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Photoshop is one of the world's most powerful image editors, and it can be daunting to try to use skillfully. Photoshop CS4 One-on-One: Advanced, the second part of the popular and comprehensive series, follows internationally renowned Photoshop guru Deke McClelland as he dives into the workings of Photoshop. He explores such digital-age wonders as the Levels and Curves commands, edge-detection filters, advanced compositing techniques, vector-based text, the Liquify filter, and Camera Raw. Deke also teaches tried-and-true methods for sharpening details, smoothing over wrinkles and imperfections, and enhancing colors without harming the original image. Exercise files accompany the course.
Recommended prerequisite: Photoshop CS4 One-on-One: Fundamentals.
Download Deke's customized keyboard layouts and color settings for Photoshop from the Exercise Files tab.
I am still working inside the document called Itching for obscurity.psd. The only thing I did in the previous exercise was to switch the Anti-Aliasing setting from Sharp to Strong. That's as far as we made it. In this exercise, we are going to talk about Fractional Width, the Every-line Composer, we are going to justify our type, we are going to change the color. All right, so I'm working here on the Body copy layer. I'm going to Click inside of my text just to make sure that it's active, and we are going to switch over to the Character palette right here, which you can also get of course by pressing Ctrl+T or Command+T when your text is active, or you can go up to the Window menu and choose the Character Command, that guy right there.
I want you to Click on this little icon. That brings up the fly-out menu for the Character palette and we are going to choose this command right there. But what Fractional Width allows you to do is it allows the characters to be fractions of a pixel away from each other. So instead of whole pixel increments, they can be jostled around a little more, and you get better spacing. Generally speaking, you want Fractional Widths to be turned on. You'll notice that all of the characters adjusted very slightly there. I want you to know that that's there, because you do have that level of control over the spacing of text inside of Photoshop.
Now, I want you to switch to the Paragraph option, and let's go ahead and move these guys back down, like so. I move them down to the bottom of the list, so I can keep an eye on my text a little better as I change it. I am going to go to the Paragraph palette, and the Paragraph palette contains options that affect whole paragraphs at a time, and these tend to not be misleading, pretty much all of these are exactly what they claim to be. One of the really great ones is this Single- line versus Every-line Composer option.
The Single-line Composer makes determinations about how to breakup lines of text on a line-by-line basis. It also makes determinations about how to automatically hyphenate words on a line- by-line basis. What Every-line Composer does is it looks at the entire paragraph at a time and hyphenates that paragraph accordingly, so that you have less raggedness going on, on the right side of the text. So check this out. I want you to keep an eye on a text especially like Uncle Ted needs, which is way over here to the right, when compared to controversial asthma. So I'll go ahead and choose Every-line Composer and that is dealt with much better now. So what is sticking out pretty far, but not nearly as much as Uncle Ted needs, what we saw on before.
So Every-line Composer is typically going to give you the best results, which is why it's turned on by default. I've created this demo file in advance and turned it off inside the demo file, just to show you the difference. But if you find the things aren't working out the way you want them, or the hyphenation is working out weird, or the spacing is just not what you want it to be, you do have another way to reconcile things by setting it back to Single-line Composer, which is the way text wrap is calculated inside of every non-Adobe application. So your Microsoft Words and everybody else, they are using the Single-line Composer, which is just the Every-line Composer turned off essentially.
Now let's get out of the obscurity, and let's talk about just justifying this text. Wouldn't it be great if we were justified instead of ragged right here? Of course, we can switch between things like Centered, which is a terrible idea for paragraph text by the way. Right-align, you may find it useful for doing some kind of wrap around. I'm going to go with Justify text. Now, you can justify everything, justify every single line and notice that, Every- line Composer kicks in and make sure that, that last line is not just torn apart at the seams. If I were working with the Single-line Composer, we get something along these lines who are entire separated by a gigantic goal from family. So I'd switch it back to Every-line Composer and then things reconcile pretty darn nicely actually.
