Neophilia

Erin enjoying a margarita flight

What's Happening?

This is my second day of summer break. With more time on my hands, I will probably be writing more often. I'm going to try a format similar to how I began each of my statistics classes during the Spring 2017 semester.

On Friday the 19th we fly to Atlanta, GA where we will be picked up by the newlyweds Dennis and Rachel Ho. They will drive us to Asheville, NC where we will meet our friends Gerrit and Kristi Scholten. Once together, we plan to paint the town and do all things fun. We may send you a postcard if you're good. 

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Erin and I will be riding the Cottonwood 200. This is a 200 mile, 3-day bike ride that starts as Washburn University in Topeka on Saturday, May 27th and ends that evening about 75 miles away in Council Grove, KS.  On Sunday, the ride is an out-and-back that goes to Cottonwood Falls and returns to Council Grove, which is approximately 50 miles. On Monday, we ride back to Topeka.

Did You Know?

One of my 2017 resolutions is to bike 2017 miles. At the time of this writing, I have 1641 miles to go. This means I am 18.6% finished with my goal. Tuesday, May 16th is the 136th day of the year, which means that I am 37.3% finished with the year. Although behind, the summer rides are coming and will most likely get me ahead.

Number of the Day - 44

On Saturday, April 22nd, Erin and I met friends Jonathan and Sarah in Columbia, MO to participate in the March for Science. According to Pew Research, the 

percentage of U.S. adults who say the protests, marches and demonstrations about science held this April will Help/Make No Difference/Hurt public support for science

is divided evenly at 44% for both "Help" and "Make No Difference." In fact, 7% believe it will hurt public support for science. This was one of FiveThirtyEight's Significant Digits on Friday, May 12.

March for Science

Neophilia versus Neophobia

I'm currently reading what will probably be a contender for the most influential book I've read in 2017. On shelves in 2012, I'm five years behind. It is called The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. 

This has been such an influential book, that I expect to weave much of what was written in that book into several more blog posts. I will build a foundation with this post. 

Haidt first brings up neophilia while giving several moral foundations of politics in chapter 7. The six moral foundations are 

• Care/Harm
• Liberty/Opression (introduced in Ch. 8)
• Fairness/Cheating
• Loyalty/Betrayal
• Authority/Subversion
• Sanctity/Degradation 

If you think of a spectrum of very liberal on the left to very conservative on the right, imagine a graph of six lines that measure the importance of these moral foundations to individuals (use the picture below to get an idea, which is not to scale and slightly inaccurate). Starting on the left, the lines from top to bottom represent each of the moral foundations given above, respectively. 

Hence, the more liberal minded individual puts a lot more weight in the top three (and especially the top two) than the bottom three. While the more conservative minded puts about an equal weight to all six foundations with a near opposite ordering of priority. 

In the section on Sanctity and Degradation, he introduced the terms neophilia and neophobia. 

• Neophilia is a desire to experience and try new things, along with a general distaste for routine and tradition.
• Neophopia is a fear of new experiences, with a general comfort in what is "tried and true."

In my search of a more positive word that describes a general desire for routine and tradition, I was unsuccessful.

Neophilia describes me very well. Haidt claims that liberals score higher on neophilia, being more open to experience "new foods, people, music, and ideas."  Conservatives, on the flip side, scored higher on neophobia.

Why was this in the sanctity and degradation section? If one thinks in the specific terms of sex and the sanctity of marriage, consider the following bumper sticker.

This would be on the car of a neophile, and most probably, one that leans to the left.

The primary reason why I believe The Righteous Mind to be so influential is that it has helped me "trade in anger for understanding." I encourage you to do the same, whether you read this particular book or not. 

