Incompetence and Ignorance are Bliss

Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss:

On the contrary. People who do things badly, Dr. Dunning has found in studies conducted with a graduate student, Justin Kruger, are usually supremely confident of their abilities -- more confident, in fact, than people who do things well.
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One reason that the ignorant also tend to be the blissfully self-assured, the researchers believe, is that the skills required for competence often are the same skills necessary to recognize competence. The incompetent, therefore, suffer doubly, they suggested in a paper appearing in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

"Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it," wrote Dr. Kruger, now an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, and Dr. Dunning.

Davidson Students Get Free Sweet Sixteen Trip

UW men's basketball: Free ride for Davidson students

The school's board of trustees set up a fund Wednesday to pay for any student wishing to travel to Detroit to see Davidson play the University of Wisconsin in the Midwest Regional semifinals. Students will get free bus transportation, two nights lodging and a ticket to Friday's game.

Pretty cool. FYI, I graduated from Davidson; and grew up in Madison. Oh, Davidson also did this a while back:

In the spring of 2007, Davidson became the first national liberal arts college to eliminate student loans from financial aid packages. Beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year, Davidson students now have 100 percent of their demonstrated need met entirely through a combination of grants and student employment.

Related: 2008 Intel Science Talent Search - 2005 intercollegiate Genetically Engineered Machine competition - Educational Institutions Economic Impact

2-Slice Toaster and Egg Poacher

Pretty darn silly. Do you think maybe we have a bit too much money we don't know what do with if we actually buy this? Related: Nice Looking Toaster

Paper Clips

I recommend the paper clips movie. Paper Clips web site:

Whitwell, Tennessee is a small, rural community of less than two thousand people nestled in the mountains of Tennessee. Its citizens are almost exclusively white and Christian. In 1998, the children of Whitwell Middle School took on an inspiring project, launched out of their principal's desire to help her students open their eyes to the diversity of the world beyond their insulated valley. What happened would change the students, their teachers, their families and the entire town forever… and eventually open hearts and minds around the world.
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moving and inspiring documentary film that captures how these students responded to lessons about the Holocaust-with a promise to honor every lost soul by collecting one paper clip for each individual exterminated by the Nazis.

Related: Proof, the Movie - Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak out for me."

Internet TV Listings by PHBs

Long ago TV listings had to be sent to the printer so they could be printed out and hand delivered to people's houses on paper (with their newspaper). Then, like 10 years ago, some realized this internet thing could display what would be shown on TV. Yet in 2008 the TV listings shown on the internet are rarely better than if they had to be printed and hand delivered to any person's house. Talk about pointy haired boss behavior.

For example, even though over 24 hours ago it was know that the SEC championship game was moved to 3:30 PM today what do internet TV listing show? They show the game taking place at 1PM. The listing shows it is on CBS, is, at least, that right? Nope it is on ESPN 2 (and, for local affiliates in Georgia and Arkansas, on CBS, at 3:30). What teams are in the game? Internet TV listings act as though this is some mystery (not just for this game but for most any game that wasn't decided months ago).

Look, mr. phb, internet TV listing people, the internet lets you update that dynamically within minutes of when it is determined who will play in that game (or any other change is made to a schedule). It is bad enough sites like TVguide etc. can't get it right. Not even ESPN shows the right thing on their own website. Jeez this just gets worse and worse. On CBS's site, they don't list either the SEC game at all, or the Big Ten Game at all (which is on CBS at 3:30 PM). By the way the Big Ten game features the wonderful Wisconsin Badgers against Illinois.

Please hire someone that knows how the internet works and let them actually use the internet properly. First they won't treat the internet as if it were the place you send your next weeks TV listing to once a week. But all that is doing is avoiding being an incredibly lame phb. The goal would not be to just avoid being completely lame but to actually take advantage of the internet tubes to provide a better service.

Related: What Kind of Management Does This? - Webcasts by Chemistry and Physics Nobel Laureates ("This site requires javascript. Please enable javascript then click here to go back" - yet more phb idiocy) - The Top Ten Stupid Ways to Hinder Market Adoption - usability resources

The Jury Decides What is Illegal

Keep juries dumb

Now this is the secret that no one wants you to know: If you serve on a jury, and you just flat don't like the law you're asked to enforce, you do NOT have to enforce it. You can vote in direct contradiction of the law and in direct contradiction of the judge's instructions -- without fear of reprisal.

