Agnoiologist

What the fuck? My theme suddenly doesn’t work. I have no idea why this would happen right now?

This will be addressed tomorrow.

UPDATE: 10:53PM - Apparently my theme wasn’t really compatible with the version of WordPress that I’m using. The confusing thing is why it decided to stop working now as opposed to when I upgraded. Any ideas?

Anyway, I found a version that works, so that’s all good. I got all the widgets to work, including my blogroll. I still have to fix the style sheet.

UPDATE: 11:41PM - So the issue was addressed today instead of tomorrow. Everything should be fixed. Leave a comment if something looks funny.

Is it just me, or are my websites loading really slowly?

That could be a big problem.

Hi Ryan,

Here are my initial thoughts on the FairTax: The FairTax isn’t a good idea. First, it’s deceptive about the cost to America, and second, it would create a brand new bureaucracy without any pragmatic benefit.

The first point you can do the research to find out. According to FactCheck.org, the FairTax proposes a 23% sales tax, but this wouldn’t be enough to replace all the revenue it’s supposed to replace. Instead, it would have to be around a 34% tax. FactCheck.org is non-partisan and usually reliable; I trust them. You can look into more hard data, but I will defer to their judgment for now.

In my opinion, the proponents of the FairTax are basically lying to the American people about what it would cost. Either you build massive deficits or you cut tons of programs. Undoubtedly, a libertarian would love the latter. However, it remains politically impossible to both implement the FairTax and cut tons of programs.

The second point is that the FairTax is an unnecessary boondoggle. I still adhere to some conservative principles, and this seems to be where they come in handy. FairTax proponents, like Huckabee, will say that they want to abolish the IRS. In truth, the FairTax still requires some type of bureaucracy to handle all it does. What are you going to do? Replace the IRS and institute a new organization? Why would we replace one form of taxation with another if we will still have a bureaucratic mess? Because it’ll make some people feel philosophically more at peace? That’s not a sufficient reason to institute such a radical change. Conservatives rightly resist such change for change’s sake.

If you disagree about the bureaucracy it would create, keep in mind that a sales tax is highly regressive. The FairTax proposes various measures to help out the poor. Someone needs to keep track of who gets what. You’ll find no one promoting a “fair tax” who does not also promote some ways of ameliorating its regressive nature.

In addition, a big sales tax will open up massive smuggling “business opportunities” with our neighboring countries. Either we let all that go, or we crack down on it. If we decide to do any enforcement, guess what? More government.

The FairTax provides no benefit other than some philosophical good feelings, but to implement it would require heavy costs — more than I’ve enumerated here, even. You can’t contemplate the FairTax in abstract; you have to look at what it would cost to actually put it in place. Radical changes require enormous benefits, and that just doesn’t happen with the FairTax. The trade-off isn’t worth it.

As always,
Shawn

I got this e-mail yesterday. Damn this war.

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

We learned late today of the tragic death of one of our own in Iraq.

Nicole Suveges, a graduate student in political science who was working
in Iraq as a civilian, was among four Americans killed an explosion
Tuesday in the offices of the district council in the critical Sadr City
section of Baghdad.

Two U.S. soldiers, a State Department employee, an Italian translator
working for the Defense Department, and six Iraqis also were killed,
according to news reports.

Nicole was in Iraq as a political scientist working in the Army’s
Human Terrain System program, advising the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of
the 4th Infantry Division. A statement from BAE Systems, the company
that employed her, said she helped Army leaders working to reduce
violence in the community and rebuild local infrastructure. Her
intelligence and savvy, combined with her experience as an Army
reservist serving in Bosnia in the 1990s, reportedly made her especially
effective in her work to improve the lives of everyday Iraqis.

I am told that Nicole also was using this second tour in Iraq — she
had previously served there as a civilian contractor several years ago
– to complete field research for her planned dissertation. She was
exploring the process of transition from an authoritarian regime to
democracy. She was investigating especially what that process means for
and how it affects ordinary citizens.

