One of these days I’m going to update this picture.
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Hawaii eye candy
Posted on December 15, 2013 by Michael
I have designs on at least visiting Hawaii in the near future. The purpose of my visit will be, in part, to see how much I might enjoy living there. The rest of my purpose will be, well, look:
via Flickr
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Thought of the day
Posted on December 9, 2013 by Michael
If you’re a parent who hears, “Yeah, I’ll turn off the game in a minute. I have to find a save point”, yet you still decide to turn off the game yourself sans any save point being found, then when your kid is searching for a bookmark, you should be perfectly content randomly slamming shut his novel.
(It’s actually worse to randomly shut off a game since that will cause the kid to re-play what he lost whereas if he loses his place in a book, it’s simply a matter of finding where he was. In other words, being ignorant of how video games work can result in more video game playing which, though that is not a bad thing in and of itself, is exactly the opposite of the goal of such a parent.)
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Thought of the day
Posted on November 29, 2013 by Michael
For those who believe sexism is defined by power asymmetry, let me present two scenarios:
You’re going for a job. You have 10 years relevant experience and the appropriate education and degrees. The field is relatively gender neutral with approximately a 50-50 split between men and women. You are competing against one other candidate; your competition has the same experience and education as you. Would you prefer to be treated as a man or a woman?
I doubt very many people are going to opt to be treated as a woman in this scenario. It is clearly an advantage to be treated as a man, all else being equal. But now let me present the second scenario:
You’ve been accused of a serious crime. You’re innocent but there’s some evidence implicating you. (Maybe you were even dumb enough to actually talk to the police.) Since you refuse a plea deal, you’re going to trial. Would you prefer to be treated as a man or a woman?
This scenario perhaps works even better in family court matters, but it’s overwhelmingly clear in either case which is better: To be treated as a woman in court is a massive advantage. Clearly sexism is a two-way street, even if more traffic flows in one direction than the other.
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Thought of the day
Posted on November 25, 2013 by Michael
While I’m happy the Patriots won last night, I hate how they did it. The overtime rules for the NFL are awful and illogical. Football is fundamentally a timed game. That’s why timeouts and clock management are so important. Making the game into sudden death (or whatever one wishes to call the convoluted field goal rule) is a disservice to fans. Hockey lends itself to sudden death. Soccer, though terrible, is appropriately sudden death. Football? Not even close. Play the full 15 minutes.
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Fun fact of the day
Posted on November 23, 2013 by Michael
Racism and sexism derive from racist and sexist acts, thoughts, behaviors, and statements made on the basis of race and/or sex. They do not derive from social structures and institutions, though they may be prevalent in those areas.
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Thought of the day
Posted on November 23, 2013 by Michael
Why don’t we allow 16 year olds to vote? We allow them to work and pay taxes, so why don’t they get a say in their representation? Why can’t they cast a vote against a politician who is spending their money yet not working in their interests? Are we so naive as to think the parents/guardians of a 16 is working in his best political interests? Why should we expect a 45 year old parent to cast a vote related to, say, social security spending which is in the 60 year interest of the program as opposed to the 30-40 year interest of the program that is relevant to the parent?
It seems utterly clear to me that if we’re going to allow 16 year olds the right to work – that is, unlike with people 15 years and younger, a 16 year old needs not his school’s or parent’s legal permission to get a job – then we must either refuse to tax them or we must allow them the right to vote. The latter option, though, would only work if we were consistent in it: since 16 year olds are unrepresented in the government and given the right to work, we must exclude them from all forms of taxation, including income taxes, excise taxes, inheritance taxes, every day taxes on purchased items, and any other tax one might imagine. This is hardly workable. Thus, we’re left with only a few solutions: 1) raise the age of legal employment to 18, 2) make employment under 18 contingent upon a parent’s approval, or 3) allow 16 year olds to vote. The third option seems to be the best to me.
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Thought of the day
Posted on November 21, 2013 by Michael
Here are a few things which would go a long way towards fixing the U.S. legislative process:
- Standardize House districts to be as close to rectangles in shape as possible
- Change filibuster rules so that only 55 votes can override one; force Senators to stand and speak when they do invoke a filibuster
- Lengthen terms for House members to 4 years and have House elections alternate with Presidential elections (President in 2016, House in 2018, President 2020, House 2022…)
- Enforce term limits at 2 terms a piece for House members and Senators
Age restrictions (25 for House, 30 for Senate, 35 for President) should also be lifted, but that’s more a matter of their inanity than in actually changing much about the legislative process.
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Misunderstood arguments
Posted on November 17, 2013 by Michael
If I had to narrow the Internet down to two things (not including cats and porn), it would be that 1) no one in the history of time has apparently ever had a valid analogy (at least in the eyes of an opponent) and 2) people misunderstand arguments all the time. I want to focus on the second thing.
Often someone will put forth an argument that focuses on factor x, but the objection will inevitably be on factor y. There’s something about being able to see through one’s bias to the frickin’ point that people can’t seem to do. For instance, I recall a philosophy course I once took where the professor used abortion access as an example for one thing or another. The point, as anyone ought to be able to tell, was access. In this instance, abortion wasn’t the focus. Yet, another student predictably tried to make the issue about the rightness or wrongness of abortion. It took no fewer than 3 times for the professor to get the student back on track. And he wasn’t a dumb kid, either.
This is what we often see on the Internet. Even when an issue is explained with utter clarity, a person’s bias just will not allow for a fair understanding. It’s practically willful ignorance; it’s actually amazingly frustrating. Here are just 3 issues I’ve noticed in my debating/discussion days online:
1. Circumcision protects against HIV transmission between heterosexual couples. The usual objection to this is on ethical grounds. This is an invalid objection. The science is the science. You don’t have to like it, but you don’t get to deny it because it’s inconvenient for your ethical stance.
2. Spanking is an unethical practice. The usual objection to this is that people don’t want to raise brats. This is an invalid objection. Aside from the fact that spanked and unspanked children turn out about the same (thus making the objection a troll objection in the first place), the argument is an ethical one. (This is the reverse of the circumcision argument.) Spanking could result in ideal citizens that make the world a better place, but that doesn’t make it right. Disagree that spanking is unethical if you want, but do so by arguing ethics, not efficacy.
3. Talking to the police will not benefit you. The usual objection is that most police aren’t bad people. This is an invalid objection. The reason talking to the police is a bad idea is because anything you say can and will be used against you in court, even if you’re innocent. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about the best of police or the worst of police. This is about how the justice system works, not any individuals within the system. Indeed, don’t talk to any city, county, state, or federal investigators. That includes street cops, detectives, district attorneys, Congress, or any other person working in an official capacity for the justice system. Your freedom cannot be benefited from talking to the police more than it will from keeping quiet.
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Thought of the day
Posted on November 3, 2013 by Michael
Here are the top 3 best acting performances I’ve ever seen:
3. Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad.
2. Bryan Cranston as Walter White on Breaking Bad.
1. Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight.
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For the Sake of Science 