Up until 1895, the jury was routinely informed of this right. Then the big mining companies started losing a lot of cases against unions, and they put pressure on the courts, resulting in a Supreme Court decision stating that judges were not required to inform the jury of its rights. Could anything be more draconian? The defendant is informed of his rights. The plaintiff is informed of his rights. The state prosecutor, being an attorney himself, is well aware of his rights. The jury -- the only people in the room without right to counsel -- must figure out its authority on its own. The judge, who is supposed to act as counsel for the jury, to advise it, is conspiring to deprive it of essential information.

And yet the jury's supreme authority was well known to the very first chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay, who explicitly informed a jury that it was free to ignore him and his court. It was well known to John Adams, who said, "It is not only (the juror's) right, but his duty . . . to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court." He even went further and called it "absurdity" for a court to expect a juror to be required to accept the judge's view of the law. The principle was well known to those two political opposites, Jefferson and Hamilton, and yet they both agreed on this point.

Need more legal celebrities? Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in 1920: "The judge cannot direct a verdict, it is true, and the jury has the power to bring in a verdict in the teeth of both law and facts." In more recent years, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote: "If the jury feels the law is unjust, we recognize the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by a judge, and contrary to the evidence."

Related: The First Amendment - Tired of Incompetent Government Harassment - Taking Public Good for Private Special Interests

John Dower

Hellfire: a Journey from Hiroshima received was nominated for an academy award as a documentary in 1986. I recently discovered it is now available on the Hiroshima No Pika DVD. John Dower is a family friend and author of the National Book Award (1999): Embracing Defeat.

Related: A Warning from History: Don't expect democracy in Iraq by John Dower, Feb 2003. - Visualizing Cultures (free MIT online course) - "It's not history - it's propaganda." - books, articles... by John Dower

Yahoo's Open Approach to Search

An Open Approach to Search

Because the platform is open it gives all Web site owners -- big or small -- an opportunity to present more useful information on the Yahoo! Search page as compared to what is presented on other search engines. Site owners will be able to provide all types of additional information about their site directly to Yahoo! Search. So instead of a simple title, abstract and URL, for the first time users will see rich results that incorporate the massive amount of data buried in websites -- ratings and reviews, images, deep links, and all kinds of other useful data -- directly on the Yahoo! Search results page.

via: Yahoo Wants to Redefine SERPs, Adapts “Open” Approach

Related: Viewing Unpersonalized Google Search Results - Yahoo Tops Customer Satisfaction Results? - Improved Web Search (Jan 2006) - Improve Google

Proof People are Crazy

This is proof people are crazy. This is an enjoyable read but I think anyone that actual does this is asking to die. There are plenty of places to get great views without risking your lives. See Curious Cat travels for some examples: North Cascades National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Costa Rica...

You are about to view pictures of what has to be the most dangerous Tourist Hiking Trail in the world. After you see the pictures, I have little doubt you will agree.
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The only reason we were here was because we didn't know any better. I was incredulous that something this deadly was open to the public. Sure there were warning signs down below, but nothing had been said that could possibly let us know how much trouble we were getting into.
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The only reason we continued was those Chinese college kids. Laura and I watched them cross. It looked like they were dancing... step apart, step together, step apart, step together... they walked sideways across the cliff! And they were laughing!

I swear to God if it wasn't for those kids, Laura and I would have turned around a long time ago. Left to ourselves, we would have given into our panic, but to see those crazy kids fearlessly move across the cliff made us think we could do it too.
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I shook my head in disgust. One mistake would kill you instantly. This area was so dangerous it required proper mountain gear: climbing boots, carabineers, belay devices, bolts, and ropes. But all we had was our bare hands

Charity Abuse

Getting repeated calls over and over again every day from 201-535-3618 (follow the link for people bothered by this telemarketer). You can thank the people that the Secretary of State in the state of Washington says employee, and have employed, these people, Outreach Associates, Inc:

