Nicely Inclusive

I was browsing Brandon Sanderson's blog, recently, and he entreated his readers to "raise a cup of [their] favorite beverage". I smiled, thinking that this was nicely inclusive of teetotalers, and wondered if he abstained, himself. Then I remembered that he was a Mormon, and that this was therefore not simply an interesting personal ethic, but a dogmatic compulsion. And then I sighed.

But upon writing this, it seems more interesting and noteworthy to me that he made no mention of his own (presumed) abstinence from alcohol (and, horror of horrors, coffee!), but was much more subtle, and entirely nonjudgmental. And it seemed to me that perhaps he was being nicely inclusive, after all.

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I've got a banner advertising Scientology on my blog, now. Awesome!

Anyone up for a personality test?

In today's fast-paced world...

...sometimes it's difficult to make time for the important things in life. Your pet, your spouse, your kids, your girlfriend in Brandon, your collection of Magic: The Gathering cards, and even jolly old Jehovah can get left by the wayside. But Portage Avenue Church has the solution!


Reality really is stranger than fiction. (Well, not stranger than talking snakes, talking donkeys, talking bushes, talking trees, sacrificing sons, really sacrificing daughters, etc., but stranger than more everyday fiction.)

Feast your eyes on the McPrayer:

I've got to say, good on them for changing with the changing times and adapting to their new environment—evolving, if you will. But if I'm stuck in traffic and I've got a hankering for a drive through, I'd rather head 500 metres west to A&W; they've got one fantastic veggie burger.

Quantum Packets of Nutritional Goodness

My stepmother gave my father a Deepak Chopra cookbook for his birthday. There are no words...

The Life and Lies of a Some Guy with a Ph.D.

I was browsing in McNally Robinson the other day, looking for a copies of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat for my father's birthday, when I stumbled upon this sorry sight:

Oooh, he has a Ph.D.!

Now, let us be clear: I am not disappointed because this book was on a shelf in the book store. I am a fervent proponent of free speech and free inquiry, and I would not want to silence any voice, especially a dissident one; freedom is dependent on that. What disappointed me was that the book was on this shelf:

I apologise for the poor quality of the photograph. It was taken with my iPhone.

Yes, although it may be difficult to see, it is sitting on a bookshelf marked "Science".

Giving the book store the benefit of the doubt, one might point out (correctly) that the subject of the book is science (or rather, a scientist). Personally, I think that this is a rather flimsy excuse. Regardless of the subject matter, the content of the book is not science. One might charitably relegate it to the biography section, but we all know where it belongs: religion.

This is not a review of that book. Full disclosure: I have not read it, nor do I intend to. It does not behoove me to read every piece of woo-woo flapdoodle that manages to get published. But hey: if you've got new, interesting, cogent arguments... Well, let's hear them!

But this, I'm afraid, is not one of those arguments. Although we're told not to judge books by their covers, this cover provides us with as much as we need to know. We can dismiss the idea that science is at the base of this thing with the most casual glance at its title, a simple, petulant argumentum ad hominem. If the very title is a logical fallacy, need I look further? (Yes, the title of this very post conforms to the very same logical fallacy, but hey, that's comedy.)

Finally, I think that it would be fair to point out that I was looking for (one of) Richard Feynman's memoir(s) in the science section, rather than under Memoirs or Biography, but in point of fact I started in the biography section, and although there is quite a bit of science content in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, I think that it is also in the wrong place. But there are many levels of idiocy.

I'm Convinced

Now, most of you know by now that I don't go in for most of this alternative medicine voodoo (homeopathy, reflexology, psychology, and the like), but there are things that can convince even a hardened sceptic like me. Without further ado, I'll let Sylvester Stallone's mother welcome you to the magical—I mean scientific!—world of rumpology.

http://www.jacquelinestallone.com/rumps.html