Safe Spaces

After the election of Donald Trump as our next POTUS, safe spaces were organized nationwide on university campuses.  I heard very little about these safe spaces, and upon hearing about them, I didn't read much more into them. There are reasons for this, I admint, and it is because I fall into three categories that already make me safe (pre- and especially post-election):  

• White
• Male
• Heterosexual

Recently, I was exposed to someone that fell into all three of these categories who showed anger and disgust at the idea of these safe spaces forming, and that professors that had exams scheduled post-election day were giving some students a few days to recover before taking the exam. He went as far as to mock those who may desire such a space, and even brought his daughters into it, saying how they won't be getting safe spaces, and how they'll need to accept the world as it is. 

Anger. Disgust. Mocking. 

All over something that has absolutely no affect on his life as a white, male, heterosexual whatsoever. 

As a white person, I will never understand the psychological effect that racism has on a non-white person. No matter how much I educate myself about it, nor how much I try and empathize with the non-white community, I will never fully be able to empathize. It is impossible. 

This is my white privilege. 

As a male, I will never be able to truly understand the feeling of being preyed upon. I can only sympathize. I can only begin to imagine the fear that is felt when a non-male is all alone and there is an unknown, larger, stronger, male presence nearby. I can only begin to imagine what it is like to be disrespected constantly, gawked at, verbally assaulted, sexually assaulted, and put into a class where there are all of these expectations that I'm supposed to live up to. 

This is my male privilege. 

As a heterosexual, I will not fully comprehend the inherent attraction to the same sex, or the psychological effects that has being raised up in a community that looked upon such acts as taboo. When I go places, with my wife by my side, I will not be stared at or feel the discrimination and disgust from those who do not agree with my heterosexual lifestyle. 

This is my heterosexual privilege. 

With all of these privileges, I find it disgraceful that someone with the same privileges gets angry and disgusted when those without these privileges want to find someplace safe. It can only be the case that their manhood is being questioned, or perhaps their anger is compensating for something else that isn't so pronounced.  

If I ever witnessed some males saying something like, "let's grab her by the pussy" with regards to any number of females in the vicinity, I would interject and try my best to create a safe space. 

It doesn't matter who the president is,what he behaves like, or what he does or does not condemn. I wouldn't chalk behavior like that described above up to the "real world," the "world we live in," or simple "locker room talk," because this isn't the kind of America that I would want. The America that I want and would vote for is the kind where safe spaces would become a thing of the past.

A Way Forward

Like many Americans, I did not feel good about voting this year.

So, I decided to sign up on Represent.Us and volunteer to begin a chapter in Topeka. The entire goal of this organization is to bypass Congress (which is possible) to enact laws that will make corruption illegal.

If there is one thing that we know from being human, is that nobody should be responsible for regulating themselves. We should all be accountable to someone. Congress needs to be accountable to us.

It is possible, albeit a little tricky. It involves informing people, petitioning, and getting things on the ballot. And then it involves battling the big money campaigns that will inevitably attack such ballot measures. Getting a solid base of members that are educated enough to ignore these campaigns is one of the biggest challenges.

It is happening, though. All over the country. There was a big win during this election cycle that was overshadowed by the presidential election, and that was an Anti-Corruption Act was passed state-wide throughout South Dakota.

The simplest thing you can do is browse the sight, and sign up as a member. Read the emails they send you and stay informed of what is going on. Learn a little about it and talk about it with friends and family. Become a member of your local chapter if you have one.

Learn about the problem!  Watch some of the videos on the Represent.US site.  Read books like Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy by Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman, Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer-And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class by Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson, and Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress-And a Plan to Stop It by Lawrence Lessig.

These may sound like depressing books, but they end on good notes. They end with hope. They motivate. Take some time to learn a little more by watching this TED Talk by Lawrence Lessig.

Clinton's email Server: The Worst Part

Disappointment

When I first found out about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, I felt disappointed and let down.  It was extremely frustrating to me that someone given the most scrutiny of anyone else on the planet would bring this upon themselves.  

I remember thinking that these actions were indefensible, and that I would never be on the side of defending them.  I remember thinking that there would never be a reason to defend these actions.  

So here I am, about to sound like I am defending them, when I am not.  Why? 

