Open Thread - Knowledge Edition, Friday, May 20, 2016

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 3:20am

“Logical reasoning may be a most convenient means of mental communication for covering short distances, but the curvature of the earth, alas, is reflected even in logic: an ideally rational progression of thought will finally bring you back to the point of departure where you return aware of the simplicity of genius, with a delightful sensation that you have embraced truth, while actually you have merely embraced your own self... anything you might term a deduction already exposes the flaw: logical development inexorably becomes an envelopment.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov

Deductive reasoning is a logical process in which a conclusion is based on the concordance of multiple premises that are generally assumed to be true.

"Generally assumed to be true", that is a scary thought. Could flawed premises lead us to false conclusions? Is the foundation of our knowledge structurally sound? I posit that the basis of our knowledge is so flawed that we are fooling ourselves. Let's enjoy some music while we think about and discuss the depth of our knowledge.

Classical Logic
Typically, a logic consists of a formal or informal language together with a deductive system and/or a model-theoretic semantics. The language has components that correspond to a part of a natural language like English or Greek. The deductive system is to capture, codify, or simply record arguments that are valid for the given language, and the semantics is to capture, codify, or record the meanings, or truth-conditions for at least part of the language.

The following sections provide the basics of a typical logic, sometimes called “classical elementary logic” or “classical first-order logic”. Section 2 develops a formal language, with a rigorous syntax and grammar. The formal language is a recursively defined collection of strings on a fixed alphabet. As such, it has no meaning, or perhaps better, the meaning of its formulas is given by the deductive system and the semantics. Some of the symbols have counterparts in ordinary language. We define an argument to be a non-empty collection of formulas in the formal language, one of which is designated to be the conclusion. The other formulas (if any) in an argument are its premises. Section 3 sets up a deductive system for the language, in the spirit of natural deduction. An argument is derivable if there is a deduction from some or all of its premises to its conclusion. Section 4 provides a model-theoretic semantics. An argument is valid if there is no interpretation (in the semantics) in which its premises are all true and its conclusion false. This reflects the longstanding view that a valid argument is truth-preserving.

Key point: There is a semantic component to logic. Think in the context of Orwell and newspeak. Remember this when you hear anything about controlling the message.

The Nine Types of Intelligence
1. Naturalist Intelligence (“Nature Smart”)

Designates the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef. It is also speculated that much of our consumer society exploits the naturalist intelligences, which can be mobilized in the discrimination among cars, sneakers, kinds of makeup, and the like.

A wise man knows one thing – the limits of his knowledge
John Maynard Keynes, who never tried to conceal that he knew more than most people, also knew the limits to his knowledge. He wrote “about these matters – the prospect of a European war, the price of copper 20 years hence – there is no scientific basis on which to form any calculable probability whatever. We simply do not know.”

And Keynes was right. He published these observations in 1921, and 20 years later Britain was engaged in a desperate, and unpredictable, struggle with Germany.

But lesser men find prognostication easier. I have been looking at some of the models people use, in both the public and private sectors to predict events.

The models share a common approach. They pose the question: “How would we make our decision if we had complete knowledge of the world?” With such information you might make a detailed assessment drawing together many different pieces of relevant information on matters such as costs, benefits, and consequences.

But little of this knowledge exists. So you make the missing data up. You assume the future will be like the past, or you extrapolate a trend. Whatever you do, no cell on the spreadsheet may be left unfilled. If necessary, you put a finger in the air.

What? The well informed ruling class is winging it? Just spouting bullshit? I think this is best exemplified by Carly Fiorina. It is tough being assertively wrong about just about everything.

The Limits of Knowledge

One of the most basic themes of Locke's epistemology is that since we cannot know everything, we would be well-advised to observe and respect the extent and limitations of human knowledge. Given the basic definition of knowledge as perception of the agreement of our ideas, it follows that we fall short of knowing whenever we lack ideas or fail to perceive their agreement. Thus, intuition extendes only to the identiy and diversity of ideas we already have; demonstration extends only to ideas between which we are able to discover intermediaries; and sensitive knowledge informs us only of the present existence of causes for our sensory ideas. [Essay IV iii 3-5] Awareness of our limitations, Locke proposed, should forestall haste, laziness, and despair in our natural search for the truth about the most vital issues into which human knowers can fruitfully inquire. [Conduct 39-43]
Severe Restrictions

Applying the human faculty of reason to the pursuit of knowledge, properly defined, reveals the limitiations within which we must work: We cannot achieve knowledge of things—such as infinity or substantial real essences—for which we lack clear, positive ideas. Indeed, having ideas will not be enough to secure knowledge if—as in the case of human actions—they are obscure, confused, or imperfect. Given faulty memories, we may also fail to achieve knowledge because we are incapable of tracing long chains of reasoning through which two ideas might be demonstrably linked. In a more practical vein, rational knowledge cannot be established upon false principles—such as those borrowed from conventional wisdom. Finally—in the effort to achieve philosophical or scientific certainty—our efforts to employ reason are commonly undermined by the misuse or abuse of language.

