Archive for the 'Knowledge' Category
Hillary, still a socialist.
I don’t care how good the intentions are, this is clearly socialist thinking. Her last statement is true in principle–”special privileges for none”, but how can she say that and at the same time advocate lower taxes for the poor/middle class than for the upper class, affirmative action, welfare, free health care for the poor [...]
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Al Gore On Net Neutrality
In an excerpt from Al Gore’s new book in Time Magazine, he brings up the following points:
Americans watch too much TV
Americans buy into lies easily, (controversial) example: Some people (still) think Saddam was connected to 9/11
You can buy votes and sway opinions if you can afford enough TV advertising
No one listens to speeches on the [...]
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Aspects of magic
After reading the Iliad last week I needed a break and picked up a fluff book – The Prestige by Christopher Priest. It’s entertaining. One part I found somewhat educational is where Priest breaks down the stages of an illusion and the categories of an illusion. I love it when someone can dissect something that [...]
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The value of the US dollar
A summary of how money works in the US:
Congress needs money.
The money it collects from taxes does not cover the money it needs so it borrows money.
Much of the money congress borrows is from a private bank called the Federal Reserve.
Congress is then in debt to the Federal Reserve for the amount borrowed, plus interest.
The [...]
Filed under: Knowledge, Research | 3 Comments
US Energy Usage Trends
In 22 years, the US GDP has gone from about 20,000 to 35,000 per capita while energy use per capita has remained almost the same. Apparently it is possible for a country to increase the GDP without increasing energy use. It’s also interesting that the US and the UK are the only two countries who [...]
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Baseball’s concious brainwashing
Interesting take on the sub-conscious. He cites On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins which was a great book.
Your Brain on Baseball – New York Times
Over the decades, the institution of baseball has figured out how to instruct the unconscious mind, to make it better at what it does. As we know the automatic [...]
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It’s a fairly negative view of the world but an interesting take nonetheless.
Hurrah for Capitalism, Its Many Warts and All – New York Times
In his novel “I Married a Communist,” Philip Roth writes: “He tells you capitalism is a dog-eat-dog system. What is life if not a dog-eat-dog system? This is a system [...]
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While I disagree with Patrick Michaels on the point of the movie, which in my opinion is for Al Gore to set himself up as the savior of the world in the event that global warming doesn’t kills us all, I do find the article interesting and his call for a sane solution to global [...]
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Mardi Gras basics Part 2: Holy Trinity – Slashfood:
Most every country or region uses a trinity, or a basic mix of flavors (generally vegetable-based, spice-based, or a combination of the two) for a majority of their signature dishes which include soups, stews, sauces, or variations thereof.
That’s something I did not know, but is interesting. Is [...]
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The Flow of a Debate
As much as I enjoy the process of debating, the goal of argument is, in my opinion, to arrive at truth, or if that can’t happen, at least get to the point where both points of view are understood and agree to disagree. The latter ideally only happening in certain cases, for example when there [...]
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Any Excuse for a Siesta
I am definitely a proponent of naps so any ammo that will help me justify taking a nap is welcome (yet another bias I seek to find supporting evidence for).
Seed: Siesta Touted As Defense Against Heart Disease:
…in a long-term study of Greek men and women, the ones who took at least three 30-minute siestas every [...]
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In a recent study scientists were able to clone mice with better success using a specific type of adult stem cells from hair follicles rather than embryonic stem cells.
Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Mouse Clones Sprout from Adult Skin Cells — Stem cells in hair follicles prove the viability of adult stem cells to [...]
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Sean and I were discussing the article I mentioned previously on net neutrality and we (or at least I) came to the (preliminary) conclusion that a lot of net neutrality comes down to the question of who do you trust more and where do you have more influence–in the telcos and ISP’s (Big Business) or [...]
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These are notes on a lecture from Intercollegiate Studies Institute from 9/11/2002. The lecture is old but D’Souza has recently release another book on the topic, The Enemy at Home and I think his arguments from 4 years ago are still relevant. Again, these are just my notes, all ideas are D’Souza’s.
Three schools of [...]
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Here’s an unexpected interruption of the interruption of Global Warming coverage. New Scientist says the oceans might be able to keep things cool here on planet Earth for a bit longer. This of course comes at the risk of hurting the deep sea creatures.
CO2 being pushed deep into the oceans – earth – 12 February [...]
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