The joy of statistics

Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
The Joy of Stats
BBC Four

More about this programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgq0l
Hans Rosling's famous lectures combine enormous quantities of public data with a sport's commentator's style to reveal the story of the world's past, present and future development. Now he explores stats in a way he has never done before - using augmented reality animation. In this spectacular section of 'The Joy of Stats' he tells the story of the world in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers - in just four minutes. Plotting life expectancy against income for every country since 1810, Hans shows how the world we live in is radically different from the world most of us imagine.

Reblog: What would Jesus do

I tend to find that the Christians I admire most are the ones who treat others as they wish for others to treat them, accept and tolerate others with different beliefs, and use the teachings of Jesus to guide them in being the best person they can be rather than a platform to condemn those who do not live up to their moral standards. And, all the while, they do so without ever really mentioning their religious beliefs. Those who do the most preaching tend to be the most hypocritical and confused about what Jesus really would do.

- by Lynn Forthewin

amen, sister... amen.

a series of moments

often, we perceive our days as being filled with soul-killing anguish, with nothing to grant us reprieve.

As the sanding wheel cast sparks in every direction, I remember one thought spinning through my head:

I'd rather be any place on earth than here right now.
- Christopher Laney, "Lessons From the Cockpit"

too often, we keep our heads mired in these defeats of the day... our eyes are averted from all else; focused on our tragedies... but if we only look up; often we will discover that wonder and glory surrounds us.

[Moments later] we watched the dolphins leap their way to the opposite horizon, only one thought leapt through my mind.

There is no place on earth I’d rather be right now.
- Christopher Laney, "Lessons From the Cockpit"

life appears to us as a series of moments... what we seldom realize is there are "moments" happening all around us; many which we do not see... like Plato's Allegory of the Cave, we condition ourselves to focus only on the shadows in front of our eyes... we believe that the shadows are reality... we cease to wonder.

but the world is filled with such inspiring sights... if we only open our eyes to them, we couldn't help but sit in awe... to see the glory and wonder that surrounds us every day.

"We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten." -Cesare Pavese

"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed." -Albert Einstein

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom." -Plato

born free... pay for everything else

Obama Health Care Lawsuit Rejected By U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler:

She also said that anyone who objects to having health care for religious reasons can choose to pay the penalty instead – as the lawsuit said all five plaintiffs plan to do.

so, people have to pay the Federal Government to practice their religion... interesting reading of the Constitution, comrade.

Kessler also expressed doubts that they can really determine whether they will never require health care. "Individuals like plaintiffs who allege now that they will refuse medical services in the future may well find their way into the health care market when they face the reality of illness or injury," she wrote.

do they get a refund when they die if they didn't use medical services?... what if they die having paid for their own medical care out of their own pockets?... what part of the Constitution allows Big Brother to think for us?... all this time, i was under the impression this was a free country.

it's not free anymore... you have to pay to breathe the air.

"Some trips are longer, lonelier, and darker than others."

a Republican Congressman explains why he voted against a spending reduction bill... i respect his motives, but disagree in principle.

Heading Off The Cliff
by Congressman John Campbell (R-CA)

Excerpts (emphasis added) and commentary:

Many of my colleagues who have been around much longer than I have remind me that it is a huge shift to talk about how much we are going to cut instead of how to slow the rate of increase. I get that. But, if you are in a car heading for a cliff, it is not enough to apply the brakes if that braking is insufficient to keep you from going over the cliff. You must brake hard.

i'm with him up to this point... there must be a will to stop the increases... moreover, they need the will to reverse away from the edge... while i disagreed with many of his methods, President Clinton actually (briefly) brought the run-away spending to a stop... President Bush put that car back in gear, and President Obama has mashed the gas to the floor.

The vote was 235-189. Every Democrat voted against it...
I was one of 3 Republicans to vote no. We all voted no because it did not reduce spending enough. I thought there might have been a few more to join our little band of rebels.

here's where we differ... when you're heading toward the cliff, not pressing the brake enough will doom you... but not pressing it at all is just as sure to fail... doing too little and doing nothing both send you off the edge.

