Reasoned Consideration

I'll be exhibiting four new paintings at the Members Exhibition of the Arts Association of Bellville, opening Wednesday 2 March 18:30 and running until 19 March (public library building, Carl Van Aswegen St, Bellville, Cape Town -33.9019889,18.6265181). Please stop by and have a look if you're around. (If any interested buyers, or if you want any more info etc., please contact me via this form .)

I'll be submitting these two small oil paintings for the fundraising exhibition " Tiny Treasures II " ( more info ) at Art.b community gallery in Bellville (Cape Town) (8 - 29 July 2015) (stop by and have a look if you're in the area!) Nude by Window - Oil on canvas 20x20cm Woman on Couch - Oil on canvas ( click here for painting process video )

The 'tl;dr' summary here is that basically, with relatively minor caveats, scientific studies generally increasingly seem to show low-carb diets to be either as good or better than alternatives, for both weight loss, and other health markers: [Added 2016] The effects of ketogenic dieting on skeletal muscle and fat mass 2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4271639/ " Lean body mass increased to a greater extent in the VLCKD [ Very low carbohydrate (<5 %), high fat (>70 %) ketogenic diets ] ... as compared to the traditional group. Ultrasound determined muscle mass increased to a greater extent in the VLCKD group ... as compared to the traditional western group. Finally fat mass decreased to a greater extent in the VLCKD group " [Rauch et al, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2014;11(Suppl 1):P40] [Added 2015] Dietary Intervention for Overweight and Obese Adults: Comparison of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets. A Meta-...

[ Image credit ] Marlise Richter , a self-described “Sex Positive Feminist”, writes on the apparently vexing question of whether women should be 'allowed' free agency: " Stripping the tears of bleeding-heart feminists and other sex abolitionists ": "Liberal feminist Emma Powell visited Mavericks Revue Bar to investigate two pressing questions. One was how “places like this” could exist under the South African Constitution. The second was whether the stripper “girls” looked happy. Her impressions were captured in a Daily Maverick article dramatically titled “House of the Rising sun, built on misery” ... I ask to meet some of the dancers. Early one evening, before their work starts, I sit with four well-groomed women. They are from the UK, Romania, Brazil and South Africa. I give them copies of Ms Powell’s article. (Yes, they can read! Yes, they have opinions!) Indignation and annoyance reign. With voices high in irritation, they describe the ...

It's a commonly held belief that victims of child abuse are somehow 'pre-destined' to become abusers themselves. Research shows, however, that only a minority of abuse victims go on to become abusers, and that this is thus (in short) a myth:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11731348 . A related comic: http://www.tencentticker.com/somethingterrible/

"Generating Discussion" is not  per se  virtuous - after all, Hitler also "generated discussion" - a lot of discussion. It's only a virtue if you generate useful discussion.

"Please don't kick me!" This article contemplates  Extending Legal Protection to Social Robots : "Even for fully informed adults, the difference between alive and lifelike may be muddled enough in our subconscious to warrant adopting the same attitudes toward robotic companions that we carry towards our pets. A study of Sony AIBO online message boards reveals that people were dismayed to witness the story of an AIBO being tossed into a garbage can. Not long after the Pleo robot dinosaur became commercially available in 2007, videos of Pleo “torture” began to circulate online. The comments left by viewers are strikingly polarized – while some derive amusement from the videos, others appear considerably upset, going so far as to verbally attack the originators and accuse them of horrible cruelty. The Kantian philosophical argument for animal rights is that our actions towards non-humans reflect our morality — if we treat animals in inhumane ways, we become inh...