Children's Defense Fund
Common Cause
Environmental Defense, Inc.
Habitat For Humanity International, Inc.
Jane Goodall Institute For Wildlife Research, Education & Conservation
League Of Women Voters Of The United States
Phillips Collection, The
Public Citizen, Inc.
Sierra Club
Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc.
and many more

They will claim they are a charity exemption from the do not call list. So perhaps they are to breaking the law, who knows. But tarnishing their clients with the extremely bad practice of calling people over and over and not leaving a message tells you what they value - and it certainly isn't you. I suggest telling any charity you support that you will not support them supporting a company that intentionally bothers you. If they do not make a public statement condemning such practices and publicly state they will not work with any contractor that behaves this way don't give them your money.

Any of the charities listed are welcome to add a comment linking to your response that you will not do business with such companies and specifically what you have done about this company.

Related: Make $500 for Every Illegal Telemarketer Call to You - Charity Telemarketers are Bad - Make the World Better - Microfinancing Entrepreneurs (Kiva doesn't support bothering you like those above do)

Identifying the Flaws of the FISA Legislation

Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) is one of those politicians that seems to actually be honest. You can disagree with his positions but it is refreshing to have someone that puts integrity and what he believes is right for the country first when compared to the much more common political hacks trying to hide what they do. Here he mentions some of the problems with current attempts to grant immunity to companies that illegally aided spying on citizens of the USA - Identifying the Flaws of the FISA Legislation

The bill includes unjustified retroactive immunity for those alleged to have cooperated with the Administration’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program. The administration is effectively asking most members of Congress to grant immunity without knowing what they are granting immunity for.

Current law already grants immunity to companies that cooperate with the government pursuant to a court order or Attorney General certification. Granting additional, retroactive immunity sets a bad precedent by sending the message that breaking the law is permissible and that companies that are supposed to safeguard our personal communications do not have to follow the privacy protections in law.

Related: The First Amendment - Tired of Incompetent Government Harassment - Voting Machine Failures

Regular Expression Cheat Sheet

Regular Expression Cheat Sheet

Related: Closing a Program That Won't Respond in Ubuntu - Using Multiple Firefox Profiles at the Same Time in Ubuntu

Online Chess

Play chess online: Shredder Computer Chess

Ubuntu: Closing a Program That Won't Respond

Ubuntu tip - to close a program that won't respond:

1. open terminal, type:


2. top


3. get the PID (process ID) of the unresponsive program (for this example say it is 6764), type


4. CTRL-C (to exit top, then type)


5. sudo kill 6764

Type in your password when prompted and the program should then close.

Viewing Unpersonalized Google Search Results

Google search results are personalized (based on your search history) and in general this is useful. However, as Google learns what I like it then provides me customized results and sometimes I am interested in how thing rank in the "regular" search. The regular search is becoming less and less relavant as so many results are personalized still I find it interesting. To view unpersonalized Google search results add &pws=0 to the end of the query url.

For Example to search for me, John Hunter, the first link gives your personal results and the second gives the "regular results":

http://www.google.com/search?q=john+hunter

http://www.google.com/search?q=john+hunter&pws=0

For engineering blog:

http://www.google.com/search?q=engineering+blog

http://www.google.com/search?q=engineering+blog&pws=0

For country manufacturing data

http://www.google.com/search?q=country+manufacturing+data

http://www.google.com/search?q=country+manufacturing+data&pws=0

Related: Should Google Use Factors Other Than User Value When Providing Search Results?

The Life Cycle of a Blog Post

The Life Cycle of a Blog Post, From Servers to Spiders to Suits — to You

Somewhat interesting post. I find their crazy too small to see graphic that you are suppose to navigate with the mouse and holding the button down another example of gratuitous flash. Why do so many people seem to insist on fancy less usable interfaces over simple easy to use ones?

Evolution - Fact or Question

Is the Theory of Evolution Really a Matter of Faith?

No, of course it isn't. As the authors state:

As a natural phenomenon based on scientific evidence, evolution is not a matter of belief or faith, any more than gravity or genetics, and to ask whether someone believes in it is a nonsensical question, much like asking if someone believes in subatomic particles.

