Saturday, January 21, 2012

Grandma and Grandpa Watch

Note just received from my daughter.

I’m still pregnant!

Posted by John Venlet on 01/21 at 09:42 AM
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Neuroscience of Obliviousness

Interesting neuroscience article at io9.com, filed under the heading “No Future,” but tagged with the more inticing words Your brain won’t allow you to believe the apocalypse could actually happen.

io9.com’s article impetus is a Nature Neroscience article titled How unrealistic optimism is maintained in the face of reality, which, in large part, is hidden behind a paywall, but we can glean this bit of information from the io9.com piece, which is quoted from the Nature Neuroscience article.

We found that optimism was related to diminished coding of undesirable information about the future in a region of the frontal cortex (right IFG) that has been identified as being sensitive to negative estimation errors . . . this human propensity toward optimism is facilitated by the brain’s failure to code errors in estimation when those call for pessimistic updates. This failure results in selective updating, which supports unrealistic optimism that is resistant to change.

Interestingly enough, the overly optimistic do have a counter balance, the depressed.

There is one fascinating exception to this rule, though. As the researchers note, the only people who consistently offer accurate estimates of bad things happening to them are clinically depressed. So — perfect depression is perfect awareness?

Linked via Fred Lapides.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/21 at 09:05 AM
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Friday, January 20, 2012

On the Efficacy of the Dissemination of Ideas

In comments to this post, Og and I had a little discussion touching on the subject of the efficacy of the dissemination of ideas, the main idea being disseminating the idea of reclaiming our inalienable right to life, liberty and freedom.  Og requested of me, “let me know how well that works out for you,” to which I somewhat defeatedly replied “I know.”

I’ve lightly touched on the subject of the efficacy of the dissemination of ideas previously, stating in that post the following in regards to the use of the internet and blogging in disseminating ideas.

In fact, we will be fortunate to be remembered digitally as a string of 0s and 1s cached by Google.

There are certain conditions which are conducive to the dissemination of ideas.  Edward Gibbon, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, suggested that the Roman road system was conducive to the spread of Christianity.  Christ himself, in The Parable of the Sower, notes that fertile ground is conducive is the dissemination of ideas, and is not our current political and economic climate conducive, fertile ground, for disseminating the idea that democracy is failing us?

Ideas matter, and while we may consider our ability to disseminate ideas as lacking, or somewhat futile, planting the seed of an idea is sound, even in the smallest plot of fertile ground.

Joan of Argghh! has touched on the subject of the dissemination of ideas a number of times in posts such as Higher Ground and Here’s What It’s Gonna Sound Like, and in her most recent post, titled Batting .500, she provides a real life example of disseminating an idea which could yield results even if the ground is not so fertile.

...downtown Charleston today I came across a delightful young lady in a boutique store. She was wearing a “Save Ferris” t-shirt, which while kind of cool,  is also kind of disconcerting when I realize she wasn’t even born when the movie came out.

We chatted in friendly and happy tones; the talk of a girl who hadn’t had many visitors to her store that day,  clearly elated to have a non-tourist interaction.  I came to learn that she was a college student from Maine who was now preparing to transfer to Southern Oregon. What follows is more or less exact:

Me: Southern Oregon? What will you study there?
She: Sociology with a minor in Women’s Studies.
Me: Now, really, what on earth will you do with that kind of degree?
She: I want to be a couples’ counselor.
Me: Well, shouldn’t you also have a minor in Men’s Studies?
She: I dont’ think they have such a thing. I’ve never heard of it. . .
Me: Well, won’t half your clients be men?
She:
Me: Unless you’re just going to specialize in lesbian couples, NTTAWWT. . .
She: [nervous laugh] Hehheh. Yeah, really. I hadn’t thought of that.

Gentlemen, I hope I’ve done you all some small service of human dignity by making just one sweet young girl stop and think about the other half of the planet.  It’s not much, but hopefully it’s the thought that counts.

