Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Dec 13, 2011, 9:34 am
French poet, touted as the most influential romantic writer of the 19th Century, Victor Marie Hugo, and his thoughts on: Religion These two haves of God, the Pope and the emperor. God became a man, granted. The devil became a woman. Obstacles to Fame You have enemies? Why, it is the story of ev...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Dec 2, 2011, 4:57 am
  The following post is an email from Domingo T. Ligot: Not too long ago Jessica Soho had Bongbong Marcos on a one-on-one interview on live television and, as may be expected, Jessica asked Bongbong what his take was about the past regime of his father qualifying it as one of the blackest (pardon...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Nov 23, 2011, 11:42 pm
  This post is an email from Domingo T. Ligot: In his book entitled “The Tipping Point” Malcolm Gladwell wrote about a campaign slogan a long time ago about cigarettes which read “Winstons taste good like a cigarette should”. Slogans like these are coined by highly paid experts employed ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Oct 5, 2011, 9:03 pm
American entrepreneur, inventor, founder of Apple, Steven Paul Jobs, and his thoughts on: Life I want to put a ding in the universe. Key Differences Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make i...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Sep 16, 2011, 12:51 am
  Having spent a couple of weeks in New Zealand for a business trip, coincidentally coinciding with the Rugby World Cup, I thought it an interesting interlude to point you to a (rather dated but still interesting) post looking at some pseudoscience, rugby, and incidentally the All Blacks: 32 gene...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 28, 2011, 10:34 pm
 The internet is no longer a new thing, and with the explosion in internet traffic and most recently, social networking media — the pace at which data about everything circulates amongst everyone is faster than ever before. The internet is a powerful medium for exchanging information, and as Caro...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 25, 2011, 4:30 pm
For the past weeks, Mideo Cruz and his artwork have been feverishly discussed. I had not gone to the exhibit, but I have seen a number of pictures on the internet. Being a former Catholic, I could imagine how some of the Catholics would react. But being a spiritual atheist, such art did not bother ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 11, 2011, 9:58 pm
  The International Institute of Management (IIM) released a white paper on the symptoms of dysfunctional organizations and dysfunctional leadership. Bad politics is a disease that can drain organizations of productive potential, and the IIM white paper also proposed some possible cures to help af...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 8, 2011, 10:18 pm
  Billionaire investor, industrialist and philanthropist, Warren Edward Buffett, and his thoughts on: Vox populi A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. Overthinking Beware of geeks bearing formulas. Derivatives Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction. Suits I buy...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 8, 2011, 9:59 pm
Billionaire financier, businessman, philanthropist, and advocate of liberal idealism, Gyorgy Schwartz, more popularly known as George Soros, and his thoughts on: Open Societies A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy. An open society is a society which allows its members the greatest...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 3, 2011, 10:21 pm
Sex is a tricky subject for the reason that any discussion of sex almost automatically involves relationships and it could likely involve moral arguments — in short: ripe ground for subjectivity. Subjectivity is not necessarily the enemy of critical thinking, in fact it is the battleground of crit...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 3, 2011, 6:15 am
We’ve discussed some of the more popular personality disorders under the DSM-IV before. However, excluded from that list are some diagnoses that for some (Millon) are considered valid, but since they were excluded or deleted from the DSM definition, do not have a concrete diagonistic criteria. Wh...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 3, 2011, 1:09 am
Best known for his satirical novels: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948) and Animal Farm (1945), english novelist, polemical journalist, literary critic, and poet, Eric Arthur Blair, more popularly known as George Orwell, and his thoughts on: Happiness Happiness can exist only in acceptance. Honesty In ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Aug 2, 2011, 6:15 am
The term sounds very “internet” but actually hyperlink movies do not have any real hyperlinks in them. ‘Hyperlink cinema’ was coined by Alissa Quart in her review of the movie Happy Endings and also used by Roger Ebert in his review of the movie Syriana. Although it isn’t strictly defined...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 29, 2011, 12:41 am
Do you know the difference between a fact, inference, opinion, or assumption? They are all kinds of information, but it’s easy to confuse them for each other when you encounter them. Facts are important, no doubt, but is it also possible to rely on the other three? Gwyn Teatro’s “You’re Not...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 28, 2011, 4:25 am
On the Learning Support page of the University of Tasmania: “Little evidence of critical thinking” is a frequent comment on student essays. But what is critical thinking, or critical analysis? Briefly, critical thinking means thinking well and applying sound intellectual standards to your thin...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 28, 2011, 1:01 am
Cultural icon, film director, film producer, and master of the suspense genre, Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, and his thoughts on: Acting When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, ‘It’s in the script.’ If he says, ‘But what’s my motivation?, ‘ I say, ‘Your sa...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 27, 2011, 9:38 pm
Found on the Watson Critical Thinking Blog is this awesome graphic, featuring some of the best thinkers, doers, and inventors over the centuries. A good insight from this list: it is not confined to scientists, showing that critical thinking is applicable to many disciplines, interests, and occupa...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 13, 2011, 3:53 am
Having moved back into the analytic world of bank risk management, I’m pleased to be surrounded by familiar friends: statistical data and number crunchers. I thought this time would be a good starting point to refresh the critical-thinker blog with a few updates on how the financial world has evol...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Dec 31, 2010, 11:00 am
Just a brief note to usher in 2011. It’s been a relatively quiet few months here, and hope to be posting more in the months ahead.
