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“In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms."
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Nov 275 min read
The First Programmer
The exception that proves the rule . We’ve all heard the phrase, but I think most people use it without understanding it or knowing where...
Nov 205 min read
AI Big Brother
Artificial Intelligence is- Hey! Come on! I haven’t even said anything yet! Ahem. As I was saying, Artificial Intelligence is a term that...
Nov 65 min read
Who controls the past
“‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’” George Orwell,...
Oct 234 min read
Let’s Get Weird!
Words are weird. The word “weird” is a particularly weird word. Aside from the spelling, the way it has been used is hard to pin down,...
Oct 166 min read
Welcome to the Rage Machine!
One of my all-time favourite songs is Welcome to the Machine , by Pink Floyd. While the song appeared on the 1975 album Wish You Were...
Oct 95 min read
Rasputin
It’s been more than two years since I last posted, so I’m trying to remember which buttons to press to make this happen. Life has a...
Jun 26, 20224 min read
Move the Earth!
“Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth” “δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω” Archimedes is described as a mathematician,...
May 1, 20223 min read
Silos!
“Why can’t we all just get along?” This was the question asked by the incomparable Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks! Nicholson’s...
Apr 24, 20224 min read
Just asking questions!
“That is the question!” Or is it? The problem with many questions nowadays lies in the motivations behind the asking. By quoting out of...
Apr 17, 20224 min read
Relativity!
M. C. Escher has always been one of my favourite artists. From the moment I first saw his work (I think it might have been Waterfall), I...
Apr 10, 20223 min read
The Name is the Thing!
Some films age well. An example is the classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, which was fairly successful when it was originally released...
Mar 27, 20224 min read
All in this Together!
When I write, I sometimes have a topic in mind, and look for an interesting way to introduce it. This time, I ended up going down an...
Feb 13, 20225 min read
Moo!
A farmer asked a physicist to help him figure out how to increase milk production. After gathering data and studying the problem, the...
Feb 6, 20226 min read
Lingua Franca!
Recently, I was listening to an old episode of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, (actually, episode 803, dated 28-Nov-2020), in which...
Jan 30, 20224 min read
Major Generalist
It’s interesting that everyone needs to come up with their own “process” for writing. And, while there are certain common elements, each...
Dec 12, 20214 min read
The Haywain!
In the late 1980’s I liked to collect “taglines” to include in my interactions with people. While these included many “pithy” statements...
Nov 21, 20214 min read
You need to start somewhere!
You need to come up with something, so keep it simple. Even if it starts out with only six words, you can always add more later....
Nov 14, 20214 min read
What a Jerk!
Everyone knows what a jerk is. And everyone knows someone who is a jerk. But why? Why are some people jerks? Or rather, why do we...
Nov 7, 20213 min read
The Power of Nice
Canadians have a reputation for being nice. I’d like to think it’s well-deserved, but it’s more of a notional goal than a day-to-day...
Oct 17, 20213 min read
Dreamer!
Recently, after I described the way I was approaching a project and its “ultimate goal”, a colleague laughed, and called me a dreamer. ...
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