Category Archives: Deep Thoughts

I think…therefore I’m dangerous.

Some Skeptic Resources on the Web

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Where I get my doses of reality and reason.

July 9, 2009 was the opening day of The Amazing Meeting 7, an annual gathering of skeptics. This year (and last, too, I believe), they’re meeting in Las Vegas, NV. If I weren’t contracted to sit around and wait for it to rain here in central Washington state, I’d be there among them, breathing the fresh air of reason, meeting people who know how to think for themselves, and watching presentations that help me to understand more about the world around me.

The real world.

I realized that I was a skeptic about four years ago. I’d begun listening to podcasts and had stumbled upon Penn Jillette’s radio show podcast. He and his guests and callers spoke frankly about religion, helping me realize that I wasn’t alone in my thoughts on the topic. Somewhere along the line, the term “skeptic” must have been mentioned. I searched out other resources. Soon, I was listening to skeptic podcasts and subscribing to skeptic magazines. Penn’s radio show has since been discontinued, but I’ll cherish its memory — as weird as that might sound. After all, it triggered the dawn of my skepticism and every free-thinking thought that came afterwards.

A skeptic — in case you’re not familiar with the term as I use it here — is someone who does not believe in anything without evidence to support it. Religion, psychic power, homeopathy, ghosts, Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster — these are all topics we’re not very likely to take at face value. We look at everything — or at least most things — with a skeptical eye, always thinking about the evidence that might prove it’s true. I found that the deeper I dug into the world of critical thinking, the more I really thought about the world around me.

It also made me a lot less tolerant when I encountered stupidity, but that’s something to discuss elsewhere.

Anyway, I can’t attend TAM7 in person, but I’ve found a way to attend it virtually, through the tweets of fellow tweeple online. If you’re a Twitter user and skeptic, you might consider following these folks:

@TAMLive
@briandunning
@dcolanduno
@Swoopy
@RichardWiseman
@Daniel_Loxton
@derekcbart
@southernskeptic
@scottsigler
@pennjillette
@MrTeller

If you’re not on Twitter, you might want to tune into some excellent Skeptic podcasts. These are the three I’m currently subscribed to:

  • Skepticality is probably my favorite skeptic podcast. Derek and Swoopy have a great casual style as they interview folks in the world of science and philosophy, and are able to share information in an enjoyable, approachable way. After a Skepticality interview, I feel as if I’ve not only learned something, but I’ve had fun doing it. This is the official podcast of Skeptic magazine, which I subscribed to until recently. (Long story what I can discuss elsewhere.) Each episode is an hour or longer in length, making it a good listen on a long car ride.
  • Skeptoid, by Brian Dunning is a different sort of podcast. Each episode is about 10 minutes long (although some go longer) and looks at the facts behind “pop phenomena.” Brian does his homework and presents each argument well, often making you wonder why you ever thought there was a shred of truth in some of the non-scientific claims. He tends to be a bit sarcastic at times, but the sarcasm often makes for an entertaining episode. Brian is not connected with any particular organization and appreciates contributions; a donation is a good way to get all back episides as MP3s on a CD so you can easily listen to an old episode or share it with a friend.
  • Point of Inquiry is the official podcast of the Center for Inquiry. Hosted by D.J. Grothe, it also uses an interview format. D.J.’s interview style can clearly be seen as “devil’s advocate,” as he often takes the opposite view of his subject, encouraging to explain or defend their views. I’m not a big fan for this kind of interview style, but fortunately, D.J. falls just short of overdoing it. I enjoy most episodes, but since I tend to listen to several in a row, I find that the somewhat lengthy and repetitive advertisements for the Center of Inquiry and its publications can get a bit tiresome. Still, I think this is one of the best out there.

This is my list, in celebration of TAM. Have Twittering skeptics to add to this list? Or skeptic podcasts you think I might enjoy? Please list them in the comments for this post.

Women Pilots in Another Time

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A video.

One of my Twitter friends, keech560, shared a link to this YouTube video. Although I don’t usually embed the videos I like on my blog, this was “a keeper” — a video I want to watch again and remember. It reminds me that women weren’t always accepted in aviation — or many other professions — and gives me an idea of what it must have been like to be the first woman airline pilot.

As you watch this, think about all the fine minds we’ve held back because of gender, race, or other factors. We’re all people; we can all achieve the same dreams — if given the chance.

WTF?

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Another commentary rant on the stupidity of people on the ‘Net.

Back in January 2007, I wrote a blog post titled “How to Contact Amazon.com Customer Support by Telephone.” As you might imagine, it provided step-by-step details for navigating Amazon’s Web site to arrive at a page where you could get them to call you.

Over the following years, that post has been a sort of central clearing space for Amazon.com technical support questions. People seem to think that even though the post appears on my blog, which has no Amazon.com branding and shares no design elements with Amazon.com, I can somehow answer their Amazon.com technical support questions and resolve problems with their orders. Sometimes I approve the comments, just to show how stupid the people posting them can be. Other times I just delete them as if they’re spam.