An amendment offered by Jim Jordan (R-OH) and cosponsored by yours truly would have reduced non-security spending to 2008 levels. It failed by a vote of 147-281, meaning that some 40% of Republicans in addition to all Democrats opposed it. This cost saving measure had nothing to do with security. It is not a big stretch to ask the government to spend at levels spent just 2 years ago when there has been little intervening inflation.

again, i'm in agreement... but there is some hypocricy creeping in, too... if you vote against doing too little before, why vote for 2008 spending levels?... in 2008, Congress was already spending like a drunken sailor... that's not slowing... that's not even a serious attempt at fiscal responsibility... however, it is better than doing nothing... you know... the same nothing you proposed earlier.

Kathy Griffin: 'Glee' Guest Star As Palin-Inspired Character?

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

my commentary:
i will be amazed if Griffin can play the part without being a bad caricature­... i'll be more suprised if she can act at all.

the only reason she has taken the part is to smear "Tea-Partiers" and conservatives... and that's the only reason Glee has cast her.

it's a sad statement when a show like Glee, a major theme of which is inclusiveness, decides that divisiveness is the way to get ratings.

i'm suprised that "white precious" comment gets so many laughs; especially here... she's calling Palin an overweight illiterate with a child out of wedlock... yet Glee has taken sympatheti­c stands on two of the three issues on their show... seems to me that Kathy is the antithesis of Glee.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

where's the moral outrage now?

why don't i see news reports about this?... didn't we all agree that this kind of "violent rhetoric" was wrong?... why is my television mysteriously silent on the moral outrage that the Left must have for, well, the Left?

it wasn't that long ago that we heard the following:

1. “Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler,” says Robert Gibbs, the former White House press secretary.
2. Eugene Robinson, “Violent political rhetoric and the threat of political violence in this country comes almost exclusively from the right.”
3. Bill Maher, “the right wing loves, the go-to rhetoric for them is ‘wouldn’t it be fun to kill the people we disagree with.’ Left wingers don’t talk that way.”

and yet, in Wisconsin, there are protests which include rhetoric such as this:

• Scott Walker = Adolf Hitler.
• Midwest Mussolini.
• Hosini Walker.
• Raping public employees is not the way to balance a budget.
• Don’t retreat. Reload. Repeal Walker.
• Death to Tyrants [pictures of Mr. Walker and Mr. Mubarak]

VIDEO: Republicans Accuse Liberals of Hateful Rhetoric in Wisconsin - NYTimes.com

i don't believe in atheists, Pt 3

annoying reason #3:

"That doesn't make sense to me."

well, too bad for you... i don't have a fine understanding of string theory, but i assume that those who believe in it have done their research... i assume it makes sense to them... as far as i'm concerned, they can be completely wrong... but i'm not qualified to make that judgement.

for an atheist to say, "That doesn't make sense," is the same... i'm sure most atheists will tell you that they've read the Bible from cover to cover... and i'm just as sure that 99% of them are lying... religious texts are difficult to read, even after it's been dumbed-down into modern lingo, usually translated by some well-meaning idiot who doesn't have the greatest grasp of the English language, and almost no grasp of the original Hebrew and Greek... but let us assume that we're talking about a well-educated atheist who has actually read the bible and cross referenced the important passages with a Hebrew and Greek concordance (i prefer James Strong's)... this educated atheist often makes the common mistake of reading the text through the filter of their own prejudices... the Bible is filled with war, murder, and destruction... a pacifist would say it doesn't make sense to kill and murder with such wanton cruelty... but consider the time and context.

Numbers 31, the massacre of the Midianites, is often used by atheists who abhor violence... the Bible says God commanded them to kill all males and all females who were not virgins... horrible, right?... not in context... the Midianite women were known to have spread a "plague" to the Israelites (at Peor)... apparently, it was known to be an sexually transmitted disease... all virgin girls were spared (and could be verified, physically)... they didn't have a Center for Disease Control, so all other women were suspect... to allow them to live would be to allow the disease to spread, thus endangering all people... as for the men, how exactly would they determine who has the disease?... a laboratory blood test?... also, in that time, males were the ones who fought and waged war... to allow the young men to live would be to harbor the vehicle for war within your own fortifications... and to top it off (if the educated atheist were to truly read the passage) the Israelites forced their own soldiers to quarantine themselves and the virgin female captives... and on the third and seventh day, all clothes and anything made of leather and goat-hair should be purified (unclear on whether this is washing or burning)... the Israelites were terrified of this plague which the Midianites carried.

