On "The Tragedy of the Commons" (again)

A few weeks ago, I made the claim that I was done thinking about Garrett Hardin's "tragedy of the commons" metaphor.

Apparently I was wrong.

I attended the 2011 ASEH conference in Phoenix a few days ago and had two important and distinct opportunities to learn more about the weaknesses of Hardin's commons metaphor. In spite of my claim that I was done thinking about this, I came away from the conference with new information that should serve as my final, final statement on the topic.

This video clearly wasn't meant for my viewing

This video clearly wasn't made for my benefit, but a loved one forwarded it to me and we got a good chuckle out of it. What entertained us the most was the opening narration--and by "entertained" I mean I found it cringe-worthy to the extent that I just had to laugh before I pulled the rest of my hair out.

Bald Me.

The video illustrates some classic examples of specious arguments and logical fallacies, and because the narration includes the word "history" I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to respond to my loyal reader.[1]

Read my analysis of the narration below the fold, and let me know what you think, but be forewarned: it's about religion . . .

My take on Budweiser vs. real pilsner

Budweiser is by far the worst beer I've ever had, for at least two reasons. First, it tastes bland and uninspired. Second, Anheuser-Busch, the company that makes this beer, has the audacity to use the advertising campaign that characterizes this beverage as the "King of Beer." (Using this campaign, they're banking on the fact that a significant amount of the beer-drinking population is daft enough to fall for it and, unfortunately, they've been right about this for many years.)

We recently held a pilsner-style beer tasting at our house, and I recently posted the results of this tasting. At this tasting on January 22, 2011, I didn't have time to taste these beers myself in any systematic fashion, but over the past week or so I was finally able to do so. This post presents the results of my own pilsner beer tasting . . .