Philosophy Today

From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

The Great Big Apartment in the Sky

Kevin at Lowering the Bar always has interesting things to say.  Today he reports that Sherman Hemsley's body is still in cold storage.  It seems that Hemsley left everything to his partner of a number of years, but a man claiming to be Hemsley's brother has appeared, challenging the will and claiming rights to the body.  The story is here. 

Kevin's conclusion: get a will done asap if you want to be buried according to your wishes.  I think it also shows that nothing is certain in life except taxes.  Death, or at least its observance, can be postponed.  

Can School Districts Run A Deficit?

The answer is, "Of course they can!"

What brings this question to mind:  I just received my annual automobile tax notice from Spartanburg County and there were two charges that puzzled me: $.57 for "McCarthy Teszler Prior Year Deficit" and $5.10 for "District 7 Prior Year Deficit."  Does anyone know what these are about?  Prima facie, they look to be additional taxes to cover a shortfall for the two entities.  If so, how does this work?  Are the taxpayers always on the spot when the District overspends?    I'll do some research and get back to you!

For All My Golf Friends

Read this.(h/t Deadspin)

From the Land of the Absurd

A 3-year-old deaf child is asked to change his name, because the signing of it violates the school's weapons policy!

Joe Dean Haywood

The Herald Journal has a nice article on Joe Dean Haywood from Cowpens. He wrote Percy Sledge's Warm and Tender Love.    Story here.

And if you want a sample of his wonderful voice, try this:

Headline of the Day

"Tropical Storm Adds Intrigue to GOP Convention"   I'm glad something has!

Other than that, he's a good guy!

Kevin at Lowering the Bar brought this to my attention: the terrorist who wishes to be admitted to the Canadian bar.  One must admire his persistence, although his appeal so far has not worked. For my students in pre-law, a piece of advice: it's much easier to be admitted to the bar without felony convictions. 

Human Nature

Petronius in The Satyricon (ca. 50 AD?) begins by saying: "we don't educate our children at school; we stultify them and then send them out into the world half-baked.. And why? Because we keep them utterly ignorant of real life." This leads me to wonder, has there ever been an age where we weren't dissatisfied with the state of education?  If not, does this say more about students or about humans in general? Maybe we're dissatisfied because we have some sense of the ideal and no human institution will ever come close to producing it.  Thoughts? 

July 20, 1969

Do you remember where you were on this date?  I do so vividly: my family was taking a camping trip around Lake Superior, using one of those old pop-up campers.  We made up a crew of six:  3 sisters--ages 16, 8 and 6--and I-age 12.   Much of the trip was tedious for us; we were inexperienced campers.  But there were memorable highlights; I remember one remote campground where we set up on a beach--it struck my adolescent mind as the most beautiful place on earth.

But the most memorable invent occurred in Duluth MN.   We had just completed the northern trek around Superior; we were hot, tired, dusty, and grumpy. My father broke the norm and rented a hotel room at a Best Western.  I don't remember much about the room and our accommodations, but I do remember it had an old black and white TV.  After everyone had showered, we gathered around the tube and watched Neil Armstrong become the first human to walk on the moon. 

It was the best vacation of my life, if only for that moment.  Rest in Peace, Neil. 

Further Reflections on Godel

Zachary Ernst, writer of the blog Inklings, has a nice post on the major theorem of Kurt Godel, in which he shows that arithmetic is "incomplete."  A technical summary of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem runs along these lines, "For any system of arithmetic, there are true propositions that are necessarily unprovable."  Ernst explains what this means in layman's terms. 

There is another result of Godel's that I like to mention in my logic classes.  Say I have three rules:  1) "Whenever X is true,  squares have four sides."  2) "Whenever X is true, squares do not have four sides." and 3) "X is true."  From these three rules I can deduce "squares have four sides" and "squares don't have four sides."  I can deduce two propositions that contradict, thereby showing my rules are inconsistent: they can't all be true at the same time.  Both theoretically and practically, I would not want to use this system.   Instead, I'd want a system that was consistent, where the rules can all be true at the same time.

