WHAT IS RACE? One defeasible but serviceable tell that two species share a common ancestry is that they remain interbreedable. So though possible, it’s highly unlikely that the pre-contact peoples of the Western Hemisphere were sui generis, as some of… Read More ›
Everything You Wanted to Know About What’s Going On in the World But Were Afraid to Ask
TAXES, TARIFFS, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN
The purpose of domestic taxation is two-fold. 1) It raises revenue for the government, without which it couldn’t do what we want it to do for us. And, 2) if but only if consumption of the product is discretionary, it… Read More ›
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
It’s my understanding that the province was named after the lake. So if we’re going to change Lake Ontario to Lake America, shouldn’t we change Ontario to America? And if so, is the capital of America Washington or Toronto? Apparently… Read More ›
NATURE, NURTURE, ATTRACTION AND REVULSION
To be disfigured is to have been ‘properly’ figured but then something happened, whereas to be deformed is to be born that way. This distinction may be important for other purposes, but not for what I want to discuss here…. Read More ›
BUT FIRST AN ASIDE ABOUT REPLACEMENT THEORY
That the complexion of Europeans and Americans is getting browner isn’t a theory, it’s an observable fact. But replacement theory – I had to look it up – is the view that there are some vile people – either the… Read More ›
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: PART ONE
For most of human history, literacy bestowed power. Power bestows privilege. And so, not surprisingly, the rarity of literacy was assiduously – sometimes even violently – protected. Once women can read … Once our slaves can … Can the same… Read More ›
BACKSTORIES
When looking up the etymology of a word, sometimes you need a backstory. For example, kleenex and hoover were once brand names. Or, how did we get ‘sincere’ from ‘without wax’? These are hardly grounds for complaint. But other disconnects… Read More ›
THE FEMINISATION OF THE UNIVERSITY
The Grumblers – and yes, we do have membership cards – argue about when our universities began their decline. But we’re all of a mind that it began with the admission of women. Which is not to say it was… Read More ›
FROM THE UNTHINKABLE THOUGHTS FILE
Well no, that can’t be right. If a thought were unthinkable I couldn’t think it, and if I couldn’t think it I couldn’t blog about it. On the other hand, by unthinkable I can’t just mean distasteful or unseemly. So… Read More ›
THE ALMANAC AND THE NUMEROSITY OF SEXES
In this entry I want to take issue with some of my otherwise-fellow travellers on their understanding of science. On two fronts. The first is about something they call ‘the scientific method’. And the second is about what they think… Read More ›
