nerdgirl

The hole in the argument of those arguing so forcefully … essentially arguing against Jeanne … is that the arguments fail to acknowledge negative discrimination against minorities and women persists. While no longer legally permissible (almost completely) and much, much, much less prominent than even 25 years ago, negative discrimination against minorities and women persist. To pretend otherwise is akin pretending skydiving can’t kill you. It’s not about looking for it, either. One example posted here three years ago. Less anecdotally: Measuring Racial Discrimination Market Forces and Sex Discrimination The Color of Credit: Mortgage Discrimination, Research Methodology, and Fair-lending Enforcement Employers’ Discriminatory Behavior and the Estimation of Wage Discrimination Trait-based and sex-based discrimination in occupational prestige, occupational salary, and hiring Pervasive Prejudice?: Unconventional Evidence of Race and Gender Discrimination Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the U.S. Military Service Academies: Academic Program Year 2006-2007 Racial harassment, job satisfaction and intentions to remain in the military … (that data, published on 2008, reports that “two thirds of [minoirty] active-duty military personnel report experiencing offensive racial behaviors in the previous 12 months, whereas approximately one in ten reports threatening racial incidents or career-related discrimination. Furthermore, threatening racial incidents and career-related discrimination heighten intentions to leave the military.” Forget a justice or "fairness" argument, from a fiscal perspective losing one highly trained soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine because of racism is expensive! Stubbornly refusing to admit/acknowledge residual racism & sexism persist is like Pres Clinton and the definition of “is.” You can’t pretend negative discrimination against minorities and women doesn’t exist with any more credibly than he could pretend fellatio wasn’t sex. Of course, both of you (him and a more general “you”) may try. Thomas Barnett made one of the strongest arguments, imo, for decreasing discrimination against women in Blue Print for Action, the follow-up to _The Pentagon’s New Map_: “You want to decrease terrorism? Educate girls” (p. 256-257). In order to integrate into the functioning core of the world, the non-integrating states need to recognize the value of half of their human capital. If half of a nation’s population is unable to work to their full potential and contribute to the economy because of pervasive and tacit limitations/discrimination, that country looses. Phenomenon has been observed directly: The role of women in economic miracles. As the market becomes more globalized and competitive, tacit negative discrimination against women and minorities is going to disadvantage the US. Sadly, I suspect it had to be a man, Barnett, making the argument … because reality (regardless of the way I would like the world to work) is that a man making the argument is stronger than 100 women making the argument. Someday that may not be so. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Speaking to *my* initial reaction, because that’s what you asked: no, I wasn’t surprised. It sounded like an invocation of a 1950s Civil Rights era gospel-inspired rhyming chant and that the point was that over the last 40 years that had happened – we had moved to (not just toward) something better. In particular that the election of Barack Obama was a singular evidence of success. That election of a black man was evidence of embracing what is right. It didn’t sound accusatory or prescriptive to me. I heard recognition that discrimination isn’t just a white/black phenomenon. I didn’t think Rev Joseph Lowery explicitly meant Asians should take mood-altering substances: “get mellow.” That part isn’t in the 75 (slightly edited & excerpted) words of the benediction that is being circulated around the blog-o-sphere. Transcript of Rev Lowery’s 600 word+ benediction is available at Christianity Today. It turns out that those 75 words + the ones excised from what’s spreading around the blog-o-sphere are taken from an old blues song from the 1950s (or earlier ?) that had been part of the early civil rights era traditional Protestant recitations/invocations: Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen. I heard it as an acknowledgement of how far America has come – not unlike the way old skydivers talk about the way it was way back when to remind newer skydivers to appreciate ram-air canopies and turbine aircraft -- and showing how far much of the country has come in righting past injustices. Rev Lowery’s words acknowledge the history of where we’ve been -- the facts of who we are and our history -- and the prospect of what we have left to do. The alternative is revisionist history to re-write our nation’s history or to pretend that discrimination against minorities does not persist. And he did it a non-strident, jovial way to convey the need for eternal vigilance. That’s the message I heard. The selection of Dr. Rick Warren was more problematic (but not unwarranted) from my perspective. And the lack of objection to that as point of discussion here may be further indication of the predominant right-wing leaning of this forum, imo. Or maybe it just means the liberals are more inclusive ... who knows? The inclusion of a right-wing religious figure and a civil rights era religious figure is characteristic of the bipartisan nature that President Obama has demonstrated over the years. To me, that’s more important than disagreeing with Rev Warren’s homophobic and sexist positions. Now since the world doesn’t revolve around me … and responding in the spirit that you truly did find Rev Lowery’s comments offensive (rather than it just being a partisan dig [?]), I try to step back and instead view the benediction from a perspective of one who is/was offended by his words. If one only read that 75-word excerpt out of context or from a different context than I did, yes, I can see how someone might find that to be offensive. How is the ability to recognize that someone else might find offensive something that another person does or says usually characterized here? It’s usually derided as “political correctness” or excused as a joke. E.g., spousal abuse – that’s a “joke.” Negative depictions of “retarded” people – some rationalize those as funny. Misogynistic statements – unchallenged. Do I think or see any objective evidence that there was racist intention in Rev Lowery’s benediction? No. I would suggest it as potentially indicative of the phenomenon of frontal lobe shrinkage (atrophy) with age. The frontal lobes inhibit socially inappropriate speech and behavior. There’s may be a neurological reason why ‘Great Aunt Edna’ went on-&-on-&-on about her peonies … or Great Grandpa’s quirky outbursts at the dinner table. Popular report. Primary data. That doesn’t excuse inappropriate behavior in the elderly, but it does provide a neurobiological causation for a 87-yo not thinking through his words. Do I wish (now) that he might have added some statement or short line to convey what I wrote above or changed that line … because I’m functioning under the assumption that some people honestly were offended? Yes, because words do matter. Do I think he should be censored? No. Do I hope that some folks might increase their empathy and recognition that words do matter? Yes. Am I going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen? No. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