Something worse has happened since this knowledge has come out.  What is far worse than having set up a private email server is the millions of wasted taxpayers money funding committee after committee to beat this dead horse of an issue into the ground. 

"They pull me back in"

I wanted to remain in my little haven of disappointment of Hillary.  Just when I think I'm out (of hating on Republicans), they pull me back in.  Now, I have to sweep her nonsense under the carpet, because of the overwhelming inappropriate sexism from the GOP and conservative media.  

If you don't think it is sexism, just ask yourself if Colin Powell would still be under such investigation after investigation, or any conservative male for that matter.  

How about some policy on these matters?  Maybe we could better use taxpayers' money and create a very clear policy on the use of private email and setting up private email servers, etc.  Because currently, there is none, and everything Clinton has done is not illegal. It is, to quote Comey, extremely reckless, however.  

In researching Clinton's emails and the similarities and differences these breaches of security had with Colin Powell's misuse of emails and David Patreus's mishandling of his "black book," I've stumbled upon something that is so shocking to me that many of you will just waive it off as complete nonsense.

With regard to high profile politicians, Hillary Clinton is one of the most honest and truth telling. 

To be clear, this does not mean that she doesn't lie. She lies just like any other politician lies.  But she does so with less frequency than any other (mainstream) politician, and is honest and tells the truth with a much higher frequency than any other.  

If you think that is bullshit, which most of you will, then I challenge you to do your own research and clearly show me how wrong I am.  

"If she were that honest, why do you feel you need to defend her?"

I didn't want to, but the behavior the GOP establishment embraces as they do everything within their power (including wasting taxpayers' money) to tarnish, defame, and belittle Clinton is so childish and abhorrent, that it has completely masked all the reckless and unethical actions of Hillary.  

Consistent and Complete

Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorem proved that the title of this post is impossible for any set of axioms that you adopt.

On one of my many walks between home and office, I thought about the significance of this and the human psyche.  I place myself, and the axioms and tenets that I adopt, into an incomplete category.  This is where I have found the most comfort. I am more comfortable in a framework that is consistent in my day-to-day learning and understanding of the world. Incompleteness isn't comfortable by any means, but I've accepted the fact that there are things that are true within my system that cannot be proven within that system.  This means, confusingly, that I cannot accept some "truths" as true, since I do not have the capability of knowing them to be "true."

Then I began to think of those who take more comfort and embrace a complete system of axioms and tenets. Within their system, these people have the ability to accept "truths" that I cannot accept, because they can be proven and are acceptable within their system.  However, this complete system of theirs is inconsistent, and hence has contradictions by Gödel's theorem.

Nobody likes inconsistencies, either.  So, those that take more comfort in a complete system either go the Walt Whitman route: "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes," or they take the following stance.

Life is full of complete and consistent people. Whichever one you are, we need to remind ourselves that the other person could be inconsistent or incomplete, and that there's no changing that.

There is at least one important thing I've learned as a consistent person who accepts his incompleteness, and that is there are a lot of complete people out there that do not want to hear about nor accept how inconsistent they are.

Which are you?

I'm reading Gödel, Escher, Back: An Eternal Golden Braid again this summer because I love this book, and it fosters thought experiments like these.

How to Raise a Nation's GDP

It was Sunday evening, May 15th, and I was finishing up my first weekend of being completely done with the Spring 2016 semester, and my first year at Washburn. Sitting there in my newly arranged living room (that can now seat four comfortably), I finished reading the last page of Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

It was one of the most eye-opening, and important pieces of work that I have ever read.  I'm so far behind, too, as this book came out in 2009.  Why hasn't anyone recommended this to me before now?

Educate Women

That's the simple answer to the title of this post, but the next question is a lot more difficult to answer on a global level than you realize: How do we educate women?

The authors do a great job of telling amazing stories of individuals, sometimes absolutely heartbreaking. They realize the importance of story telling over giving you the statistics of how horrible conditions are for women worldwide. Whether you agree with our psychology or not, we react more to stories of the hardships of an individual person than we do about a statistic that hundreds of thousands of people are suffering.

