Propositions

Swine Flu and Accidents

On 12.11.09, In Examples of Stupidity, Not Einsteins Relativity, Pet Theories, Propositions, By Liam

I’ve mentioned this a few times on Twitter, and I think I’m going to expand a bit here. Fear-mongering is nothing new on the part of the media. We need to be careful though when the New York Times throws a figure like 10,000 Swine Flu deaths since April. 10, 000 seems like a big number, and it would be easy to become concerned. However, as I recently posted to Twitter, there have been 16,626 people killed in traffic accidents since the start of this year (as of October).

It strikes me that these two domains bear comparison. After all, both are national statistics, both are more likely to occur in cities, and both can occur even if preventative measures are taken. If one is going to panic over the swine flu deaths they might as well stay off the streets as well. We need to be careful about what causes us to panic, or we might never leave our homes.

Tagged with: accidents • Car deaths • fear-mongering • Swine Flu

Toll Routes and the TTC

On 11.19.09, In Dangerous thoughts, Not Einsteins Relativity, Pet Theories, Politics. Not that I know that much about it but..., Propositions, By Liam

I’m not sure if this is an original idea. I’d be surprised if it is. I’ve just never heard any discussion of it before. My idea is this, instead of yet another fare hike for the TTC, the City of Toronto finds a way to put tolls on the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway. These tolls could then be pumped into the TTC and infrastructure in Toronto. As well the tolls would serve as a City of Toronto tax on those who make their living in Toronto, but pay municipal taxes in the suburb cities.

For lack of being able to find decent usage statistics let’s say 50,000 cars enter Toronto on a given weekday. If the DVP/Gardiner toll is $3.00, the price of commuting on the TTC, that means that each car will provide $6.00 a day. That is a total of three-hundred thousand dollars being pumped into the Cities coffers every day. Or Seventy-Eight million dollars a year. If we use the toll technology of the 407, we do not even have to slow drivers down on their way into the city.

To save money on administration we could hold off on billing people until they reach a certain amount owed. Instead of paying the fifty-two cents postage on a six dollar bill we would wait until commuters reach an amount owing of a hundred dollars. Anyway, that is a rough sketch of the idea. Can you think of anything to add to it. Or some glaring negatives for the city of Toronto. Clearly this would annoy commuters, but seeing as people who live and work in the City of Toronto tend not to use the highways it shouldn’t be political suicide for the mayor or city councillors to try and implement. And it would mean a reduced need to increase the fares on the TTC. I’d suggest lowering them, but I won’t hold my breath for that.

Tagged with: Don Valley Parkway • Gardiner • Ideas • Improve Toronto • Tolls • TTC

Etiquette, the dying art?

On 11.06.09, In Business, Linguistic Thoughts, Propositions, Writing, By Liam

It seems like basic courtesy is a dying art. A friend of mine is in the process of organizing an event. He sent out an email to the invitees. Almost immediately someone replied with two snarky sentences about how he should change the options, options people. Like somehow his planning wasn’t enough because he didn’t factor this one persons plans into things.

Society has conventions for a reason. It allows us to ascribe value to people with a modicum of effort. This guy’s rudeness could have been alleived by a few basic steps.

1. Obey the conventions of letter writing when sending an email to someone you are not on familiar terms with. This essentially means a greeting, the content, and the signature. It looks like:

Hi Mr. Saunders,
Your “chicken” is delicious and disturbing.
Regards,
Liam

30 seconds more work and you look way more professional.

2. Reread what you write. We don’t have the luxury of a slow mailing process to consider how we might come across. This means we have to artificially create one. Reread your emails as if you just received it. How does it make you feel? Could you come across more pleasantly? You can seem a lot more intelligent by just waiting a few moments after spouting off before you hit send. At the very least it helps reduce the number of typos and grammatical errors.

3. Unless it is imperative, don’t hit reply-all. If you have a negative or corrective comment, send it to the sender alone. It is just plain stupid to publicly try and correct someone if you can do it privately. Hitting reply-all just ends up making the conversation a battle of egos. If you can avoid putting someone’s reputation on the line, do.

Tagged with: Email • Etiquette

Canadian Banks, Something to be proud of.

On 03.22.09, In Go check this out, Links, Pet Theories, Politics. Not that I know that much about it but..., Propositions, By Liam

I had been thinking about this a lot recently. Some of the more right wing people I read from the States have been arguing that this crisis does not mean that the markets need to be regulated. While I have tended to agree with this I’ve often wondered about what regulations mean. Then I read this article from the Globe and Mail and could not help but think maybe I’m wrong.

Former central bank governor David Dodge agrees. Canadian bank executives keenly remember that period, “and there was therefore perhaps a degree of prudence, a lack of aggressiveness, in comparison with major banks around the world,” he said.

