'Persuasion' archives at Mises.Org

'In a speech to the U.S. Senate on March 14, 1834, Henry Clay said, "The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites tbe public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and encroachments."'

The Online Learning Revolution

Salman Khan with Google's backing is changing the way that kids learn math, biology, chemistry ... In fact, some schools using his system have actually 'flipped' their schedules—lectures are done at home and homework is done in schools where the teacher can help students out.

How about a 5th grader who asks the teacher how to use the chain rule in Calculus with the teacher replying that it's been a long-time, but they could sit down & figure it out together?

Individualised progress reports, &c &c ... ;-)

So, TV or video games—or both?

'“Evolved,” you ask? Oh, yes. Here is her argument: Since the introduction of World of Warcraft, its players have invested a collective 5.93 million years in making the stockholders of Activision Blizzard very happy. And 5.93 million years is a decent approximation of the length of time that has elapsed since the first hominid stood erect. So, you see? Of course, by that logic, the high school class of 1962, which has spent a collective 16.3 million years sleeping since graduation, are even more evolved. We should probably all have those big bulbous, hairless heads that science fiction has so often predicted. (Some of us have at least mastered the hairless part.)

“Reality is broken” is her premise, and I have no doubt that typical gamers would agree. There’s no arguing with the premise, for the simple reason that it is meaningless, except perhaps as a way of avoiding the fact that reality is hard. But it has a certain buzz value, and it got this PhD holder in “performance studies” her 20 minutes onstage at TED, where every idea is a Big Idea.' Robert McHenry

This observation that millions of hours are being wasted on video games, also applies as well to the time spent in front of a TV. Curiously, in the military we have used both techniques to increase the performance of our sailors and soldiers, and there are video games that are challenging and complex scenarios (simCity, simAnt ... series or Civilization come to mind), but like all things in life—too much of a 'good' thing can become an evil.

Tax & Tax until the Turnip bleeds!

“Nor should the argument seem strange that taxation may be so high as to defeat its object, and that, given sufficient time to gather the fruits, a reduction of taxation will run a better chance than an increase of balancing the budget. For to take the opposite view today is to resemble a manufacturer who, running at a loss, decides to raise his price, and when his declining sales increase the loss, wrapping himself in the rectitude of plain arithmetic, decides that prudence requires him to raise the price still more—and who, when at last his account is balanced with nought on both sides, is still found righteously declaring that it would have been the act of a gambler to reduce the price when you were already making a loss.” 1933 Essay: The Means to Prosperity, section I: The nature of the problem, p338, The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, Macmillan Cambridge University Press, 1972

[Cf. Daniel J. Mitchell's post: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/a-victory-for-the-laffer-curve-a-defeat-for-englands-economy]

Ayn Rand's 'Fountainhead' in a 9 minute video

How to pay for the USG's 2011 budget by seizing all the wealth from greedy corporations, fat cats and sports starts (also those 'useless Hollywood idiots'). ;-)

If Women Ruled There Would Be Peace

It has been said that if women ruled there would be more peace in the world, but events seem to defy that innocent prediction:

'In the end, the Valkyries got their war. Clinton's advice, along with that of Samantha Power and Susan Rice, who have all loudly called for U.S. military intervention in the past, convinced President Obama to override Gates and Mullen's objections, and to launch what Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman aptly characterized yesterday as "just the most muddled definition of an operation probably in U.S. military history."' [Christopher Preble, 'Obama's Power Problem, and Ours', Cato at Liberty, 01.04.2011]

For those of you that are sucking down Iodine pills

Putting things into perspective can help since natural causes of radiation & radioactivity are part & parcel of living on a fragment of an exploded star.

Education = Self + Learning

How about a 'revolution' that happens one child at a time to unfold each individual's potential—now that would be something—Salman Khan through his free online Khan Academy videos reaches 2,000,000 individual learners per month!

Technology innovations and reductions in cost are converging to personalise learning. For example—converting an eBook reader into a low-cost web browser. This can be done by 'rooting' the reader, a process that shifts the machine to Google's Android operating system as demonstrated on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUoHALWvPts&feature=player_embedded). Notably, YouTube is owned by Google, and Salman Khan's Khan Academy is being sustained by Google—these Nerds are gonna change the world!!