This may not be the most efficient method of disseminating ideas, but at least it is a dissemination of an idea.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/20 at 10:38 AM
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Not Only in the Movies

Here’s the headline, linked via Drudge, out of Phoenix.  Phoenix transient accused of skinning, eating cat.

I wonder if he got some lip balm out of it.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/20 at 09:57 AM
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Christian Atheists

Though I absorbed a good deal of church history while attending parochial schools for ten of the twelve years of my K-12 education, I did not know this.

The whole body of Christians unanimously refused to hold any communion with the gods of Rome, of the empire, and of mankind.  It was in vain that the oppressed believer asserted the inalienable rights of conscience and private judgment.  Though his situation might excite the pity, his arguments could never reach the understanding, either of the philosophic or of the believing part of the Pagan world.  To their apprehensions it was no less a matter of surprise that any individuals should entertain scruples against complying with the established mode of worship than if they had conceived a sudden abhorrence to the manners, the dress, or the language of their native country.

The surprise of the Pagans was soon succeeded by resentment, and the most pious of men were exposed to the unjust but dangerous imputation of impiety.  Malice and prejudice concurred in representing the Christians as a society of atheists, who, by the most daring attack on the religious constitution of the empire, had merited the severest animadversion of the civil magistrate. (bold by ed)

Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume One, Chapter XVI (180-313 A.D.), The Conduct of the Roman Government towards the Christians, from the Reign of Nero to that of Constantine, The Modern Giant Library, New York, pgs. 448-449

Who woulda thunk, Christian Atheists.

And on a related note, linked via a post by DougM at Sondrakistan titled unholier than than, we learn this. Anti-church sentiment rises in Europe as more people seek ‘de-baptism’

Posted by John Venlet on 01/20 at 09:02 AM
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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Defiance is Fundamental to Revolutionary Change

From a Daniel Greenfield (Sultan Knish blog) post titled So You Want a Revolution….

Defiance is the fundamental virtue of the revolutionary. The left defied the accepted norms and values of America, and that defiance paved the way for a cultural revolution. The power of the left will never be broken until the right defies their values and norms the same way. Until it publicly destroys, mocks and violates everything that they consider sacred in the spirit of revolution.

Revolutions begin as culture wars against the established order and they connect cultural defiance to political change. The fundamental message of every revolution is a defiance of authority and if the revolution succeeds then those in power are forced to give way and accede to change. It can be done. That populist spirit is out there, it is abroad in the Tea Party, it is there in blogs and social media, and even occasionally on talk radio. But all that goes to waste empowering a political establishment of gatekeepers who sometimes talk like revolutionaries, but don’t act like revolutionaries.

Good post to read in its entirety.

Linked via American Digest’s Sidelines.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/19 at 10:43 AM
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One Year Without Any Dispatches from TJIC

Stopping by The Smallest Minority this morning I noted that Kevin Baker had a post up titled I Am TJIC which linked over to Borepatch.  Jumping over to Borepatch’s place, he reminds us that it has been one whole year since there have been any dispatches from TJICstan, due to TJIC’s run in with the State of Massachusett’s authorities, resulting from a comment posted shortly after the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords.  Freedom of speech denied, anyone?

In an email to Borepatch from Brad_In_MA, Brad suggests a Buycott to support TJIC which could assist in offsetting the legal costs TJIC is incurring as a result of his run in with the State of Massachusett’s authorities.

Borepatch suggests purchasing an instructional DVD from TJIC’s Smartflix, which is a good idea.  I’ll point to TJIC’s HeavyInk Comics as another Buycott option which would benefit TJIC.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/19 at 09:57 AM
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John Gierach’s Assessment of The New York Times

As a fly-fisher, I’ve long been aware of John Gierach, and I’ve read most of his books, but I did not know this about him.

My favorite piece of information that I learned about Gierach during the course of writing this article: He once had a regular column in the New York Times, but he quit because, as he says, “They were assholes.”

From an article by Dale Bridges, first published in August 2009 in Denver Magazine, titled Against the Stream: One Man’s Story of Obsession, Rebellion, and Fly-Fishing.

