I was looking to do some research on religions recently. I know there are a lot of them, I’ve heard, from others, the term thousands used. I’ve never really questioned that assertion, but if I’m going to write something about the subject, I’d like to be a little more precise. So, I asked one of those online knowledge bases, you know, those programs people erroneously refer to as artificial intelligence, how many religions there were and to make a list for me.
Continue reading
I haven’t written about atheism in a while. A long while. I don’t know why. Maybe because I have nothing more to say about being an atheist. A decade (or so) ago, it seemed (to me, at least) that atheism was all the rage, notably among young people (high school, believe it or not) and it was looking, to me, that the next generation of non-believers was on the cusp. Then, like all fads, it was something that passed like a bowel movement. Honestly, the way things were going, I’m actually happy the trend died out. And not slowly and painfully, but quickly and extremely traumatically for some. But I do miss some of the real activism that occurred during those days.
Continue reading
With the Internet becoming the main source of information for most people today, a little reminder to always be skeptical of what you read and see on te net. Why? There is so much misinformation out there and sometimes it’s difficult to discern between what is true or not. In fact, it’s easy to be fooled by what we see because it’s so well presented. The information may also play into our confirmation bias. A recent example is something I noticed on X the other day about that woman on trial for allegedly killing her 3 children. Supposedly the jury came back with a verdict of not guilty by reason of instanity. That post went viral for a little while until someone came on and said, “Wait, the trial isn’t even over yet”, and suddenly, the comments on that post went to zero. But for a little while, people actually thought the verdict was in and the post was true. When I saw that post, I was home so I just turned on the TV, to a news channel, to discover there were people, right then, talking about the upcoming closing arguments. TV off and I went back to doing other things. Note all the information out there about the Iran conflict, the Russia/Ukraine war, not to mention what’s going on where you live with the finally soon to be over midterm elections. In all of these, stay skeptical, remembering the rule of 3: Three independent sources. If 3 sources agree, you can be fairly confident the information is true (I say “fairly confident” because the media in general has been fooled before.) . Always remain skeptical because you’re the only one looking out for you.
UPDATE: Watching YouTube recently.I came across this video which, I think, proves my point. You can’t always believe something posted on the Internet.
I remember thinking, when I first joined Twitter (X) some years back, about how much personal information people post about their personal lives. Not just themselves, but their families – including their children – to the degree I got to know some of these people, that I’d never met and still haven’t, more than my own. family. That was very strange to me t the time and after all of these years, it still seems that way to me today. Why would anyone want to post their most intimate details of their lives to thousands (millions?) of complete strangers?
Continue reading
I’m happy to see the reemergence of the English language. What? You say. The English language disappeared? When did that happen and how is it I am still speaking colloquial english? What I’m referring to are the people that decided, a minority by the way, that some words just may not be used in polite society. But some of these words have been used for decades, if not longer, without anyone in particular being damaged by the word itself.
Continue reading