Why I'm So Cool, Reason #392

I bought myself an iPhone today.



Yup, that's NoodleFood on the screen!

Read more...

Mac Goodies

For more than a year, I've been periodically searching for timeline-creation software for Windows. (I wanted to create custom timelines for myself and my students.) I never found anything remotely capable of the basic task. To my delight, however, a very nice program is available for the Mac: TimeFlyer.

Similarly, I've tried out more flashcard programs than I could possibly remember, but none were to my liking. However, on the Mac, I quickly found the great little program iFlash. It seems to do everything I want, with the usual Mac elegance unheard-of in PC shareware.

Hooray!

In general, I've been very impressed with the range and quality of Mac software, both major and minor applications. (Here's list of Mac equivalents of standard PC programs. It's a bit dated, but still helpful if you're thinking of making The Switch.)

Since I've been away from Macs (and NeXTStep) for 10 years, I've been surprised -- and delighted -- by the sheer pleasure of computing on my new MacBook Pro. My computer is no longer a mere functional tool. To work on a complex human artifact so carefully, thoughtfully, and beautifully constructed is a genuine source of spiritual fuel. It's really quite astonishing.

Thank you, Steve Jobs!

Read more...

Seat 29E

I only hope that the poor man in seat 29E got a nice hot shower shortly after landing. Let his plight be a lesson to us all...

Read more...

Objectivism CD-ROM on the Mac

Does anyone have any suggestions for running the Objectivism CD-ROM on the Mac? I can easily use the other two Windows programs I need from my old laptop, so I'd rather not install Parallels just for the Objectivism CD-ROM. I've tried CrossOver, but I couldn't get the program to install.

Any ideas?

Read more...

Worship of Death

This bit of history confirms (yet again) that Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on horrifying death worship:

Scattered throughout Northern Japan are two dozen mummified Japanese monks known as Sokushinbutsu. Followers of Shugendo, an ancient form of Buddhism, the monks died in the ultimate act of self-denial.

For three years the priests would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat. They then ate only bark and roots for another three years and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, normally used to lacquer bowls. This caused vomiting and a rapid loss of bodily fluids, and most importantly, it killed off any maggots that might cause the body to decay after death. Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed.

Not all monks who attempted self-mummification were successful. When the tombs were finally opened, some bodies were found to have rotted. These monks were resealed in their tombs. They were respected for their endurance, but they were not worshiped. Those monks who had succeeded in mummifying themselves were raised to the status of Buddha, put on display, and tended to by their followers. The Japanese government outlawed Sokushunbutsu in the late 19th century, though the practice apparently continued into the 20th.

Ugh. (Via Paul.)

Read more...

Go Forth and Integrate

When Paul posted this story about the exciting discovery of a new method of converting blood types...

Scientists have developed a way of converting one blood group into another.

The technique potentially enables blood from groups A, B and AB to be converted into group O negative, which can be safely transplanted into any patient.

The method, which makes use of newly discovered enzymes, may help relieve shortages of blood for transfusions.

...he joked to me, "Well, now the Objectivist epistemology is toast!"

Leonard Peikoff used the example of the incompatibility of blood types in Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand to illustrate the principle "since a later discovery rests hierarchically on earlier knowledge, it cannot contradict its own base" (173). So the irony would be downright gooey if this new technique actually overturned our prior understanding of the incompatibility of blood types. Of course -- and hence the joke -- the new technique is based on that prior knowledge, meaning that it is actually a perfect example of the principle at work.

However, Paul's comment did have a more serious point, namely that Dr. Peikoff's fine example has become something of an Objectivist bromide, overused (and misused) by other Objectivists, such that the principle might seem to rest largely on that single example. The same thing happens with Ayn Rand's various furniture concepts (e.g. coffee table, desk, table, bookcase, furniture) as examples of a low-level hierarchy of concepts. Those examples have been so overused that sometimes it seems like the Objectivist theory of concepts is good for nothing but forming concepts of furniture! (One side-effect is ignorance of the difficulties of forming some low-level concepts, e.g. those those of species of living organisms.)

As I tell my students, if you can't construct your own examples, then you really don't understand the abstract principle in question. Using Ayn Rand's own examples might be legitimate in some contexts, e.g. when introducing Rand's own views to those unfamiliar with her work. However, the re-use of standard Objectivist examples often seems to stem from haste (i.e. inadequate time to think of a new example), laziness (i.e. unwillingness to exert the effort to develop a new example), or timidity (i.e. fear of using a misbegotten, half-baked, or problematic example).