With arithmetic, we think that it's consistent, that the rules of arithmetic can all be true.  Godel showed that it is impossible to prove that arithmetic is consistent!  This doesn't mean it's inconsistent, but just that if it's consistent, we'll never be able to know it.  Quite an amazing theorem, I would say.  

A Wet Summer

Upstate SC has been blessed with good weather this summer, without experiencing the drought other states have suffered.  As usual, this benefit comes with a cost.  Wet weather brings mosquitoes, and mosquitoes bring disease, like the West Nile Virus.

National Conventions

Peggy Noonan wrote the following in the Wall Street Journal:

      "Finally, the big broadcast networks plan to give the Republicans (and the Democrats) only one hour a night of TV coverage.They used to give all night, long as it took, and treat the proceedings with respect. What they give now, to the people of a great democracy fighting for its economic life in an uncertain world, is . . . an hour a night? For a national political convention?

     This is a scandal. Mock them for it. This isn't Edward R. Murrow in charge of the news, it's Gordon Gekko in charge of programming."

 I grew up a political junkie, and loved to watch the conventions on TV.  But there was real drama back in the 50s and 60s at conventions.  First of all, there many times was unclarity as to who would be the ultimate nominee.  Many states would support "favorite sons"--state politicians--so that when they would get to the national convention they could use their bloc of votes to garner favors.

There would also be serious debates about the platform.  I can't recall in the last 20 years where this has happened. Ergo, we know the nominees and there are no serious policy debates.  So with all due respect to Noonan, the conventions have no political importance.  Why then should we watch?

I Blame Sheryl Crow

So all those hours I spent a decade ago watching a sport with weird concepts like "peleton" didn't happen.  I vacate my title as couch potato. 

Breach!

Light blogging as the semester begins.  I'm a little depressed too as my institution fumbles the ball, again. If this blog page gets hacked you'll know why!

Kudos to Obama

My friend Carol sent me this Atlantic article, discussing attempts to get Obama's home brew recipe.  While I'm not disposed to vote for him, more power to a president who likes to experiment with beer.  Honey ale wouldn't be my first choice, so maybe that reflects a deep difference in political philosophy. 

Update: ABC News reports that the White House might release the recipe, for those of you who are interested. 

Eugene Volokh has an interesting post on blackmail.  The quandary: 1) it is usually legal to publish something that is true even if embarassing, and 2) it is usually legal to ask someone to ask for money in exchange for a legal action. So why is blackmail (promising to publicize embarassing information unless money is paid) illegal?  The quandary, as Volokh notes, is ignored in practice, although there are interesting exceptions.  

Will Haley Ever Be Invited?

Darla Moore was invited to become a member of Augusta National, along with Condoleezza Rice.  As someone on sports talk said today, too bad she's not good enough to be on the USC Board of Trustees!

Why We Binge

ABC reports a poll which shows binge drinkers in college are "happier" than their opposites.  While the article discusses reasons why this might be, they tend to focus on the social circumstances in which binge drinking occurs. 

Two comments: 1) discussions of binge drinking tend to blur the obvious fact that for many people, drinking is enjoyable; perhaps if this were recognized, we might be more attuned to reasons why it's impossible for college students to drink responsibly; 2) given the social satisfaction of binge drinking,   I don't think colleges can solve the problem by trying to find less-than-satisfying substitutes. 

Confirmation Bias

I've written before of my criticism of operations like Rolling Thunder.  So I was predisposed to find this account accurate.  The sheriff released the video cam of the stop; the true account is much different than the "victim's" story.  My apologies to leaping to an unjustified conclusion. 

Washington Stymies Common Sense

NPR asked five economists with differing political sympathies for the recommendations they unanimously support.  The six:

1) Get rid of the mortgage interest deduction.
2) Get rid of the corporate income tax.
3) Get rid of the personal income tax.
4) Legalize pot.
5) Get rid of tax deduction for companies providing health care.
6) Institute a carbon tax. 

