Europe Travelblog  -

+ 0 - 3 | § ¶Here Be Dragons

The host of the excellent podcast Skeptoid has put together a video on how to think critically called Here Be Dragons: An Introduction to Critical Thinking.  I'm really impressed by the video; it's a clear, 40-minute explanation of how one should look critically and skeptically at the ridiculous pseudo-scientific claims made every day all around us, from homeopathy to 9/11 Truthers to Intelligent Design.

+ 1 - 2 | § ¶What I Wish More Politicians Understood about Religion

Barack Obama understands religion in a pluralistic society better than anyone we've seen in the White House for years:

He knows his own religion well (Christianity, not Islam), and he uses examples from the scripture in which he believes.  However, he also understands that America is a pluralistic society not based on one religion or even one particular variant of that religion.  He understands that political goals based on religious beliefs need to be expressable in terms other than just an appeal to religious authority.

He gets it.

+ 0 - 2 | § ¶It's gonna be another boy!

Douglas is going to be a big brother, but until today we didn't know if he would have a sister or a brother.  However, after months of being referred to as "Molly", little "Moses" has decided he had enough.  Today at our 20 week ultrasound, he let us know quite clearly that Douglas will be getting a little brother.  "Moses" isn't his actual name; it's just what we'll call him until we decide for sure.

Everything looks great, and he seems very healthy with no issues.   We had both a normal ultrasound and a heart-specific ultrasound to make sure that Douglas's problem isn't being repeated.  "Moses" is 1 lb, and we are halfway through the pregnancy. The official due date is October 16, although Jenny is expecting the actual due date to be later (more like the end of October).

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