However, the root problem is that of inadequate connections between abstractions with concretes. A person who really understands some abstract point should have a wide range of clear examples thereof within relatively easy mental grasp. That "shutttling" between abstractions and concretes is a particular specialty of Yaron Brook: when speaking of some abstraction, he is never at a loss for concrete examples. So what he knows, he really knows. It's damn impressive.

Developing those connections between abstractions and concretes does not require scholarly study or special training. It just requires consciously adopting a policy of identifying all kinds of phenomena in conceptual form as you go about life. So you make a conscious mental note to yourself: "Oh, that's an instance of X" or "That's like Y in Z respect." (Remember to include internal mental states as well as phenomena out in the world.) If you do that regularly, you'll find yourself with a wide range of examples to draw on in discussion, with firmer grasp of the abstraction, and with a greater capacity to make new integrations.

If you have a terrible memory like me, you might also want to write down the better examples. (That's one of the reasons I blog: it helps me remember interesting concrete instances of abstract principles.) For example, the recent discovery about converting blood types mentioned above is not merely an instance of the principle that new knowledge cannot contradict its own base, it's also an instance of Francis Bacon's dictum "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." The discovery of a method of altering those blood types would be impossible without the acceptance of the incompatibility of blood types as metaphysical fact.

I'm not as consistent about this policy of conceptualization as I'd like to be. So I'm facile in some areas and bumbling in others. That's one reason why I've chosen to blog about it: the process of writing this post will help remind me to implement the necessary standing orders!

Read more...

Red Pawn

Last year, one of my favorite courses at OCON was Dina Schein's Savoring Ayn Rand's Red Pawn. Not only was it delightful to talk about my absolute favorite work of Ayn Rand's outside her novels, but Dina did an excellent job of taking us step-by-step through the literary analysis.

Finally, it's available from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. Hooray!

Read more...

Holy Tax Dollars, Batman!

Wow, I was totally blown away by this massive list of substantial tax dollars flowing into religious organizations with faith-based initiatives and the like. Ugh.

Read more...

Mother Nature's Pornography

Ouch!

(Via Monica.)

Read more...

The New iPhone

This just-released 20 minute guided tour of Apple's soon-forthcoming iPhone is just awesome. Obviously, it's an even more amazing device than the commercials could convey.

On a related note, my switch back to Mac is going very nicely. Although I still have conversion work to do, such as porting OneNote to NoteBook, I've been using "Scapula" as my primary machine for a few days now. Despite a bit of fumbling, I'm already more efficient in using it than I ever was with my Windows laptop. That's due to Apple's excellent slew of consistent keyboard shortcuts, as well as an end to the slowdown I've experienced ever since upgrading to Outlook 2007. I'm extremely happy that I made "The Switch." I highly recommend it to all disgruntled Windows users.

Read more...

OAC Applications Due July 30th

I cannot recommend ARI's Objectivist Academic Center heartily enough for students serious about studying Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism:

Ayn Rand Institute Offers Educational Program for the Study of Rand's Philosophy

Irvine, California (June 14, 2007)--Fifty years after the publication of her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, interest in Ayn Rand has never been greater. For those who want to study her ideas in depth, the Ayn Rand Institute's educational program, the Objectivist Academic Center, offers systematic instruction in Rand's philosophy, Objectivism.

More than one hundred students currently participate in the OAC's graduate and undergraduate programs, which for years have been offered as a supplement to a standard college education. The undergraduate program helps students develop a basic understanding of philosophy, of Objectivism as a philosophical system, and of the art of clear, objective thinking and writing. The focus of the graduate program is on mastering Objectivism, with special attention paid to proper philosophical methodology.

Students from all over the world attend classes online and via teleconference. Local students also have the option of attending classes at ARI's headquarters in Irvine, California. Select courses are open to auditors.

As a benefit to students who would like to receive college credit for their OAC coursework, ARI has partnered with Chapman University to offer two OAC courses, "Introduction to Philosophy" and "Introduction to Writing," through Chapman's distance learning program. Students are able to take the classes for credit, transfer the credits to their own university, and apply them toward their college degree.

Most full-time students receive tuition waivers, as well as other generous scholarships to help defray the costs of participating in the OAC. Additionally, ARI offers a wide array of support for OAC students, including grants, scholarships, and mentoring.

The application deadline for the 2007-08 academic year is July 30.

