http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/why-the-citizen-militia-theory-is-the-worst-pro-gun-argument-ever/272734/
---SPSmith
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Missouri Bill Would Require All First Graders To Take NRA-Sponsored Gun Class | ThinkProgress
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/30/1513771/missouri-first-grader-guns/?mobile=wt
See, this is good idea. Lets have every commercial lobby takes the
required classes:
The porn industry can sponsor the dildo class,
The condom industry can sponsor the sex Ed class,
And the drug cartel can sponsor the safe heroin usage class
---SPSmith
See, this is good idea. Lets have every commercial lobby takes the
required classes:
The porn industry can sponsor the dildo class,
The condom industry can sponsor the sex Ed class,
And the drug cartel can sponsor the safe heroin usage class
---SPSmith
Thoughts on global warming deniers
The data irrefutably establishes humans as the dominant driver of environmental change, which is something that should worry us all.
The scientific method has proved a remarkable tool for clarifying our view and enabling us to develop an elaborate, objective consensus about how the world works.
It is unfortunate that a highly intelligent person such as yourself has no understanding of how science works or what constitutes a valid scientific theory. Your glorification of stupidity, and the refusal to think hard about real issues reiterates the deep chasm that separates those that face reality from those that can't think, can't reason from evidence, and don't even know what would constitute evidence.
Babylonian astrologers thought the stars governed our fates, a thousand years ago Western societies were largely religious and prayed to the skies for their salvation, and all pre-science cultures accepted ideological insights for truth rather than tested knowledge. And the results: Pestilence, famine, disease, high infant mortality, slavery, institutionalized rape, genocide, and war, in other words, each human being engulfed in extreme suffering embedded in societies that lacked basic justice and liberty.
History teaches us that conservative, backward-looking movements often arise under conditions of economic stress. Consider how conservative elements in American religion and politics refuse to accept scientific knowledge, deride their opponents for being "reality based," and ask yourself, "could that ideology come to rule the most powerful nation on earth? and if it did, what would be the consequences for the world?"
Civilizations do fail. We have never yet seen one that hasn't. Gibbon, in describing the fall of Rome, spoke of "the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness" and of "the triumph of barbarism and religion". As Rome collapsed, or in the Ming Empire or under the Abbasid Caliphate, the triumph of faith over reason played a large part in turning relative into absolute decline in living standards.
So. if we follow your path, before us we have a world which falls into apathy about gun murders, disbelief in science and progress, and after a melancholy decline, a new dark age, a turning away from knowledge and discovery into a kind of political and religious fundamentalism. I prefer another path...one in which we take the science where it leads, and use our liberal democratic processes to honestly weigh potential actions against the social risks.
Edge.org
Edge.org: "A basic level of material abundance is indeed the foundation. A good society will be one in which everyone enjoys the material foundations for a good life. But beyond that level, we will need to distinguish more clearly between the renewable and the non-renewable components of a good life. Can we learn better how to appreciate and enjoy the renewable resources of a good life?
Developing a more realistic story about the good life will be an essential step towards a better life and a more sustainable society. These conversations will be complex and difficult. They will engage educators, scientists, economists, politicians, artists, entrepreneurs and citizens as well as philosophers. But we desperately need the debate as we try to imagine a better future for our children and their children."
'via Blog this'
Developing a more realistic story about the good life will be an essential step towards a better life and a more sustainable society. These conversations will be complex and difficult. They will engage educators, scientists, economists, politicians, artists, entrepreneurs and citizens as well as philosophers. But we desperately need the debate as we try to imagine a better future for our children and their children."
'via Blog this'
Edge.org
Edge.org: "The greatest lie ever told was that there is a mystical afterlife. This lie has been used for millennia to steel the courage of young men before sending them to kill and die in wars. Even worse, most people lie to themselves when confronting suffering and loss, with stories of a better life after this one, despite there being no credible evidence for any such thing.
