That's Something To Avoid
Joshua quotes from Nietzche's Beyond Good and Evil about Stoics.#
I think Nietzsche had their number:
"According to nature" you want to live? O you noble Stoics, what deceptive words these are! Imagine a being like nature, wasteful beyond measure, indifferent beyond measure, without purposes and consideration, without mercy and justice, fertile and desolate and uncertain all at the same time; imagine indifference itself as a power--how could you live according to this indifference? Living—is not that precisely wanting to be other than this nature? Is not living--estimating, preferring, being unjust, being limited, wanting to be different? And supposing your imperative "live according to nature" meant at bottom as much as "live according to life"--how can you not do that? Why make a principle out of what you yourselves are and must be?
Heidi Bond announces that "not all humans with ovaries want the same thing."#
I've heard this before. "Gee, you women are so inconsistent. Some of you want one thing and others want another. How are us men supposed to know what you want?"
This baffles me too. Presumably, anyone who is confused by the inconsistency of, say, a group of women, isn't dating all of them. Probably you are dating, one, two, at most (I hope) twenty of them at a time? So why have a class of behaviors for "how I treat women"? Why not just say "this is how I treat Sally" and not assume that Sally must be treated like Jane must be treated like Erica? And if you don't know what Sally wants, why not ask her?
I realize that some Sallys in this world do not answer. This is a separate problem, but it is not a problem with women; it is a problem with Sally.
Kieran Healy writes about Eugene Volokh infinite patience.#
Normally I leave stories like this to the Volokhs, who have a sweet tooth for them. But they are busy at the moment trying to convince their readers that, whatever Paul Craig Roberts thinks, U.S. taxpayers are not less free than slaves. Eugene Volokh has devoted about 10,000 words of his fine legal mind to this question, so far. He even wrote up a helpful table outlining the relevant differences between 19th century U.S. slaves and 21st century U.S. taxpayers. I find myself wondering just what you'd have to say to get Eugene to write "Oh piss off, you ignorant little troll."
Morendil relates Leonard Shelby of Memento to a project leader of a software project. (Quick explanation: Shelby has a total short-term memory loss, he can't remember what happened more than 5/10 minutes ago.)#
To Shelby, memory is overrated; documentation is crucial. "Memory's unreliable. No no no, really. Memory's not perfect; it's not even that good. [...] Look, memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts." The continuity of Shelby's existence depends on constant interpretation and re-interpretation as new facts come in.
A project team is a creature much like Leonard Shelby - one with no continuity, no unicity of consciousness, but still with a definite goal to strive for. A project team cannot remember. That is why it must do two things: first, constantly leave mementoes to itself in the form of project artifacts (documentation, code, diagrams, and so forth). But more importantly, it must draw all these together into a coherent whole at regular intervals by telling itself the story of the project.
Scott Mitchell writes about writing too much.#
Everyone knows that someone whose mouth is like a running faucet. Wherever they go, whoever they're with, no matter what situation presents itself, these people talk and talk and talk and keep talking to the point where you figure that perhaps this person's respiratory system is configured such that they need to exhale to live, rather than inhale. While I am not one of these people I seem to suffer from the same type of affliction when it comes to my writing. I am too verbose. Too wordy. Too excessive in my writing, using too many words and too many sentences to convey a simple thought. I don't just say it once, make my point and move on.
The Black Saint reports on the compromise between secularist and religious wackos.#
I suppose it's reassuring to learn that Georgia's school superintendent Kathy Cox has ceased her efforts to keep the state firmly in the nineteenth century.
Last week, Ms. Cox proposed striking the word "evolution" from Georgia's science curriculum and replacing it with the phrase "biological changes over time." She also wanted to replace "scientific method" with "Eye of Thundera." When asked what the latter had to do with science, she snapped to the assembled members of the press, "Don't you heathens believe that the Eye of Thundera is the source of all the Thundercats' powers? Do you not know the word of Lord Jaga?"