For more information on this program, please visit the Objectivist Academic Center website at www.objectivistacademiccenter.org or contact:

Debi Ghate
Vice President, Academic Programs
Ayn Rand Institute
(949) 222-6550, ext 206
dghate@aynrand.org

I probably owe ARI my firstborn son for all that I've learned in my three years at OAC. Thankfully, they're more interested in donations of cash than children. (Children are hard to sell.) If I recall correctly, ARI is interested in expanding OAC, but they need money to do that. In any case, I'm sure that donations specifically to support OAC are welcome. Personally, I'm extremely grateful to all who've made OAC possible, particularly OAC teachers, ARI staff, ARI donors. You rock!

(Oh dear, I'm a bit punchy. I do have a good excuse, however. I just finished the first draft of my dissertation outline. It's sixteen pages, single-spaced. Yeah me!)

Read more...

Post Normal Science

A while back, Billy Beck sent me a link to this horrid bit of "post-normal science":

But there is also a third way of interpreting contemporary science, which is yet one further step removed from the binary truth-falsehood view of Singer and Avery. This third way of seeing science pays more attention to the social and cultural context in which science works and speaks than to the phenomena being studied. Who are the scientists, what are their values, motives and preferences, why are they being asked to study this particular problem rather than some other problem, and who funds them? This understanding of science is what sociologists have termed its social construction.

In fact, that's nothing even remotely like an "understanding of science" -- unless that quaint notion of "reality" is discarded as white man's trash.

How did science get so bad? In a word: Kant. For the gory details of Kant's destructive influence on science, see Dave Harriman's course The Philosophic Corruption of Physics.

Read more...

Perfection in a Box

My unbelievably beautiful new MacBook Pro just arrived! Hooray!

Sadly, I have another hour of work on my dissertation to do before I can play with it. Paul bought an identical one at the same time last week, but his shipped a bit later, so it likely won't arrive until Wednesday. (HAHAHAHA!)

Here's the specs for both machines:

Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 4GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
Hard Drive: 160GB Serial ATA Drive@5400rpm
Optical Drive: SuperDrive 8x
Display: 15" Widescreen Display (Matte)

So now "The Switch" begins in earnest. My goal is to have it working well as my primary machine by OCON in two and a half weeks. Oh, and it's name is "Scapula." (All my computers are named after bones in the human body.)

Read more...

New List: OAcademics

Along the same lines as my OBloggers mailing list, I've created a list for Objectivist in academia: OAcademics:

The OAcademics mailing list is a private forum for Objectivist academics to discuss teaching, research, coursework, dissertations, job prospects, publication, and all other aspects of life in (or after) academia. The list is basically a means of sharing knowledge and experience as ever more Objectivists enter academia.

The list isn't limited to philosophers: all Objectivists in academia, whether professors or graduate students, are welcome. (Those in the process of applying to graduate school are also welcome to subscribe.) If you're not an Objectivist in academia, please do not subscribe.

No subscriber is obliged to participate in list discussions. However, I do make two requests of subscribers:

(1) That you post the syllabi from the courses you teach (including the list of readings) at the beginning of every semester so that others may consult them in the process of their own course development.

(2) That you post any significant announcements about your work, e.g. the successful defense of your dissertation, an article accepted for publication, a fabulous new teaching job, or leaving academia to hunt bears in Alaska.

The list is not moderated. Please make sure that your posts are polite, friendly, and on-topic.

Messages will be archived, but those archives will only be available to other list members. Please do not forward list messages to anyone else or post them to any other forum without permission from the author.

If you have any questions, please e-mail Diana Hsieh at diana@dianahsieh.com.

Objectivists in academia are welcome to subscribe themselves to the list. I'll also be contacting people privately, but since I don't have e-mail addresses for all the Objectivists in academia I know, please feel free to spread the word.

FYI: If some responsible person wants to manage an "OLawyers" or "ODoctors" or "OWhatevers" list, I might be willing to host that. Just drop me an e-mail. It's not that I want Objectivists to talk to each other in some cloister -- quite the contrary, in fact. The point is to foster success in the real world by sharing advice, experience, and expertise.

Read more...

Dictation

This blog post from a medical transcriptionist on the annoying habits of doctors in dictation is damn funny. Paul never writes reports: he dictates them all. It's a pretty amazing sight to behold, as he punches out paragraphs of coherently organized analysis after a few minutes of scrolling through the images at about three times his normal rate of speaking. (Happily, he has none of the bad habits of dictation mentioned in the article.)