So basically politicians, pundits and Madison Avenue just baffle with bullshit. Remember the flawed premises and authoritative spewing of words the next time you read a Markos screed. The dude is a bullshit artist.

Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks and Jimmy Herring together! ->

The limitations of human knowledge
In the chapter entitled Al-Isra (the Night Journey) of the Quran there is a verse which concerns the art

of thinking. The translation of this verse is as follows:

"They question you about the Spirit. Say, 'The Spirit is at my Lord's command, and you have been granted but little knowledge'" (17:85).

This Quranic verse enshrines a very important principle regarding the theory of knowledge: that man was created with certain limitations, due to which he cannot apprehend everything. To accept this limitation is the greatest wisdom, for it opens the door to all possible knowledge.

Rolling towards a rant: our ruling class and media know everything, speak in absolutes and are totally clueless. I am tired of fucking know it alls and can not comprehend how anyone would let the likes of a radio talker dictate their thought patterns. Wake up sheeple, it is the same thing as the fucking alarm system sales phone calls. Boogie, boogie, the fill in the blank are coming to get you.

The Moral Limits of Knowledge
enever I read news stories about “activists” who demonstrate against nuclear weapons or nuclear power installations, or express outrage about toxic waste hazards, or allege the dangers to society and human life of research and development on frontiers such as biotechnology or ABC warfare (atomic, bacterial, and chemical), I cannot just dismiss it all as emotional imbalance. Instead a web of wonder starts to spin itself. This essay examines that web.

As an epigraph we might borrow the conclusion of Daniel Greenberg’s The Politics of Pure Science. He asks, “Is there such a thing as “socially responsible” science? At one time most inhabitants of the pure science community would have doubted this. But in recent years, more and more scientists have come to question the comfortable notion that science is absolved of responsibility for what is done with their work.”

My own guess is that ethical neutralists still abound in scientific circles, even though there are some distinguished ones like Leo Szilard and Hans Bethe and Linus Pauling who have stoutly denied that the neutralist doctrine is valid. The grounds on which they reject it have never been fully enough spelled out.

The first thing to be said is that the issue is subtle and complex. At bottom the question is whether our knowledge is in any significant way subject to or should be conditioned by our value judgments. People in general, it seems, are perplexed about the relation between facts and values. So much so that the old saying fits, “If you aren’t confused you simply don’t understand the problem.” Two hundred years ago the canny Scot David Hume made it clear that what “is” does not determine what “ought to be,” and ever since philosophers have been arguing about what his point really means. What bearing do morality and ethics have, or should they have, on the things we know or suppose we know?

Could it explain the amoral nature of our politicians and business leaders? That is a rhetorical question. The answer is obviously "NO". The ruling elites are basically amoral, but their actions are not based on a thoughtful deduction, only on how they can get over. They play a zero sum game. Somebody gets shafted. Could it be the $peechless?

Funk It!

Funky outro:

Have a great weekend!

Tags:

Open Thread

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Comments

Submitted by dancingrabbit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 4:46am

I have been waiting for a good place to drop this

and your OT today, Tim, is the perfect place.

Everyone, meet:

The Aspiring Novelist Who Became
Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru

How Ben Rhodes rewrote the rules of diplomacy for the digital age.

Picture him as a young man, standing on the waterfront in North Williamsburg, at a polling site, on Sept. 11, 2001, which was Election Day in New York City. He saw the planes hit the towers, an unforgettable moment of sheer disbelief followed by panic and shock and lasting horror, a scene that eerily reminded him, in the aftermath, of the cover of the Don DeLillo novel “Underworld.”

Everything changed that day. But the way it changed Ben Rhodes’s life is still unique, and perhaps not strictly believable, even as fiction. He was in the second year of the M.F.A. program at N.Y.U., writing short stories about losers in garden apartments and imagining that soon he would be published in literary magazines, acquire an agent and produce a novel by the time he turned 26. He saw the first tower go down, and after that he walked around for a while, until he ran into someone he knew, and they went back to her shared Williamsburg apartment and tried to find a television that worked, and when he came back outside, everyone was taking pictures of the towers in flames. He saw an Arab guy sobbing on the subway. “That image has always stayed with me,” he says. “Because I think he knew more than we did about what was going to happen.” Writing Frederick Barthelme knockoffs suddenly seemed like a waste of time.

