Free Will vs. Determinism as the Core of Political Disagreement
Ultimately, there are two primary political belief systems, and they are poorly captured by any label such as liberal, conservative, republican, or democrat. These two…
Category: Mix
How to Have a Good Debate: Definitions
The majority of conflict within any sufficiently complex debate originates from semantics related to the core terms, e.g. atheist, agnostic, liberal, conservative. The primary goal…
Nmap: Use the –top-ports Option for Both TCP and UDP Simultaneously
I’m a big fan of nmap‘s –top-ports option, which gives you the ability to leverage Fyodor’s latest Internet research on open ports on the Internet.…
Free Will Again (A Response to a Reddit Question)
In response to this thread on Reddit: — Free will is a necessary delusion. The big bang happened, and then we do things. If true…
From Reddit: An Essay on Why It’s So Hard to Leave Religion
What follows is an excellent piece from Reddit on why leaving a religion can be so incredibly difficult. Here is the original thread, which is…
No, It’s Not Just “Those People” Who Current Healthcare is Failing
62% of bankruptcies are from medical bills. Most medical debtors are well educated and middle class. Three quarters of those who filed bankruptcy had health…
A Wake-up Call for “Moderate Religion” Apologists
I have debated here at great length the degree of benefit or harm offered to society by religion. My position is that religion–even in its…
Extracting Meaning from Emptiness | Daniel Miessler
I saw this quote on Reddit recently, and it resonnated with me. It reminded me of my thoughts on meaning, which basically conclude that meaning…
From Password Reset Mechanisms to OpenID: A Brief Discussion of Online Password Security
For those not familiar, OpenID is a system that allows you to sign in to multiple websites using one identity. So, rather than have a…
The Worst Sickness of All
I’ve noticed an ailment that a few of my male friends from the South have. This isn’t to say it’s a uniquely Southern thing, but…
Password Reset Mechanisms: The Online Security Threat Nobody’s Talking About
Humans are notoriously poor at weighing risk. We use emotion, rather than reason, to judge what’s truly dangerous, which is why most Americans being afraid…
How to Sign In to Facebook Using Google
So you have a Facebook account, right? And you use Google Mail, right? Good, then this is for you. It’s just recently become possible for…