Archive for September, 2008
Posted by Ryan
September 10, 2008
Yes, this is an email forward. I don’t even know if the 143 days is correct. I don’t care to find out. I just liked this. That’s all.
You couldn’t get a job at McDonalds and become district manager after 143 days of experience.
You couldn’t become chief of surgery after 143 days of experience of being a surgeon.
You couldn’t get a job as a teacher and be the superintendent after 143 days of experience.
You couldn’t join the military and become a colonel after a 143 days of experience.
You couldn’t get a job as a reporter and become the nightly news anchor after 143 days of experience. BUT….
From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That’s how many days the Senate was actually in session and working. After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, to fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan. 143 days? We all have to start somewhere. The senate is a good start, but after 143 days, that’s all it is – a start.
AND, strangely, a large sector of the American public seems to feel comfortable with this and campaigning for him.
We wouldn’t accept this in our own line of work, yet some are OK with this for the President of the United States of America?
Come on folks, we are not voting for the next American Idol.
Dear America, please don’t vote for Obama. Please.
Posted by Ryan
September 11, 2008
… people have an unjustified tendency to assume that a person’s actions depend on what “kind” of person that person is rather than on the social and environmental forces influencing the person.
- Wikipedia, Fundamental Attribution Error
I would like to suggest that the fundamental attribution error relates, not only to the actions of individuals or groups (group attribution error), but also to their opinions, and knowledge.
Here’s a very simple example. I was told today that one should not put egg shells down a garbage disposal in the sink. I thought this was a ridiculous thought. I told the person who told me (who heard it from someone else, who heard it from someone else) that it was absolutely crazy.
I decided to do some research on the internet in order to find out who the crazy one really was. I discovered that I’m not crazy, but also that those who hold the egg shell theory as fact may not be so crazy either. And not because it’s true. I still don’t think it is.
Here’s a few things I found in very short research:
- Plumbers say not to put eggs down the disposal.
- Many plumbers also say not to put anything down at all.
- Water is OK to put down the drain. (whew!)
- People think ice and egg shells sharpen garbage disposal blades.
- Egg shells supposedly help clean a garbage disposal.
- Lots of pasta down a garbage disposal is not good.
- One guy said he’s been to garbage disposal manufactures, installed/replaced many disposal units, etc. and that egg shells are not an issue.
- Too much of anything down the drain at once isn’t good.
Some thoughts from all this:
- People don’t understand how sharpening a blade works. Basically, sharpening is the process of removing material from the blade in such a way that it leaves a thinner edge. The thinner the edge, the sharper the blade. You can also heat up the metal and shape it into a thinner edge. Ice in a disposal will not shave metal off the blades and it certainly doesn’t heat it up. If either of these were the case you’d have little bits of metal shards in your homemade shakes and smoothies.
- Plumbers have a skewed experience. I don’t mean to suggest that their experience is wrong. Just skewed. Their experience (in my very limited knowledge of plumbers) is pretty much limited to two things: installing and fixing. When they install plumbing they don’t have to deal with clogs. When they’re fixing, there’s a good chance it’s a clog. A plumber can incorrectly assume that because many clogs have egg shells in them, you shouldn’t put eggs down the drain. The reality is probably far closer to: don’t put 4 cartons of egg shells down the drain at the same time. Or don’t put down 12 eggs plus potato skins plus spaghetti. I’m guessing many hard boiled eggs at once wouldn’t work out very well.
- People’s view of life is based on their experience and what they believe of the experiences of others. Trust your own biased experiences or the skewed/biased experiences of someone else and you’ll only end up with more biased experiences. Trusting a plumber by not putting anything down the disposal probably won’t be a big deal, but other things might.
I do realize I’m making a huge generalization about plumbers. I apologize, I don’t mean to skew anyone’s view of what a plumber does or thinks. I’m merely suggesting that making judgments off of the actions, opinions, and experiences of others, while valuable, should be used with caution. One should always get as much information as possible (from the right sources) before making a judgment call. Who said it? Where did they learn it? If it’s an action, is the person shy? Confident? Stressed? Perhaps their computer blew up yesterday and they lost all their family photos. You never know.
Posted by Ryan
September 16, 2008
In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from.
- Peter Ustinov – English actor & author (1921 – 2004)
With the upcoming election I am pretty sure I am not the only American with feelings similar to those described by Peter Ustinov.
The challenge when faced with an apparent nothing-to-choose-from situation, is to make a choice that matters. How do you make a choice that matters when your choice is “none of the above”? Choosing none of the above feels so hopeless, pathetic, futile. Choosing option A or B, on the other hand, doesn’t make you feel any better.