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Oct 4, 2010, 3:53 pm
Here in the Philippines, the Catholic Church considers civil disobedience an option in its conflict with the government on the use of artifical contraceptives http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101004-295833/Civil-disobedience-still-a-CBCP-option MANILA, Philippines—As ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Sep 25, 2010, 6:38 am
Dilbert Cartoons have been a classic expression of corporate life since they came about in 1989. Here’s a short sequence from 1993-1997 that I loved particularly well since I personally know of a colleague that underwent the exact same sketch in the office:
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Sep 1, 2010, 2:11 am
We reopen our blog posts today by taking AskMen.com‘s advice on the 10 Top TED Talks. We’ve featured TED Talks here before and this Top 10 list is fresh and very insightful material. From AskMen.com: The Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conferences aim to help foster a better future...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 24, 2010, 8:57 pm
On The Big Picture, an allusion of how the Apple story could have made a nice gospel story: As a long time Apple fanboy going back to my 1990 Mac Classic, I find this brilliant: 1. a creation myth highlighting the counter-cultural origin and emergence of the Apple Mac as a transformative moment; ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 23, 2010, 10:20 pm
One of this blogger’s favorite and recurring topics on Planetjan is narcissism. Today alwaysjan talks about it in the context of the TV series Mad Men and its main character Don Draper, beginning with telltale signs of narcissism: As I read the article by Mary McNamara, I observed the following R...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 23, 2010, 10:20 pm
One of this blogger’s favorite and recurring topics on Planetjan is narcissism. Today alwaysjan talks about it in the context of the TV series Mad Men and its main character Don Draper, beginning with telltale signs of narcissism: As I read the article by Mary McNamara, I observed the followi...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 22, 2010, 7:26 pm
A while back we heard about MySpace population being larger than some nations. Now as the Economist reports, Facebook is the largest digital community, 3rd only to India and China in membership: Facebook has become the third-largest nation Jul 22nd 2010 THE world’s largest social network announ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 22, 2010, 10:38 am
Ever invest on an empty stomach? From Freakonomics: Does hunger affect risk aversion? A new study, written up on the British Psychological Society blog, says it does. Researchers had 19 males play a gambling game after a long fast; immediately after a 2,000-calorie meal; and one hour after the mea...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 18, 2010, 5:35 am
Already a trending topic on Twitter and Google, Chris Nolan’s latest film: Inception has the movie-going community abuzz. The film’s subject is the subconscious and dreams, but feels closer to a hacker-movie like Matrix or the manufactured reality film Dark City. These two movies were admittedl...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Pharmacy(tm) - Jul 18, 2010, 5:04 am
Thought provoking wild ride. “Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld” Filed under: Uncategorized
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 17, 2010, 8:33 pm
The death penalty doesn’t seem to be a matter of morality in this world but more a matter of geography. It depends – on where you are.  Some people don’t feel reclusion perpetua (life imprisonment) is enough for some crimes, and about all that I like about it is that it  gives a chance for ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 14, 2010, 12:30 pm
Good chart from The Economist, showing comparatively country leaders’ salaries across the world as a percentage of their country’s average per capita GDP. ON MONDAY July 5th Raila Odinga, Kenya’s prime minister, rejected the pay increase he was awarded by the country’s parliament last week....