For their justifications, go here.

(h/t Greg Mankiw) 

Statements without Content

This morning, on a 5-hour Energy Drink ad, the spokesperson said (roughly), "73% of all doctors recommend 5-Hour Energy Drink as a low calorie energy drink for those healthy patients who already use a low calorie energy drink." (my emphasis)  One wonders why it wasn't higher!

Reason #15 Not To Argue in Public

You may be chaffeured to the police.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Ben Szobody of the Greenville News has an interesting article on one man's attempt at opening a bar in Greenville, SC.  In it he discusses the argument by bloggers, including my long-time favorite Megan McArdle, that attempting to control the number of bars in a particular area leads to increased noise and criminal activity, the precise outcome the Board of Zoning Appeals is trying to avoid. 

The Necessity of Natural Law

One can try to escape the police, but it may prove difficult to avoid the Law of Gravity, as experienced by this thief. 

An Interesting Read

From Jason Kuznicki at The Agitator on two mistakes conservatives make. 

A Quiz for the Reader

Is it possible to drive on I-85 without following too closely other vehicles?  Readers' comments welcome!

Juggalos in the News

The FBI has classified Juggalos, fans of the Insane Clown Posse, as a "hybrid gang."  The Posse is fighting back, filing suit against the FBI.  Kevin at Lowering the Bar, has the full scoop plus an evaluation of the FBI's classification system.  Enjoy!

Either/Or

Either you're for law and order or you're for mothers who at a drop at a hat take off at 100 mph, risking both them and the other drivers on the road.  Either you're for pleasure-inducing drugs, like pot, or you're for jack-booted thugs who want to chase potential criminals to prove a point.

The Drug War has contributed to these kinds of polar opposites, ignoring the possible middle-ground where one can disapprove of the effects of drugs, from marijuana to meth, and at the same time, argue for the liberty to take them.  Instead, we engage in false dilemma, where there are only two options.  Because of this, we get the Sheriff defending the 100 mph chase, by bringing up the driver's past history. 

I would argue that the only way to justify the Drug War and all its manifestations and unintended consequences is to show that it's been a net gain for the U.S. and the world.  This justification is missing.

Update: it even effects activities which prima facie are not about the drug war

Arguing the World

I've the good fortune of finally being able to stream Netflix to my TV.  Here were my first three selections:

1) Once Upon a Time in the West:  worth seeing for close ups of Claudia Cardinale's eyes
2) The Decameron: more enjoyable if one has already read the book.
and 3) Arguing the World: a documentary on the four New York intellectuals who graduated from CCNY in the late 30s: Irving Howe, Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell, and Nathan Glazer.  I highly recommend this.  The chronology of their lives coincides with the major events of the 20th century: the Depression, World War II, anti-communism, the Sixties.  It's hard to characterize what they had in common, other than the belief in the power of ideas and the worthwhile pursuit of exposing and arguing these ideas in public. 

By the way, I had the good fortune of driving Irving Kristol from the Indianapolis airport to Wabash College in 1979, where he was to spend a day on campus.  He was interesting, but somewhat aloof and supercilious.  I remember how shocked he was at the size of the Wabash endowment, as if he assumed any college in Indiana had to be running on a shoe string.  Something in the documentary made sense of this: he remarked that growing up in Brooklyn was second rate.  He grew up wanting to migrate to "the City," i.e. Manhattan.  The rest of us couldn't even compete with Brooklyn!

Let's Hear it for the Old Guys!

Congrats to Meb as he finishes 4th at the Olympics in the marathon at the ripe old age of 37! (the top 3 were 23, 30 and 30)

Links

• Befriending the enemy: now I have to root against him. 
• Botswana gets its first Olympic medal. Congrats!
• The red pill or the blue pill? Oops, wrong decision. 
• A natural attraction: Starbucks and funerals.

