complaints (mostly) from
gene cowan™

a dc expat in sunny san jose, ca, the land of fruits and nuts

email gene at genecowan.com
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Happy Independence Day!

Tricks of the Trade: The Cult of the Right
Carl Sagan, in his book The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark, gives us a "Baloney Detection Kit" that provides a framework for dissecting and debunking. It's been used before to see through the rantings of cults, which explains why it is just as effective in debunking the arguments and ravings of a group that's become more cult-like in recent years: the Republican party. Take a look at this list of common fallacies of logic and rhetoric, and ask yourself: how many of these have been and are currently used by the GOP on a regular basis? The answer? All of them.

• Ad hominem: attacking the arguer, but not the argument. Source A makes claim X... There is something objectionable about Source A... Therefore claim X is false.


• Argument from "authority".


• Argument from adverse consequences: putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavorable" decision.


• Appeal to ignorance: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.


• Special pleading: typically referring to divine will.


• Begging the question: assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased.


• Observational selection: counting the hits and forgetting the misses.


• Statistics of small numbers: drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes.


• Misunderstanding the nature of statistics: President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!


• Inconsistency: e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios, but scientific projections on environmental dangers ignored because they are not "proved".


• Non sequitur: "it does not follow" - the logic falls down. An abrupt, illogical, unexpected or absurd turn not associated with or appropriate to that preceding it.


• Post hoc, ergo propter hoc: "it happened after so it was caused by" - confusion of cause and effect. "Anti-terrorism policies worked because there were no more terrorist attacks in the US."


• Meaningless question: "what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?".


• Excluded middle: considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the "other side" look worse than it really is).


• Short-term v. long-term: a subset of excluded middle ("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?").


• Slippery slope: a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile).


• Confusion of correlation and causation: A occurs along with B; therefore, A causes B.


• Straw man: caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack.


• Suppressed evidence or half-truths.


• Weasel words: usually expressed with deliberate imprecision with the intention to mislead the listeners or readers into believing statements for which sources are not readily available. "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" rather than torture.

The left is guilty of these techniques as well — but because the left is not organized enough to move in lockstep or hammer their fallacies home as pre-scripted talking points, their attempts are usually ham-fisted and poorly delivered.

Unfortunate mistake or clever design? The jury is hung

Is this thing on?
Hey, whattayaknow? I still have a blog!
How 2005.

The Foot of Death
I don't know when it happened, but the discovery was made tonight when I put out the trash.
After tying up the bag and removing it from the can, a tell-tale odor was left behind. I knew exactly what it was. One of the mice visiting my house had met its end in or around my trash can.
I looked inside. Mouse poop. I looked underneath. Nothing. I searched around the can, under the recycle bin, under the wine cooler — nada. Then I had a horrible realization.
I dismantled the step can, screw by screw, and prepared myself for discovery. I was right. Inside the mechanism was the sad remains of a mouse. And as if this wasn't enough, my quick postmortem of the flattened body told me everything I needed to know.
At some point a mouse had wriggled its way into the step mechanism of the can. Unknowingly, I obviously stepped on the pedal to open the can, and crushed the animal to death.
This is not the way I wanted to end my weekend.
And now I'm out of bleach.

She was saving the petroleum for her commute
The woman behind me at the checkout looked on distain as my groceries were put into plastic bags. She made a show of putting her canvas bags on the conveyor.
I'd stopped off on the way home to pick up a few things and didn't have my reusable bags in hand. Being a good liberal, I was appalled at myself, actually. But I didn't expect an actual reaction from anyone else, and I was a bit perturbed at being judged by this woman.
Until I got to the parking lot.
As I loaded my purchases into the back of my 40mpg diesel VW that qualified for a clean car tax credit, she wheeled her cart past me and stopped at an 11mpg Jeep Cherokee.

The people want you to stop calling
Gosh, Volkswagen... needy much?

