For a supposedly bigotted nation, we're not the ones banning headscarves and minarets. http://ping.fm/T4OFi

I think the designers of Chez Geek had geeks confused with stoners.

"I will not rest until I have seen a movie in which a werewolf falls in love with a baby" http://ping.fm/XchfY

Good god, top climate researchers coordinated to hide data and stifle dissent http://ping.fm/pE5Pl

Almost all the time-management advice I read doesn't apply to hackers. You can't cut creative bursts into 20m chunks.

It's like Seinfeld discovered how to denature jokes. I see something with the structure of humor but I'm never even tempted to laugh.

Yes, Potter fans. Your whiny emo wizard fandom is SO superior to emo sparkly vampire fandom.

We will not ship shit. http://ping.fm/52Zi5

All journalists are objective, except the ones who disagree with other journalists. http://ping.fm/k2rtP

Far from isolating, the Internet is reclaiming intimacy from work, school. http://ping.fm/SDIGy

Avoidance of malpractice exposure makes up the biggest chunk of US healthcare waste: http://ping.fm/ckoRV

EDIT: ...which begs the question, why has tort reform so far been a "Republican" proposal that the Democrats have fought including in healthcare reform bills? Seems like reducing something that makes up 37% of waste should be higher priority than e.g. moving away from paper records, which only accounts for 6%.

EDIT 2: Not actually trying to troll; I'm honestly curious why tort reform has been unpopular on the Dem side. Is it the trial lawyer lobby?

Aerosol shave foam is so very inferior to old-fashioned shave cream from a tube.

I think The Mars Volta is one of the very rare groups whose vocals I prefer to their music. Great melody spoiled by too-chunky playing.

A great thread about a guy who experimented with honesty and became addicted: http://ping.fm/X7eEf

Mike Nelson was the best thing to ever happen to MST3K

It is genuinely terrifying the lengths cops may go to try to cover up a mistake http://ping.fm/oZGKn

Other Jews baffle me. How are atheist Jews, agnostic Jews, Buddhist Jews, and Pagan Jews more acceptable than messianic Jews?

One of my intellectual hobbies is heuristics, useful little mental tools for gauging truth. I don't understand why this isn't one of the core pillars of a modern education, but that's a rant for another time.

One modifier I've learned to apply to debates is something I'll call "vocational bias". Stated simply, it's the tendency for everyone to overestimate the importance of their own area of speciality.

Farmers will advocate for protecting the American family farm. Teachers will usually argue for any measure which increases salary and job security for teachers. Doctors argue in favor of having all births performed in a hospital. Certified hairdressers advocate licensing requirements for other hairdressers. Etc.

I'm convinced that most cases of vocational bias stem from the best of intentions. While some people are undoubtedly maneuvering for job security for themselves and their friends, most people who have spent years mastering a craft simply have a hard time believing that anyone who hasn't put in similar time could do the job as well. Or that their craft in it's present form is anything otehr than vital to the nation's interests. Or that it's safe for consumers to be able to choose a provider of services less skilled than themselves.

There are exceptions. Every profession has a few outcasts who rose to the top only to start arguing against the very establishment that supported them. They tend to get sidelined pretty fast.

I guess the important point here is just that most policy debates aren't between a "good guy" with the community's best interests at heart, and a "bad guy" with essentially self-serving motives. They are usually between two points of view which are both equally well-intentioned, and both equally self-serving.

And if you find someone arguing *against* his or her own interests and the interests of their friends, pay heed. Either you've missed something, or they may be person of greater-than-normal intellectual rigor and moral integrity.

It is a terrible disservice to our nation's youth that the public school establishment dominates the debate over education.

Eventually they will run out of hours in the day and wonder why children still aren't learning http://ping.fm/YHVjl