Conviction

How sad it is when the biggest conviction someone has is the conviction to avoid effort.  (Don't tell my intimidating but well-meaning friend that though.  She'll accuse me of possessing such a conviction.)

Do Republicans Ignore Obligations the Rich Possess?

Biblical doctrine does not state that possessing wealth is a sin, but it does state that possession of such wealth comes with more duties.  Those that have means are Biblically obligated to assist those that don't.  Now if you remove Biblical doctrine altogether and focus on the secular alone, then no such obligation exists, unless it's a legal requirement in the form of indirect taxation and distribution.

I can definitely understand people voting against the Republican party for not doing enough in their eyes to pressure the wealthy into alleviating the stresses of the working and handicapped poor.  The poor that are in their condition as a result of their own vices like laziness and drunkenness I do not believe are entitled to be pulled up in an attempt to close the wealth gap, unless they can change their ways.  Trying to close the wealth gap with them is fruitless because they will waste whatever they get, and it's just as bad as sending a reimbursement check to the rich that engage in the same type of wasteful behaviors.  Just because someone is poor doesn't automatically make them virtuous.  Some poor people are just as greedy as the rich and would act exactly in the same way if they had the opportunity.

So how much do Republican politicians ignore the plight of the deserving poor by their methods of cutting taxes for the rich and cutting back on government social programs they deem to be wasteful?  I have no idea.  I do believe a well-behaved full time worker who is homeless long term is a travesty, and things like that should definitely be addressed and corrected in some way.  Is that an obligation of the rich?  I would say possibly so.  The poor sure as heck can't fix a problem like that.  When stuff like that is going on, the rich should probably voluntarily open their pocketbooks a bit more either in the form of wages, charity, or smaller markups on what they sell, so poor people don't vote for higher taxes on the rich to fund more social programs.  Even if done more out of compulsion more than compassion, it seems like the wise thing to do.  I really don't care how wide the gap between the rich and poor is, so long as the working and handicapped poor can live a life in clean surroundings with decent food and medical security.

Rigid vs Flexible - In Physical Structures and Civilizations

A building can't be too rigid or too flexible in order to stand for a long period of time.  If it's too rigid without any give whatsoever, a traumatic event like an earthquake will take it down.  But even though it needs some flexibility, it needs MUCH more solidarity or it won't be able to stand at all.

I think the same thing applies to civilizations.  They need a little give to be able to adapt to traumatic events, but they need far more of a rigid structure than a flexible one to stand for long periods of time.  Rigid with some flexibility rather than flexible with some rigidity.  

A Small Tribute to Yitang Zhang

Got to have respect for a guy who makes a huge breakthrough in prime gaps even though at one point he had to leave academia to work in a Subway sandwich shop.  Talk about being overqualified.  I guess you never know who is behind that counter when you order.

Mr. Zhang, let this post be a small acknowledgement of your amazing accomplishments.  I wish you well going forward in your career and life.

A Conundrum

 Moral absolutism is unverifiable, moral relativism is inconsistent, and moral nihilism is worthless.

Perpendicular Motion - The Key to Maxwell's Equations?

I remember I had somewhat of a difficult time trying to get the last two formulas in Maxwell's equations to make sense to me.  Then one day I stumbled upon some physics textbook I found in the UHCL library that made something in my brain click.  I reviewed the book on Amazon, but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the book at the moment. 

I believe the book first mentioned how magnetic poles on a pair of magnets either attract or repel each other.  But both do so more or less linearly.  If you put an electric charge and a magnetic charge close to each other, the outcome is quite different.  Instead of attracting or repelling each other linearly, the motion of one is almost perpendicular as the other approaches.  

This clarified the whole circular motion in Maxwell's equations for me.  Immediately the curl operation made sense, because before I was exposed to this idea it just seemed like an arbitrary operation in vector calculus.  

We Risk Ridiculous Fascist Accusations Now to PREVENT Actual Fascism in the Future

Man, it seems sometimes no matter how far left things move on the pendulum of permissiveness, if you try to even move slightly back to the center, you get accused of being a fascist.  "You ask people to voluntarily moderate their promiscuity to curb the prevalence of unplanned children in broken homes?  That's fascist!  You want employees to wear uniforms instead of pajamas at work?  That's fascist!  You failed a student who turned in two assignments and refused to do any further work?  That's fascist!"  Well, maybe that last one isn't CALLED fascist too much, but such slacking sure is allowed to happen and serious resistance is encountered when appropriate consequences are attempted.

But if you continually allow more and more permissiveness and do NOT voluntarily move more towards the center in a timely manner, actual fascism WILL be required to get full-blown anarchy back in order.  That kind of fascism is really not good.  So right now it's probably better to try to move a bit more towards the behavioral center willingly rather than involuntarily be forced back later when nature follows through on its delayed effects and forces order on its balance sheet to be restored.  I dread to see what will happen in public education, since that situation is already too chaotic and far gone to restore order without some major correction.