Dictionaries are books of history, not law.

Language pedantry is a branch of theology.

Absurdism is a kind of nihilism. And Nietzsche was not a nihilist.

Nihilism is one of those words that used to have a precise academic meaning, but that meaning has been hopelessly confused by common usage. Academics should make a new word for nihilism.

It’s also a stereotype that nihilists are depressed. Because nihilists know that it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t matter.

The concept of a bloodline is incoherent.

Since the number of direct ancestors doubles every generation you go back, individual lineage is closer to a bowl of spaghetti than a family tree.

Every generation you go back, you share less and less genetic markers. You share exactly 50% of your DNA with each parent, about 25% with each grandparent etc. Eventually you’ll find a direct ancestor with whom you share no DNA markers. It’s 12 generations back, on average.

So, go back a few hundred years, and you’re not genetically related to anybody. Go back a thousand, and everyone’s list of ancestors is indistinguishable.

The single most impressive, and lasting legacy of this show is Woody Harrelson’s carrier. Can anybody else think of a regular sit-com actor who broke into Hollywood? Bruce Willis is the only other one I can think of, and he never broke type.

Why is freedom of speech and thought always boil down to “let’s hear the Nazi out”.

Bigotry is not a minority or suppressed idea. It’s quite popular and regularly promoted. It’s on all the media. Nazis are not the victims of oppression, but they should be.

It’s difficult to measure rape statistics across countries. But we know, that if guns were prophylactic to rape, the US should have a disproportionately low statistic. It does not.

And anybody who knows about rape knows that guns are impotent to stop the vast majority. That’s because a large portion of rape victims support and protect their attacker because it’s somebody they love.

But sure, in an 80s action move fantasy, a woman with a gun is safe I guess.