But why is it so damaging to share and believe pleasant fantasies of an afterlife when nonexistence is both too horrific to confront and inevitable? It is damaging because it leads to bad decisions in this life—the only one we have. Knowing that our lives are so short makes each moment and each interaction more precious. The happiness and love we find and make in life are all we get. The fact that there is no supernatural being in the universe that cares about us makes it that much more important that we care about each other."
'via Blog this'
But why is it so damaging to share and believe pleasant fantasies of an afterlife when nonexistence is both too horrific to confront and inevitable? It is damaging because it leads to bad decisions in this life—the only one we have. Knowing that our lives are so short makes each moment and each interaction more precious. The happiness and love we find and make in life are all we get. The fact that there is no supernatural being in the universe that cares about us makes it that much more important that we care about each other."
'via Blog this'
Edge.org
Edge.org: "Famously, and ironically, the only thing of which we can be truly certain is the existence of our own subjective experience, and we see the physical world only through this dark glass. Yet the scientific method has proved a remarkable tool for clarifying our view and enabling us to develop an elaborate, apparently objective consensus about how the world works. Unfortunately, having provided us with an escape route from our own subjectivity, science leaves us almost completely impotent to probe the nature and origins of subjective experience itself. The truth is that we have no idea what things have consciousness, where it comes from, or even what it is. All we really know is how it feels."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Edge.org
Edge.org: " consciousness is the substrate of all suffering and pleasure, and thus the mediator of everything truly important to us. If there were no subjective experience then there would be no such things as kindness, love or joy. However sublime our universe, it would be inconsequential without a consciousness to perceive it. True, in a world with no subjective experience there would also be no cruelty, pain or worrying (including that of the kind I am doing now). But this is precisely the point: how are we to maximise happiness and minimise suffering if we do not reliably know where and when they can exist?"
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Edge.org
Edge.org: " Raising the levels of testosterone in someone makes him more likely to interpret an emotionally ambiguous face as a threatening one (and perhaps act accordingly). Having a mutation in a particular gene increases the odds that she will be sexually disinhibited in middle age. Spending fetal life in a particularly stressful prenatal environment increases the likelihood of overeating as an adult. Transiently inactivating a region of the frontal cortex in someone and she acts more cold-hearted and utilitarian when making decisions in an economics game. Being a psychiatrically healthy first-order relative of a schizophrenic increases the odds of believing in "metamagical" things like UFOs, extrasensory perception, or literalist interpretations of the Bible. Having a normal variant of the gene for the vasopressin receptor makes a guy more likely to have stable romantic relationships. The list goes on and on (and just to make a point that should be obvious from this paragraph, but which still can't be emphasized too frequently, lack of free will doesn't remotely equal anything about genetic determinism)."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Edge.org
Edge.org: "As a scientist, an optimist, an atheist and an alpha male I don't worry. As a scientist I explore and seek understanding of the world (s) around me and in me. As an optimist I wake up each morning with a new start on all my endeavors with hope and excitement. As an atheist I know I only have the time between my birth and my death to accomplish something meaningful. As an alpha male I believe I can and do work to solve problems and change the world"
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Faux news interviews
Since Fox News decided to interview Dick Cheney on gun control, they have announced a new season of guests and their respective subjects, including:
Chris Christie on controlling your weight,
Jerry Sandusky on controlling your thoughts in the shower,
Casey Anthony on controlling your child,
The Costa Concordia captain on controlling a cruise-liner,
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on controlling a country's population,
Hosni Mubarak on controlling the spread on democracy,
Rick Santorum on controlling the meaning of your last name,
Ted Haggard on controlling those voices from God that tell you to have gay sex,
Jared Loughner on controlling crowds during political rallies,
The BP corporation on controlling oil in the Gulf of Mexico,
And, in the season finale, O.J. Simpson on controlling your wife.
