August 2012
6 posts
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Watchcommunity101:
The Whole Truth - Community 3.22
Jeff Winger has some great speeches but this is easily my favorite.
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“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.”
– David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas (via somaholiday)
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“But that’s my opinion. And a society that truly believes in individual freedom...”
– “Let Chick-fil-A-Fly-Free” by Steve Salbu, New York Times editorial
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July 2012
3 posts
The True Danger of Steroid Abuse →
Through this link you’ll finally learn what would happen if you try to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light.
This highlights how flawed the steroid debate’s focus on batters has been. The risk of questionable home run records pales in comparison to the fiery apocalypse which could be unleashed by juiced up pitchers.
Death Threats Aren't Discourse →
Sadly this is only one of many examples of the vitriol spewed forth by individuals on both ends of the political spectrum. Quick quiz:
Do you believe an individual deserves to die because they don’t share your political views?
If you answered “no” then congratulations, you are a human being.
If you answered “yes” please, for your sake if nothing else, consider...
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June 2012
2 posts
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Today's Supreme Court Ruling
My thoughts on today’s ruling:
1) I’m surprised the swing vote was Justice Roberts, not Justice Kennedy. 2) There are aspects of the legislation I like and I understand the logic behind the individual mandate (systems of shared risk generally work better with as wide a pool as possible and many without insurance currently are young individuals who are less likely to draw more than...
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Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut Analysis
If you are not familiar with Mass Effect 3’s ending and do not wish to be please stop reading now.
As those of you remaining likely know, the Extended Cut released today offers slight modifications and retcons to the existing red, green, blue endings as well as adding a fourth option: refusal.
While no over acknowledgement of error has occured, or is likely to occur, the items retconned by...
May 2012
12 posts
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Politicalprof: Hoping For Third →
These reasons speak to the motives of many who casually pine for a third party but for some there is another motivation: electoral reform. For these individuals the reform itself is the goal, emergence of legitimate competitors to the two major parties would simply be representative of its success.
As you note in one of your prior explanations the key components of our current electoral system,...
Samaras Fails to Form Greek Government, Hands Back... →
Of even more interest than the UK Council elections we discussed last week are the recent Greek elections and their ongoing attempts at building a ruling coalition.
Normally the negotiations made possible by a parliamentary system is fun to watch but there is too much riding on this outcome to simply enjoy the process. An anti-austerity coalition, which now looks plausible, could result in...
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Fallacies from the Heart
I’m hoping that the Heartland Institute paid for this digital billboard to provide a graphic example of the Guilt by Association fallacy. Sadly their plans to continue pursuing this approach with billboards featuring Osama bin Laden and Charles Manson speak otherwise.
Reasonable people can disagree about the policy implications of climate research, this doesn’t contribute to the...
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Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Did you know that today celebrates the Mexican defeat of the French in the 1862 Battle of Pueblo? So if you see any friends of French descent while celebrating today consider consoling them, then get back to celebrating.
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London Mayoral Election Results →
For my fellow Anglophiles out there, the London election results will be posted at this link today. They likely would have been up already had a power outage not struck the counting center this morning.
The incumbent, Conservative Boris Johnson, is expected to win reelection and pundits are starting to discuss him as a potential challenger to David Cameron.
What I most enjoy about this...
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"Saturday's 'Supermoon' won't destroy Earth" →
National Geographic throws its hat in the ring with an early candidate for this year’s best headline. I know I’m breathing easier with this knowledge…
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Executive Order: Establishing Principles of...
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/04/27/executive-order-establishing-principles-excellence-educational-instituti
Yes, that is the full-title of this executive order. Put less elegantly the intent of this order is to protect our veterans from certain higher education profit institutions.
While there are quality for-profit colleges in existence we are increasingly seeing institutions...
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