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I was working on a work of fiction, when I realized that what I had one character complain about was a major problem in today's world. The character was talking about setting up a school that would teach the basics of Rhetoric and Logic, so that the graduates would later be able to make better arguments and to detect fallacious arguments. The problem is that most people never learn the basics of argumentation and logic, so they can't tell when someone is using a logical fallacy, and much of the ...

After somewhat unproductive and unpleasant day, my mood was lifted a bit by an exchange the owner of a convenience store and his son, who usually runs it. It started when the older man asked me how I was, and in my normal fashion, I replied, "I don’t know, either."

"Oh, I have that problem, too. Sometimes I can't remember my name, who I am, anything."

"Oh no, I can remember just fine, I just don't know." (Actually, I hate those absurd ...

There I was, walking down the Miracle Mile in Tucson, AZ; I'd already found out that the people I was in Tucson to see had escaped the city, So I was heading back toward I-10 to hitch hike home. I had spent the previous night in a Motel 6 near Phoenix and had breakfast nearby before going to Tucson. After I found out they weren't there, there was nothing to do except follow their example.

Apparently, I looked like a mark, because when I walked past a bar that had its door open in ...

I Have lived my life so far in a federal republic, and I have seen how poorly that works. Republics try to give a voice to everyone that can be involved. Democracy is even worse, because everyone has a voice and a vote, even the insane, drunk, or mentally defective, and results often show the influence of such people. Aristocracy all too often deteriorates into plutocracy or oligarchy. If we are talking about governing a major country, then we are more interested in results than in process. ...

This was written as an informative and was not intended to denigrate religion.

There is an ancient tradition of starting religions for fun or profit or as tools for propaganda, and as ancient as the tradition is, it is thoroughly modern also. I first became interested in that practice while watching the TV show "Route 66". In that episode, the heroes met an evangelist whose car had broken down. Todd and Buzz got the car going, but the evangelist had the lovely line, "I ...