thegeniusfiles - madness to method

Gipsy Kings - Aven, Aven

Tenemos que cambiar de vida
Porque somos una familia
Yo tengo una mujer tan buena yo del cielo te bendiga
Yo tengo una mujer tan buena yo del cielo te bendiga
Yo a ti no quiero a perderte
Yo sin ti no soy nada
La vida esta muy guapa un dia de primavera
La vida esta muy guapa un dia de primavera
Aven, aven
Aven, aven
Ella vera si vera es un gitano
Que es como juego de un fuego de verano


-- Sent from my Palm Pre

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Alpha Blondy - Sabotage

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

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idio go on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

I recently discovered this lyrical vocal talent called "idio go" on MySpace Music. After listening to these songs, I think I left my heart in San Francisco!

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Poem: I Am You

I Am You


I am you, just in a different shape

It’s a fact we’ve forgotten but cannot escape

I am named Brent, and you have your name

But on the inside we look just the same.

I have the same feelings as you and same needs

My blood looks the same as your blood when it bleeds

I misunderstand you and you misunderstand me

There’s a word which can help sort this out: it’s called “we”

Rather than argue what’s mine and what’s yours

We’re better off talking about what is ours

And how we can work toward a common goal

Not arguing over who’s in control

‘Cause really the fact is, no one’s in control

We each just play a minor role, a part of the sum of a much greater whole.

There’s no origin and no destination

Just a journey that moves without hesitation

There’s only one train and only one station

So remember next time you look at me weird

I really am you and not what you feared.

Yours truly, Brent Hopkins

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Filed under  //   poetry  

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The Clash - "Know Your Rights"

This is a public service announcement
With guitar
Know your rights all three of them

Number 1
You have the right not to be killed
Murder is a CRIME!
Unless it was done by a
Policeman or aristocrat
Know your rights

And Number 2
You have the right to food money
Providing of course you
Don't mind a little
Investigation, humiliation
And if you cross your fingers
Rehabilitation

Know your rights
These are your rights
Wang

Know these rights

Number 3
You have the right to free
Speech as long as you're not
Dumb enough to actually try it.

Know your rights
These are your rights
All three of 'em
It has been suggested
In some quarters that this is not enough!
Well..............................

Get off the streets
Get off the streets
Run
You don't have a home to go to
Smush

Finally then I will read you your rights

You have the right to remain silent
You are warned that anything you say
Can and will be taken down
And used as evidence against you

Listen to this
Run

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Filed under  //   human rights   music   video  

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Candidate Encourages Critical Thinking: Platform (Campaign to Elect Sage I Darna)

Primary Motivation

My goal is to limit waste. It is clear that there are wasteful practices in the governance of our city. If elected, I will, at every opportunity, seek to eliminate unnecessary expenditures. This can lead to a higher quality of life for the citizens of Rice Lake without increasing our tax bill. Entrenched bureaucracy necessarily breeds lack of procedural introspection. When this occurs in governmental organizations it leeds to inefficiency and expense, both of which are bad for those who require the services of those organizations and for those who fund them. We the people are not well served by stagnation. It is time for a change and I will be that change. 

 

To follow is a list of some of my favorite tools for evaluating the quality of arguments that are presented to me. I will use these tools and others to root out stagnation and unnecessary expense in our city government.

Logic

Among the important properties that logical systems should have are:

  • Consistency, which means that no theorem of the system contradicts another.
  • Validity, which means that the system's rules of proof will never allow a false inference from true premises.
  • Soundness, which means that the system's rules of proof will never allow a false inference from true premises, and the premises prove true. Soundness results from both validity and true premises. If a system is sound and its axioms are true then its theorems are also guaranteed to be true.
  • Completeness, which means that if a theorem is true, it can be proven.

 

   With these tools, it is my assertion that, particularly at this very local level, all decisions of governance can, in the presence of accurate data, be made more efficiently, more fairly, and with a greater benefit to a greater number of citizens.  

 

 

 

Logical Fallacies

What is a logical fallacy?

All arguments have the same basic structure: A therefore B. They begin with one or more premises (A), which is a fact or assumption upon which the argument is based. They then apply a logical principle (therefore) to arrive at a conclusion (B). An example of a logical principle is that of equivalence. For example, if you begin with the premises that A=B and B=C, you can apply the logical principle of equivalence to conclude that A=C. A logical fallacy is a false or incorrect logical principle. An argument that is based upon a logical fallacy is therefore not valid. It is important to note that if the logic of an argument is valid then the conclusion must also be valid, which means that if the premises are all true then the conclusion must also be true. Valid logic applied to one or more false premises, however, leads to an invalid argument. Also, if an argument is not valid the conclusion may, by chance, still be true.