---SPSmith
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Article: The Bikes of the 2013 New York International Motorcycle Show - Popular Mechanics
The Bikes of the 2013 New York International Motorcycle Show - Popular Mechanics
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/motorcycles/news/bikes-of-the-2013-new-york-international-motorcycle-show
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: You May Be Forgiven For Thinking That Some Skeptics Are Taking A Firm Stance, But…
You May Be Forgiven For Thinking That Some Skeptics Are Taking A Firm Stance, But…
http://freethoughtblogs.com/tokenskeptic/2013/01/30/you-may-be-forgiven-for-thinking-that-some-skeptics-are-taking-a-firm-stance-but/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: An Intervention Letter to Kate Moss, Fellow Hummus Addict
An Intervention Letter to Kate Moss, Fellow Hummus Addict
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/122863/an-intervention-letter-to-kate-moss
We've never met, but we have many things in common. We are both, for example, skinny and gorgeous international supermodels.
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Taylor & Francis Online :: Trying to be happier really can work: Two experimental studies - The Journal of Positive Psychology - Volume 8, Issue 1
Taylor & Francis Online :: Trying to be happier really can work: Two experimental studies - The Journal of Positive Psychology - Volume 8, Issue 1: "Trying to be happier really can work: Two experimental studies"
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Monday, January 28, 2013
No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth: Act 4, Scene 1, Page 5
No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth: Act 4, Scene 1, Page 5: "Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him"
'via Blog this'
Shall come against him"
'via Blog this'
ScienceDirect.com - Trends in Cognitive Sciences - There is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences: how neuroscience can explain seeing bright lights, meeting the dead, or being convinced you are one of them
RDFRS: The Tyranny of the Discontinuous Mind - Christmas 2011
it is a reason for scepticism of any philosophy or theology (or morality or jurisprudence or politics) that treats humanness, or personhood, as some kind of essentialist absolute, which you either definitely have or definitely don't have. If your theology tells you that humans should receive special respect and moral privilege as the only species that possesses a soul, you have to face up to the awkward question of when, in human evolution, the first ensouled baby was born. Was it when the first Homo sapiens baby was born to parents belonging to whatever species is considered to be our immediate predecessor (erectus, ergaster, heidelbergensis, rhodesiensis, no matter, the argument stands regardless)? There was no such baby! There never was a 'first' Homo sapiens. It is only the discontinuous mind that insists on drawing a hard and fast line between a species and the ancestral species that birthed it. Evolutionary change is gradual: there never was a line, never a line between any species and its evolutionary precursor.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
The Federal Pie Chart
The Federal Pie Chart: "Federal Funds vs. Unified Budget. WRL uses "federal funds" rather than the "unified budget" figures that the government prefers. Federal funds exclude trust fund money (e.g., social security), which is raised separately (e.g., the FICA and Medicare deductions in paychecks) and is specifically ear-marked for particular programs. By combining trust funds with federal funds, the percentage of spending on the military appears smaller, a deceptive practice first used by the government in the late 1960s as the Vietnam War became more and more unpopular."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Nicholas Eberstadt: Yes, Mr. President, We Are a Nation of Takers - WSJ.com
Nicholas Eberstadt: Yes, Mr. President, We Are a Nation of Takers - WSJ.com: ". The government's disability-insurance programs were intended to address genuine need. On the current trajectory, the Social Security disability fund is projected to run out of money during Mr. Obama's second term."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Atheism Should End Religion, Not Replace It - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com
Religion is faith. Faith is belief without evidence. Belief without evidence cannot be shared. Faith is a feeling. Love is also a feeling, but love makes no universal claims. Love is pure. The lover reports on his or her feelings and needs nothing more. Faith claims knowledge of a world we share but without evidence we can share. Feeling love is beautiful. Feeling the earth is 6,000 years old is stupid.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
What does fMRI measure, anyway? – Neurologism
What does fMRI measure, anyway? – Neurologism: "Despite its popularity, it is still not entirely clear what fMRI is measuring. Many people know that the technique measures a signal called BOLD: the blood-oxygen-level-dependent contrast. But I imagine fewer people know that the relationship between blood flow and neural activity is still under active investigation."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Companion Animal Psychology
Companion Animal Psychology: "The authors say these results show that dogs generally don’t like to be petted on the top of their head, on their paws, or on their hind legs, and that they prefer to be petted on the side of the chest or under the chin. "
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Benghazi
Hillary chafes their asses in Congress:
For Barack Obama: his second inauguration - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/paul-muldoon-poem-for-barack-obama-and-his-second-inauguration-000552001.html
Truth-twisting is our Trojan horse.