Read more...

Air Traffic Controllers Say The Darndest Things

Here's a page of "funny air traffic controller quotes".

Update from Diana: From the same web site, funny insurance claims.

Read more...

Ari Armstrong's "Serious Food Economy Challenge"

From Ari Armstrong:

Media Release

'Serious' food-stamp challenge expanded after Denver Post refuses

Contact: Ari Armstrong, 303.412.8366

The "2007 Food Stamp Challenge," in which various public officials, activists, and journalists ate on $3.57 or less per day, resulted in numerous calls for increasing the tax dollars spent on food stamps.

Ari Armstrong replied, "The original Challenge was not a fair test. The participants I've read about didn't make a serious effort to economize in their food purchases. My mom used to feed our family with nutritious meals for far less than that amount, accounting for inflation. My wife and I are so confident that we can eat on less than $3 per person per day that we're willing to do it for a full six months, not the mere week specified by the original Challenge.

"There's a catch: for each dollar we come in under budget over that period, supporters of increasing the food-stamp subsidy have to collectively pay $10 to a nonprofit of our choice.

"I'll call this 'The Serious Food Economy Challenge'."

The Armstrongs originally made this challenge to Diane Carman and the editorial writers of The Denver Post, none of whom agreed to the challenge, even though they suggested that the current food-stamp budget is inadequate.

"This just goes to show that these writers for The Denver Post lack the courage of their convictions," Armstrong said.

The Denver Post also declined to publish Armstrong's response as a guest editorial. It is available here.

Armstrong criticized several food choices made by participants of the original challenge:

Bill Scanlon of the Rocky Mountain News admits to wasting part of his budget on Ramen noodles.

Yet, according to NutritionData.com, this food has little nutritional value. No good points are mentioned for the food under the web page's opinion. The web page states, "This food is high in Saturated Fat and Sodium." (Scanlon didn't specify the exact type of noodles, so the exact nutritional content may vary.)

"It's no wonder that when people spend their limited budget on food that's not very good for them, they don't feel so great," Armstrong said.

Roxane White, manager for Denver Human Services, wasted $5.46 on "instant soups" and $7.45 on "five prepackaged frozen meals," according to the Rocky Mountain News.

"If White can't economize any better than that, then I have to wonder why she's trusted with a tax-funded job that oversees the spending of tax dollars. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that instant soup and frozen dinners aren't the best value for the money, especially while on a tight budget," Armstrong said.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper ate "a dinner of a baked potato topped with Velveeta cheese," reports The Denver Post's editorial board.

According to NutritionData.com, Velveeta cheese is "a good source of Calcium, and a very good source of Phosphorus." However, it "is very high in Saturated Fat and Sodium," and it gets only one of five stars for "optimum health."

Armstrong summarized: "The argument that the food stamp budget should be increased because it's impossible to eat nutritiously on $3 or $3.57 per person per day is fallacious. And my wife and I are prepared to prove it.
All we ask for our trouble is that the advocates of more tax spending for food stamps agree to fund the nonprofit of our choice once we prove them wrong."

More detailed rules for The Serious Food Economy Challenge may be found here.

Knowing Ari and his wife, I'm absolutely certain that they could eat perfectly comfortably on $3 per day for years. Go Ari!

Read more...

Powell History Blog

It's about time! Powell History has a blog.

Scott Powell recommends David Allen's book Getting Things Done in his latest post. (In case you haven't heard of it, it's a manual for personal productivity.) I've been using the GTD methodology (to a moderate degree) for the past few years. Over the past month or so, I've been re-reading the book and implementing more of the methodology. (It's impossible to get it all on the first pass.) I don't use all elements of the system -- the overhead involved in the promiscuous proliferation of projects and files would kill me -- but the basic strategy of dumping everything that needs doing into a regularly-reviewed external system has made my life soooooooo much more manageable. I've still got some tweaking to do, but I'm definitely humming along quite nicely these days. I've also established a regular time slot for dissertation writing, something I've never done before. That's working wonders too.

In short, I strongly second Scott's recommendation.

Read more...

Smarter Crows

In Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, Ayn Rand begins the chapter on "The Cognitive Role of Concepts" as follows:

The story of the following experiment was told in a university classroom by a professor of psychology. I cannot vouch for the validity of the specific numerical conclusions drawn from it, since I could not check it first-hand. But I shall cite it here, because it is the most illuminating way to illustrate a certain fundamental aspect of consciousness—of any consciousness, animal or human.