Mark Schmitt writes about where he is write now with his support to presidents.#
I certainly agree. I strongly prefer Edwards to Kerry, but I won't despair if Kerry is the nominee. To use Beatty's phrase, having read about it is a lot better than what we've got. Kerry's proven a lot to me just by getting himself on track and really improving his campaign, although Edwards is equally to be admired for the fact that he stuck with his message and his vision and never once seemed fazed by Dean. Edwards was the most impressive candidate to me from the start, and I'm sorry that I sort of gave up on him when he didn't seem to be going anywhere. Now I found myself on Tuesday actually rooting for Clark not to win Oklahoma because I wanted Edwards to have one more state and a clearer shot at Kerry.
Jessica Baumgart writes about why Librarians are soooo much better that Google.#
"But unless librarians can convince people that their local library has an edge on Google, communities under pressure to cut costs may have an easy time reducing the library's budget. After all, [Joe Janes, an associate professor in the Information School at the University of Washington in Seattle,] said, the politicians 'will think, "That library is nice, but we can cut them back because everything is on the Internet." '"
How many times have we librarians heard that? Many of my colleagues frequently discuss tactics for convincing employers that not everything is on the Internet. (And even if it is, it's still useful to have someone around with superb searching abilities, organizational skills, and a critical eye to help locate, arrange, evaluate, and track research.) Our use of the Internet seems to have changed from finding things for customers to teaching the customers how to do better searching on their own. One news librarian uses a good measure for when people should stop searching on their own and ask her for assistance. She tells the journalists if they've been searching the Internet for ten minutes or more and they haven't made any headway on their search, they should ask her for assistance.
Brendan Huhn provides the best system for answering the hardest question can couple has to answer: "Does my butt look good in these pants?"#
There is one way to handle this. When she asks you the question, make a very serious, thoughtful face and look at her butt. What's so awesome about this is that a woman is actually asking you to look at her butt. Take full advantage of this opportunity. It's not like in the morning when you're both getting ready for work and you have to steal looks out of the corner of your eye at her bod. "No I totally wasn't checking out your beaver. We're just two mature adults getting ready for work. I was just, uh, tying my shoes." It's not like that at all--you're supposed to look! You can even get her to model for you: "Turn a little to the left; now, to the right." How awesome is that!
The whole thing is a blessing in disguise.
Aaron Swartz writes about why it was important for Ralph Nader to be allowed to run for President.#
What if Lessig's advocacy led the Supreme Court to retroactively overturn numerous old copyright extensions. Can the former copyright holders hold him accountable for taking their "property"? After all, had he not argued they'd continue to make millions.
The idea is absurd. This theory of "negligence" for the effects of your actions don't make sense when the action is speech. Voters, like Supreme Court Justices, get to make up their own minds. And, for whatever reason Ralph ran (and, as I've argued here before, he may well have had a valid reason), he should be allowed to make his case. Punishing people for the effects of their speech is both legally and morally wrong.
The real beef, it seems, is with those voters who dared to make up their minds for themselves, instead of doing what the thoughtful two-party duopoly had decided was best for them. But it's not the voters who are being lectured here, it's Nader, who's being asked to unilaterally drop out of the race. As Nader has explained (in his book on the race), that was not his choice to make. Numerous people had poured their money and energy into his campaign, he couldn't throw that all away when they still cared so much.
Brendan Huhn writes that the "private health care has failed" argument is flawed because health is not private right, because of government subsidy and administration.#
Jonathon Wilde discusses an issue that drives me totally crazy. He adresses the argument: "The free market has failed in health care, therefore we should completely socialize medicine." He demonstrates that we do not in fact have a free market in health care.
Socialized medicine would be cheaper if the government were capable of and willing to ration health care. First, would the government be able to manage the largest industry in the country as a percentage of GDP? In other words, is the government capable of gathering all the information necessary to allocate resources to their best use? I doubt it.
Oliver Willis paints a picture of Britney Spears as a prostitute to the presidents or something.#
Anyhoo, I've been enlisted to do some in-depth reportin' for the election. You've been hearin' about all those fancy-ass embeds in the Iraq War and in the campaigns, but I'm goin' the extra step. I, Britney Lynn Spears will be the first campaign "InBed". I feel there ain't nowheres in the world where you can get inside the head and pants of the next president than in his bed.
