The cogito inversion!

"The gold price will never fall!" How can people believe that?

2011-08-18T10:40:00.001-04:00

‎"[Gold] looks overextended, the MACD is high enough to give Arnold the Giant a haircut, and the RSI is way overbought. Still, as recent history has shown us, the gold price can remain overbought for a long time."

That is a gold bug talking... The actual commodity is overbought... people are trading in futures, ETNs, ETFs and these things are starting to take on the same character as the mortgage crises...

The similarity:
People see others making a profit - they too want to make a profit but houses are 250,000 +... Invest in the securitized obligations! Nothing could go wrong... The house price will never go down!

People see others making a profit - they too want to make a profit but Gold is already 1800+ per ounce... so how to "Break in" to the market? Well, but a share in a mine or an ETF... No need to actually hold specie... just invest in shares... Nothing could go wrong... the gold price will never go down!

Economics and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle

2011-08-17T14:29:00.004-04:00

Much more to come from this, but, generally, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that one cannot measure both the instant position and speed of a particle as once you measure one, you affect the other qua your measurement.

Translating this to economics [draft 1]:

One cannot know both the instant state and the future behavior of a given market as once the state is acquired and that data released to the population [of the traders in the market] the data will modify the future behavior.

This is a very rough first draft of this theory - but I think it holds.

Post 9/11 counterfactuals

2010-11-16T22:09:00.002-05:00

The following is a set of musings over the various possibilities following 9/11. Nothing was edited, it is very roughly typed, the question raised is from me, the first part is Justin Herzog's response, the second response is my response to him. I'll try to keep this readable.

Question Presented:
Many have spoken about how unjust the iraq invasion was, how bush lied etc... hypo: would the war in afghanistan have been drastically different (worse? Better?) had we not invaded iraq simultaneously?

_______________________________
Justin:

Somewhat. I have said, and will say again, that a ground-force level action would have taken place in AFG given a Gore presidency+911.

Interestingly, the CIA under clinton's retained director had a plan of its own for the AFG gig, that was being pursued in the first few weeks, that emphasized heavily on pinning & capturing the al queada elements.

concurrently, the rumsfeld DOD pushed its own plan to get to Kabul fast and 'finish things up.' There was a frontline episode that had a bit of research suggesting that the drums of war were already beating for Iraq in 2001, ie that cheney/rumsfeld/'daddy issues' had already concluded that WTC gave an adequate excuse to invade Iraq even in 2001. That the pretenses could be invented later.

As you know, troops, especially specops units, were pulled from AFG prematurely in 2K2 in prep for iraq; we invaded in april 2003. That means that we were in AFG for less than a year at full commitment, probably never.

(worse? Better?) had we not invaded iraq simultaneously?

Unequivocally, better. Not invading a country so close to arabia would have meant that AQ would have had less recruiting/popularity opps...which is good geopolitcially. Recently, a Taliban commander came out saying 'Ive never seen any AQ up in here, if you can find them I'd like to talk to them/have them on my team.'

This was of course not the case in Iraq. It's a country that's quite close to the center of AQ popularity (discontents in Syria, Saud, and the Gulf).

A second point of 'chemical' equilibria is also at play. without a bullshit invasion, the Coalition in AFG (which has always had a significant NATO component...) would have had more troops from allies, as they wouldn't be putting their homes at the same level of risk at home.

Sympathy/rally power was SUPER strong in 2001-2003 behind the US. Imagine it untarnished, imagine the level of help.

Not to be ignored, the full level of development $ that went into iraq could have gone into AFG & the neighboring central asian countries.

Further, the bullshit invasion of Iraq being absent would have diffused the general mideast situation, alleviating pressure on the Israel/Palestine axis, which is one of the reasons sympathy with more extreme elements, ie, the intensity of the Palestine conflict is directly proportional to the sympathy (not neccesssarily support) of terrorists.

Further, without an Iraq invasion we might have Not Alienated Syria/Iran (TM). in 2001 the mullahs in iran were smelling the progressive wind in the mideast. The videos of iranian youth tagging walls in tehran with 'Metallica et al' were all too common and celebrated images. With the Iraq invasion, the promise of becoming a regional/minor power simply by opposing America became a valid, and more ego-stroking FP strat to pursue/more popular domestically.

some interesting preliminary musings.

In all, the geopolitical equilibria were really dicked. invading a backwater in Central Asia=Whatever/SUPER excuse/justification, no loss of political capital.

Invading the fulcrum of civilizaition/dicking up the middle east further than it was==introducing volaitility to the beaker.

Invasions, in a world without war, are a mark of a domestic political desire. Intelligence and covert warfare, coming from the hegemon, can and does fulflill all reasonable security objectives.

fin for now.

________________________________
Matthew:

- Iraq untouched
I think the major focus of the difference in the counter-factual is that as we have seen Iran using our invasion to further its political goals, Saddam would have similarly built a larger political base / sympathy with estranged elements of neighboring countries. Thus, money/men/supplies would have flowed into Iraq to counter American invasion of AFG with no check or balance.

- Gore+9/11
This part of the counter factual forks into two ways each with two sub forks
1) Gore invades AFG Only
1a) Gore invades AFG with as much or more power as Bush did
1b) Gore invades AFG with less power than Bush did

2) Gore invades AFG and Iraq
2a) Gore invades AFG and Iraq with as much or more power as bush did
2b) Gore invades AFG and Iraq with less power

Each "b" could also encompass only a war of subterfuge without a waging of a boots-on-the-ground war.

I think in both "a" scenarios one could reasonably see that the tactics would have been notably different and arguably better.