So you do have that option, that's Force Justification, this is what it's also called, or you can make that last line Left, which is typical. You can align the last line right if you want to, left is the best way to go. That also has a keyboard shortcut by the way which is Ctrl+Shift+J or Command+Shift+J on the Mac. So each one of these incidentally has a keyboard shortcut. By Shift+Ctrl+L or Command+Shift+L on the Mac, applies Left-Alignment, Ctrl+Shift+C or Command+Shift+C on the Mac does Center, Ctrl+Shift+R or Command+Shift+R on the Mac does flush right, and if you want to do Force Justification, that last option over here, you do Ctrl+Shift+F, or Command+Shift+F on the Mac. And every one of those keyboard shortcuts works only if the text is active. If we have a blinking insertion marker or some of the text is selected like so.
Anyway, we want Ctrl+Shift+J, Command+ Shift+J on the Mac, and then finally, I'm going to change the color of some of this text here. I want all this text right there to be blue. I'm going to do that by either Clicking on this little Color Swatch up here in the Options bar, or I could Click on the Foreground Color Swatch, or I could bring up the Color palette. I am going to switch over from RGB to HSB sliders, like thus. And then I'm going to change the Hue value to 200, and I'm going to change that Saturation value to 20. You are looking at the text thinking two ways. That it should be nice and light blue, with 200, 20, 100, that is HSB 200, 20, 100 respectively.
But instead, it's appearing to be used weird dark bluish color I guess. Well, press the Enter Key or the Return Key on the Mac to make sure none of these color values here are highlighted anymore. Then you can hide the highlighting by pressing Ctrl+H, Command+H on the Mac, which of course invokes that View, Extras command right there, turns it off. Even though it has a check mark in front of it, it is now turned off. Oh well. Anyway. Now, we can see the color of our text. Even though the highlighting went away, the text is still selected, offering me the option of changing that color if I want to. All right, I didn't want to, so I'll press Ctrl+Z or Command+Z on the Mac to undo that modification. It took me back to white text; well that's no good.
Let's go ahead and switch that back to 220 right there like so. So 20, 100, and that looks pretty darn good to me. When you are done, press the Enter Key on the keypad and you will go ahead and accept your wonderful modifications. Nice work, I must admit. In the next exercise, I'm going to show you, just in case you are curious, the wide realm of keyboard shortcuts that are available to you, when formatting type inside of Photoshop. I even have a table for you, so that you can examine it at your leisure.
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subset: commoncrawl


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PORTLAND -- A 20-year-old man was seriously injured in a gang-related shooting outside a Northeast Portland elementary school Friday evening, police said.
Police were called at about 6:30 p.m. to the shooting at Rose City Park, near NE 64th Avenue and NE Tillamook Street, according to Sgt. Pete Simpson of the Portland Police Bureau.
Officers at the scene found Marquis Glover, of Northeast Portland, suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries that police did not believe were life-threatening.
Glover was playing basketball at Rice Elementary School's outdoor courts, when he got into a fight with the suspect, Simpson said. The suspect pulled out a gun and fired multiple times at Glover.
The suspect was described as an African-American man in his late teens or early 20s, wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He left the area in red car.
Officers are continuing to interview lots of witnesses who were at Rose City Park for various athletic events, Simpson said.
Detectives from the gang enforcement team were investigating. This was Portland's 36th gang-related shooting in 2012.
Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call (503) 823-3333.


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From the Publisher
"This book adds a whole other dimension of high quality scholarship and history to the age old debate about the state. A really refreshing book that stimulates a lot of interest."
--Alice Amsden, Barton L. Wellor Professor of Political Economy, MIT, Author of The Rise of the "Rest"
"This thought-provoking and remarkably timely volume shows the tremendous benefits of taking the long view. Lange, Rueschemeyer and their colleagues demonstrate that it takes time -- often a lot of it -- to build the political and economic foundations for successful development. More important, they show why this is so. In the process, they open up prospects for more successful interventions -- based on clear reasoning and the lessons of experience rather than wishful thinking -- designed to spread the prospects for successful development more widely and swiftly."
