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Thinking about Change Improving the world: I’ve noticed an interesting challenge. Someone sees...
Clairvoyance – C.W.... Clairvoyance by C.W. Leadbeater Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House...
What we don’t know ...

So some people are still asking what’s the big deal about Flynn talking to the Russians after the election but before the inauguration. There are essentially three reasons why this matters. The first is the “one President at a time” norm that has been broadly observed up until now. The second is that it was not cleared. And the third is that it could indicated the Flynn – and possibly others – have been compromised. We need a full investigation.

What is existence? What is existence? This is, of course, and a rather fundamental question....
More thoughts on Holocaus... Question everything… but then listen to the answers. Recently...
Sources? I’ve been asked how I came to the understanding of the Bible that I...
Fountain Pens I am going to be reviewing a number of fountain pens in some upcoming posts. I...
Health insurance at iPhon... Earlier today Representative Jason Chavetz (R-UT) said on CNN:...

Politics, Democracy, and Social Media

Winston Churchill supposedly observed, “The strongest argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter”. Now thanks to social media we all get to have that conversation. Over and over and over again.

The Power of Culture

We Can’t Help Describing Trump as Powerful Because We Describe All Men as Powerful The above is a really well-written piece of cultural criticism (if the title triggers you, try treading the article anyway). What is power? As the article notes, “Now, Trump lacks any of the “masculine virtues” androphilia supposedly values—a warrior physique, military experience, good strategic judgment, vigor, stamina—but that’s the...

Phone Mic Surveillance by Google?

So yesterday my son played me a video of a guy who modded a roomba to play audio files whenever it bumped into things. That was on his phone, on his account. My phone was nearby. Today, my phone shows me roomba ads. I’ve gone through every app on my phone, and only Google has microphone permissions. Nothing I’ve done except watch a video on someone else’s phone would give Google any indication I’m...

Criminal Justice and Deterrence

It’s Official: Child Molesters in Alabama Will Now Be Chemically Castrated In our current system I have a philosophical issue with any irreversible punishment. Our criminal-justice meat grinder has a terrible track record of errors, and little interest in correcting them. It is shot through with bias, both against minorities in general and against the poor (who at this point are getting up to half the population in...

Orange Juice Packaging

You know those half gallons of orange juice in the grocery store? 1/2 gallon = 64 ounces. About five years ago they all suddenly became 59 ounces. Well, I just noticed that they have all suddenly become 52 ounces. Of course, the price is the same. So in effect that is an 18.75% price increase over five years ago, and an 11.9% increase over earlier this year. Maybe most people don’t notice, but I certainly do. I’m...

Politics and Preferences

There are 8 major policy positions that the Democrats support, that a majority of Americans also support, according to polls. However, according to further polls, only 18% of Americans support all 8 of these policy positions. If Democrats insist on perfect purity – from candidates, but especially from voters – they will get 18% of the vote. If you can’t tolerate some differences of opinion, even on...

Misleading Memes: Social Security

File under: Things that superficially appear to make sense, but fall apart if you know anything about the subject at hand: What’s wrong with the right-wing meme? First, Social Security is insurance. Some people pay in more than they get. Others pay less and get more. (Almost) everyone is covered. No scammy investment adviser can rip you off (which is surprisingly common). Next, very few retail investors actually...

Why Republican Policies Succeed

Republican voters are a minority in the US, yet their policy objectives are repeatedly successful over the objections of the majority. What is the secret? Basically, Republicans will tolerate just about anything in a candidate, so long as the candidate wins and their policies end up getting advanced. By contrast Democrats can’t bring themselves to bother voting unless they fall in love with the candidate. And then they...