Linked via Moldy Chum.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/19 at 08:55 AM
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Unprincipled SOPA Opposition

Glenn Reynolds states that InstaPundit will not be going dark today as part of the SOPA protest.  Fine, neither am I.

But check out this anonymous email Reynolds received from Congressman Tim Johnson’s office.

“Glenn, no name please. I work for Congressman Tim Johnson. Just to let you know, we’re getting about a hundred emails an hour opposing SOPA. We were already opposed, but this certainly makes us feel that much better about our opposition.

“Feel better” about being opposed?  Feelings should not come into play in opposing SOPA.  Principles should.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/18 at 01:29 PM
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Headlines From the Future

At the site Theo Spark, a sampling of UK HEADLINES FROM THE YEAR 2030.

My personal favorite.

Japan announces that they will no longer consume whale meat as whales are now extinct and the scientific research fleet are unemployed. UK Government has told the Japanese that grey squirrels taste like whale meat

Posted by John Venlet on 01/18 at 11:43 AM
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Kidney Transplant Eligibility is Not Based on Love

Scrolling through InstaPundit this morning I came upon a post which, in its entirety, reads as follows.  YOU LOVE YOUR KID? Too bad.

The words “Too bad” embed a link, which I clicked on, thinking that the government in some way, shape or form was interfering with a parent’s natural right to care for their child.  The embedded link takes readers to a post by Elizabeth Scalia titled You love your kid?  Too bad!, which opens this way.

It’s really too bad that you love your three-year old daughter who needs a kidney transplant, because you know what? We’re not giving her one because she’s retarded!:

I begin to shake. My whole body trembles and he begins to tell me how she will never be able to get on the waiting list because she is mentally retarded.

A bit of hope. I sit up and get excited.

“Oh, that’s ok! We plan on donating. If we aren’t a match, we come from a large family and someone will donate. We don’t want to be on the list. We will find our own donor.”

“Noooo. She—is—not—eligible –because—of—her—quality– of –life—Because—of—her—mental—delays” He says each word very slowly as if I am hard of hearing.’
[...]

He pauses as if he is choosing his words carefully. “I have been warned about you. About how involved you and your family are with Amelia.”

Ms. Scalia is so incensed by this news that she “kind of” wishes that the execrable Ted Kennedy were still alive, to pull strings for the young girl’s family.

Right now, I kind of wish Ted Kennedy were alive. Many don’t realize it, but a case like this was precisely the sort of circumstance under which he’d pull together his little Irish cabal of doctors and friends and get the thing done.

Which only proves to me that Ms. Scalia is not above utilizing favoritism to get her way, though I would wager Ms. Scalia would be against the type of favoritism allegedly shown to Beyonce and Jay-Z, at the expense of other new parents.

The young girl in question here, Amelia, is afflicted with what is known as Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, and based on this condition, Amelia is ineligible for a kidney transplant, and I can fully understand Amelia’s parents’ heartbreak upon learning of their child’s ineligibility for a kidney transplant, even if the kidney was being donated by a family member.

I can fully appreciate Amelia’s parents’ heartbreak, because for the last eight (8) years of my Father’s life he had to contend with failed kidneys and dialysis.  My Dad was interested in a kidney transplant, and he had eight (8) loving children who were all willing to undergo the rigors of donating a kidney to him in order to release him from the slavery of dialysis and the physical ups and downs needing contending with due to his body’s inability to remove toxins as the result of total kidney failure.

We loved our Dad dearly, but he too was ineligible for a kidney transplant due to other underlying medical issues, and so he did not receive a transplant, and he passed away in late 2007 still a dialysis patient.

If you consider the guidelines for the Assessment of the Potential Kidney Transplant Recipient, you’ll note that the guidelines mention nothing about love, and it is well that they do not, because almost all parents love their children, regardless of their physical or mental well-being, as deeply as Amelia’s parents love her.

