Appeal to Authority … is this really a fallacy?

I’m building up to a point here about the “appeal to an authority” fallacy. What comes next is there to be used to illustrate this, so stick with me for a bit. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is the Nobel prize winning Biologist who won the Nobel prize in 2009 jointly with  Thomas A. Steitz and Ada Yonath, “for studies … Read more

How not to communicate … even if you are right?

Getting into somebody’s face and telling them that they are being a F***ing idiot and that they are doing/believing something very stupid is highly effective. This consistently works every time, they always step back and comment, “Yep, you are right“, and then immediately change their position. You have seen that happen all the time … right? … Read more

Claim: Pastor trying to walk on water at the Crocodile River gets eaten by 3 crocodiles

And this week’s Darwin award for doing something so catastrophically stupid that you end up dying before you can breed and thus enrich the gene pool is … Zimbabwe Pastor trying to walk on water at the Crocodile River gets eaten by 3 crocodiles  A pastor from a local church in White River Mpumalanga died this … Read more

Can you vaccinate against “Alternative Facts”?

There is a new study that takes a rather serious look into the idea that you can psychologically inoculate people. Well yes, with my tongue firmly placed in my cheek I believe the term we use to describe that is the word “Education”. OK, so putting the teasing to one side, it is actually both … Read more

Daily Star: We are all doomed

I must admit that sometimes the daily tabloids go so overboard that the pure absurdness of it all becomes quite entertaining. Last Saturday the UK’s Daily Star was announcing that the sun had a hole and so we were all doomed … Well yes, a typical tabloid headline. It might indeed be an article about a coronal … Read more

Oatmeal for breakfast

Side Note: This posting might sound like an infomercial ad. I don’t do that … ever. This is here because I really really like what this guy does. While porridge is indeed a great way to start the day, that is not the Oatmeal I’m referring to. Instead, the portion of Oatmeal I have for … Read more