[jfarmer]

> If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe.

There's plenty of room between "justify everything from first principles" and "perform an ad hoc 5-minute search of the web for research that confirms what I already believe." I'd also say, the closer one is to the former, the more justified one is in feeling certain about their beliefs.

> It's pretty difficult to have a serious conversation if you have to fully define and prove every single piece of content in a comment.

That's good, because nobody here is advocating that!

> Common sense is getting to be pretty rare around here.

Well, as they say, "Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down by the mind before you reach eighteen."

What's "common sense," here? That women are more risk-averse? I disagree, at the very least until one defines "risk" and "risk-averse" very precisely. My "common sense" tells me otherwise. Shucks. Ain't that the problem with "common sense?"