Blog 3 Columns

Climate Scientists: Using Confirmation Bias When Data Doesn’t Match Theory?0
- Politics
- May 9, 2017
There’s been a small gaggle of news stories about a new paper by Iselin Medhaug and colleagues in the May 4 issue of Nature that concludes that climate models are just fine and their sensitivity to carbon dioxide is spot-on. If one adjusts the data observed during the balance of the “hiatus” in warming, by filling
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Why Millennial Women Want to Date Older Men 1
- Culture
- May 8, 2017
The recent Vanity Fair article detailing the more lurid underbelly of online dating—the barrage of dick pics, the endless swiping, the death of romance—was grim, if not horrific. Dating, Vanity Fair would have you believe, is evolving into an elaborate charade of deception: Everybody is petrified of giving someone the “wrong idea.” Men are impolite
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The Epic of Gilgamesh: A Guide to the Classics 0
- History
- May 8, 2017
“Forget death and seek life!” With these encouraging words, Gilgamesh, the star of the eponymous 4000-year-old epic poem, coins the world’s first heroic catchphrase. At the same time, the young king encapsulates the considerations of mortality and humanity that lie at the heart of the world’s most ancient epic. While much has changed since, the
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Study Suggests Lack of Reading Driving Contentious Society 0
- Culture
- May 8, 2017
It’s a commonly accepted fact that reading offers far more cognitive benefits than watching television. This is largely because television is a more “passive” activity, while reading goes deeper, encouraging greater thought and fostering verbal communication. But a recent study out of Kensington University in London suggests that the advantage of choosing reading over television
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Public Schools Shouldn’t Be Teaching ‘Values’0
- Education
- May 8, 2017
America’s public schools are getting worse, and part of the reason why is that they have taken on too much responsibility. This point was made by the famous historian Jacques Barzun in his preface to his 1983 book Teacher in America: “There [in public schools], instead of initiatives to develop native intelligence and give it
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Oregon Man Fined $500 for Questioning Traffic Light Timing 0
- Politics
- May 8, 2017
If Galileo or da Vinci, the famed Italian polymaths, lived in modern day Oregon, they might well be the targets of a lengthy and expensive inquisition by the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying for the unlicensed practice of engineering for engaging in mathematical criticism. That is because neither became state-licensed
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Emma Watson just won the first ‘Gender-Neutral’ acting award. What does that mean?0
- Culture
- May 8, 2017
In case you missed it, Emma Watson made history Sunday, winning MTV’s first gender-neutral acting award. So what does that mean? Unless I’m missing something, it appears that MTV just lumped male and female actors into a single category, giving out a single award for the best acting performance. That doesn’t seem like that big
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What’s So Bad about the Empire?0
- Culture
- May 5, 2017
Everyone familiar with Star Wars knows that the Empire is bad, and the Rebellion is good. But, why? Seriously. What makes life under Emperor Palpatine so unbearable, and what would make life under the New Republic so much better, for the ordinary citizens of the galaxy? The movies offer surprisingly little information as to what’s actually
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This Is Why Government Shouldn’t Be Involved in Health Care 0
- May 5, 2017
The Republican-controlled House vote to “repeal Obamacare” – if that is what this was – was a stunning mess. Did they get it right? The answer is obviously no, and that’s inevitable. Just imagine a bill that sets out to reorganize any industry that is currently mostly market driven, such as shirts, software, groceries, or
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Climate Scientists: Using Confirmation Bias When Data Doesn’t Match Theory?0