---SPSmith
Truth-twisting is our Trojan horse.
---SPSmith
Slate: Amanda McKittrick Ros, the Worst Novelist in History
I thought you would like this article from The Slate Magazine for iPad
Amanda McKittrick Ros, the Worst Novelist in History
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/01/was_amanda_mckittrick_ros_the_worst_novelist_in_history.html
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/01/was_amanda_mckittrick_ros_the_worst_novelist_in_history.html
---SPSmith
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Poetry and History | Transitional Justice
http://tj.facinghistory.org/reading/poetry-history
History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.
---SPSmith
History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.
---SPSmith
Awaiting a New Darwin by H. Allen Orr | The New York Review of Books
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/feb/07/awaiting-new-darwin/
a scientific education is, to a considerable extent, an exercise in
taming the authority of one's intuition
---SPSmith
a scientific education is, to a considerable extent, an exercise in
taming the authority of one's intuition
---SPSmith
Awaiting a New Darwin by H. Allen Orr | The New York Review of Books
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/feb/07/awaiting-new-darwin/
The history of science is partly the history of an idea that is by now
so familiar that it no longer astounds: the universe, including our
own existence, can be explained by the interactions of little bits of
matter. We scientists are in the business of discovering the laws that
characterize this matter. We do so, to some extent at least, by a kind
of reduction. The stuff of biology, for instance, can be reduced to
chemistry and the stuff of chemistry can be reduced to physics.
---SPSmith
The history of science is partly the history of an idea that is by now
so familiar that it no longer astounds: the universe, including our
own existence, can be explained by the interactions of little bits of
matter. We scientists are in the business of discovering the laws that
characterize this matter. We do so, to some extent at least, by a kind
of reduction. The stuff of biology, for instance, can be reduced to
chemistry and the stuff of chemistry can be reduced to physics.
---SPSmith
Obama's speech lauds government, dismisses opponents | The Daily Caller
"Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms,"
Confident Obama lays out battle plan as he launches second term | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/21/us-usa-inauguration-idUSBRE90I04I20130121
"We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle
for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate."
---SPSmith
"We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle
for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate."
---SPSmith
Roe v. Wade at 40: Time to Push Back Against Those in the Stone Age | The Progressive
You can't shove young women, who have grown up believing that they ought to be able to have full, happy sex lives, good health care, rewarding work, and children, too, when they want them and can care for them, that they ought to return to the world of the double standard, early, forced marriages, and sex lives full of darkness, fear, and shame.
In fact, we just had a national referendum on this issue.
Women voted overwhelmingly against the Paul Ryan/Todd Akin/Foster Fries worldview: that telling women to hold an aspirin between our legs is a funny and piquant response to the demand for birth control, that a law student who dares suggest that university health care include contraceptives deserves to be shamed by a powerful man with a national microphone as a "slut," that rape victims are lying about being assaulted if they get pregnant--because only a woman willing to have sex can conceive.
---SPSmith
Court wary of warrantless blood tests in DUI cases - Yahoo! News
The court heard arguments Wednesday in a case about a disputed blood test from Missouri, against the backdrop of a serious national problem of more than 10,000 deaths from crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers in 2010, about one every 51 minutes.
That number has dropped by 60 percent in the past 20 years because of a sustained national crackdown on drunken driving. Lawyers for Missouri and the Obama administration argued that dispensing with a warrant requirement would further that effort because any delay in testing a suspect's blood-alcohol content allows alcohol to dissipate in the blood.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Article: Intel posts Q4 2012 earnings: $2.5 billion in profit on $13.5 billion in revenue
Intel posts Q4 2012 earnings: $2.5 billion in profit on $13.5 billion in revenue
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/17/intel-posts-q4-2012-earnings/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Right to peaceable assemble
Hi,
I thought you'd like this azcentral article. Check it out:
A forgotten right
http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/articles/20130116editorial-forgotten-right.html
I thought you'd like this azcentral article. Check it out:
A forgotten right
http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/articles/20130116editorial-forgotten-right.html
---SPSmith
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The Q&A: Steven Pinker: The violent dangers of ideology | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/11/qa-steven-pinker-0
Consciousness is increasingly seen as the origin of moral worth.