But the point of this entire exercise is that in the 1) counter factual, we are looking at a vastly different Mideast political milieu with a vastly different mindset. Iran and Iraq are long time enemies... this leads to 2 possible counter-factuals

1) Iran, Iraq non-aggression pact OR mutual defense treaty
2) Iran, Iraq hostilities

Counter-intuitively, I think each of these two are equally possible because there are so many variables; enemies recognizing that a much more dangerous enemy is around the corner can lead to a plethora of odd outcomes; also keep in mind I do not believe that Iran, Iraq neutrality would have been likely. I can not fathom how that would have worked; the political situation would not have allowed it to lead to neutrality with the US in AFG.

EITHER of these two cases... could have led to a very very dangerous situation for our exposure in AFG... And this leads to the source of my initial musings. An Iraq-led Mideast alliance against the US invasion of Islam. The conclusion I draw from this is that no matter how repugnant Bush's invasion of Iraq was, no matter how much lying he did, no matter how much it tarnished our image... his invasion of Iraq probably caused a great deal more good than harm.

WAR!!!

2010-10-27T06:51:00.002-04:00

What does the term "war" mean today? The unrest in the Caucasus is unending, however, the out right aggression by Georgia against those who believe they are part of South Ossetia, and Russia's reaction did lead to military movements, bombings, dead bodies, ceasefire negotiations and other signs and symptoms of a war; however, was it actually a war?

There are two main ways of looking at this question, first, certain things feel like war to the participants and thus it is a war (the Korean "War" when it was actually a police action), second, that war is what we say it is. I do not like either option and I doubt anyone would agree there is some transcendental definition of "war" out there to which all wars must adhere or else they are some other conflict.

A list of a few things that are not sufficient conditions for war, simply having military operations, a country's military attacking another country (Civilian population or otherwise), the overthrow of another country's government, all references to "against (undesirable social ill)", deaths at the hands of governmental agents (Covert or Overt ops; internal or external), this list is neither dispositive nor exhaustive, simply an attempt at getting some of the commonly used ones out of the way.

I would also venture to say that having a declaration of war is no longer a sufficient condition nor is it a necessary condition for war; such a declaration has almost become irrelevant anyway.

So, what the hell is "War"? I haven't a clue...

Empiricism! And nothing else...

2010-10-10T21:31:00.002-04:00

There exists only the empirical... and nothing else... A is A, it really is... I promise! If what you have to say is not empirically verifiable, save the oxygen for more important things... Like filling up pretty balloons!

Meaning denied

2010-06-15T02:18:00.003-04:00

There are certain words that get tossed around frequently which essentially have no meaning. Words such as homophobic and reverse-racism are obvious examples, but some words are a bit more obscure. The context in which people use the word "establishment" begins to demonstrate how this word has lost all real meaning and is really just a laughable concept.

At one point I am sure that there was an establishment that some counter-cultures (another contradiction-in-terms pseudo-word)felt that they were against and as such they were outside the establishment... I would accede that at this point the word establishment did apply and people who were against the establishment or the machine were legitimately using those words; however, a person who exposes a snake oil salesmen by giving false information and false promises... is a snake oil salesmen himself... he cannot call himself a counter-snake oil salesmen, he cannot say he is against the snake oil salesmen ethos, he is - a snake oil salesmen.

To this end, every congressperson, every "news" reporter, everyone who is working in the mainstream or is attempting to enter said stream cannot be against the establishment... he or she ->is<- the establishment, we are the establishment, we the people... are... the state.

The problem that some people enter into when they are attempting to convey a distaste for the current state of the state is that our system is designed to be malleable, we are able to change the direction of our will, we as a country are able to have a difference of opinion without it leading to auto-destruction. Thus, as an individual from within the state, expresses distaste for the current state of the state, he or she is part of the state and is not outside of it; herein lies the error, no congressperson can be against the establishment, no congressperson can be against the state, one can only express dissatisfaction and posit a change in policy.

Hamilton

2010-06-15T00:19:00.003-04:00

Alexander Hamilton needs to be taught as a more pivotal figure in our country's history. One word that describes his entire body of work is: prescience. As early as the age of 20 he was clearly describing our United States well before they formed and even before the first shot rang of the Revolutionary War. Economics, politics, society, nothing was outside his prescience. Finally, his republican sensibilities make him a perfect candidate for study in our world today.

Oh, and his writings are wonderful to behold. Perhaps one of the most important documents ever written in U.S. History:

page 261 of this book, "A Few of Hamilton's Letters"

nonsequitor

2010-04-09T00:24:00.001-04:00

sine qua non ignorance we would't know truth; truth qua conceptual truth id est truth is not sui generis yet it is simply the abrogation of ignorance.

Thus, willful caprice and willful ignorance are the sources of evil qua society.

Ex nihilo nihil fit... yet why do I hear anarchists and socialists and libertarians continue to make noises with their mouth? Worse off, those who don't care at all about society, politics, who "Hate the government" why do they espouse a philosophy at all? Your disjointed rantings that contradict in every other breath... Why speak?

Obama's Exec Order 13489

2010-01-21T20:55:00.001-05:00

Obama Signs Executive Order Barring Release Of His Birth Certificate | The Freedom Medium

The central questions in "The Freedom Medium" post about Obama's exec order 13489 is: "Why was this executive order (EO) Obama's first order? Was it to cover up the fact that he is not a natural born citizen? (hiding his birth certificate)". Well, I have a couple other questions.

Why was it so urgent for George Bush to issue EO 12667 November of 2001... 2 months after we were attacked by terrorists and the president was supposedly preparing for war?

Second, why are you paying attention to Obama when this is actually Ronald Reagan's wording? Obama essentially copied and pasted Reagan's EO 12667... Bush felt it so urgent to revoke 12667 that bush issued EO 13233 while we were preparing for war... What was Bush hiding? 13233 makes it harder to get presidential records... Obama issued 13489 to revoke Bush's EO and re-implement Reagan's order... Obama made it EASIER to get information with 13489... Not harder...

