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erectlocution ⊇ boxing jewels

Archive for August 2006

Notes on the Intersection of Occam’s Razor, Epistemology, and the Supernatural

I’ve been sucked into a nearly overwrought discussion about, initially, Occam’s Razor, and thereafter what its use says about belief without evidence, and the like. There aren’t many people with whom I can carry on like this in-person, so I for one credit the current iteration of the internet a philosophical boon.
My most recent [...]

Look, Up in the Sky!

It sounds tautological, I know; but there is utility in the distinction between what we can hope to feed our cognition, and what we can’t. Current ID claims of irreducible complexity attempt to infer a designer of everything, with arguments that boil down to, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.” The argument is based on [...]

An Orgy of Type and Color

I know it’s a sign of some ignorance, but I loves me a big, fat chain bookstore. Shelves after shelves of tomes and pamphlets and magazines and graphic novels. It’s an orgy of type and color and potential infatuation or disappointment, and everyone’s invited, no matter how high-brow or trite or picayune or [...]

On What I Might Do for A Mac Pro

If I’m going to blithely rebuff traffic laws for no greater cause than because they’re annoying—not even for expedition—what do you think I might do for a new Mac Pro?
I’ve always loved the chassis, but it’s even better. I’d have it solely for that, even if it contained naught but a lowly G4; but [...]

On the Trafficking of Ideas

“The stop signs,” she intoned, in the manner of a poor attempt at oratory, “are there so you stop. They aren’t there to remind you to stop only if you see traffic. You’re not supposed to just drive or roll past them when you feel like it.” My credentials in-hand, the officer [...]

Party of One

Ah, summer. What a joyous time of year. Except the heat. But isn’t that what people clamor for from the steady grip of winter: the heat?
I don’t myself mind the heat per se, not for its own vices. I do prefer winter to summer, though, for the simple reason that the [...]

On Our Ravenous Appetite for Pieces to the Wrong Puzzle

“I’m entitled to an explanation! You owe your stockholders an account of the whole disgraceful affair! Why did you pick a worthless mine? Why did you waste all those millions? What sort of rotten swindle was it?”
Francisco shook his head regretfully. “I don’t know why you should call my behavior [...]