The experiment was conducted to ascertain the extent of the ability of birds to deal with numbers. A hidden observer watched the behavior of a flock of crows gathered in a clearing of the woods. When a man came into the clearing and went on into the woods, the crows hid in the tree tops and would not come out until he returned and left the way he had come. When three men went into the woods and only two returned, the crows would not come out: they waited until the third one had left. But when five men went into the woods and only four returned, the crows came out of hiding. Apparently, their power of discrimination did not extend beyond three units—and their perceptual-mathematical ability consisted of a sequence such as: one-two-three-many.

Whether this particular experiment is accurate or not, the truth of the principle it illustrates can be ascertained introspectively: if we omit all conceptual knowledge, including the ability to count in terms of numbers, and attempt to see how many units (or existents of a given kind) we can discriminate, remember and deal with by purely perceptual means (e.g., visually or auditorially, but without counting), we will discover that the range of man's perceptual ability may be greater, but not much greater, than that of the crow: we may grasp and hold five or six units at most.

This fact is the best demonstration of the cognitive role of concepts.

Apparently, crows have grown smarter since that original experiment, as this article on "How To Shoot Crows" by Ed Zern from Field & Stream (August 1973) demonstrates:

Over the years a number of readers have written, asking me to provide them with my crow-shooting system as it appeared here a decade or so ago. As both of them are regular subscribers I can hardly afford to ignore their request, and hasten to comply.

The system is based on a study of crow behavior conducted by research biologists at Phelps University which showed that crows have a relatively high level of intelligence and are actually able to count, but only in multiples of three or less, so that the conventional procedure for fooling crows-by sending several men into a blind, then having all but one of them leave -- is not likely to work except with very young birds, if at all. Thus, even if six crow hunters go into a cornstalk blind and only five come out, the crows probably won't be fooled, as they will have counted off the hunters in trios and will realize that one of the groups is short a man; as a result they will stay the hell away from there until the frustrated gunner gives up and emerges.

My system for successful crow hunting is childishly simple, and consists of the following steps:

1. Build a blind overlooking a cornfield frequented by crows.

2. Assemble a group of twenty five hunters, all dressed more or less alike and of nearly equal height, build, and facial characteristics. All the hunters should be clean-shaven, but twelve of them should be wearing false mustaches. The group should assemble in a barn or some sort of building not less than 350 yards from the field. (It would be prudent to have a few spare hunters on hand, to substitute in cases of pulled muscles, heart attacks or other contingencies.)

3. All of the hunters should be equipped with 12-gauge shotguns, but it is advisable that these be fairly light in weight, as it is important that all hunters going to and from the blind must travel at a dead run, so that the crows will not have sufficient time for their calculations.

4. As soon as a flock of crows comes into the area, eleven of the hunters are dispatched from the old barn to the blind, running at top speed. The instant they arrive, seven of them turn around and rush back to the barn.

5. When the seven hunters get back to the barn, they are joined by six other hunters and the thirteen of them sprint back to the blind as fast as possible; on arrival there, ten of them immediately turn around and dash back to the barn.

6. Before the ten arrive, eight more hunters are sent from the barn to the blind. When they meet the ten returning from the blind all of them switch hats and false mustaches while milling around in a tight huddle, then break it up and resume running to their respective destinations.

7. As soon as the eight hunters arrive at the blind, five of them turn around and rush back toward the barn; on the way they meet nine hunters running from the barn toward the blind, whereupon the hunters divide themselves into two groups of seven, one of which runs back to the barn while the other rushes to the blind, changes hats and mustaches, leaves two of its members there and dashes back to the barn.

8. Of the twelve hunters now in the blind, nine now rush across the fields to the barn while twelve of the thirteen hunters in the barn charge en masse from the barn to the blind; on arrival they immediately turn and sashay back to the barn taking two of the three hunters still in the blind, leaving a single hunter.

9. It is, of course, essential that all this be done at the highest possible speed, so that the crows will fall hopelessly behind in their arithmetic and in the consequent corvine confusion fail to realize that a hunter is concealed in the blind.