It's interesting to observed that Bill Gates is still 'rooted' to the old scheme of 'fixing schools' and donating billions to the 'cause'. But costs matter: DC public schools—$28,000/pupil/year failures; private schools—$7,000/pupil/year with better results; Khan Academy—internet access + reader (100's of dollars/pupil/year) with personalised results.

So, after you 'root' your E-reader you have a cheap iPad which permits access to Khan Academy educational videos, which means even poor kids will have access to world class instruction and learning !! ;-)

p.s. MIT posts all its lectures online.

Beethoven's Nightshirt

DNA tested, OK, but the reconstituted 'Nightshirt' Sonata sounds a lot like the Arietta from Sonata 32, Op. 111 ... ;-)

Liszt Competition Streaming to You

The schedule for the upcoming Liszt competition which will be streamed live. ;-)

Devil's may lie

'Saints may always tell the truth, but for mortals living means lying. We lie to protect our privacy (“No, I don’t live around here”); to avoid hurt feelings (“Friday is my study night”); to make others feel better (“Gee you’ve gotten skinny”); to avoid recriminations (“I only lost $10 at poker”); to prevent grief (“The doc says you’re getting better”); to main- tain domestic tranquility (“She’s just a friend”); to avoid social stigma (“I just haven’t met the right woman”); for career advancement (“I’m sooo lucky to have a smart boss like you”); to avoid being lonely (“I love opera”); to eliminate a rival (“He has a boyfriend”); to achieve an objective (“But I love you so much”); to defeat an objective (“I’m allergic to latex”); to make an exit (“It’s not you, it’s me”); to delay the inevitable (“The check is in the mail”); to communicate dis- pleasure (“There’s nothing wrong”); to get someone off your back (“I’ll call you about lunch”); to escape a nudnik (“My mother’s on the other line”); to namedrop (“We go way back”); to set up a surprise party (“I need help moving the piano”); to buy time (“I’m on my way”); to keep up appear- ances (“We’re not talking divorce”); to avoid taking out the trash (“My back hurts”); to duck an obligation (“I’ve got a headache”); to maintain a public image (“I go to church every Sunday”); to make a point (“Ich bin ein Berliner”); to save face (“I had too much to drink”); to humor (“Correct as usual, King Friday”); to avoid embarrassment (“That wasn’t me”); to curry favor (“I’ve read all your books”); to get a clerkship (“You’re the greatest living jurist”); to save a dollar (“I gave at the office”); or to maintain innocence (“There are eight tiny reindeer on the rooftop”).

And we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk, as reflected by the popularity of plastic surgery, elevator shoes, wood veneer paneling, cubic zirconia, toupees, artificial turf and cross-dressing. Last year, Americans spent $40 billion on cosmetics—an industry devoted almost entirely to helping people deceive each other about their appearance. It doesn’t matter whether we think that such lies are despicable or cause more harm than good. An important aspect of personal autonomy is the right to shape one’s public and private persona by choosing when to tell the truth about oneself, when to conceal and when to deceive. Of course, lies are often disbelieved or discovered, and that too is part of the pull and tug of social intercourse. But it’s critical to leave such interactions in private hands, so that we can make choices about who we are. How can you develop a reputation as a straight shooter if lying is not an option?' Judge Alex Kazinski, 9th District

Thanks to Tim Lynch from CATO for directing me to this ruling (http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/false-statements-free-speech-and-sniper-fire/)

Homegrown Incompetents

In case you were wondering where in the world we find the theoreticians that lead us into war, depression and failure: Yale, Harvard, Chicago ... Look no further than those intellectual hotbeds of Utopian thinking—our law schools. The Bubba network is self-righteous and self-perpetuating, and because they do not suffer from the effects of their policies, having ensured they are well-taken care of, the craziness will continue ad nauseum—or until the country is bankrupt.

The New International

"AT MY DIRECTION" : 'It is not just that this president, like others before him, ignored Article I of the Constitution. Nor is this president the first to shun moral complexity in favor of a Manichean outlook. President Obama is the first, however, to assert that his broad powers to initiate war should be limited primarily by people who are outside the American social compact.' (John Samples)

Not only does POTUS not read Bills before he signs them, not care about the Constitution, but he's willing to turn the whole mess over to an International Community that certainly will never read either.

A bit over the top—but there's some truth in the matter: don't pick fights you can't win.

"These people will be serving the public only in the sense that the bull will be serving the cow." Robert Higgs.

The Soviet Union failed with its 5 year plans, so we adopted the same system!

