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Prof Tim teaches sociology at CSU-Pueblo and he writes books about social change, such as...
A Formula for Eradicating Racism, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/113759974X
(17 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 13, 2013 Stephen Hawking's God: A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion
It boggles the mind that two eminent physicists would be so unwilling to embrace the full implications of quantum uncertainty. With apologies to Einstein, quantum science has revealed the inescapable truth that determinism is naught but a stubbornly persistent illusion.
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, November 16, 2012 Elementary My Dear Watson! The Beauty (and Baloney) of Being Right about Everything
Fate is the most potent weapon in a the arsenal of determinists like Stephen Hawking. To contend, as determinists plainly do, that the outcomes of events are pre-determined is essentially the same as saying that the ebbs and flows of history are all dictated by fate.
(14 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 14, 2012 It's Alive!! Ray Kurzweil, AI, and Frankentelligence
Kurzweil not only believes that AI is inevitable, he also believes that AI will be a uniformly positive phenomenon. For example, AI-enhanced machines could repay their human creators by helping solve variety of currently intractable problems. However, no one should be surprised if sentient machines decide to focus on their own priorities.
(13 comments) SHARE Monday, February 4, 2013 Feynman's Cosmic Onion
Albert Einstein believed that the universe was governed by a rational god who would never play dice with his precious creation. Yet, if scientists have learned anything over the past century, it is that the universe is anything but rational. Thus, if there is a god, he does play dice. Further, scientists who don't wish to crap out would be well advised to wise up to the increasingly bizarre rules of his game.
(59 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 25, 2013 Einstein's God is Irrelevant
Einstein's oft-repeated, and dogged insistence that "God does not play dice" is scientifically wrong-headed for a number of reasons.
(24 comments) SHARE Friday, November 2, 2012 Blinded by Faith: Religion as Institutionalized Ignorance
If the Bible encourages its followers to believe that dinosaurs accompanied the preposterous menagerie on Noah's ark, then I think we can safely conclude that the bible is not a tool of enlightenment, rather, it is an instrument of intellectual stultification.
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, January 25, 2013 Evolution 2.0: Lamarck, Culture and Human Ingenuity
observers have also noted that humans have been liberated from the strict constraints of biological, or Darwinian evolution. For example, in Wired for Culture , Pagel (2012) argues that humans have been able to subvert the biological evolutionary process due to their unique capacity for cognition and cultural adaptation.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 14, 2011 Agency vs. Determinism: Redefining Reality One Creative Idea at a Time
A surprising number of people believe that the universe is deterministic. Determinists believe that humans don't have any control over their lives, or the world around them. In contrast, I argue that humans have a capacity for agency--or a form of individual-level intellectual creativity that enables individuals to conceive original ideas and then act upon those inspirations.
(14 comments) SHARE Monday, November 19, 2012 Paradigms Unlimited: Thomas Kuhn and Evolutionary Truth
Though Kuhn's revelations stirred a great deal of discomfort in the scientific community, nevertheless, his analysis exposed crucial insights about the knowledge accumulation process.
(10 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 19, 2012 The Innocence of Muslims: Sam "The Imbecile" Bacile, Religious Freedom and Free Speech
Having amply demonstrated that his opinions are worthless, people should accord Sam Bacile the respect and recognition that he so richly deserves: Ignore the dumb-ass and move on! Continuing to fuss and fume over Sam Bacile's idiotic insults will only drag otherwise decent folks down to his slimy level.
(9 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 17, 2012 Time Surfers: Problem-Solving as the Path to a Better, Brighter, but Unpredictable Future
Essentially, the future is a process. The fact that the earth has been revolving around the sun for eons is a fairly strong indicator that it will continue doing so in the future. One of the most unpredictable instigators of temporal change is the often improbable impact that human agents have upon the structure of unfolding events.
(19 comments) SHARE Monday, February 13, 2012 Ayn Rand: The Blinkered Visionary
It is worth emphasizing at this point that arch free marketers, such as Ayn Rand, typically endorse a qualified view of "government interference." Since the modern nation-state is tasked with the responsibility of maintaining a monetary system, in spite of Rand's idyllic view of a 100% laissez faire business environment, it would be impossible for an economic system to function in total isolation from government intervention.
