Shared Sacrifice

You hear a lot these days about the concept of shared sacrifice from Republicans.  Judging from the ideas they present, they have absolutely no idea what shared sacrifice actually means.  In order to sacrifice something, you actually have to feel the sacrifice.

Raising the eligibility age of Social Security or Medicare is not shared sacrifice.  It would affect me not at all.  It would affect almost everybody who makes more money than me not at all.  We all have jobs that we can work at until we die or go senile.  Working an extra year or two is not a sacrifice.  People who perform manual labor, for a living, though, are hugely impacted by raising the eligibility age.  Despite the fact that the average lifespan in America has slowly raised, most of the gains have been in lowered infant mortality rates and upper income individuals.  Blue collar workers’ lifespans have barely increased at all.  Adding a year or two is basically telling blue collar workers that they have to work until they die.

Same thing applies for taxes.  It would take increases of a few percentage points for people like me to even begin to feel the effects of higher taxes.  No sacrifice there.  Whereas the 20% of the population who live at or below the poverty line would significantly feel the sting of even a slight raise in taxes.  Huge sacrifice there.  People who are making millions of dollars a year would need their taxes raised enormously in order to feel any type of sacrifice.  And no one is asking to raise their taxes enormously.  They are not being asked to sacrifice anything and screaming about the need to share the sacrifice.

Look at it this way.  Poor families have an ice cream cone and have to split it among the whole family.  Middle class families have five ice cream cones, one for each person with a little left over to share.  Upper class families have thousands of ice cream cones.  Republicans are basically asking the country to give up just one ice cream cone.  Poor families will be devastated by this.  Middle class families will have to make adjustments, but they’ll pull through.  Upper class families won’t even know they lost an ice cream cone.  But that is the Republican idea of shared sacrifice.

 

Kiwi!

A line from last night’s “The Daily Show” reminded me of one of my favorite YouTube videos.  I present to you…Kiwi!

 

So much beauty in only three minutes.  Brings a tear to my eye every time.  Every time.

Being an Introvert

Hi, I’m Jean-Paul and I am an introvert.

It’s not easy being an introvert.  We are a misunderstood and maligned group.  Ok, maybe maligned is a little too strong.  We’re definitely misunderstood, though.

Society has determined the being introverted is decidedly uncool.  You don’t see any shows or movies about introverts.  Admittedly, a reality TV show about a house full of introverts would be exceptionally boring:

Introvert 1: *grabs book and goes to bedroom to read*

Introvert 2: *grabs computer and goes to living room to surf the Internet*

(hours pass)

Introvert 1: *wanting company, decides to read in living room*

Introvert 2: *wanting food* Pizza?

Introvert 1: Sounds good. *goes back to reading*

Introvert 2: OK.  *orders pizza*

Introvert 1: Drink?

Introvert 2: Beer.

Introvert 1: OK.  *brings back two beers*

Introvert 2: *grabs beer and smiles at Introvert 1* Thanks.

(doorbell rings)

Introvert 2: *answers door and brings pizza to living room*  You owe me $5.

Introvert 1: *pulls out wallet and pays Introvert 1*  Bam, $5.  Mmm, sausage and pepperoni…  *grabs piece of pizza and goes back to reading*

Introvert 2: *grabs piece of pizza and goes back to surfing*

That’s about how most people see introverts.  But there is so much subtext to the above conversation that you have to be an introvert to understand.  We live in the exact same world as you, but we process it completely differently.  Words are more a means of expressing ideas and meaning than they are a means of expressing feeling and filling awkward silences.  The actual conversation with subtext goes something like this:

Introvert 1: Finally home!  Am I exhausted!  It seems like everyone wanted to talk to me at work today.  Time to recharge and get some me time.  *grabs book and goes to bedroom to read*

Introvert 2: Finally home!  I’m going to a party later so I better recharge and fill my mind with fun facts so I have interesting things to talk about.  *grabs computer and goes to living room to surf the Internet*

(hours pass)

Introvert 1: *wanting company, decides to read in living room*  I wonder what Introvet 2 is up to…   Ah, that’s right, he’s going to that party later today; must be finding interesting topics to talk about.  I hope he doesn’t invite me to tag along, my recently ex-girlfriend is going to be there and I don’t think I could take that right now.

Introvert 2: Ah, there’s Introvert 1.  He’s actually looking happy today.  That’s good.  He’s been so broken up about his girlfriend breaking up with him.  It’s too bad she’s going to be at the party tonight otherwise I’d invite him to come along.  Speaking of which, I should probably eat something before I go.  *wanting food* Pizza?