--Paul Pierson, Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley, Author of Politics in Time
"Roll over Max Weber! This collection of essays on the impact of states on economic development combines sociological theory with quantitative and qualitative analysis, in mercifully plain English. Students will find it enjoyable; scholars will learn from its careful accounts of how exactly "history matters"; and even CIA analysts will discover how to improve their current efforts at nation building."
--Robert Wade, Professor of Political Economy, London School of Economics, Author of Governing the Market


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Foxwood Furnished ApartmentsExact - 4260 Palm Avenue San Diego, CA 9215432.58371113368 -117.04154788145+−Preview DetailsCollapse Details
Foxwood Furnished Apartments offers fully furnished 1 and 2 bedroom apartments for rent in San Diego, CA. We are conveniently located 1 block off I-805 and 8 blocks from I-5. Ocean Hills Shopping Center, Kaiser Clinic, shops, supermarkets, restaurants and a new AMC 24-plex movie theater are less than 2 blocks away.
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The Thunder notched another win in convincing fashion on Wednesday night, knocking off New Orleans 101-91 inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. The win, coupled with Chicago's loss against Indiana, bumped Oklahoma City to a league-best 15-3.
Thunder beats Hornets for 10th win in 11 games
After the game, the team's public relations staff passed out a stat trumpeting the record for being tied for the second best-start through 18 games in the franchise's history.
But for a franchise that focuses more on how goals are attained rather than simply attaining them, there has to be at least a small measure of concern setting in — because, offensively, the Thunder has been sloppy.
For the better part of these first 18 games, Oklahoma City has struggled with sharing the basketball consistently and finding balanced scoring. Most alarming, however, has been the team's inability to take care of the ball.
Oklahoma City had 21 turnovers Wednesday, overshadowing the second wire-to-wire win of the season. But the Thunder was just too talented to not overcome those miscues against a Hornets team that dropped its ninth straight game and fell to a Western Conference-worst 3-15.
Still, the turnovers have been an issue all season and it figures to be only a matter of time before they really come back to bite the Thunder at a bad time.
"We kept them in the game by turning the ball over, and they were scoring off our turnovers," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks, who watched the Hornets turn his team's 21 giveaways into 21 points.
Six Thunder players had at least two turnovers against the Hornets. Russell Westbrook, who had an off night with just 14 points on 4-for-14 shooting, finished with a game-high seven and now has 17 in his last four games. Kevin Durant, despite scoring a game-high 25 points, gave it up four times and now has 20 in his last four.
Continue reading this story on the...


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Published on September 17, 2010 by Alice
Miami, pronounced my-AM-ee, is a common placename in the United States. But in different parts of the country it has different origins. In Florida, for example, it probably comes from Mayaimi, the name of a Creek village. In Oregon, it comes from the Chinook word memie, meaning "downstream." In the Midwest and Southwest, however, it is derived from an Algonquian tribal name, probably meaning "people of the peninsula."
dna testing, dna ancestry testing, ancestry, genealogy, indian genealogy records, paternity testing, turquoise jewelry, native american jewelry
The tribe bearing this name, the Miami, occupied ancestral territory south of Lake Michigan in present-day Indiana, western Ohio, and eastern Illinois. They lived along timbered river valleys and shared many of the cultural traits of other Algonquians. Without birch trees growing that far south, the Miami used elm bark or mats of woven plant materials to cover their houses of various shapes. And they made dugout boats from single trees, usually butternuts.