You will get sick to your stomach. You will get angry. At times, you will cry for joy.

The book will throw you head first into the world of forced prostitution and sex trafficking, and how although more prominent elsewhere, it is happening in your own backyard.

You will learn about the importance of maternal health on a global scale, and how horrible the U.S. is in this category as a developed nation. We have no excuse.

You will learn how iodizing salt is one of the cheapest ways of educating kids, and keeping them in school. Seriously. I'm not going to tell you how iodizing salt can accomplish this here because you should read it. Seriously.

You will read about some truly remarkable people and organizations already doing things that can help.

How can you help? The first and maybe the last step for you is simply to educate yourself, and read the book. Watch the documentary. Whatever. If you are informed, you can talk about it, and by talking about it, someone else may move to a further step.

A Chinese proverb says that "Women hold up half the sky."  What is sad is that this has never actually been true, because men have never let them.  Men have kept them under foot and have "clipped their wings" at an early age so to speak, which reminds me, you should also read I am Malala, a book that I borrowed that phrase from. The world will be a better place if we take the necessary steps so this is true in every possible sense.

An Ode to Hillary: The Internal Candidate

You work for some institution, and within this institution, things are not really that great.

Someone is about to retire and the majority of you have an internal candidate who is very qualified, well liked, and a shoe-in for the position. There does exist a minority at this institution that is rather disgusted with the idea of this "shoe-in" candidate taking the retiree's position, but that is beside the point that is trying to be made with this post. 

The institution goes through the motions of creating an external ad for the position knowing full well who they intend to hire. In fact, these are exciting times, as history will be made with the hiring of this internal candidate.  This internal candidate is fully qualified, will hold the institution together as it still stands, keep in running as always, and make some promising changes along the way.  Indeed, this will be a good candidate. 

Then the unexpected happens.

An external candidate applies that makes everyone do a double take.  "Who the... what the... wait... what just happened?!?"  

An awkward situation has just occurred.  Not only has a fully qualified external candidate just applied, but it is one that has amazing promise and drive at fixing what is actually broken about the institute. This candidate can get to the root of the problem.  This candidate will not just simply hold the institution together and keep it running smoothly as it has been, but will actually fix what is broken.  By hiring this candidate, the institution has an opportunity to come together stronger than it has ever been before, and make the kind of progress that nearly everyone at the institution can get on board with. 

Indeed, this is another candidate that, if hired, will make history.  It is a different type of history, but it is a more important type of history. 

From the outside, the choice is clear. This institution should select the external candidate. But the struggle inside is real, and should not be ignored. 

A strong case can be made for the internal candidate. It is who the majority is comfortable with. They know this candidate has experience at this institution and knows the ins and outs of the place. Sure, this candidate made some bad decisions in the past, but they've changed their minds for the better. They grew! We know this candidate. We've been following this candidate!  And come on!  History will be made by hiring this candidate! After all, this will be the first female ever to occupy this position! How exciting is that!

What about this external candidate? Even in the toughest situations, this candidate made the unpopular decisions that were correct at the time, and correct now. This candidate, although not having worked directly with the institution, and lacking the experience of the ins and outs of institution as it runs right now, does have the knowledge to make the institution better and make it run as it should.  This external candidate, not only is favorable among those that stand by the internal candidate, but is also favorable to many of the minority, too!  This candidate can bring people together!  This candidate can get to the root of the problem and make the kind of history that is arguably more important than having the first female occupy this role.  

This external candidate is all about putting a female into this position even more plausible in the future. 

Again, it is the clear choice from an outside perspective, but the hard choice from those on the inside. 

Fast forward... we've interviewed the candidates.  Once. Twice, A third and fourth time. The internal candidate is beginning to see she isn't the shoe-in she once was. Her mainstream supporters are getting upset, and are arguing the best they can to try and make it clear she is the better candidate. But it just isn't so. She isn't the best candidate. 

