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Author Archives: pendantry
There is no ‘planet B’ – yet we’re using it already
Happy§ Earth Overshoot Day! Time to celebrate: we’re now using almost three-quarters of ‘planet B’. Shame it doesn’t exist. Back in 2014, I wrote a set of edicts I would apply ‘If I ruled the world‘. One of those (#4) … Continue reading
Experience the numinous total solar eclipse
The Sun is 400 times the size of the Moon. It is also 400 times farther away — so both Sun and Moon appear to be the same size. It hasn’t always been this way; the Moon is moving away … Continue reading
Posted in ... wait, what?, Core thought, Phlyarology, Science
Tagged anthropic principle, anthropism, Baily's Beads, coincidence, eclipse, Great American Eclipse, moon, Rare Earth, sun
13 Comments
Donate to fund dogs in the Serengeti
Originally posted on Learning from Dogs:
This plea came in from Mr. Pedantry! This came in yesterday and I thought for some time that I wouldn’t be able to publish it quickly owing to me getting my knickers in a…
Posted in balance, Biodiversity, crowdsourcing, Environment, Reblogs, Strategy
Tagged dogs, elephants
2 Comments
‘The climate is always changing’: true, but not helpful
“When we already believe the world to be a certain way, then we interpret new experiences to fit with those beliefs, whether they actually do or not.” Thus spake Veritasium I had another post scheduled for today, but this one … Continue reading
Veritasium on the biggest myth in education
“When we already believe the world to be a certain way, then we interpret new experiences to fit with those beliefs, whether they actually do or not.” Thus spake Veritasium Veritasium: This video is about learning styles. What kind of … Continue reading
Posted in ... wait, what?, Communication, Core thought, Education, perception, Science
Tagged auditory, debunking, education, kinesthetic, learning, myth, reading, VARK, visual
16 Comments
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures
It may (or may not) have been Carl Linnaeus who classified our species as ‘homo sapiens sapiens‘ in the late 18th Century. As you probably know, that label derives from Latin: ‘homo’ means ‘man’, while ‘sapiens’ can be translated as … Continue reading
The Koala Conspiracy
Originally posted on Adaptive Diversity:
Do marsupials even exist? The word of the year for 2016 is officially “post-truth.” It seems a lot of folks just don’t care very much for facts. Instead, they form beliefs based on subjective feelings…
Posted in balance, Communication, Core thought, GCD: Global climate disruption, perception, Reblogs, Science, Strategy
Tagged Alternative Facts, belief, cognition, post-truth, truth
11 Comments
Wax off! (A lunar epiphany)
A couple of years ago, I had a minor epiphany about the Moon. I wrote a post about it at the time, called ‘How to tell at a glance if the Moon is waxing or waning‘. Since then, when I’ve seen … Continue reading
Posted in ... wait, what?, Communication, Education, memetics, Science
Tagged moon, waning, wax off, Wax on, waxing
17 Comments
Daryl Davis Is Still Going Strong
Originally posted on Filosofa's Word:
In 2017, Keith and I both wrote about a man named Daryl Davis, a Black man who is doing more than his share to help white supremacists stop being white supremacists, one at a…
Posted in ... wait, what?, balance, Communication, Core thought, People, perception, Phlyarology, Reblogs, Strategy
Tagged Change, Daryl Davis, perception
5 Comments
Is it actually true that seeing is believing?
What colour are the dots? The dots inside these hearts are distinctly blue or green, right? Wrong. The dots inside the hearts are all exactly the same colour. Here’s a section of the top left of the same image, where … Continue reading
Posted in ... wait, what?, Core thought, illusion, perception, Phlyarology
Tagged 'common' sense, astronomy, cognitive bias, colours, Cool Worlds, perception, sceptic, stars, VSauce
11 Comments