The "War" on Drugs

I have a good friend who disagrees with me on just about every political issue.  In discussing the incident of the 7-year old who passed recently (see this previous post) we both agreed the War on Drugs has been lost.  It's time to either legalize or decriminalize drug possession.  There are casualties on both sides: victims such as this little girl whose mother presumably ran from the police because she had 8 oz. of marijuana or the deputies who must live with the consequence of this ill-advised chase. 

I

PGA Championship

Forget the Olympics.  The event to watch begins today.  And thanks to my good friend, Ray, I've been fortunate to have played this course, a first for this long time frustrated golfer.

Seven-Year-Old Dies in High Speed Chase

This breaks my heart.  Her aunt was driving down the interstate in an erratic manner; deputies tried to pull her over and she took off. The ensuing chase reached speeds of 100 mph. Neither the girl nor aunt were buckled up.

I'm curious to see the policy for the Sheriff's office on engaging in high speed chases.  I know the city of Spartanburg places severe restrictions on them.  As I find out more I'll update.

And I Hate the Dodgers

Has anyone noticed that the camera stays on Misty May-Treanor for a very long time after a beach volleyball win?  It gives her enough time to give an academy award speech, as well as throw in a shout out for her husband's baseball team.  Enough already!

Mother Goose and Grimm: Academic Theme

(h/t Greg Mankiw)

Wes Anderson's Quirky Vision

The queen and I went to see Moonrise Kingdom yesterday.  Fans of Wes Anderson will like it, although it is not as compelling as Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums.  As with those movies, Moonrise Kingdom compares the moral certitude of its juvenile characters with the moral confusion of its adults.  The characters played by Bill Murray and Gene Hackman in those former movies came to some sort of realization about the importance of family and moral order through the trials and errors created by their own actions.   In Moonrise Kingdom, one gets the sense that none of the adults ever will get it right.  On the positive side, Ed Norton's character, a scout master, keeps his life in proper perspective; he does this though by remaining a perpetual child at camp.

I give it a thumbs up: worth the see, better than Life Aquatic or Darjeeling Unlimited,  but not Anderson's best.  

Ralph Macchio in Sourth Carolina?

Don't think so. 

Scientism

It really is amazing what science can tell us about the world we inhabit.  The technology that flows from this is also remarkable; take Curiosity as a case in point.   However there is a dark side: a willingness to change beliefs and behavior in favor of anything that represents itself as science. 

If you follow Radley Balko's blog, The Agitator, you will have followed the startling career of Michael West, who portrayed himself as the foremost of expert in bite-mark analysis and whose testimony sent many to death row.  Bite mark analysis has been controversial for a long time.  There is little evidence to show that there is any reliability in matching bite marks on a body to a unique person.  Finally, even Michael West has given up on it.

One can only hope that the many convicts who were sent up on the basis of this fraud committed in the name of forensic science are at least given a chance for a retrial.  

QOTD

"Time is a child playing checkers.  The child is king."    Heraclitus

And They Call It Football

My friend Abe sent me this database of SC high school football coaches.  Not for the faint of heart or those of us who are ordinary state-employed educators. 

Paul Ryan, My Hero

It's hard to argue with this!  (h/t Beldar's blog)

Rosie's Sisters

Retrospace is a wonderful blog that posts memorabilia from the seventies .  Here's a Dutch album cover from many he posted.   I like the subtitle: "Just you and me..."  Sexy.  And who are they in the background? 

What's the Matter With Washington

Rep. Steve LaTourette is retiring as a congressman, pointing to this bill as one of the reasons he's leaving.  It turns out, according to James Taranto of Best of the Web, the congressman is one of the cosponsors of the same bill.  I propose a new disease to be added to the next DSM:  LaTourette's Syndrome: an uncontrollable tic that causes one to vote against bills one sponsors. 

Just Desserts

Did you know that "crocodile" means "pebble worm" in Greek?  Thanks to Kevin at Lowering the Bar for this fact, and for telling us about the man who lost his hand feeding a pebble worm!

Finally!

The Cincinnati Reds currently have the best record in baseball.  As Jerry Costanza might say, "I'm back, baby!"