Standing on a Cube-shaped planet

ever wonder what it would be like to stand on a cube shaped planet?
The Straight Dope Answers:

The first thing you notice on being teleported to cubical earth is that you’re at the edge of a vast body of water we’ll call the Central Ocean. The land rises steeply away from the shore — apparently the ocean lies in a basin. This strikes you as odd, since you’d think the sides of a cubical planet would be flat. Patience. All will soon become clear.
Turning from the ocean and looking out over the land, you discover something else — you can see vast distances. On spherical earth the horizon on average is a little over three miles away. On cubical earth you can, in theory, see to the edge of the planet, potentially a distance of thousands of miles. Up the slope you’re standing on, impossibly far off, you can make out a gigantic mountain peak — one of the corners, you realize, of your cubical world.
Time to get hiking. I hope you’re in good shape, since the path literally becomes steeper with every step — you’ll have the impression of climbing up the inside of a round bowl. Worse, the mountain is stupefyingly high. How high? Well, the tallest known mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars, 14 miles high from base to peak. In contrast, the vertical rise from low point to high point on cubical earth is about 2,300 miles.
Soon you see why you need a spacesuit — the atmosphere gets progressively thinner until there’s none at all and you’re in the blackness of space. One consolation is that your weight steadily decreases. If you weigh 200 pounds at sea level back on spherical earth, you’ll discover when you finally reach the peak that you weigh just 103.
But here you are, on top at last. You don’t have the sense of walking around 90-degree corners. The peak looks like the tip of a three-sided pyramid. The three sides fall away steeply — if you lose your footing you’ll have a wicked drop.
On the plus side, the view is like none on earth, or on any planet anywhere. You can sight down one edge of the cube to a far corner, a distance of some 6,400 miles. Even more strikingly, you see all the atmosphere and water has been concentrated by gravity into a blob in the middle of each face, with the corners and edges poking out into space. You realize your cubical planet isn’t one world but six, each face’s segment of the biosphere isolated from the others by the hopeless climb.
Bizarre? Yup. Impossible, too. You may want your planet to be cubical. Just about every other force in the universe wants it round.

Books are Weapons in the War of Ideas

The Illusion of Asymmetric Insight

The Misconception: You celebrate diversity and respect others’ points of view.

The Truth: You are driven to create and form groups and then believe others are wrong just because they are others.

The illusion of asymmetric insight—creates a lot of problems. For instance, it allows you to completely reject what others believe because you think you understand it, and remain convinced that they'd agree with you if only they understood your point of view. Basically, you think you can understand everyone else and nobody can understand you. It gets even worse in groups. If you need an example, take a look at politics.
In reality, nobody's really right or wrong. We're never going to be able to paint a full picture of ourselves even if we're completely honest. Because much of who we are is internalized, we'll always project an incomplete version of who we are. When we look at other people, however, we have to remember that they're doing the same thing. It's easy to argue and disagree with what we see, hear, and observe, but the full truth is often often beyond our reach. Next time you disagree with another person or group, remember that you probably don't truly know and understand their point of view. You may agree on more than you're able to perceive.

Who you are alone is not who you are with a lover or a friend. You quick-change like Superman in a phone booth when you bump into old friends from high school at the grocery store, or the ex in line for the movie. When you part, you quick-change back and tell the person you are with why you appeared so strange for a moment. They understand, after all, they are also in disguise. It’s not a new or novel concept, the idea of multiple identities for multiple occasions, but it’s also not something you talk about often. The idea is old enough that the word person derives from persona – a Latin word for the masks Greek actors sometimes wore so people in the back rows of a performance could see who was on stage.

researchers asked people to describe a time when they feel most like themselves. Most subjects, 78 percent, described something internal and unobservable like the feeling of seeing their child excel or the rush of applause after playing for an audience. When asked to describe when they believed friends or relatives were most illustrative of their personalities, they described internal feelings only 28 percent of the time. Instead, they tended to describe actions. Tom is most like Tom when he is telling a dirty joke. Jill is most like Jill when she is rock climbing. You can’t see internal states of others, so you generally don’t use those states to describe their personalities.

