Lying by Omission (Fox New Edition)

The headline reads: A new supervolcano is brewing under Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire Clearly this is aimed to alarm the typical midwestern viewer to seed a vague sense of unease and distrust even in the foundations of physical reality. It is a very transparent playbook. So what are the facts behind the imminent doom of a major portion of the US? A Supervolcano In New England? Here Are The Facts “Eventually,...

Astrology

I’ve noticed two types of people. Those who are inclined to believe that there must be something to astrology, and expend enormous amounts of energy trying to figure out what. And those whose starting point is innately skeptical. When the two types try to converse, there is often not a meeting of minds. I’ve skimmed through several books of what I would call “post hoc rationalizations” that uses...

What did people in the 1920’s mean by Bolshe...

“Bolshevism” as understood in Steiner’s time would have been state control over the individual in order to force society into “the future”. Marx had predicted an inevitable outcome to capitalism. Lenin had to rework the “inevitable” piece because it did not fit the circumstances in Russia. But in action the Bolsheviks were ruthless and relentless and unashamed in their striving to...

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...

Student Loan Interest as Bad Social Policy

So outstanding student loans in the US are about $1.5 trillion. Most are at 6-8% interest, and are federally guaranteed. Meaning whoever holds the loan cannot lose money (if the loan isn’t paid by the borrower, the Federal government makes the lender whole). Since offsetting losses is the whole purpose of interest, this is pretty much a $90 billion per year federal give-away to big banks. They get to collect the...