Love, in all its various manifestations, is immeasurable, but kidney transplant eligibility is not based on love, it is based on cold, hard diagnostic facts.  A fact which can be exceptionally difficult to accept, because of the depth love within families which care deeply.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/18 at 09:35 AM
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“deSOPA”

Bill St. Clair posts a work around to the currently blacked out Wikipedia English page.  The work around is posted under the title unBlacking Wikipedia.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/18 at 09:01 AM
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Ode to a Photocopier

Brian Micklethwait has electronically penned an ode to his photocopier, noting its value in the spread of libertarian ideas, its limitations, and that said copier was a blogging tool prior to blogging.

Good little read.  My photocopier - 1981-2012

Posted by John Venlet on 01/18 at 07:09 AM
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Expanding on the Idea of Non-violent Revolutionary Action

I recently put up a post titled A Non-violent Revolutionary Proposal which explored the idea of not voting as a means of spurring non-violent revolutionary change.  This afternoon, I stopped by Arts & Letters Daily and was pointed to an interview with John Horgan intriguingly titled John Horgan on erasing war from the human condition.  And who would not want to erase war from the human condition, I mean besides politicians and the industries which provide the armaments for wars?

While the Horgan interview is interesting reading, Horgan brought up an individual by the name of Gene Sharp, who I was until that moment unfamiliar with, and Sharp’s 1973 work titled The Politics of Non-violent Action, which I was also unfamiliar with, so via the power of the internet, I went searching, and one of the first items of interest I delved into was a piece titled Power and Struggle, wherein under a section titled Why People Obey the following can be read.

When analyzing human obedience the psychological factor is decisive. Domination and submission are psychological states of mind. Those who argue against the use of nonviolent tactics like demonstrations or petitions, claiming that they are merely symbolic gestures, forget that power is symbolic as well. Withdrawing support, even symbolically, calls into question the props and illusions that hold Power up. Yet people are often ignorant of the power they hold, and governments conspire to maintain the illusion of their monolithic power, making their subjects feel helpless. (bold by ed.)

That quote is immediately followed by a section titled Violent Sanctions, which opens this way.

It may seem counter-intuitive that nonviolent resistance can be effective against rulers who have massive amounts of force at their disposal. But that is precisely the beauty of nonviolence. Using violence against “violence experts” is the quickest way to have your organization or movement crushed. That is why governments frequently infiltrate opposition groups with agents provocateurs—to sidetrack the movement into violent channels that the violence professionals (police, military, security agencies, etc.) can deal with.

A cautionary note worth paying attention to, especially in regards to agents provocateurs, which should recollect to many readers, Hutaree Hysteria.

There are a good number of additional links which can be explored at that Power and Struggle link, which I have not delved into yet, except one, which is a short parable, described as “whimsical,” titled The King Who Ruled Nothing, which is well worth reading and illustrative of the power of withdrawing support from rulers, say like by not voting.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/17 at 02:31 PM
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Sidetracked by a Footnote Mention of Trout

I’ve been sidetracked, this morning, by footnote #117 in Chapter XIII (285-313 A.D.) The Reign of Diocletian and his Three Associates. Part IV, of Edward Gibbon’s work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which reads as follows.

Adam’s Antiquities of Diocletian’s Palace at Spalatro, p. 6. We may add a circumstance or two from the Abate Fortis: the little stream of the Hyader, mentioned by Lucan, produces most exquisite trout, which a sagacious writer, perhaps a monk, supposes to have been one of the principal reasons that determined Diocletian in the choice of his retirement. Fortis, p. 45. The same author (p. 38) observes, that a taste for agriculture is reviving at Spalatro; and that an experimental farm has lately been established near the city, by a society of gentlemen.

As a rather avid fly fisher, I was intrigued by this little footnote’s mention of trout, wondering if, in fact, Diocletian actually fly fished for trout, being as the history of flyfishing does go back to Roman times.  Unfortunately, I was unable to determine if Diocletian actually was a fly fisher, and I was also unable to locate the stream mentioned, the Hyader, though I did check various old maps.

My guess is that the “most exquisite trout” mentioned in that footnote would be a brown trout, though I consider the brook trout as the more exquisite of the two.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/17 at 12:17 PM
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