A Voice in the Dark

As if suicide bombing wasn’t enough, people outside the Iraqi city of Diwaniya tried to steal oil directly from a pipeline, then used a LIGHTER to check whether the can was full - causing a massive explosion which killed at least 27 people.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/29/news/web.0829baghdad.php

H/T Outside the Beltway.

Don’t go below the fold unless you’re willing to see what I really think.

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Filed under: Philosophy, Politics, Religion
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Here’s an interesting view on global warming.

http://volokh.com/posts/1157001708.shtml

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Filed under: Global Warming
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A commenter here wonders why I don’t have citations for all my references, specifically as regards my age of consent arguments.

Would it matter? Face it, if I take the time to hunt for it, I’ll find a citation for just about anything I want to say. That’s why most political blogs can offer citations for all kinds of complete bullshit. The fact is, I don’t know what sources you consider trustworthy. I can’t give you a trustworthy citation without your input.

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Filed under: Philosophy
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Mod points on Slashdot AGAIN!

That’s twice in one week. Well, eight days.

Filed under: Notices
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Gamasutra has an article on game narrative, which makes mention of:

Tabletop RPGs (whose influence on modern videogames cannot be underestimated)

Um, no. That’s the opposite of what you intended to say. If you cannot underestimate something’s influence, then its influence must by definition be zero.

A better phrase is to say that this influence should not be underestimated.

Of course, I’m sure most people could care less…

Filed under: Notices
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I came across a troubling little article in the NYT this week about the online community pedophiles have created. Troubling not because of the details in it - I’m pretty much aware of what these people do online - but because an awful lot of the things they say sound suspiciously like things I say.

So I thought, maybe I need to take a closer look at what I’m trying to say, and see if maybe I’m every bit as creepy as these people. So I asked myself a question.

What distinguishes my position on lowering the age of consent from the pedophile’s position on it?

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Filed under: Gay Rights, Philosophy
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Mod points on Slashdot.

Filed under: Notices
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Yes, you heard me, the best of the CENTURY. And I can PROVE it.

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Filed under: Politics, Religion
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I’m really quite fond of this five pillars of morality thing. I keep thinking about it. One of the things I keep thinking is that there ought to be six pillars. Essentially, if you’ve read the paper, you saw that there were originally three pillars: autonomy, community, and divinity. The first two of those get split into two pillars each - harm and reciprocity replacing autonomy, and ingroup and heirarchy replacing community - but the third, divinity, is simply renamed to purity. That seems simplistic.

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Filed under: Gay Rights, Philosophy
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Let’s imagine you’re walking along minding your own business, and you come around the corner and there is a gorilla with a stick.

“Gimme banana!” demands the gorilla. But you have none.

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Filed under: Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Security
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