10. Eventually, the crows will learn to count faster, so that the system must be modified occasionally to keep ahead of them. In addition to having the hunters run faster, it may be necessary to introduce false beards and quick-change toupees as well as false mustaches, and to build a second blind on another side of the field so that the traffic will be triangular instead of simply linear, requiring the crows to start working on trigonometric permutations and geometric progressions in order to cope. In severe cases the hunters may be equipped with numbered jerseys from 1 to 25 but with the number 17 omitted and two numbers 21s. (This can also be done with roman numerals, when birds are very wary.)

Well, you asked for it, readers, and you got it. Watch this space next month for an equally simple fool-proof system for outwitting that wily old woodchuck in the back pasture, requiring no special equipment other than a stuffed Guernsey cow and a milkmaid's costume. Remember -- you saw it here first!

Heh.

Read more...

Polish Man Wakes Up After 19 Years In A Coma

What a difference 19 years can make!

Man wakes up from 19-year coma

When Jan Grzbebski woke up after 19 years in a coma the Polish railway worker found himself living in the future.

The Soviets had disappeared. So had food rationing. The only thing that stayed the same was his doting wife, Gertruda.

..."When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol queues were everywhere," Grzebski tells TVN24, according to Reuters. "Now I see people on the streets with cellphones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin."

Read more...

Leonard Peikoff's Q&As

Over the past few months, Leonard Peikoff has posted some fascinating short Q&As on his web site, Peikoff.com. His most recent batch includes:

"Q: I am concerned about the 'global warming' movement, and think that it might be a worse threat than Islamic Fundamentalism. Do you agree?"

And:

"Q: If Ayn Rand were still alive, would she smoke?"

After that, keep scrolling for more fascinating philosophical tidbits!

Read more...

Speed Demon Photography

Some of the images in this collection of speed demon photography are interesting worth checking out fascinating damn-spanking awesome.

I particularly like the girl on the roller coaster, the water balloon bursting, the water glass tipping over, and one dog biting the other.

Read more...

Jihadi Etiquette

According to the code of the jihadist, killing innocent civilians is fine and dandy. Killing babies is okay too. However, you may have to ask mom and dad for permission first. Seriously.

Read more...

My Weekend

On Saturday, Paul and I attended a spectacular performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Not only is that my absolute favorite work of music, but I was able to enjoy it so much more because I know it so very well.

On Sunday, I worked for nearly eight hours attempting to civilize various patches of wildly overgrown weeds on our property. It was a tough battle -- my muscles are now so sore that I'm barely able to move -- but I think I won. Of course, I still have other battles for civilization to fight this summer. In some areas, my goal is to totally eradicate the natives and establish some permanent colonies of civilized plants, so that I don't have to fight these same battles next year. That would be lovely!

Read more...

Nightly Eyeball Reshaping

This "Ortho-K" method of eyesight correction sounds very, very interesting. It "involves wearing special contact lenses while you sleep, to correct the curvature of the eye. When you wake up the next morning and take out the lenses, you have perfect vision throughout the day." Does anyone know anything further about it?

Read more...

The Secret Magic of Catnip

If you have cats who go nutty over catnip, as does our cat Oliver, you'll probably enjoy reading this article explaining the science behind its effects.

Read more...

The Morality of Demonstrations?

Here's a Question for NoodleFood on demonstrations from Michael, sent to me a few weeks ago:

Last week in Los Angeles "immigration activists" staged a demonstration / riot that resulted in (retaliatory) force being used by the police.

I can make the argument that the demonstrators used force and violence to further their agenda because in the past they have achieved little traction with a rational discussion of their goals. Blocking streets, taking over parks and inevitably occupying adjacent private property was not "freedom of assembly"; freedom of assembly is renting a hall or meeting on private property with the consent of the owner. Freedom of assembly does not entail violating the rights of others in parks, streets, etc. like the MacArthur Park demonstration did.

Most (probably all) marches and demonstrations I have read about in the news in the past 20 years in the U.S. have been about issues the marchers have not been able to win in the debate of ideas. Immigration activists argue for all the wrong reasons and are therefore wrong.

But the civil rights marches of the 1960's seem justified because the South was not a free society and people like MLK did win the war of rational ideas but that had no effect on the southern political establishment.

Was the violence of the 1960's civil rights marches a negation of reason or a righteous demand for civil rights when reason was ignored? When are demonstrations morally justified under an Objectivist morality?

I've got a few thoughts on this matter, but I think I'll just open the floor for comments.

Read more...

Mafia Joke

I got a good giggle out of this joke:

A Mafia Godfather finds out that his bookkeeper has cheated him out of ten million bucks. His bookkeeper is deaf. That was the reason he got the job in the first place. It was assumed that a deaf bookkeeper would not hear anything that he might have to testify about in court.