And he gives top marks to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Canada’s banking regulator, for being more conservative than those in the U.S. or Britain. “I think that, from a regulatory point of view, you can say that the Canadian banks were more appropriately regulated.” (Emphasis mine)

The idea of the free market only really makes sense if you do not have powerhouses, like the American banks, that can manipulate the system. When it comes to corporations or the Government having controls I’ll choose the Government; at least when they screw up the little guys can fire them.

Ethics, Science, and Power.

On 03.11.09, In Dangerous thoughts, How unCanadian of me, Propositions, By Liam

Today in my History of Psychology class we were discussing (or perhaps being discussed to) Neitzsche. I’m fascinated by his view of the consequences of atheism on ethics. So far as I can tell from Beyond Good and Evil Neitzsche* believed that when ethics meets relativism right is decided by the most powerful. So where does this fit in with Science? Wired published an article on the trouble of the terminology surrounding Obama’s lifting of Bush’s restrictions on stem cell research. Phrases like Bush’s decision being a “really, really unwelcome intrusion of politics into science” proliferated in the wake of Obama’s decision. In a democracy though, laws are ostensibly the tools of the citizens to ensure distasteful actions do not occur.

What Wired missed though was a much deeper issue. In the penultimate paragraph Brandon Keim says this,

But there will be plenty of cases in the future when the aims of science — or, to be more precise, certain scientists — conflict with widely held values. And if the legacy of the stem cell debate is to label all conscientious objection as anti-science bias, it will be a toxic legacy indeed.

The idea that “widely held values” is enough to define morality runs into trouble not just with science (imagining how people from a hundred years ago would have viewed embryonic stem cell research might cast light on this), but also with much larger issues. The atrocities in Rwanda were perpetrated by the majority. We have in a situation like Rwanada a clear demonstration of the poverty of “widely held values.”

So here is my question. Knowing that Hitler’s policies enjoyed support so wide it even surprised him. His reaction to Krystalnacht is one demosntration of this. Also while keeping in mind that most in Europe and the wider world did not go to war because of Hitler’s racial ideology but because of his aggressive militarism. What would have been the case to intervene in Germany assuming they never invaded another country?

*I’ve yet to read much of it, although I’ve tried.

Tagged with: Ethics • Religion • Stem cell ban

Another G.K. Quote.

On 02.26.09, In Navel Gazing, Propositions, Quotes, Uncategorized, By Liam

I love G.K. Chesterton. N.T. Wright referred to him on a video I was watching today when being open minded came up. I searched for the direct quote and found this:

Merely having an open mind is nothing; the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.
G.K. Chesterton

Skepticism is a valid intermediary position. One should be willing to examine evidence, and suspend judgement barring sufficient information. However, sufficient is the key word here. If you spend your entire life waiting to be entirely convinced of everything you will get nowhere. That is the trouble with walking around open-minded; your brains tend to fall out.*

*I realize that last sentence is not original, but I can’t find out who originally said it.

Torture, Ethics, and God

On 02.24.09, In Evolution and God, Go check this out, Navel Gazing, Pet Theories, Propositions, By Liam

I haven’t had much time to blog, I’m on reading week, which is attempting to live up to its name. I’ve finally gotten around to answering my good friend Matt’s (who should blog) response to my thought’s on torture. I meant to keep it short but it kind of exploded. You can read and add to the discussion here.

Some thoughts on Torture.

On 02.17.09, In Navel Gazing, Propositions, Religion, By Liam

For torture to be condemned requires absolute morality.

Atheistic utilitarian ethics eliminates restraint in information gathering provided more lives are at stake than the one being tortured.

As we have seen with nations like China and Soviet Russia, when God is removed from the equation torture becomes a viable option. Torture’s use can be for anything deemed a threat to the state, internal or external.

Deism will not do, the blind watchmaker who disappeared could care less about any of us, much less one of us.

Nations whose constitutions are declared under God, such as Canada or the U.S. must subscribe to absolute morality or forfeit honouring their constitution.

Nations with a constitutional directive to employ absolutes in their ethical processes cannot resort to Torture for information gathering.

(This is my first simul-blog with Deep and Meaningful for Dummies, an awesome project by my friend David.)

Proposition 1

On 11.16.08, In Propositions, By Liam

Biology is a history, not a science.

Any thoughts?

Swine Flu and Accidents

Toll Routes and the TTC

Etiquette, the dying art?

Canadian Banks, Something to be proud of.

Ethics, Science, and Power.

Another G.K. Quote.

Torture, Ethics, and God

Some thoughts on Torture.

Proposition 1

Recent Comments

Twitter

Blogroll

I Recommend

Categories

Archives

Pages

CC License