Cole's Notes - The Sunday Journalist

A simple new year’s resolution – things will change.  The Aught’s are over and the new decade has cleared the slate.

Dilbert has the right Christmas spirit…… Of course I'm so old fashioned to take cash as well. Happy new year to all. 

I always knew there was a reason my I’m a materialist.  Steven Den Beste lays out an interesting  comparison on Materialism and Teleology.  Or common sense versus wishful thinking. Materialists look at history since Marx and point out that socialism has been tried many times, in many nations, in various forms, and it has always failed. …   So to materialists, it’s apparent that socialism is a nice idea, but one that doesn’t work and shouldn’t be adopted.   To teleologists, none of that matters. What matters is the fact that it’s a beautiful idea. It’s how things should be. In a world in which socialism was implemented and which worked the way the teleologists think it should work, you really would have a utopia. The fact that it’s invariably failed when used doesn’t change any of that. …   It’s teleologists who drive around with bumper stickers that say, “Imagine world peace.” I can imagine it just fine…. … Teleologists b...

Hi there - it's been a busy year and I have been working and keeping out of mischief (sort of).  In July, I started working part-time as a Staff Interpreter at Heritage Park in Gasoline Alley. And I have been working on a couple of more projects - such as my Blog Cole's Notes - and View from the Plateau doing photography, web work, and doing some work on various other things.  For example, I was a volunteer at Calgary Beer fest again, and have been doing some work on the  Strathmore Standard newspaper at Heritage Park.  That was the summer, and now I'm at Gasoline Alley for Christmas. Plus this is the year I got into Twitter , Facebook and Friendfeed , which have been interesting and helping me make new friends and contacts.  One of the new projects I have been doing is a calendar for 2010, which I usually publish and sell.  Not this year,the time ran out before I could get a decent set of photos for a calendar. Well, maybe next year. As well, I h...

View from the Plateau: Trust Science – you do anyway

The ninth commandment is: trust science. By this we mean a true science, based on objectively established criteria and agreed foundations, with a rational methodology and mature criteria of proof — not the multitude of pseudo-sciences which, as we have seen, have marked characteristics which can easily be detected and exposed. Science, properly defined, is an essential part of civilization. To be anti-science is not the mark of a civilized human being, or of a friend of humanity. Given the right safeguards and standards, the progress of science constitutes our best hope for the future, and anyone who denies this proposition is an enemy of science. — Paul Johnson, Enemies of Society (1977) From this article John Derbyshire on National Review Online

Got this urgent e-mail from a Friend. FW: PLEEEEEEASE READ!!!! it was on the news! (again...)] I knew the second I saw the subject and the thousands of CC: e-mails it was a Hoax. The old Microsoft/AOL giveaway hoax Which keeps coming back again and again. As Scopes.com said – it’s a big laugh for the jerk who sends it out but a major PITA for everyone else.  Which is why I’ve eliminated the e-mail involved to protect the gullible.