The political season is getting into high gear, so it's a good idea to have a list of types of fallacious arguments handy. I recently found this collection, titled "The Nizkor Project." All of your favorite fallacies are here, including these: Ad Hominem Ad Hominem Tu Quoque Appeal to Authority…
In an article from the Washington Post we learn that the United States has slipped in the ranking for life expectancy in the world to number 42. Douglas Adams aside, this is not a good thing. The article lists a good many factors contributing to this fact, which seems paradoxical…
"What an odd question?" was my first thought when I read this column. Blogging, as a profession, has grown from geeky obscurity into a direct challenge to the journalism industry, even with bloggers' reputation for being unruly, unvetted, grammatically and syntactically insufficient, and above all, a disorganized mess. He discusses…
Here's a cute video by "AngryLittleGirl" called "Gullible is not in the Dictionary" [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OruQy-X32O0[/youtube] It makes the simple point that one should check the source when someone presents a "fact" such as "95% of Americans are scientifically illiterate" or "Jesus rose from the dead". That reminds me of "Passion of…
Best known for his dystopia, 1984, George Orwell cared deeply about language. A good example is Orwell's "Politics and the English Language." Judith D. Fischer reviewed Orwell’s contributions to the use of plain English in legal writing in “Why George Orwell’s Ideas About Language Still Matter for Lawyers.” Montana Law…