(18 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 21, 2012 Thanksgiving at Walmart: Strikers Plan a Nationwide Celebration for Black Friday
There is a tragic chink in Walmart's "populist" armor. While there is no doubt that Walmart loves to deliver severely discounted products to its customers, in order to maximize discounts, Walmart is infamously stingy with its employees. Actually, stingy is too generous a term: when it comes to caring for its employees, Walmart is like Ebeneezer Scrooge on steroids.
(9 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 20, 2012 God's Loaded Dice: Einstein and the Death of Classical Reality
Try as he might to construct a unified field theory, Einstein never succeeded in shaping a coherent unified theory into which bizarre quantum phenomena would comfortably fit.
(14 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 5, 2012 Catholic Bishops Fortnight Fiasco: Government Grants Freedom, Not God
Via the Fortnight for Freedom, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops are attempting to make the argument that the AHA's mandates will inhibit their religious freedom. In this case, "religious freedom' is defined rather broadly as "blocking access to contraceptives for Catholic Church employees.' On July 4th, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, asserted that "God grants freedom, not government.' However, on that poi
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, June 15, 2012 The First Star Warrior: Galileo's Assault on Catholic Cosmology (Excerpt from Good Science)
Following the invention of the first telescope in 1608, Galileo took up this new instrument with uncommon zeal. Imperfect as early telescopes may have been, Galileo was nonetheless enthralled by the wonders that his new star-gazing tool exposed. One glance through the telescope revealed that there was much more to the heavens than anyone had previously imagined: more stars, more planets, more beauty and more anomalies.
(10 comments) SHARE Friday, September 14, 2012 Get Your Geek On! The 100 Year Starship Symposium
"The 100 Year Starship Mission will transform 20th century Star Trek science fiction into 21st century fact!"
Nichelle Nichols
Star Trek's Lt. Uhura
(9 comments) SHARE Sunday, March 6, 2011 Bill Gates is an Idiot: A Recipe for Educational Failure
Bill Gates should stick to what he does best: selling crappy software. As an education analyst he is a fish out of water. Software experts should run software companies. The more we rely on software experts to design educational policy, the greater the chance that we'll end up with Microsoft Vista-version of schooling.
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, November 9, 2012 Sweet Revenge: Barack Obama and the Death of White Republican Privilege
As Republicans conduct an autopsy of the 2012 election they'll need to acknowledge that their particular brand of vanilla--rich, white, and well-aged--is no longer a recipe for electoral success.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, February 27, 2012 The Sacred and the Profane: Religion, Military Occupation, and Intolerance in the Age of Reason The Sacred and the Prof
As of February 25, 2012, the death toll in Afghanistan keeps climbing (28 killed in one week of rioting), but this time it's not because of terrorism, or because of some sneaky campaign by the Taliban or al Qaeda. No, on this occasion it's because some American troops accidentally--or, perhaps, intentionally--incinerated a number of Qur'ans, the sacred text of the Muslim faith.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, April 21, 2012 The Graveyard of Empires: The Debacle that is the US Mission in Afghanistan
In the long years since the US launched Operation Enduring Freedom, endless miscues have transformed the mission in Afghanistan from unprecedented early success into America's longest and, increasingly, messiest war.
(44 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 25, 2014 Being black in public: America's most punishable offense
Racism is the most sacred American value. Racism is the American obsession. America calls itself a democracy, but practices apartheid. Being black in public is a capital crime in Ferguson, Missouri and in every other US community. Series: Science and Cosmology (2 Articles, 3212 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, March 3, 2011 Artificial Intelligence: Is Watson the Real Thing?
Artificial intelligence represents a threshold in computing that may someday transform machines into human-like entities. In a world grown used to rapid technological progress, it hardly stretches the imagination to contemplate next-generation computers that are substantially smaller and more powerful than their predecessors. However, the goal of transforming computers into sentient beings is an entirely different matter.