The Miami, although classified as Northeast Indians, sometimes are called Prairie Indians because in addition to farming, like their neighbors to the west, the Illinois, they hunted buffalo on the open prairies. Unlike the later Plains Indians, who chased the herds on horseback, early hunters on the prairies typically trapped the animals in a ring of fire, then picked them off with arrows. Most villagers, except the old and weak and a handful of warriors as guards, would go on the buffalo hunts. The women and children would help prepare the meat and hides for travel back to the river valley.
Many of the cultural traits of the later Plains Indians evolved from those of the forest/prairie tribes. The calumet, or peace pipe, is one such example. The stone used to make the bowls—pipestone, or catlinite—comes from the Great Lakes country. Blood red in color, it was carved and fitted onto a long reed, then decorated with feathers, white in times of peace, red during war. So-called peace pipes might actually be used as "war pipes."
Another custom that spread westward from the forests and prairies was the Scalp Dance. After a battle, the warriors who had fought recounted their exploits by chanting and dancing while the calumet was passed around. In the dance, a warrior might show how he tracked an enemy, struck him dead, and then scalped him. It was important that he tell the truth. If he fabricated an incident or even just exaggerated what had happened, others would shout out the real events and disgrace him before all the village.
The Miami must have danced the Scalp Dance on the night of November 2, 1791, after one of the greatest Indian victories in American history—St. Clair's Defeat—during what is known as the Miami War (or Little Turtle's War) of 1790–94.
Before this first of the wars for the Old Northwest between the young United States and various Indian tribes, the Miami supported the French against the English and the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee), in the French and Indian wars from 1689 to 1763. They continued the fight against the English in Pontiac's Rebellion of 1763. In the American Revolution from 1775 to 1783, the Miami supported their old enemies, the British, against the American rebels.
And then in the 1790s, with one of their own tribesmen, Little Turtle (Michikinikwa), as general in chief of all the warriors—including Chippewa (Ojibway), Ottawa, Potawatomi, Lenni Lenape (Delaware), Shawnee, and Illinois—the Miami fought the Americans once again.
Little Turtle was one of the great military geniuses of all time. Although a great orator, he was not as famous a personality as other great Indian leaders of his age, such as the Ottawa Pontiac, the Mohawk Joseph Brant, and the Shawnee Tecumseh. Yet he rates with the great generals from all over the world, having helped develop many methods of guerrilla warfare that modern armies now use, especially decoy techniques.
Little Turtle's War really started just after the American Revolution. With American victory in 1783, more and more settlers began arriving in the region and settling on Indian lands. The Indians responded with many raids. It is estimated that the Indians killed 1,500 settlers from 1783 to 1790. In 1790, President George Washington ordered an army into the field under General Josiah Harmar, with militiamen from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky making up the large force.
The army organized at Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati, Ohio). When they set out in the fall toward the many Indian villages along the Maumee River, which feeds Lake Erie, the militiamen were cocky. Many of these same men had helped defeat the British in the Revolution.
The soldiers underestimated their enemy. Little Turtle used swift, small strikes to confuse the enemy. He told his warriors, after an ambush, even without any losses, to retreat into the wilderness. He also had them burn some of their own villages to make the retreat convincing. When the exhausted soldiers were far from a supply base, Little Turtle launched two big attacks and routed Harmar's army, inflicting more than 200 casualties.
General Arthur St. Clair was given the new command. In the fall of 1791, under President Washington's orders, St. Clair mustered an even larger force at Fort Washington. And on the way toward the Maumee River, he built new bases for added security—Fort Hamilton and Fort Jefferson. But in the end he fared even worse against Little Turtle. Warriors surprised St. Clair and his men on the upper Wabash River, killing many, then retreated into the forest. The soldiers fell for the ploy and split up into groups. Those who chased the Indians were picked off. Then warriors surrounded the remaining force and pressed the attack. After three hours of fighting, when the count was taken, there were only a few Indian casualties. But St. Clair's force had 900 casualties—about 600 dead and 300 wounded. It was an enormous victory for the united tribes.
