Published today in the Wichita Eagle: Justice system ignored facts I don’t know whether to feel saddened or enraged from reading about the man choked to death on a New York City street. The sources indicate this type of restraint by law enforcement officers was banned 20 years ago, yet […]
Read MoreDawkins leads charge, is startled by army
We Hunted the Mammoth is a good site to read if you don’t know what the men’s rights movement is. If you’ve ever heard the acronym “MRA” and not understood what it means, that’s where I’d suggest you go (hint: the “A” stands for “activist”). So I guess it’s only […]
Read MoreI’m not angry about Matt Taylor’s shirt
Nope, I’m not. Matt Taylor apologized– apparently sincerely. Nobody I actually know is angry at him now, if they were before. I’m angry at the horde of people who are: Shrieking on Twitter and any other social media site that he shouldn’t have apologized, because he did nothing wrong and […]
Read MoreThe Overwatch girls
Note: Follow-up posts here, here, and here. ————————————————- Yesterday at BlizzCon, Blizzard Entertainment’s annual conference in Anaheim, Blizzard unveiled a new game. Yeah, I know, so what? New games are announced all the time. Heck, Blizzard announces new games all the time. So what was it this time– a new expansion […]
Read MoreThe cure for cancer
I love this because it illustrates some really bizarre assumptions and why they’re bizarre. Like the all-too-common-among-pro-lifers assumption that an unborn fetus represents absolutely limitless possibility. Unborn fetuses are positively magical that way– they could cure cancer, end world hunger, invent a perpetual motion machine, anything! They could save the […]
Read More#Inktober 2014
I got a late start– not for any good reason, but because it just completely slipped my mind until October 3rd that it was Inktober– but I’m participating. I’m posting drawings here, as well as on Twitter and Facebook. As with last year, the quality varies. I’m trying to do […]
Read MoreTotally not sexist
Some of my best friends are women! Inspirations: http://the-toast.net/2014/09/11/father-daughters-think-treat-women-like-daughters/ http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2014/09/im-right-youre-wrong-and-shes-a-feminist-detractor/
Read MoreRat Queen Dee
Dee in conversation with her mother I’m in the market for new comics– but let’s note that to me, all comics are basically new. I have read and loved Maus 1 and 2 by Art Spiegelman and Alan Moore’s Top 10 series, but that’s pretty much it. In thinking about what […]
Read MoreGood Arguing: the low-hanging fruit
So I’ve talked in the last few posts about making good arguments by addressing the substance of your opponent’s position rather than attacking irrelevancies. I described the practice of strawmanning, which is constructing an inferior version of the argument you’re trying to demolish because it’s easier, and how that shouldn’t […]
Read MoreGood Arguing: How to steelman (and why it’s hard)
In the last couple of posts I’ve been exploring different ways in which it’s possible to make bad arguments against someone’s position by ignoring the substance of their argument in favor of some distraction from it or distortion of it, even a completely fictional version of it. The tactic of […]
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