Go Terk Yourself

Mark Hoofnagle on why Denialists (Intelligent Design proponents, Homeopaths, Holocaust Deniers, etc.) should not be debated.

Academia and science are critically dependent on debate, this is true, but the prerequisite for having the debate is having people who are honestly interested in pursuing the truth and operate using the same rules of evidence and proof. It's not about censoring dissent, which the cranks insist is the issue in their eternal pursuit of persecution. It's about having standards for evidence and discussion. This is why these debates, when confined to a courtroom, often fair so disastrously for the denialists. In the presence of standards that exist before evidence can be introduced, they are left with nothing.

If, like me, you work in the software world, you will like the following from Joel Spolsky's article on software engineering and schedules at Inc.com:

Software development takes immense intellectual effort. Even the best programmers can rarely sustain that level of effort for more than a few hours a day. Beyond that, they need to rest their brains a bit, which is why they always seem to be surfing the Internet or playing games when you barge in on them.

It was bound to happen sooner or later:

rain, chaotic male elven Wizard



                              4    5 5
                               ---------
                               |.......| 5
                              5|.......|                  ------
                               |..@@...|                  |....
                             2 |.......|                 --..---------
                            |  |...%...|  |          -  --.%.|.......|
                            |. ----%---- .|          %---)`..|.......|
                            |......@435...|      %  $  -)$..%-%`._...|
                            ---....A....---      !    ---%...|.......|
                              -----`-----       %    -- --...|.......|
                                  %$           --|----   --..---------
                                4         ------)  |      |...
                                    5    |       [ |      -----
                                  $      -   -------
                                       --    |
                               ----%----   ---
                                           |
                              -------------

Rain the Necromancer      St:18 Dx:23 Co:16 In:24 Wi:24 Ch:15  Chaotic
Astral Plane $:0  HP:243(243) Pw:69(375) AC:-40 Xp:24/40029787 T:89333

You can read all the gory details, if you want.

(Geech, this time was legitimate)

PZ Myers, over at Pharyngula (one of the Science Blogs, check them out) is very entertaining:

People who think that merely believing in Jesus grants them redemption must also think that believing in evolution is a magic charm that grants them exemption from criticism of any nonsense they might hold. It doesn't work that way. There is no get-out-of-criticism-free card.