About once a week, I visit my favorite liberal propaganda website to reinforce many of my political opinions. One of the articles this week was about the debate over marijuana legalization. It was definitely written from the anti-prohibition viewpoint, so my thoughts were very nicely echoed.

It was then that I realized that I’ve never mentioned my stance on drug policy on my blog! This must be rectified. So here it is. I’m for the legalization of any drug for recreational use that isn’t highly addictive. This means I support the legalization of marijuana. The reasons are the same as the relatively well-known ones. Just in case you don’t know them, I’ll list them here.

• reduce violence associated with large black markets
• generate revenue through taxation
• end major portion of a failed and costly drug ‘war’
• is less harmful to one’s health than already legal recreational drugs
• end part of racist drug policy and enforcement
• able regulate to create a safe product

The first point is the most important to me. Even if the drug was habit-forming, I’d rather have addicts than bodies. High demand combined with prohibition for any substance has one inevitable effect: It creates a black market run by organized crime syndicates that invariably are violent. Combine that with the fact that the drug is harmless to one’s health and that it makes economic sense should make this policy change a no-brainer.

So why do people oppose legalization? Here are the reasons I know of:

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This is just too funny not to share. Thanks to Podblack Cat for sharing it with me.

Recently, Roger Ebert wrote a wonderful essay about death – his death in particular. Overall, I think his attitude towards his own demise is a very healthy one. It also shows that one can approach the end of life fearlessly without any belief in an afterlife.

I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter.

He goes on to write:

But certainly, some readers have informed me, it is a tragic and dreary business to go into death without faith. I don’t feel that way. “Faith” is neutral. All depends on what is believed in. I have no desire to live forever. The concept frightens me.

I’ve had that very same fear when I did believe in an afterlife. Another option, annihilation, is much more appealing. My reasoning is captured in a Nietzsche quote, “Against boredom the gods themselves fight in vain.” Immortality sounds more like a burden than bonus to me. Others go even further, “I prefer not continuing to exist merely at the whim of a deity.”

The entire essay is well worth the read. Also of interest is a discussion of personal death that took place after this essay was posted on Dawkins’s website. It’s good insight into how non-believers think about their own inevitable demise.

On a side note, Ebert links to an interesting religious quiz in his essay. It’s purpose is to rank worldviews according to their compatibility with your beliefs. You can see my results below the fold.

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I am an Unaffiliatist (among other things) – that is, I am unaffiliated with any religion. I’m also a statistic. According to the results of a recent Pew survey that explores how Americans change religions, “The group that has grown the most in recent years due to religious change is the unaffiliated population.” 16% of the U.S. population identify with having no religion while only 7% were raised that way.

They list a few reasons these apostates gave up religion. For instance, about 40% no longer believed in God or the teachings of any religion. More interestingly many left their religion because they felt it was too rule-based or because the leaders were more concerned with money or power than spirituality. It seems that the movement to inject evangelical Christianity into U.S. politics has backfired. They failed to learn from history that separation of church and state is beneficial for both institutions.

One reason for leaving one’s religion that was not very prominent in the survey was that science disproves religion. This means that science-based arguments against religion are not a major factor in creating apostates. The self-destructive antics of the religions themselves are much more effective. The anti-religion segment of non-believers that list science as a reason get quite a lot of attention but actually make up a small percentage of the unaffiliated population. I compare this to the way fundamentalist Christians get more coverage than mainstream ones.

The above comic is created and licensed by xkcd.com.

Though news media is in the business of selling ad spots and not in the business reporting honestly, it is dishonest in part due to the rampant innumeracy in America.

The music festival component of SXSW kicks off this evening and, once again, I am not there. Maybe next year. This festival features a ton of great live music. The shear number of bands is overwhelming (many of which, you can stream and download from the SXSW website). Thankfully, my favorite sources of music, KCRW and RCRDLBL_ pick out some of the best acts for me.

One band, Black Math Horsemen, was recently featured on RCRDLBL_. They get docked a point for starting their band name with the all to common ‘Black’, but instantly make up for it by following that up with “Math”. “Horseman” hints to what kind of music they make. It’s tough to describe, but ‘apocalyptic’ seems to fit. It’s definitely dark (black is a bit of an over-sell), dramatic, and desperate with just a bit of a psychedelic feel. The song structures and drumming are progressive, the bass guitar riffs long and melodic, and the multilayered electric guitars alternate between melodic and rocking but always with an atmospheric feel. Distant, often detached vocals emerge from behind the music instead of being front and center; a feature I definitely appreciate.

The two songs below are well-composed and very well produced. I suspect many people will find them inaccessible. There aren’t any repetitive hooks or danceable rhythms that grab you and make them memorable. Their appeal comes from a sense of mystery and the intellectual challenge their songs create. I like them because they are easy to space out to even (especially!) when played loud. They might not be for everybody, but I certainly enjoy them. I hope you do as well.

As many of you have noticed, updates to this blog have become increasingly less common. There are a number of reasons for that. One reason is that much of my energy and time is sapped by my fitness goal for the year. Another is the increased work load due to a shrinking staff at my place of employment. Yet another is that I discovered Twitter, which sucks up much of my online time. But the main reason is that I’m suffering from debate burnout.

Debating topics is one of my favorite past times. It’s one of the reasons I started the blog in the first place. I think I’ve gotten too much of something I normally enjoy. Consider the post and comment interregnums as time I am taking to rebuild interest. If I don’t get around to responding to your wonderful comments (and I love each and every one of them), I apologize. Please understand that it’s nothing personal, it’s my own flaw.

With that in mind, I’m going to try and post more often about less controversial things. I say ‘try’ because sometimes I just can’t help but offer my opinion on a hot topic even if I’m not up for a debate.

Thank you all for your understanding.

Anecdotal, homeschooling (HS) seems to be on the rise in America. I’m quite surprised at the number of friends, acquaintances, and former classmates who are choosing to homeschool their children. A fairly recent government study confirms my experience. I call the topic a minefield because it seems to be a touchy topic for HS parents. I’m sure that they believe they are doing what is best for their children and making every effort to ensure success. Indeed, I applaud their dedication to their children’s education. This post is not to question their good intentions, but to express what I consider problematic with HS.

First, though I want to offer a disclaimer and list some things I consider home schooling does well. I have no children of my own. If and when I have a kid of schooling age, I don’t know what choices I’ll make. Secondly, I am not an educator nor am I an expert in education. My experience with being an educator is limited to teaching college mathematics for four years. Thus I have very little first-hand knowledge of these topics.

One thing that HS offers that is positive is individualized attention/curriculum. The entire educational experience can be tailor suited for a student’s learning style, speed, and abilities. Of course such an environment enhances a student’s ability to learn. It does nothing to for the parents’ ability to teach, but more on that later.

This post only covers two reasons why I dislike homeschooling. For my other reasons, I’m hoping to do some more research and to get some input from those who are closer to the educational system.

Okay, into the minefield I march!

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This video is a great primer on how easy it is to misattribute probability to events in hindsight. Specifically, it demonstrates why ascribing supernatural causes to rare events is fallacious. This is the mistake made by evolution deniers who believe that the appearance of a conscious being is too unlikely to happen naturally.

Thanks to Mentally Jumbled and skepnet (via astroengine) for making this video known to me.

Author Scott Roche has created a video promo for his book Archangel. In the second part of his story, I voice one of the characters and provide audio production assistance. Check it out.