I, Britney Spears, am the one to do this.
ASHINGTON, DC—In a surprising last-minute upset, all seven Democratic presidential hopefuls somehow lost the Democratic primaries Tuesday.
"While it's true that the Democratic Party has been struggling to find a strong voice, you can imagine our surprise when results indicated that John Kerry, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman, and John Edwards all failed to carry a single primary," American Research Group political analyst Dick Bennett said late Tuesday. "Oh, and Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich, too."
Red Wolf links to Cardinal Gustaaf Joos who was interviewed about why democracy is bad, but prostitution is good.#
He got his knickers in a twist over Belgian politicians who had pushed through some of the world's most avant-garde laws on gay marriages, euthanasia and abortion. It is the first time a leading cleric has appeared to endorse calls by right-wing Catholics for an end to the principle of one person, one vote. Apparently some people are created more equal than others.
Politics, democracy. Don't make me laugh. The right to vote, what is that all about? I find it strange that a snot-nosed 18-year-old has the same vote as a father of seven. One has no responsibilities whatsoever, the other provides tomorrow's citizens
While being gay or not wading through a sea of your own offspring (all Catholic, of course) is naughty, popping down to the local brothel for a quicker nooner will get you on the nice list.
If a man thinks he needs sex or is going to explode, it is better to find a prostitute than seduce or rape a girl. At least there are no innocent victims involved.
Chip Gibbons asks, "If they love education so much, why don't liberals ever learn anything?"#
Today, the League of Education Voters with the support Washington State Governor Gary Locke, a democrat who recently endorsed John Kerry for president, floated a proposal to increase education funding by $1 billion. The plan would be funded by a 1% increase in the sales tax. Such an increase would bring the state sales tax to almost 10%, the highest in the nation.
The increased sales tax, which hits the poor disproportionately, would likely send more consumers to e-tailers on the Internet where sales tax can often be avoided. This would drive many smaller businesses out of business, increasing Washington State's unemployment rate which is already one of the highest in the nation.
Joi Ito links to a "parody" of the Apple / Pepsi SuperBowl commercial.#
I guess, as Boris says, it's not so much a parody as what they really wanted to say, but couldn't. Those kids probably got paid more to do the ad than they paid the RIAA. The RIAA is getting so stupid that it's getting cool to make fun of them. Sounds like the beginning of the end when your business involves being cool.
Alex Tabarrok on the class-action lawsuit against Janet Jackson.#
A Tennesse woman has sued Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, CBS, MTV and Viacom because viewers of the Superbowl half-time show suffered "outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury" when they saw Janet Jackson's right breast. Naturally, this is a class action suit on "behalf of all Americans." I dunno, I kinda enjoyed it.
Joi Ito responds to Lago about being academic and rigorous in blogging.#
Lago reacts to an interesting point that I in fact pondered yesterday before posting my thoughts from my lunch with Seth. Is it better for me to post my superficial musings with Seth in the one hour that I had before I needed to move on to the next thing, or do I scribble them in my notebook and write a more rigorous treatment with references. I decided, as Cory often says, that my blog is my notebook and that even though many of my thoughts were half-baked, it was better to write early/write often than to back burner the thoughts and probably never get around to posting them.
Often times in classes I will overhear two people talking about something or arguing with each other. When it is something that I know a bit about I will often want to turn around and say, "You are arguing X's opinion which was most clearly put in book A; but you sir are arguing for Y and should probably read Z's interpretation in book B." But I never say this because (1) I'm eavesdropping and (2) I would sound like a pompous jerk. (I AM a pompous jerk, but don't want them to know.)