Top 20 Logical Fallacies (in alphabetical order)

Ad hominem
An ad hominem argument is any that attempts to counter anothers claims or conclusions by attacking the person, rather than addressing the argument itself. True believers will often commit this fallacy by countering the arguments of skeptics by stating that skeptics are closed minded. Skeptics, on the other hand, may fall into the trap of dismissing the claims of UFO believers, for example, by stating that people who believe in UFO's are crazy or stupid.
Ad ignorantiam
The argument from ignorance basically states that a specific belief is true because we don't know that it isn't true. Defenders of extrasensory perception, for example, will often overemphasize how much we do not know about the human brain. UFO proponents will often argue that an object sighted in the sky is unknown, and therefore it is an alien spacecraft.
Argument from authority
Stating that a claim is true because a person or group of perceived authority says it is true. Often this argument is implied by emphasizing the many years of experience, or the formal degrees held by the individual making a specific claim. It is reasonable to give more credence to the claims of those with the proper background, education, and credentials, or to be suspicious of the claims of someone making authoritative statements in an area for which they cannot demonstrate expertise. But the truth of a claim should ultimately rest on logic and evidence, not the authority of the person promoting it.
Argument from final Consequences
Such arguments (also called teleological) are based on a reversal of cause and effect, because they argue that something is caused by the ultimate effect that it has, or purpose that is serves. For example: God must exist, because otherwise life would have no meaning.
Argument from Personal Incredulity
I cannot explain or understand this, therefore it cannot be true. Creationists are fond of arguing that they cannot imagine the complexity of life resulting from blind evolution, but that does not mean life did not evolve.
Confusing association with causation
This is similar to the post-hoc fallacy in that it assumes cause and effect for two variables simply because they are correlated, although the relationship here is not strictly that of one variable following the other in time. This fallacy is often used to give a statistical correlation a causal interpretation. For example, during the 1990's both religious attendance and illegal drug use have been on the rise. It would be a fallacy to conclude that therefore, religious attendance causes illegal drug use. It is also possible that drug use leads to an increase in religious attendance, or that both drug use and religious attendance are increased by a third variable, such as an increase in societal unrest. It is also possible that both variables are independent of one another, and it is mere coincidence that they are both increasing at the same time. A corollary to this is the invocation of this logical fallacy to argue that an association does not represent causation, rather it is more accurate to say that correlation does not necessarily mean causation, but it can. Also, multiple independent correlations can point reliably to a causation, and is a reasonable line of argument.
Confusing currently unexplained with unexplainable
Because we do not currently have an adequate explanation for a phenomenon does not mean that it is forever unexplainable, or that it therefore defies the laws of nature or requires a paranormal explanation. An example of this is the "God of the Gapsâ" strategy of creationists that whatever we cannot currently explain is unexplainable and was therefore an act of god.
False Continuum
The idea that because there is no definitive demarcation line between two extremes, that the distinction between the extremes is not real or meaningful: There is a fuzzy line between cults and religion, therefore they are really the same thing.
False Dichotomy
Arbitrarily reducing a set of many possibilities to only two. For example, evolution is not possible, therefore we must have been created (assumes these are the only two possibilities). This fallacy can also be used to oversimplify a continuum of variation to two black and white choices. For example, science and pseudoscience are not two discrete entities, but rather the methods and claims of all those who attempt to explain reality fall along a continuum from one extreme to the other.
Inconsistency
Applying criteria or rules to one belief, claim, argument, or position but not to others. For example, some consumer advocates argue that we need stronger regulation of prescription drugs to ensure their safety and effectiveness, but at the same time argue that medicinal herbs should be sold with no regulation for either safety or effectiveness.
Non-Sequitur
In Latin this term translates to "doesn't follow". This refers to an argument in which the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises. In other words, a logical connection is implied where none exists.
Post-hoc ergo propter hoc
This fallacy follows the basic format of: A preceded B, therefore A caused B, and therefore assumes cause and effect for two events just because they are temporally related (the latin translates to "after this, therefore because of this").
Reductio ad absurdum
In formal logic, the reductio ad absurdum is a legitimate argument. It follows the form that if the premises are assumed to be true it necessarily leads to an absurd (false) conclusion and therefore one or more premises must be false. The term is now often used to refer to the abuse of this style of argument, by stretching the logic in order to force an absurd conclusion. For example a UFO enthusiast once argued that if I am skeptical about the existence of alien visitors, I must also be skeptical of the existence of the Great Wall of China, since I have not personally seen either. This is a false reductio ad absurdum because he is ignoring evidence other than personal eyewitness evidence, and also logical inference. In short, being skeptical of UFO's does not require rejecting the existence of the Great Wall.
Slippery Slope
This logical fallacy is the argument that a position is not consistent or tenable because accepting the position means that the extreme of the position must also be accepted. But moderate positions do not necessarily lead down the slippery slope to the extreme.
Special pleading, or ad-hoc reasoning
This is a subtle fallacy which is often difficult to recognize. In essence, it is the arbitrary introduction of new elements into an argument in order to fix them so that they appear valid. A good example of this is the ad-hoc dismissal of negative test results. For example, one might point out that ESP has never been demonstrated under adequate test conditions, therefore ESP is not a genuine phenomenon. Defenders of ESP have attempted to counter this argument by introducing the arbitrary premise that ESP does not work in the presence of skeptics. This fallacy is often taken to ridiculous extremes, and more and more bizarre ad hoc elements are added to explain experimental failures or logical inconsistencies.
Straw Man
Arguing against a position which you create specifically to be easy to argue against, rather than the position actually held by those who oppose your point of view.
Tautology
tautology is an argument that utilizes circular reasoning, which means that the conclusion is also its own premise. The structure of such arguments is A=B therefore A=B, although the premise and conclusion might be formulated differently so it is not immediately apparent as such. For example, saying that therapeutic touch works because it manipulates the life force is a tautology because the definition of therapeutic touch is the alleged manipulation (without touching) of the life force.
The Moving Goalpost
A method of denial arbitrarily moving the criteria for "proof" or acceptance out of range of whatever evidence currently exists.
Tu quoque
Literally, you too. This is an attempt to justify wrong action because someone else also does it. "My evidence may be invalid, but so is yours."
Unstated Major Premise
This fallacy occurs when one makes an argument which assumes a premise which is not explicitly stated. For example, arguing that we should label food products with their cholesterol content because Americans have high cholesterol assumes that: 1) cholesterol in food causes high serum cholesterol; 2) labeling will reduce consumption of cholesterol; and 3) that having a high serum cholesterol is unhealthy. This fallacy is also sometimes called begging the question.

