Month: October 2008

  • In Praise of Logic

    Sometime in the last few generations, logic started getting short shrift. I don’t mean logic as a concept; plenty of people can, and do, invoke “logic” as a defense for completely absurd arguments. No, I mean LOGIC, the formal subject of study, the one involving formal concepts like “and,” “or,” and “xor,” as well as…

  • What Kind of Lie?

    I stumbled across a page earlier – I don’t even remember what site, now – that referred to a “bold-faced lie.” This is another one of those phrases that have evolved to the point that there are now at least a few variants, but little certainty on the “correct” (i.e., earliest or original) variant. See,…

  • Quote of the Day: Runner-Up

    “Hope, danger’s comforter, may be indulged in by those who have abundant resources, if not without loss at all events without ruin; but its nature is to be extravagant, and those who go so far as to put their all upon the venture see it in its true colours only when they are ruined; but…

  • Quote of the Day

    “Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.” – Sir Francis Bacon

  • The Joy of Mondays

    Remember last week, when I wondered who puts trash in a neighbor’s trash cans immediately after the garbage truck comes by? The question this week is who manages to fill every trash can in sight to the point of overflowing with wet, stinking, mostly-unsacked garbage immediately after pickup? That’s what happened on our street, yesterday.…