Why the health care reform is not "socialized medicine"

2009-12-23T22:04:00.003-05:00

Much of the brouhaha about the health care reform is over whether the reform is socializing medicine. The most obvious response to this concern is a resounding and resolute, "No, it is not socializing medicine". Much of the error in those articulating the antithesis of the reform is that since the government (we) are making the upper 50% of America pay for the health care of those who earn less is socialism.

This error can be broken down into two parts: First, The United States milieu is not wholly capitalistic and thus we (the government) accept a smattering of socialism to balance out our very successful capitalism. Second, the current state of health care in the United States is not governed by capitalist market pressures.

These are integral to understanding exactly what the problem, if any, exists in the health care system and what reform, if any, is needed.

Cheney

2009-05-23T12:23:00.001-04:00

"WASHINGTON (AP) - Dick Cheney refuses to be a has-been.

The former vice president's voice appears to carry even more weight than it did in the waning days of the Bush administration.

Some people want him to be quiet and disappear. Others are cheering the public relations tour that Cheney began halfway through President Barack Obama's first 100 days, defending the Bush administration's harsh interrogation tactics and other anti-terrorism policies.

Vice presidents typically fade away quietly.

Not Cheney."

That is because he was not the vice president... he was the president...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090523/D98C1JGO0.html

Hubble?

2009-05-11T02:05:00.002-04:00

Will the Hubble actually be steered into the ocean?

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090510/D983HGQ81.html

This is about a subject altogether different, however, I believe that this ought to be asked. For a common communications satellite, sure, whatever, destroy it. For the Hubble? It ought to be recovered and brought back to Earth to be placed in a museum!

More at 11...

Iran hates history!?

2009-03-01T12:58:00.002-05:00

Iran can hate many things, western ideology, capitalism, democracy, but I will not accept their disregard for history. Recently, Iran released a statement that they are offended by the movie: "300" for the depiction of the Persians. The first problem I have with this is the fact that the movie was rather accurate. Sure it was a tad misleading by showing that there were only 300 soldiers there and no support (in reality, they had cooks, messengers etc., many more than 300 people) but it is a damned certainty that the Persians were decadent, bestial and cruel. They were conquers compelled to dominate the world one way or another; how was the depiction in the movie skewed in any way?

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090301/D96LA83O0.html

Epic win for truth.

2009-02-03T20:49:00.003-05:00

Here is a video where we can watch a 7 year old perform equivalent philosophical and or religious breakthroughs as all of solipsism, gnosticism, existentialism and any other sophist-based idiotic pseudo-philosophical belief systems. Enjoy!

Bush

2009-01-03T14:00:00.003-05:00

Goodbye, good riddance and I hope you are as much of a failure after you leave office as you were before and during your presidency.

The Associated Press wrote the following:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090103/D95FORSG0.html

President George W. Bush will leave behind a legacy of Bushisms, the label stamped on the commander in chief's original speaking style. Some of the president's more notable malaprops and mangled statements:

---

- "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." - September 2000, explaining his energy policies at an event in Michigan.

- "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" - January 2000, during a campaign event in South Carolina.

- "They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander in chief, too." - Sept. 26, 2001, in Langley, Va. Bush was referring to the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks.

- "There's no doubt in my mind, not one doubt in my mind, that we will fail." - Oct. 4, 2001, in Washington. Bush was remarking on a back-to-work plan after the terrorist attacks.

- "It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber." - April 10, 2002, at the White House, as Bush urged Senate passage of a broad ban on cloning.

- "I want to thank the dozens of welfare-to-work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves." - April 18, 2002, at the White House.

- "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." - Sept. 17, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn.

- "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - Aug. 5, 2004, at the signing ceremony for a defense spending bill.

- "Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." - Sept. 6, 2004, at a rally in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

- "Our most abundant energy source is coal. We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge." - April 20, 2005, in Washington.

- "We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job." - Sept. 20, 2005, in Gulfport, Miss.

- "I can't wait to join you in the joy of welcoming neighbors back into neighborhoods, and small businesses up and running, and cutting those ribbons that somebody is creating new jobs." - Sept. 5, 2005, when Bush met with residents of Poplarville, Miss., in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

- "It was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship. After all, 60 years we were at war 60 years ago we were at war." - June 29, 2006, at the White House, where Bush met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

- "Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die." - Dec. 7, 2006, in a joint appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

- "These are big achievements for this country, and the people of Bulgaria ought to be proud of the achievements that they have achieved." - June 11, 2007, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

- "Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction. Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit." - September 2007, in Sydney, Australia, where Bush was attending an APEC summit.

- "Thank you, Your Holiness. Awesome speech." April 16, 2008, at a ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the White House.

- "The fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there's jobs at the machine-making place." - May 27, 2008, in Mesa, Ariz.

- "And they have no disregard for human life." - July 15, 2008, at the White House. Bush was referring to enemy fighters in Afghanistan.

- "I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office." - June 26, 2008, during a Rose Garden news briefing.

- "Throughout our history, the words of the Declaration have inspired immigrants from around the world to set sail to our shores. These immigrants have helped transform 13 small colonies into a great and growing nation of more than 300 people." - July 4, 2008 in Virginia.

- "The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there's a lot of prayer - prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I'm one of them. It's good to come down here." - Sept. 3, 2008, at an emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, La., after Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast.

- "This thaw - took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw." Oct. 20, 2008, in Alexandria, La., as he discussed the economy and frozen credit markets.