“I immediately developed this idea that, you know, maybe I want to try to write about international affairs,” he explained. “In retrospect, I had no idea what that meant.” His mother’s closest friend growing up ran the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which then published Foreign Policy. He sent her a letter and included what would wind up being his only piece of published fiction, a short story that appeared in The Beloit Fiction Journal. It was titled “The Goldfish Smiles, You Smile Back.” The story still haunts him, he says, because “it foreshadowed my entire life.”
[...]
As the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, Rhodes writes the president’s speeches, plans his trips abroad and runs communications strategy across the White House, tasks that, taken individually, give little sense of the importance of his role. He is, according to the consensus of the two dozen current and former White House insiders I talked to, the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself. The president and Rhodes communicate “regularly, several times a day,” according to Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff, who is known for captaining a tight ship. “I see it throughout the day in person,” he says, adding that he is sure that in addition to the two to three hours that Rhodes might spend with Obama daily, the two men communicate remotely throughout the day via email and phone calls. Rhodes strategized and ran the successful Iran-deal messaging campaign, helped negotiate the opening of American relations with Cuba after a hiatus of more than 50 years and has been a co-writer of all of Obama’s major foreign-policy speeches. “Every day he does 12 jobs, and he does them better than the other people who have those jobs,” Terry Szuplat, the longest-tenured member of the National Security Council speechwriting corps, told me. On the largest and smallest questions alike, the voice in which America speaks to the world is that of Ben Rhodes.

Like Obama, Rhodes is a storyteller who uses a writer’s tools to advance an agenda that is packaged as politics but is often quite personal. He is adept at constructing overarching plotlines with heroes and villains, their conflicts and motivations supported by flurries of carefully chosen adjectives, quotations and leaks from named and unnamed senior officials. He is the master shaper and retailer of Obama’s foreign-policy narratives, at a time when the killer wave of social media has washed away the sand castles of the traditional press. His ability to navigate and shape this new environment makes him a more effective and powerful extension of the president’s will than any number of policy advisers or diplomats or spies. His lack of conventional real-world experience of the kind that normally precedes responsibility for the fate of nations — like military or diplomatic service, or even a master’s degree in international relations, rather than creative writing — is still startling.

Part of what accounts for Rhodes’s influence is his “mind meld” with the president. Nearly everyone I spoke to about Rhodes used the phrase “mind meld” verbatim, some with casual assurance and others in the hushed tones that are usually reserved for special insights. He doesn’t think for the president, but he knows what the president is thinking, which is a source of tremendous power. One day, when Rhodes and I were sitting in his boiler-room office, he confessed, with a touch of bafflement, “I don’t know anymore where I begin and Obama ends.”
[...]
“All these newspapers used to have foreign bureaus,” [Rhodes] said. “Now they don’t. They call us to explain to them what’s happening in Moscow and Cairo. Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-...

This interview with 38-year-old Rhodes is worth reading in its entirety, because it makes bone-chillingly clear precisely the point that Tim makes in his essay.

Thanks so much, Tim, for making the logical argument for what many of us have been ever so slowly intuiting for a while now - our so-called leaders don't have a clue and don't give a damn to boot!

—

Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Submitted by riverlover on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 5:58am

I read it.

I respect that man. I am not sure that I would personally like him. Odd how the Clinton name came up so few times. But not. I think I can read and interpret between lines. I could be wrong, which goes back to Tim's question. Along the lines, of reality being scripted and presented as fait accompli, even if it's just a flail.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by WindDancer13 on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 5:26am

Speaking of knowledge...

Here's a video within a video about a guy who has no idea he is an idiot, but he is unknowingly ironic.

[video:https://youtu.be/VkQdfGzqGe8]

—

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Submitted by lotlizard on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 5:27am

Dick Cheney already had the media game mastered 15 years ago

Find someone with ambition at the New York Times, dazzle them with access to insider power and prestige, use them to plant and reinforce a false narrative, and then, when you are challenged on that narrative, cite their articles in the New York Times as proof.

And the beautiful thing about this cycle is, the propaganda payload in your narrative can be delivered solely by unverifiable statements attributed to “anonymous government sources.” At at no point in the cycle do you ever have to supply actual (as in empirically verifiable) facts.

Submitted by dancingrabbit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 5:44am

Brazil's soft coup has now become a hard coup.

Interim President Temer has ordered the military to surround Dilma Rousseff's residence.

Senate-imposed Interim President Michel Temer has deployed military troops to cordon off the area surrounding the Palácio da Alvorada, residence of the suspended President Dilma Rousseff, Brazilian Senate Vice President Jorge Vianna said on Thursday.
[...]
“This means that the elected president is under siege? What country is this? What provisional government is this?” the senator added.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Temer-Orders-Military-to-Surround-...

—

Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Submitted by riverlover on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:08am

Olympics cancellation:

1...2...3. Military. Zika. Polluted air and beaches. No water.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:43am

The Olympics will go on

Safety of the participants is less important than cashing in.

—

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Submitted by LapsedLawyer on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 10:07am

Will no one think of the corporate sponsors?!

—

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:47am

Coming to a country near you

—

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:15am

Morning Tim and all. TY for this, Tim. I'm on my first coffee;

soon as I'm awake enough, I'll be back to read in depth. Have a great day, folks.

