$ jlc (10,317)

I think that this is a semantic argument. When I ask, "Why did this person get cancer?" I am not asking, "Why did the Cosmos allow this person to get cancer?" I am asking, "What was the element that triggered the growth of cancer in this person: Was it radiation? Exposure to benzene? A statistical error in cell replication?"

As you can see, those questions can be posed as "Why?", "How?" or even "What?" The real important thing is not the interrogative pronoun, it is the "?".

Jan

Nice!

Jan

I think that the greatest change in the University system would be to drop the requirements for general education outside of your major and minor. These requirements just subsidize the classes that no one wants to take from professors who have majored in subjects that are not financially supported by anything other than recursive academic requirements.

If you drop the general ed requirements, and double up on the teachers who are teaching courses important to the degrees that people are actually seeking, students can get through college at a more rapid rate, taking few courses.

This is what should happen to the brick-and-mortar academic institutions at the same time that the MOOC's present a path for education online.

Jan

I took a MOOC by John Hawks on Paleoanthropology. It was excellent, but it was a one-shot course because he (and his grad students, who figured heavily in the course) still had other responsibilities in terms of classes and research.

It did not help the course that the biggest find in PaleoAnth in the past 50 years occurred just before the course started. Paradoxically, Hawks' strong internet presence, prep for the MOOC course, and filming of the site during the early stages of the find resulted in him being invited to participate in the dig - which took away from the time that he spent on the class (at the very end). But who could resist an invitation like that?!

To the credit of the U of Wisconsin, they gave him permission to take most of a year off, before the MOOC, and fly around the world, taking video clips of current sites and research. Hawks is also a major proponent of scanning and massively 3D printing every hominid fossil we have so that (a) it won't be lost, and (b) every student can handle 'it'.

I subscribe to Coursera but when I look into their classes I fear that they will be too basic and/or touchy-feely. I can often learn the basic stuff on my own (even Hawks' course had a bit of this problem) - but it would be nice to have teaching on the next step. If there were such courses available, I would eat them up savagely.

Jan

nickursis -

I would favor abolishing the EPA, but I cannot see a path to that happening (other than wishful thinking). I can see a path to downsizing them and minimizing their power: one of the threads that leads to this is their implementation of draconian controls that cause inconvenience to a large segment of the population. There would also need to be a pretty plain cause-and-effect (since we humans are not good at that). If they slowly increase pollution standards for airplanes over a 20 or 30 year period, nothing will trigger. If they implement strict regulation that has massive impact on business, then we might get some of the EPA's power taken away.

So I am hoping for them to be idealistic and unwise.

Jan

This is valuable info. Thank you.

Jan

For example, people have been lobbying to restrict the use of the automobile since the 1970's...but susses are still 80% empty around here and everyone drives their car. Sometime the vast inertia of the people is to our advantage.

Jan

If we cannot get the EPA abolished or severely limited right now, then one of the options is to hope that they become so excessive that they alienate their own power base. You will note that the date of implementation for these regulations is a couple of decades away (since it grandfathers aircraft existing before the reg was passed).

The presumptive ability to fly across the country at a moment's notice is part of the model of every corporation and I think that restricting this will be a shoe that pinches very tightly for business. I will note that I have been wrong on issues like this before - I never thought that CA would vote to strangle agriculture in its Central Valley - but the cause and effect _should_ be near enough for most businessmen to see.

Jan

I would not put one in the bathroom, but the idea of putting a display film on a big mirror in the living room is something that I would do. As much as I work with computers, I do not find them aesthetic. (TV's are terrible looking.)

I would like to live in a house that looks more like an 18th or 19th C country estate, but which has all of the modern conveniences, and the display films are a step in that direction.

Jan

I had had a similar problem with not being able to find a comment I recall Hillary making to the effect that 'the homeless problem would be solved if everyone with an empty bedroom would just take a homeless person into their family'. I remember the comment, but the Internet is now silent on this.

As I said, I do not dispute that this is the agenda of the Left, I just do not think it will actually work out that way.

Jan

I think that eventually you may need a 'sport driving' license! But that future is a long time away, and I think that driving yourself will be an option for many decades. For myself, if things get really tricky (such as a high wind), I would still like to be the driver because while my reflexes are not as good as those of a computer, my ability to imagine potential problems is better.