Empirically, the huge increase in abortions has not accompanied an
increase in the neglect or abuse of children. A common prediction in
the 1970s before Roe v Wade (a landmark decision by the United States
Supreme Court on the issue of abortion) is that abortion would
inevitably lead to legalised infanticide. We can say with confidence
that that prediction was incorrect, which supports the idea that
people's intuition doesn't equate abortion with murder, that legalised
abortion did not place people on a slippery slope. The slope actually
has a fair amount of traction and I think what gives it traction is
the equation of moral values with consciousness
---SPSmith
Consciousness is increasingly seen as the origin of moral worth.
Empirically, the huge increase in abortions has not accompanied an
increase in the neglect or abuse of children. A common prediction in
the 1970s before Roe v Wade (a landmark decision by the United States
Supreme Court on the issue of abortion) is that abortion would
inevitably lead to legalised infanticide. We can say with confidence
that that prediction was incorrect, which supports the idea that
people's intuition doesn't equate abortion with murder, that legalised
abortion did not place people on a slippery slope. The slope actually
has a fair amount of traction and I think what gives it traction is
the equation of moral values with consciousness
---SPSmith
Presidential Proclamation -- Religious Freedom Day | The White House
Presidential Proclamation -- Religious Freedom Day | The White House: "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, Sikhs and non-believers."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Us gun problem
Frum: U.S. gun problem is not a race problem
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/opinion/frum-guns-race/index.html
---SPSmith
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/opinion/frum-guns-race/index.html
---SPSmith
Article: Reality Check: 5 Risks of Raw Vegan Diet
Reality Check: 5 Risks of Raw Vegan Diet
http://news.yahoo.com/reality-check-5-risks-raw-vegan-diet-193932952.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
'The Whole Nine Yards' Of What?
I found the following story on the NPR iPad App:
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169140590/-the-whole-nine-yards-of-what?sc=ipad&f=1008
by Geoff Nunberg
NPR - January 14, 2013
Where does the phrase "the whole nine yards" come from? In 1982, William Safire called that "one of the great etymological mysteries of our time."
He thought the phrase originally referred to the capacity of a cement truck in cubic yards. But there are plenty of other theories.
Some people say it dates back to when square-riggers had three masts, each with three yards supporting the sails, so the whole nine yards meant the sails were fully set.
Another popular story holds that it refers to the length of an ammunition belt on World War II fighters — when a pilot had exhausted his ammunition, he said he had shot off the whole nine yards. Or it was the amount of cloth in the queen's bridal train, or in the Shroud of Turin. Or it had to do with a fourth-down play in football. Or it came from a joke about a prodigiously well-endowed Scotsman who gets his kilt caught in a door.
The Internet is full of just-so stories like these. They're often shaky in their facts about ammunition belts or cement trucks, but they come with assurances that the information came firsthand from an old Naval gunnery instructor or a Scottish tailor.
It used to be hard to debunk these tales, since the only way to track the expressions down was by rooting around in library stacks and newspaper morgues in search of a revealing early citation. But with the vast historical collections of books and newspapers that are now online, etymology has joined the list of activities you can do in your pajamas.
Word-sleuths traced the modern use of "the whole nine yards" as far back as a 1956 article in a magazine called Kentucky Happy Hunting Ground. Now they've discovered an even earlier version of the phrase, "the whole six yards," which was used in the rural South as early as 1912. That's still how the phrase goes in parts of the South, but it was inflated to "nine yards" when it caught on elsewhere, the same way the early 20th-century "cloud seven" was upgraded to our "cloud nine."