The answer lies in being true to yourself. Though being overly trite an answer, I actually believe what I just said. If you believe all your options are bad choices, don’t choose A because A is less bad than B, or vice versa. Choosing the least bad option in order to keep the more bad (don’t you love that? more bad? ha!) option from happening is conforming to the conformity that brought about this choice in the first place.
Also, what happened to personal accountability? If you choose a bad option because it’s not as bad as the other option, you’re still choosing badness. I’m going out on a limb here, but I think most people would agree that choosing badness is bad.
So since when is choosing bad a good thing just because the worse bad (I’m pulling out all the stops on good grammar here) didn’t get chosen? Bad is bad. If I choose bad over worse bad and bad is the result, who is responsible? If we’re talking U.S. politics here, then I am responsible because I am a voter. That’s how a democratic republic works. In a monarchy, the monarch is basically responsible for what happens in government. In a democratic republic, the leaders of the nation obviously have a lot of responsibility, but they are only there because we the voters put them there.
Ultimately, we are responsible for everything that happens in our nation.
But what if worse bad is chosen because I didn’t vote for bad? Then you’re not responsible for the worse bad. That’s good. Yay for being responsible.
I do not and cannot feel comfortable supporting “bad” in any form. Where do you stand? It’s your choice and your responsibility. We all have to answer for our responsibilities. Somehow, I don’t think explaining that you supported bad because bad was better than worse bad will go over too well.
P.S. Feel free to write my name in for president when you vote in November. I promise to use good grammar in any speeches I give. Well, maybe.
P.P.S. A choice has to be made, a vote cast. Making no choice at all isn’t any better than choosing a bad option. By not voting at all you’re not opposing badness, which is still bad. To shun badness you have to oppose it.
Posted by Ryan
September 17, 2008
Challenges people may face when they consider making choices that matter (which I wrote about yesterday):
- It’s not practical.
- It won’t work.
- It sounds hard.
Today I’m simply posting a rebuttal to those and similar complaints.
What we see, over and over, is that the brave but cheap leadership that leads to passionate movements always (always!) defeats the top-down, mediocre, slow-moving and very expensive techniques we all grew up with.
- Seth Godin, How to Sell a Book (or Any New Idea), free summary PDF
In other words, we don’t have to choose A or B on the basis that choosing anything else won’t make a difference.
It does matter, it does make a difference, and you can do something about it.
Posted by Ryan
September 19, 2008
A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position. To “set up a straw man,” one describes a position that superficially resembles an opponent’s actual view, yet is easier to refute, then attributes that position to the opponent.
- Straw man argument, Wikipedia
In case that description didn’t make you think of Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads, read it again. It should now.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Microsoft has launched a new ad campaign to reclaim Windows’ supposed battered image. The response seems largely in response to Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads.
The first two ads were really weird, but I have a wacky sense of humor so I quite enjoyed them. The New Family is hilarious. As funny as I might think they are, I still don’t know why on earth they made them. They’re very random and weird.
Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld: Shoe Circus
Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld: New Family
The newest ads, released yesterday, are much better. They make owning a PC look cool again. Not that I needed any more reasons. I’ve been happy running Windows for years. Barraged as I may be by Mac lovers, I really don’t see myself switching. I won’t say I won’t switch, because it’s always possible. It’s just that right now I don’t have any compelling reason to switch. They’re both good operating systems.
I’m a PC 1
I’m a PC 2
I’m a PC 3
Anyway, these ads are cool. I hope this will help people see through Apple’s straw man argument. They aren’t educating people about the truths of the PC. They are creating a misrepresentation of their competition, and then tearing it down. I guess it’s pretty common in advertising, but I’ve never liked it. I believe a company should and can tell people why they’re better than the competition without tearing anyone down.
Tearing someone else down to build yourself up is really just another way to express jealousy. I know all those Mac users out there are extremely jealous of my sweet Dell. Yes, it runs Windows. And I like it.
Posted by Ryan
September 22, 2008
Fix not thy heart on that which is transitory.
- Henry David Thoreau
For quite a long time now I have read and listened to podcasts and articles dedicated to speculation. Speculation about upcoming products, who will win the browser war, the OS war, political races, what will happen in the next episode of a TV series (Doctor Who is the only one I’ve ever speculated about), and on and on. Speculation galore.
The speculation is important, perhaps, at least for people who work in those specific industries. I tend to think, though, that it’s all a waste of time—nothing but a huge distraction. The successful ignore the distractions and work smart.
