Beginner's Mind, Skeptical Mind

It's April Fools' Day, and Skeptipundit steps out into the blogosphere to play with the memes of our times. I'll be exploring and sharing some of the interesting ideas to be found in the political and scientific worlds, but also poking and probing, turning over some rocks, finding connections or trying to make some connections that don't yet exist. I'll bring to this an appreciation of shoshin - the beginners mind that is open to many possibilities, and of the standards of science - that ideas gain value only through their survival of testing, and deep criticism. I'll be on the lookout for two pernicious tendencies that we all share to some extent - attachments to dogma or ideology, as magic templates that promise easy answers to difficult problems, and yielding to the seduction of ideas that we wish to be true. We wont be doing rants here, but I invite all those of curious mind and good will to join in the fun.