(11 comments) SHARE Friday, January 8, 2016 Ten Reasons Why I Am Voting for Donald Trump
Ten reasons why everyone should vote for Donald Trump:
1. Donald Trump is not a p*ssy.
2. Donald Trump will kick out the Mexicans.
3. Donald Trump will ban Muslims.
4. Donald Trump will make us all rich.
5. Donald Trump will end socialist healthcare.
6. Donald Trump will put a white man back in the White House.
7. Donald Trump will trample Hillary Clinton
8. Donald Trump is a real American.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, July 4, 2011 Live Long and Prosper: The 100 Year Starship Project
The Defense Advanced Research Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced an extraordinary new project, the 100 Year Starship Study, http://www.100yss.org . Depending upon your perspective, this could either be the craziest or the coolest project ever undertaken by a US federal agency.
(11 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 7, 2011 A Bungling Fox in the Henhouse: The Corporatization of Higher Education
Milton Friedman, who cooked up the modern-day version of free market mumbo jumbo (aka, neo-liberalism) that brought the global economy to its knees in 2008. Three cheers for Uncle Milty! May he rest in peace and may his reprehensible ideas remain in repose with him for a long, long time to come.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, April 18, 2012 The Monkey Wars: Tennessee's New Monkey Bill Attacks "Controversial Science"
The people who composed the New Monkey Bill, and the spineless governor who stood idly by as it became a law, are intent upon undermining science education. The Old Monkey Bill brazenly trumpeted its anti-scientific objectives where the New Monkey Bill is more subtle. Nevertheless, it is still designed to achieve precisely the same objective: privileging anti-science, and undermining science.
(26 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 21, 2011 Good Science: An Evolutionary Theory of Truth
Thomas Kuhn argued that scientific revolutions take place when dominant paradigms are dislodged by emergent paradigms. Science undergoes such transitions when established paradigms fail to account for an increasing number of empirical anomalies. Though scientists are generally loath to admit it, the accumulation of scientific knowledge is a social enterprise and is, thus, replete with human shortcomings.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 4, 2013 Race: The World's Deadliest Social Disease
Racism is a socially-constructed disease of the mind. Racism is an infectious disease that is caused by a specific form of ignorance: a groundless, pre-scientific belief that race is based in fundamental biological differences among humans. Nothing could be further from the truth. When it comes to biology, humans are all like (Gregor Mendel's) peas in a pod.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, February 17, 2012 Darwin Day: Celebrating the Scientist that People Love to Hate
Charles Darwin (February 12, 1809-1882) is without doubt one of the most important scientists who ever lived. He is also one of the most controversial. First published in 1859, Darwin's theory of evolution has proven to be one of the most groundbreaking achievements in the history of science.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, July 1, 2013 Paula Deen and Pop Culture Racism
As the Paula Deen case illustrates, racist vernacular among pop stars can stray too far across the line of good taste and decency. I think it is incumbent on responsible adults to impress upon our kids that using racially denigrating language--no matter which pop culture hero the user may be emulating--is hurtful, damaging and wrong.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 24, 2015 Black Lives Matter Cracks the Blue Wall of Silence
For decades, people of color have protested the horrific abuses that they have experienced at the hands of sadistic cops. Middle class America paid little heed to those protests because it was difficult for Ozzie and Harriet to imagine that police could really be as barbaric as people of color made them out to be. Series: Racism and Democracy (5 Articles, 5553 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, March 7, 2013 Racism and Hypocrisy: Celebrating Diversity--Just Not Among Humans
Remarkable as the human enthusiasm for diversity may be among canines, humans tend to deplore diversity among their fellow humans. For example, common as racial discrimination has been among humans, has there ever been a dog park that discriminated on the basis of fur color?
"No black dogs allowed!"
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, May 6, 2013 Angela Giron: The Hardest Working Senator in Colorado
Thanks to Senator Angela Giron, our kids will be better protected from rampant gun violence. Thanks to Angela, Coloradans will have better-funded schools in their neighborhoods, and more access to higher education. Thanks to Angela, when our kids complete their educations they are going to find more and better jobs waiting for them in an energized economy.