The unearthing of those early sources was deemed important enough to warrant a story in The New York Times, not an organ that ordinarily treats etymological discoveries as breaking news. True, the findings don't actually settle what if anything the phrase originally referred to. But they put the kibosh on the stories about World War II and the one about cement trucks, which hadn't been invented yet — though, actually, none of these stories was very plausible in the first place. `
Of course there could be a real story behind the expression, even if it's no more than a family joke about the long scarves that Aunt Florence used to knit as Christmas presents. But it could also be that somebody just plucked the words out of the air one Tuesday morning. One way or the other, the real birth of the expression was when somebody passed it along without caring what "nine yards" referred to.
The fact is that once you've said "the whole" it doesn't matter what words you finish it with or whether they mean anything or not — shooting match, enchilada, schmear, shebang? "The whole ball of wax" first showed up in the 1880s, though some writers say it comes from a 16th-century ritual for dividing up an estate among heirs. If you believe that, I've got a caboodle I want to sell you.
A number of years ago I started saying "the whole kazonga," just because I liked the sound of it. Nobody ever called me on it, but when I finally looked it up it turned out to be the name both of an Italian adult comic book and of a Zambian minister who was involved in a fertilizer scam. In the somewhat unlikely event that "the whole kazonga" ever catches on, you can be sure someone will explain how it originally comes from one or the other of those.
Still, it's hard to accept that it doesn't matter where the expression came from. Whether the measure is six yards or nine, it has a tantalizing specificity. It cries out for an explanation, and there are plenty of them at hand. Is it merely coincidence that six yards is the exact diameter of a pitcher's mound? The amount of cloth in a Varanasi sari? The length of a parachute line?
But that profusion of possibilities is the key to the idiom's appeal. If "the whole nine yards" had a definitive completion — if it went on to mention yards of cloth, cement or ammunition — it would never have caught on in the first place. It's like a line of poetry; it resonates without resolving.
Except that we don't think of this as poetry. A poet's images can bubble straight up out of the imagination; we don't ask for explanations or backstories. Would it really help to know where Gertrude Stein got "pigeons in the grass, alas" from? "Let me see, that was the day when Miss Stein and I were walking in the Luxembourg Gardens, and I started to sit on the lawn but she said, 'No, Alice' ... "
But that's just the kind of story we expect when the phrase originates in the collective imagination. So we rummage around in old ships and cement trucks looking for a secret key, as if there couldn't be any poetry in everyday language that didn't begin its life as prose. [Copyright 2013 National Public Radio]
To learn more about the NPR iPad app, go to http://ipad.npr.org/recommendnprforipad
---SPSmith
Monday, January 14, 2013
Guns don't kill dictatorships, people do | FP Passport
Given the advanced deadly weaponry available to governments these days -- as opposed to the late 18th century -- most tyrants aren't all that threatened by citizens with conventional weapons. Like the Iraqis, Libyans were fairly well armed under Muammar al-Qaddafi -- 15.5 guns per 100 people as of 2007 -- but it still took an assist from NATO air power to finally bring him down.
On the other extreme, the country ranked last on the survey -- with only 0.1 guns per 100 people -- is Tunisia, which as you'll recall was still able to overthrow a longtime dictator in 2011. With only 3.5 guns per 100 people, the Egyptian population that overthrew Hosni Mubarak was hardly well armed either. On the other hand, Bahrain, where a popular revolution failed to unseat the country's monarchy, has 24.8 guns per 100 people, putting it in the top 20 worldwide. A relatively high rate of 10.7 guns per 100 people in Venezuela hasn't stopped the deterioration of democracy under Hugo Chávez.
---SPSmithArticle: Tea Party Rep: Gun Regulation Won't Work Because Hammers And Hatchets Exist | ThinkProgress
Tea Party Rep: Gun Regulation Won't Work Because Hammers And Hatchets Exist | ThinkProgress
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/14/1441851/tea-party-rep-gun-regulation-wont-work-because-hammers-and-hatchets-exist/?mobile=wt
America's gun homicide rate is 19.5 times higher than comparable nations. The FBI estimates that 8,775 people were killed by guns in 2010 — more than an order of magnitude higher than the 540 people killed with blunt objects. Furthermore, despite the gun lobby's scapegoating of mentally ill individuals, people with mental health problems are not statistically more likely to be violent than the average person.