When the Godfather goes to confront the bookkeeper about his missing $10 million, he brings along his attorney, who knows sign language.

The Godfather tells the lawyer: "Ask him where the 10 million bucks he embezzled from me is."

The attorney, using sign language, asks the bookkeeper where the money is.

The bookkeeper signs back: "I don't know what you are talking about."

The attorney tells the Godfather: "He says he doesn't know what you're talking about."

The Godfather pulls out a pistol, puts it the bookkeeper's temple and says, "Ask him again!"

The attorney signs to the bookkeeper: "He'll kill you if you don't tell him!"

The bookkeeper signs back: "OK! You win! The money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed in my cousin Enzo's backyard in Queens!"

The Godfather asks the attorney: "Well, what'd he say?"

The attorney replies: "He says you don't have the guts to pull the trigger."

(Via Robert LeChevalier)

Read more...

Steve Pavlina on Ayn Rand

I'm a big fan of Steve Pavlina's blog Personal Development for Smart People. I often disagree with him, but he's a fountain of interesting and creative ideas. Still, I was surprised to read this tidbit about Ayn Rand in a post on copyright:

Two of my favorite books are Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Both are thick tomes that you should definitely consider reading at some point in your life. The first book tells the story of what happens in the USA when creators are legally obligated to serve those who mooch off their work without fair compensation – all the creators eventually leave to form their own community based on fair exchange of value, and the rest of the world crumbles around them. The second book is about an architect who's very particular about his creations, inspired to make majestic works of art and unwilling to sacrifice his principles. He wants his work to make a statement, and he won't allow others to corrupt it. While these books were written before the arrival of digital technology -- Atlas Shrugged regards railroads as modern transportation -- I think many of Rand's ideas can be applied to intellectual property.

Although I disagree with much of what Steve has to say thereafter, his comments on the rationalizations people use to justify piracy and on the need to introspect feelings of uneasiness and guilt over piracy were an interesting sideways take on the topic.

Also, I sent him an e-mail about Ayn Rand's essay on intellectual property.

Read more...

Top Ten No-Sympathy Lines

A professor has collected and responded to these common student excuses:

• This Course Covered Too Much Material...
  
• The Expected Grade Just for Coming to Class is a B
  
• I Disagreed With the Professor's Stand on ----
  
• Some Topics in Class Weren't on the Exams
  
• Do You Give Out a Study Guide?
  
• How Am I Doing In Class?
  
• I Studied for Hours
  
• I Know The Material - I Just Don't Do Well on Exams
  
• I Don't Have Time For All This
  
• But you don't understand. I have a job
  
• Students Are Customers
  
• Do I Need to Know This?
  
• There Was Too Much Memorization
  
• This Course Wasn't Relevant
  
• Exams Don't Reflect Real Life
  
• I Paid Good Money for This Course and I Deserve a Good Grade
  
• All I Want is the Diploma

His responses are damn funny.

Read more...

Incredible Nature Video

Lions vs. crocodiles vs. buffalos. Must be seen to be believed.


(Via Mike Williams.)

Read more...

Addiction?

For many years, I've been annoyed by the extension of the term "addiction" from physical dependencies on chemical substances (e.g. heroin, alcohol) to include psychological dependence on self-destructive behaviors (e.g. gambling, sex). The two are very different phenomena. A person with a physical addiction will suffer from well-defined symptoms with the withdrawal of the drug, such as tremors, sweating, headache, nausea, and hallucinations. A person with a psychological addiction finds the experience of life unpleasant (perhaps very painfully so) without engaging in the destructive behavior, whether in the form of drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, or whatnot.

My general view is that, as currently used, the concept "addiction" is a package-deal designed to absolve the psychological addict of responsibility for his voluntary actions. Contrary to the dogma of recovery cults like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, alcoholism and drug addiction are not diseases like cancer, trapping poor helpless victims in their downward spiral. Rather, people automatize such behaviors by repeated voluntary choice as a means of insulating themselves from the harsh facts of reality. They continue to act voluntarily, even when the self-destructive habits are well-entrenched. Their emotional responses do not force them to act as they do. (This understanding of the choice involved in "addictions" is supported by the personal stories of most alcoholics and drug addicts, as well as by the psychological studies discussed in Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease.) In short, these "addictions" are self-destructive habits, usually used to facilitate evasion of unpleasant facts. To describe them as diseases, as the recovery movements do, merely adds another layer of self-excusing evasion to the phenomena.