Members of the Political Science Department describe Nicole as an
extraordinarily bright, engaging, kind person, intellectually curious
and outgoing. She also was known as an active citizen of the department,
regularly attending seminars and helping to organize graduate student
activities. As a former Reserve soldier herself and as a person in her
mid-30s, she brought a different and valuable perspective to the
intellectual life of the department.

Nicole was committed to using her learning and experience to make the
world a better place, especially for people who have suffered through
war and conflict. In that, she exemplifies all that we seek to do at
Johns Hopkins: to use knowledge for the good of humanity.

This is the third time in a little over a year that we have learned of
the death in Iraq of a young member of the Johns Hopkins community. Last
year, Lt. Colby Umbrell ’04 and Capt. Jonathan Grassbaugh ’03, both
of the U.S. Army, were killed in action there. Their deaths and
Nicole’s diminish us all. But their lives — lives devoted to
service to others — honor us and our university. We are better for
their having been among us.

Wendy and I join all of you in offering our deepest sympathy to
Nicole’s husband, to her family, to her colleagues and to her
friends.

Sincerely,

Bill Brody

This Lay’s commercial is one of my all-time favorites:

What really makes me laugh is at the very end, they throw him back! Haha!

I grabbed Caro’s Book of Poker Tells at a store in Las Vegas. The book is a classic piece of poker literature. It teaches the science of tells. In poker, a tell is some type of outward behavior that gives away information about your cards. For example, in the last James Bond movie, Casino Royale, Le Chiffre’s eye supposedly twitches when he’s bluffing. Or, in Rounders the guy eats his cookie a certain way. This book is a lot more sophisticated than that.

It’s very useful right away. The book even provides tons of pictures, which will help you identify the tells when you actually see them. The biggest thing I learned was that strong means weak and weak means strong when someone’s acting.

I have yet to be in a situation where I can utilize the skills I’ve learned, but I already know it’ll improve my game. While reading, I came across some behaviors that intended to trick the opponent. Those were things I’ve fallen for so many times. Now that I’ve learned what those behaviors really mean, I won’t be so gullible.

All Families Are Psychotic, by Douglas Coupland, chronicles one adventure of the veritably fucked-up Drummond family. The plot is hard to describe; it veers in many directions. Astronauts, affairs, abortions, AIDS, armed robberies — and that’s just the a’s. Things happen all of a sudden. All in all, it’s an entertaining read, but I didn’t find anything particularly poignant. Nothing really touched me. It was a good piece of escapism, but I didn’t learn anything about the human condition. (No doubt, you’ll hear that exact complaint again and again as I read more books.)

In fact, I found the ending really disappointing. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.) Somehow they’re magically cured of AIDS, which really messed with my willing suspension of disbelief. The rest of the plot is wacky, but you can go along with it. In addition, I didn’t really see how the characters really changed. The family seemed closer, but then, why do we need them healed? I didn’t get it.

So: Fun to read, quick to read, but you won’t learn anything new about the human condition.

I’m disappointed that Obama joined with the capitulators on the FISA issue. Telecoms should not get amnesty for breaking the law, and this bill allows that. Obama said he disagreed with that portion, but he should have shown some leadership and done more than disagree with it after the fact.

That said, of course I’m still voting for him. As an ex-conservative, I never came to this process expecting that a liberal would fulfill all my fantasies about a presidential candidate.

After all the damage Bush has done, it’s going to take a while to restore the laws and values of our republic. Obama’s not our savior, and most of us have figured that out a long time ago. Roll up your sleeves. You’re going to have to do some work too if you want your civil liberties.

How come heat interferes with your ability to think? What’s the science behind it? I’d look it up, but I wouldn’t be able to comprehend it at the moment; I’m roasting.

Alright, all my links on the left disappeared, and I’m not sure when this happened. I think it was probably when I updated to the latest version of WordPress.

I’ll have to go in the code and mess with some stuff. I’m not sure exactly when I’ll get around to it. I’ll probably have it finished within a few weeks. Just wanted to give you readers a heads up.