The supporters for the external candidate are getting upset. It is hard for them to understand why the supporters for the internal candidate cannot see the better, yet tougher choice.  

The situation sucks. It truly will be awesome to see the first female in this role! But it would be the inferior choice, and an ultimately bad decision if it were to come to pass now.  

Choose wisely, and Feel the Bern. 

A Few Scary Things about Bernie Sanders

In the wake of the Iowa Primaries tomorrow and the race to find a Republican and Democratic candidate, I need to share a few feelings.

I am a little scared.

There are a few frightening things about Bernie Sanders, and I need to face these.

We, as a nation, are so used to the government and political system now in place.  The wealthy and elite use their money to put things in ads and on the news, and shape our way of thinking.  At the risk of sounding a little nutty, I do not trust the liberal media anymore.  The New York Times disgusts me.  It creates shepherds and puppets on the left just as Fox News does on the right. Today is no exception as it endorsed Hillary Clinton.

We'll eventually elect a president.  The story usually proceeds as follows: half of us will bitch for 4-8 years while 75-90% of us bitch the whole time about a do-nothing Congress.

This is what we're used to.  This is what we're comfortable with.

The thought of changing this system is scary.  The liberal media doesn't want to change.  And to combat this, it has inserted many questions into the minds of the shepherds on the left.  Questions that, upon given a little thought, have answers.

It is scary that our voices may soon be just as loud as the voices of the millionaires and billionaires.  It is scary that we may have to do some thinking on our own, come up with our own opinions on the issues, and own up to our own deficiencies, instead of pointing the finger at those that have put the ideas in our head in the first place.

As Robert Reich elegantly put it (from the point of view of a democrat):

Hillary Clinton is clearly the most qualified candidate to become president of the political system we now have. Bernie Sanders is clearly the most qualified candidate to create the political system we should have. 

If we look at the endorsement primary this becomes too true. Using 1 point, 5 points, and 10 points for endorsements from representatives, senators, and governors, respectively, Hillary Clinton has 463 endorsement points to Bernie's 2.

This, in itself, makes many of the shepherds and puppets on the left believe Bernie is unelectable.  Let's do the math.  It means 148 representatives, 39 senators, and 12 governors have endorsed Hillary. The last I checked, they only get to cast one vote.  That is 199 votes from the political elite.  If you want the political elite to do your thinking for you, that is up to you.  It is scary, and takes courage to have a voice against the political elite sometimes.


TOGETHER from HUMAN on Vimeo.

Many regurgitate the question about how he's going to pay for all this, again, inserted into their minds by their trusted liberal media.

This is an oversimplification, but it will help understand the gist of how we are going to pay for 'all this stuff.'  Have you ever moved?  Switching presidencies is kind of like this.  When you move, you have to shut off all the utilities at the place from which you are moving and turn on the utilities at the place to which you are moving.  Asking how we're going to pay for all of this, is like moving from one place to the next and, for some reason, getting confused as to how you're going to pay for all these 'utilities'.

Some may be cheaper, some may be more expensive.  But we've been "paying for stuff" this whole time.

Can you handle the truth?  It is scary isn't it?

from Project Bernie '16 @ProjectBernie16

It will take courage to vote for Bernie Sanders in 2016. This will not be for the weak of heart.

However, if you're too chicken shit, I'll try and understand.  

Purposeful Misdirection is Not Patriotic

A while ago, after reading The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, I went on an information free diet and it made me very happy. I would tune out the political nonsense in the world, get news as it is supposed to be given (reported, not assessed on a 24 hour cycle), and live in absolute bliss.

But I've broken my diet recently, and it has done nothing but make me angry.

I come from a pretty conservative family (you can count the number of liberals on one hand, and most likely, you can almost do the same with the number of both moderates and liberals), and they often post things on Facebook in which the authors are purposefully misleading them. It is exhausting trying to continuously inform and correct such tripe. Before getting back on that info free diet again, I'll walk you through an example.

