Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Take Ignorance Seriously
Saysl Paul Krugman:
"I am convinced that many economists, when they try to argue in favor of free trade, make the mistake of overestimating both their opponents and their audience. They cannot believe that famous intellectuals who write and speak often about world trade could be entirely ignorant of the most basic ideas. But they are -- and so are their readers. This makes the task of explaining the benefits of trade harder -- but it also means that it is remarkably easy to make fools of your opponents, catching them in elementary errors of logic and fact. This is playing dirty, and I advocate it strongly."
"I am convinced that many economists, when they try to argue in favor of free trade, make the mistake of overestimating both their opponents and their audience. They cannot believe that famous intellectuals who write and speak often about world trade could be entirely ignorant of the most basic ideas. But they are -- and so are their readers. This makes the task of explaining the benefits of trade harder -- but it also means that it is remarkably easy to make fools of your opponents, catching them in elementary errors of logic and fact. This is playing dirty, and I advocate it strongly."
Monday, November 29, 2004
Havel load of that!
I'm buying, though it doesn't have to be VH...:
"Things are going badly for Kofi Annan. The oil-for-food scandal has revealed U.N. behavior regarding Saddam Hussein's Iraq that ranges from criminally inept to outright corrupt. Rape and pedophilia by U.N. peacekeepers haven't gotten the kind of attention they'd get if American troops were involved, but the scandals have begun to take their toll. And the U.N.'s ability to serve its crowning purpose -- the 'never again' treatment of genocide that was vowed after the Holocaust, and re-vowed after Cambodia and Rwanda -- is looking less and less credible in the wake of its response to ongoing genocide in Darfur. And finally, the U.N. has so far played no significant role in defusing the Ukrainian crisis.
Things have gotten bad enough that some are calling for Mr. Annan's resignation, amid talk of former Czech President Vaclav Havel as successor. ('Havel for Secretary General' bumper stickers are on the Web.)"
"Things are going badly for Kofi Annan. The oil-for-food scandal has revealed U.N. behavior regarding Saddam Hussein's Iraq that ranges from criminally inept to outright corrupt. Rape and pedophilia by U.N. peacekeepers haven't gotten the kind of attention they'd get if American troops were involved, but the scandals have begun to take their toll. And the U.N.'s ability to serve its crowning purpose -- the 'never again' treatment of genocide that was vowed after the Holocaust, and re-vowed after Cambodia and Rwanda -- is looking less and less credible in the wake of its response to ongoing genocide in Darfur. And finally, the U.N. has so far played no significant role in defusing the Ukrainian crisis.
Things have gotten bad enough that some are calling for Mr. Annan's resignation, amid talk of former Czech President Vaclav Havel as successor. ('Havel for Secretary General' bumper stickers are on the Web.)"
Wonder if it's true?
Regardless, I'll be watching on or soon after the 10th December...
Amazon.co.uk: DVD: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition) [2004]:
"The Extended Cut DVD includes scenes such as:
- Extended Isengard scene, this is in the book with Saruman speaking to Gandalf from the Tower. He then fires a shot of flame from his staff at Gandalf the White - I'm sure he survives!!!
- Extended Battle scenes, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields is extended in this version with more battle scenes, such as the Orcs using a battering ram on the Gates to the city pf Minas Tirith, Nazgul attacks, etc.
- Extended Witchking scene, this is the scene where Gandalf faces the Witchking on his Fell Beast. This is the must see of the whole DVD!!!
- Black Gate extended scene, this features the Mouth of Sauron scene as in the book. Showing the Mithril chain mail coat to the Entourage of Gandalf, Aragorn, etc."
Amazon.co.uk: DVD: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition) [2004]:
"The Extended Cut DVD includes scenes such as:
- Extended Isengard scene, this is in the book with Saruman speaking to Gandalf from the Tower. He then fires a shot of flame from his staff at Gandalf the White - I'm sure he survives!!!
- Extended Battle scenes, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields is extended in this version with more battle scenes, such as the Orcs using a battering ram on the Gates to the city pf Minas Tirith, Nazgul attacks, etc.
- Extended Witchking scene, this is the scene where Gandalf faces the Witchking on his Fell Beast. This is the must see of the whole DVD!!!
- Black Gate extended scene, this features the Mouth of Sauron scene as in the book. Showing the Mithril chain mail coat to the Entourage of Gandalf, Aragorn, etc."
Wiki-wa-wa
Fun snippet from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The bias blind spot is a cognitive bias about not compensating for one's own cognitive biases. ...
Pronin and her co-authors explained to subjects the better-than-average effect, the halo effect, self-serving bias and many other cognitive biases. According to that better-than-average bias, specifically, people are likely to see themselves as inaccurately 'better than average' for possible positive traits and 'less than average' for negative traits. When subsequently asked how biased they themselves were, subjects rated themselves as being much less subject to the biases described than the average person."
"The bias blind spot is a cognitive bias about not compensating for one's own cognitive biases. ...
Pronin and her co-authors explained to subjects the better-than-average effect, the halo effect, self-serving bias and many other cognitive biases. According to that better-than-average bias, specifically, people are likely to see themselves as inaccurately 'better than average' for possible positive traits and 'less than average' for negative traits. When subsequently asked how biased they themselves were, subjects rated themselves as being much less subject to the biases described than the average person."