(9 comments) SHARE Thursday, March 7, 2013 The NRA: Proud Sponsor of Mass Murder Since 1871
Here are the facts: The National Rifle Association delivers unlimited guns and ammunition to trigger-happy gun nuts, while simultaneously preventing law enforcement from impeding even the most reprehensible psychopaths who are bent on carrying out mass murder against innocent victims--all too many of whom are sweet, little kids.
(5 comments) SHARE Monday, July 23, 2012 False Gods and Monsters: The Terrible Costs of the Joe Paterno Cult at Penn State
By removing the Joe Paterno statue, Penn State has taken the first crucial step toward dismantling the nefarious influences of its Joe Paterno Cult. So long as the statue remained, Penn State would never have been able overcome the taint of its slavish reverence for a false and tragically-flawed god.
(7 comments) SHARE Friday, July 20, 2012 Queers Need Not Apply: The Boy Scouts of Amerika Continue to Disappoint
On July 18, 2012, the Boy Scouts of America announced the results of a confidential, two-year review of its policy that explicitly excludes gays. The Boy Scouts' national spokesman, Deron Smith, stated that a special eleven-member committee came to the conclusion that the exclusion policy ""is absolutely the best policy'' for the 102-year-old organization.
(8 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 28, 2011 There Be Dragons: Science as the Realization of Fantasy
For centuries, dragons have animated the folklore of many cultures. Whereas, dark matter and energy remain conceptual constructs that are intelligible to only a small number of ivory tower scientists. As such, of the two fantasies, one could argue that fire-breathing dragons have a substantially stronger footing in reality.
(29 comments) SHARE Friday, June 1, 2012 To Infinity and Beyond: New Frontiers in the Science Wars
It's easy to beat up on postmodernists these days. Ever since the Sokal Hoax, the postmodernists' Waterloo, the science wars have been a rout. Once it became clear that postmodernism was incapable of distinguishing between valid scientific perspectives and gibberish, postmodernists have bolted from the battlefield.
(63 comments) SHARE Friday, November 20, 2015 What is White Privilege?
Whites often react with hostility to the suggestion that white privilege exists. If white privilege exists then, on some level, whites must admit that they owe their good fortune to past and present injustices. Series: Racism and Democracy (5 Articles, 5553 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 6, 2013 Prove it! Scientific Prediction vs. Teleology
The predictive power of science has made it possible for humans to exert unprecedented control over the natural universe. In the days before science, the winds of human fate were largely blown about at the mercy of the elements. But science changed all that.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, December 21, 2012 Evolution at the Speed of Thought
Humans are the first super-adaptable organism to evolve on earth. Rather than being determined by the constraints of Darwinian biology, humans are the only terrestrial species that is graced with the Lamarckian capacity to "redefine reality."
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, November 13, 2011 Occupying America: Middle Class Outrage Finally Transforms into a Movement
The film, Inside Job, won the 2011 Academy Award for best documentary. Charles Ferguson the director of Inside Job kicked off his Oscar acceptance speech with the following statement, "Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that's wrong."
(38 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 19, 2012 Dear Arizona, If Obama's Not American, Then Neither Are You
In a recent email exchange, Ken Bennett, Arizona's sitting Republican Secretary of State, dredged up a particularly malodorous scoop of political muck by stating that "if Hawaii can't or won't provide verification of the president's birth certificate, I will not put his name on the ballot."
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 14, 2012 The New World Order: Rush Limbaugh vs. Empowered Women in the 21st Century
Perhaps it was due to the harshness of the terminology that Limbaugh used to excoriate Sandra Fluke that he ran afoul of his supporters. Truly, it is difficult to find humor in the profoundly stigmatizing labels that Limbaugh sought to apply to Sandra Fluke.