---SPSmith
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Americans Under 50 Fare Poorly on Health Measures, New Report Says - NYTimes.com
Car accidents, gun violence and drug overdoses were major contributors to years of life lost by Americans before age 50.
The rate of firearm homicides was 20 times higher in the United States than in the other countries, according to the report, which cited a 2011 study of 23 countries. And though suicide rates were lower in the United States, firearm suicide rates were six times higher.
---SPSmithBack When I Was Packing - NYTimes.com
The gun-confiscation paranoid mind-set is seen in these studies as — what else? — castration fear. And there's the unfailing potency of the gun as a substitute for the failing potency of, well, you know. As Gore Vidal said, you can always get your gun up.
Hypochondria - An Inside Look - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/hypochondria-an-inside-look.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&
Perhaps if I were a religious person, which I am not, although I sometimes do have the intimation that we all may be part of something larger — like a Ponzi scheme. A great Spanish philosopher wrote that all humans long for "the eternal persistence of consciousness." Not an easy state to maintain, especially when you're dining with people who keep talking about their children.
Lessig Blog, v2
http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully
we live in a world where the architects of the financial crisis
regularly dine at the White House — and where even those brought to
"justice" never even have to admit any wrongdoing, let alone be
labeled "felons."
---SPSmith
we live in a world where the architects of the financial crisis
regularly dine at the White House — and where even those brought to
"justice" never even have to admit any wrongdoing, let alone be
labeled "felons."
---SPSmith
Noam Chomsky: The responsibility of privilege - Talk to Al Jazeera - Al Jazeera English
He emphasises: "The more privilege you have, the more opportunity you have. The more opportunity you have, the more responsibility you have."
---SPSmith
Article: why guns won’t protect you from dictators
why guns won't protect you from dictators
http://worldofweirdthings.com/2013/01/13/why-guns-wont-protect-you-from-dictators/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Article: The inspiring heroism of Aaron Swartz
The inspiring heroism of Aaron Swartz
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/12/aaron-swartz-heroism-suicide1
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Nuanced position
Did Jefferson really say that about guns?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/11/opinion/jefferson-fake-gun-quotation/index.html
---SPSmith
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/11/opinion/jefferson-fake-gun-quotation/index.html
---SPSmith
Friday, January 11, 2013
This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/isnt-petition-response-youre-looking
The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
---SPSmith
The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
---SPSmith
Anonymous Comments, Gutless Trolls, and Why It's Time We All Stop Drinking This Digital Poison | Common Dreams
Former US diplomat Christopher Hill, a man whose views normally make me cringe – he was ambassador to Iraq, special envoy to Kosovo and a Dayton negotiator – has observed these dangers. "Instant access to information does not mean instant access to knowledge, much less wisdom," he wrote recently. "In the past, information was integrated with experience. Today, it is integrated with emotion... Digital technology has played an important role "in fostering this atmosphere of bad manners, vicious personal attacks, intolerance, disprespect... Bullying has gone virtual".
---SPSmith
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Article: Instant View: Holiday PC sales slide for first time in over five years
Instant View: Holiday PC sales slide for first time in over five years
http://news.yahoo.com/instant-view-holiday-pc-sales-slide-first-time-234256414--finance.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
The Riddle of the Gun : Sam Harris
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-riddle-of-the-gun
In fact, it can be easily argued that original intent of the Second
Amendment had nothing to do with the right of self-defense—which
remains the ethical case to be made for owning a firearm. The
amendment seems to have been written to allow the states to check the
power of the federal government by maintaining their militias. Given
the changes that have occurred in our military, and even in our
politics, the idea that a few pistols and an AR 15 in every home
constitutes a necessary bulwark against totalitarianism is fairly
ridiculous. If you believe that the armed forces of the United States
might one day come for you—and you think your cache of small arms will
suffice to defend you if they do—I've got a black helicopter to sell
you.