Oh yes, if it's Friday...:=)

—

Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:37am

heh

Check out Rock Candy Funk Party for some funky beats/

—

Submitted by GreyWolf on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:36am

a new petition ...

at a hillary rally today i saw a bernie protestor heft a small child into a trebuchet and launch her over a castle wall. what the fuck

— leon (@leyawn) May 9, 2016

Bernie Sanders: call on your supporters to stop launching small children from trebuchets

Dear Senator Sanders,
At a recent Hillary Clinton rally, a Bernie Sanders protestor, not only disrupted the event, but began harassing a young girl with a Hillary Clinton sign. In a violent rage, the protestor placed the small child into a 14th century trebuchet, and launched her over the ramparts of a castle wall. We are writing this petition to ask you to call on your supporters to stop using children as medieval siege weaponry. We are including the tweet about this incidence as evidence in the hopes that you can put an end to this despicable practice.

https://twitter.com/leyawn/status/729544191873851392

Thank you,
Leon

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:40am

Kids like to fly

—

Submitted by OLinda on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:45am

Good morning, Tim,

and c99ers! Happy Friday!

I see you trying to get me to think hard early in the morning, Tim. I'm with Gerrit. Gonna have some more coffee and come back to it!

Thank you for the Open Thread, Tim.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:22am

It is only morning because you have been indoctrined

by man's concept of time.

—

Submitted by Citizen Of Earth on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:54am

Daily Show Is Now The Ahole Show.

Just happened to channel surf to the daily show last night. Check out this video clip of them portraying Bernie supporters as complete effin' idiots and blaming them for causing the violence at the Nevada caucus. Apparently after Stewart left the show, any progressive thinkers left with him. And oh yeah, F__k you Trevor Noah.

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/6i3juk/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-ber...

Now that I got that off my mind, the sun came up. The chicks in the sparrows nest under the deck have hatched. Looks like it's gonna be a beautiful day here. Have a great day all.

—

Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:27am

It's still the mass media

I tired if Colbert's schtick after just a couple of times. It is starting to reach Joe Piscipo territory.

Every once in awhile, the shows will make a valid point, but mostly they are stuck in the conventional wisdom rut and parrot central scrutinizer memes. What the funk?

—

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:03am

Mahakali wonders about a new party:

(On my 2nd coffee - brain cells doing pre-workout stretches...)

How does one formally create a political party? Perhaps that's something we could do to unite rather than fracture in our rage. What would your ideal platform be? What would you run for if you could? Ballot access is not that hard in most areas, nor are the filing fees (thus the random weirdos you sometimes see on your ballots). But stepping back further, a new political party. How are these formed? Discuss and is this of interest to you (like say, more than voting Green Party, for example, but voting a new party that would be an extension of the Bernie Sanders Movement, directly; I don't know if this is like Brand New Congress -- I haven't been to their site yet, but it would probably be a little more like Sanders, the Next Generation of some kind with a GOOD PLATFORM THAT IS CLEAR).

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kossacks_for_Sanders/comments/4k725h/how_do_peo...

Joe has a discussion-ready new party platform...

Perhaps the c99 mods could discuss some form of cross-pollination (it's national gardening long-weekend in Canada :=) with the reddit mods? And the New Congress folks?

Gary Larson The chickens are restless_0.jpeg

—

Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:40am

Apple pie and coffee here

I am trying to stem the tide of weight loss. 205# to 162# since last July.

I took a break to go tend the plants. Today was a humic acid, fulvic acid, kelp and amino acid feeding. The humic and fulvic condition the soil and change the cation ratio allowing the plants to more easily absorb minerals. Kelp stimulates growth and provides micronutrients. The amino acids, protein nitrogen, makes young/growth phase plants grow like crazy.

—

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 1:03pm

I just finished feeding

my dirt. I'm so stiff and sore I can hardly move. My thumbs are really messed up. I made two passes over the big veggie bed. The first pass was after weeding. I turned the soil over and added a homemade concoction of dolomite lime (Acidic clay soil here) kelp, bone meal, rock phosphate, earthworm castings, and a little fish meal. I let watered it down and let it sit for two days. I applied a thick layer composed horse poo and our compost along with mushroom compost and dug it pretty deep and let the sit for another two days in the gentle rain.

I finally got to the point of planting when the sky opened up and rained and hailed all over the place. The weather turned on a dime from 88 degrees to 60 overnight. The peas I planted in the semi shady corner last week seem to be happy. The rest of my starts are shivering on the patio. They are mostly heat lovers, peppers, tomatoes eggplants cucks etc. I'm glad I took so long whipping my dirt into shape and hacking the over grown bush. Tomorrow I'm planting lettuce seeds and broccoli and celery starts. Gardening in the time of climate change is challenging. I'm literally playing it as it lays. Last summer, spring by this time it was in the 90's. Freaked out the plants, the bugs, and me. Hope it stays a little cooler this season but who knows what's coming.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 2:39pm

Dirt

I mixed in vermicompost, feather meal, bone meal, alfalpha meal, bat guano, clinoptilolite, biochar, dolomite lime, peat and mycorrhizae back in March, then watered with EM1 and an enzyme solution.

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Submitted by Lookout on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 2:41pm

sounds good...

to this soil scientist. You've used great amendments. Weather is weather...always the friend / enemy.

Here in NE Alabama we're finally getting some rain and a little cooler weather. It is helping to extend our lettuce season which plays out soon until next fall. Harvesting the last of the snow peas too.