Washington ordered a third army out, this one 3,000 strong under General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, a Revolutionary War hero. Wayne took two years to organize and train this force before sending it into battle. His men built new, better-equipped forts—Fort Greenville and Fort Recovery. Little Turtle's warriors attacked Fort Recovery but were repelled.
Little Turtle recognized the inevitable. Wayne had built a huge, disciplined force. Whites would keep coming no matter how many armies the Indians defeated. Hoping to save Indian lives, Little Turtle counseled peace. But many of the still-angry warriors wanted war. They voted to have a new leader, Turkey Foot. It was their turn to be overconfident after the two earlier victories.
In 1794, Wayne's army advanced cautiously into Indian country. The Indians retreated. This time, without Little Turtle, they were disorganized, and Wayne used the element of surprise to his advantage. In the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the Indians lost hundreds of men, including Turkey Foot, and Wayne's force lost only a few.
A year later, in August 1795, many of the chiefs of the allied tribes, including Little Turtle, signed the Treaty of Fort Greenville. The Indians ceded much of their territory to government officials—all of Ohio and most of Indiana. In exchange they were guaranteed other lands farther west, lands that would soon be under siege.
Little Turtle never fought again. He became a celebrity among non-Indians, traveling widely and meeting many famous people. But he died of a disease he developed as a result of living among whites—gout.
The Miami were pressured into ceding more of their lands in a series of treaties from 1818 to 1840. About half the Miami—mostly of the Wea and Piankashaw bands—were relocated to Kansas in 1846 and united with the Peoria and Kaskaskia bands of Illinois. In the late 1860s, these lands were opened to non-Indian settlement as well, and the Miami and Illinois moved to the northeastern Indian Territory. The Miami Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized entity and still holds trust lands with tribal headquarters in Miami, Oklahoma.
The Miami who stayed in Indiana gradually lost most of their remaining lands too. As of 1897, they no longer were recognized by the federal government and lost the benefits of special status. Despite their inability to regain recognition, they have managed to maintain tribal identity as the Miami Nation of Indiana. In 1990, they established tribal offices in Peru, Indiana, and, in 1992, purchased a sacred site along the Mississinewa River. An additional 150 acres were donated to the Miami Nation in 2004. The tribe plans to build a museum and living village there and to use the land for camping and hunting.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes by CARL WALDMAN
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So the-- it was an historic election. But what was really fun about it were the number of mothers and fathers who brought their daughters up to me during the campaign and said, "Can we get a picture? Can we get a picture?" Because people realize it and-- things do change, things do change.
FEMALE VOICE: But--
SENATOR DEB FISCHER: But I think it all comes into play. It's not just-- it's not just gender. You know, we all have-- different life experiences as Tammy said that we're bringing here whether you're from a very urban area or a very rural area, whether you're a woman or a man-- what your occupation is, what your family experiences are, those are the-- those are the experiences that will change this country.
FEMALE VOICE: That's kind of the--
SENATOR MAZIE HIRONO: I agree. When diversity is represented, you know, in-- not just in terms of gender but race, then that makes for in my view a stronger country, and we have a ways to go. And I'm glad that more women are getting involved in politics. And-- and I tell you, I give-- my hat's off to Kirsten for pushing forward with her Off The Sidelines-- program because I think that makes real difference in-- in a practical way to get more women-- engaged in politics-- to learn how to raise money, to write those checks, that's still not that easy for women.
SENATOR JEANNE SHAHEEN: It's not maybe, and one of the-- one of the responsibilities I think all of us feel-- I-- I know I do, is that even though we've broken the glass ceiling there are an awful lot of women-- throughout the country and throughout the world who still face enormous challenges. And one of the things that we've gotta do is to continue to open doors for women in all sorts of areas where they are still underrepresented, underpaid and undervalued.
