I am no expert by any means, but when I see others interacting with animals I often see several common and easy-to-make mistakes. I want to share here my idea of how to effectively interact with an animal you do not know, especially animals that are not immediately friendly and social. The most important principles…
But is it art?
“What counts as art” is such a perennial question in philosophy that it has been practically beaten into the ground by now. What else is there to say? The topic has been given new life by generative AI and other technological phenomena, but fundamentally the arguments are the same as they’ve ever been. My own…
A different view of the multiplication and division algorithms
The “traditional” methods for multiplying or dividing numbers have generally been taught by rote memorization or with minimal explanation. By reframing these processes, I hope to make it more clear what is happening. Column method of multiplication This is similar to the column methods of addition and subtraction, although multiplication is slightly more complicated. Here’s…
Trailer Park Boys: Ricky as absurd hero
Trailer Park Boys is a long-running TV show in a mockumentary style that follows three characters, Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles, who live in a trailer park in Nova Scotia, Canada. The action follows the trio’s misadventures as they create illegal money-making schemes. Each season of the show typically begins with Ricky and Julian being released…
Creationists have their own research journal and it’s full of insane nonsense
To depart from Scripture at any point is neither safe nor right. Joubert 2012 p. 81 Answers in Genesis (AiG) is one of the two major young earth creationist (YEC) organizations in the world, the other being the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry dedicated to enabling…
How does a double boiler work? Phases and phase transitions in the kitchen
Phases of matter and chemical mixtures Under most normal circumstances, chemical compounds exist in one of three states or phases: solid, liquid, and gas. At normal atmospheric pressure, there is a specific temperature at which a given substance will transition from one phase to another. Many substances in the kitchen which are solid at room…
“Can a whole country have main character syndrome?”
This is a quote from YouTuber Emma Thorne in her video Evangelical Conspiracy Movie: Trump 2024 Recap, referring to the United States. Thorne herself is from the UK. Main character syndrome is an informal, nonscientific term to describe someone who thinks of their life like a story in which they are the main character. In…
Pathological mathematics
Logic sometimes breeds monsters. Henri Poincaré In math, we often speak of things being “nice,” “well behaved,” “elegant,” or even “beautiful.” The flip side of this is those things in math which often remain in shadow: the unfriendly, the unruly, the awkward, and the ugly. In some cases, inelegant solutions are apparently unavoidable. In other…
Where credit is due
Over time, I have become increasingly opposed to the idea of intellectual property. It is something I have been thinking about for a while, but recent open questions related to generative AI have brought this to the forefront of my mind. In particular, what I have been thinking about recently is that what copyright law…
Gnostic apatheism
There is a common model of belief about god that places a person’s belief on a 2D plane with one axis for belief and another axis for knowledge. The vertical axis represents degree of belief in the existence of god. The horizontal axis represents the degree to which one claims to know that their belief…
thoughts on mind 