Month: January 2007

I got lots of thoughtful comments to yesterday’s post on whether the Big Bang was intelligent by definition. I wasn’t planning on following up on the topic, but I feel I owe it to you. Here are the top objections that people raised, along with my replies. If you didn’t…

I wonder how you can tell if an alien is “intelligent life.” Is there a test that fits all situations? For example, suppose we found a blob on Mars that moved under its own power and wasn’t a carbon-based life form. How could we tell if it was intelligent? One…

There are many benefits to being a minor celebrity cartoonist, but collectively they form what I describe as a mild superpower. Real super powers might include the ability to bend steel, or shoot fire from your eyes. Any power that makes it extra easy to kill people, or keep you…

In the wee hours of this morning, on the other side of the planet, Roger Federer and Fernando Gonzalez played for the men’s championship of the Australian Open. (That’s tennis.) I have not seen the match. I recorded it. My viewing pleasure will be much greater if I do not…

Allow me to summarize every discussion of atheism that has ever occurred on the Internet: Atheist: “Religion is irrational.” Believer: “Oh yeah? Atheism is a religion too, because it’s a cause that’s believed on faith! See Merriam-Webster’s 4th definition of religion.” Atheist: “Atheism is religion the same way that NOT…

Dilbert Blog reader Shaun cheekily asked if I could revisit the Dilbert Portfolio. Last year I asked my wise readers to recommend stocks that would be sure winners in the future. I compiled the best and most frequent suggestions into the Dilbert Portfolio. I confidently invested $75K in the portfolio….

The other day I turned around just as a dance instructor was in the process of removing her outer garment – a sweatshirt. She had already extracted her right arm from the sleeve and was snaking it beneath the sweatshirt, across her chest, and over to the left armpit to…

Have you ever wondered what percentage of prison inmates are atheists? It must be a lot, given that non-believers have no moral center and spend most of their days robbing, and killing, and sodomizing farm animals. That’s what you do when you have no morality. According to Adherents.com, 16% of…

It has come to my attention that my opinions are not universally shared. This has never been as strikingly apparent as during a recent discussion of “car singing.” As you know, there are two types of car singing. There’s the kind you do when you are alone in the car,…

As regular readers know, about two years ago I lost my ability to speak. The problem is called spasmodic dysphonia (SD). This update is primarily for the benefit of the other people with SD. Many of you asked about my experience and for any advice. The rest of you will…

Thanks for all of your comments on how romantic you are. I read them with a mixture of confusion, shock and dismay. I was surprised to learn that doing household chores qualifies as romantic for most of you. That’s exactly why you should never hire a butler if you strike…