MTheads

You're Acceptable, Respectable, Presentable, a Vegetable.

David Brooks from NYT has run a series of essays about a project of Harvard's Steven Pinker.  Pinker asked experts from various fields: What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit?  The theories that came back are great fun to read and often enlightening.  A few examples:  John McWhorter, linguist and author, has a theory that many of us fall into a "path dependency" in thinking.  What worked before in a particular time and place is carried into the future even though such action or thinking is no longer effective.  Princeton's Daniel Kahneman has a theory that he calls the Focusing Illusion.  It's basically that "nothing is as important in life as you think it is while you are thinking about it."  All are of dust.

Read both essays for more interesting theories on how we can sharpen our thinking.  What interests me in the whole discussion of cognition and thinking is how much of what we think is genetically determined.  Perhaps logic and the ability to tweak how we think is as genetically determined as intelligence.  I happen to think it is.  Which is why it is pointless arguing with some people.  Outside of an extreme contrast to a held opinion such as that experienced by people from North Korea when exposed to the modern world or fear of ostracism from not adopting new social norms, a good number of people don't change opinions, ever.  I'm absolutely convinced of this.  Don't bother arguing with me.

Some experts and philosophers even question whether most of us bother to think at all.  Here's one.  Hanna Arendt wrote:

Thinking in its noncognitive, nonspecialized sense as a natural need of human life...is not a prerogative of the few but an ever-present faculty of everybody; by the same token, inability to think is not the "prerogative" of those many who lack brain power but the ever-present possibility for everybody - scientists, scholars, and other specialists in mental enterprises not excluded - to shun that intercourse with oneself...

And what to make of those seven seconds between brain spark and our actual conscious moment of acting out a thought?  Is it due to that crazy hip cat Quantum Mechanics, or to our complete lack of free will?  Perhaps I was genetically programmed to have this stupid blog. 

 

 

Franken Cat!!!

If this was a CSI photo still, Fluffy Justin Bieber would be in rigor stage 3 and Fluffy Britney would be a dead hooker with a bad breast job.

Someone's Looking Forward To BBQ Tonight

 

It's the eyes that get me, like something out of H.P. Lovecraft...Cthulhu...

Muddled Thinking, Muddled Results

What I find a bit disconcerting is that President Obama's position on Libya reflects my own muddy position.  I too don't have a strong position.  I do not know enough about the region or potential future consequences to have a strong opinion, hence, I am inarticulate on the subject.  Instead, based on whatever well argued position I last heard, my opinion swings between a desire to not become entangled in yet another Middle Eastern country and the fear that we will miss an opportunity to take out a brutal dictator who will now crush the fledgling democratic uprising.  

I think President Obama is in this same position.  He doesn't seem to have a coherent philosophical basis from which to judge this situation and to act accordingly.  This explains his reliance on the international community's collective decision to institute the no-fly zone. He certainly had an unshakable opinion when it came to the war in Iraq.  What has changed?  I don't understand why he didn't just stand by his earlier belief in no war for oil, or no war without Congress or UN approval, etc.  As I earlier wrote I suspect that the way to Obama's approval is through pressure from those he considers his philosophical and intellectual equals -- the United Nations crowd. 

 

 

 

Deja Vu or Something New?

What to think about the whole Libyan thing...Again, like the Iraq and Afghanistan decisions to send in forces, I reluctantly think there are no right decisions -  just better and worse decisions.  But, good decisions today can lead to bad consequences in the future, and vice versa.  Will we spend our treasure pursuing ideological, national, international, or humanitarian interests?

In Obama's case, international cooperation seems to have been the decisive factor for him. Perhaps he thinks groups are better able to make morally fraught choices.  Or maybe he's come to the conclusion that presumed guilt is better shared.  I think he can't help but be part of the international "moral majority".  They are his peers.  Moral considerations play no less a role in the Obama administration than they did in the Bush administration.  His decision just has more to do with supporting peer-group sanctioned action. 

I can find just enough morally resonating meat in the arguments for supporting the rebels against Qaddafi to be a weak supporter of our involvement.  I'd rather we hadn't gone in.  We already have obligations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although I'm quite happy with Obama keeping, or at least claiming, America's role as one of support rather than one of leadership.  

I wonder if all those hate-spewing Bush bashers will come after Obama with the same enthusiasm. A few consistent-to-a-fault types will.  The rest will adjust -- one can always protest the super genius republicans and their billionaire supporters planning to destroy and/or brainwash the middle class by going after public employee unions.  

Biden Comes To Moscow

Vice President Biden stopped by the Embassy during his stay in Moscow to meet with the Embassy crowd.  Both Biden and his wife gave gracious speeches.  They mingled and stayed for pictures afterward.  My son got a great picture with him.     

 

U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle introducing the Vice President and his family.  Those plants distracted me the whole time.  Why so tall?  What is the point?  Could I use my badge as a sort of plant saw?

The Ambassador gave Biden a Russian nestling doll with each figure a current or former vice president.  Those plants have grown a foot since we came into the gym.  One appears to be caressing the Ambassador. 

 

The Thuggish Thwarted Collective Hive-Mind -- Ugly

What with the constant drumming, the squawking jungly animal sounds, and the occasional human cry sharp with pain and fear, one might imagine oneself deep in cannibal country.  Not too far off the mark, instead it's the sound of thousands of hysterical protesters after realizing the Wisconsin senate Republicans have thwarted their collective hive-mind will. 

