In case it wasn't clear, this blog is officially closed, and remains only for archival purposes. ...

In the search for God, Richard Dawkins has said that the diagnostic criteria for a god is being uncaused. With this in mind, I came up with several criteria for different god concepts. Ultimate God: The uncaused, single entity that created the universe. (Like to god of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.) Strong God: A single entity that created the universe, who is a descendant of an uncaused entity. (Many ancient religions had this view, like the ancient Mesopotamians or ancient Greeks.) Weak God: A single entity who found our universe and has god-like powers. (Also, consider that ...

I disagree with justice. I don't believe in the old definition of justice because I don't believe in revenge, or retribution. I think that revenge or retribution doesn't makes a situation better. The idea of justice, for me, has become something else. My 'justice' ends when the threat is removed. I believe that it is just to kill someone who is or will kill hostages. But I don't believe it's just to kill someone who has killed hostages. The difference, here, is that one is a current threat, and the other is not. In terms of ethics, I believe that killing is unethical, or wrong. ...

I've had intermittent contact with monarchists over the years. A monarchist is one who supports the role of the monarch in a country, or in this case, Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Canada. During those encounters, I've found that there are several assumptions that monarchists make. When I was recently reading the Monarchist's League's Arguments for the Crown I noticed they packaged up several of the assumptions that monarchists make that I don't think or necessarily true. I think that Queen Elizabeth II has been a very hands off monarch. She has essentially not interfered at all in ...

What's the difference between a core gamer and a hardcore gamer? A core gamer plays to live. A hardcore gamer lives to play. Often these days gamers don't seem to understand who the core gamers are. I've noticed that in the last half a year people have slowly stopped using the term hardcore, and started using the term core to mean the same thing. It's not. People also use the term casual gamer these days to mean non-gamer, which seems like a silly contradiction to me. Nintendo recently came under fire for saying that Animal Crossing: City Folk was a core game for core gamers. The ...

I was recently reading some arguments for the crown. As a Canadian republican, I believe that Canadian values would best be reflected in making Canada a democratic republic, rather than what it is, a democratic monarchy. Reading over the document I noticed a very interesting thing. Monarchists generally believe that the Queen has several important roles in our country. One of them is an embodiment of the country itself. And they believe that this is better then many of the alternatives. Consider the US Pledge of Allegiance. You pledge "to the flag of the United States of America, and ...

Iain M. Banks once wrote that "at some point a conspiracy is so powerful and far reaching that there is no point in worrying about it even if it's true." If it is true, there's nothing you can do about it. We have no shortage of conspiracy theories floating around today. From the reptilian conspiracy, the moon-landing hoax conspiracy, the 9/11 conspiracy, and so on, there are plenty. The interesting thing about conspiracy theories is that they are very much based on a lack of critical thinking. They may be critical of the official story, they may be critical of the evidence, but they ...

Some people lament Canada's supposed multicultural society, thinking that we lack culture. I don't think this is true. Canadian culture is a new thing—Canada is a new country after all. Its culture is a new type of culture. Culture used to be defined by a shared history, a shared identity, and shared set of values or beliefs. But I think that modern culture is changing, and not only in Canada. I think that the future of Canadian culture is still about values and beliefs, or, more specifically, about a shared attitude. (Thank Iain M. Banks.) An attitude of of working and living ...

Be Honest Make Good Decisions Be Responsive to Others Better Yourself This list is intentionally unordered. ...

Once someone said to me that she was disappointed that Canadian patriotism exists only in beer ads. Years later around Canada day I started taking pictures of random displays of patriotism, but stopped. Patriotism is all around. Of course, we tend to put it down after July 1st. Far from being non-existent, I think that instead the appearance of patriotism is changing. The United States is very good at the old style of patriotism. But I think there is a new style coming. A new context of looking at patriotism. Before, patriotism was about size, military, and money. I think that as ...