Viewing profile — sykick

I can only speak for myself but what is there left to comment on? I have outrage fatigue. Trump goes from one incredible gaff/goof/statement to another. The list of his incompetenc…

You are correct. H.L. Mencken once defined puritanism as the haunting fear that someone somewhere is having fun. The essence of this definition does well to capture the psyche of A…

Your goal is noble. I think it is believed by you because you don’t have extensive experience teaching in a classroom. Everyone talks about teaching concepts and whatnot. I used to…

Your first sentence sounds plausible and could be true. Do you know that it is true? Do the demographics of the country support an increase in higher education capacity? Do the rea…

Enrollment in higher education is down over the last 10 years. There are already too many universities/colleges in the U.S. There are too many Ph.D.'s being granted in a quite a fe…

I think no sufficiently intelligent person thinks that hospitals deciding who lives/dies will be done capriciously or by cruel doctors. But on the other hand there were large numbe…

A withdraw means they still have to pay for the course and given that student loan debt is largely not dischargeable in bankruptcy I won’t ask them to withdraw. My college has not …

Millions of people have suddenly lost their jobs. Millions are ordered to shelter in place. Millions are going to go stir crazy. Child abuse and spousal abuse will increase. Mental…

My college switched classes to an online format and we closed the college for two weeks to give faculty time to make the switch. So in addition to hastily converting classes to an …

Here is why the situation in the U.S. does not nearly perfectly mirror Zimbabwe. One word: confidence. People have far more confidence in the dollar than they do Zimbabwe's currenc…

It may be a false choice now but it might not be a false one in the future. At any rate, it is worth exploring the idea and it’s an interesting question regarding the circumstances…

I think your point could be stated better but the sentiment behind is worth exploring. If the economy collapses there will certainly be an increase in misery, spousal and child abu…

I see. As you have phrased it just now; this seems sensible. Thank you for the clarification.

Making guns illegal will do little if it is not accompanied by getting rid of the existing guns. People are poor judges of risk and it would not surprise me that cops are more fear…

I feel sure the vast majority of Police officers are doing upstanding work, so it's a matter of identifying and punishing the bad apples. I strongly disagree that the vast majority…

I don’t see the lecturing and patronization that you referenced in your original comment with some of the examples you provided. That’s the part of your post that I disagree with. …

Do you have more than a single instance to point to in which expert bureaucrats are lecturing and patronizing while being wrong? From my perspective it seems clear that the America…

I may be jaded and cynical but it seems to me that when people just write, "Correlation does not always imply causation" they are trying to demonstrate how smart they are and how d…

What you say is true. I like the way you phrased things. What you write about the authors potentially having a bias that blinds them is nicely put. If someone has reason to think t…

I don’t understand why this comment is made as frequently as it is. Do you think the authors of the paper aren’t aware of this fact? Do you think they didn’t think of this when the…

What you say seems plausible and I agree with it. I was responding only to the belief that not having enough money at checkout is 0.0001% of the cases.

I was a cashier in college for several years. Your scenario happens far more than 0.0001% of the case. It's fairly common amongst poor people. Then there are items that aren't acce…

The Gell-Mann Amnesia effect resonates with me. Here is why. The few times I've read an article about something with which I have intimate knowledge there have been mistakes in the…

I disagree with your last paragraph but wholeheartedly agree with he first 2. One of the things that bothers me about the advice given there is a seemingly irrational aversion to b…

My interpretation of your question is that underlying it is a belief that Katherine Johnson ought to have gotten a black bar given that Freeman Dyson got one. Can you elaborate on …