But this morning, I got an e-mail message from someone who obviously read the post there and decided to escalate her case. Keeping in mind that the only way a stranger can contact me via e-mail is through the use of a form that clearly states the kind of contact I’ll respond to, I find it amazing that she e-mailed me this, with the subject “phone”:

I order alot of books from amazon.com and i would love to contact them by phone because i have a question i would like to ask them, but maybe you would know. The book by richard laymon island and quake is that both books together? Or am i better off buying both books? Also what is the headline cover on the book? Is that the paperback books?

Pardon me, but WHAT THE FUCK does she think I do? Study the Amazon.com catalog? Have some kind of secret connection to Amazon.com staff? Have a relationship with all the listed authors and publishers? Have nothing better to do with my time than field questions from morons who can’t get the information they seek from people actually paid to help them?

Obviously, I’m not going to answer her question. She’s just lucky I didn’t include her name here, so everyone would know what a total idiot she is.

And maybe — just maybe — my link from that post to this one might clue in a few of the idiots so they stop wasting their time requesting Amazon.com technical support from me.

Why Mark Sanford Should Resign as Governor

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What do you think?

Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina, has burst into mainstream media again. This time, it’s because of his 6-day disappearance and the revelation that he’d spent the time in Argentina (of all places) with his mistress.

Jeez, Louise. My first reaction to this was “Can’t Republicans keep it in their pants?” This was a knee-jerk reaction after learning recently that Republican Senator John Ensign had also had an affair. In his case, it was a bit more ironic — and hypocritical — given that he called upon Bill Clinton to resign after his affair with Monica Lewinsky. As summarized in Wikipedia, Ensign also supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, saying: “Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded.” Yeah, right.

The problem with Sanford, however, goes beyond Ensign’s hypocrisy and their shared infidelity. Let’s look at the facts: Mark Sanford disappeared without telling any of his aides or the Lieutenant Governor where he was going. He left the country without leaving instructions regarding the chain of command in the event of an emergency. He basically abandoned his post.

To make things worse, he apparently deliberately misled his aides about his destination, hinting that he wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. His staff passed this information on to the press, thus misleading the entire nation. (Imagine if he didn’t come back. We’d be combing hundreds of miles of mountainous wilderness, searching for him.)

This is not an issue of unfaithfulness to his wife and family, of abandoning his four sons on Father’s Day. It’s an issue of acting irresponsibly and lying to his constituency. If he lies about this, what else would he lie about? What else has he already lied about?

Is this the kind of many who should retain “leadership” of a state?

And I won’t even go into his political games, attempting to deny the people of his state Federal stimulus money to make a political point. I’m just glad for the people of South Carolina, that he didn’t get away with that.

My opinion: Mark Sanford should step down as Governor of South Carolina and move to Argentina. His family, his state, and our country don’t need people like him.

Update: The story is evolving. Apparently, Sanford also visited his South American sweetheart on the state’s dime, making it part of an official visit to the area. So now he’s guilty of misappropriating state funds for non-official “business.”

Yet an NPR caller today claims he’ll still support Sanford if he runs for president. Do these bible-belt conservatives understand the difference between right and wrong? Or are they just plain stupid?

Distributed Proofreading

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Doing my part to preserve history and get out-of-copyright books into digital format.

Distributed ProofreadersAbout a month ago, before I left home for the summer, I stumbled upon the Distributed Proofreaders Web site. The best way to describe the site is to echo the text on its home page under Site Concept:

Distributed Proofreaders provides a web-based method to ease the conversion of Public Domain books into e-books. By dividing the workload into individual pages, many volunteers can work on a book at the same time, which significantly speeds up the creation process.

Here’s how it works. Someone, somewhere scans printed book pages into a computer as images. OCR software is applied to translate the text into machine-readable text characters. Then volunteer proofreaders step in and compare the original scanned pages to the editable text. Proofreaders follow a set of proofing guidelines to ensure consistency as they modify the translated text. Each page passes through a series of steps that eventually turns all of a book’s pages into a single text document. That document is then released as a free ebook in a variety of formats via Project Gutenberg.

I became a volunteer. So far, I’ve proofed 14 pages. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot — and it’s not — but if 100 people each proofed 14 pages a week, 1,400 pages a week would be proofed. That’s what the “distributed” in Distributed Proofreading is all about.

The good part about being a proofreader — other that warm, fuzzy feeling you get from helping to make the world a better place — is that you get to read lots of old books about topics that interest you. The day I joined, I proofread two pages of a New York newspaper account of World War I. It was fascinating. Today, I proofread 12 pages of a biography of Benjamin Franklin, who I believe is the greatest American who ever lived. (There is a lot to be learned from Franklin’s life and writings.)

Why am I blogging about this? Well, I’m hoping that other folks will embrace this project and donate an hour or two a week (or a month) to proofreading pages. The more folks who work on this project, the more quickly these great old books and other pieces of literature will get into free digital format for readers and students to enjoy.

Want to help ebooks thrive? Give distributed proofreading a try.