Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 13 Editor's Choice: 5
-
Toumanian's Folk Tales
[Read the article: Destination: Armenia]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ms. Toumani's suggestions for reading are excellent but it's strange (given her surname) that she hasn't mentioned what is probably the most famous Armenian writer of all - Hovanes Toumanian. Toumanian wrote funny but wise fairy tales, mostly about the rural villages in outlying regions of Armenia. It's very hard to read it in the original Armenian if you aren't a native speaker, because much of it is written in the Lori dialect. Fortunately for thos eof us who are NOT native Armenian speakers, Toumanian's stories have been translated into many other languages. Quite a few of his tales are available for free online at the Armenian Embassy in Washington's website ( http://www.armeniaemb.org/); click on the "Kids" section to read some of his "fairy tales".
My personal favorite is still The Foolish Man in which a man sets out to ask God about why he isn't rewarded for his hard work. On his trip he meets other characters who ask him to pass on their questions to God. For example, a hungry wolf asks, "If God created me, then why doesn't he feed me?"
-
I hate to admit it... but this actually makes a lot of sense
[Read the article: Iranian regime change: "Faster, please!"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So... he basically says:
1) Let's not invade more countries militarily. Check.
2) Let's give democratic reformists in Iran access to information about peaceful protests and resistance. Check.
3) Iran is a civilized country with a large, educated youth culture and not just a bunch of fanatics. Check.
4) Iran's government doesn't like us. Check.
So why exactly are we all foaming at the mouth about what he said? This sounds like a pretty Clintonian policy and awfully accurate. I'm not gonna vote for the guy, but he might not be a bad person to have hanging around the next democratic president's office providing some thoughts now and then.
OK, he made a bunch of bad calls in the past and spread some incorrect info on his website... oh well, not like we've never gotten anything wrong.
-
Your Mom Is Dead On
[Read the article: Neuroeconomists tackle the irrational]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've spent the better part of two weeks reading papers in psychology and neuroscience journals about how individual differences in the same brain regions you're discussing lead to bad choices.
Alcoholics, substance abusers in general, ADHD kids, psychopaths and obsessive-compulsives all have various problems related to choice, and many of them vary in meaningful ways in error detection/correction, response to punishment, and responding before they should. In other words, individual differences matter a lot, and if you get too far out of whack on some of these dimensions you start acting awfully maladaptively.
-
Bill's back - yay!
[Read the article: Real talk with Bill Maher]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I love Bill Maher, and so does my wife. We may not agree with him on a lot of things, but he's the only person in the country still thinking that you can get away with saying anything. He's a champion for truly free speech in America.
There's something about this guy that makes you feel like you should stand up for yourself and for your idiosyncratic opinions, even if you're wrong and you know that everyone out there thinks you're wrong. He never said, "Take a stand so we can find out what we should think. If you don't take a stand for something stupid, then you're NOT encouraging thinking, and that's a bigger tragedy than being wrong." But hey, he --could-- have said that, right? It would've made sense for him to say it.
Keep it up, Bill! We'll be watching tomorrow.
-
Thanks, Erik...
[Read the article: I saw John Edwards in the shampoo aisle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is exactly the kind of article needed to fight the "haircut story". Come on, it could have happened to anyone. I've gone places and discovered my meal out cost a lot more than I expected... I'm sure the same can easily happen at a hotel with a haircut. It's way more informative than the half-truth smear job being peddled by the news outlets.
-
Get a Vorpal Sword of Summon Waaaaahmbulance +7
[Read the article: Why can't gay dwarves get married in Middle-earth?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All this time I have been bashing Republicans for focusing on stopping the dreaded gay marriage (gasp!) when there are important things waiting to be done in our country. It looks like our side is now moving into an even more ridiculous fight - battling to get a special /gaymarry command built in to games!!!! YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME.
Suggestion: If some idiot bothers you, use the game's /ignore command. Almost all social games have one. It works much better in games (where it completely stops you from hearing a moron's comments) than in real life, where you still hear them talking even if you don't want to. If they continue to harass you, there are GMs who will come and ban them. Everyone gets harassed by morons in games at some point. You can either ignore them, or, better yet, gang up and pwn those n00bs!! It's a game - you can actually carry out your fantasies and go kill them :) :) :)
'At'll learn 'em!
-
Is Something Wrong With Me? I Love Dickerson's Work :)
[Read the article: Michelle Obama's sacrifice]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Judging by the vitriol around here I'm in the minority.
Sure, half the time I think she's pulling my leg but she's clearly sharp, funny, and insightful. I don't think she really believes everything she says, but doesn't it make you think? She is playing the role of the sarcasting professor who makes some crazy-seeming assertion and then defends it against all attacks. The point isn't to convince you that Michelle Obama should quit or should not quit her job. It's to get you to think about how people might react, get you to deal with the possible points that could be made, and figure out what to say about it. Arm up -- you need to think through the issues before the Republicans raise them, and be ready to cut through the half-formed logic.
Another virtue is that Dickerson often sets up her arguments as coming from the far left... but as the letters here will probably attest, it's not the lefties who are going to give Michelle Obama a hard time about quitting her job. It's the right who will cry "flip-flop".