the statements p and q are true or not, and whether the consequence follows from the antecedent. But it is not always that simple. [Read more…]
The revelations by Edward Snowden have brought to light so many things that the government has kept from us and set in motion many actions that were not possible before. Thanks to reader Marcus Ranum, here are five major things we have learned about the original warrantless wiretapping program called STELLAR WIND that was started under president Bush. [Read more…]
Via Juan Cole, I came across this excellent news clip from a British TV station below that summarizes the status of the Edward Snowden case. While it is a pretty accurate summary of the current situation, what I found particularly is interesting is skeptical tone that the reporters display about the US government’s claims, unlike the major US media that tends to treat them as if they have automatic credibility. They also point out the hypocrisy of Microsoft’s claims to protect their customers’ privacy, the hollowness of which was exposed by the latest revelations, though this big news disappeared rapidly from US news channels. [Read more…]
I do not know much about paganism. Growing up I had the vague idea that it was used by Christians to denote believers of any belief system that was not related to Christianity in some way. [Read more…]
Sometimes people write in the comments that in support of some position or another, I have quoted people who may have dubious views on other issues. This does not necessarily bother me. I don’t expect people to agree with me on everything and when I read something that is persuasive, I do not check on the other views of the person writing it, unless he or she is basing the argument on something factual that requires checking. If the facts underlying it are not in dispute, the persuasiveness of an argument should stand or fall on the quality of the argument itself. [Read more…]
I hardly ever text people and very rarely do I receive any text messages myself so I am not aware of the conventions of that world. But I am aware that texting can be very convenient in certain situations, while at the same time sometimes requires decoding to get at what the sender is actually saying. [Read more…]
Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for the crime of speaking out for the rights of girls to get a good education in her country, addressed the United Nations yesterday on her 16th birthday. She gave a stirring speech, which many may have already seen and part of which can be seen here. [Read more…]
Now that the US Supreme Court has ruled on the Proposition 8 and DOMA cases in ways that were favorable to same-sex marriage but left unresolved the question of whether bans on such marriages were unconstitutional, as expected new cases are being filed at the state level that go to the heart of the matter. About 14 such cases are already in the works with more expected and at least one of these cases are expected to reach the Supreme Court fairly soon. [Read more…]