You Can’t Judge an Argument by Its Conclusion

I had promised myself that I would spend less time ranting about the problems of the activist community, but I was so disappointed and frustrated during a Twitter exchange with Melody Hensley (of CFI-DC, caveat: she was speaking for herself, not necessarily CFI) the other night that I felt it prudent to bring it up […]

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Wrap Your Brain Around Monty Hall

NOTE: this post also appears on the wonderful site about crazy coincidence, theoddsmustbecrazy.com. I have always been amused and intrigued by responses to “The Monty Hall Problem”, especially when I talk about it to audiences with a high concentration of engineers and mathematicians. If you are familiar with it, but you’ve always struggled with an […]

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Why the “Critical” in Critical Thinking

In an age in which many teens and young adults seem to equate criticism and not getting what they want with disrespect, it should not be surprising that some argue for unconditional positive regard in education and elsewhere. However, criticism is essential to gaining knowledge. I am sure that most people have not thought much […]

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Paved With Good Intentions

From a NY Times article which appeared last week: Some years ago, Dr. Robert A. Burton was the neurologist on call at a San Francisco hospital when a high-profile colleague from the oncology department asked him to perform a spinal tap on an elderly patient with advanced metastatic cancer. The patient had seemed a little […]

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Skeptrack at Dragon*Con 2011

Tuesday I returned home from my third Dragon*Con, “the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!” I’m not a big fan of crowds, so I probably would not choose to attend such an event without getting something significant out of it. In […]

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