To save weeding this summer you might consider mulching (we use wheat straw). Sounds like you're doing a great job to me. Happy gardening!

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 3:32pm

Great idea with the straw mulch

I seem to have lost my earthworms last summer so I bought a pound of red wrigglers from our organic urban farm supply store. They said not to dig them directly into the soil or put them in the compost. They recommended first sheet composting and then adding the worms covered by a straw mulch. Right now they have a nice temporary worm house that they seem to be thriving and wriggling in.

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 1:36pm

The double post gremlin did it again.

Submitted by riverlover on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:31pm

Is this Victoria Day weekend?

I had a discussion w/litigating attorney's assistant. Teleconferencing next Wed. $1500 retainer, $CDN. Wire transfer plus cheque after paper trail. Message from son, incoming, made the flight to ITH from PHL, lady friend in tow. Daughter in SYR, picking up cap+gown, driving back for intercept. Life in the fast lane.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 2:19pm

Hi Riverlover, I'm exciting for your family reunion - enjoy :=)

—

Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Submitted by Lookout on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:03am

Journalism dead?

Nice piece about Rebel Reporter John Ross on Democracy now. He reads his poem "journalism" towards the end of this 11 min clip. Last line as I recall is ... and never trust anything you read.

Would that reporters reported on experiences rather than rumor and innuendo. Of course most reporting now is just spin.

Tim, your essay was very logical today! Thanks for your work.

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by dkmich on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:12am

Good morning Tim and fellow 99ers....

Very interesting topic Tim. I often think if these people are America's best and brightest, we must be pretty GD dumb. This brings to mind the old posit that we are nothing more than someone's ant farm.

If Bernie does nothing else, he sure pulled down the veil and exposed a group of very ugly truths about our democracy.

PS - Today, I am officially retired. 39.5 years with the same employer. Am I an anachronism or what?

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by OLinda on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:29am

Congratulations, dkmich!

on your retirement. Now that's a happy Friday.

Wow, 39.5 years. You don't see that much anymore. A well earned break now.

I had 14 years at one place, but that was tops. Best job I had. None compared after that. The company merged and lots were laid off, including me.

I agree about Bernie's campaign. It exposed our so-called democracy and exposed some people too.

Have a great day!

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:35am

Congratulations, dkmich! That is quite an achievement in these

cutthroat times we live in. Enjoy your new days to the max; have fun and learn lots of new things :=) Have a great first day of the rest of your life, my friend,

—

Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:46am

It is beyond our willingness to understand

Our entire galaxy could be a crumb on the floor of another reality. Just funkin' sayin'

BTW - Congrats on the retirement. I am hoping to transition directly from caregiver to retired. I will have to be frugal, but I just can't work for the man anymore.

—

Submitted by Raggedy Ann on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:13am

Happy Retirement, dkmich!

Wonderful news for you! I hope you enjoy your new found free-wheeling life!

—

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Submitted by Lookout on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:44am

Hooray for retirement!

I was lucky to have a 25 year retirement option (15 of those years teaching 8th grade). I've been happily focused on my interests since then, and wish you great joy and happiness in your new life path.

Bernie has opened many eyes this election. We are getting a look behind the curtain.

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:01pm

Congratulations dk!

I remember when I retired, there were all these things I planned on doing that I ended up not doing. And there were all these things I ended up doing that I never planned on doing. The surprises are what have been the most fun. I hope you will enjoy your retirement to the fullest!

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by riverlover on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:36pm

Yay, dkmich!!

I managed 30 years, forced retirement, considered vested by NYS, not "retired" to Cornell. I would need another year there. Not.Likely. A big Funk off to Cornell. At least I scored a .edu addy, they can't take that away as an alum.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:12pm

congrats and welcome to the ranks of the free.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:13am

Good Morning, Tim and 99%'ers!

This is for Tim since you are from western Pa. My husband is traveling this week and his route has taken him through western Pa. So he made a side trip to my parents' home town of Indiana, Pa. He just called me from there and sent me a picture of my father's parents' home. It looks exactly the same and everything around it is exactly the same. My mother's parents' home and her late sister's home are across the street from one another on another street and they look the same too. It has been 32 years since I last was there and the residential areas are still the same. There is something very comforting in knowing that with all the chaos going on in our lives.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:53am

Dad did his masters at IUP

I was a child and we used to go feed the squirrels while dad was taking class. Indiana was a bit of a drive, we were over in the Allegheny River Valley and would roll through Saltsburg, Blairsville, Homer City and various cross roads of Western PA.

—

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:40pm

My grandparents' house

was right down town, two blocks from Philadelphia Street which was the main street in town. It was built shortly after the turn of the century and my grandparents bought it in 1931 or 32 during the Depression. They lived there for almost 60 years. Each summer we went there for vacation and would sit on the front porch after dinner to listen to the Pirates baseball game on the radio. My grandmother, my sister and I would always sit in the swing. The swing is still there after all these years!