Prop 8 of California

2008-12-19T23:23:00.003-05:00

California's recent proposal 8 has been stirring up some controversy, I think a strictly legal view of it reveals some interesting outcomes. Those who are arguing that homosexuals ought to have the right to marry say the following:

"Both Brown and gay rights groups maintain that the gay marriage ban [proposal 8] may not be applied retroactively."

They are, in this respect, correct. However, they are not saying what they think they are saying. They are acknowledging the self-evident truth that proposal 8 cannot be applied... period. It is not a matter of retroactive justice, or putting someone in jail for a crime committed while the act was legal; instead, proposition 8 outlines what is recognized as marriage. Recognition is not something that can be applied retroactively or otherwise. If the state no longer recognizes that two men can be married, then the legal union they had performed is null and void in the eyes of the state. There really isn't much more to this part of the matter

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081220/D9566TM87.html

One further thing I would note, the claim is that homosexuals are being denied the "right" to marry, I really have been trying hard, but I cannot find a right for anyone, be they gay or straight, to marry. I have yet to understand how anyone can say that heterosexuals have the "right" to marry. Just because each state government legally recognizes the validity of a heterosexual union does not mean heterosexuals have a right to marry. This is a violation of the concept "right".

If there is a good reason to codify a recognition of homosexual unions, I have yet to hear it.

Existentialism the non-philosophy

2008-11-25T20:41:00.001-05:00

So, existentialism... is bunk

Walter Kaufmann: "The refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs whatever, and especially of systems, and a marked dissatisfaction with traditional philosophy as superficial, academic, and remote from life."

This is merely an appropriate microcosm for the idiocy that is existentialism.

Is it a crime?

2008-11-25T20:08:00.003-05:00

I am not quite sure I can see an analogue for the behavior explicated in the linked article below that would depict it as a crime... Hoaxes have been going on since the beginning of man... is there really a difference? If I made a fake lottery ticket so that a friend of mine thinks he wins 200 million dollars, and then when I tell him it was a joke, he blows his brains out because he does not want to go back to the despair of living paycheck to paycheck, is it really my fault?

Was this woman and her associates truly human scum that should be ostracized socially? Absolutely, have they contravened law? I think not.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081125/D94M60QG1.html

Will machines ever have souls?

2008-11-20T00:57:00.003-05:00

Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil takes on several questions about the advance of machines in our society. Proviso: I disagree with the word "futurist" but I will use it where others do. In this article Kurzweil takes on a few questions about machines and their progress in history and how they may evolve over the next few decades. Specifically, I wish to address his response to the question:
"Will super intelligent machines ever have souls?"

Kurzweil's response:

Will super intelligent machines ever have souls?
The soul is a synonym for consciousness… and if we were to consider where consciousness comes from we would have to consider it an emerging property. Brain science is instructive there as we look inside the brain, and we've now looked at it in exquisite detail, you don't see anything that can be identified as a soul - there's just a lot of neurons and they're complicated but there's no consciousness to be seen. Therefore it's an emerging property of a very complex system that can reflect on itself. And if you were to create a system that had similar properties, similar level of complexity it would therefore have the same emerging property and this would be more than an abstraction because these future entities… will be convincing.

It also won't be clear - you won't be able to walk into a room and say, 'OK, humans on the left, machines on the right', because it's going to be all mixed up. You'll have biological humans but they'll have machine processes in their brain, there may be a lot more complexity in the machine intelligence in their brain than the biological portion of their brain. It's not going to be a clear distinction of where humans or biological intelligence stops and machine intelligence starts… [So] we will attribute consciousness to entities even if they have no biology, even if they're fully machine entities: they will seem human, they will seem consciousness, we will attribute souls to them but that's not a scientific statement.

First I question the assertion that the soul is a synonym for consciousness. At the very least this is not unanimously held yet it is stated by Kurzweil as if it were. I understand the inductive logic he applies to attain this conclusion, however, it has several assumptions which are too weak to be relied upon in the fashion he does.

Consciousness as an emerging property.
If this is a description to fill in the obvious blanks we have run into, then it is passable; if this is suggested to be a "how to" as in how to create a consciousness, it is severely lackluster.

An inductive argument with one evidential case is very weak.

Another one of my inventions... Made before I could make it...

2008-11-19T09:56:00.003-05:00

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/19/video-rise-and-shine-alarm-hack-is-sheers-genius/

I had this idea about a year ago... I'm pissed off I was unable to make it quickly enough. Good idea Anupam Patahak, may it bring you riches.

My Favorite Sheriff

2008-11-12T09:50:00.002-05:00

A couple days ago, a group of people in Louisiana attempted to put together a KKK rite and ended up killing and disposing the body of a woman they lured to a campsite. This is not what I want to talk about. What I found absolutely priceless was the Sheriff's remarks about these members.

"'The IQ level of this group is not impressive, to be kind," St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain said Tuesday."

This guy is my hero, it is not every day that you get a Sheriff to say something so true and so blunt.

Bradley or Wilder effect

2008-11-07T17:49:00.002-05:00

I made a post a while ago in which I expressed my misanthropically generated theory that there was just no way that American's would elect a black president and furthermore, that the Bradley effect would indeed be demonstrated as true and would be augmented by the nature of a presidential election. Gleefully, I was wrong.

This effect goes by various names, Bradley effect, Wilder effect, Shy Tory Factor and Spiral of Silence. Under any name, it demonstrates that for some reason or another, pre-election pollsters will get inaccurate data because a percentage of those polled will either lie or will not admit a certain affiliation. In my misanthropy, I thought for sure this would show itself greatly in this election. I happily admit that I misjudged Americans.

