Jun 2016
- Jun 1
- Political Reality
Unless something catastrophic happens between now and June 7th (like a stock market crash or a banking scandal or a federal indictment or whatever), this is probably how it's going to play out. The more moderate Sanders supporters will resign themselves to voting for Clinton in November and the more radical Sanders supporters will stay home or vote for Jill Stein or Trump or do something else that's totally crazy and counterproductive, and Sanders' personal political future will depend entirely on whether or not he reconciles with the Democratic establishment.
· Read more… - Jun 2
- Who Needs Data Anyway?
I just came across a headline about how Donald Trump has no apparent interest in utilizing the IT infrastructure the Republic National Committee had built up with $100 million since Romney's failed campaign in 2012.
· Read more… - Jun 2
- Opioid Induced Hyperalgesia
While the headline mentions the bad news, in truth, this study is hopeful since they were able to restore baseline pain signalling.
· Read more… - Jun 3
- Unfavorability Ratings and Mob Rule
It does seem like one of the major reason why people don't like Clinton is simply because of the media perception of her character and personality and hardly anything to do at all with policy. Hopefully Trump will remain far more despised than Clinton until November. Democracy and mob rule FTW!
· Read more… - Jun 3
- Everything You Do to Stop Skynet from Happening Makes Skynet Inevitable
Hmm. What semicompetent AI isn't going to figure out how to disable the off switch first?
· Read more… - Jun 6
- Everything Happens for a Reason
Physicists are no longer allowed in history class.
· Read more… - Jun 6
- There's No Reason for Sanders to Quit Now
It really makes no sense to expect Sanders to quit before the tallies from tomorrow's elections are in.
· Read more… - Jun 6
- Name Collision
So I had created a custom Liquid tag called
· Read more…linkto make it easier to write citations to articles, blog posts, Wikipedia article, etc. - Jun 7
- Abandon Ship
Looks like Donald Trump is too disgusting for even some Republicans.
· Read more… - Jun 7
- Occam's Razor and Hickam's Dictum
Always remember that Occam's razor is primarily about the aesthetics of scientific theories and only secondarily about actually describing the complexities of reality.
· Read more… - Jun 7
- One Space or Two
The anti-prescriptivist part of me thinks you should be able to choose between one or two spaces. It's the prescription of either as the only correct way that's totally and utterly wrong. The Romans didn't even use spacing or punctuation for that matter or even the letters G, J, U, or W, and those guys conquered all of Europe and signficant chunks of N Africa and the Middle East, so clearly typography is a very infinitesimal concern for a burgeoning civilization ;)
· Read more… - Jun 8
- Election Memes
Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos.
· Read more… - Jun 8
- How Quickly People Forget
It seems like no one remembers how contentious and vitriolic the Democratic Primaries in 2008 were.
· Read more… - Jun 8
- Democracy and Republic Are Not Mutually Exclusive
While, yes, technically, the U.S. is not a pure democracy, but a constitutional republic, it's also clear that the U.S. was founded on democratic principles, and that democracy is critical feature of our government.
· Read more… - Jun 10
- Ochlocracy and Autocracy
Mob rule is just as terrible as autocracy (they don't call it the tyranny of the majority for nothing), but when the system is failing, the people really have no choice but to form mobs.
· Read more… - Jun 10
- Vitriol in 2008
While it's probably only a matter of time until the Democratic party manages to unite at least a majority of itself into a force dedicated to ensuring Trump doesn't get elected, Obama's endorsement of Clinton reminds me once again of how much more rancorous the 2008 Democratic primaries were.
· Read more… - Jun 10
- Polyphenol oxidase
I only just learned about Arctic® apples, marketed as non-browning apples. They achieve this by adding extra copies of the polyphenol oxidase gene, thereby inducing gene silencing.
· Read more… - Jun 10
- FDA and Antibiotics in Food-Producing Animals
Realistically, misuse and overuse of antibiotics in food-producing animals is just as much of a contributor to antibiotic resistance as misues and overuse of antibiotics in humans.
