Who am I?

I’m a skeptic, humanist, and yes, an atheist, occasionally afflicted with a disagreeable attitude and a periodic tendency for arrogantly assertive alliterations about almost anything…and writing on things that I’m delusional enough to think will interest my readers, on topics skeptical, sciencey, and on otherwise nerdgasm-inducing subject matter that constitutes the majority of my writing on this site.

This blog is an experiment in free-form writing, a forum for the promotion of science and reason over superstition and irrationality, a showcase for some of my fictional ideas and short works, and an online place to share some of my fractal artwork as I improve my technique and explore new media to generate newer and better images.

I’m willing to be convinced of any claim offered with good evidence for its acceptance, though the more implausible the claim the higher the quality of the evidence required. Also, while ultimately willing to be convinced, I do not uncritically expect to be so of the more fantastic paranormal claims and those that obviously conflict with well-established fundamental physical laws, not without the cooperation of the claimant in fulfilling the proper burden of proof.

Due to the influence of Postmodernism and reactions to dogmatic religion, people understandably get antsy when people use words like “truth” and “fact,” a bit too freely as though both terms imply unwarranted claims to knowledge by default, but that is not how I use them.

We really can and do know things about the world, at least tentatively, but never with 100% closure.

To me, all truth is provisional, as is anyone’s knowledge of the facts that bear it out, independently of the actual status of said facts and always subject to revision, always subject to updating with better data.

On this site I do not ever argue for complete metaphysical certitude, non-mathematical truth with a capital “T” and do not ever spell it that way unless being snarky when critiquing an absolutist position, in which case I often add a little “™” afterwards for extra snarkitudinosity (sic).

If you want to know my standards of evidence for a particular claim, ask me. That’s all it takes.

This goes for claims asserted as true that are not considered plausible by the scientific community, and for those claims of the falsehood of scientific ideas well-supported by the data and which have been subjected to repeated but failed attempts to falsify them using that same science.

Since I’m sometimes wrong, I welcome constructive criticism, but keep it fair and keep it civil.

Welcome to my little outpost among the swarming electrons and silicon data-hives of the web, and please enjoy your stay.