(28 comments) SHARE Monday, August 20, 2012 There Ain't No Justice in Putin's Russia: Closing Statements from p*ssy Riot
On August 8th, the three members of Russian feminist punk band p*ssy Riot delivered their closing statements at the Moscow Khamovniki District Court. Charged with "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred," Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were first arrested on March 3, a day before the controversial re-election of Vladimir Putin.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 23, 2013 Ideas Having Sex: Lamarckian Evolution Triumphant
Matt Ridley describes the extraordinary, Lamarckian capacity that humans have developed to innovate via social and intellectual collaboration as "ideas...having sex"
SHARE Thursday, October 10, 2013 Planet of the Persnickety Apes: Darwin and the Aesthetics of Survival
Thanks to Darwin, the most straightforward answer to any question regarding survival vs. extinction is simply: advantageous evolutionary adaptation. Humans are discontented aesthetes because--at least, so far--it has been evolutionarily advantageous for humans to be agents of change.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 12, 2012 Airlines Considering Plan to Charge Passengers by the Pound - Satire
(Satire)
Some major airlines, such as Universal Air, have begun considering plans to charge passengers by the pound in response to Allegiant Airline's recently-announced plan to charge up to $35 per carry-on bag.
"It's simple math," stated Howard Fine, a spokesperson for Universal Airlines, a rival of Allegiant Air. "Heavier passengers cost more to ship from point A to point B."
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, November 4, 2011 Science, Technology And The Future: The Promises And Pitfalls Of Elevated Thinking
As we assess the current state of global affairs, it is easy to become disheartened. Problems that have plagued human society--poverty, hunger, disease, conflict, etc.--seem to grow more serious with each passing year. Yet, humans have always confronted seemingly insoluble problems.
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 12, 2013 Fate or Folly: The Mind of God and Other Known Unknowns
In spite of its scientific veneer, fate is a patently unscientific superstition. Determinists admit that in order to predict future events with 100% certainty, an observer would need to be endowed with some form of superhuman omniscience.
(22 comments) SHARE Sunday, August 19, 2012 Putin's p*ssy Problem: From America with Love
Pussy Riot's protest was an exceptionally courageous act because of Vladmir Putin's infamous knack for disposing of political critics in a heavy-handed fashion. In short, Putin's critics usually end up in prison or dead. Indeed, if I were a Russian citizen, I and my family* (*Putin likes to play rough and send clear and terrifying messages to his critics) could very well end up dead for defending p*ssy Riot.
(4 comments) SHARE Sunday, August 28, 2016 The Benefits of Legal Cannabis
Thanks to legal cannabis Pueblo, Colorado is undergoing an unprecedented green revolution. Legal cannabis has brought more jobs, businesses and investment to Pueblo than this community has seen since the industrial revolution. Legal cannabis is a clean, green industry that is helping Pueblo become a more vibrant, safe, healthy and wealthy community.
(66 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 19, 2012 Say It Ain't So, Joe: Another Sports Legend Bites the Dust
Unfortunately, Joe was not a man of his word. Winning football games did matter to Joe Paterno, and, it has come to light that winning obviously, and distressingly, mattered more to Paterno than the welfare of kids. Winning mattered so much that Joe Paterno, that great and honorable man, was willing to make a deal with the devil.
(6 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 21, 2011 Living the Dream: Transcending the Boundary between Sci-Fi and Reality
Ever since Star Trek hit the airwaves, enthusiasts have been determined to erase the boundary between the realm of Star Trek fantasy and the real world. Although many Trekkies have become submerged in what Baudrillard would characterize as a pointless simulation, others have derived sufficient motivation from Star Trek to successfully redefine reality.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 23, 2011 Redefining Reality: Seeing is Disbelieving
Redefining reality is a process through which individuals can challenge inadequate paradigms through a combination of astute observation and an ingenious capacity for innovative cognition (i.e., agency).
(4 comments) SHARE Monday, October 10, 2011 Steve Jobs, the Internet, and Revolutions at the Speed of Thought
Einstein once said that imagination was more important than knowledge. By that, Einstein meant that scientific innovation was more a product of groundbreaking leaps of imaginative insight than a ponderous accumulation of isolated facts.