Exactly right. Now people can doubt anything they want. But certain things beyond are reasonable doubt. People can try to create controversy where really there is none among those that understand an issue in the hopes of confusing the general public. Thinking evolution is questionable is like thinking that the basic ideas of geology are questionable.

There was a time when people doubted the earth was billions of years old. That the continents drifted apart. That diamonds were created far under the earth under great pressure and heat - out of simple carbon. That the explanation for the mountains, valleys, rocks, gems, earthquakes, volcanos and on and on were essentially as we understand geology today. Today there is no serious question about the basic concepts.

Someday, my guess is before 2070 the same will be true of evolution (I would hope before 2030 - but people can avoid seeing the truth longer than I would optimistically think). I have no doubt that this will come about. By what date I have nothing more than a wild guess. When that date finally arrives those that tried to claim the was some controversy will look pretty silly - given all the evidence we have today.

Most all those questioning geology realized the overwhelming evidence required adjusting their beliefs far before the overwhelming amount of evidence for evolution we have today. Science is about adjusting your world view as new evidence provides a much more valid understanding of an area of study.

Related: Understanding Evolution is Fundamental to Scientific Thinking - Understanding the Evolution of Human Beings by Country - Understanding Evolution (from Berkeley) - Teaching Evolution and the Nature of Science - United States The National Academy of Science's Science, Evolution, and Creationism

Don't Lock Your Content Inside a Proprietary System

Has your Facebook account been “erased” by Facebook?

ever since Facebook blocked my account for a little less than a day people have been calling me with some real sob stories about how their accounts got turned off by Facebook and that they have no recourse.

What to do? Just don't join networks where the primary value is locked up inside them. If you don't control most of your content don't join (and if the value is locked up inside their system don't bother, or at least don't invest much time at all so little is lost in the event of a problem).

Hoping companies will care and be competent enough to manage what you invest in creating just doesn't seem like a worthwhile risk to take to me. They will have all sorts of issues to deal with and either out of plain bad management or because they decided it is easier and cheaper to destroy (deleting it, breaking support for code you relied on...) what you have created they are very likely to not value your investment. Most likely, only if their belief of what is in their interests happens to align with what is in your interests will you be in someone decent shape (even then you are susceptible to them managing poorly).

For social networks I can see they might add value by providing useful tools to improve connections (but if they can't figure out a way to be open and interact easily with mainly internet based content don't waste your time with their old proprietary thinking model). I just don't see much need to participate in an enterprise where I would have to invest my time and energy and content and hope that the company decides not to be evil for the rest of the time I want to deal with them.

Keep most of your content under your control. For example even if your content is in Blogger, the ability to backup (and move) your blogger blog essentially leaves the content in your control. Then if Google decides to be evil you just take you backup and post it elsewhere.

Urban Exploring: Detroit

It will rise from the ashes

Detroit, with its thousands of abandoned structures, is something of a mecca for kids and adults who still do this sort of thing. There's a whole community of them here, and people come from all over the country to "explore" the city's ruins.
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This city's school district is so impoverished that students are not allowed to take their textbooks home to do homework, and many of its administrators are so corrupt that every few months the newspapers have a field day with their scandals, sweetheart-deals, and expensive trips made at the expense of a population of children who can no longer rely on a public education to help lift them from the cycle of violence and poverty that has made Detroit the most dangerous city in America. To walk through this ruin, more than any other, I think, is to obliquely experience the real tragedy of this city; not some sentimental tragedy of brick and plaster, but one of people

More photos of the Detroit Public Schools Book Depository

Too Much Stuff

Guess what income level it takes to put you in the top 1% of earners today? Answer below. Most people that will read this are tremendously rich (compared to all others alive today, or just the very rich form just a few generations ago). Check for yourself: How Rich are You - enter your income and see what your world rank is.

Yet for many having fewer toys than those around them makes them feel poor. Their problem is not too few things (deprivation versus abundance). Affluenza is a good view of the problem caused when people don't understand they already have plenty of stuff and keep looking for more.

How about giving a helping hand to those less well off through Kiva (micro credit loans to entrepreneurs). Curious Cat readers that have already made loans to help others. If you would like to be listed, add a comment with your Kiva page and we add a link to it on that page.

$50,000