The illusion of asymmetric insight makes it seem as though you know everyone else far better than they know you, and not only that, but you know them better than they know themselves. You believe the same thing about groups of which you are a member. As a whole, your group understands outsiders better than outsiders understand your group, and you understand the group better than its members know the group to which they belong.

The researchers explained this is how one eventually arrives at the illusion of naive realism, or believing your thoughts and perceptions are true, accurate and correct, therefore if someone sees things differently than you or disagrees with you in some way it is the result of a bias or an influence or a shortcoming. You feel like the other person must have been tainted in some way, otherwise they would see the world the way you do – the right way. The illusion of asymmetrical insight clouds your ability to see the people you disagree with as nuanced and complex. You tend to see your self and the groups you belong to in shades of gray, but others and their groups as solid and defined primary colors lacking nuance or complexity.

This and many other studies show you believe you see more of other people’s icebergs (personality) than they see of yours; meanwhile, they think the same thing about you.

excerpts collected from links posted above. First link is more in depth and longer, while the second one is much shorter and gives a brief overview

New York - Empire of Evolution - NYTimes.com

New York - Empire of Evolution - NYTimes.com: "To study evolution, Jason Munshi-South has tracked elephants in central Africa and proboscis monkeys in the wilds of Borneo. But for his most recent expedition, he took the A train."

Monstrous Discrepancies

America Has A Secret Weapon

Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?

Great write up on why the education system in Finland has been so effective (<-- points to scores from 2007)
here are some excerpts from the article that I found interesting.

“Whatever it takes” is an attitude that drives not just Kirkkojarvi’s 30 teachers, but most of Finland’s 62,000 educators in 3,500 schools from Lapland to Turku—professionals selected from the top 10 percent of the nation’s graduates to earn a required master’s degree in education. Many schools are small enough so that teachers know every student. If one method fails, teachers consult with colleagues to try something else. They seem to relish the challenges. Nearly 30 percent of Finland’s children receive some kind of special help during their first nine years of school. The school where Louhivuori teaches served 240 first through ninth graders last year; and in contrast with Finland’s reputation for ethnic homogeneity, more than half of its 150 elementary-level students are immigrants—from Somalia, Iraq, Russia, Bangladesh, Estonia and Ethiopia, among other nations. “Children from wealthy families with lots of education can be taught by stupid teachers,” Louhivuori said, smiling. “We try to catch the weak students. It’s deep in our thinking.”

Ninety-three percent of Finns graduate from academic or vocational high schools, 17.5 percentage points higher than the United States, and 66 percent go on to higher education, the highest rate in the European Union. Yet Finland spends about 30 percent less per student than the United States.

Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?”

in 1979, when reformers required that every teacher earn a fifth-year master’s degree in theory and practice at one of eight state universities—at state expense. From then on, teachers were effectively granted equal status with doctors and lawyers. Applicants began flooding teaching programs, not because the salaries were so high but because autonomy and respect made the job attractive

Is Justice Found in Absolutes?

Is Justice found in absolutes? To answer this question I am reminded of a particular Star Trek TNG episode that I recently watched.
 For some background the episode (aptly named "Justice") deals with a mission in which the Enterprise is to investigate a newly discovered planet. On first arriving the Enterprise finds the planet populated with people living in an Eden like idylic state, much akin to a utopia. On further investigation by an away team sent to the surface we learn the underpinnings of the utopian society, that there is interestingly only one law that the people of the planet live by with the punishment of a swift and merciless death upon breaking it. Sounds simple enough right?
Back on the Enterprise the plot thickens with the discovery of a cloaked and powerful space station that orbits the planet which has provided and taken care of the planets inhabitants. However unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the planet who attribute their peaceful and tranquil existence to a "god" of sorts is actually the orbiting space station providing for the people of the planet in a god-like fashion.
The crisis of the episode is made clear when Wesley Crusher (a younger member of the crew) has innocently broken the one rule of the planet and is sentenced to death. Upon hearing this news Captain Picard intervenes to try and resolve the situation the the following ensues: (warning for those who are not familiar with Star Trek: low production values and cheesy outfits follow, but try and see beyond that and you will see the social commentary)