(15 comments) SHARE Wednesday, August 21, 2013 Grumpy Old White Guys United: Decoding the Attacks on Barack Obama and Angela Giron
Of course, even though hateful cowards like Ted Nugent and Rush Limbaugh deny the charge, their antipathy for Barack Obama derives from the President's ethnicity. Back in the good old days, majority rule meant that good old boys were guaran-damn-teed to come out on top every time. How's that for an illusion of democracy? Series: Science and Cosmology (2 Articles, 3212 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, September 15, 2012 The Future is a Fantasy: A 100YSS Presentation*
Why bother with space travel? Because, quite simply, the stars light the way to a brighter future. Space travel paved the way to Kennedy's New Frontier in the 1960s. If the US remains committed to accomplishing ever greater feats in the future, then we should look to the stars to light our way. Thus, space travel is not a distraction. Space travel represents the path to America's--nay, humanity's--next Great Frontier.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 25, 2012 Ward Churchill, the AAUP, and Academic Freedom
Should the AAUP have done more to assist Ward Churchill in his long struggle to preserve and advance the principles of academic freedom? To that I can say, yes. Emphatically, yes! Indeed, I also believe that the AAUP needs to do more--much more!--to ensure that Ward Churchill's academic freedom (and, by extension, every scholar's academic freedom) is restored, reaffirmed and strengthened.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 10, 2012 The Federal Budget for Dummies: Tax Cuts + Increased Spending = Red Ink
In the late 1990s, Bill Clinton managed to produce a series of record-setting federal budget surpluses. Not deficits, surpluses. For those who are unacquainted with such a foreign concept, budget surpluses occur when the federal government collects more revenue than it spends--which, as we all know, doesn't happen very often.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, March 8, 2013 Immediate Nationwide Moratorium on Guns and Ammo
Beginning today, Americans should demand a national policy of Zero Tolerance for Gun Violence. In order to prevent any more needless deaths, Americans should also call for a nationwide moratorium on gun and ammunition sales until every gun, gun owner, and in particular, every wacked-out sociopath can be "well regulated" by appropriate, Constitutionally-empowered authorities.
(7 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 15, 2011 Introduction to a New Book: Good Science
Science is a vehicle for change. Arguably, no human endeavor has ever altered the course of history more dramatically than science. Further, the effects of scientific inquiry on the earth and its inhabitants, though already substantial, are certain to increase in the future. Homo sapiens is fast becoming Homo scientia.
(24 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 16, 2016 Donald Trump 2016: Making America Racist Again
White supremacists like Donald Trump take pleasure in fomenting racism. Given Trump's nauseating popularity as a 2016 presidential candidate, it is also obvious that many Americans share Trump's White supremacist hatreds.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Nuclear Nightmares: Damned Lies about the World's "Safest" Energy Source
Implausible as it may seem, as the Fukushima Daiichi disaster has grown more cataclysmic, nuclear energy advocates have come out of the woodwork to tout the virtues of nuclear as a "safe" form of energy. Safe? Last night, rain containing measurable levels of radiation from Fukushima Daiichi fell on the east coast of the United States. If nuclear energy is safe, then Hitler was a charter member of the Anti-Defamation League.
(3 comments) SHARE Sunday, October 2, 2011 Holy Megabucks, Batman! The Astounding Popularity of Superhero Movies
Ever since people invented anthropomorphic gods--such as Thor, the star of a recent superhero blockbuster--it's fair to say that humans have been fascinated with superhumans. The coolest thing about superhumans is that they are sublimely untroubled by the mundane problems that plague mere mortals. Compared to the gods, humans are puny, weak, and insignificant.
(10 comments) SHARE Sunday, November 22, 2015 Do Black Lives Matter?
From its inception, the United States has been committed to the abhorrent idea that white lives matter and black lives do not. Series: Racism and Democracy (5 Articles, 5553 views)
SHARE Wednesday, September 23, 2009 A Waste of Space: Inspired Leadership and the Struggle for the Next Great Frontier
Why bother with space travel? Because, quite simply, the stars light the way to a brighter future. Space travel served as the path to Kennedy's New Frontier in the 1960s. If the US remains committed to accomplishing ever greater feats in the future, then we should look to the stars to light our way. Thus, space travel is not a distraction. Space travel represents the path to America's next Great Frontier.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 14, 2012 RVing for a Cause: An Alternative Vacation at Best Friends
Honestly, you've got to experience Best Friends to believe it. It's difficult to imagine that such a vast and unreserved fountain of collective human kindness could actually exist in this dog-eat-dog world.