just because something doesn't make sense to you, does not mean there is no sense to it... the failure is not in the Bible, but in the reader.

and the sheer hubris of the individual to pass judgement over something which he knows little to nothing about... it astounds me... somehow, this person (no matter how educated) declares something to be untrue, and because this person says so, anyone who disagrees with him is also wrong... the amount of ego which that takes can only be topped by a seventeen year-old child who declares his parents to be ignoramuses... to say "I know better than thousands of generations; people beyond number; I am the ultimate authority on Truth!"... it sickens me beyond words.

there are reasons and rationales in all religious texts... but it isn't laid out bare to the world... you have to look... you have to think... and you have to humble yourself, and allow your preconceived notions to be wrong.

scio me nihil scire

i don't believe in atheists, Pt 2

annoying reason #2:

"Evolution."

let us just assume that evolution occurs exactly as the Darwinians like to believe... so what?... that disproves nothing... all that shows is there are facts which were not included in the teachings of religion... that's like complaining that the Dr. Seuss books never discussed quantum mechanics... all they ever did was discuss the merits of verdant ova and fillet of sus domestica... the example i like to use is, if you have a child ask you, "Why is the sky blue?" do you tell the kid about light wavelength, Rayleigh scattering, and the relative particle size of our nitrogen atmosphere?... at the end of such a dissertation, you will have brought your child, if not to tears, to a state of confusion... so, to point at a Bible (or other religious text) and claim it is false because it does not encompass all of creation, that is an ad hominem argument and should be dismissed by any reasoning person... (not that many atheists are reasoning, but to their credit, they are often more reasoning than many theists.)

i'm not saying that ancient religious texts are equivalent to children's books... but consider the context... travel back 6,000 years and attempt to explain mitochondrial DNA... explain why some people are immune to "diseases" while others die by the thousands... find a dinosaur fossil and try to explain it to Noah... i think a lot will get lost in translation.

as for evolution, having micro and macro evolution take place does by no means negate the existence of a creator... as i see it, it actually tells how incredibly powerful God truly is... follow the "evolutionist" logic back to its origin...

men evolved from primates who evolved from mammals who evolved from reptiles who evolved from fish who evolved from vertebrates who evolved from invertebrates who evolved from algae who evolved from multi-cellular organisms who evolved from single-cell organisms who evolved from protein chains who evolved from amino sludge...

and evolutionists are okay with this... but let's look at their origins... non-living compounds gathered in such a way as to produce the effect of reproduction... reproduction is one of the fundamental qualities something has to have to represent "life"... otherwise, it falls into two categories: random happenstance or immortality... if random, when it ceases functioning (e.g. dies) only another random occurance will produce similar results... if immortal; well, the evolutionists will dismiss this immediately, as do i.

anyway, a non-living compound begins to reproduce... it "evolves" for no reason whatsoever, as it has no reason to... it is a jumble of compounds, but by evolutionists, it is life... through random selection, this super-amino produces enough other super-aminos that resources for reproduction begin to thin... randomly, better amino chains form which reproduce better and more efficiently than other amino chains... there is no reason for this, according to evolutionists... it just is... take it on faith, if you will.

eventually, these super-aminos have evolved to a point that they begin to make decisions... decisions like, where to travel, how to travel, what to "eat", and who to reproduce with... (sounds like the first single's bar)... now, evolutionist have no trouble with this, either... but some will begin to disagree on details... details like free-will... you see, either you have free will or you don't... and at some point, random amino jelly, with no free-will, magically becomes live organisms with free-will... there is no evolutionary step which grants free-will... to an evolutionist, it just happens... again; on faith.

the point is this:  evolution does not disprove anything... it only raises more questions.