Heidi Bond replies to William Baude who wonders why he doesn't her women wondering what men want.#
First of all, women do wonder what men want. Luckily, fashion magazines around the country answer the question by referring to Actual Men. It turns out that men want women who wear Prada shoes--or is that a bag?--and make up, preferably the kind that costs around $50 for lipstick. Also, we're told the right way to play with our hair. And our clothing. See, men can secretly detect the difference between a $2 outfit and a $450 outfit, and they're naturally attracted to the woman with the more expensive outfit. Men also prefer the Real You. Preferably the Real You smiles and asks him about himself. You can see that with this amount of research, women clearly have the edge on men in the battle of the sexes.
(It just might be satire.)
Richard, Just a Guy With A Six-Pack, links to Zack on the "problem" of Internet subcultures.#
Zack: "In the endless expanse of communications the Internet is, probably the greatest and most terrible gift it offers to furries, pedophiles, and others, is the ability to shut themselves off from the mainstream. They huddle in cloisters that are virtually unassailable by the outside world and whisper encouraging things to one another that would be nearly impossible to say in real life. Free from the pressures of society to conform to a boring standard they go in the exact opposite direction, externalizing things that are roughly as far from "normal" as can be expected. Then, within their protected virtual enclaves, they declare these things to be the norm. By declaring their perversions, mores, and general imbecility to be their own status quo they have simultaneously validated their own existence and demonstrated the inferiority of outsiders."
Creepy Furry Picture (REALLY CREEPY, DO NOT LOOK AT IT.)
Alex Halavais writes about the "third person candidate" and the theory's relevance to Dean and Kerry.#
I believe that even those who are voting for Kerry may not like him. Twenty years ago Davidson identified a common thread among many people's perceptions of media effects. Of course, television commercials didn't influence them, but they certainly influenced others. The same was true of media violence and various other media content. This so-called "third person effect" ("not us, but them") seems prominent in Kerry's rise. "Electability" can really be disassembled into "Who can we get that they will vote for." This is the natural result of the ABB (Anybody But Bush) sentiment. I will vote not for the candidate I think would best represent me, but for the candidate I think everybody else will be willing to vote for. It is the ultimate anti-elitist position. Many among the Volvo-driving, latte-drinking, New-York-Times-reading, pierced, etc. (i.e., my social group), are actually buying into the hype that Dean is an elitist rather than a populist candidate.
François-René Rideau writes about how economics can benefit from studying the progress made in physics.#
Interestingly, at the same times that quantum physics revolutioned physics, thinkers of the Austrian school also revolutioned economics, by expliciting the notions of uncertainty, information costs, potential interactions, knowledge and use of knowledge, etc. Yet most economists are blissfully unaware of it -- and make strenuous efforts to remain ignorant, because they invest their life in supporting and being supported by political intervention in the economy, which is systematically based upon the premise that the right information is magically available at no cost to the political planners.
All the neo-classical, keynesian and marxist models of the macroeconomy neglect the intrinsic role of information in the nature of human action. The models that try to predict the future with nice simple numbers that aggregate that synthetize information about some economic quantity are static projections that by their very scalar nature cannot express the wide variety of possible outcomes depending on a growing series of interactions that are not known.
Jessica Baumgart continues on the difference between Librarians and Google.#
"I don't need to waste your time highlighting what we can offer that Google can't. Let me just point to one thing: that we can offer our skills in making choices on where to start searching, on information authority, and more quality issues. In other words, we can save people time in acquiring accurate and timely information.
True, Google will always give you something, but links are not the same as answers—let alone authoritative answers." [Quoting Gary]
[...]
Now that I've read the piece a few times, it seems like a recurring theme in Gary's words is marketing. Google is popular because it has done a lot to market its product and services. Are we doing enough to market ourselves, our libraries, our services, and our collections? If we really were, wouldn't we be as popular as Google?
It seems to me that the best way to promote librarians is to work with Google and expand the Google Answers program. Many people don't know about Google Answers and the services seems ill defined. BUt a good start.