I truly think these liberal protesters believe that by making their collective hive-mind will known through screaming, placards, hate, and vigorous drumming, the world must capitulate to them.  They want it.  Badly.  Listen to the hippie pound that drum.  See the mild-mannered teacher screw up her face with a fatal case of self-righteous dementia.  It drives them nuts when the world doesn't behave as they demand. 

Another list:

1) First, they encourage their representatives to hide from their responsibilities, and now they want to recall other people's representatives.  Be more successful at the voting booth.

2) Polls are no substitute for democratically elected officials passing legislation. 

3) They actually believe we owe them for the pay cut they took by choosing to become public employees rather than going for that neurosurgeon gig.  Yeah, me too.  It was homemaker or heading up that astro-physics lab.  It was close.

4) I'm only talking about public employee unions.  Public employee unions did not build the United States or create our middle class, etc.  Unrelenting self-aggrandizement is a character flaw.

 

 

The Girls Of Winter, In Hurtin' Mode

What does one do in Moscow during the long cold months?  Why, beat each other up trying to whack a child's ball with a broomstick into a goal on a frozen-over tennis court for a rink.  It's sort of a cross between rugby and hockey, and slightly more dangerous.  It's called Moscow broomball.  

The teams are made up of players from the diplomatic and ex-pat communities.  Men and women have separate teams.  We use real brooms, tortured into shape using curses and duct tape.  We wear special shoes with spongy bottoms.  And we take the sport very seriously here.  The first punch only gets a warning. 

We just finished the season.  The US embassy women's team came in third.  Quite an achievement for us.  We usually come in last.  You have to understand, every year we have more new people than veterans, and a veteran is anyone who has played even once.  So, we have to devise ways to win other than through skill and experience.  Let's just say ours isn't a nuanced game...

Some interesting highlights:

1) Our coldest day of play was 45 degrees colder than our warmest. 

2) We look pretty silly when ice conditions are extra slippery.  Imagine a play where no one can get to the ball for some time, but our arms and legs are moving around like in a cartoon.

3) It's no shame to drink heavily before, during, and/or after a game.  Or on the next day.  Or on the day after that. Or ever.

4) During the season, formal diplomatic events are a chance for broomball players from different countries to get together and discuss game play.  Sometimes we have to be hosed down to get us to separate.

5) We have the best parties. 

6) Whistles are a rare item in Moscow, despite the vast number of hockey and sport stores.  I'm thinking of coming back here one day and opening a whistle kiosk.

Here are some pics. 

Practice.  You can tell because no one is writhing around on the ground clutching a pulled muscle.  Pretty much obligatory during play.

Men's game on an incredibly cold day. 

 

One of the delicate flowers from a rival team. 

 
The annual co-ed memorial game to a fallen comrade -- Britain versus the World.

Looks innocent, but try deflecting a frozen one of these off your lightly padded frontal area without tearing up.

 

 

 

 

 

Real Men Aren't Raving Idiots

Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran the essay Where Have All the Good Men Gone by Kay S. Hymowitz.  She argues that more young men are choosing to put off or avoid altogether the traditional path of marriage and children.  Women, on the other hand, tend to be more serious at an earlier age -- college, career, preference for long-term relationships, etc.  Hymowitz sees a growing gap between what men and women are looking for.

Here are a few of her observations:

Still, for these women, one key question won't go away: Where have the good men gone? Their male peers often come across as aging frat boys, maladroit geeks or grubby slackers...

Single men have never been civilization's most responsible actors; they continue to be more troubled and less successful than men who deliberately choose to become husbands and fathers. So we can be disgusted if some of them continue to live in rooms decorated with "Star Wars" posters and crushed beer cans and to treat women like disposable estrogen toys, but we shouldn't be surprised...

Relatively affluent, free of family responsibilities, and entertained by an array of media devoted to his every pleasure, the single young man can live in pig heaven—and often does.

More men are avoiding marriage.  Bad, good, indifferent, we can have a debate on the subject.  It's an interesting phenomenon and one that has the potential to change our society.  Certainly one can discuss this situation and speculate on its causes in good faith. 

Nope.  Many of the male commenters on the essay are incredibly defensive and foul.  And this isn't a hit piece on men.  It's a strongly argued opinion essay.  The kind that makes strong statements.  The kind that has apparently hurt some guys' feelings. 

Hymowitz cites statistics and observations and then attempts to explain the societal pressures and upheavals that have brought about this recent cultural change.  It requires a certain detachment, intelligence, and maturity not to take someone's contrary opinions personally.  I'd call such traits traditionally masculine -- the kind the mature man takes pride in.

But her raving male critics aren't those kind of men; not if you count up the number of times "F**K" is used as the main point of an argument.  Their defensive and paranoid accusations blaming women for every wrong in their narrow universe doesn't suggest much in the way of a backbone, either.  My three year old daughter accepts more responsibility for her actions than these guys. 

Just about every one of the hysterical men claims:

1) they are CEOs of their own companies

2) they are highly attractive and desirable

3) they have hot sex with many many women

4) Hymowitz is a poopy head for suggesting they aren't the most manly of men

5) they have tiger blood and are winners

And these guys have built up quite a fantasy around the superiority of East European women.  Seems these women are more attractive, smarter, nicer, funnier, and more appreciative of freedom lovin' guys such as themselves, especially when one helps them with their visas.  I feel kinda sorry for these guys because I get the feeling they never have the upper hand in any relationship involving women. 

 

Aerodynamic Kitty

 

The exact right spot to catch that gnarly breeze.