Here is an article reviewing the '08 presidential election.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081107/D94A2F300.html

President-Elect Obama, my response

2008-11-05T13:05:00.003-05:00

I first want to quote and respond to an elderly gentleman. He posted the following: (note, I have no contact with this man, nor do I know what his name is, I just wanted to respond to it)

I know that what I have to say won't make many readers happy but......I am appalled by the outcome of this election. I am 76 years old and I have watched this nation grow. I was born during the Big Depression and lived through World War II when the Greatest Generation sacrificed themselves for our safety and freedom.

I myself served in the Korean War and was proud and honored to do so. I have been called a war monger by idiots who have no idea what war is all about. Veterans don't love war.

I watched a great man lose an election to a nobody who promised the Horn of Plenty to them and like hungry fish they took the bait. When a man like John McCain can't be elected this country is lost.

Here were the problems. The people did not vote FOR someone - they voted AGAINST Bush. Not very sound reasoning. The childrens vote carried the day for Obama. Young people who know little or nothing about this nations history or the perils we will face in the future. It was mob mentality that ruled over reason.

Blacks and whites who wanted to be part of a movement to elect a black man President. How noble. It didn't matter who he was or what he stood for. Just that he was black and sounded good. Date rape?

Where is John F. Kennedy today? He said, "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country". The economy played a major role among the "me first" attitudes of many voters.

I have lived too long it seems. Patriotism is dead. Country First is dead. The selfish and uninformed led by the inept rule. It is true and I wish it wasn't. - If you feel like a winner you aren't

I warned you that what I had to say wouldn't make you happy and it doesn't make me happy either. The TRUTH often hurts.

Good Luck to all of you - you will need it until you grow up.

To this Korean War Veteran, preface: I don't completely disagree with everything you said, however, I am taken aback when people use the phrase: "Greatest Generation" and actually mean it. If you are simply referring to people born within 20 years after the dawn of the twentieth century, and it is a reference divorced from the implications, then it is fine; however, if you do mean that those 20 years bore the greatest men and women this country has ever or will ever see, then I take a great objection to everything you said. If you use bigotry as a lens through which you view anyone or anything, you will never see clearly.

Despite the fact that I voted for McCain, as a political scientist, I can look at the results of the election and say that even if we had a normal turnout of youth voters, Obama still would have won. Even as a republican, you must acknowledge that the last 8 years have been a time of unprecedented unilateral action, locally, nationally and internationally. The determined divisiveness of Bush led to the defeat of McCain as much as the promises of the "Horn of Plenty".

When you split a people through various fiats, and you then ignore the disempowered majority, you must face the consequences; now the Republicans must sit back and watch as the Democrats use the system that their rivals have warped over the last 8 years; a diminute legislature, a hyper-active, hyper-influential Executive who can make laws, a Vice Presidential office who is more powerful than the legislature and the future officials that will be born from the 20-year-old men and women that spontaneously marched around their towns and cities throughout the country in celebration of Obama's victory.

Oh and any Republican senator who attempts to filibuster should be laughed off his or her pulpit, remember when the democrats wanted to filibuster and the Republicans basically said it was un-American to do so?

I'm glad I'm a centrist with no party ties as the next 8 years are going to be tumultuous.

Hexapodmeisterschaft

2008-11-01T09:28:00.003-04:00

So, is it bad of me to say that this little guy is adorable and I want one? so badly I'm considering shelling out the 150 for the base kit and the 500 plus for the servos? This is Hexapodmeisterschaft, adorably cute 6 footed (hence hexapod) little guy dancing to Mambo Number 5

Media?

2008-10-20T19:02:00.003-04:00

People must stop saying the phrase: "The Liberal Media". I agree some or perhaps the majority of the media are liberally biased, it is obvious in many cases, but by no means is the corpus of newspapers, television and internet news media all liberal. It is absurd to state it.

Obama?

2008-10-19T13:28:00.005-04:00

I've heard a new sentiment recently: "Black or White, Change we can believe in or same old story, Obama is just another rich guy buying his way into the white house".

Interesting sentiment.

VP Debate

2008-10-02T21:34:00.002-04:00

Biden said: "We have 3% of the world's oil supply, and 25% of the world's usage."

This is a completely misleading statement.

"Global warming is completely man made" This cannot be true

Palin kicked Biden in the nuts...

oh dammit... Palin cant speak "Nu - clear" its not difficult... Come on...

LOL Joe Biden speaking in the third person makes Matt Crist laugh.

So saying McCain and Bush over and over and over and over and over again is Biden's plan... Gotcha

BIDEN CAN PRONOUNCE NUCLEAR!!!

Oh jeez... Palin agrees with Cheney, at least with the misrepresentation of Cheney... The moderator totally misrepresented Cheney, she made him sound good! Cheney is wrong on the VP and evil...

I hate the phrase: "This is the most important election of your life" it is said every 4 years and it is idiotic.

Dur...

2008-09-24T07:38:00.001-04:00

"Just because God created the world in seven days doesn't mean we have to pass this bill in seven days," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.

You, sir, are correct; however, the current state of the market and the fact that this bill is a necessary evil means you should pass it in less than 7... You fucking moron..

My next car

2008-09-20T22:03:00.002-04:00

Behold, my next car:

Rape victims, Sarah Palin and Barack Obama

2008-09-15T00:29:00.005-04:00

So I am curious, all those people out there who are attacking Palin on this Rape Kit issue, do they know that Obama is in the same boat as Palin?

"Knecht says she's recently heard from caseworkers in Illinois, Georgia, and Arkansas reporting that rape victims continue to be charged for their forensic exams."

Well... I suppose Obama wants Rape Victims to pay for their Rape Kits too...

Please research before you form an opinion.

"When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the city billed sexual assault victims and their insurance companies for the cost of rape kits and forensic examinations.