i don't believe in atheists, Pt 1

atheists annoy me... not because they don't believe in a religion, but because they have such horrible reasons not to believe... and before you stop reading, know this: I WAS AN ATHEIST... and many of the reasons i hear from others are the same arguments i had; which i used to support my beliefs... (Note: atheists have beliefs... they call them facts, but they're just beliefs in the end)

annoying reason #1:

"That is stupid."

first, let's get the terms right... stupid means to lack ordinary keenness of mind... it comes from the Latin, stupere; to be numb or stunned... it is a pejorative, implying that the person lacks the capacity to reason at a level of the ordinary individual... this kind of argument is used to belittle the target, usually in an effort to raise the attacker's sense of self worth.

often, what the atheist is attempting to say is, "You are incorrect due to your ignorance of other information which contradicts your viewpoint"... but they don't say this... because it can be easily turned on the attacker in the form of, "Present this information for consideration and debate"... this often ends with showing the atheist as being ignorant of their own facts, and woefully ignorant of the defense's facts.

the ideas which the atheist defines as "stupid" are concepts which require deeper understanding than most people, atheist and religious alike, are willing to achieve... for example, people often think it is stupid to believe in something which cannot be observed... yet they readily accept much of science, even though much of it cannot be observed... we cannot see quantum particles, yet through their effects we believe they exist... by scientific method we determine that these particles have certain properties... so, using indirect evidence, we believe in electrons and leptons and quarks... we construct our beliefs around them, even though we cannot see them.

the only thing more stupid would be to dismiss something on the basis that you cannot discern it... while you'll often get the Flying Spaghetti Monster response, you should (gently) remind people that almost all of science depends on an open mind... bacteria, atomic energy, and most of modern science had to pass through respected scientists who sternly said it couldn't be seen and therefore did not exist.

dismissing other viewpoints, including the theistic, is a sure sign of stupidity.

tower of babble -or- Rush to judgement

Huffington Post article advocating Rush Limbaugh boycott.

wow.
while Rush was insensitive in his continuing to badly portray the Chinese language, i find it mildly amusing (and somewhat offensive) that the "Young Turk" is politically correct enough to lambast Rush, but does so in an American accent of a Southern dialect.

Video by "The Young Turks" (whoever that is) on YouTube:


is he portraying Southerners as ignorant and uneducated?... what kind of hypocrit is this guy?... on one hand, he decries the use of mocking accents of Chinese people... but on the other, he mocks the accents of Americans... apparently, it's okay to stereotype caucasians, but not asians.

who's the bigot now?

and, to the heart of the matter, Rush may have taken the accent mocking too far... but he wasn't putting down the people who had the accent... he was making light of the Chinese translator not doing his job... those of us who don't speak Chinese listened to (what we hear as) gibberish... Rush even goes further to ponder what other cultures hear when we speak English... does it sound as mono-phonetic as other languages sometimes seem to us?... the "Young Turk" calls this childish, equating it to "when you see green, is it green or is it really red"... yet, philosophers consider this question regularly a-la Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

but let's boycott Rush for his insensitivity... too bad there's nothing to boycott of this ignoramous.

Lawmaker Behind South Dakota's "Justifiable Homicide" Bill Defends Measure, Makes Changes

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Is there a localized outbreak of women having their abdomens beaten by people who want to avoid paying child support? Is it not already a crime in South Dakota to beat on your ex-girlfri­end's abdomen? And is it not yet permissibl­e in South Dakota to defend oneself, with deadly force if necessary, against the threat of immediate harm to your person?

localized outbreak?.­.. no... abusers have done this for years... (surely you're not ignorant of that fact?)

already a crime?... yes, but it's only assault, not attempted murder.

defend oneself w/ deadly force?... if you are not in danger of YOUR life, you can't use deadly force... your (unborn) child doesn't get that right... so, if you kill your abusive husband/bo­yfriend for assaulting you; you still go to jail for a homicide.

was the law badly written?..­. heck yes!... but don't be flippant with other people's lives, please.

Also see Washington Post article/interview.

what if Chicken-Little was right?

Chicken-Little wasn't very smart... i'm also the wrong person to put forth any dire warnings of doom-and-gloom.

