Unseen

A SONNET ON SPRINGFIELD’S HAITIANS

Beneath the moon, a gruesome feast they hold,
Those dusky Haitians, their hunger set loose.
Their plates are piled with dishes both hot and cold,
Beloved cats and dogs plus the occasional goose.

With gusto they devour the delicious flesh.
Their laughter echoes through the frightful wood,
A macabre scene, a…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
Simon i was wondering how the aftermath of an assassination would play out. Can imagine scenarios, situations, exchanges of great peace and love descending from above like leaves of autumn gently descening to the earth’s bottom.

If Kamala wins—and it’s looking more and more like she might—we can expect Jan 6 all over again…[Read more]

I’m waiting for someone, either party, to be killed with a suicide drone. If Ukrainians can blow up tanks with easily-modified off-the-shelf drones, I don’t think there’s a way to stop it from happening.

Here’s a hint that there remain things that can’t be explained with the standard model of physics: Why does the number 1/137 turn up all over the place?

Simon Paynton wrote:
It seems like some of Trump’s own gun nuts are turning on him. This one was a previous Trump voter who became “disillusioned” with DJT.

They should all be disillusioned with him. You can’t believe a word he says.

Belle Rose wrote:
I don’t think that assassination attempt was real. I think they were both staged. It’s Trump’s new way to get a poll boost. “Poor me look at me, they’re trying to kill me, (sob sob)…..”

Staged with the full cooperation of the Secret Service?

I don’t think so.

jakelafort wrote:
Oh my god who names their kid Brain Cox. Just willfully subjecting him to merciless teasing. That is not right nor is smoking crack wearing tight pants with a puss on your face…

jakelafort wrote:
Oh my god who names their kid Brain Cox.

Beats Harry, I. Chase, and Seymour.

Regarding the article on entropy, there is a real question whether time is really directional and yet the entire concept of entropy hangs its hat on the assumption that time is directional. Am I wrong?

Regarding Brian Cox’s collab with watchmaker IWC, I’m a big fan of mechanical (clockwork-based) watches. I always feel a little sad for someone wearing a “smart” watch.

I find it amazing that mankind can make a tiny machine you can wear on your wrist, held together by screws about the size of coffee grounds, which can keep time with an accuracy…[Read more]

Regarding rising oceans, Trump quips that rising oceans will mean more beachfront property.

No, idiot: It will shrink the landmass and thus the total shoreline in the world will decrease, not increase.

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
I cannot figure out how some voters are still undecided. How is the difference in choice not obvious to them?

I saw a poll (CNN? can’t remember) that covered that question. About half of the undecideds answered that they were undecided because, while everybody knows Trump, they didn’t feel familiar enough with Harris…[Read more]

While I regard myself as a linguistic philosopher (and am thus more closely allied to the Northern/British analysts), I also find a lot of ethical truth in Sartre’s existentialism.

Some key concepts.

Existence precedes essence: The meaning of a life is only established when all is said and done. It is like a painting which isn’t finished until…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
I still fear that Trump can win.

The complexities of one’s groups come to the fore at election time. One might have to weigh how one feels about the current administration’s policies on Israel’s handling of Hamas vs. their handling of Russia vs. Ukraine vs. China’s wanting hegemony over East Asian trade routes, but then want to rein in military spending in order to spend more on…[Read more]

@ Simon and Robert

One can belong to various groups almost without limit and often with incompatible or conflicting interests. One might work for Willie’s Widgets and own Willie’s Widget’s stock as a retirement investment. So, joining in a strike for higher wages for oneself and one’s fellow union members (yet another group) could adversely…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:

Unseen wrote:
Set being a useful term because a mathematical set can have just one member—or even no members, a null set.

That’s the difference. A collaborative group must have at least two members (a partnership, team, etc.).

Okay, but I asked a question which wasn’t I guess, worth answering when one might split lin…[Read more]

What is the logic of in-group bias? When the most basic group (in mathematical terms, a set*) is the self, it’s hard to distinguish it from simple narcissism.

Expand the set to one’s group (however defined, which is a problem: family? neighborhood? village? territory? nation-state? humankind?) and you have to decide to what extent do you have to…[Read more]