A Way Of Thinking, An Essential Tool

Science is much more than a body of knowledge.  It is a way of thinking.  This is central to its success.  Science invites us to let the facts in, even when they don’t conform to our preconceptions.  It counsels us to carry alternative hypotheses in our heads and see which ones best match the facts.  It urges on us a fine balance between no-holds-barred openness to new ideas, however heretical, and the most rigorous skeptical scrutiny of everything — new ideas and established wisdom.  We need wide appreciation of this kind of thinking.  It works.  It’s an essential tool for a democracy in an age of change.  Our task is not just to train more scientists but also to deepen public understanding of science.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021	Experience A Simple Whatever
	A Thousand Kisses
2020	Talking Politics With Trump Republicans
	In Another Lifetime
2019	People Will Come
	Change Is Here…
2018	Be My Hero – Vote Tomorrow!
	He Was All Of Us…
2017	Black And White
	Advice For #DumbDonald
2016	Mirror, Mirror
2015	Speaking With Forked Tongue
2014	The Code
2013	Eventually Formed
2012	Remember To Vote Tomorrow
2011	It Sounds Like Chaos Theory To Me

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Faux “News”: Why Wait? We’re Entertainment, Not News

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
—     Mark Twain
[Why do viewers watch a channel that’s been demonstrated to lie to them.  Oh yeah…  Because they (the viewers) want to believe the lies.  Why does Faux do it?  …To laugh all the way to the bank.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Living At The Edge
	A Simple Song
	More Sounds (Guitar Review)
2020	Poor Proof
	Right From The Start
	You Voted For An Incompetent And Corrupt Business Person To Drain A Political Swamp
2019	I Wish This Were More True
2018	Used To Rejection
	Day 16: Looking Ahead (Just A Little)
2017	Tonight
	I Rejoice
2016	Conscientious Courage
	Speaking Of Which…
2015	The Beautiful Snow
2014	Nurtured By The Voices
2013	Précis
2012	Fear And Understanding
2011	Just Being Human

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Too Bad Politics And Greed Get In The Way

There is no other species on the Earth that does science.  It is, so far, entirely a human invention, evolved by natural selection in the cerebral cortex for one simple reason:  it works.  It is not perfect.  It can be misused.  It is only a tool.  But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything.  It has two rules.  First:  there are no sacred truths;  all assumptions must be critically examined;  arguments from authority are worthless.  Second:  whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised.  We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021	Too Bad Politics And Greed Get In The Way
	Little Prayers
2020	Precarious Fools
	A Shining City Upon A Hill
2019	How #45’s Father Raised Him For Incompetence
2018	Describing #45 – “The Loser” – As A Successful Businessman
	Raking – #PresidentIdiot Proposes Full Employment For California
2017	Federal Deficit, National Debt And Tax Cuts For The 1%
2016	Picky, Picky, Picky
2015	Another Limitation On Religion
2014	Enduring
2013	Tell Me More…
2012	Passing…
2011	Fake It ‘Til You Make It

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These Days Rather Loosely Held

“Without facts, you can’t have truth.  Without truth, you can’t have trust,”  [Maria] Ressa told editor at large Karl Vick hours after she was awarded the [Nobel Peace] prize.  “This is the fabric that hold us together:  shared reality.”
—    Edward Felsenthal
From his article:  “Shining The Light“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  25 Oct / 1 Nov 2021
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On This Day In:
2021	These Days Rather Loosely Held
	Harvest Time
2020	Why I’m Happy
	The Wind In My Face
2019	I Think Impeachment Is Another Test #45 Has Already Failed
2018	Second Chances – Rice, Now Trees
	And Then You Have To Start Training Again
2017	Small Hands, Small Grasp
2016	Two Murrow’s
	Election + 1 Week
2015	Not Mine, Anyway
2015	South By South East
2013	Don’tcha
2012	I Hear A Distant Thunder
2011	A Poison Tree

