Work Update, Bad Politics and Bad Religion, Amazing Rats

[tcpip]

Two weeks since my last update?! This more than full-time work is for the birds, I swear. OK, three work changes worthy of note. One was discovering I'd signed a contract that included G.S.T. rather than excluding it. Damn nuissance and rather careless of me, but I suspect will soon be fixed. Second was pushing myself too hard on Friday afternoon after migrating some fifty sites, suffering from a pounding headache and thus accidently deleting the entire site of a major client. Yes, we had a backup, but not the best one possible. Third was recovering our mail system this morning after a the database in postgrey was hanging and thus refusing incoming mail to a large number of clients. Life really never is a dull moment as a sysadmin, it really isn't.

Reactionary feminist Mary Sullivan argues against the rights an desires of sex workers and receives justified responses. I take the opportunity to agree with her; to the 'logical' conclusions. iron_orchid alerts me that nutbar Catharine McKinnon will be at ANU in a few days. Do keep in mind this is the sort of person who will argue for a global and legal ban on all "pornography". Have fun Canberra people!

On-topic on the subject of ridicule and contempt, the Melbourne Unitarian Church has published Dr. Helen Szoke's speech supporting the Racial and Religious Vilification Act (2001). My response argues that many religious and racial beliefs deserve ridicule and contempt. A little less on-topic, The Age published my letter on the alleged requirement of an "Eternal God" for the universe to exist.

You have to see this; surfing rodents!; but wait, there's more. If you're called a rat, take it as a compliment. The full journal article, "Generalized Reciprocity in Rats", is available.

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Because social systems require stability and control more than anything else. Innovation, debate and particularly heated debate, leads to instability. Hence legislation often protects one from "offensiveness" rather than lies, or provides "dignity" rather than freedom.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

Thah isn't sensible,though.

As I sure you know, it's the lies and lack of freedom that are truly Bad things.

Given human frailty, lies and indignities are inevitable: but we need paths for redress at a public and institutional level, in my view.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

You are quite correct. The problem is that the majority view is still a preference for lies and restrictions as long as they're protected from "offensiveness" and can pretend they are "dignified".

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

..and that is neither adult nor particularly intelligent (again, in my not-so-humble opinion).

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Lawrence Kohlberg and associates once pointed out that only about 35% of the population use adult moral and cognitive processing, despite the biological capacity to do so. Rather wryly the suggested "environmental factors" were to blame; which is of course, "social factors" in the lexicon of psychologists.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

:::nods:::

Me, I wouldnit say I used adult dognition and/or moral reasoning *all the time*.

Sometimes it doesn't matter, (eg I'm chosing a book to read)

Sometimes there's no time (eg traffic jumbles)

and sometimes I'm functioning below par.

I do hope I realsie when I've done the latter.

On other people: a good few have no real idea, were never taught this stuff and didn't work it out for themselves.