Disclaimer

JOHNSJAR is a blog that is evolving. It started out as merely a test vehicle to educate myself in the ways of blogging and how to do it. Originally it was mainly about the sport of running and I also wrote about other things happening in my life.

I endorse science and scientific thinking, and I encourage the development of critical thinking skills. I recommend only peer reviewed scientific journals as the best reliable source of scientific knowledge. Of course, there are many derivatives that come from these journals, such as high school and college scientific textbooks. I need to say this up front because I will sometimes speculate on how things might work even though they have not been proven to exist. These might include posts on how UFOs might work if they are assumed to be technological in nature, or perhaps how telepathy might work. It does not mean that I believe these things exist.

The main purpose of this blog is now changing into something that will be encouraging critical thinking skills. I feel this is very much needed in the virtual world of mixed up beliefs that I see on the Internet and on many social networks. I see that many people do not know how to discern fact from fiction. There are many other people out there who have recognized this problem and are doing their part to try to help people. This is a critically important thing to do because I am absolutely convinced that the fiction that is out there is extremely harmful and will eventually have a huge negative impact on our civilization if left unchallenged.

I do not advocate any particular philosophy other than the freedom to search for the truth without fear of recrimination or manipulation. I will state at the outset that I do not have any definitive answers nor do I claim to know the truth. But I do know how our limited understanding of a truth may be refined, and I know bullshit when I see it.

I encourage you to post comments on whatever post you happen to be reading so that perhaps I may also learn from you. I will not tolerate abusive language, nor personal attacks. Someone can, however, justifiably call me stupid if I have done something stupid. That is because I know I have done many stupid things even though I am not a stupid person. But I encourage you to avoid inflammatory adjectives whenever possible unless you feel you really need to get someone’s attention. I will accept attacks on a person’s actions, what they say or do, or on a person’s attitude, but I will not accept an attack on the person. We all have at one time made mistakes and will continue to make them and I know from personal experience that one’s opinions can and do change frequently as one is able to absorb and evaluate new information. Consider the last time you objectively listened to a debate. How many times did you switch sides with every clever remark?

All comments will be moderated and not published unless they meet my criteria for publication. One of my criteria is whether or not I feel like it. If you do not like that, you can start your own blog. I will not withhold publishing comments that show me to be wrong or are critical of me. Since I am using the free WordPress blogging software, which has many plug-ins, the comments process may change over time to a subscription based one or to one wherein you have to include your contact info (IE: your email address) in order to comment. This information will stay within this software and I will never knowingly use this information for any other purpose other than to contact you regarding your post and to avoid Spam. I would only contact you if you specifically request an off line private discussion. Most replies will be via the comment forum. I am not a security expert so I cannot guarantee that you email address will never be stolen, or that anything you post in the comments will remain secure. Use at your own risk.

Finally, here is a tip on navigating the menus on this blog:

I have a variety of posts organized in different categories (which I have also made into menu items) according to subject. The posts themselves are just one giant sequential library sorted according to date posted and the topics are not in any order at all. When you chose a menu item, the software opens a page which lists all posts which have been tagged under that category. If you click on the title of one of the posts you will be taken to that post which has been written on a certain date. On that page you will see a “previous” or “next” post navigation button which will take you to the next or previous post according to the date it was written regardless of category or menu. To see further items under a desired menu you must go back to the menu you want rather than clicking on the previous or next post buttons.