Introvert 1: My favorite!  Introvert 2 has been such a good friend since my girlfriend left me and he knows I can’t go to the party tonight so he’s ordering my favorite food.  I hope he gets sausage and pepperoni.  Sounds good. *goes back to reading*

Introvert 2: OK.  *orders pizza*  I know he likes sausage and pepperoni so I’ll get that even though I’d prefer mushrooms and black olives.

Introvert 1: I should get him pre-gaming a little bit so maybe he’ll have to courage to talk to that girl he likes tonight instead of actively trying to avoid her like a idiot.  Drink?

Introvert 2: I should pre-game a little bit so maybe I’ll have to courage to talk to that girl I like tonight instead of actively trying to avoid her like an idiot.  Beer.

Introvert 1: OK.  Let’s see, which one has the highest alcohol content…  Ah, there we go.  *brings back two beers*

Introvert 2: Ah, the one with the highest alcohol content.  Smart move.  I see what you’re trying to do, Introvert 1, and I appreciate it greatly.  *grabs beer and smiles at Introvert 1* Thanks.

(doorbell rings)

Introvert 2: *answers door and brings pizza to living room*  You owe me $5.  (Occasionally, there is no subtext.)

Introvert 1: He got my favorite pizza.  I am so lucky to have a friend as conscientious as him.  I will repay him with an Emeril reference followed by a Simpsons reference since I know he likes them both.  *pulls out wallet and pays Introvert 1*  Bam, $5.  Mmm, sausage and pepperoni…  *grabs piece of pizza and goes back to reading*

Introvert 2: Wow, he quoted two of my favorite TV characters and used two TV references in seven words.  I’ll have to see if I can beat that.  *grabs piece of pizza and goes back to surfing*

Extroverts speak with words.  Introverts speak with actions.  This is, of course, oversimplifying it a little bit, but it holds true quite often. Whoever first coined the phrase ‘actions speak louder than words’ was almost assuredly an introvert.

Introverts are also perfectly comfortable with silence.  Our brains are much happier entertaining themselves than engaging in a “crazy weather we’re having” conversation.  And if you do decide to get into a “crazy weather we’re having” conversation with an introvert, don’t be surprised if you get a “Well, actually, this weather is quite normal for this time of year.  The temperature today is perfectly average and even though it’s raining quite heavily right now, we’ve been in a bit of a rain deficit this month so, statistically, we’d expect an event such as this to occur to bring us up to the average monthly totals.”  It’s not that we’re trying to make you uncomfortable or prove that we’re smarter than you.  We really just don’t see the point of commenting on the weather unless you really wanted to have a conversation about the weather.

Even though many times we seem anti-social, we really need and crave social contact just as much as you extroverts.  As this comic very succinctly points out, though, social contact gives energy to extroverts and takes energy from extroverts.  This makes it very hard for us to seek out social contact when there are too many unknowns involved with said contact.  This also makes introverts good party throwers, though.  You can be assured that there will be plenty of interesting people even though it looks as if the introvert spends more time making sure everyone’s having a good time than enjoying himself.

Almost everyone needs to be alone sometimes and almost everyone enjoys being alone sometimes.  Introverts prefer being alone most of the time.  If you exclaim with excitement, “I’m going to go out drinking with my friends!” even once a year, you’re probably more extroverted than introverted.  This is not a bad thing, but you should remember those times when you need to be alone with your thoughts and how you feel when people interrupt those thoughts.  That’s how introverts feel most of the time.

Being an introvert means almost always taking the back stage to the extrovert.  We’re fine with that.  And don’t worry, extroverts, we are almost certainly not plotting to take over society.  And we definitely don’t have a manifesto.  And we are 100% guaranteed not subtly manipulating you to reveal more about yourself than you meant to reveal.  Now tell me all about how you are really an introvert.  Those are some good points.  Please continue.

This is Not Good

In a year already filled with extreme weather, get ready to add another one.  This one has all the makings of being severely devastating.

Typhoon Bopha is a category 5 storm and is striking the Philippine island of Mindanao.  Mindanao is not equipped to handle a storm of this strength.  A tropical storm that hit it last year caused 1,268 deaths.  A category 5 storm is orders of magnitude more powerful than that.

Mindanao is very close to the Equator and rarely gets hit by tropical storms as a result.  Thus the infrastructure isn’t there.  Now, two years in a row storms will have hit this poor island and at least 40 deaths are already confirmed.