Palin had been in office for four years when the practice of charging rape victims got the attention of state lawmakers in 2000, who passed a bill to stop the practice.

The bill passed the Legislature over the objections of Wasilla police chief Charlie Fannon, who said it would require the city to come up with more money to cover the costs of buying the rape kits and doing the exams."

So Sarah Palin inherited a problem of the police department having such a low budget that they were forced to charge for rape kits, and some how this makes her in support of charging for rape kits? Lets review how this practice got stopped... The state legislature had to pass a bill to stop it... The police department started this practice long before Palin came into the office of Mayor, and the state legislature's request for the police to stop this practice didn't stop it... Only a state law protecting rape victims stopped it.

Oh and everyone should know that there are many police departments throughout the country who STILL practice this, as stated above, some of those departments are in Illinois, Obama's old stomping ground.

Think, research, learn.

Who will win this election and why it will not matter.

2008-08-27T20:33:00.003-04:00

I've been talking with people who are Pro-McCain or Pro-Obama and it has been nebulous, but I have seen the portention from the political milieu that McCain will win, but it won’t matter. The portention from the current state of U.S. politics comes from various avenues, the most notable being the historical tendencies of the public.

Ostensibly, voting to spark change is the habit of the younger generation; I think this will turn around on this particular generation as it seems from various interactions, polls and televised hype that people are seeing McCain as different from Bush/Cheney. Thus, the tendency of some to stick with what is comfortable will meld with other people's tendency to bring about change and McCain will receive a great deal of voters who are under the radar.

Furthermore, I think McCain has succeeded in his campaign to make people believe that Obama is unfit due to inexperience. No one will argue that we are in a dangerous time, and although Obama has made an excellent choice of a running mate, he has not completely thwarted the McCain plan to paint him as inexperienced. Even though I completely disagree with the assertion that one could possibly be prepared for being the president, it appears to have been a great concern of voters throughout U.S. History.

Finally, although I am proud of this country for proving me wrong in a respect, race is going to be an issue. When I saw that a woman and a black man were running for the democratic nomination, I, as the tendentious misanthrope, thought nothing was going to come of their bids. I had a discussion with someone about 6 years ago about what would happen if a minority or a woman ran for president. I posited that if such an event took place in ‘08 or ‘12 that he or she would invariably lose but it would pave the way for prying the U.S. out of the dark age of spoiled W.A.S.P. men from holding the office of the presidency. I then predicted that within 3-5 elections, we would eventually, and thankfully, lose a great portion of the habitual racist/sexist voter population and would elect a minority or a woman.

While I think there will be many people who will vote for Obama because he is black, irrespective of his credentials simply for the fact that having a minority take office would be a great event for this country, I think this number will be squelched by the habitual racists who just couldn’t pull that lever and vote for a black person. I would love to be proved wrong in this respect, but my misanthropy commands me at this moment in history.

In the end I think that none the preceding will matter because I think that neither candidate will be able to carry out his stated goals. Without going into a protracted discussion of each candidates stated aims and why most are unrealizable, I think it will suffice to say that in this odd juncture in history, energy policies, foreign policies, domestic policies each have only one eventual avenue and derivation of each avenue can only come after the election as they are unrealizable in the current state of affairs (a lame duck president, policies and resolutions end term coming up after the election and other currently evolving issues).

It is going to be an interesting election and subsequent four years.

Nietzsche

2008-05-13T19:58:00.002-04:00

There are such wildly different positions on Nietzsche's theories... I've read Christians who defend him as positing in his books that a world devoid of God and Christianity is a bad world and we must realize that we must adhere to Christianity. This position states that anywhere in Nietzsche's works where he is saying that God is dead, he is saying that because of our current level of corruption, we are pursuing a world wherein God does not exist and that is indeed a bad world.

My understanding, however, is that Nietzsche did indeed state that he feels that God does not exist and the traditional idea of God is dead; additionally, the church, as the embodiment of God, is no longer necessary in an age of reason...

I am always puzzled when such dichotomous positions can be soundly formulated from one idea or expression.

Kdice

2008-04-17T17:40:00.001-04:00

1% skill
4% alliances
15% noob factor
80% pure, unmitigated, blind, restacking, place-starting, freaking luck...

thats it...

Akrasia

2008-04-16T06:41:00.000-04:00

- I'm a freakin expert in this...

Aids...

2008-04-15T06:57:00.002-04:00

So, do the individual viruses that make up the AIDS virus live and subsist exclusively in the immune cells of a human? If a human had no such cells, how long would the viral cells be able to survive (irrespective of how long the human could survive)? Interesting questions...

hrm...

2008-04-09T22:57:00.002-04:00

When you clip the bristles of the painter's brush, blunt the sculptor's chisel, break the poet's pencil, fog the photographer's lens, burn the sommelier's tongue, extinguish the cook's fire, you damage the world a bit...

Natural vis a vis unnatural

2008-04-03T23:44:00.003-04:00

At what point does the natural world end and the unnatural world being? Is at your front doorstep? Your driveway? Your fenceline?

One possible distinction between natural and unnatural is that what is nature is what would exist if man had not, and what is unnatural is what exists because man does. Thus, the doorstep is an unnatural object, it is manmade, of course. What of the bird's nest then? Why should the same distinction not apply? What is natural is what would have existed if the bird had not, what is unnatural is what exists because the bird does. Thus a bird's nest is a "birdmade object". But the common perception, I think, is that the bird's nest is natural whereas the skyscraper and the B-52 bomber are all unnatural.

What say you who believe the B-52 is unnatural to the fact that birds drop coconuts upon rocks in order to extract the innerds? Does the evil of a B-52 taint its distinction as manmade and thus unnatural? You who believe such are truly misanthropic.