DIANE SAWYER: Senator Warren and Senator Feinstein and then--
SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN: I was just gonna say one other thing. If you take a big issue that men have not been able to solve, it's the issue of climate change. Barbara has headed that for us for a number of years, she's gotten people together. You listen to speakers, you talk about it. We've had three bills up, every bill has failed in the Senate, and yet climate is changing and the earth is warming.


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Once again last week the pages of the New York Times was graced with an ad published by David Horowitz's Freedom Center [6], one of those websites you visit and immediately begin to rethink the sanity of published discourse on the Web.
This time the shock-and-awe title of the ad read: "The Palestinians' Case Against Israel is Based on a Genocidal Lie." Essentially Horowitz reuses the old canards that there is no "Palestine" (the ancient Romans invented it), that the Arabs who live there are not "Palestinians" (since that name was invented in 1964), and that Palestinian suffering [7] is the result of Arab aggression (because they refuse to concede to Israeli "peace" overtures). Genocidal? According to Horowitz, the Palestinian struggle for freedom [8] is in reality a struggle to purge the region of all Jews, "from the river to the sea."
I'm used to this sort of rhetoric. Of course it is extremist and inflammatory. And it builds a narrative that its proponents must think will gain traction if it is only repeated enough. It is very easy to dismantle its bolder points, but it is worrisome how often ads like this are read and believed by the unsuspecting. He proclaims on his website, for example, that "over 1 million Arabs have remarkable freedoms in Israel," but forgets to say that another 3.8 million have miserable lives under a military occupation.
How do you tell the public those things were "left out" of the dominant narrative?
James M. Wall of The Christian Century recently published the alternative narrative entitled "If you build it the [Palestinian] state will come [9]." Here is a sober, carefully constructed outline of the good things that may emerge through the centrist leaders in both the Israeli and Palestinian camps. Here we read about Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery. After reading Horowitz you'd think Fayyad and Avnery are describing a different country.
Two narratives. One hopeful, one paranoid. One that inspires trust, one that incites conflict. One constructive, one angry. The catch is this: Once someone like Horowitz repeats his own narrative long enough, he starts to believe it so thoroughly, he becomes evangelistic with it and cannot bear to hear it reframed. Pray that the James Walls' of the world prevail.
[10]Gary M. Burge, Ph.D., is professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. He is the author of numerous books both on the Middle East (Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to "Holy Land" Theology [11], and Whose Land? Whose Promise? [12]) and the New Testament (Jesus the Middle Eastern Story Teller, [13] The New Testament in Antiquity [14], and Encounters with Jesus [15]).
[1] http://sojo.net/blogs/gods-politics
[2] http://sojo.net/biography/gary-m-burge
[3] http://sojo.net/blogs/2011/05/10/palestinians-whose-narrative-wins#comment-covenant
[4] http://sojo.net/letter-to-web-editor?post=On%20Palestinians%3A%20Whose%20Narrative%20Wins%3F
[5] http://sojo.net/donate
[6] http://sojo.net/www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org
[7] http://blog.sojo.net/tag/palestine/
[8] http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj1104&article=living-waters
[9] http://wallwritings.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/if-you-build-it-the-state-will-come/
[10] http://sojo.net/sites/default/files/images/portrait-gary-burge.jpg
[11] http://www.bakerbooks.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=6F40C5160FCC4878BBEFEAFE0AA35FFA
[12] http://www.amazon.com/Whose-Land-Promise-Christians-Palestinians/dp/0829816607/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_7
[13] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310280451?ie=UTF8&tag=sojourners-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0310280451
[14] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310244951?ie=UTF8&tag=sojourners-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0310244951
[15] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031028046X?ie=UTF8&tag=sojourners-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=031028046X


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Originally written on Fox Sports Detroit | Last updated 11/15/14
As part of the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Toronto on Monday, FOX Sports Detroit Red Wings analyst Mickey Redmond received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster. The following is what our FOXSportsDetroit.com readers had to say to Mickey for winning the award and what he means to them: Jim M., Anchorage, Alaska: "Mr. Redmond, you are truly a class-act. Your commentary in the broadcast booth is always informative as well as entertaining. Your love for the sport shines through your microphone and is extremely infectious, congratulations on a well-deserved reward" Marie M., Gadsden, Alabama: "Congratulations Mickey - we love your commentary for the Red Wings games. You call it as you see it. Keep up the good work." Ron S., Long Beach, California: "Congratulations Mickey. Born and raised in Detroit, I remember your time as a Red Wing well. I thought you were a terrific player and a true Red Wing and was very sorry w...