---SPSmith
In fact, it can be easily argued that original intent of the Second
Amendment had nothing to do with the right of self-defense—which
remains the ethical case to be made for owning a firearm. The
amendment seems to have been written to allow the states to check the
power of the federal government by maintaining their militias. Given
the changes that have occurred in our military, and even in our
politics, the idea that a few pistols and an AR 15 in every home
constitutes a necessary bulwark against totalitarianism is fairly
ridiculous. If you believe that the armed forces of the United States
might one day come for you—and you think your cache of small arms will
suffice to defend you if they do—I've got a black helicopter to sell
you.
---SPSmith
Monday, January 07, 2013
The Blessings of Atheism - NYTimes.com
The atheist is free to concentrate on the fate of this world — whether that means visiting a friend in a hospital or advocating for tougher gun control laws — without trying to square things with an unseen overlord in the next. Atheists do not want to deny religious believers the comfort of their faith. We do want our fellow citizens to respect our deeply held conviction that the absence of an afterlife lends a greater, not a lesser, moral importance to our actions on earth.
---SPSmithNeuroLogica Blog » Morality – Religion, Philosophy and Science
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/morality-religion-philosophy-and-science/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
The best approach to morality and ethics, in my opinion, is a
thoughtful blend of philosophy and science. I do not see a legitimate
role for religion itself, however, cultural traditions (many of which
may be codified in religious belief) is a useful source of information
about the human condition and the effect of specific moral behaviors.
There may be wisdom in such traditions – but that is the beginning of
moral thinking, not the conclusion. Religious traditions also come
with a great deal of baggage derived from the beliefs and views of
fairly primitive and unenlightened societies.
---SPSmith
The best approach to morality and ethics, in my opinion, is a
thoughtful blend of philosophy and science. I do not see a legitimate
role for religion itself, however, cultural traditions (many of which
may be codified in religious belief) is a useful source of information
about the human condition and the effect of specific moral behaviors.
There may be wisdom in such traditions – but that is the beginning of
moral thinking, not the conclusion. Religious traditions also come
with a great deal of baggage derived from the beliefs and views of
fairly primitive and unenlightened societies.
---SPSmith
Saturday, January 05, 2013
NSC Study Shows You are More Likely to Killed By a Cop Than a Terrorist
--You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist
So, we need to send Seal Team 6 after Sheriff Joe.
---SPSmith
Friday, January 04, 2013
Don’t demonize Sam Harris | The Hellfire Club
This is how philosophers are trained to think about issues. You don't approach people with opposing views by expressing anger with them, or attempting to destroy their credibility. You give their arguments due consideration, try to see how things look from their point of view, and you most certainly avoid such tactics as strawmanning and guilt by association. You look for the strengths in what they are saying.
---SPSmith
Richer Than Romney: Al Gore Scores On Sale Of Current TV - Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/01/04/richer-than-romney-al-gore-scores-on-sale-of-current-tv/
Even Al Gore is a better business man than Mitt the Twit Romney.
Too bad George W. illegally stole the presidential election from him.
---SPSmith
Even Al Gore is a better business man than Mitt the Twit Romney.
Too bad George W. illegally stole the presidential election from him.
---SPSmith
Hammers Deadlier Than Rifles? FBI Releases Crime Stats For 2011
The FBI crime statistics show two things: (1) Firearms are used in the majority of murders in the United States, and (2) if a person is really intent on killing someone, they don't need a gun to do it.
---SPSmith
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Republicans Apologize to Top 1.5 Per Cent : The New Yorker
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In the aftermath of the fiscal-cliff deal, Republicans in Congress issued a heartfelt apology to the top 1.5 per cent richest people in America, offering "messages of profound condolence" for allowing their taxes to increase slightly.
"Our hearts go out to them," said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), still teary-eyed after hanging up the phone with a multimillionaire in Orange County, California. "We came to Washington to do the work of 1.5 per cent of the American people, and we didn't get it done."
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
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