Air freshener included
Recession got you down? Can't afford a Sierra, Tiburon, Tahoe, or Sonoma? Then try one of these new California-themed vehicles:

• Chevy Milpitas


• Ford Colma


• Hyundai Hemet


• Saturn Oxnard


• Toyota Salinas

Hey, kids! Let’s put on a protest!
So, I'm looking at this picture from the BBC:



and I can't help but wonder: did those protestors farm cotton, completely organically with no man-made products... then build a cotton gin on their own... then spin the cotton with home-made spinning wheels... then weave it with their own looms created with their own hands... then paint letters on it with their own blood?

Or did they go down to Tesco's and buy cheap sheets?

Consumers, indeed.



"We hate capitalism! And thus we wear hoodies from Gap!"


"Pay no attention to our store-bought blue jeans made by children in Bangladesh and our stylish messenger bags, hats, and t-shirts bought with our privileged parents' money!"

The Link Retirement Home
I've had these sites bookmarked for the better part of a decade now, and I figure it's time to set them free. But I can't bear to just delete them, so here they'll live out the rest of their useful lives... until I delete this blog, of course.

Speak 'n Spell Emulator

Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness

Isabel Samaras Paintings

Virtual Toad: A CGI recreation of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Space Audio: the "sounds of space" collected by U Iowa instruments on various spacecraft.

Nick at Nite Jingles

Player Piano Rolls Scanned to MIDI Files

How to make Coca-Cola at Home

How to Infuse Vodka

Mike Sacks' Photos of TV

San Jose Semaphore

Is someone keeping count of all this?
Well, duh.

Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots
Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say
By Peter Finn and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, March 29, 2009; A01

When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him.

The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads.

In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said.

Moreover, within weeks of his capture, U.S. officials had gained evidence that made clear they had misjudged Abu Zubaida. President George W. Bush had publicly described him as "al-Qaeda's chief of operations," and other top officials called him a "trusted associate" of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a major figure in the planning of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. None of that was accurate, the new evidence showed.

Gosh, a tortured suspect telling his torturers exactly what they want to hear? Who'd have thunk? I mean, doesn't the CIA ever watch TV?
I refuse to believe anything the Bush administration told us, and now more and more it seems that I was wise to do so. Of course, the biggest, well, lie they've continued to tell is that they were keeping us safe and that they were obviously doing the right thing because there were no further attacks — that pesky, unprovable negative.
Refutations of their lies were happening while they were still in office — WMD? Iraq behind 9/11? Anyone? Anyone? — so this is no surprise, but I can't help but wonder how many more lies, cover-ups and scandals will be uncovered over the next few years... even in the next decade?

Alone and scared on the exit ramp
Every morning I make that fateful decision - whether or not to take route 101 to work. It's possibly the most stressful road around, and yet I still take it sometimes to make up lost time in the morning.
This morning, just as I exited near my office, cars were swerving — around something laying in the road. As I passed, I realized it was a small dog. Laying in the exit ramp, little floppy ears, dead.
It felt like someone punched me in the chest. What if that were Diego laying there? The very fact that it was there means that its family doesn't know where it is. And they will be in for a wrenching shock.
This was not a good sight to start off my week; I just felt like I needed to write it down to try to get it out of my head where it would otherwise fester for days.
Sorry to unload this onto you.

Of MMS and Apple
When the iPhone debuted, Apple was lambasted by an odd group of trolls for not including MMS — "even a crappy free phone has MMS!" they insisted. And my reaction to this was: why would Apple want to produce something that compares to a crappy free phone?

Here's why I think MMS was left off the iPhone: Apple has cojones. They often make the gutsy decision to eliminate features and connections from their products, which creates consternation but later shows good sense as the feature in question fades into obscurity. Remember when they left the floppy drive off the iMac? Well, can you imagine using a floppy disk today? If Apple didn't take the first step in eliminating dying technologies, the Mac would be like a PC: crammed with all kinds of old legacy ports, drivers, and protocols. A current example: Apple is dumping Firewire 400 like the plague, forcing us all to move forward.

