statistics

anyone know the answer?

Annonymity

"give a man mask and he will show his true face"

I think there is a grain of truth in this quote and it strikes me how we are sometimes for what ever reason we do not show our "true" selves. To have to hide oneself in order to show another side seems paradoxical but nonetheless something I think that happens.

Ideas/opinions

Been kind of thinking about politics these days and more specifically the way we discuss and think about politics. 

Each of us in our daily lives as citizens dome across political issues. And as our obligation to be a good citizen we look to be "informed" on a subject. However what I sometimes take issue with and think about is how informed or knowledgeable does one have to be to have a substantiated opinion? Sure we all feel a certain obligation and sometimes a bit of pride in the opinions we have take, yet how would one know to accept the claims/opinions of others? 
How I see it sometimes is that the world is far more complex and often beyond the capacity of the average citizen to understand. We like to take a complex issue and try and boil it down and reduce it to the fundamental "facts" so as to make ourselves feel in control and informed and this invariably leaves much be desired as this overspimlifies and generalizes factors that should need to be taken into accunt.

So where does this leave us? Should we just give up trying to understand things and accept that things are beyond our understanding? No I do not think that will help things.
Instead, what if we changed the way we ask certain things? For example: what if instead of asking, "should abortion be legal?" we asked "what is more important, liberty or virtue?" or perhaps "should the bailout have happened" we ask"what values do markets hold and are those the kinds of values we seek?"

I think by wording these questions differently helps us better get to the core of the issue without allowing ourselves to be clouded by petty political divisions. Doing so I think will bring us one step closer to helping us form opinions that are based on values we hold instead of the political affiliations we hold.

But what do I know? I am here spouting off opinions left and right just like everybody else.

Stone walls do not a prison make,Nor iron bars a cage
-Richard Lovelace

study music

some great piano music for studying to. very relaxing and not very intrusive

Beauty

here is another great video of Richard Feynman. I think the editing done in this video is spot on and with the commentary given by Richard make this an inspiring video that I like.
stay tuned as parts 2 and 3 will be posted!

Be Excellent

was reading some articles today which kind of made me feel sad and powerless with the state of the world (dont read them. seriously they will mess you up).

but reading these had make me think and realize a few things.

1. be excellent: we have such short and perilous lives which are too precious to be wasted on trivial things that do not fulfill our potential. I think we should try and keep this in mind even though it may seem "idealistic" to do so as it gives us a goal or a way to model our lives.
2. kindness: kindness is a virtue that must be sought in our lives. we are all in this together and I think we sometimes forget that. the problems that affect the people around us are problems that effect us. 
3. cultivate your mind: we are the only known intelligent species (although I often want to disagree with that statement) and we need to make sure we use our human potential to the fullest. but I want to be clear here, cultivating your mind does not mean to just stick your nose in a book. We should seek to spend our time developing skills and talents that our really important to us.
4. accomplishing these ideals will be difficult and there are many obstacles we all face. between all the individual worries each of us have it is sometimes hard to have love or compassion for others, yet I think that is ok. All there needs to be is some level or respect between each other, I dont think we have to love each other just have respect for each other.

I dont want this to sound like I am trying to preach to the world, I am not perfect and make a ton of mistakes, but I am learning. 

False Dichotomy

If there is one thing American media has taught us, it's that there are two sides to every coin. And only two. Every directly opposing view is valid, no matter how absurd or deplorable. It's the foundation of the willful ignorance and insidious false balance that is now rotting away our capacity to have meaningful discussions. The wider public, which has no reason to be familiar with questions of either climate science or the finer points of the Holocaust, assumes that if there are arguments, there must be reasons for those arguments. Along with a right-wing anti-elitism, an unthinking left- wing open-mindedness and relativism have also given lunatic ideas soil to grow in. Our politeness has actually led us to believe that everybody deserves a say. The problem is that not everybody does deserve a say. Just because an opinion exists does not mean that the opinion is worthy of respect. -Stephen Marche*

Some ideas are just plain bad. Whether they be ill/misinformed, wrong, or unsubstantiated thee need to differentiate between them is vital to becoming informed. However differentiating between valid/strong ideas and wrong ones is harder than it seems. However what needs to be understood is that there is more to an argument than pitting it as some sort of false dichotomy, the need to make an argument an either or situation.

*quote adopted from this article , the concluding paragraphs talk more about this issue