Advantages of the Paleo Diet

Posted on November 11, 2012 by jackpelham

Our family has been working on switching to the Paleo diet this past year.  We’ve had our struggles doing it—issues such as travel and living far from suitable markets, as well as more embarrassing items such as the occasional lack of discipline and/or will power.  All things considered, however, we find the Paleo diet highly favorable and look forward to getting back “on the wagon” as soon as we’re done traveling. Continue reading →

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New Definition of “Liberalism”

Posted on November 9, 2012 by jackpelham

I do not like this definition. Please read the article.

I don’t normally like to get into discussions about “conservatism” or “liberalism” because not only do I find those words troublingly undefined, but I find those who use them to be far too cavalier for my taste—bantering about without really caring to define things exactly.  In this present case, however, I’m making an exception.

I ran across this image (see the black t-shirt image) at Facebook today and had to share my take on it.  While it is clever, it also misdiagnoses the true state of things.  It says:  “liberalism: moochers electing looters to steal from producters!”

My response to this t-shirt is as follows: Continue reading →

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Where Have All the Inventors Gone?

Posted on November 9, 2012 by jackpelham

NOTE: The following thoughts were posted in response to someone at DailyPaul.com asking the question posed by the title of this page.

To your question, where have all the inventors gone?, I have no statistics to offer, and I have not made a study of the question. I do, however, have some observations. For what it’s worth:

1. I observe that the Expertise Bias is alive and well in America. Many are conditioned to leave invention to the “experts” and simply never entertain the idea that they themselves might get involved in the game. Somewhere in their schooling, Continue reading →

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Entitlement is Unnatural

Posted on November 8, 2012 by jackpelham

If we were to observe nature at work, and if we were willing to anthropomorphize the cosmos, as if it had human qualities, what might we say that the cosmos “owes” to new humans who are born into it?

For example, we might suppose that the cosmos is obligated to give humans air, since there is an abundance of that here, free for the breathing.  And then there’s the warmth of the sun, as well as the day/night cycle.  These are free to all.  And, of course, you can’t be born without parents….though this one’s a bit messier example for reasons that would distract from the intended conversation if we were to detail them.  Then there’s gravity.  And what else am I missing?  (Things that ALL new humans enjoy here.) Continue reading →

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On the Quarrelling in the Ron Paul / Liberty Movement

Posted on November 4, 2012 by jackpelham

What follows is an essay I posted in response to a participant’s complaint at DailyPaul.com.  The complaint was about quarreling amongst Liberty Movement people.

Continue reading →

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The Irony of Solving Puzzles About Which Hardly Anyone Cares

Posted on November 3, 2012 by jackpelham

“Eureka!  I’ve got it!”

“Ah, so that’s the answer!”

“Holy Cow!  We’ve been wrong all along!”

“OK, I think I’ve finally got it figured out.”

These kinds of moments are fairly common in my house.  Between Kay’s studies and my own, it seems we are regularly discovering or making sense of things that had previously been mysteries to us—quite like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in their proper places.  Continue reading →

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On the Foolishness of Single-Issue Voting

Posted on October 28, 2012 by jackpelham

I have long been a critic of LO2ERS, which is my preferred shorthand for Lesser-Of-2–Evils voteRS. My primary concern is that they typically congratulate themselves after having “held their noses” and picked the candidate they consider to be the “lesser of two evils”, as if in so doing, they had done a good thing for our society.   What they fail to notice, however, is that they have not done a thing at all to reform anything to any appreciable and lasting degree. Continue reading →

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Observation on the Fitted Sheet

Posted on October 28, 2012 by jackpelham

I observe that a properly-folded fitted should should approximate the shape of a basketball.

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Pelham’s Law of Cognitive Error

Posted on October 14, 2012 by jackpelham

Pelham’s Law of Cognitive Error:  “I am most likely wrong about many things.”

Cognitive science has solidly identified certain traits of human behavior by which people operate habitually at a sub-optimal level.  We make frequent cognitive errors, some of which have the further-counterproductive tendency of covering up error itself, making it even harder for us to correct ourselves.  Hence, Pelham’s Law of Cognitive Error.

It is a strategic safeguard of awareness, designed for the purpose of avoiding cognitive error by way of keeping one’s own tendency toward error ever in view.  But even deeper than that, it’s simply the truth.  I am most likely wrong about a great many things!  My track record suggests as much, and even though I have corrected many of my beliefs so far, there are undoubtedly more yet to be corrected.   Continue reading →

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Ideas I Can’t Afford to Have

Posted on October 12, 2012 by jackpelham

I have ideas.  Lots and lots of ideas.

And I’m getting better at it all the time.  I used to think that having ideas was something of a gift, but now I realize that an idea is practically worthless if it can’t “get to market”, so to speak—if it can’t be made into a reality.  So I’ve learned (the hard way) to be unimpressed with most of my ideas, as they show no particular potential for greatness.

But then there are those ideas that remain—those that keep coming back to the surface as undeniably powerful and timely.  Continue reading →

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