In the interest of fostering rational arguments I'm going to present a common fallacy with each day's links, today's fallacy is: Argument from Ignorance

• XKCD versus Hitler versus Vista - Boing Boing


• Scientific evidence becomes politically fashionable again | Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the Earth | The Economist

  ONE of the stranger beliefs of some politicians is that if they treat nature like a troublesome opponent and ignore it, it might go away and stop bothering them. In the opinion of many scientists George Bush, America’s retiring president, was just such a politician. It would be one thing, for example, to argue that it is too expensive to stop climate change and that adapting to such change is a better course of action. It is quite another, as White House officials have done in the past, to describe climate change as a liberal cause without merit.



• New Computer Program Enables Powerful Data Analysis On Small Computers



• Dalliance & Double Standards

  You’re a politician who’s just been exposed for cheating on your spouse. Your political career is over, right? These days, that might depend on your politics—and your relationship with a certain right-wing cable news show.



• A Few Things Ill Considered : Your Hybrid can double as an emergency generator


• Pharyngula: Don't you dare tell me that "Jesus saves!"

  Some days, it's a little depressing to see all the ignorance running rampant in this country, so it's a bit of a relief to see people in other countries say something brain-bogglingly stupid. In this case, it's a reaction to the atheist bus advertising campaign in the United Kingdom — the signs that say, "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Now someone is making a legal claim, trying to suppress the signs, and his rationale is hilarious.



• Informed Comment: Lind: If Israel Bombed Iran
  US Army in Iraq Could be Lost


• The End of Parchment - Paper Cuts Blog - NYTimes.com

  “When you get right down to it,” a publisher told me, “the story you’re delivering is always more important than the delivery system you use.”



• Literary quiz: Have you got the write stuff? - Telegraph


• Obama Must Get Tough With Israel to Achieve Peace | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com

  The departure point for a viable peace deal—either with Syria or the Palestinians—must not be based purely on what the political traffic in Israel will bear, but on the requirements of all sides. The new president seems tougher and more focused than his predecessors; he's unlikely to become enthralled by either of Israel's two leading candidates for prime minister—centrist Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, or Likudnik Benjamin Netanyahu. Indeed, if it's the latter, he may well find himself (like Clinton) privately frustrated with Netanyahu's tough policies. Unlike Clinton, if Israeli behavior crosses the line, he should allow those frustrations to surface publicly in the service of American national interests.