See Reason: Looking at the World through Science and Reason

Maybe 3 or 4 years ago, I started developing a fear of flying. I never had a problem before then, but for some reason I started getting scared, especially when there's turbulence . My mother says it's because I became an atheist, but I don't buy that, because I've been a closet atheist for a while, well before my fear of flying. I know that flying is extremely safe, safer than driving, but that doesn't comfort me. I think my fear comes from the fact that if there is a crash, I have about a 0% chance of survival. At least in a car crash, I have a shot at survival. On a plane, there is nothing I can do. You just go down, and that's it. But I have to fly, because it's the only practical way to travel long distances. I don't believe in any supernatural protectors, so I can't pray for safety or anything. So I need a way to get over my fear. It helps to have a couple drinks before getting on the plane, and sometimes that's enough, but usually, I get to

One of the perks of working for Microsoft and living in Seattle is getting to sit in traffic for a couple hours a day (I'm working on something greener, honest). So, I have a lot of time to think. Often, my thoughts turn to why exactly there is so much traffic. (There is a lot of scholarly work on traffic, and you can write code to model different things, but I'm speaking from a more theoretical perspective). I take State Route 520 to and from work. There are no traffic lights, so on the surface, I thought traffic couldn't get too bad. I don't see much reason why the ratio of total trip time to the number of cars on the road shouldn't remain fairly constant or at least scale gracefully. But, it does not. At some point, there is enough traffic that you spend most of the time stopped, and getting home takes an hour plus, instead of 15 minutes. So, there must be other factors affecting traffic patterns besides the road itself. There are two important other factors: sur

So, now that I've told you what this blog is, here's why I decided "yes, today is the day I join the blogosphere :" I just finished writing an email in response to one a relative sent that basically tried to say the Democrats made oil $130+ a barrel and gas $4+ a gallon by not letting us drill our land. I don't very much like Democrats, Republicans, or politicians in general, but I can't abide unproductive, unwarranted blaming of all our problems on any single villain . After reading an article on the great http://seekingalpha.com/ , I was inspired enough to write my response, which I thought was good enough I wanted to make it public in case some day someone else might read it and start thinking more rationally. Preface: I am convinced by the evidence of global warming (there is so much out there... do a Google scholar search if you don't like Wikipedia and aren't convinced), and do think we need to start reducing our impact on the environment. Howe

I'm not much for blogging as of now... I read a few ( http://withleather.com/ , http://filmdrunk.com/ , http://wwtdd.com/ , http://consumerist.com/ ), but that's about it. So, why am I doing this? Well, mostly as a way of talking to myself. I like to organize my thinking by writing, so why not let other people read my thoughts if they like? This blog will therefore be about whatever I'm thinking about. I tend to view the world through science and reason, and that is my fundamental approach to doing pretty much everything, for better or worse. If you want to disagree with me and convince me of something, you'd best approach me with reason. Science-y topics to expect include artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, economics, and mathematics. Outside those, I'll probably be talking about my relationships, job, life, books, movies, sports, my fantasy football team, and anything else I feel like. It is my blog after all. If you don't like it, pi