I wish I could go inside and check the stairwell. Halfway up the stairs, there was a small landing where the stairs turned. It had an oak handrail and there was a cap on the railing where the stairs turned. As a boy, my father wrote his name inside that cap. I wonder if it is still there. Small things like that make great memories.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:47pm

There are nights when I can get KDKA here in Raleigh

—

Submitted by kharma on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:52am

Morning Tim and all you 99%ers!

It's the weekend eve.

—

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties.. This...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.--John Adams

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:56am

Funkin' A

—

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:53am

Tim, I read your post and enjoyed it very much. You do an

excellent job of debunking the notion of our "betters knowing better" for the con job it is.

As I read, I was reminded of the Tao Te Ching

The Master leads
by emptying people’s minds
and filling their cores,
by weakening their ambition
and toughening their resolve.
He helps people lose everything they know,
everything they desire,
and creates confusion
in those who think that they know.
(Chapter 3, Stephen Mitchell’s translation )

Thanks Tim, I hope you and Sweetie have a special day together,

—

Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 8:04am

The Toa Te Ching could explain some things

Am I using an avoidance technique?

—

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 8:17am

I think music is an amazing medium for helping the human mind

process heavily-laden emotional information. I don't think one could define music without using the word "therapeutic." Of course, it also is a medium for helping the human mind dissociate; see any indigenous rituals, religious liturgies, or dance club. Music is all-round powerful medicine. One of the things I like most about c99 is its musical culture.

You're a music fundi and probably have thought about these things in much more detail than I have. I'd like to hear your thoughts one day on music's power.

Have a great day, mate,

—

Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Submitted by Raggedy Ann on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:10am

Good morning, CuzG!

Music is part of RAndy's therapy for his PTSD. It is powerful medicine, indeed!

Have a beautiful day!

—

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:38am

There was a study

... out of Penn State, that explored music and relaxation/decompression. The basic finding was that it is not a particular type of music, but what the listener is comfortable with and enjoys. When I want to zone, I usually eschew lyrics and go straight for my type of groove.

—

Submitted by Raggedy Ann on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:50am

You're exactly right, NCTim.

When RAndy needs to find his calm, on go the headphones and he blasts his favorite tunes. Metal calms him, which surprises me, but hey, to each their own! I love many types of music, but mostly I enjoy classical music - that's what calms me.

Have a beautiful day and thanks for the informative and "knowledgeable" Open Thread!

—

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Submitted by lotlizard on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:57pm

Frenetic J-pop is often calming for me. Like RAndy & metal? n/t

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 2:22pm

Hi Cuz! That RAndy is a smart fellow indeed. Give him my best

and enjoy your weekend, eh :=)

—

Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:53am

Avoidance technique? You are excused

I think humans do everything to avoid pain and death and music and eating good stuff in company is the one of the best "avoidance techniques" there are. Heh, in the end we are not that dumb and beat the devil on his game for a while at least ...

Submitted by Raggedy Ann on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:58am

The more we resist, however,

the worse the struggle becomes. We need to walk into that pain so we can walk out the other side. It's the only way.

—

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 10:32am

yeah, I get that, but do you realize how people, who march

to protest on the streets, always sing and dance, not only now, but since ever? It's prevalent among indigenous people too. What looks like avoidance technology is often just a "recharging technology". And some of the oppressing forces even get scared about that funky musician marchers.

Submitted by Shahryar on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:05am

good morning, all! Our cat woke me up

normally I'm sleeping at this hour. Oh well. I took the opportunity to call a prospective client in New Jersey.

But I've got my driving test coming up later so I'll probably go back to bed. Anyway, what an odd thing, that the smarter a person is, the more he/she realizes he/she doesn't know everything.

Submitted by NCTim on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:09pm

Funkin' good luck

—

Submitted by Shahryar on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 5:46pm

yeah, I passed that driving test!

I'm gonna blame the last one, the one I flunked, on the Roberta Lange type who was my test instructor. No, but seriously, I had all these points deducted last time because I did rolling stops, going to like 1 mph and creeping forward to see if there was any traffic. Silly me!

But now I'm licensed. Yay! And even though the photo is of an older me than the last one, at least this one has a kind of smirk rather than a confused look.

(edited for spelling!)

Submitted by elenacarlena on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:46pm

Congratulations on passing your driving test! That has to be

a bit of a thrill, now you'll be more mobile. Go farther, go faster!

—

Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.

Submitted by Shahryar on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:50pm

thx, elenacarlena!

Submitted by fugwb on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:16am

I'm going to

"say" something but before I do I have to put up a disclaimer. I'm overly paranoid at times. 43 years as a Union member with 35 of them involved in Union politics kinda made me that way. OK, here goes. Are we slowly being infiltrated by clinton supporters? I've noticed some comments, which I won't re-post, that really makes me wonder.
Bernie or Bust...

Submitted by Shahryar on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:26am

possibly some newer members are more moderate

that is, there are many people who support Bernie, who don't like Hillary Clinton, who will still vote for her if she is the nominee. Don't ask me why!

