Updated: 3/27/08; 6:30:09 PM.
A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Blog
Thoughts on biotech, knowledge creation and Web 2.0
        

Saturday, August 6, 2005


DIY man shoots himself in heart. A DIY enthusiast working on his flooring shoots himself in the heart with his nail gun. [BBC News | Health | World Edition]

The thing that kept him from being a Darwin Award winner was he did not pull the nail out. He had doctors take care of it. Thankfully.  11:11:07 PM    



On shooting first. Over on Boing Boing, Xeni Jardin has assembled a nice roundup of thoughts and feedback concerning the International Association of Chiefs of Police's new recommendation that officers shoot suspected suicide bombers in the head. How to identify a suspected suicide... [seattlepi.com Buzzworthy]

Read this wonderful sentence and thrill to the new shoot to kill policy where anyone had it coming because an officer simply thought they might have a bomb:

The police organization's behavioral profile says such a person might exhibit "multiple anomalies," including wearing a heavy coat or jacket in warm weather or carrying a briefcase, duffle bag or backpack with protrusions or visible wires. The person might display nervousness, an unwillingness to make eye contact or excessive sweating. There might be chemical burns on the clothing or stains on the hands. The person might mumble prayers or be "pacing back and forth in front of a venue." The police group's guidelines also say the threat to officers does not have to be "imminent," as police training traditionally teaches. Officers do not have to wait until a suspected bomber makes a move, another traditional requirement for police to use deadly force. An officer just needs to have a "reasonable basis" to believe that the suspect can detonate a bomb, the guidelines say.
  11:06:54 PM    


Good For Thee But Not For Me

The United States' e.... Good For Thee But Not For Me

The United States' envoy in Iraq delivered a warning on Saturday to Shi'ite Islamist leaders, propelled to power by U.S. forces, not to use a new constitution to impose discriminatory laws by majority rule.


Hmmmmm.

JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage .

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

"Article --

"SECTION 1. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."




. By noemail@noemail.org (digby). [Hullabaloo]

Like any parent. Do as I say not as I do.  7:25:08 PM    



Privacy
RedNova News - Health - 'Health Chips' Could Help Patients in US :
President Bush's former health secretary Tommy Thompson is putting the final touches to a plan that could result in US citizens having a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip inserted under their skin, The Business has learned. The RFID capsules would be linked to a computerised database being created by the US Department of Health to store and manage the nation's health records. It could be the precursor to a similar scheme in the UK. The president's budget for 2006 continues to support the use of health information technology by increasing funding to $125m for pilot schemes. Thompson, now a director of Applied Digital Solutions, the company that makes the chips, intends to publish the proposal in the next 50 days, by which time he plans to have had a VeriChip inserted in his arm. Thompson believes the capsules could help save thousands of lives every year.
Just what we all need, RFID chips embedded in our arms. What was I saying about privacy and the next justice ?
- Josh Rosenau [Thoughts from Kansas]

I don't think having a government database with all our health details will really be worth it. At least with the corporatist governments we have today.  7:05:08 PM    



Director of the Vatican Observatory Takes On A Cardinal. Father George Coyne is Director of the Vatican Observatory. Writing in the Aug. 6th Tablet, Britain’s Catholic Weekly, Father Coyne, a distinguished astronomer, takes Cardinal Schönborn on head-on. He writes For those who believe modern science does say something to... By nmsrdave@swcp.com (Dave Thomas). [The Panda's Thumb]

Maybe now we will get ome real clarification. Perhaps the Pope will now have to intervene.  4:39:09 PM    



Origin of CTRL-ALT-DELETE. Milk and Cookies:
David Bradley describes how he invented CTRL-ALT-DEL, then tries to backpedal after he inadvertently slams Bill Gates for making it famous.
LOL. Nice job.

By the way, that's Dan Bricklin sitting to Bradley's left.

[Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus]

The look on Bill Gates' face is priceless. It is as if you insulted Don Corleone and were trying to backpedal as quickly as possible. Will a horse's head appear in David Brafley's bed or just the BSOD.  4:37:33 PM    



NY Post Calls On Bush To Attend Funerals. "Go To Ohio, Mr. President." Polite, earnest editorial.Show some leadership âo[per thou] starting with a visit to Brook Park, Ohio. That's the hometown of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, which lost 20 Marines this week in separate incidents near the Syrian border. The town needs to see and hear the president there. As does the nation.So even diehard supporters like the New York Post think enough By noemail@noemail.org (Michael in New York). [AMERICAblog]

It would be the right thing to do.  4:30:19 PM    



The Palmeiro Defense

In related news, Karl Rove .... The Palmeiro Defense

In related news, Karl Rove returned to testify before the grand jury investigating the Plame leak today. Rove testified that while he indeed did leak Valerie Plame's name to reporters, he has no idea how it happened.