Niall Ferguson, however, is a historian, a professor of both history and business at Harvard, a Senior Fellow at Oxford and at Stanford, and well published about a variety of historic, economic, and financial subjects... suffice it to say, he's a heck-of-a-lot smarter than the rest of us.

so, if Niall says the sky may actually be falling; perhaps the rest of us should at least glance heavenward.


The 2010 John Bonython Lecture - Niall Ferguson from Centre for Independent Studies on Vimeo.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Running time: 44 mins
The Centre for Independent Studies video source

empires don't slide slowly away... they fall; suddenly and often without warning.

out of Egypt... into Israel... again.

this is a tangled web, but the current problems in Egypt seems to have far-reaching results... and some history of the region seems to indicate the scope of these results... this tangled skein of events has strands stretching from World War II, the attacks on the World Trade Center, the "relief" flotilla of Gaza, Tunisia, the US, and now the overthrow of Egypt... how big is this event?

• the Muslim Brotherhood distributed Nazi propaganda in WWII.
• the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt since 1954.
• Al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in his youth... and then led the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
• Omar Abdel-Rahman (the Blind Sheik of 1993 WTC bombing) issued an assassination fatwa against Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat... Egyptian Islamic Jihad assassinated Sadat... Hosni Mubarak, then Vice-President, assumed the Presidency and declared "Emergency Law" throughout Egypt.
• Tunisian Prime Minister warns against Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, days before Tunisian revolt.
• the Muslim Brotherhood now seeks to overthrow Mubarak.
• the Muslim Brotherhood is the father-organization of Hamas in Palestine.
• 1988 - Hamas Covenant; August 18
• Article two:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine.

• Article eight:

Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.

• Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries; i.e. USA, EU, and Canada.
• Hamas has sent armed men into Egypt from Gaza.
• Ayers, Dohrn (ex-Weather Underground) and Evans (Code Pink founder) helped organize Gaza flotilla group... (stay with me now... this isn't out of left field).
• Code Pink strategizes with Hamas regarding US reaction to Egypt.
• Code Pink is (and has been) in Egypt seeking illegal access into Gaza from Egypt.
• Code Pink founder, Jodie Evans, was a fundraiser and "bundler" for Obama's 2008 election.
• Turkish group Insani Yardim Vakfi, known by the acronym IHH, funded the Gaza flotilla... as well as Hamas terrorists... and possibly Al-Qaeda.

now... are we to believe that the Muslim Brotherhood wants nothing but the peaceful transition of government in Egypt?... are we bearing witness to an event of epic and global proportions?

fools believe and liars lie

i paid no attention to President Obama during his Superbowl interview... i didn't expect him to say anything pertinent... but i also didn't expect him to lie... apologies to Rep. Joe Wilson.

i have previously noted a change in my take-home pay following January 1st, last... it happens every year, and i didn't think about it much... as a matter of fact, i was pleased to be taking home a whopping $11 extra in my paycheck!... what i didn't realize was the shell-game going on in Congress... my Federal Withholding went up by 23%, while my Social Security Withholding went down by 32%... net gain: $11.

now, i heard Obama say he "didn't once raise taxes"... and i started thinking... if my Federal Withholding increased, doesn't that mean (by default) that my taxes went up?... and i seem to recall that the Healthcare bill which was passed was done so under "Budget Reconciliation" rules, which (seems to me) to be tied to taxation... could it be (horror) that a politician just lied to me?

so, i pulled my head wearily from the sand, brushed the detritus from my eyes, and squinted into the sun... oh, and searched the internet.

Promises:

"I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
--Candidate Barack Obama, Sept. 12, 2008

"No family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase."
--http://change.gov/agenda/taxes_agenda/

"If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime."
--President Barack Obama, Feb. 24, 2009

"The statement didn’t come with caveats."
--Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, April 15, 2009, when asked if the pledge applies to healthcare

Obama tax pledges (above)

Facts:

• Obama’s Claim That He Did Not Raise Taxes Is Rejected As ‘Blatantly False’ by Taxpayer Watchdog CNSnews.com - February 08, 2011
• Health Care Reform: 13 Tax Changes on the Way - February 08, 2011
• The Obama administration defend the healthcare requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.” - July 17, 2010
• Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 will be financed through increases in federal tobacco taxes
• Pennsylvania Law Review - "House Bill 3296 imposes an individual mandate through the exercise of Congress’s taxing and spending powers."
• 5 Financial Bills That Snuck In For 2010

so... let me see if i got this straight... Obama didn't raise any taxes, but he passed several tax increases... these tax increases are permanent... in fairness (sort of) he extended some temporary tax cuts (which expire in two years) to balance out these taxes increases... but these tax cuts are coming out of my Social Security payments... so, i'm not paying into Social Security as much as i used to... which means there's even less in Social Security for when i get old enough to use it.

crap.

so, in two years, my federal withholding will not go down... my Social Security Withholding will go back up... i'm taking home less money... i'm required to buy "adequate" healthcare... and if i smoke due to all the extra stress this causes, i pay more for the privilege!

yet... Obama said he didn't raise taxes... pass me another cup of Kool-aid, Mr. Jones.

the joys of Sidney Morgenbesser

you would think i grew up listening to this guy... his sense of humor is a breath of fresh air to stagnant minds... enjoy this selection of Morgenbesser's more (in)famous quotations from Andrew Gumbel and the Independent:

The Independent, Professor Sidney Morgenbesser: Philosopher celebrated for his withering New York Jewish humour

Sidney Morgenbesser, philosopher: born New York 22 September 1921; died New York 2 August 2004.

Sidney Morgenbesser, Emeritus John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University in New York, was celebrated for his extraordinarily quick wit, his deep irreverence and his ability to illuminate even the most complicated intellectual ideas with the street smarts of his upbringing on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

forgive the interruptions, while i editorialize...

He was the quintessential New York Jewish intellectual: Isaiah Berlin, Woody Allen and Isaac Bashevis Singer rolled into one. His stories and one-liners were not just appreciated at Columbia, where he was on faculty for half a century, but were part and parcel of university lectures delivered halfway around the world by professors who had never met him, but remained in awe.

Generations of philosophers and linguists have heard the story of the Columbia lecture in the 1950s in which the eminent Oxford philosopher J.L. Austin explained how many languages employ the double negative to denote a positive ("he is not unlike his sister"), but that no language employs a double positive to make a negative. Morgenbesser, sitting in the audience, waved his arm dismissively, and retorted: "Yeah, yeah."

funny how words are... a pleonasm (like "Yeah, yeah") is too many words used to express an idea, yet Morgenbesser could only express the idea by using them both... and, as an aside, the word neoplasm appears to be an anagram of pleonasm, and it is too many cells being used where fewer are needed... and a completely unrelated phrase, ad nauseum, still has that familiar tonal sound to both, and is the extreme of the idea; going on about a subject to the point of causing sickness... like i'm doing, now.

Asked by a student if he agreed with Mao's view that a statement can be both true and false at the same time, Morgenbesser replied: "Well I do and I don't."

Of the philosophy of pragmatism, on which he wrote and lectured, he once said: "It sounds good in theory, but it'll never work in practice."

Morgenbesser's reputation was at its height in the 1960s, when he joined the ranks of student protesters marching against the Vietnam War and got clubbed on the head for his pains. Asked what he made of his treatment, he said it was "unfair, but not unjust". Pressed for an explanation, he added: "It was unfair because they hit me over the head, but not unjust because they hit everyone else over the head."

it's curious that unjust and unfair are often thought of as synonyms... as Morgenbesser correctly points out, they are inequal... the treatment, while unfair (i.e. disproportionate, undue), was not unjust (i.e. prejudiced, biased)... everyone was treated unfairly equally.

Another unfortunate encounter with the police occurred when he lit up his pipe on the way out of a subway station. Morgenbesser protested to the officer who tried to stop him that the rules covered smoking in the station, not outside. The cop conceded he had a point, but said: "If I let you get away with it, I'd have to let everyone get away with it." To which Morgenbesser, in a famously misunderstood line, retorted: "Who do you think you are, Kant?" Hauled off to the precinct lock-up, Morgenbesser only won his freedom after a colleague showed up and explained the Categorical Imperative to the nonplussed boys in blue.