Yes, this is an oversimplification and perhaps even speculation, but I can’t help thinking that we’d all be a bit better off if we spent less time worrying about that which is transitory. Does it really matter that much? Probably not.
I challenge you to spend a little less time on the transitory and more time on the truly meaningful: on your family, friends, and the world around you. You’ll be happier and less stressed.
Posted by Ryan
September 23, 2008
What’s your take on this huge financial bailout?
“It’s more of the same. More debt and more inflation and more pressure on the dollar. Ultimately, although the markets are responding very favorably at the moment, I think it is going to be devastating to the dollar and to our financial situation in this country.”
- Ron Paul: This Bailout Won’t Be the Last
Given that Ron Paul is one of the few living politicians who understand how government should actually function (in my so humble opinion), it’s not surprising that he makes me wish I lived in a time when those in power had no real power. However unlikely that may have ever been, there have, at least, been better times in the history of this country than now (I think everyone would at least agree with that).
So, I don’t really wish I lived in a different time. Not at all, actually. I’m glad to be living here and now. What I do wish is that this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. Apparently I’m not the only one, either.
A Rasmussen Poll out today puts the support for the bailout at 7%! For any legislator to vote yes on this plan is to spit in the face of his constituents and reveal his utter contempt for the democratic process and the voice of the people. To do so would require them to utterly disavow the Constitution that they swore by oath to uphold.
- Now is the Time to Unite and Say with ONE Voice… – From the blog on campaignforliberty.com
Another excerpt from the Ron Paul interview:
Before the Depression, [the government] generally allowed these kinds of problems to unwind. They were very severe. They would last six months or a year—a lot of liquidation of debt would be wiped off the books. And then it would go back to work again. What we’ve been doing now—especially since 1971—is preventing the real liquidation of the malinvestment and the excess of debt… If this process continues, we’re going to own General Motors and Ford, then we will have to own the airlines. We are socializing our country without even a vote by the Congress. It’s a horrible situation.”
Posted by Ryan
September 23, 2008
Looks like there is hope on the horizon.
[Yesterday], U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) announced his opposition to the $700 billion plan proposed by the Bush Administration to bailout Wall Street.
- DeMint Opposes Wall Street Bailout
Posted by Ryan
September 30, 2008
Why? Because then you’d have cheesecake! All the time!
If, that is, you had a beech tree.
Not recommended if you don’t like cheesecake, or beech trees (you tree racist!).
Discworld, “a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett,” are the weirdest books I’ve ever read (listened to, actually). There’s something like 36 books and I’ve listened to two of them thus far. Beyond random and weird, they’re completely hilarious. Maybe it’s just my wacky sense of humor.
Here’s an example from the second book, The Light Fantastic:
It was a still night, tinted with the promise of dawn. A crescent moon was just setting. Ankh-Morpork, largest city in the lands around the Circle Sea, slept.
That statement is not really true.
On the one hand, those parts of the city which normally concerned themselves with, for example, selling vegetables, shoeing horses, carving exquisite small jade ornaments, changing money and making tables, on the whole, slept. Unless they had insomnia. Or had to get up to go to the lavatory. On the other hand, many of the less law-abiding citizens were wide awake and, for instance, climbing through windows that didn’t belong to them, slitting throats, mugging one another, listening to loud music in smoky cellars and generally having a lot more fun. But most of the animals were asleep, except for the rats. And the bats, too, of course. As far as the insects were concerned . . .
The point is that descriptive writing is very rarely entirely accurate and during the reign of Olaf Quimby II as Patrician of Ankh some legislation was passed in attempt to put a stop to this sort of thing and introduce some honesty into reporting. Thus, if a legend said of a notable hero that “all men spoke of his prowess” any bard who valued his life would add hastily “except for a couple of people in his home village who thought he was a liar, and quite a lot of other people who had never really heard of him.” Poetic simile was strictly limited to statements like “his mighty steed was fleet as the wind on a fairly calm day, say about Force Three,” and any loose talk about a beloved having a face that launched a thousand ships would have to be backed by evidence that the object of desire did indeed look like a bottle of champagne.
Quimby was eventually killed by a disgruntled poet during an experiment conducted in the palace grounds to prove the disputed accuracy of the proverb “The pen is mightier than the sword,” and in his memory it was amended to include the phrase “only if the sword is very small and the pen is very sharp.”
So. Approximately sixty-seven, maybe sixty-eight percent of the city slept.
This is how I think, people. Not all the time, of course. Perhaps only sixty-seven percent of my life is spent thinking this way. Maybe.