I haven't seen anyone actually argue for her.

Submitted by Raggedy Ann on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:53am

I know what you mean, but I'm chalking it up to

people testing the waters over here. I feel like some are seeing if we are really Bernie or Bust on this site. Many are, but we also have those that will vote hrc for their own reasons. I'm hoping newbies peruse the site for a couple days, weeks to read the comments and see that we are an open community and that bullying is not tolerated. We are all about love because love trumps hate!

—

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Submitted by elenacarlena on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:58pm

I haven't noticed anyone particularly pro Hillary. I think this

site is for a range of progressives. Considering holding one's nose and voting for Hill is not really pro Hill. No joy in a Hill vote, just a sinking gut feeling that it may be necessary.

—

Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.

Submitted by hecate on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:21am

as Francois Villon did wonder:

where are the logic bombs of yesteryear?

Submitted by Shahryar on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:30am

A to Z? That's too limited!

you need a letter like the one that's pronounced "vroo" in order to spell "vroom". Vrooms are creatures that look like brooms who live on a planet that they are constantly sweeping.

Submitted by hecate on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 10:23am

i think

I read about Vrooms in a true-life Kilgore Trout non-fiction tome.

Then there is Voom, which is what Little Cat Z has under his hat, to be unleashed to complete the clean-up procedures when The Cat In The Hat Comes Back.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Fu4FIlAdo]

Submitted by riverlover on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:56pm

I also thought Seuss

and the cat. In the Hat. abc, etc.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by SDAmy on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:50am

Kos calls Bernie a "violent thug" #BoycottDailyKos

Kos' post where he calls Bernie a "violent thug" :

https://twitter.com/dailykos/status/733646800557617153

Berners are pissed off and show their love for kos on his twitter feed!

Please add to your tweets: #BoycottDailyKos

Submitted by Raggedy Ann on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:45am

Perpetuating the meme.

It's all they have. They can't get anything to stick to Bernie so let's make this peaceful man violent. That makes total sense.

—

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Submitted by dkmich on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:46pm

lol - he sure got a lot of shit...

Bet he was itching to put them in a timeout.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 4:15pm

He deserved it

He ought to be rode out of virtual town on a rail and not be allowed to

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 10:01am

So, Markos got cold feet and you say we should care?

#BoycottTweets would be somehow something someone should somewhere think about, me thinks.

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 3:22pm

Kos really outdid his ugly self

just pay him no mind he does not deserve the outrage or the eyeballs. Without any input he will melt like the wicked witch he's trying to cram down our throat's. I really wish people would quit post links every time that asshole and his minions start being the anti-democratic viscous 'dicks' they are. I know I don't have to click the link but every time I do I literally see red and get nauseous. I bit and read his nasty hit piece and flagged his tip jar. Leave them alone and give your mind, body and spirit a lift. 10 years is enough time for me to have a daily 2 minutes of hate, garbage and filth to deal with.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:26pm

Viscous as in oily? So true.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 9:46am

oh lordy ... NCTim ... logically speaking this OT is beyond me

...but (naturaly speaking) I got some sentences that I could understand:

"It is tough being assertively wrong about just about everything." To which I say that's well paid for those suckers who are wrong about everything all the time. May it be harder than hard til one day they break down beyond repair. FTS.

"So basically politicians, pundits and Madison Avenue just baffle with bullshit" To which I say how long can we be baffled before we go nuts? It's hard to baffle the crazies. And by now we all seem to be.

"Rolling towards a rant: our ruling class and media know everything, speak in absolutes and are totally clueless. I am tired of fucking know it alls and can not comprehend how anyone would let the likes of a radio talker dictate their thought patterns." To which I say read the article dancingrabbit has posted from the New York Magazine introducing Ben Rhodes to us. I got half through. I tried to imagine Sanders with a speech writer. I hope he fires them all. I like how he talks by himself. Off the cuff. And hopefully not that much.

"At bottom the question is whether our knowledge is in any significant way subject to or should be conditioned by our value judgments. People in general, it seems, are perplexed about the relation between facts and values. So much so that the old saying fits, “If you aren’t confused you simply don’t understand the problem.” To which I say in my Pretzel logic that I must understand the problem very well, considering the amount of confusion is spinning my mind. I should eat my Pretzels, I think.

Now the question lingering in my mind: How much am I "spinned" through C99p ? To which I say that the great stuff of your OT is that it makes me think about that question at all. Thanks for your work. Dancing Rabbits post of the NYM article is so long (and very eye-opening) I need the weekend to finish both.

Well, I am funked out by now and need to get out and enjoy the sun.

Submitted by riverlover on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 1:00pm

Sun good, mimi. 75 outside.

I just up-potted a shipped, grafted tomato (Blue!!) and have artistically watered in, posed next to the fence on an upside-down pot. Puppy sleeping. Son in the air, 34 minutes away. Winging it.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:31pm

Hi mimi

“If you aren’t confused you simply don’t understand the problem." I remember them saying all of them during then economic meltdown that it was just to complicated for people to grasp. Right. I understood exactly what was going down. Disaster Capitalism writ large. Globalized financial casino markets and oligarchical collectivists who are hell bent on ruling the world.