Five Military Members Killed In Chattanooga 

On Thursday, July 16, Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist, Lance Cpl. Squire D. "Skip" Wells, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith were gunned down by Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez at two military centers in Chattanooga, TN. You can view President Obama's condolences to families of those killed below.

This is very bad news. Like the massacre in Charleston, SC, nobody likes to read about these kind of events because they are so disheartening. We all wonder what could be done to prevent future events like this from happening, and we begin an endless and seemingly futile debate of less/same/more gun restrictions. This debate will not get resolved anytime soon.

Turning a Tragedy Into a Travesty

The First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The first part prohibits the establishment of an official church or sect in the United States. That means, much to many of your chagrin, that America is not a Christian Nation, nor was it ever intended to be by our forefathers. To strive for such would be unconstitutional, and, quite frankly, unpatriotic. As Americans, we must welcome all forms of religion, even if they go against our own beliefs.

Religions have extremists. As much as Christians want to disassociate themselves with Westboro Baptist or the KKK, they both stem from the Christian faith, and should be labeled as extreme. Likewise, there are Islamic extremists, which many ignorant Americans associate with the entirety of Islam. It is as ignorant as it would be to assume all Christianity is just like the KKK.

The conclusion of Ramadan happened on Friday, July 17th, and the president released a statement of the occasion on the day prior. Here was part of that statement:

As Muslim Americans celebrate Eid across America, the holiday is a reminder to every American of the importance of respecting those of all faiths and beliefs. 

 That is a powerful message. Imagine if there were no extremists within the different religions and we could all have this mutual respect. This is not a message that breeds hate or fuels fear among the American people. It is very constitutional and patriotic.

The Inappropriate Message

What kind of message will you read about at Newsmax, from Allen B. West, or from the Conservative Tribune among many others? Their message, if you don't care to read (which I had trouble doing), was to link the message Obama had to Muslim Americans directly to the shootings, leave out his actual message about the shootings entirely, and in some cases claim that he had no message for the families of the victims. This is a travesty. 

These people prey on those that don't read or research any further. They prey on people who want reasons to hate Obama. These messages fuel that hate. And they do it through purposeful misdirection. These people are the furthest thing from patriotic. Indeed, they are a stain on this country. Many of you fuel the hate even further by posting this stuff on Facebook.

Please stop. 

My Political Pipe Dream

According to my Facebook feed, it looks like there is going to be a big election in 16 months. Here is what I would like to happen.

First, I would love for you to inform yourself of Represent.Us and the Anti-Corruption Act. This short video may help.



If you're mildly interested (albeit still doubtful) and want to be a part of this, let me recruit you.

Next, suppose for a moment that everyone visited ISideWith.com and took some time out of their day to take the quiz that is available there. Further, suppose that for the questions that many people couldn't answer because they were not knowledgeable enough or didn't have an opinion, they took a little time to research those issues so that they could provide answers to the quiz.  Let's explore some possibilities.

Upon finishing the quiz, the website would compare your answers with those of the candidate's and inform you on how much you agree and how much you line up with each candidate. Who you will vote for and support becomes a no-brainer. Upon knowing how much and where you line-up with each candidate, what else do you need to know? Will seeing an advertisement on TV in support of a candidate with whom you agree on only 11% of the issues persuade you to change your mind even if it is a great ad? Will a negative attack ad on the candidate with whom you agree on 95% of the issues persuade you to change your mind and not vote for them?

What are we doing, America? If you watched the video above, around the 0:43 mark you would have been informed that US elections are costing us 6.5 billion dollars. Think of the infrastructure that could be built. Think of the increased salaries that public educators could have. Think of the tiny chunk we could take away from our national debt. As much as so many of you hate paying taxes, at least they're going to something. Where is that 6.5 billion dollars going? And why aren't you getting a little more upset about that?

Alas, money is too powerful, and I'm very skeptical any of this will work. Yet, I will try.