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Mel Gibson, wife, finalize divorce
More News from Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Mel Gibson has finalized his divorce from his wife of 28 years.
Attorneys for thae Oscar winner and his ex-wife appeared briefly in a Los Angeles courthouse Friday to submit a proposed judgment, which a judge signed hours later.
Robyn Gibson filed for divorce in April 2009, just months before Gibson's then-girlfriend gave birth to a daughter. The "Braveheart" star indicated in his own court filings that the couple separated in 2006.
The former couple's divorce has been more low-key than Gibson's custody battle with Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva. Gibson agreed in August to pay Grigorieva $750,000 to settle a bitter dispute and split custody of their daughter.
The 55-year-old and his former wife have seven children together, but their 12-year-old son is the only minor.
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Car manufacturers
Jul 02, 2012
Maruti a favourite as June sales rise 20% on utility vehicles
Utility Vehicle (UV) sales (Gypsy, Grand Vitara & Ertiga) skyrocketed to 5,638 units from just 185 units in June last year. #Car manufacturers #passenger car sales #Maruti Suzuki #Suzuki SX4
Jun 29, 2012
Mahindra plans to take on Tata with CNG Maxximo
Auto major Mahindra and Mahindra plans to take on rival Tata Motors in the mini-truck space with its newly launched CNG variant of Maxximo priced at Rs 3.99 lakh. #Tata Motors #Automotive industry #Car manufacturers #Compressed natural gas #CorporateStrate
Jun 26, 2012
Maruti to launch fuel-efficient 800cc car by year-end
Automaker Maruti Suzuki announced that it will introduce a new 800cc car by the end of this year which will be more fuel efficient and expensive than Alto. #NewsTracker #Car manufacturers #Maruti Suzuki #Suzuki Alto
Jun 15, 2012
Diesel vs Petrol: Are we killing the auto sector?
Dealers across the country are offering various discounts and value-added services to lure consumers to buy diesel cars before the additional tax comes into affect. #ToWhatEffect #Car manufacturers #Diesel #Tax #Mahindra and Mahindra #petrol cars
Jun 12, 2012
Maruti, Suzuki merger will not result in any job cuts
Auto major Maruti Suzuki will merge Suzuki Powertrain which supplies diesel engines and transmission into itself. This proposed merger will benefit the combined entity through synergies in areas like finance, and capital structuring. #M&A #DealStream #Car manufacturers #Maruti Suzuki
Jun 06, 2012
Auto makers could hike prices soon, sector may bounce back
Softer interest rates, new product launches and exports may help auto sector bounce back after dismal showing so far. #Business/Finance #India #Car manufacturers


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The U.S. Postal Service hasn't done a good job of recognizing and adapting to changes in the communications and shipping market, and you need to make sure you don't make the same mistake at your company, Diane Helbig writes. Also, be sure to focus on efficiency and the importance of creating a positive customer experience, she advises.
View Full Article in:Small Business Trends
Published in Brief:


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No leader emerges in Jags' QB battle
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)
Jacksonville's quarterback competition turned out to be a stalemate against Atlanta.
David Garrard did little to solidify his starting spot and rookie Blaine Gabbert had his receivers let him down as the Jaguars beat the Falcons 15-13 Friday night.
Garrard completed 7 of 12 passes for 99 yards, with an interception in three series. Gabbert, the 10th pick in the April draft, completed 11 of 23 passes for 96 yards in seven series, but was plagued by several drops, including three on one second-half series that forced the Jaguars to settle for a 54-yard field goal.
