Everyone should have to see this

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html

Racist ideas don't need to be beaten into people, these kids turn into viciously prejudiced people in a matter of hours. We must remain vigilant against all forms of injustice, it's far too easy to fall into bad modes of thought.

This Healthcare Thing

Obama's strategy for healthcare reform is inherently flawed: he wants to win people over to his position and build a consensus position that even Republicans will vote for. The Republicans, on the other hand, would vote against any bill that wasn't a complete admission of defeat. They're not interested in the administrative end of the bill; they want to break the back of the Democratic party.

The Trouble With Tri-Conspiracy Theories

There are several problems with arguing. The main one is: it never works. People just look for confirmation of their own theory.

Some specific problems: People remember evidence that agrees with their theory, and forget where that information comes from. Particularly, when conspiracy theories are attacked, any evidence is discarded as being part of the conspiracy. In a similar way, evidence against creationism is denied by divine miracles, often to the point of absurdity.

Another problem is the variety of theories. If I try to defeat a particular theory, let's say Astrology, I could point out a bunch of problems. But most Astrologists don't agree, and they would probably agree with much of my criticism, saying that those other Astrologists are "doing it wrong".

Anyway, occasionally people do change their mind in science, but even that is rare. Most scientific (and social) progress is made not when the older generation has a change of heart, but when they grow old and die.

Glenn Beck Likes Pies

Have you seen Glenn Beck lately? Clearly putting on some weight. Maybe he'll take himself out of the picture...

We're probably not so lucky.

Bookworm Outrage!

I've been playing Bookworm Adventures, and guess what it doesn't accept as a word!

They should know it's a perfectly Cromulent word.

Voyager Beginnings

I've decided to watch Star Trek: Voyager. This may be a bad call, but so be it. Just saw the first episode. I saw this scene

And joked, "The aliens live in an airport?" Then I saw this:

An escalator? Come on!

Anyway, I've had to play the "pretend game" where you imagine what the show should have done, then you imagine they did that. I had to do the same thing for the Star Wars cartoon. My version of Voyager is quite good.

Vacation

This is what I come back to after I'm away from the internet for forty eight hours. I think I may subscribe to too many feeds.

TF2 Blog Updates, I Guess

TF2 has been running a semi-public beta with the plan of making a patch that will make competitive play better. This is cool. I've heard that they're allowing heavies to run faster when holding their hands out, but that may be an urban legend.

Naturally, the TF2 Blog is completely silent on this matter, instead telling us three bits of information that are niche at best. (A segment that will interest noob machinima makers, a segment that interests map makers, and a link to advice for getting into the pro side of TF2.) I wonder who is in charge of their PR. Like I said earlier, I would be glad to take the job.