(7 comments) SHARE Monday, March 21, 2016 Donald Trump: The Racist Messiah
Trump has been running farcical presidential campaigns since the 1980s. Trump's Achilles Heel has always been his mouth . Every time Trump opens his mouth he lives up to his reputation as an obnoxious racist buffoon . Traditionally, after the first stump speech of each political season Trump supporters have evaporated faster than popsicles in the Mojave. But not in 2016. Series: Racism and Democracy (5 Articles, 5553 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 7, 2011 Osama is Dead, But What Have We Learned?
As everyone knows, Osama became a household name when we was infamously identified as the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. However, 9/11 was not Osama's first atrocity. Not by a long shot. In the 1990s, Osama orchestrated a sequence of bombings at US embassies in Africa. At the time, Bill Clinton's many detractors insisted that the President was wagging the dog when, in the midst the Lewinsky scandal, he mounted military op
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 26, 2012 It Takes a Village Idiot: Romney's Artful Distortion of Obama's "You Didn't Build That" Quote
The beauty of this is that Barack Obama never did--and never would--make such an insulting statement. Again, in its proper context, Obama was simply saying that individual success is predicated upon support from a village--and the most successful villagers have an obligation to repay some of that largesse.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, November 7, 2011 Captain America, The All-American Drughead
So, how do we know that Captain America is a true, blue American? Well, for starters, Cap is wrapped in the flag from head to toe. There could hardly be a clearer message: this guy represents the USA. He's strong, he's fast, he's fearless, and he is all of these things because he is...( drum roll, please )...a drughead!
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, April 6, 2011 A New Energy Future: Obama's Sputnik Moment
Far-reaching as Barack Obama's new energy vision may be, the current plan has a number of glaring deficiencies. For one, where does renewable energy fit into the picture?
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, June 10, 2011 Conquering the Beast Within and Without: Maintaining a Sibling Rivalry with Big Brother
For his part, Hobbes was convinced that social control was the key to human progress. No matter how refined any individual may appear, Hobbes was convinced that a primitive beast lurked within. Yet, though Hobbes believed that a savage resided within every human heart, he also believed that it was possible to tame those internal beasts.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, May 11, 2011 iPad Delusions: The Curious Appeal of Workaround Computing
Don't get me wrong, I like Steve Jobs: he's a visionary who's done more to spearhead the personal computing revolution than anyone in history, and I hope he lives to be at least two hundred years old. Three cheers for Steve! But, that said, he's got this one wrong.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, March 18, 2016 Racism 101: Debunking White Supremacy
Describing the US as a white supremacy isn't an ad hominem attack. It is simply a statement of fact. The only people in the room when the founders mapped out the contours of American democracy were greedy white guys. Is it any wonder that the only people who have enjoyed unrestricted access to American democracy throughout its history are greedy white guys?
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 6, 2012 Trumped by the Dorkusians: Donald Trump's Evil Plan to Conquer the Planet (Satire)
Just for laughs, let's ask Donald Trump to prove that he is really an American. Without even bothering to examine his 'official' birth certificate, I would be inclined to dispute it on his face. Why is Trump's birth certificate any more valid than President Obama's?
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 12, 2012 Power to The People's Attorney
Since both candidates are Democrats one might assume that Bill Thiebaut and Jeff Chostner are interchangeable. Not so. Apart from the fact that they are both members of the same political party, each candidate emphasized throughout the debate that their views about criminal justice, the state of public security in Pueblo, and the manner in which the DA's office ought to be managed differ in practically every respect.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 16, 2011 AI and IQ: The Right Answer to the Wrong Question
In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a group of truth-seekers entreats Deep Thought, an artificially-intelligent supercomputer, to reveal the answer to the most elusive question in existence, "What is the meaning of life, the universe and everything?"