"I still don't know what caused me to do it," Rove said. "I know I didn't mean to do it. I don't even think I did it, but I did. I'm not a crazy person. We were going to get our war anyway. It makes no sense."


Read the whole thing.



. By noemail@noemail.org (digby). [Hullabaloo]

To be used when the Chewbacca Defense no longer holds.  4:20:39 PM    



Anti-social personality disorder

Is Homo Economicus A Sociopath?, by Bryan Caplan.

The other day I was reading Martha Stout's The Sociopath Next Door. Although it's engaging, it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. But it did remind me of a question I've wondered about before: Is homo economicus a sociopath? Is microeconomic theory founded on the premise that the percentage of sociopaths in the population is not 4%, as Stout claims, but 100%?

Modern psychiatrists prefer to call sociopaths "people suffering from anti-social personality disorder," though as a Szaszian aside, I'd say that if anyone "suffers" from it, it's the people who don't have it! In any case, here are its main official symptoms:

There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

(1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest

(2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure

(3) impulsivity or failure to plan ahead

(4) irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults

(5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others

(6) consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations

(7) lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another

Number seven - lack of remorse - fits homo economicus perfectly. He might not find it profitable to hurt, mistreat, or steal, but if he did it, he wouldn't lose sleep over it. Several of the others sound like things that homo economicus would do conditions were right. Homo economicus would perform acts that were grounds for arrest, deceive, and disregard the safety of others if it were profitable.

On the other hand, however, several of the symptoms sound like the opposite of homo economicus. "Failure to plan ahead"? Homo economicus is a consummate planner - an idea formalized by game theorists as backwards induction. Irritability? Homo economicus will hurt others for personal gain, but this sounds more like getting into a pointless fight on the spur of the moment. Disregard for own safety? No way. Homo economicus always looks out for number one. Consistent irresponsibility? Negative. Homo economicus might be irresponsible if he were not paid for being responsible, but he shows up for work and pays his bills if the alternative is being fired and unable to get a home loan.

If you take the criteria literally, however, you only need three symptoms, and it doesn't matter if the others are 180 degrees off. The upshot is that in a society where prices do not discourage predatory behavior, homo economicus qualifies as a sociopath. But if prices do discourage predatory behavior, homo economicus is a model citizen minus remorse.

[EconLog]

Now this is really interesting. The criteria for a sociopath are correct. And the patient needs to have at least 3 of these. Not that the criteria could be applied to economists but that they fit several politicians or political pundits. Perhaps the criteria for working in the political arena today are quite different from those of our Founding Fathers. Read the Wikipedia article about sociopaths. Many of the criteria will ring some bells. I guess what we need to do before we can get political discourse back to 'normal' is to remove a ew of these sociopaths. I hope we would then have some politicians left to run the government.  4:11:51 PM    



Terrorism is the fault of ...
The kids at Run with Ryun approvingly quote Bill O'Reilly saying :

that the shrinking religious influence in the U.S. and Europe is empowering the terrorists.
Before I respond, let's see what other people have said on the topic



James Madison :

Nothwithstanding the general progress made within the two last centuries in favour of this branch of liberty, & the full establishment of it, in some parts of our Country, there remains in others a strong bias towards the old error, that without some sort of alliance or coalition between Gov' & Religion neither can be duly supported: Such indeed is the tendency to such a coalition, and such its corrupting influence on both the parties, that the danger cannot be too carefully guarded agst.. And in a Gov' of opinion, like ours, the only effectual guard must be found in the soundness and stability of the general opinion on the subject. Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance. And I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Gov will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together ; [James Madison, Letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822, The Writings of James Madison, Gaillard Hunt]
This is just one of many quotations from our founding fathers (both federalist and anti-federalists, proto-Republicans and proto-Democrats) illustrating that the religious influence in the U.S. has not been in decline in any meaningful sense. I dare say there is more of an effort to appear openly religious today than there was when Jefferson was editing the miracles out of the New Testament .



Let me say that, like the Hitler zombie , the "blame ________ for terrorism/"9/11"/" meme is idiotic (unless you want to blame Osama bin Laden). Secularism, gays, Jews, Darwin, or any other boogie men cannot be blamed. If Jim Ryun wants to blame America for 9/11, I want nothing to do with him.
- Josh Rosenau [Thoughts from Kansas]

Madison had more intelligence in his right pinkie than O'Reilly. How disappointed the Founding Fathers would be to see the religiosity of our current political hacks! We have stronger religions here BECAUSE of the separation. Once this idiots impose their version of religion, when they have the government impose their view of morality, this diversity of religious viewpoint will fade. After they go afetr the atheists and agnostics, they will go after the heretics and the different minded. That is how theocracies work.  3:55:15 PM    



 
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Last update: 3/27/08; 6:30:09 PM.