The Portrait

Civil Portrait

This is me against the U.S. Civil Flag.

Pondering

Question: If they’d do what they’ve already done, of what else are they capable?

The question stands regardless of how you view the last 8 years. Regardless of what piece or version of the official story you choose to believe, if it was deliberate, if it was due to incompetence, however it happened, what else awaits us?

The Coming Attrition

If you’re part of one of those Googleplex Gigachurches. You know, stadium seating, myriad people and all that. Look for a marked rise in small group attendance while seats in the auditorium stay the same or have less people occupying them. This will also accompany apologetic sermons on behalf of King Saul.

The Road to Control

Okay today the Supreme Court backed up the 2nd amendment. This struck down the move to prohibit gun ownership in DC. Do not think that we haven’t moved closer to gun control nationwide. The fact that it was challenged at all is the evidence. This is the Bill of Rights that is being challenged in these cases. It’s not over. Not yet. The conveyer system moved a notch or two and then stopped. That’s all. Anytime we’re questioning the constitutionality of the Constitution, we’re in trouble.

Tera-Thumb

More Storage Than God (Vaporware)

A friend at work and I thunk up the idea for this. We’ve barely gotten 1TB 3.5″ hard drives on the market. So don’t y’all embarrass yourselves by going to Best Buy, Circuit City or Fry’s, ’cause it ain’t there.

Eyes

It’s been said that the eye is the window to the soul.

That is one time when we should not say, “I don’t do windows.”

A Fallacious Appeal

In philosophy, a fallacious appeal to popularity is usually the charge when someone names a specific number of people and says that is why we should accept whatever they’re saying…”300,000,000 people can’t be wrong.” The reason it is called a fallacy is that whatever number is presented is not sufficient reason for accepting the premise. The flipside of this is what I call a Fallacious Appeal to the Herd. This is not something you are going to read in any text book on logic. It may go by an “appeal to common knowledge.” It is the “everyone knows x” fallacy. People toss about these kinds of fallacies for a variety of reasons, most of which have to do with some form of manipulation. Sometimes it’s to cover ignorance, “everybody knows that rule…” While they may know they’re supposed to do whatever it is, the truth is that they haven’t been doing it and want to cut short the questioning. Other times people appeal to the herd in order to cloud the truth. A while back Fmr. Sec. of State Colin Powell said in an interview, “…well everyone knows that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.” The reason it is a fallacy is that if we can find one case where it does not apply, like anyone who has never been to Iraq or seen WMDs in Iraq, then the argument fails. Powell’s use of it was part of a larger manipulation which works far too often. If one repeats absurdities often enough, people will believe them.

Farewell, George

George

George Carlin died yesterday, 22 June, 2008. He was 71. He will be missed.