Kant can be a heavy subject... you should never assume other people know Kant... in reality, you shouldn't assume to know Kant, yourself... unless, you're only using him as a means to an end.

It was such episodes that caused the philosopher Robert Nozick to write that he "majored in Sidney Morgenbesser". Larry George, a political science professor at California State University in Long Beach who never met the man, commented:

When I first heard the now canonical Morgenbesser anecdotes in graduate school, I thought he was some kind of a Talmudic tall tale . . . created to intimidate and inspire us more sluggish thinkers.

Morgenbesser learned the fine art of kibitzing from his father, a garment worker in the Lower East Side of New York who can never have suspected how Jewish humour could be so witheringly applied to metaphysics and epistemology. Sidney Morgenbesser trained to be a rabbi before switching to academia, studying at the City College of New York, then the University of Pennsylvania. After teaching at Swarthmore College and the New School of Social Research, he joined the Department of Philosophy at Columbia in 1954, where he remained until retirement in 1990. For much of his career, he was on the editorial board of the Journal of Philosophy and he built up expertise on the philosophy of science, the theory of knowledge, pragmatism and human rights. He was, however, notably restrained in his publishing habits. As he once wisecracked: "Moses wrote one book. Then what did he do?"

wrote a book; founded a nation; freed an entire people (not necessarily in that order)... other than that, nothing.

Towards the end of his final long illness, he asked another Columbia philosopher, David Albert: "Why is God making me suffer so much? Just because I don't believe in him?"

that, often, is the case, dear sir... or, alternatively, our lack of belief in the morals written of in Moses's "one book" often leads us into much suffering... however, in your case, i believe, it was simply symptomatic of end-of-life; something our bodies (and oft, minds) is loath to do.

Sidney Morgenbesser; you shall be missed.

The 22 Year Old Cop.

first... let me apologize in advance... this is someone else's post and they use profanity... maybe they think it's an article or conjunction or common adjective... i suggest reading it and forgiving the language...

The 22 Year Old Cop.

I’m utterly speechless right now. I don’t know where to start.

Just a couple minutes ago the words of 22 year old cop had been thrown at me for a long ass time. My Mother had called a cop in for some reason. Who knows why I don’t even care anymore. Screw it. I pretty much remember exactly what this dude said.

We sat down. Dude never met me but he understood me 100%. Lectured me just about everything about my life. He told me, “I know you think Highschool is shit. I know you just want to leave the place, but let me tell you. This right here is the best time of your life. You may just want to graduate out of Highschool and go to college but bro. You have no idea how much I envy you. I miss Highschool bro, I miss going through the Hallways and doing that hand shake thing with my friends, I miss doing all that crazy shit, that youth. All you kids just throw it away. If someone had told me that during my Highschool career that it was the best time of my entire life. I would have cherished it that much more. I regret not joking around in class, getting detentions. Man I regret not getting more detentions then I did. I miss screwing around.” He said.

His radio went off. He told me to listen to the radio and the emergency that was being dispersed. It was something about a grandma on the floor with 3 children in the residence. Violence outbreaking in the household etc….  He then told me. “You have no idea how lucky you have it. Look behind you. Your mom brought you a widescreen plasma TV. You have this nice computer. This house.
…
I’m going to be honest with you bro. When I was around your age. No. Even now. Even I sometimes have tempers. In this world people will piss you off all over. That’s life. People will punk you now. They’ll even punk you later on when you are around 25. You have to become a man. Realize the initiative. Be aggressive with your goals. And one important thing. You have to respect your Mother. Respect her because she’s all you have. Wait do you have a Father?” He asked.

I told him no I had a step-father. Lol. He realized the reality without even asking that I didn’t like my step-father. He continued, “Respect your mother, she’s the only one who will love you this much. Put it like this. Even if my mother were to know you for 10 years. She wouldn’t love you as much as she loves me. That’s bloodline bro. You reflect off your Mother. She’s the only few things you’ll have in this world. Respect her, listen to her, and work hard. You get what I’m saying? Or is this coming out of your other ear?

I told him I was listening. Which I was. My eyes were wide open by that point.

