Reason 101 - Intro to Critical Thought

In this series of posts, I will attempt to provide you with the tools to critically evaluate information and reports that you encounter in daily life.  I am by no means an expert in these techniques, nor am I perfect at always remembering to use them.  However, I have had several courses in formal logic, scientific reasoning, and the application of both to philosophical discussion.

I will attempt to order this series such that each post builds on the previous, but please forgive me if I do so poorly.  I am not an educator by trade, so I am very likely to get this at least a little wrong the first time.  My first thoughts on the series are:

1. Introduction to Formal Logic and Tautologies
2. Introduction to Aristotle's Forms (including an extension relevant to current events)
3. Introduction to Deductive Reasoning
4. Introduction to Skepticism
5. Introduction to Scientific Processes
6. Introduction to The History and Philosophy of Science
7. Introduction to Rational Problem Solving

I will surely revise this list in the future, please feel free to comment if you have any suggestions for improvement or additional topics!

Zombies are all the rage these days, right?

So. let's bring this blog back from the dead!  As I'm feeling a bit philosophical, and political, I thought I'd give this another go...

Today Donald Trump was sworn in amidst protests that turned to riots.  Without peaceful, reasoned discussion, we can never hope to rise above the din and forge a path forward. Any protest message or hope for successful resolution is lost to violence.

I was not a fan of either candidate, though I frankly felt more concern about Trump. I think he's a loose canon kind of terrible, whereas Hillary would have been a predictable kind of terrible.  **But neither one would have had sole responsibility for healing our nation.**

We have, all of us (yes including me), let it come to this. We are quick to believe the worst of each other, instead of giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. We jump to conclusions and move on, only dwelling on those bits of information that are salacious. If they confirm our existing beliefs, we assume they are true, but if they conflict we call it Fake News and ignore them.

We must ascend above a belief based discussion, to one based on knowledge. We must accept and consider, but not fall prey to our emotions. We must use reason, and fact, and let history be our guide.

We must assume that, at their core, every American and every aspiring American have a fundamental desire to see this country succeed in our great experiment. If someone is here, in this great land, it is in their own self interest to see it succeed. They may disagree passionately with us on how best to do that, but that is where the discussion comes in.

Only once we begin to talk *with* one another, and listen to one another, can we begin to heal. Only once we truly consider what our fellows say and think and feel, can we come together. Only once we learn to admit that we may be wrong and that others may learn and change their minds, can we truly heal our nation. And only once we finally believe in the fundamental goodness of each other can we form our most perfect union.

Have You Thanked a Veteran?

It's Veteran's Day and little did I know that I worked with a bunch of them. Some of the webcomics I read did a tribute to veterans in their own way and it made me realize that a lot of us take for granted the sacrifice they've made. So, if you see someone who you know is or might be a veteran say thanks.

On another note, it's been a couple weeks again since I've posted. I think since there's no format or a topic I'm easily get distracted and don't post anything. That or I have ADD and just don't think about it enough. I'm voting for the latter. So, I'm going to go ahead and do one of my giant updates that I do every couple of weeks/months/years to kill the last ten minutes at work.

I finally broke down and got a Twitter account. You can find my page here if you'd like to stalk me some more. I've only been on for 24 hours and have fallen into my usual early addiction with tons of updates. We'll see how long this last. You can follow me on there though if you'd like to stalk me some more. I won't mind as long as you don't send me animal parts in the mail....

I still haven't gotten back into the exercise regime. I REALLY want to, I swear. I just haven't pushed myself to that point yet. Monday is the day. I'm doing it. Cardio at least. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to start up the 100 push up program again or not. We shall see. I fully expect you all to hold me to it. I don't know how, but you'll figure out a way.

Fable (The Original) has been on the plate as of late for video games. Yes, I realize that game is from 2004 and that there are much better games with better graphics blah blah blah. With the economy as bad as it is and me being pretty broke I've decided that spending $60 on a video isn't in the cards right now. So I'm playing through all the games I bought back when I had money (or was stupid enough to use a credit card) that I never completed. I will, however, probably make an exception for Gears of War 2 but only because then I can swap it with a friend for Fall Out 3. Collaboration saves money, even out of the working world. Whuddathunk?

It's been a lot of fun so far. I'm a dark will user that has some pretty awesome tattoos. There are some small nuances that I'm getting used to (like changing between spells and remembering what set I'm on) but all-in-all it's a good time. Maybe in 2012 I can get Fable 2 to see what they've fixed in Fable....

I'd update more but I'm done at work and don't want to be here any longer than I have to. You know you'd do the same.

Asian Out

*tumble weed*

I swear, I didn't forget about this. Okay, maybe I did just a little... but really there hasn't been much to report.



I quit the 100 pushup program after I realized I had been doing the program ENTIRELY wrong. I meant to restart but ended up getting caught up in a ton of other things. I haven't even been keeping up with my Wii Fit. I imagine my trainer is going to yell at me the next time I get on that board for not working out with her. (yes, I chose the female trainer. Why would I want to stare at a dude?). I have no idea what my current weight is but I'm thinking it's not good or about the same as it was before. Bleh. I need to get back on the wagon and into the gym.



It doesn't help that the fall season TV shows are in full swing. I had to clear out a bunch of old stuff from my DVR to make sure I could record everything I want to watch. The list is immense and I'd love to add more (Heroes, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) but don't have the time nor the will to do it. Plus I have this weird thing where if I don't start from the absolute beginning of a series I can't watch any episodes. I hate jumping into the middle of a series.I hate missing back story and what not. So, maybe the next break in lineups I'll rent the DVD's of the shows I want to pick up so I can catch up on them and fill my DVR up with MORE TV to watch when I have free time.