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The Heart Of Science

We have found that scientific laws pervade all of nature, that the same rules apply on Earth as in the skies, that we can find a resonance, a harmony, between the way we think and the way the world works…
As a boy Kepler had been captured by a vision of cosmic splendor, a harmony of the worlds which he sought so tirelessly all his life.  Harmony in this world eluded him.  His three laws of planetary motion represent, we now know, a real harmony of the worlds, but to Kepler they were only incidental to his quest for a cosmic system based on the Perfect Solids, a system which, it turns out, existed only in his mind.  Yet from his work, we have found that scientific laws pervade all of nature, that the same rules apply on Earth as in the skies, that we can find a resonance, a harmony, between the way we think and the way the world works.
When he found that his long cherished beliefs did not agree with the most precise observations, he accepted the uncomfortable facts, he preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions.  That is the heart of science.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2022	I’m Still Friends
	More Cherry Than Candy Apple (Or My Continuing G.A.S.*)
2021	The Heart Of Science
	Too Thin
2020	Up Again
2019	Advice From #1 To #45
2018	How Much I Will Miss The Trump Administration
2017	We Need To Continue Experimenting
2016	Consistently
2015	We Must Dissent
2014	Now What?
2013	Judgement
2012	Stuck In My Mind
	Life’s Hope
2011	Just Getting Up
	Directions Please

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Kinda Like Posting To A Blog About My Day

The historian always oversimplifies, and hastily selects a manageable minority of facts and faces out of a crowd of souls and events whose multitudinous complexity he can never quite embrace or comprehend.
—    Will Durant
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On This Day In:
2021	A Tenacious Cycle
	Once Upon A Time…
2020	Kinda Like Posting To A Blog About My Day
	Just A Different Point Of View
	You Be The Judge
2019	I Think I’m Repeating Myself
	It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like X-mas!
2018	No Reason To Turn
2017	Talking Knuth
	Seeing It Through
2016	Hoping For The Best Come January
2015	Adaptive Security
2014	Wants
2013	Side Effects
2012	Just Trying To Earn A Living
2011	Productive Worry

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Like Belief In Truth And Facts

America’s greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments.  Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly self-destructive.
—    John W. Gardner
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On This Day In:
2021	Small Curves
	One For Me
2020	Like Belief In Truth And Facts
	Hey #45, Are You Tired Of LOSING Law Suits Too?
2019	Many Forms
2018	Serenity Prayer
2017	But The Clock Says It’s Already Two Minutes 30 Seconds to Midnight
2016	Towards No Regret
2015	109 And Beyond
2014	Are You Waiting?
2013	Traditional Human Sacrifice
2012	A Division Of Men
2011	Miles, Legends and Superwoman
	Got Tragedy?
2010	My Company For A Prince!!
	On The Shoulders Of Titans

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The Tragedy Of Trump Republicanism

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;  the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
―    Socrates
[I would say today’s Republicans fear light – AND – specifically the light which comes from science, truth and facts.  —  kmab]
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On This Day In:
2019	What Do Your Children See You Doing?
2018	Is #45 STILL Losing America
2017	We Sleep To Remember And We Sleep To Forget
2016	Useful Gift
2015	Who’s The Boss?
2014	What Counts In The Future
2013	Improper Sequence?
2012	Two Gems
2011	A True Test

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Foundational Pillar Of Civilized Discourse

The Enlightenment sought to establish reason as the foundational pillar of civilized discourse.  In this conception, logical argument matters, and the truth of a statement is tested by examination of values, assumptions, and facts, not by how many people believe it.  Cyber-enabled information warfare threatens to replace these pillars of logic and truth with fantasy and rage.
—    Herbert Lin
As quoted by:  Virginia Heffernan
In her article:  “Clock Watchers: The Beautiful Benefits of Contemplating Doom“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine, dtd:  Apr 2019
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On This Day In:
2021	Climate Change Is Already Raising Sea Levels
	Running From You
2020	Speaking For Us
	Tears Don’t Wash Away
2019	Foundational Pillar Of Civilized Discourse
2018	Seven Minutes. Not Six, Not Eight
2017	Falling Forward One Step At A Time
2016	And Without Expectation
2015	Just Do It
	I Am A Runner
2014	Some Things I Learned (Mostly) In The Army:
2013	Who You Are
2012	Mine Stands
2011	Aversions