Got to stand and face it life is sooo complicated. Not really life is cool and all the complexities are just human tripping, power plays and destruction. Numbers and the data readings of mass deception.

"Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

From Mark Twain's Own Autobiography.

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 12:19pm

Bravo! A fabulous OT

As an visual artist married to a musician, mathematician who majored in philosophy, this essay really hit home. Ever noticed how a lot of these mind bending expert blowhards start off as linguist's? My Dad was a scienceman and he at least dreamed of infinite possibilities outside the reality of the human known universe. He was however unethical and amoral about cause and effect. He sold his beautiful mind to all kinds of human evil deeds. 'Somebodies got to do it'. Let's do the numbers.

So much data so little time. The arrogance of the western world blows me away. I blame the Greeks with their separation of knowledge into unrelated categories that doesn't look at the whole. Nature is scorned and disregarded. Like Carl Sagan I think the Hindu's have a better grasp of the sweet mysteries of Om. Humanism without the humanity, science without the basic truths that cannot be measured or busted up. Hubris taken to the max with no redeeming value. Language and data that is all about the material world as we find it and yet disconnected from any imagination, soul or whole cannot put this humpty back together again.

they lost The Point

The Hindi's hit the floor

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 1:11pm

Tool on TOP wrote a letter to Bernie diary - needs love

ok, don't read the damn comments, just the diary, and if you can contact Tool via kosmail, please ask him to post this diary here as well.

I want to twitter it out from here not from there. I met Tool and I like him, can't believe he has the nerves to still fight over there. But he ain't giving in and that's nice. Go Bernie, Go Tool.

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:38pm

I like Tool a lot

He was a OWS guy. One I fallowed him. I really wish all those left at dkos who are of good spirit would just let go and move on. They are flogging a dead horse. Maybe they like then contention I did for years and now I'm done. Why bother beating your head against a brick wall? hope he does come over here. The more the merrier. People globally need to let go of the false reality that says this is inevitable and the only way forward. It's utter bs. and yet people act like it's the only reality and choice they have. That's just not real. It's intimidation writ large. Or else? So bring it on assholes.

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 1:24pm

Perfect segue . . .

Pelosi, Lew/White House, and Ryan Support Cuts To Puerto Rico's Minimum Wage.

Congress agrees to help Puerto Rico relieve massive debt, but at a price. https://t.co/imEoHllx1B

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 20, 2016

. . . Another big concern for some government officials and young adults in Puerto Rico is a provision that would allow the local government to temporarily lower the minimum wage, authorizing businesses to pay $4.25 an hour to first-time employees under age 20.
The bill states that the age can be automatically extended to 25 and that the lower wage can be paid for up to four years if requested. The island's current minimum wage varies from $5.08 to $7.25 an hour.

Critics say workers can barely survive on the current minimum wage, given the rising cost of living in Puerto Rico.

"I think it's terrible," said Jaileen Trinidad, a 23-year-old restaurant hostess. "We're educated. I have my bachelor's degree. ... It would affect me greatly because my baby depends on me."

Puerto Ricans fear that lowering the minimum wage would further fuel an exodus to the U.S. mainland instead of helping create more jobs locally.

Gabriel Hernandez, a 19-year-old food delivery worker, said the measure would prevent young people from building a secure future.

"They wouldn't be able to get ahead, to make money to buy a car, to buy school supplies, to buy a house," he said.

But it's unlikely the minimum wage provision will change.

The bill was revised during weeks of negotiations and it now has the support of U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.

Disagreements over how the board would be appointed had held up negotiations. The bill would allow the president to select all but one of the board's seven members from lists provided by congressional leaders. Anyone that the president picked from outside the list would have to be confirmed by the Senate.

As U.S. legislators prepare for another round of debates, Puerto Ricans like artist Richard Daal are eager to see the bill approved.

"The government here has demonstrated that it doesn't have the capability or the dexterity to manage the island," he said. "It's like a business. If you don't manage it well, someone else should take over." . . .

___
Associated Press writer Danica Coto reported this story in San Juan and AP writer Mary Clare Jalonick reported from Washington.

[A final bill just passed with this provision, but I've posted this particular article, because it details the minimum wage cut to be put in place to 'save' Puerto Rico from its huge budget shortfall. Pensions will also be sharply curtailed. Repaginated for emphasis.]

Thanks for today's interesting OT!

Mollie

“If a dog won’t come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.”-- Woodrow Wilson

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 5:56pm

Very late to the party, but thanks and have a good evening.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 6:42pm

Same to you EL

Late to the party and sticking to the sidelines The OT being kind of sane. Tis the season to be ~~downright nasty~~ silly. Nothing silly about this electoral farce and I for one just want it to be over so we can move on into the real nitty gritty which is getting all these fuckers out of here. They all need to be gone daddy gone. Thought of another 16 from your latest OT.

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 05/20/2016 - 7:39pm