Scottish Nous

Cross-Dressing Nazi Slayer

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Ward Churchill

[Disclaimer:  This post could be taken as very controversial.  For the most part, I'm just reporting about the events of my evening.  In no way should I be construed as claiming that the victims of 9/11 deserved to die (they did not), although I do leave open the question of whether or not the correct moral theory could implicate them as "guilty of some crime in some sense".  I also leave undiscussed what constitutes a just war (I assume there are just wars), and whether or not any nation might be entitled to engage the U.S. in military action.  All I intend to do is spark some thought, draw attention to the issue, and promote discussion.]

Ward Churchill, native American and chairman of the Ethnic Studies department at the University of Colorado, my current university, has raised the hackles of most of the state.  I was passing through the University Memorial Center (which houses the food court) today, and a local talk radio station was broadcasting live with the host calling for Churchill's expulsion.  I decided to sit down and listen for a bit, but only ended up catching snippets of the conversation as Pryor on Moore was far more interesting.

PGR Data Crunching

If you're a philosopher who hasn't looked yet, which I doubt, I highly recommend a glance at Kieran Healy's beautiful graphical representations of this past year's PGR data.  The little fan graphs (or "chambered nautilius shells") are so beautiful.

Political (or Religious?) Conservatism

The political philosophy blogosphere is heating up.  A new blog dedicated to the preservation of existing evils (rather than the substitution of new evils for old ones) has entered the fray in direct opposition to Left2Right. [via Brian Leiter]

One Degree Centigrade

Somebody set us up the indistruial revolution bomb.  You are on the way to destruction.  You have no chance to survive.  Make your time! [If you don't get it, it's because you're not an initiated geek.  See here.]  According to The Independent, the people of the world have about ten years to stop the beginnings of a cataclysmic chain reaction that will wipe out all human life - or at least drastically reduce its quality and extent.  I skipped last week's Center for the History and Philosophy of Science talk, which happened to be on global warming, mostly because I just can't muster up any interest or concern for this subject.  I wonder how my readers think we should react to the doomsayers.

Kill them for their Beliefs

Sam Harris, young author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason is accused of the banal and overzealous religious prosecution commonly attributed to the vagaries of youth.  Reading this scathing review brought to mind Ayer's quote in the preface to Language, Truth, and Logic:

Being in every sense a young man's book, it was written with more passion than philosophers allow themselves to show, at any rate in their published work, and while this probably helped to secure it a larger audience than it might have had otherwise, I think now that much of its argument would have been more persuasive if it had not been presented in so harsh a form.

Shirt Folding Kung-Fu

I must have no shame whatsoever to post this, but I suppose that comes with blogging, right?  So I confess... I tried the technique, and it works flawlessly.  To fold the perfect shirt instantly, check out this video (1.5 Mb). [Via NoodleFood.]

Epistemic Circularity: The Fun Begins

If you're interested in epistemic circularity, this will be the blog to read over the next few weeks, as that will be the topic of the next paper.  Now to dive right in.  With respect to the prospects for establishing the reliability of a certain belief-forming mechanism, namely rational intuition, Bonjour has some bad things to say.

Burlesque or Sincerity?

The cover story of yesterday's USA Today made for some hilarious reading last night, and I thought I might share some of the juicier tidbits with my readers.  Staff writer Judy Keen certainly knows how to pander to the interests of those in the heartland, if that's what she is in fact doing.  Reporting on Bush's family life:

His marriage is even stronger... When the president gets too full of himself, Card says, Laura Bush reminds him, "Your feet are on the ground." ... [McKinnon says,] "The presidency has fertilized their marriage."

I makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that Laura Bush is enjoying more frequent sex with the most powerful man in the world.  [PG-13] the guy who has exercised his power over the past four years to [PG-13] an awful lot of people over must be kind of kinky, no?  Speaking candidly, the little loving first lady informs us that Bush has decided to invest a bit more time and thought into the decision making process:

Nerdy Gamers Need Jesus Too

If you haven't, you really must head over to the website of Landover Baptist Church.  Thanks to Trish Wilson for the pointer to a recent article on winning the souls of lost WarCraft gamers for Christ.  An excerpt:

Billy has what gamers call, a Level 57 Undead Priest with Holy Focus. "I'm also in one of the largest Christian guilds on our server," he says. "I think the reason so many people are open to hearing about Jesus in the World of Warcraft is because the majority of people who play the game are lonely kids who don't have any friends. I doubt any of them play sports so you can pretty much guess that there are lots of gay boys and fat little pale-faced Wiccan girls on the servers who hate themselves and escape into virtual characters so they don't have to deal with their pathetic lives. When they hear that someone loves them, even if it is just the Lord Jesus Christ, they always want to hear more!"

This may be better than The Onion's spoof "Skeptic Pitied", which, unfortunately, is only available if you're a premium subscriber.  I wonder if that means I'd be in violation of copyright law for posting the entire article?  Here's an excerpt:

FAYETTEVILLE, AR?Craig Schaffner, 46, a Fayetteville-area computer consultant, has earned the pity of friends and acquaintances for his tragic reluctance to embrace the unverifiable, sources reported Monday.

"I honestly feel sorry for the guy," said neighbor Michael Eddy, 54, a born-again Christian. "To live in this world not believing in a higher power, doubting that Christ died for our sins? That's such a sad, cynical way to live. I don't know how he gets through his day."

Coworker Donald Cobb, who spends roughly 20 percent of his annual income on telephone psychics and tarot-card readings, similarly extended his compassion for Schaffner....

If you missed that one, I pity you.