"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons." - Bertrand Russell

Random Playlist Song: Sam the American Eagle - Discourse on Nudity

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is I - Sam the American Eagle.

I would just like to say a few words about "nudity" in the world today. And I for one am just appalled by it.

Why, did you know that underneath their clothing the entire population of the world is walking around completely naked? Is that disgusting? And it's not just people, although goodness knows that's bad enough. Animals too, even cute little doggies and pussy cats, can't be trusted. Underneath their fur - absolutely naked!

And it's not just the quadrupeds either. Birds too - yes, beneath our fine feathers, birds wear nothing! Nothing at all. Abs... oh m... could someone, hand me a robe? ... Mmmhmm.

***

A senior on economics being mathematical:

"I don't know why many people complain that economics is too mathematical. I hear it all over the web (meaning students in other universities think the same way) and there was someone whom I spent quite some time teaching static optimisation gave up economics because of this. Econs is not math but it requires math. You don't see engineers complaining about the math they have to learn- so why should we? Moreover, most econs courses do not really require a lot of math. I don't even need to solve a differential equation here. We only learn some basic optimisation techniques and that's only in certain courses. Even in more technical courses like game theory you don't need to know more than what you should know from A'levels. The only course which I learned new math methods was honours micro, micro1 (lagrangian) and honours macro (difference equations). We don't even need to know any of these in detail - we just need to know how to apply these methods which really is just a step above using a formula. (I even know a lecturer we mixed up continuity and differentiability - something I learned in calculus 1) I think the problem is that most students like myself go into economics to avoid courses like engineering and so it's understandable that math is not our strong suit. I think if we made math econs compulsory, a lot of students would have an easier transition."

***

Shaun seems to be blogging as much as me. An excellent critique of, among other things, the post-modernist viewpoint used by some conservatives to disingenuously argue that liberalism is a form of intolerance:

"Because if I as a Liberal 'impose' my viewpoint on you as a Conservative, you do not lose anything for you are still free to practice your conservative stance and lifestyle etc (though I might personally detest it). But if I as a conservative were to impose my conservative viewpoint on you as a liberal, then you would lose the ability to practice privately what is not to my taste. And if I dislike a particular minority group then here comes state sanctioned discrimination. Homosexuals as unnatural? The fact that you could fire someone for being homosexual and he/she would have no legal recourse? Therein lies the crux of the issue. Under a conservative regime, you lose a lot more personal freedom than you do under a liberal one."


To bring in his point about secularism in the context of the liberal/conservative society dichotomy: For all their enthusiasm for the imposition of morality on others, social conservatives would be most displeased if they were the ones being forced to live by a different set of morals.

Meanwhile, in a liberal society, liberals would be little affected by the prevailing societal worldview, since they wouldn't be forced to live by them.

***

Past tense - "If citizens can be relied on more than ‘other people’ to fight to defend their own country, how then do we explain the collapse of the French Army in World War Two from which, even now, the French have to endure surrender monkeys jibes? Or that Nationalist and Communist forces were arguably more intent on fighting each other than the invading Japanese from 1937-45? The answer, of course, is that the circumstances were completely different and quite complex."

Student Guinea Pigs: How to get paid to sleep, drink, and take drugs, all in the interest of science - "While those big bucks are tempting, remember to always do your research before becoming a human guinea pig. Consider Harvard grad student, Kevin Bitterman's experience. He was paid $1200 to fast two days in a row, three separate times, for a study involving the injection of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone. "I wish I'd known about the starvation induced hallucinations," he says. "Studies that pay a lot do so for a reason. Be careful." He still has nightmares, he says, about a study he heard about at one Texas institution."Someone once told me about a study where they pay $10,000 to amputate and then attempt to reattach your toe!" Whether that's true or an urban myth, remember that not all experiments mean easy money."
For some reason, I am reminded of how fasting brings on divinely-inspired visions.

Singapore: Choose a wave over rage - "Singapore's government urged drivers to apologize for "errors of judgment" on the road and wave to fellow motorists, in its latest behavior modification campaign rolled out Thursday... Singapore, a tiny, wealthy city-state, is well-known for its campaigns to modify behavior. Among its efforts have been campaigns to teach Singaporeans to speak English properly, to show people how to be more romantic, and to flush public toilets. Critics have denounced the numerous promotions of morality as Orwellian and condescending toward citizens."
Actually Communist was what came to my mind.