When are we going to do something about the destruction we are causing?  It’s looking all too likely that the answer is when it’s too late.

This S**t’s About to Get Interstellar

Remember Voyager 1?  Launched in 1977 to explore Jupiter and Saturn and completing her mission back in 1980, she’s still truckin’ to the edges of the solar system and sending back valuable data.  She is the little spacecraft that could.

NASA recently announced that Voyager 1 could be about to leave the outer limits of our solar system.  As Phil Plait points out, that would make humans an interstellar species.  Wowzers!  Now, this could still take a few years, but we are enticingly close.

Just how far from Earth is Voyager 1?  An astounding 1.823x10^{10} kilometers away!  At that distance, it takes a signal from Voyager 1 almost 18 hours to reach Earth.

Don’t get your hopes up on Voyager 1 travelling to another star, though.  The closest star, Proxima Centauri,  is 4.2 light years away and it would take Voyager 17,565 years to travel just one light year at its present speed.  And Voyager isn’t heading that direction.

It’s a great big universe and we’re all really puny.

Adventures in Non-Euclidean Geometry

My prior post on the shape of the universe got me thinking about spheres.  Spheres are difficult shapes to wrap your head around.  Luckily, we don’t really have to worry about them that often.  Unless, that is, you happen to be a pilot.

Most of our interaction with the concept of the Earth is in the form of a map.  Maps literally warp our view of the Earth, though.  They are a Euclidean representation of a non-Euclidean space.  Three dimensions projected onto a two dimensional object.  This works fine for extremely small sections of the globe like if you wanted to travel from one state to an adjoining state, just like Newtonian physics is fine for constant gravity and much slower than light velocities.  For larger sections of the globe, though, this will lead you to make very poor travelling decisions if you are using a map.  Those straight lines on the map are not straight on a globe.  No lines are straight on a globe.

How do pilots get around this?  Enter the Great Circle.  The math behind a great circle calculation is pretty complicated so let’s ignore the math for another day and wrap our head around the idea of a great circle.

In order to find the shortest path from point A to point B on a globe, you must find the great circle solution.  The great circle solution is simply the one circle that you can draw around the globe that does two things.  First, it must go through both point A and Point B.  And second, the circle must bisect the exact center of the globe.  That circle will have a unique property.  It’s diameter will always be the diameter of the globe.

The most obvious example of a great circle is the Equator.  If you wanted to travel the shortest distance between two points on the Equator, you’d always travel along the Equator to get there.  That is the only latitude line on Earth that can be a great circle solution.

Less obvious of an example is travelling from the North Pole to anywhere south.  No matter where you want to travel to, your great circle solution will travel through the South Pole.  This means that you will always travel along one of the longitudinal lines to get to your destination.  That’s right, every line of longitude is a great circle solution.

Now that you have two points on a sphere and you know the sphere’s diameter, you have everything that you need to figure out the great circle route.  Now all you have to do is the math.

Movie Review: Killing Them Softly

Ratings for reviews will appear above the fold, while the review itself will appear below the fold to avoid spoilers for anyone that wants to go into it with a blank slate.

Jean-Paul’s rating: 3/5 stars

Continue reading →

OMG! Todd Akin Was Right!

Trigger warning:  Sarcastic mocking of Republicans and their views on rape ahead.  Also, really bad humor.

While writing my previous post about shutting that whole thing down while dreaming, I got into a bit of a link clicking vortex.  What I found will astound you.

Almost everybody is aware of Todd Akin’s views of rape:

From what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

Poor Todd just got a little confused.  This is just the new Fundamentalist Christian rape test for determining if a woman is a witch.  Because, guess what animal does have a way of shutting that whole thing down during a rape?  Pigs?  No.  Lemmings?  No.  Really small otters?  No.   A duck!  Exactly!  And so logically, if you rape a woman and she doesn’t become pregnant…

Then she’s a witch!  BURN HER!

Shutting That Whole Thing Down

Last night, I had a dream.  Either this was one of those incredibly simple dreams or I only remember the simple part.  In it, I was rinsing my mouth out.  That’s it.  That was the entire dream.  Or almost the entire dream.  You see, then in my dream, I spit.  And that woke me up.  Because I had just spit all over my arm.

