1. ‘Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worth while to produce belief by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even when truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.…’ (via “Boing Boing)

Bertrand Russell’s “A Liberal Decalogue” (1951) was written to dismantle  authoritarian habits of mind, a sort of epistemic hygiene manual in which nearly every line is aimed at preventing the crystallization of certainty into coercion.

‘Before California’s start-up culture gave us its own quasi-corporate pidgin, full of “circling back” and “thinking outside the box,” a tiny town in Mendocino County decided to “shark” us all. If you don’t get it, you’re a “brightlighter.”

Logging and farming town Boonville, in California’s Anderson Valley, has its own language, “Boontling,” a dense and private vocabulary of Pomo words, Spanish, Irish brogue, and pure inside jokes. While it has seen better days, this video does its best to help raise some interest…’ (via Boing Boing)

‘Today, the President of the United States had trouble pronouncing simple words, got bored, let us know by closing his eyes for a little “me-time” while waiting for the speech to end, and told the EPA Administrator that his speech was too long. Lucky for us, they revoked environmental protections that were working.…’ (via Boing Boing)