My management style is 'manage by walking around' so I need to be able to pop into someone's office and chat with them. I like the idea of telecommuting, but am grappling with the problems of detecting productivity at a distance. If you have any advice on this, I would be glad to listen.

Jan

I do not disagree that this is the Agenda 21 plan. I just do not think that it will happen that way.

Jan

This is an odd question. It is asking the equivalent of: Can Objectivists be functional, or are they relegated to being the philosophical equivalent of an ingrown toenail?

I would hope that, were it a crisis situation, functionality would trump purity.

Jan

Oh. Good addition!

Jan

This is an entirely reasonable goal. It will be made easier by self-driving cars and reasonably priced energy sources for them. I think that the advent of self-driving cars will create a new type of city, as different from our current cities as LA (post automobile city) is from NY (pre auto city).

Right now, I am at work - but my first meeting does not begin until this afternoon. I could be still in my self driving car, looking at the hot problems in my Inbox (none so far this morning) and organizing my day. Then arrive at work, stay for 4-6 hours of face time with people, get in my car and do a bit of documentation on the way home - or maybe just read a novel or watch a movie.

I think that our cities will spread out to a 2 hour drive ring around the city center. This will make suburban farms/ranches plausible, distributed power attractive, and limit damage done to a target of military importance.

Did you know that there is a site where you can test the blast radius of a nuclear bomb of the size of your choice on the map of your choice? http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

Jan

Ya'know, I had intended to quit the Gulch after the third AS movie came out: This is the only social media venue I engage in, and I was becoming a bit too...vocal...for my own comfort. But I have learned an incredible amount on this site: history, physics, construction. Normally, I despise 'networking', which generally means 'socializing politely with people with whom you have nothing in common', but contacts with people such as yourself have made me realize that I actually do have something in common with some of the folks in the Gulch. So I decided it was worth the risk of having a ding in my profile - and I stayed in the Gulch.

Thank you for the offer, waytodude.

Jan

This is an interesting discussion, but the space is getting pretty small and we each seem to be reiterating our stances...Thank you for letting me know not only 'what' you believe but 'why' you believe in it.

Jan

While I certainly think that this subpoena is inappropriate, it would not break my little heart if the Internet were a venue of poise and courtesy.

Jan, being a bit imaginative today...

No, I am not a 'stir the pot' type. My observations on the 'single closet bathrooms' are that many parks and fast food restaurants have gone to those.

I genuinely disagree with your perception on whether or not a sex change is 'mutilation' and whether or not it is 'genuine'. I just do not see any purpose in fratching with you about opinions that differ - I am more interested in exploring the margins of what you think

Jan

Image: Little cockroaches with puffy human faces fleeing from a welfare building. Over the building hovers a feminine arm and hand, holding a Can of Rand. Maybe there are a few cockroaches flipped over on their backs waving their legs in the air...

Jan, imaginative

No tigers in my area; occasional mountain lions.

I do not buy into climate change hysteria, and the idea of a new and beautiful cloud formation showing up in my latitude is an opportunity for wonder.

Jan

OK. So you do not define a man as a 'person with a Y chromosome' or a woman as 'a person with ovaries'. That was what I was wondering.

If there were no Men's Bathrooms or Women's Bathrooms (let us imagine that all bathrooms become 'single water closets that either sex could use), would you have any objection to a person transgendering just because they wanted to as a matter of their individual freedom of choice?

Jan

CircuitGuy and waytodude et al -

It is not a binary choice. One can both fight for the restoration of personal freedom and prepare for the event of trouble.

When someone wants to categorize me as a 'weirdo survivalist', I point out to them that while an asteroid hitting the earth sized cataclysm only happens every 100 million years or so, having your electricity and water cut off for some reason happens to most people every 5 years or so (due to storms, most frequently).

With the Internet, Susanne and waytodude and other 'far shruggers' can participate in lively discussions whilst tending their ranches and gardens - and they can vote when they want to.
We who are 'nearby shruggers' should have precautionary supplies on hand!

Jan

Noctilucent clouds. They sound beautiful - I will watch for them. Thanks, climate change.

Jan

I misread your statement to be "...why a can of Rand is almost as important..."

I like a 'can of Rand'...

Jan