You (or anyone) can PM me [edit to add: w/an email address, files are too large for posting or PMs] for pdf of the full article or pdf of the supplementary data, (for educational purposes). By parsing out the paragraph, you substantially changed the context of the abstract. “Assessments of Antarctic temperature change have emphasized the contrast between strong warming of the Antarctic Peninsula and slight cooling of the Antarctic continental interior in recent decades1. This pattern of temperature change has been attributed to the increased strength of the circumpolar westerlies, largely in response to changes in stratospheric ozone2. This picture, however, is substantially incomplete owing to the sparseness and short duration of the observations.” This picture refers to the “picture” from the previously cited papers, e.g., the superscript 1 & 2, in the original. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

And THAT, my friends, seems to be the lesson that Hamas so far, refuses to learn. There's another lesson/option: pursue asymmetric warfare. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

At least 2 ... I'm betting lots more but these are the easiest two: Rev. Luis Leon & Dr. Rick Warren. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I don't think I understand what you're trying to argue here? If one, as you describe, assumes that all things are situational, i.e., there are no dependent variables, wouldn't that argue for or against *any* policy? /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Something perhaps similar, altho’ possibly not be the same study to which you referring cited here: Variables found to correlate to high levels of gun ownership are (1) wealthy countries or (2) countries with recent, intense violent conflicts. The former is the case for US & western Europe; the latter reflects the situations in places like Angola and Columbia. See page 21 of the report noted above for a graph showing the range of GDPs and correlation with per capita civilian gun ownership. The authors discuss where that model breaks down, which it does. Where does gun ownership intersect with gun violence? My hypothesis is that there will not be a direct dependency found, i.e., crime levels and extent of gun ownership are independent variables. W/r/t “cultural” factors, imo, it’s important to keep in mind: if there are “cultural” factors (variables) at play, particularly w/r/t homicide, we’re generally debating 0.5%, 2%, at most 5% changes in violence levels domestically (per capita). If one goes back to historical data: overall violence has declined most dramatically as the impact of religion on western society has decreased and secular & civil-based law has increased. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I’ve reconnected with some folks who I knew met at dzs but with whom I lost contact as I’ve moved around the US. I’ve gotten to know IRL some fantastic folks through this forum. I’ve gotten to 'know' via PMs and emails another number who I very much hope to share a plane load, a few beers, or dinner with someday - they represent views across the political spectrum. I judge those connections to be worth the embarrassing parts, which aren't limited to politics imo. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I'm in Texas wearing a fabulous American-flag inspired crushed velvet cowboy hat (one of the guys here gave it to me last night ...), so I may not have much credibibility w/r/t fashion either , I do think there's something neat, for lack of a better word, that she's chosen to wear dresses and outfits from the Gap, J Crew, etc during the campaign. I hope that she picks an American designer for the inaugral gown. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Hmmm, I wonder if the Russians can account for their stockpile of such weapons? That would be interesting. It is interesting ... to literally express it diplomatically. The Russians *assert* that they have, as they have noted in required BWC submissions. There are no verification mechanisms to pursue validation of that claim. (There were efforts that fell apart 25 July 2001.) It's even more complicated than just Russia: many parts of the former Soviet offensive BW program was executed in the newly independent states, e.g., Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan under the legitimate application mixed with covert uses of “plague control centers” as part of the Soviet anti-plague system. (The Russians also can’t account for the alleged weaponized variola major that was on ICBMs either.) All that (& more) is why robust support of Cooperative Threat Reduction programs are so important, imo. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Given what Wendy cited and wrote, why do you [any of you] think they should not have been in jail? That's why they should go to jail. Just because the perpertrator (Davila) is demonstrably guilty and an alien to boot doesn't make not following the laws of procedure OK. Had they taken their lumps and not tried to make stuff up, they would have had a much better leg to stand on. Do any of you want law enforcement officers that act outside the law? /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

