These days, many people adamantly refuse to take a vaccine, claiming that the vaccine can do more harm than the illness it is meant to combat. It is true that there is a risk of adverse reactions to vaccines, as with any other medication. Many people consider this justification for refusing the vaccine. They’d rather take the risk of the illness, since that risk appears to be quite small.
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I’m tired of hearing about Nikola Tesla. He wasn’t the noble crusader and misunderstood genius many people try to make him. I have often been called stupid or ignorant for saying this. I have often been told to look into Tesla’s history, as though I hadn’t already done that. Some people just won’t accept the possibility that they haven’t learned the facts.
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OK, Captain Obvious here, trying to make a point.
Some people who profess an interest in science make claims such as, “The sky isn’t really blue,” and then go on to explain how the sky really isn’t blue. They’ll refer to things such as Rayleigh Scattering, wavelengths of different colors of light, yadda-yadda-yadda. It’s all wonderful, and they’re no doubt right about all their nattering, except… the sky stubbornly remains blue.
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Where did we get the phrase, “Rule of thumb?” One common explanation is that it refers to a legal precept that states a man was entitled to punish his wife with a stick no thicker than the thickness of his thumb. This explanation is widespread. The notion is bizarre, which encourages people to share it. Spousal abuse has been widespread and accepted throughout much of history. It is easy to imagine that there might have been legal limitations on the accepted severity of the abuse.
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When someone climbs to the top of a mountain, he is often said to have “conquered” the mountain. What bullshit.
If an ant climbs to the top of a building, has he “conqured” it?
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There is some sort of motivational concept which says that if you put a frog into cold water and slowly heat it up, he won’t notice it, and eventually he will be boiled. If you throw the frog into boiling water, he’ll immediately jump out. The idea is that problems that grow gradually may not be recognized. This is silly.
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There are some websites and documentaries that are concerned with the disappearances of people in national parks. The gist of this seems to be that an unusually high number of people vanish mysteriously, never to be seen again. Sometimes later on their remains are discovered. Sometimes some of their possessions are found, but no body. No one knows what happens.
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Sometimes people worry that one day, artificial intelligence will get out of control, and intelligent machines will massacre us. Maybe there will be an uprising of some sort. Maybe they’ll just stop working for us and let us die out.
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Tens of millions of people in the US believe in bullshit. Somehow, these people believe that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, that there was a massive conspiracy to steal the election from Trump, and that Trump will soon be reinstated to office.
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Cancel Culture and Richard Stallman
In the fallout from the news about Jeffrey Epstein and his human trafficking, Richard Stallman made some comments that were deemed offensive. Because of this there was a clamor for his hide; he was evidently compelled to resign from his Free Software Foundation and his post at MIT. This seems like bullshit to me.
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