So, MMS. Be truthful: how many of you have used MMS, really? I'm not talking about a few times to play with it — I'm talking about every day, the way you use SMS. Yeah, I didn't think so. I could count on one hand how many times I've send an MMS since the technology was first introduced eons ago, and I am a early adopter gadget freak. When the iPhone debuted it gave us an easy, elegant way to simply email a full photo instead of a postage stamp for 30¢.

So, where did this plan go wrong?

Here's what I think: for the first time ever, Apple has succeeded in producing a product for the masses. Not for computer geeks, not for designers or techies or people who want elegance and simplicity; but for everyone. Sales of iPhones have topped 17 million, and that's just scratching the surface of its potential. Unfortunately, this means that the customer base for the iPhone is different. These are not necessarily forward-looking futurists or people who keep to the cutting edge. These are people who see a free Nokia phone and compare it to a $200 iPhone and wonder why the iPhone doesn't do what the Nokia does — never mind that it does far more than that Nokia, they still wonder about the omissions.

And Apple, possibly with a prod and financial stake from AT&T, is going to give them their wish. Soon you'll be able to send a tiny, unviewable photo to another mobile phone for only 30¢ each.

Well, you will. I have neither the desire or need to bother with this.

AT&T sucks. But you knew that, didn’t you?
So, I took a look at my phone bill today. It was higher than usual -- for some reason, there was a data charge. Huh? I thought all the data on my iPhone was included?
Here's how AT&T got a little extra cash out of me.

Data Usage Summary

IPHONE TXT MSG 200
182 Text Messages Used
147 Text Messages Included
3-24 35 Billed at $0.10/Msg 3.50

Total IPHONE TXT MSG 200 3.50

IPHONE TXT MSG 1500
77 Text Messages Used
450 Text Messages Included

MEDIA MAX UNL MNET
32,533 Kilobytes Used

Total Data Usage Summary 3.50

I had a 200 Text Message plan. I knew I was getting close to the limit, so I upgraded to the 1500 message plan. Seems simple enough, right? I'd used 187 messages — still under the 200 limit — and added on an additional 1300. But that's not how the clever billing accountants at AT&T see it. As far as I can tell, here's what they did:
- Instead of "upgrading" my message plan, they canceled the first plan and replaced it with the new one
- They pro-rated the number of messages in my 200 plan by the number of days I had it, coming up with the number 147. In other words, it's not 200 messages during a month, it's 7.15 messages per day.
- Because I'd used 182 messages and their prorated package only had 147, they charged me for the 35 messages which should have been comfortably accommodated in the 200 message plan.
- Then they prorated the new 1500 plan down to 450.

And that's how the weasels at AT&T (like bankers) whittle away your money bit by bit. Imagine that, say, nation-wide there were 10,000 people who switched to a different text message plan to avoid overages last month. That's an extra $35,000 AT&T took in last month in addition to the higher plan fee!
Boy, I'll bet they're chomping at the bit to get those new iPhone MMS charges at 35¢ a pop, eh?

And don't even get me started about how these tiny bits of data are charged to us at something like $1,500 per megabyte. Bastards.

The more things stay the same
People just unhinge me and make me sick.

First, here's this morning's story:

US endorses UN gay rights text

By Matthew Lee
Associated Press
03/18/2009 09:41:51 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration today formally endorsed a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, a measure that former President George W. Bush had refused to sign.
The move was the administration's latest in reversing Bush-era decisions that have been heavily criticized by human rights and other groups. The United States was the only western nation not to sign onto the declaration when it came up at the U.N. General Assembly in December.
"The United States supports the U.N.'s statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity and is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support of the statement," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.
"The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world," Wood told reporters. "As such, we join with other supporters of this statement, and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the administration would endorse the declaration.
Gay rights and other groups had criticized the Bush administration when it refused to sign the declaration when it was presented at the United Nations on Dec. 19. U.S. officials said then that the U.S. opposed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but that parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review.
According to negotiators, the Bush team had concerns that those sections could commit the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In some states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military.
But Wood said a "careful interagency review" by the Obama administration had concluded that "supporting this statement commits us to no legal obligations."
When it was voted on in December, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration, which backers called an historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with anti-gay discrimination. It was endorsed by all 27 European Union members as well as Japan, Australia and Mexico.
But 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality — and in several, homosexual acts can be punished by execution. More than 50 nations, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, opposed the declaration.
Some Islamic countries said at the time that protecting sexual orientation could lead to "the social normalization and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts" such as pedophilia and incest. The declaration was also opposed by the Vatican.

