Any father extrapolating back to his own childhood and assuming a general, relative increase in availability over time, should have assumed that blocking, restricting, and demonizing said material was a futile pursuit. What I can only presume then is that there was a meaning in the message that only years later — as a parent myself — begins to make sense. But how does one then rationally — skeptically and logically — apply a filter to the media (and by this I mean television, movies, radio, books, and web content) pouring in ever increasing volumes across the gaze of our kids? And should we? I suppose the first question that must be explored is why might we need to filter?

Daniel Loxton, editor of Junior Skeptic Magazine has released his book on Evolution for sale via Skeptic.com. The Girl and I will be dropping by the Skeptically Speaking studios this weekend to read and review it for next week’s show.

Just read it.

Sundays? Literature, Fiction, Fact, and Words.

Spend an afternoon in our living room and just try and not trip over one of a dozen books spread across the floor…

My initial assumptions, having only vague and distant memories of both tomes, were as follows: Verne as science and Wyss as religion. I thought it might be interesting to track my “skeptical impressions” of literature at various points in two contrasting books.

I mention this because it struck me as another one of those “meta” moments for this blog, even now as I continue to narrow out my little niche a mere twenty-five posts along in this endeavor.