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For Most #IncompetentDonald Followers

The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion.
—    Arnold H. Glasow
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On This Day In:
2022	Or The Day After
	9 (40) Redux – And Tips To Make It Through The Day
2021	And Yet I Still Pray
	I’m Still Listening To It
2020	What Am I Missing?
	If Only
2019	For Most #IncompetentDonald Followers
2018	I Dare You
2017	To Republicans Who Choose Party Over Country
2016	All About Control
2015	Liberty Is Extravagant
2014	Always Remember To Reach
	Have You Registered To Vote Yet?
2013	Ripples From The Water’s Edge
	Because I Was Alone
2012	POI vs Reality
	Dear And Sacred
2011	Chilled Again

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That’s Why It’s Called Faith

In spite of all the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support belief in God and in personal immortality.
—    Clarence Darrow
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On This Day In:
2022	Or Less Perceptive
2021	We Need Professional Journalists AND The First Amendment
	It Was Rainin’ Hard
2020	Neither Alone, Nor Lonely
	Giving
2019	That’s Why It’s Called Faith
2018	So We Agree, #45 Is Dumb – Too
2017	The Morality Of Spying
2016	He Doesn’t Remind Me Of Me
	The First Rule
2015	Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
	The Man Without Fear
2014	I Blame Robocop
2013	Future Trustees
2012	Praise Not The Day…
2011	Educated Living

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I Doubt #45 Is Listening?

A single fact will often spoil an interesting argument.
—    William Feather
[Or a frequently told lie.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	It Worked For Me
2021	It Doesn’t Stop
	I Feel Like I’m Winning
2020	#45: 14.81 Lies Per Day
2019	Less Miserable Now
	So Near And Yet So Far
2018	I Doubt #45 Is Listening?
2017	Life’s Oddity
2016	Just Asking…
2015	Two Thoughts On Thinking
2014	From The Top, Please…
2013	You Are The Stars
2012	Just One??
2011	Anything But

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Mr. President, About Global Warming

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
―    Aldous Huxley
From:  Complete Essays 2, 1926-29
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On This Day In:
2021	Being Constantly Great
	Hopeful Realization
2020	Sapping Joy
	Blew Out My Flip-Flop
	Really Wheelie
2019	Word Up
2018	But Much Is Worth Learning
2017	Mr. President, About Global Warming
2016	Starting To Stumble
2015	Begin Combat
	I Am A Runner
2014	Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013	Additions
	The Object Of Instruction
2012	Telling Her
2011	On Torture

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Hannity And Limbaugh

The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion.
—    Arnold H. Glasow
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On This Day In:
2016	Or He Could Just Be Lazy
	Small Hero
2015	Seeking Cultured Leadership
2014	Examining Failure
2013	Driving Passion
2012	Cannibal, n.
2011	Moments Of Truth

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What Counts

And the Truth is, you are neither right nor wrong because people agree with you.  You’re right because your facts and reasoning are right.  In the end, that’s what counts.
-–    Warren Buffett
(As quoted in:  “The Snowball”;  Written by:  Alice Schroeder)
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On This Day In:
2022	When Your World Seems Dark
2021	Keep Looking
	It’s Feeling Good
2020	Why Are So Many Of My Posts Simply Quotes?
2019	Two Books
2018	Prime Example = #45
2017	Building On
2016	Dueling Heroes
2015	Remarkable Creations
2014	Measured Faith
2013	April Fool, n.
2012	Faith, Ego And Patriotism
	As It Happens
2011	What Counts

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