Depending on your point of view, my title for this article either makes your blood boil, or else you are cheering. Good. Either way, that should keep you reading. A few days ago I noticed a tweet that posed the question of whether or not the states had the right
Yesterday I was musing about writing a new post. Specifically, I wanted to talk about the difficulty inherent in writing on political topics. This difficulty stems from a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the reaction you will get from people who don’t agree with you. The
Yes, this is still the no-so-Weekly Word. But this word will pretty much define 2013 if only because it is one of the words that the great mass of unwashed people totally misunderstand. It is also a word you will hear bandied about by fools who imagine that if only
I’m sooooooo bored. Honestly. If you are wondering why I don’t write much, this is largely the reason. That, and the fact that I am a perfectionist writing about deep philosophical issues. But largely, I’m bored. And the reason is this. After a while you realize that for a lot
It should be somewhat obvious that nobody can really “own” an idea, right? An idea has no tangible existence. Ideas are not created either, they are discovered. This means that they are potentially available to any mind that bothers to think. Two people can discover the very same idea at
I saw them again yesterday. Affluent kids standing at the supermarket exit holding buckets to collect cash from shoppers as they leave the store. The signs that adorn those buckets read “Support [insert name of town or public high school] Crew”… or Football, Soccer, Hockey, or Lacrosse…. Sometimes they want
Back in January I wrote a post about how it matters who gets elected even when that person is a liar or is powerless to change anything, because it tells you something about the philosophy and the maturity of the people who vote. The video I posted a few days
Two small examples of why New Jersey ranks 49 on the freedom scale and New York ranks 50.
Four years ago I happened to be away when the US presidential election was happening. In my hotel room late at night, I flipped on the TV just to see quickly who had won. I will never forget that sinking feeling I had. It was then that it all hit
It’s 1979 all over again. Well, in more ways than one. But here in the northeast, after Hurricane Sandy, there is a major shortage of gas. People wait in lines for hours only to find out that the gas ran out before they made it a few feet. Fights break
I recently met a man who told me that the state of Afghanistan was proof that a society would not spontaneously order itself towards capitalism. Now, I don’t know where he got the idea that it would, but it seems likely to me that this is a common misconception. So
Yesterday’s post was some railing against greedy artists who imagine that the copyright law gives them some right to force others to pay them undue tribute. I admit, this stuff pisses me off. I do realize, however, that many people are simply ignorant of the principles behind copyright and patent
After yesterday’s internet black out, I realized that more clarification is needed about the “copyright” part of the so-called “intellectual property.” Why the quotes? Well, because the concepts are faulty and I frankly don’t want to give them any respect. I recently explained my views on patents in my open
This is an election year and there are plenty of people who at this point realize that the US President is largely a figurehead, as are pretty much all the others, and who will tell you that it really doesn’t matter who is elected, the outcome, essentially speaking, is largely
A few years ago I wrote a letter to the editor of Bioscience Hypotheses, a journal in which, shortly before, I had published an article speculating on the cause of Bee Colony Collapse. One of the reasons I chose that forum for my editorial was that it seemed to me