I've also fallen way behind in video games. Like, waaaaaay behind. And the holiday release schedule is in full swing. Fable II came out yesterday. Do you want to know what I was playing? Fable I for the original xbox. I never played through it before so I'm doing it now. I did manage to get through Gears of War and Assassin's Creed over the past couple months so I've got that going for me. There are still a ton of games I own that I've touched maybe once or twice and haven't completed. We'll see if I can get through some of those before I buy anything new (not likely).



Hrm, what else. I guess the big news lately is the economy and the election. I'm not big on politics so I won't even comment on that. The economy? Yeah, it sucks and almost everyone lost a ton of money in their 401k's (woo for me being stupid and putting all my investments in low risk investments when I started working) but what can we do now? Pay your bills and quit your whining. Cut out the fat. I'm attempting to do that myself by not buying as many games or toys (I already went on my binge with my new iPod) and I'm attempting to cut back on eating out for lunch. Do what you need to do and don't rely on someone else to fix your problems. And that's my thoughts on that.



Don't forget that October is Breast Cancer awareness month. So Feel Your Boobies ladies.


Posted on SpotJots near: 1178-1199 S EISENHOWER BLVD, LOWER SWATARA TWP PA 17057 US

Hurricane Gustav

First: Thanks for getting this thing going again, Mike!

Ok, now on to business.

We have the Weather Channel on, and they are talking about Gustav. They just announced that they are not using the Superdome or the Convention Center as shelters--in other words, if you are going to evacuate, do it now. Additionally, Dan's dad said that that some or all of the major roads leading to and from Louisiana will now all be northbound.

I'm so glad that they are actually doing something this time. Although it seems odd that that something is closing huge shelters, I think (I hope) that it works in getting people out of the area. While I obviously hope that the hurricane doesn't hit in New Orleans, I'm glad that there are so many precautions being taken.

Frustration!

Week 6 Exhaustion Test

http://www.hundredpushups.com



AGRAH! I'm an idiot. I've been doing the Hundred Push Up Program for 5 Weeks now. When I first started I found you could download the entire program on a PDF to use as a guide. What I didn't know is that the PDF guide does NOT contain all the information. I checked the website the other day and found this out.



Apparently if I don't meet the goal of the minimum level during an exhaustion test I'm supposed to redo the previous week. That means I should have redone Week 4 before moving on to Week 5. Ugh.



Either way, I also found out that I'm supposed to do the exhaustion test again before Week 6. Woo. So I did that today and pushed out a whopping 28 push ups. I'm waaaaaaaaay behind. I might just go back to week 3 again and go through those weeks again.



This (amongst other things in my life) is becoming extremely frustrating. I am seeing result in that I'm losing a little flab but it's discouraging about the actual progress in fitness I'm not making. Agrah!



Posted on SpotJots near: 668-715 WERTZVILLE RD/PA-944 , EAST PENNSBORO TWP PA 17025 US

Announcement Part Deux

If anyone reads this there are a couple things to address:

1) First, and foremost, a HUGE congratulation needs to go out to Dan and Lindsay. This past Sunday the two became one (dammit, now I have Spice Girl stuck in my head) and tied the knot. It was a great weekend with the only casualty being Dan's phone (my bad) and my scraped up leg (stupid Jersey shore).

2) Sorry for not posting since June. The summer went by so fast and so much has happened that, to be honest, I forgot about the blog. I've actually been cheating on the blog with SpotJots which I have been posting to most as of late. I'm pretty sure I can link this with that and have anything I post on Spot Jot show up on here. I may have to do that today to keep both of these things running.

If you'd like to catch up with what I've been doing for the past six weeks you can check out My Spot Jots page and read what I've posted. Most of the posts are about an exercise program I'm working on call The Hundred Push Up Program. It's been a real challenge and as I approach the end of the program it doen't look like it's going to let up.

Other than that the summer has flown by. Not a lot has happened in my life. I've been off and on with my video games lately. Wii Fit has been neglected, reinstated, and reneglected now. I borrowed Gears of War from a friend and managed to get through that on Casual (read Easy) but want to try my hand at a harder setting. I finally got around to starting Assassin's Creed and have high hopes for it. Exploring the cities is a ton of fun.

I've got a pile of games that I bought in the past either used or new that I either haven't touched or only played for a moment before putting it back on the shelf. I want to get through some of those before I buy anything new but the fall line up is coming up quick. *sigh* I wish I had a free day to do nothing.

- Michael

Currently Playing: Assassin's Creed
Currently Wanting: My bed to catch up from sleep from the weekend (almost back to normal)
Currently Needs: To shave.... I haven't shaved since Sunday and it's starting to look real bad
Currently Looking Forward To: Pittsburgh next weekend for the Irish Festival
Currently Feeling: Stuffy and tired

Announcement

Considering our relatively low readership, I'm sure anyone who sees this will already be aware of the news. I figured I'd post it anyway, mainly because Mike reminded me of how I, too, frequently let things like this blog fall off my radar.

I have accepted a 12-month position at my company's facility in Riviera Beach, Florida. My start date is July 7th, which is less than a month away. We haven't even listed the condo yet, because there was someone who was interested and I wanted to minimize my costs. That has fallen through (which I think saved us headaches down the road), so we're back to finding interested parties. I am going to talk to the person I'm replacing and the person I'll be working for, but we're thinking about trying to push the start date back a little bit to give us some more time to sell.

The position will be with Engineering Operations, so I'll get to see a completely different side of the company. It will be difficult, especially once classes start up again. It should be a very good experience though, and I will get insight into the top of the business, which I wouldn't normally get until much later in my career.

It's finals week so I can't promise anything, but I'll try to post again shortly.