Jeff A. Tucker's piece on the USG's 'morass of incompetence and quagmire of subjectivism' is a welcome statement showing how our regulatory system is out of control. In a sense, because it is so out of control and tries to do everything for everyone it can be 'proven' to work for everyone—or conversely to protect no one from anything. Unread by legislators, but created, expanded and enforced by bureaucrats it is a daunting obstacle to progress. Even our esteemed Congressmen recognise the problem:

“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill’ … What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” – John Conyers, July 27, 2009

— & yet Rep. Conyers voted for the 2,700 page Health Care Bill and 2,300 page Banking Regulation Bill!!! Which are now being further expanded into a regulatory scheme. :-(
But, at this point complaining is a moot point, after all, what's 5,000 unread pages to a 350,000 page unread thicket of contradictions and restrictions? :-((

In case I decide to photograph again

Mo' Doggie—or Modoggies of controversy.

For those dog lovers that are looking for more than a little bite.

Did the Nobel Committee regain its sanity?

Congratulations Lars!! I was getting to think that the Nobel Committee could only recognise politically-correct establishment 'prophets' like Al Gore or Barack Obama, and had lost all its moral authority in not supporting iconoclasts. Again, my deepest appreciation for your work, and congratulations, mani. ;-)

IRAQ THE MODEL

IRAQ THE MODEL

Your comment on the dictators of the region quaking in their boots at the 'chaos' after the liberation of Iraq is on the mark. Freedom of expression, freedom of choice and freedom from oppressive regimes is a threat to every regime in the Middle East except Turkey and Israel. It is ironic that western media and commentators can't see the ironic reality behind the Secretary General of the United Nation's comment. It is also an important truth that more Iraqis need to find the courage to do what you are doing.

mani malagón

Apparatchiks

Apparatchiks

3 April 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

¿Is the import of words any surprise?
That thoughts shape minds,—and minds shape deeds seems clear,
To most humans except those safely hid;
Or, should I say safely ensconced up high,
In your citadels of white ivory,—
Tenure not touched by life’s realities;

You do apologize for Stalin’s ills,
You’ll write a moral thesis for Nazis,
Obtuse, abstruse and obscurantist writ,
You’ll pawn off as profundity quite deep,
Though you cannot explain in language plain,
Your deconstruction of reality;

So when you argue against government,
It’s not against cannibal Idi’s reign,
Or to declaim the killing fields’ bone graves,—
You see the Taliban as just a tribe,
Or Rwandan genocide as white’s fault,
And only find blame in Western man’s ways;

Harems and eunuchs in Islamic life,
Are just peculiarities so quaint,
An evil empire filled with mullah’s hate,
Enslaving women to a menial role,
Lives on and you can’t raise a single voice,
Just make apologies for its death throes;

It’s not for you to praise peculiar traits,
Like individual liberty and speech,—
You loved the Soviet’s order so neat,
Cuban cigars and vodka with caviar,—
The life of intellectuals is so hard,
You can’t take time to recognize what’s right;

Or how the English singular will,
Destroyed millennial institution’s reign,
That haunted every civilization,—
Oh yes, slavery ended from the West,
And still in Africa it continues,
To say nothing of traffic in women;

But faults that all societies have felt,
And only Western life has grappled with,
Are vapidly admired in other realms,
And Hitler was just another great man,
That Heidegger and Derrida can praise,
For philosophy has no other aim;

You claim it’s all a story anyway,
And that your babble can capture life’s sway,
That myths can substitute for reason straight,
And visions can supplant all science says,—
So go and find your witchdoctor to heal
The ills that every mortal must soon feel;

And deconstruct yourselves out of a job,—
¿Can’t you at least do this necessity?
¿For if you truly believe there’s no truth,—
What purpose has a university?
It’s funny that Derrida laughed at you,
Having long since abandoned his methods;

But that impenetrable shield you wield,
Of words that hold no meaning or import,
Will not protect you from the Taliban,
Or from another book-burning madman,
And when the ghettos you’ve incited burn,
And you in safety watch with joy and glee;

Remember that civilization frail,
Can collapse with Tsunami suddenness,—
And you are ill prepared to hunt and fish,
And no one will take you for a shaman,
And paper books burn too quick for night’s fire,
And you’ve no calluses for work or life.


© Copyright 2005 Manuel Fajar (FictionPress ID:426079).