The tyranny of evidence

A trouble with a reductio is that it's often a double edged sword: one person's absurdum is usually another's perfectly reasonable conclusion. To wit, the Barefoot Doctor's comments on Richard Dawkins' The Enemies of Reason:

Dawkins seems to be stuck in the last century. He's a very entertaining guy, but he suffers from existential insecurity: everything has to be proven before he'll believe it.

All of which doesn't so much undermine Dawkins' case, as emphasize it.

Footnote on New Avengers

In a throwaway comment at the end of a longer entry on manga titles in the Guardian's books blog, Ned Beauman said:

Best new graphic novel: August has been a slow month - in one of the few notable new releases, Brian Michael Bendis's New Avengers: Revolution, even the superheroes themselves are off on holiday. Luckily, they're on holiday to Japan, where they meet a lot of ninjas.

Peachy keen, although personally I'm looking forward to getting my filthy hands on the latest Powers trades — definitely Bendis at his best.