Now, let's take a look at the first comment on the newspaper website, posted within 10 minutes from the anonymous "LeftCoastKid":

Gays already had rights. They have the same rights as the rest of the normal people. Of course they can't get married, but that's for obvious reasons - marriage is (and should always be) between a man and a woman.

It shouldn't be shocking, but it is — the incredible bigotry that exists in our country. Assholes like this obviously troll for any mention of gay rights and then throw up their ridiculous screeds all over the keyboard without bothering to read or comprehend.
The same rights as the rest of the "normal" people? Did he not read the part saying "In some states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military." Did you get that, anonymous bigot? YOU CAN LOSE YOUR HOME AND JOB BECAUSE YOU ARE GAY.

Yeah, the same rights. Of course, the people who say these kinds of things are also the same people who secretly believe that black people or Jews or women shouldn't get "special rights" either. Society has just reached the point where they aren't comfortable saying it in public anymore; but dammit, it's still acceptable to say anything you want about gay people and your bigoted pals in the white sheets just slap your back and laugh. It's very telling that there's been a surge in anti-gay crimes here in Santa Clara county; those uppity gays should be happy with what they've got and not come out in public where people might see them.

I almost want to take them up on it, to cloister myself in the house and withdraw from this society that includes such people.

Why I’m not blogging these days


* Data does not include time spent:

• Dating


• Cleaning


• Mowing


• Doing laundry


• Going to the dentist


• Grocery shopping


• Living

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Click here to donate towards the cure for breast cancer. Join me in honor of my friends, who have shown extraordinary strength and determination despite uncertainty and pain.

Albums by my friend Sara are now available on the iTunes Music Store.

Albums by my cousin Eric are now available at CD Baby.

Sara
…And now, a response about the “F” word and the “W” word
The Life of Artists and The Reality of the Game
Dear Friends:  Celebrate World Refugee Day!
It Was The Love

Mac

Jeff
Wedding update: T-minus 3 months
Arlington, fo’ shizzle
‘Up,’ up, and away to Paradise Falls
Flight of the Conchords in Berkeley

Thom
two panoramas from today
links for 2008-11-24
yet another opinion from Andrew Sullivan I could do without
"it was a great feeling, while it lasted"

Terry Kevin
I'm bummed
Star Trek: a Brief Review (with spoilers)
Graham Norton
More Bush Horrors

Kirk
Suuuuper Genius
...As I Was Saying
OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!
How To Make A Really Good Bowl Of Cream Of Wheat- Or- Why Do You People Continue To Let Me Waste Your Time

Eric
Our new president -- some thoughts
Bye bye Bushie!
Yes We Can!
Mavericks

Ray said : Classic Palm move... They've been drinking their own kool-aid too long.
Posted under: You know what Big Hands mean on 06.07.09

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Places I've wasted time marking
- Bob Hope's House
- DC Boundary Stones
- Eagle Rock, San Jose
- The Equator
- Annotated Tour of Hollywood Studios
- Things to See in San Jose
- George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch
- Santa Clara Valley Light Rail
- The Warner Brothers Backlot
- Warner Ranch Tour
- More Hollywood Places, including famous filming locations
- Tour of Hollywood Star Homes
- All the places I've lived (except today)

You've got a credit card, why not use it?
The Just as I Thought Shop
The g-world Emporium

2004 Trip to London
Sept. 2001 Tornado
Sept. 2003 Hurricane
Magic Tales of Mexico
Star Trek Experience
Trip to Las Vegas
2007 Timelapse movies of my backyard

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