Here is where we see that justice does not exist in terms of absolutes, that justice must act not alone but with mercy and compassion. Without mercy justice is nothing and there are always exception to the rule that if justice were absolute would not allow.

Slicing the Record Profit Pie

now this wouldn't be reason to pirate music now would it?

Environmentalism is Conservatism

From Scientific American:

the GOP actually started environmental protection in the first place. Richard Nixon signed into law most of the nation's landmark environmental laws and founded the Environmental Protection Agency back in 1970.

A bit further back, Teddy Roosevelt founded the national park system, among other efforts to conserve the natural heritage of the United States.

where have all the conservatives in the republican party gone?

"While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean, pollution free environment"
-Barry Goldwater

Why I am not a Libertarian

Why I am not a Libertarian from the Weekly Sift

Of all the political movements out there, the Libertarians have the coolest rhetoric. No matter what the issue is, they get to talk about Freedom vs. Tyranny and quote all that rousing stuff the Founders said about King George.
It’s also the perfect belief system for a young male (and maybe, by now, young females too). You don’t need knowledge or experience of any specific situations, you just need to understand the One Big Idea That Solves Everything: Other than a small and appropriately humbled military and judicial establishment, government is bad. Protect life, protect property, enforce contracts — and leave everything else to the market.

Whew! Got my order confirmation from HP so it looks like it will be coming in the next few days or so

Bike Riding

getting the motivation to ride my bike can be difficult sometimes, especially when the weather gets cold, or wet. But what gets me going is the fact that I know that I will not regret getting out and riding when I do. You can almost never regret getting out and riding your bike.

"goodbye" is a contraction of the archaic phrase "god be with ye"

Worry Wort

Toady has brought a bit of worry because of a few things. They may seem trivial and not important, but to me they have a way of becoming the only things I think about. 

1. I start school next week and I am stressing out about my math class. I am just worried that the class will be beyond my capacity and really stretch me. I suppose that it is good to be stretched just a bit but I don't want to do poorly in this class, I want to succeed and gain the necessary math skills that I will need. As I have mentioned before I have the option to take a 990 level online class or a  level 1000 math class which unbeknownst to me is a merging of the 990 level course and a 1010 course. I am leaning towards taking the 1000 level class because lets say in the case that I do poorly in the class I would have to retake it in the spring semester which is what I would have to do anyways if I was taking a 990 level course. On top of taking a fast paced math course I am taking two upper division science classes (Microbiology and Genetics) which will also be a large time commitment to stay current with all the material.  
2. my friends are moving to Salt Lake City and I dont want to lose contact with them. I know I will see them, its just that I wont see them as much as if I were living with them.
3. Last night I attempted to order an HP Touchpad from Hp's website, and due to the huge and overwhelming demand HP has gotten over the past day of so for their dramatically reduced tablet price their servers have been completely swamped. I attempted to place an order and I received an order validation on their site but as of yet have not received a confirmation email for my order. I am not so much worried about getting a tablet or not as I am about getting charged without having my order filled. It really wouldn't be that big of a deal if I didn't end up getting a tablet I would just want to make sure that I walk away from this thing squared away and even with HP.

But writing this out has been helpful. I think things will work out and situations are never really as bad as we make them out to be. I know I will have to make sure I work hard in my schooling this coming semester and that come what may life will go on and things will work out. And ultimately the problems these pose are not going to undermine the things that are really important to me.

Woo hoo! Got my hp touchpad 32gb ordered for a smokin deal of 150$! But no order confirmation email makes me nervous.