(5 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 7, 2013 Nature's Taskmaster
Where humans were once the relatively helpless pawns of almighty nature, super-adaptable agents have transformed their former master into their servant. Nature now answers to the beck and call of its human masters.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 31, 2009 Welfare Cheats: Corporate America on the Dole
In the 1990s, Bill Clinton ended welfare as we know it. Ironically, in 2008, George W. Bush once again ended welfare as we knew it. Whereas welfare had once been a system of social safety nets designed to moderate distress among the poor, during 2008, the federal government retooled welfare to bail out an entirely new cohort of economic bunglers: corporate America.
(18 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 24, 2011 If Obama's Not an American, Then Neither Are You
In the days since Osama Bin Laden's execution much of the hullabaloo surrounding Barack Obama's citizenship has quieted. Putting a bullet through Osama's brain did more to convince the public that Barack Obama is a true-blue American than any deluge of replica birth certificates ever could.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, March 4, 2011 We should spend more on education and less on...
In response to Governor Scott Walker's reprehensible proposal to slash $834 million from the state of Wisconsin's education budget, I would like to make a counter-proposal. We should spend more on education and less on...
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, April 16, 2011 iUniversity: Building Bridges to the Future
If we want to blaze a path toward a better, brighter future, then we should do our best to ensure that every aspiring student has the necessary opportunities to access the innovation-inspiring environment of higher education. We may not know who the next Page, Brin or Zuckerberg will be, but the odds of producing the next generation of inspired geniuses will only increase by expanding access to higher education.
(5 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 13, 2011 Cajun Culture Wars: Another Victory for LouSEA Science Education
While at first blush the Louisiana Science Education Act (or LouSEA) appears to be an effort to promote science in the schools, a closer reading reveals that LouSEA is naught but a thinly-veiled attempt to subvert the federal ban on teaching religion in the public education system.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 1, 2009 Capitalism 101: The Money Tree
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown, Ben Bernanke, America's leading scholar of the Great Depression, has been credited with saving the nation's economy.
For the purposes of accomplishing his Miracle, Ben Bernanke suspended some of the most fundamental rules of capitalism.
(5 comments) SHARE Sunday, March 6, 2011 Pouring Gas on the Fire: Hugo Chavez Reaches out to Qaddafi
Sensing that his comrade might be in hot water, Hugo Chavez has offered to serve as a mediator between Qaddafi and Libya's fed-up citizenry. Let's see, what kind of special skills would Hugo Chavez bring to the negotiating table?
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 9, 2011 Butchery vs. Surgery: A Political Health Plan for the Middle East
Even though I tend to be an advocate of peaceful diplomacy, I support the spirit of the US military intervention in Libya. Given the available alternatives, I would vastly prefer to see the US and NATO providing military support for Libyan rebels than standing idly by while Qaddafi exacts brutal revenge on his enemies.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, October 30, 2011 Publication And Progress At The Speed Of Thought
Einstein once said that imagination was more important than knowledge. By that, Einstein meant that scientific innovation was more a product of groundbreaking leaps of imaginative insight than a ponderous accumulation of isolated facts. In his own career, Einstein demonstrated time and again that scientific progress is often predicated on breaking free from established modes of thought and replacing old ideas with revolutionar
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, May 2, 2011 A Prelude to Good Science
Although I believe it is possible to identify demonstrable improvements in the progression of scientific paradigms, I do not believe that any paradigm that humans ever have or will produce is an expression of "The Ultimate Truth." Nonetheless, the process of redefining reality is an expression of human agency. Agency can be understood as a unique quality of creative, sentient beings and it involves three key components.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, November 19, 2015 Old Racists Never Die
This is a satirical response from Reverend Billy Bob Butthole, Jr. to a Washington Post article about the insufferable anti-white prejudice that white racists claim to besieged by the contemporary USA. Series: Racism and Democracy (5 Articles, 5553 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 3, 2013 When You're Wrong...You're Right? Stephen Hawking's Implausible Defense of Determinism
Hard determinists assert that nothing moves, interacts, appears or disappears in the clockwork universe without having been minutely pre-determined by a chain of causality that was set in motion at the origin of the universe. Thus, hard-core determinism leaves no room whatsoever for agency, free will or indeterminism.