· Read more… - Jun 10
- Democratic Party on the Precipice
Honestly, if you think Clinton's presumptive victory is a sign that neoliberalism is totally fine and the majority of Democrats are all aboard and we should just keep on keeping on while the real wages fall and the rich get even richer and can get judges to merely slap them on the wrist for committing violent crimes, the aftermath of the next recession/stock market crash is probably going to be horribly shocking to you.
· Read more… - Jun 13
- Food Riots in Venezuela
Reading about the history of Venezuela, there was a similar period of instability when the neoliberal-aligned government imposed strict austerity measures to comply with conditions set by the IMF in return for a bailout. This instability was what allowed socialists to gain control in the first place
· Read more… - Jun 14
- Islamism and Scientism
The way I look at it, Islamism has as much to do with Islam as scientism has to do with science. (And before you argue that scientism never killed anybody, the victims of Social Darwinism and eugenics would probably beg to differ.)
· Read more… - Jun 14
- Donald Trump and White Supremacy
The sad thing is that if you think about it, white supremacy has been the concept of what it means to be American since before the beginning. Even in the early 20th century some types of white people were considered unassimilable. This didn't really change until the 1960s which saw the (almost) complete legalization of the citizenship of people of color. But I'm certain lots of Americans still think people of color are unassimilable.
· Read more… - Jun 14
- The Failings of American Culture
Improved mental health access is often touted in the wake of mass shootings, often in lieu of any meaningful anti-gun proliferation efforts.
· Read more… - Jun 14
- Islamism and Christianism
There are significant differences between Islamists and Muslims and conflating the two is a major category error.
· Read more… - Jun 14
- Was He Really an Islamist?
While Donald Trump harangues President Obama for refusing to label the Orlando gunman a "radical Islamic terrorist" and Hillary Clinton undermines the president by repeatedly using the term herself, it seems more and more like it's not particularly warranted.
· Read more… - Jun 14
- The Utility of Calling It Radical Islam
Like the POTUS, I would also like to know what people think the utility of calling it "radical Islam" is, other than giving people a shoddy excuse to discriminate against, beat up, or kill Muslims or people they think are Muslims.
· Read more… - Jun 15
- The Brokenness of American Culture
The way I look at it, the Orlando gunman was solely responsible for his actions. He had his own inner demons and his own murderous intentions.
· Read more… - Jun 17
- Orwell and Democratic Socialism
Orwell was anti-fascism and anti-totalitarian communism but pro-democratic socialism.
· Read more… - Jun 21
- ISIS was a Red Herring
Mentioning ISIS was a publicity stunt and everyone clamoring about "radical Islam" fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
· Read more… - Jun 21
- Screen Time Recommendations
It is difficult and probably impractical to have draconian limitations on screen time, and previous guidelines have been based mainly on passive viewing of TV screens, but I've seen enough kids showing up with back pain and with headaches due to eye strain as well as dry eyes and blurry vision from excessive use of mobile devices, not to mention difficulty with sleep onset, as well as the many adverse effects of being sedentary that it's clear that there should be some limitations.
· Read more… - Jun 21
- The End of Nuclear Power in California
What with all the uncontrolled natural gas leaks, the probably decreasing utility of hydropower as droughts become more frequent, the pollution caused by oil and coal, you would think nuclear would look more attractive. But these plants are ancient and it takes decades to get new ones built even if you get past the NIMBY factor, so I guess California is going all in with wind and solar.1
· Read more… - Jun 24
- SCOTUS Upholds Affirmative Action
SCOTUS rules 4-3 to uphold, with Kagan recused. Kennedy writes the majority opinion.
· Read more… - Jun 29
- Brexit, Neoliberalism, and Global Capitalism
Between Donald Trump and the Brexit (not to mention all the other ultranationalist populist movements in Europe) sometimes I feel like Western Civilization is in terminal decline.
· Read more… - Jun 29
- U.K. vs. E.U. on Xenophobia
From what I understand, no matter how you spin it, a lot of voters in the Leave camp are anti-immigrant.
· Read more… - Jun 29
- Two Months
ﾐA彡 and I have been married for two months now!
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