Letters to the Editor
droogoy
Published Letters: 589 Editor's Choice: 9
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Faith and "faith"
[Read the article: Proud atheists]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]JOhn Anderson wrote:
People take it on faith that nuclear physics, neuroscience etc. work, because the scientists say so. Also, because we can see the physical results they produce. It's faith in the sense that most of us really don't understand this stuff.
True, BUT if you managed to summon the due diligence to, you COULD understand it and even test hypotheses in time. In other words, you would not FOREVER be relegated to "faith". I still recall the first workshop I gave in celestial mechanics wherein one student asserted the two body problem and Kepler equation etc. were simply taken on "faith".
I told him that we would work out together where exactly Mars would be in the sky in one year, and then validate it using the telescope- checking its position (Right Ascension and Declination)
We spent over two hours doing all the calculation, including for eccentric anomaly, true and mean anomaly etc. and worked it out.
One year later, at night, we brought out the Ceslestron -8 scope and there Mars was within a half an arcsecond of where the informal calculations said it would be.
The student then smiled and said: "Ah, not faith after all!"
We have faith that the scientific process is valid, and are advised by certain smart people not to have faith in things that do not have a good process, like astrology, alchemy, and religion.
The reason is a good one, all those other latter things do not hold up under scrutiny. For eample, for thirty years I gave courses debunking astrology - especially the horological variety -showing exactly how and why it fails. (Also, I make sure to mention that all the existing "signs" are shifted relative to their constellations from 2000 years ago)
Alchemy is today subsumed by nuclear physics. Rather than the claims of alchemy we now know we can make gold from zinc by using nuclear transmutation - adding enough additional heavier element nuclei (or neutrons) to bring the atomic mass and number of zinc to that of gold.
Religion is merely an anachronism from an era where humans understood little or nothing about the world or universe, so a "God" was invented as an explanatory agent and to propition to ward off random evils - both natural and human. We now know such propitiation has no efficacy. If the holocaust didn't show that I doubt anything will.
After the holocaust, there should be no believers anywhere. If they still hold that an omnipotent and omnipresent "God" exists they are more in need of ECT at a suitable institution - along with regular lithium therapy - than anything else.
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SCHIP and the vermin Right
[Read the article: Another SCHIP family smeared]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The American Right, including Coultergeist, Limburgher, and the other noisome vermin, all all no better than Nazis. They would rather see these kids and families suffer, or claim they are "political pawns' than face the truth that this capitalist corporotocracy doesn't give a damn about people.
This a.m. Limbaugh screamed and blathered on again about this issue - fairly shouting:
"Whatever happened to standing on your own two feet? Why do so many want to be dependent on the GOVERNMENT?"
Well, Mr. Inflared Turd, the reason is because the government fully supports and bails out (protecting them from the vagaries of the market) all manner of private and corporate entities, businesses. Usually by enormous corporate welfre, which now runs over $220 BILLION a year.
Given this corporate protection racket, then PEOPLE ALSO need at least equal benefit and protection, to prevent or diminish their exposure to bankruptcy.
In a normal, civilized nation this wouldn't be a problem Either corps. wouldn't be so protected, or everyone would operate on the same "market" playing field, or the same benefits would apply to all people in terms of health care, say.
Thus, in a nation like Barbados, every citizen has access to health care and a national drug formulary- no one needs special "health insurance" (unless they want special, privileged upper tier treatment). NO one need go bankrupt.
As for corporations there, any of them caught donating money to anyone in government faces a minimal $2 million fine, and five years at hard labor for each CEO who attempted such political bribery.
As for politicos, they have the same access to the same national health care system as the people- and oh, btw, they aren't paid more than twice the mean civil servant's salary.
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Manjoo's performing a service
[Read the article: You and YouPorn are now free to make porn]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thaddeus Crummy belched:
Granted, lots of America spends a lot of time in this pursuit, but he is the only one I know about who actually gets paid to do it. While pretending to some sense of high-minded reporting.
Good God, this man needs a boss.
Grow up, for God's sakes, he already has one! Manjoo is performing a valuable service by keeping 'Muricans informed of laws being shut down that never should have been enacted in the first place.
Here's a clue: If you have such a problem with him, DON'T FRICKIN' READ HIM!!
How's that for a revolutionary thought?
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Of course it was the layoff
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It could have been the record eight-day layoff that did the Rockies in Wednesday
Of course it was! Any sports dope or doofus could see that! Their WHOLE timing and rhythym was off, the things that go when the rust accumulates. They looked like they were swinging their bats through a pool of molasses. The 8-day lag will do that! Throw hitting timing off by about 1 second. Enough to allow the Bosox to compile 11, count 'em, 11 Ks!
And the fielding! Failure to play the cutoff after a deep hit, the Rockies looked like Bush leaguers. The sharpness honed during the previous 7 games was totally absent.
YES, it was the "rust" - maybe 90% and the other 10% Beckett's ability.
Factor out the "rust" and Beckett & the Bosox still take it, like 6-2, or so. With the rust added, it is the biggest first game Series' blowout in Series' history.