Winter’s Haven

I finally found a backup utility which meets my needs: Duplicity. It’s primarily intended for backing up data on a remote server, which is how I use it. Duplicity compresses and encrypts (using GnuPG) your data and uploads it using SSH/SCP (among other backend protocols), so it can backup data to any server you can [...]

By day he’s a physicist at Caltech, but Sean’s posts at Cosmic Variance include some of the clearest and most level-headed discussion of epistemology to be found anywhere (regardless of academic department).
In a recent post, he carefully explains why it is unreasonable, in light of our best physical theories, to believe in telekinesis and other [...]

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams’s statements advocating the introduction of Sharia law for muslim residents of the UK has drawn plenty of well-deserved criticism. Johann Hari, writing for The Independent, offers some particularly enlightening commentary. He argues that by advocating Sharia law, Williams has pushed the doctrine of multiculturalism to its logical conclusion and unwittingly demonstrated [...]

A sociology grad student at Northern Illinois University opened fire on a crowed lecture hall there, killing 5 people and wounding 16 before killing himself. Details can be found at the New York Times and most everywhere else. I just want to toss out a bit of meta-commentary.
As in past mass shootings, this incident [...]

Thad Guy discusses objective morality, in his usual brilliantly succinct fashion.

I think that pretty much sums up the issue.

I found this comic via Hemant.

That hypothetical situation sure showed what an intellectually dishonest fellow that fictional atheist was! I have no idea whether this comic is trying to make some sort of point, or what that point might be.
The only reason I’m posting this is because I’ve long dreamed of launching an array of [...]

Jerry Taylor of Cato explains why it’s so difficult for governments to fix the prices of goods:

Congress can no more guarantee that fuel prices will go down from now until the end of time than it can guarantee a robust sex life for fat, balding, middle-aged men.

Supply and demand, baby. Suppy and demand.

All too often, people talk about market competition as if it were opposed to cooperation — as if capitalists were only a step away from resorting to napalm and land mines. The Economist’s Free Exchange blog douses that burning pile of stupid with some cool, clear analytic philosophy:
The competition at the heart of capitalism is [...]

The French government prohibits booksellers by law from selling their wares at less than 95% of list price. Allow me to state the obvious: it’s a stupid law that protects established booksellers from upstart rivals who might otherwise attempt to gain market share by offering lower prices; it raises the prices of books, and generally [...]

I quote:

We regret to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the publication of The Astrological Magazine will cease with the December 2007 issue.

There is (poetic) justice in the universe after all!
Hat tip to the Bad Astronomer for finding this.