What of the skyscraper? How is a skyscraper any different from a birds nest (other than the irrelevant size difference)? A set of materials, tendentiously moved from their natural place and from their natural shape into a new form with new purpose. Is this a good definition of both a skyscraper and a bird's nest? If not then why?

Does conscience and conscious choice make the difference? How egotisictical must we be to say that we, mankind, are the only entities on this planet who do not exist merely in a state of responding to stimuli and nothing else. Conceeded: an ant responds to stimuli and nothing else; but what of dolphins? They blow airbubble circles and then float through them. They exert energy to do things which have a purpose other than pure survival and these actions cannot be explained simply by stating that they are responses to stimuli.

Thus, what makes one thing a natural object and another an unnatural object. All manmade objects are made by a reorganization of natural objects, there is no possible way to make anything else, thus all things are natural objects and the destinction between natural and unnatural is fleeting.

Mathematics

2008-04-03T23:26:00.002-04:00

Mathematics... does math govern the operant universe? or does it describe it? Wherever there are two acorns on the ground, is that the sum of one and one? When a panda needs four bamboo shoots and pulls three with his right paw and one with his left, did he do the sum of three and one equal four?

Is it possible that when humans utilized the first devices and had to count and store food for the winter season that mathematics was born similarly to when mathematicians needed to do something with the pesky square roots of negative one that kept cropping up so they engendered imaginary numbers.

Thus I commit myself to what some view as the ultimate mortal sin, mathematics is dependant upon the human intellect, numbers are not transcendant objects or objects whatsoever, we have created mathematics and all patterns therein are systemic and irrelevant.

i <3 huckabees...

2008-04-02T03:05:00.002-04:00

an exposé of what happens when people with a modicum of knowledge and an absence of understanding attempt to take on enigmatic questions.

Oil...

2008-04-01T17:06:00.002-04:00

"Our earnings, although high in absolute terms, need to be viewed in the context of the scale and cyclical, long-term nature of our industry as well as the huge investment requirements," said J.S. Simon, senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp. "We depend on high earnings during the up cycle to sustain ... investment over the long-term, including the down cycles,"

The up cycle has been going on too long, suggested Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. "The anger level is rising significantly."

This is truly hilarious...

The Large Hadron Collider

2008-03-31T14:10:00.003-04:00

There have been fanatic claims that the Large Hadron Collider that is to go online soon is going to damage earth somehow or perhaps create some sort rip in the time continuum... These nonsensical claims have, paradoxically, stirred up from some very influential physicists and other scientists around the world. The only connection between some of these claimants and CERN, is that the claimants could be jealous that they aren't able to work on the LHC and therefore want to scare the public against the LHC... Other than that, anyone who is afraid of the LHC is a quack and ought to be completely ostracized.

Anyone who knows the basics of astrophysics knows that the reactions of the LHC will fall vastly short of the very harmless cosmic interactions which occur in our atmosphere every day. Furthermore, those who think the LHC will harm anything or anyone miss the fact that the black hole creation in the LHC will be so minuscule that it will not be able to react with anything and will dissipate almost instantly... Honestly, I think that the people who are filing these claims against the LHC ought to have their statements recorded, and then after the LHC goes online, they should be publicly humiliated for attempting to hurt the progress of real science because of their own petty personal concerns.

While I'm ranting:

2008-03-29T02:04:00.002-04:00

Anyone who supports the confederacy, the "Great Nation of Texas" or flies a rebel flag ought to be tried for treason... Just saying... they are separatists, secessionists and seditious...

China

2008-03-29T01:45:00.002-04:00

So, China... What, pray tell, was the deciding factor for the Olympics Committee to make the decision to hold the Olympics in China? Perhaps the deleterious air quality? Perhaps the current violent and oppressive stance on Taiwanese Independence? Perhaps the fact that just about the entire western third of China wants to be an independant state and has a several century claim to Independence? Perhaps the fact that entire villages are dying from cancer due entirely, and indubitably, to water pollution... please can someone tell me why the Olympics are being held there?

Public Officials cont...

2008-03-28T12:17:00.002-04:00

"If I wanted to be loved, I ought to be a TV correspondent, not a politician,"
- Cheney

This is why the congress is supposed to be equal in power if not more powerful than the executive, and defiantly more powerful than the VP. It is not a simple matter to get rid of the executive nor the VP, however, the congress is much more susceptible to the will of the people than the executive.

If Cheney thinks that he ought not fret over whether or not he is respected by the populus, he needs remedial education in the Constitution and the structure of our government.

Subterfuge

2008-03-25T21:18:00.004-04:00

It completely eludes me how a person could run for public office, of any distinction, perform some of the requisite duties whilst simultaneously abandoning the principles upon which the office is founded. Furthermore, abandoning the trust of the public, who espoused trust in the elected individual via the electoral process, in such a manner accrues particular disdain in my eyes. The hubris required to pull off such a blatant disregard for the public is far beyond my comprehension and thus I am motivated to think that instead of some sort of arrogance, one who can do such a thing either suffers from a mental deficiency or is evil beyond mere pride.

The desiderata of a person who could act in such a way ought to be of particular inspection as it may elucidate the motivations which lead to such betrayal and thus may allow us to identify scoundrels earlier. With all this said, I am not naive, i know this betrayal will occur from time to time, this fact does not, however, remove the desire to eliminate such potential betryal from our political officers.

Revivification

2008-03-17T07:16:00.003-04:00

Ostensibly, blogs are to be a repository of thought, this blog has been a bit of that though it got rather untidy while at the same time being neglected. Since, as one of my profs put it, my essays and term papers for class have been a tool by which I have been entertaining myself through superfluously ostentatious diction, I will move such works to this blog while leaving my school work clean, concise and perhaps even trite.

gannas:

2006-08-30T12:12:00.000-04:00

Its all you really need.