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 13, 2010, 11:37 am
Nearly neglected this bit over the weekend: Top 10 List Why Jesus and Vampires are Alike 1. Loosely based on historical figures 2. The tale gets passed on from generation to generation, each time adding a twist to the original tale until it becomes larger than life. 3. Very popular in pop-cultur...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 11, 2010, 7:35 pm
Osho, whose real name is Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, is credited for bridging certain gaps in faiths to the modern times.  Here he says that god is a dead word, which recalls Nietzsche’s “God is dead,” interpreted by Joseph Campbell as “Symbols are dead.”  The old symbo...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 9, 2010, 2:03 pm
Coming back to basics again, we had our previous posts on how to find knowledge through intuition, rationalism, and observation. Nice follow-up thoughts from Filipino Free Thinkers on rationalization and skepticism: In rationalization, the belief which was “originally arrived at through a differ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 7, 2010, 9:35 am
This is a raid of the papal closet.  I’m checking what’s inside.  If there’s anything infallible about the pope, really, it is that he will not sacrifice good taste.  Well, I’m impressed.  More of his shoes and clothes here Filed under: Entertainment, Religion
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jul 5, 2010, 7:09 pm
A Zeitgeist quote is a good lead in: They must find it difficult, those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority. - Gerald Massey Here’s from Jason Cooper’s new post today: What is the truth? Who can we really trust in this apparent world (The Matrix) of dec...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 23, 2010, 7:44 pm
There’s a good piece on Seeking Alpha today on the prospects for global commodity appreciation if and when the Chinese Yuan starts appreciation vs. the US dollar. At the same time, there’s also a sentiment of unease about inflation given the amount of new currency created in the wake of...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 23, 2010, 12:39 pm
Soros joins the opposition against the austerity measures starting in Europe. As reported in Reuters: “Right now the Germans are dragging their neighbors into deflation, which threatens a long phase of stagnation. And that leads to nationalism, social unrest and xenophobia. Democracy itself c...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 23, 2010, 11:07 am
Interesting study on the Economist: US and Russian sentiments as reflective of each other. “Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld” Filed under: Politics, Psychology Tagged: cold war, gallup survey, Russia, U.S.
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 23, 2010, 10:53 am
On the Huffington Post: oil plumes under the Gulf of Mexico. Apt study in light of the oil spill mess in the news. “Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld” Filed under: Environment, Science Tagged: mexico, oil plumes, oil spill
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 22, 2010, 1:59 pm
Some advice that this blogger might have found useful 12 months ago, before Ketsana/Ondoy: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/06/22/10/floating-houses-rp “Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld” Filed under: Finance, Technology Tagged: flood, house, ketsana, ondoy
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 22, 2010, 7:58 am
While I honestly don’t think that humans must deny the beastly programmings for survival, balance, health and feet-on-the-ground purposes, it is interesting to note that jungle principles aren’t the answer to many questions regarding the solutions to the current world problems, and tha...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 21, 2010, 9:06 pm
The BP oil spill bill: BP said the disaster, now into its tenth week, had already cost it $2bn. As of last night, the British company had paid out only $104m to claimants. In all, 64,000 demands have been submitted so far, totalling $600m. That pace will, however, only accelerate as oil continues t...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 21, 2010, 8:07 pm
Just checking in on the happenings since its been roughly a couple of months since the now infamous Deepwater Horizon oil spill from the BP oil rig. As reported by Reuters, in New Orleans, while tourism ads are getting pulled for sensitivity to BP, oil firms are lobbying to overturn Obama’s 6...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 19, 2010, 12:26 pm
Time to rest our critical minds and dip into a little Mario nostalgia. This from The Huffington Post: “Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld” Filed under: Entertainment, History Tagged: donkey kong, luigi, mario, nintendo, super mario, video game
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Doc L. posted an article on The Pharmacy(tm) - Jun 19, 2010, 12:18 pm
“Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld” Filed under: Uncategorized
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 19, 2010, 11:36 am
On MarketWatch, an interesting recap of Alan Greenspan’s testimony regarding the financial crisis: NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — In one of the most dramatic moments in the global financial crisis, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before Congress in October 2008, just ...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 19, 2010, 3:17 am
Just gleaned from Wired and Mashable, a Utah execution covered blow by blow on Twitter. Ethical and moral questions aside, is this the direction of social media? Pervasive, invasive, we are truly in the Matrix now. “Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld” Filed under: Psychology...
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Doc L. posted an article on The Critical Thinker(tm) - Jun 18, 2010, 9:18 pm
Working in his first job in a stockbrokerage, one of the first things this blogger learned was that there were two kinds of people: brokers and analysts. Brokers were paid by commission, analysts had a fixed wage. Brokers spoke to clients to make them buy stock, analysts wrote reports for clients to...
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