 

Thanks to SGU


 

Government of the people, for the people, by the people.

 

    It is by subjecting all of the arguments presented to me as your representative to the scrutiny of these tools and by ensuring that all of the arguments that I present pass the same test, that I will ensure that the noble ideal set forth by the framers of our constitution remains an accurate assessment of our Government.

Please repost the link to the Campaign to Elect Sage I Darna Web site, and please be sure to read his Platform. I don't know a lot about Sage I Darna, a man who is running for Alderman-at-Large in the town of Rice, Lake, Wisconsin. But I do know one thing for sure. I have never, ever seen any candidate for an elected office who not only encourages critical thinking, but actually places a detailed tutorial of logic and critical thinking on his campaign Web site. For this reason alone, I LOVE THIS CANDIDATE! This man is an inspiration, and a symbol of hope for a better way to conduct the business of government in America and the world. This should set a new standard for elected officials. In this era of disillusionment and cynicism about the electoral process, thegeniusfiles is proud to endorse the candidacy of Sage I Darna.

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Filed under  //   critical thinking   local government   logic   politics   Rice Lake   Wisconsin  

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A Study in Grey and White

Another day when the ground is brighter than the sky...

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

         
Click here to download:
A_Study_in_Grey_and_White_tags.zip (3350 KB)

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Filed under  //   Pierce County   Wisconsin  

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LastPass for Palm Pre

If you don't know about LastPass, you are in for a treat. LastPass is a Web-based password management system which allows you to securely synchronize your passwords, form-filling info, and notes across computers and Web browsers. 

LastPass can be used as an add-on to Firefox (install through Tools>Add-ons), IE or Safari. When used with these browsers, it can save and auto-fill your login credentials on secure web sites. It can also generate random, alphanumeric strong passwords so that you don't re-use the same passwords over and over. One of the best security practices is to use a unique strong password for every login. However, in practice that can become a real burden to manage. LastPass solves that problem.

Now there is a beta version of LastPass for the Palm Pre. It will synchronize all your LastPass data to your Pre. But in contrast to other apps I have tried, LastPass will actually take you to the login page when you select a login. It does not yet have the ability to auto-fill, however it will allow you to copy your user name and password to the clipboard so you can paste it into the appropriate field. This is a very handy feature.

Keep in mind, this is a beta build, which means there could be bugs. In my testing, it works well enough to be useful. I already use LastPass for Firefox, so having hundreds of unique logins available in my Pre is a definite time-saver. There are apps for the other major smartphone platforms too, so even if you don't have the Pre, you should have a look at LastPass.

Hit the link below to download the .ipk file for the Pre. You will need a homebrew installer such as WebOSQuickInstall to install it. Check out my earlier post for more info about that procedure.

 LastPass - User Manual

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

     
Click here to download:
LastPass_for_Palm_Pre_tags_Las.zip (280 KB)

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Filed under  //   apps   LastPass   Palm Pre   password manager   review  

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Olbermann Slams Limbaugh and Robertson

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

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Avatar vs Pocahontas

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

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