Winter’s Haven

Two excellent posts from Megan McArdle show why it is very difficult for any of us to answer that question with any certainty. (Well, it’s an easy question to answer for people who are openly and proudly racist. For the rest of us who’d like to think the answer is no, it’s a fine little [...]

My recent lack of blog activity owes partly to school, and partly to the fact the my laptop finally died (it had been on its last legs for a while). I replaced it with a desktop box from Dell; desktops are a lot cheaper, especially in light of the comparatively short life expectancy of laptops. [...]

I bought a Trek Madone 5.0 to replace my stolen road bike. It’s a 2007 Madone, not one of Trek’s newest-generation 2008 Madones; Trek’s fancy new design is the reason that this bike was marked down to a price I could afford. Regardless of the new 2008 Madone, this bike is still a wonderful [...]

I read the following quote in a Wired article:

sales associate Babs Brockaway says she’s seen the number of customers leaving with shiny new fixed-gear (“fixie”) and single-speed bikes skyrocket. …The simplicity appeals to neophyte riders overwhelmed by too much technology. “It’s simple: You just pedal,” she says. “This is shocking, but there are people who [...]

Some people think that scientists doing theoretical work can use mathematics to prove things about the real world a priori of any empirical investigation. This is wrong. Allow me to explain.
It is true that the results of pure mathematics do follow from whatever axioms one starts with a priori of any empirical observations. Indeed, empirical [...]

The Economist brings us an article about some very cool biologically inspired architecture.

PZ points out a video showing a squid giving birth to hundreds of tiny offspring. Truly wonderous.

In case you missed it, there was a terrorist incident at Los Angeles International airport last week. Care to guess what notorious group was responsible?

As should be [...]

Here’s an abstract view of how the Ontological game is played.
A philosopher constructs some property, p, and asks you to consider the following statement:
(1a) You can imagine that a thing with property p exists.
Or alternately, if the philosopher wants to use modal logic,
(1b) It is possible that a thing with property p exists.
Now, unless [...]

I need to buy a crowbar, stock up on canned food and water, put in some practice time at the shooting range, and go running more often and for longer distances. Doing so will up my chances to 79%, supposedly.
My brother Stillman scored quite a bit better than I did. Terre Haute, Indiana [...]

My bicycle was stolen from the racks by the math department. Apparently, someone just walked up and cut the cable lock in broad daylight. I am not happy.

In response to this article in The Independent.

Dear Sir,
I read your recent recent article on Dawkins, ethics, and religion in The Independent. I have a question: of which religion are you a member? I wish to join. I am an atheist, but see no conflict in joining a sect so refreshingly free of mysticism and [...]