Now, unlike during a rape, this is a legitimate time when the body is supposed to shut that whole thing down.  Me spitting on myself, sleepwalking, jumping out a window; none of these things are supposed to happen when you’re asleep.  The body, it turns out, doesn’t always get things right.  During rapid eye movement (or REM) sleep, the body releases neurotransmitters that prevent the muscles from acting out all those fun dreams. REM sleep, though, is a stage of sleep that happens just before and just after waking.  The boundaries can get a little blurry sometimes.  So if you go from REM sleep to waking at a particularly jarring moment in your dream, you can actually act out that part.  In the case of this dream, I spit on myself.

I had a long, complicated dream once where I was getting chased by a werewolf and it ended with him grabbing me by the shoulder from behind and spinning me around.  I woke up at that moment with a pain in my shoulder.  I didn’t think much of it and went back to sleep.  The next morning, I woke up and went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and I had these three scratch marks along the front of my shoulder.  The werewolf was real!  Or I had just scratched myself.  Definitely one of the two.

What is the Shape of the Universe?

One of the hardest things for us mere mortals to wrap our heads around is the universe.  It’s huge!  There aren’t the adjectives to describe how big the universe is.  Take all the adjectives you know to describe something large and then multiply them all together and maybe you’ll have an inkling about how big the universe is.

But if the universe is this big…thing…surely it must have a shape, right?  Right!  Wikipedia has a decent description of the possible shapes of the universe.  Basically, there are three theoretical shapes of the universe: flat, spherical, and hyperbolic.  It’s still pretty confusing, though.  Let me see if I can make it a little easier to understand.

We are pretty sure that the universe is flat.  Using the word “flat” doesn’t really mean anything when we use our normal definition of “flat”, though.  After all, how can a very obviously three dimensional world be considered flat.  The trick is we’re not really talking about the shape.  We’re talking about the curvature of space.

Time for a geometry lesson.  Draw three points on a sheet of paper.  Connect them to form a triangle.  If you took a protractor and measured the three angles inside the triangle, they would add up to 180 degrees.  Now, take that same principle and apply it to the universe!  First, freeze time.  Then, pick any three stars that you can see.  Connect them to form a triangle.  If you took the universe’s largest protractor and measured the three angles inside the triangle, you’d come up with 180 degrees.  Flat!  All experimentation so far points to this holding for any three points in the universe.

“Well, duh!  How else would the universe be shaped?”, you ask?  A flat universe is completely understandable to most people with a high school education.  That’s because everyone has been exposed to Euclidean geometry.  The other two theoretical shapes are non-Euclidean.

But what does non-Euclidean geometry even mean?  Going back to our triangle example, a Euclidean triangle will always have it’s internal angles add up to 180 degrees.  A non-Euclidean triangle will NOT ALWAYS add up to 180 degrees.  (Sorry, complete aside here.  Euclidean starts with a vowel but saying “an Euclidean” just sounds weird.  That is all.)

The easiest way to wrap your head around this is to think of a sphere.  Take whatever ball you have handy and pick three points.  Draw lines again to form a triangle.  You have just created a non-Euclidean triangle in curved space!

Let’s take a very specific example using the Earth.  Pretend you’re on the equator.  Start walking north until you’re at the north pole.  Turn 90 degrees to your left.  Whoa, wait a second!  You’re facing directly south now!  That can’t be right.  But it is!  Ok, fine, you’re flexible, so start walking south again.  You will soon find yourself right back at the equator.  Turn 90 degrees left again and you’ll be facing east.  Walk east some distance along the equator until you reach your starting point.  Without a doubt, you just created an equilateral  triangle.  But wait, 90 + 90 + 90 = 270 degrees!  Welcome to non-Euclidean space.  So when they say there is a spherical universe, they mean that even though it may appear that you are walking a straight line, you are really walking a slightly curved line.

Despite the fact that all signs point to a flat universe, I find the idea of a spherical universe very attractive.  Imagine being able to walk across the universe in a straight line and eventually ending up right back were you started, just like if you walked along the equator and end up back where you started!  Of course, you’d have to not only freeze time, but you’d also have to stop gravity in order to do that.  It’s also possible that I’m just talking out my ass.

Though I understand the idea of a hyperbolic universe, words fail me in trying to describe it.  Basically, a hyperbolic universe is a strange combination of a flat universe and a spherical universe.  It ends up looking somewhat like a horse’s saddle.  Space is still curved, but it’s not curved uniformly like it would be on a sphere.  So when you are traveling along one of the sides of a triangle, it is possible that you can go from bending in one direction to bending in another and the line ends up looking more line an ‘S’.

The universe is a crazy, fun place!  Hopefully, this helps you guys understand it a little better.