Author: mvellon

  • The Seduction of the Other

    Quick. Picture: A welfare recipient An immigrant A drug addict A socialist I bet most of you thought of: A black woman, likely with too many kids An illegal Mexican immigrant (possibly, a rapist if you’re Donald Trump) A black guy shooting up heroin or smoking crack Bernie Sanders Here’s what you might have pictured…

  • Zemblanity

    I originally titled this post “Sad Serendipity” but it turns out that serendipity always relates to happy coincidences. “Zemblanity” was coined to represent the opposite. I was reading through my Facebook wall and saw a post from a friend talking about Facebook’s “Other” folder.  I’d never heard of this folder so I opened the article…

  • Johnny (and Susie and Bob and Jane and …) Can’t Add

    If you’ve ever faced the “Monty Hall Problem“, you know how tricky math can be.  Seemingly obvious problems can turn out to be more complicated than they seem. Even though my politics tend to lean left, I am frequently dismayed by the poor reasoning, naivete and, yes, bad math, expressed by my fellow liberals. Recently,…