Want: A Disease Based in Low Self-Esteem
Here are three related scenarios: You own the DVD of a good movie, but you never watch it. But if that movie happens to come…
Category: Mix
Will Power in Finite Supply
An interesting study has just been published in Psychology and Health that shows that when you restrain yourself emotionally you deplete what seems to be…
The Belief in Supernatural Free Will as a Significant Source of Human Suffering
I just had a possibly interesting idea: what is it that makes it possible for religious people to look at a image on TV of…
A Simple Technique for Successfully Debating the Ignorant
What follows is my new method of addressing someone who doesn’t create sound arguments during a debate, i.e. those backed by fact, data, or some…
Be Like Han | Daniel Miessler
So Han’s walking down the halls of Bespin with his old friend Lando. Leia’s there, and lookin’ good. Han thinks he’s off to dinner –…
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…
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…