When it comes to SI, it's ability to understand even basic science (or statistics) is piss poor at best. SI is quoting not analyzing. [edit to add] And the quote is from this guy, w/a PhD in biology from UIUC. And has published things like: "Behavior-genetic analysis ofPhormia regina: III. A phenotypic correlation between the central excitatory state (CES) and conditioning remains in replicated F2 generations of hybrid crosses" (Behavior Genetics). Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

The plague (Y. pestis) is endemic and has been epidemic in Algeria. Remember Camus' La Peste? The plague-causing bacteria is fairly easy to culture but difficult to weaponize. The former US offensive weapons program had great difficulty weaponizing it. It ends up being more of an engineering problem than microbiology. The Soviets weaponized and produced lots. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

[LisaH] started a thread on the fate of Michael Vick's dogs and [NWFlyer] posted a link to the Sports Illustrated story on the same topic. One quote stood out to me from the SI article on rehabilitating (some of) Michael Vick’s seized pit bulls: ‘Multiple studies have shown that if you take two mammals, say rats, and put them in boxes side by side, then give the first one electric shocks, the reaction of the second one -- in terms of brain-wave and nervous-system activity -- will be identical,’ says Stephen Zawistowski, a certified applied animal behaviorist and an executive vice president of the ASPCA. ‘The trauma isn’t limited to the animal that’s experiencing the pain.’ First off, I want to see the primary data. Second, *if,* for the sake of argument, those findings are true/valid and extend to other mammals, e.g., Homo sapiens sapiens, there are a lot of potential implications across different policy arenas. The health impact of secondary smoke led to bans on smoking in public areas. What would be the effect of secondary trauma and potential resulting policies? /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

While it's speculation on my part, I strongly suspect it is either directly inspired by or a domestic version of Soldier's Angels. Is that organization practicing deification? (No, it isn't either.) /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Between VP-elect Joe Biden and Larry Summers, I suspect the late-night comedians will have plenty of material. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Concur - after all there's a lot in skydiving that is neither simple nor do non-skydivers find it easy to understand, eh? Simple, easy, or taking the 'easy way out' shouldn't necessarily be a goal or value either, imo. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I agree that it would be very nice to be able to explain even the most complicated theories to the average human but I just don't think it is possible. One of my big beefs with popular science literature is that a lot of it isn't very well written and people often get the wrong end of the stick when they read it. They then criticise science for what they think it is instead of what it actually is. How often do you hear the uncertainty principle misused? Or people bleating on about 11th dimension "gravitrons" [sic]? The complaint that science has to be taken on faith may be a false one, but for many people that's exactly what they do. This is because they do not understand the building blocks or why the theory is the way it is and they lack the tools necessary to find out. But they've read "A Brief History of Time". My old prof used to say: "You've got physics with calculus, physics without calculus, and physics without physics". He was right. You can't understand the subject unless you first understand the language, and the language of physics is maths. What you wrote really isn't irreconciable with what I wrote ... unless you want to be stubborn. (Mine was also a normative statement: "should".) The majority of the population makes a choice (it is their choice ... personal responsibility, eh?) to not *make* the time. Those who do or who are interested in doing so, I don't want to discourage. A lot don't care. A lot don't perceive any tangible or short-term rewards. [illustrative tangent:] The Governor of Georgia announced earlier this week that in 2008, the State of Georgia graduated 3 new physics teachers. Who's going to be teaching physics? ("Exercise science" majors as 2/3 physics teachers in my high school were ... there are folks pursuing legitimate work under the discipline of exercise sciecnce; it has been my observation that what one finds in US high schools are largely college athletes who wanted to continue having their summers off ...). [/tangent] We're back to the idea of lex parsimoniae creating more problems than it may be worth. As Albert Einstein wrote in 1933 that “The supreme goal of all theory [& I would assert, communication of science] is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience,” which can be paraphrased as “science should be as simple as possible, but no simpler.” VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