“You see this black uniform? This badge. This gun. This radio. It identifies me as a Cop. Police. Po-po. Whatever you kids call us these days. But I’m going to honest with you man. Sometimes I just want go to my chief and tell him. Hey. I’ll be back when I’m 27. I just want to fullfill my college. Learn. Dorm. Fuck around. Live it up. And I don’t even think you get it. Do get it? It’s like how much you probably miss being 8. Free and careless. It’s like that for me bro. But I’m 22. A cop. You probably think going to college or getting a career is all great and shit after that. Nah bro. Trust me. It gets pretty bullshit. In the real world. You build a reputation. It’s like. People go to my chief and ask him, hey how’s David Ching as an officer. They say, ehhh he’s okay. He knows what to do here and there but he slacks off sometimes. And that’s it. They probably wouldn’t accept me into any other police department. That’s the reputation in the real world that actually effects the outcome of my life. The reputation you receive in middle school, highschool. Shit doesn’t compare to the reality we face now. It’s like comparing a tank to a toy car.”

He made me realize so much. It’s almost like. I hate to say it. Like fate. I fucking needed this talk. Nobody else could put it the way this guy does. And he wasn’t even done.

“Listen to me. This is the time. You have to build yourself from here. Join a sport, go to football games, fuck around, get detentions here and there. Just don’t do drugs and if it comes to it. Alcohol. Keep it to a limit. Bro. Fuck it just drink with your friends. Have a good time! Just don’t get busted by the cops. You need to live it up man. I fucking envy you. I’m already 22. I remember it just like yesterday when I walked through the hall ways. With books at my sides. Saying wassup to my friends. Playing water polo. Shit was the highlight of my highschool days. If only. If only someone had told me during that time. That it was the best time. Fuck. You have no idea. I would have cherished milliseconds…

What I’m saying is. No one else is probably going to tell you all that I just did. And nobody else would probably care. People in this world are selfish. Arrogant. Self-absorbed. I remember being just like you when I was as young as you. My partners will probably say, hey why are you spending time talking to that kid Thai Nguyen or whatever. Just clear it and leave and bust some real bad guys. Bro. I just happened sit down right now and tell you all these things. I believe this just had to come out to you. Are you listening? You hearing every word I say? You have to realize it. When it comes to it. It’s not the grades that get you the beloved career. It’s your head bro. Interacting socially, joking around, Highschool is what builds you. You probably thought highschool is shit and you just want to leave. You need to open your eyes. You’re passive. I knew that by the time I walked in.

Respect your Mother. Cherish your years. Realize the initiative. Have fun. Fuck around. I envy you bro. All the Police in the department envy you. We miss our youth. If I could go back. You have no idea. Kids spend too much time on the computer these days. You know what I had to do? Let me tell you. I used to have a facebook. I had to delete my Facebook. Everything on the internet that I used as a personal. You know why? Because apparently sometimes my supervisors and chief have nothing else better to do and search me up online and look into my personal life. I don’t want any of that shit. Bro one day you’ll realize all this shit on the internet. It’s a waste. Don’t spend too much time on it. Go out and do some real shit. Live it up. Cherish that youth. Cherish it better than I did. This is the life.”

He gave me a firm handshake. I told him thank you Sir. I actually meant that shit. I realized so much. My Mother heard everything. She was evesdropping behind the door. The 22 year old cop left.

This is something extremely personal I’d thought I’d share with you guys. Made me realize way too much.

Now. Please unfollow me. I’m not on as much as I was anymore anyway.

and, as usual, the advice which he wouldn't/couldn't hear from his mother had to come from the lips of a stranger... and this 22 year old cop had only begun life... barely out of high school, himself... think of the advice his mother had, if only he'd listen.

my apologies to Obama on healthcare

i actually found something President Obama said which i agree with... i know... i'm as suprised as anyone!

from, then Senator, Barack Obama in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres (February 28, 2008) regarding requiring an individual mandate to buy healthcare:

Well, if things were that easy, I could mandate everybody to buy a house, and that would solve the problem of homelessness. It doesn’t.

Video and Transcript

you know what?... that actually makes sense... BUY ME A HOUSE!