Man I wish I had Gannas... I wish I could stave off the false-desire to do nothing...

Epicureanism describes that the three true desires for happiness are friendship, freedom and an analyzed life. Although Epicurius himself was a complete atheist, I believe he has some very good points. If you analyze all advertising, they will make attempts at desplaying their product in such a way that it will appeal to your desire to have friends and or freedom and thus attempt to align their advertised product, often something you do not need, with something you truely need. The analyzed life is something advertising rarely attempts to portrey because it is far more difficult to comprehend yet it is really the only thing I have going for me.

What do I find the hardest part about writing an essay CL

2006-06-14T23:45:00.000-04:00

Beyond any question, the beginning. At one time I would force myself to write the rest of the essay and then go back and write the intro paragraph. Then that became a practice that has made writing essay MUCH easier for me! It feels more natural to me and since your intro and conclusion paragraphs are really paraphrases of the body of your paragraph, it really helps. For me, if I get a subject in mind I will explore that topic and just run with it. Churn out paragraph after paragraph about the topic at hand with no organization. Often the paragraphs flow from one aspect of the topic to the next and thus coherient paragraphs come about, but not always. But after I get 3 pages of body paragraphs the hard part is done. I then go through the paragraphs I created and take one line from each that appear to be the "topic" of the paragraph and lay those sentances out. After I do that it is merely a matter shifting them around and editing them so that they tie in togheter so that they look like an opening paragraph. Then I just try to find some sort of way to tie everything together with an ending tone to get the concluding paragraph and then the essay is complete (draft 1 anyway).

But since I dont really start an essay out with the introduction anymore, i'd say that the hardest part of writing an essay for me now is to narrow down my thoughts on the topic to some concise articulation rather than the jumble they tend to be.

2006-06-13T00:24:00.000-04:00

this is hypnotic.. and sort of scary..

what fell things i come across in my search of knowledge of the LOTR stuff

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1189977381292772054

Some truisms and sayings of mine:

2006-06-12T21:15:00.000-04:00

I am a Christian in that I follow the way, Jesus Christ. I am a Catholic in that I believe that Jesus Christ's teachings of Peace, Love and tolerance apply without exception to all.

Life is a continual struggle against doing nothing

Gannas; it is all you really need.

A Government collapses when there are vastly more answers than questions.

I wonder, in the dictionary for the definition of dictionary, do they just have "this".

I do not wish to get my point across simply, I wish to get it across completely.

The brianless want a strong leader; I want a smart leader who can and will do what he says he will do.

That which is hard to come by will be cherished more than that which is given in passing.

No one listens to the quiet, but no likes the loud...

All I have to do is think and I create chaos... what a burden is that!

The most important thing is not life, but the good life.

I am wiser than a man who thinks he knows more than I. I am such because I know that I know nothing, where as he does not quite get it yet that he knows nothing as well.

It's not an insult to a dead man to say that he is dead...

Propaganda everywhere,
but not a thought to think

the religious right isn't;
the moral majority aren't either

a Day in the Life of life

2006-06-11T20:23:00.000-04:00

a Day in the Life of life

the gears, they crank and turn
beginning the processes; run.
For when is the life the life to be lived,
And when is the life a Life of the Prived?
i do not go
you do not go
we do not go; should we?

these gears have cranked
churned out something grand,
processes of the neurological
i can tell by the urealogical

when do we cancel
the rating and score
when are we fanciful
with this our score

listen carefully, you cannot miss a beat
if you do you will fly and cry, “come with us”
they and you will say, in the market of the street.
A wall is there, does no one care?
Can they not see the wall? They named it and all!

yet on and on we go, they go
i’d rather not be of “they”
yet how shall i stay?

No food to grind, no wheat to bake
Hither hence i shall wince

and move along to the market of the street

no one
to

go no
one to know

smile,
my friend it is not tooo- bad.
join Us and see our market, its pretty clean,
Upstanding and lean.

God, God's "justification", and slavery.

2006-05-31T02:35:00.000-04:00

I recently had a discussion with a guy who is not an atheist, as true atheism is impossible in my opinion, but he questions God as a contemptible being. Right in line with C.S. Lewis', et el., early life beliefs that God is not the Good omnipotence, omniscience that we Catholics know Him as, rather, God is some contemptible being who has made grave errors and thus should give us "non-existence" as an alternate to his present options; be with Him or not.

This discussion was about slavery and Christ's biblical teaching that a slave should be good to his master and a master should be good to his slave. This discussion brought up old familiar theories of mine that there are just too many differences between our society and the society Jesus preached in. I think this is one huge defining factor in why there is so much scorn against Catholicism in present times. One could not feasibly pull this off, however, I feel that much the same as a hypochondriac should not be introduced to medical texts until cured or the disease is under control, some people should not be introduced to the bible until he or she has been surrounded by good representations of the reality of the Catholic Church.

I really like this guy, much like Voltaire, he is a worthy adversary and thus I would like to continue debates with him. But, as usual, if he constantly comes in the debate with misinformation or inference from shaky evidence, there will be very distasteful debates instead of healthy discourse.

Voltaire:

2006-05-26T23:50:00.000-04:00

A compilation I made a few years ago of some things I read about and by Voltaire. Even though he was rather in opposition to my world-view, he had singular vision:

Voltaire:
"The wicked can have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, self-seekers have associates, the politic assemble the factions, the typical idler has connections, princes have courtiers. Only the virtuous have friends."

"Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."

"As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities."

"It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one."

"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

"If this world were what it seems it should be, it is clear that it would be impossible for one man to enslave another."

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."