Thoughts?

Read more...

Country Math

A damn funny lesson in mathematics from Ma and Pa Kettle:



(Via Eric Daniels.)

Read more...

A Letter to Our Pets

More funny animal stuff:

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help, since I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king-sized bed. I am truly sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicularly to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob, or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. I have been using the bathroom for years -- canine or feline attendance is not mandatory.

The proper order is kiss me and THEN go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

Rules for Non-Pet Owners Who Visit and Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.

2. If you don't want hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"niture .)

3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours, and does not speak clearly.

Remember:

Dogs and cats are better than kids because: they eat less, don't ask for money all the time, are easier to train, usually come when called, never drive your car, don't hang out with drug-using friends, don't smoke or drink, don't worry about having to buy the latest fashions, don't wear your clothes, don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and if they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

Also, you can lock them in a crate when they're behaving badly!

Read more...

My Op-Ed Opposing Socialized Medicine in Colorado

The Rocky Mountain News just published my op-ed opposing socialized medicine in Colorado:

Free market holds key to ensuring quality for Coloradans

By Paul Hsieh, M.D.
June 2, 2007

The Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform recently selected four health care reform proposals for eventual consideration by the Colorado legislature. Although they differ in their details, these differences are dwarfed by their fundamental similarity - they all entail a massive increase in government interference in medicine in the name of "universal coverage."

All four plans inject government force into the doctor-patient relationship. They include some combination of forcing all residents into a single health program, forcing some or all individuals and/or businesses to purchase a state-approved insurance policy, requiring insurance companies to provide new additional benefits, establishing a new bureaucracy to set payments to the doctors for services they provide, and doubling the Colorado Medicaid population.

These are just disguised forms of socialized medicine.

Similar programs already have been tried in states and other countries. They have all failed, resulting only in higher costs and lower quality patient care. The TennCare disaster - Tennessee's failed attempt at "universal coverage" - offers an important lesson for Colorado.

In the 1990s, the Tennessee government expanded the state Medicaid program to include people earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line, i.e., a middle-class family of four making $55,000 a year. The state also forced insurance companies to offer expensive new benefits and forced employers to either buy health insurance for their employees or else pay into a state fund for the uninsured. Many employers chose the second option, shifting their employees' health costs onto taxpayers. Because of the new regulations, many insurance companies withdrew from Tennessee, forcing more patients into the state health plan.

The Tennessee government initially offered a generous benefits package. Predictably, costs skyrocketed because patients had no incentives to spend prudently. In response, the government attempted to control costs by slashing payments to doctors and hospitals.

Hospitals closed and doctors left the state in droves. Many doctors who remained stopped seeing TennCare patients since they lost money on each one. Families with sick children often had to drive long distances to find a doctor who would see them. And they had no alternatives to TennCare because the state regulations had all but destroyed the insurance market. Ironically, TennCare ended up causing the most harm to the very people it was intended to help - the working poor and rural patients.

Nor did TennCare save money. Instead, it nearly bankrupted the state budget.

The problems of TennCare are not aberrations that can be fixed with a few minor reforms. They are inherent in any system of government medicine. Under such systems, bureaucrats and politicians decide what care individuals can receive, not doctors and patients. This has long been the case in Canada's "single-payer" socialized medical system, with its infamous waiting lists for critical medical tests and treatments. For the sake of my patients and myself, I don't want this to happen in Colorado.

Socialized medicine is not the cure for Colorado's health care problems. Forcing everyone into a government-run medical program because some people are uninsured would be just as wrong as forcing everyone to live in a government-run housing project because some people are homeless.

Instead, Colorado should adopt free market reforms such as the FAIR Program ("Free-Markets, Affordability & Individual Rights") proposed by Brian Schwartz, Ph.D. Such programs are especially good at providing affordable quality care for the working poor and rural patients. They work precisely because they encourage individual responsibility and they respect the right of the individual to spend his health care dollar according to his best judgment.

Colorado has an opportunity to become a real innovator in health care reform. Instead of recycling failed government programs, we should set an example for the rest of the country by adopting free market solutions. Only the free market can provide Coloradans with the high-quality, affordable health care they need and deserve.

Dr. Paul S. Hsieh is a practicing physician in the southern metro area. He is a founding member of the Colorado group Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine.

Read more...