No, I suspect she referring to guys like William J. Krar of Tyler Texas, who pled guilty to possessing chemical weapons. Krar was affiliated with right-wing, anti-government, white-supremacy groups. Among Krar’s seized weapons cache, in a Texas self-storage unit, were 2 homebuilt sodium cyanide (NaCN) munitions: combining 800 g sodium cyanide + strong oxidizing acids in old ammo box to generate cyanide gas (HCN) or cyanogen chloride (CNCl). Each improvised chemical device (“ICD”) would be (hypothetically) capable of killing almost 6,500 people via percutaneous exposure based on lethal dose for 50% of population (LD50), which for a variety of logistical reasons is an unlikely scenario; or kill 1/2 the people in a 9 x 40 x 40 ft^3 enclosure in one minute (inhalation). Krar also had homemade landmines and a remote-controlled “briefcase device ready for explosive insertion,” i.e., IEDs; 67 pounds of Kinepak solid binary explosives (ammonium nitrate); 66 tubes of Kinepak binary liquid explosives (nitromethane); military detonators; trip wire; electric and non-electric blasting caps; and cases of atropine syringes (i.e., the antidote for nerve agent exposure (!)). Krar was interdicted because he sent a package containing fake birth certificates (from multiple states), driver’s license, concealed weapons permit, a DoD DIA badge, and a UN badge -- all with the same picture & different names -- to the wrong address on Staten Island … along with a note: “Hope this package gets to you O.K., we would hate to have this fall into the wrong hands.” The inadvertent recipients opened the package and rather than forwarding it to another right-wing, anti-government, white-supremacy affiliate, New Jersey Militia member Edward Feltus, the folks called the police who called the FBI. Krar eventually pled guilty to building and possessing chemical weapons and was sentenced to 11y/3months in federal prison. When I give talks on terrorism, to be somewhat intentionally provocative (also helps make sure the audience is still awake ), I call it my personal vote for the most under-covered story of 2003 and semi-facetiously state that if Krar’s first name was “Ahmed” or “Mohammed” instead of "William," AG John Ashcroft would have been leading press conferences. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

We have? Where do you see that? As always, owned as my perspective … cause we’re not talking about science here but a whole group of people’s *views* of science … the last few pages have: (1) Started with an OP who didn’t seem to understand that theory does not mean “notional guess” or speculation … that’s the akin to not understanding that the Eucharist doesn’t mean cannibalism, i.e., both misinterpretations are wrong. (2) Brief discussion of how altruism fits into evolutionary theory. (3) A little history of Galileo. (4) Foray into discussion of “evil” … there were a few scientific ideas invoked (game theory) but no real discussion of science; it was mostly morality. (5) One rick-rolling, (that’s now a verb ). (6) There were some interesting ideas posed by [argyle] … it’s still unclear to me (& remember these are my perceptions) how much entanglement of philosophy (ontology, mostly I think …), prescriptive vs positivist ideas (e.g., should the Universe mean something or is not a relevant question), limits of resolution (if the cones & rods in eyes were different we might see in IR or at some other wavelength), and physics was in it. (7) Assertions and a little data but not a lot of real discussion regarding growth, decrease, or stagnation in world-wide adherents to religious practice, which is demographics (a kind of science) but was largely used here, imo, to assert a correlation to disprove science … how the two correlate was never clear (to me at least). (8) David Berkowitz and his neighbor’s dog … something I didn’t know. (9) Bacterial flagellum, which are a fascinating case … but most of what’s been discussed there is also more of a pseudo-sociology of science – how different folks conceive of what constitutes fact/theory/conclusion rather than discussing the molecular biology, genetics, or protein structure. (10) References to quantum mechanics and string theory without any specification of what are the “unbelievable” aspects. Which ones? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Pres Obama - the left is critical of those in power. (Big corporations and the military-industrial complex will also remain targets.) VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

The more you learn and dig, the more unbelievable and contradictory it gets. To some extent I disagree with both of you ...

i read and try to learn from people like nerdgirl. she is actually a geek, i'm a nerd. geeks are smarter than nerds. Thanks! I've written it before: I just ask a lot questions. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

(How did you come to that conclusion?) And what relevance does it have to the question, which isn't even that tough of a question, of supporting your assertion? If students asks about the validity of something you assert, how do you respond? /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Hmm, interesting ... I would assign the descriptors differently: Preconceived conclusion Testable Hypothesis- the world and everything in it formed from a spontaneous eruption of matter, energy, and fortuitous chance random, stochastic occurrences. Scientific theory Fact- primary, secondary, tertiary protein structures that compose the functional and electrical components of the flagella. How are the DNA sequence, the folding (B-sheeet v loop, etc), and tertiary structure (3D structure) as determined by X-ray not facts? Those are just observations. What the significance of those long chains of AGTCs is a conclusion as well as similarity between DNA sequences. Just that something has a specific sequence of AGTC seems like it can't be anything other than a fact to me, eh? Faith (Concur ... but imo, not relevant to the testable hypothesis) - a belief in things hoped for. (incorrect) Fact Conclusion, based on observed data - causal mechanisms for formation of the bacterial flagellaum (different bacteria have different flagella, they're not all the same; some are more complicated, others much simpler) are possibly formed totally independent of any preconceived plan for the universe. I do agree w/r/t porphyrins being very cool. Beautiful colors too – I have a test-tube of free base 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin (H2TPP) sitting on my desk mostly for pure human aesthetic reasons – they’re sparkly purple.