Archive for the 'philosophy' Tag

The Weekly Ebb of Time

Ever have a moment that really grabs you and makes you notice that time either seems incredibly slow or incredibly fast? I was just talking to my friend CloneBot, and I noted that I’d probably be out of graduate school in 90 weeks or so. Only 90 weeks! So many things in my life occur on a “once per week” basis– and those weeks pass so, so quickly. Read on for more analysis of my upcoming weeks. (continued)

How Would You Revise the General Curriculum?

Recently at work, I’ve had a lot of data files to go through– The instrument I’m using spits out data as a series of (hundreds of…) text files, each with about eighty pieces of data. Rather than go through that by hand, I sat down and wrote a little script to collate the data for me into one, organized file. A co-worker was amazed by this– which got me thinking: There’s only going to be more computers in the future. Should at least a little bit of programming be a required subject in school? What else could be revised?
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Liberty Boxes

Saw a great signature quotation today:
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
(afidel)

Random thought from a Cafe

At the Courtyard Cafe today, I noticed a small plaque which reads, “We have the right to refuse service to anyone”. What a strange thought! It’s as if they were trying to create a new “write” for themselves out of thin air– I can’t put up a plaque saying, “I have the right to smack people around” and expect to get away with it. Just saying something doesn’t make it factual or true.

Even though they somehow manufactured that statement and went with it, it’s still blatantly false. If they used their “right” to refuse service to, say, all black people who came in to the cafe… Well, I don’t think that policy would fly for very long. Guess they aren’t right about their right. I recall some similar thoughts on signs in the Illuminatus trilogy, I may have to pull it out tonight and re-read.

Four to Six Hour Workdays… the key to happiness?

That’s what this article claims, in any case. I tend to agree, being the meditative and leisurely guy that I am. What I found most interesting, though, was the throwaway line about the economist Keynes. Apparantly, he recommended shorter workdays as well… I may need to track this down.

No real story here, other than a mildly interesting article and my obsessive-compulsive nature.

I’m in the wrong field or I’m sane or both

A while back, a co-worker of mine posted an editorial they had clipped from Nature, which was the advice of an experienced researcher to potential graduate students in the sciences titled “What makes a good graduate student?”.

Now, either I’m a textbook example of a piss-poor graduate student, or the author is an elitist crazy and I’m sane. Read on to see snippets of her “advice”, and my incredulity and disbelief. (continued)

Insightful Quotation of the Day

“Whenever a controversial law is proposed, and its supporters, when confronted with an egregious abuse it would permit, use a phrase along the lines of ‘Perhaps in theory, but the law would never be applied in that way’ - they’re lying. They intend to use the law that way as early and as often as possible.
(cf: DMCA, Patriot Act, Prevention of Terrorism Act (UK), Enabling Act (Weimar Germany)…)” –meringuoid

Dalai Lama’s Thoughts on Science

Recently the Dalai Lama spoke at a conference on neuroscience. There’s a combination paraphrase/transcript of his talk here plus some comments above that.
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Fight or Flight

I learned something about myself this weekend when several of my friends and I were put in a potentially life threatening situation, and I’m dissapointed in my reaction. (continued)

Las Vegas: Love it or Loathe it?

Recently, I’ve been feeling the urge to visit Las Vegas again. What do you think of the city of lights? I have a few thoughts… (continued)