Kevin Lawver writes up who is voting for and why.#
I've decided to vote for Wesley Clark. Why? Why not just vote for Kerry and be done with it? Because I don't have to yet. I like Kerry, and I think he'll make a fine President if/when he becomes the nominee. But, he's an insider. He's been in Washington for a very long time. He's part of the machine. Honestly, I had a hard time not sticking with Dean. But, I've watched him as a candidate fall apart in the past week and a half. His stump speech doesn't have the same spark it used to. He doesn't have the passion I admired before, and I've realized that I really don't agree with him as much as I do Clark or Kerry. I like Edwards too. He is one of the most engrossing speakers I've ever seen, and his stump speech is inspiring. But, there's something about him I just don't get yet, and until I figure it out, I can't vote for him. I'm picking Clark because he's a viable outsider. He's a man outside of the Washington machine (as outside as anyone can get and still be viable as a Presidential candidate). He has military experience I respect, has sound economic plans (well, as far as I can tell - they make sense), and seems like a moderate who can get other moderates from both sides to work with him.
John or Belle writes about Nerdcore.#
I think it's high time we all listened to the stylings of MC Frontalot, who claims to be the inventor and sole practitioner of Nerdcore Hiphop (wait, what about e=MC Hawking? Hey, MC Frontalot is totally fronting...). Like these nice English people say:
Progenitor and still sole practitioner of Nerdcore Hiphop, MC Frontalot is, was, and remains the MC who "fronts the most."
Oliver Willis has a leaked memory from Ed Gillespie to the Republican Meet-Up crew.#
As many of you know, in a few days Republicans from all over the country (even San Francisco) will be "meeting up" to share ideas, thoughts and views on hot to strengthen the party in the coming year. We offer the following
mandatory"optional" (wink-wink) items to add to your meeting's faith-based agenda.1. Voter Outreach: Share ideas on how to force "the help" and other dark-skinned folks to vote GOP. "Vote or starve" always seems to work, especially with the illegals
I hate the way Outer Web Thought Log is formatted. I can't read it because of the huge spacing and width. I want to read this entry though, but I can't.#
Richard links to Ian Bremmer about the important ability to say when you do and don't know something.#
"There are always a lot of economists in the meetings but never a fellow political scientist. Political scientists don't work at banks—which is a problem. As political issues become more important for the markets, analysts at banks are asked all sorts of questions they don't have the ability to answer. And if you're getting paid to answer questions—as analysts at banks are—you never want to be in the position of saying you don't know.
Whenever I'm speaking with a group of investors, I love to start with a disclaimer about my background. If they ask me where the dollar should be pegged against the euro, I say I don't know and I won't tell them. I'm not an economist. On the other hand, if they ask a global economist on Wall Street the impact of the upcoming Iraqi elections on stability in the Middle East, the economist doesn't know ... but will tell them. "
I agree with Richard that is a good thing to be clear about where you are an expert and where you are not. In my mind it has to do with honesty and authority... if I will tell you that "I don't know that" freely then perhaps when I tell that I DO know something, you should listen to me more closely because I don't have a propensity to bullshit.
Ted Leung writes about shareware on Mac OS X.#
Tuesday I came across Extra Suites which is a package of scripting extensions that can do all sorts of stuff. One of the extensions lets you get information about the screen - dimensions, etc. Alas, It only worked for a single display. I say worked, because late Tuesday night I sent e-mail off the the Kanzu e-mail address, asking about multiple display support. Wednesday morning when I sat down in front of my machine, there was a prerelease of Extra Suites 1.0.2 that contained a new command to count the number of displays, and the screen info command had been extended to take the display number as a parameter. I'm not sure I've gotten such quick response from an open source project... Needless to say, the $10 for Extra Suites is less than the cost of the relevant Cocoa books and the time and hassle of figuring out how to do this myself.
What I write in a few characters is not directed at Ted, who is by all measures a very smart guy.
I love it when people "discover" the magic of incentives. At first it may not be clear that companies wanting your money is a good thing, but once you realize they can't just steal it--you see that they have to provide you something good in return.
This is not to say that open-source projects have no incentives (Linus Torvalds will ALWAYS be employed,) just that they are not as clear to see as commercial products. (Things like "honour" or money from book deals, scholarships, etc.)
Taking a blog break for a few hours...#