Matt Ryan's receiving corps had similar issues, but Harry Douglas turned a short crossing route into a 76-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Ryan finished 7 of 15 for 116 yards.
Ryan played the entire first half as Atlanta built a 10-3 lead. Michael Turner ran seven times for 14 yards, and Roddy White had a 13-yard reception. Douglas caught two passes for 87 yards.
Ryan led the Falcons to a field goal on the team's opening drive.
Jacksonville's first two drives ended with turnovers. Garrard badly overthrew Mike Thomas on the opening series. Cornerback Brent Grimes was the only one in the vicinity. He picked it off in the end zone and returned it 62 yards, setting up Matt Bryant's 34-yard field goal.
''I was telling the guys earlier that we were moving the ball great, but we just have to put points on the board,'' Garrard said. ''We have to convert when we get in the red zone.''
LET'S DO IT AGAINThe second week of preseason was a hit. Take a look back at all the action.
Rookie Cecil Shorts bobbled a handoff from Garrard on an end around, giving the Falcons the ball and great field position.
''This is the same thing we were dealing with last year with turning the ball over and having bad penalties,'' tight end Marcedes Lewis said. ''We can't keep doing that. It's about mental toughness and we have to continue to grow as a team. We have to make those corrections and stop shooting ourselves in the foot. But I would rather have it happen now than in the regular season.''
Ryan couldn't capitalize on the second turnover, though. Jeremy Mincey pressured Ryan into intentional grounding on third down, essentially ending the drive.
Mincey, still dealing with the death of a childhood friend, posed all sorts of problems for the Falcons.
''When he's on his keys and knows what he is doing, he's unblockable,'' teammate Aaron Kampman said. ''I think he's going to have a great year.''
Ryan had Mincey in his face on several plays. He looked much better when he got time and found Douglas across the middle. Douglas beat Jacksonville's new nickel back, Drew Coleman, and outran several defenders to the end zone.
It was Atlanta's play of the night.
Third-string quarterback Luke McCown provided Jacksonville's top highlight. McCown connected with Armon Binns in the corner of the end zone for a 12-yard score with 6:19 remaining. That put the Jaguars ahead 15-13. McCown missed a wide open receiver on the two-point conversion, silencing any talk about him getting into the quarterback competition.
FOOTBALL IS BACK!FOX Sports has everything you need to kick off the season.
That's for Garrard and Gabbert to decide, and it could come down to the final two preseason games.
The Jaguars could have running back Maurice Jones-Drew and defensive end Aaron Kampman back for next week's game at Buffalo. Both players are recovering from knee surgery, and the team is being cautious by keeping them out of contract situations.
Tight end Zach Miller (knee), right tackle Eben Britton (back), running back Rashad Jennings (concussion), linebacker Clint Session (concussion) also sat out against Atlanta.
The Falcons played without defensive tackle Corey Peters (knee), cornerback Dunta Robinson (hamstring), center Todd McClure (rest) and newly signed tight end Reggie Kelly. Defensive end Ray Edwards, one of the team's top free agent acquisitions, sat out for the second consecutive game.
Falcons defensive end Lawrence Sidbury left the game with an ankle injury, but it didn't appear serious.
Jaguars running back Deji Karim sustained a concussion in the first half and didn't return.
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NFL Headlines
NFL Insiders: Dolphins name Dennis Hickey new general manager
Carroll: Seahawks CB Richard Sherman sorry about postgame rant
Browns to interview Bills' Pettine with Broncos' Gase out of running
NFL talking to 49ers about sideline hit vs Seahawks in NFC title game
Falcons hire former Chiefs GM Pioli as assistant general manager


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Cody Simpson and Gigi Hadid Break Up Again
Cody Simpson and Gigi Hadid break up for second time.
Sun-kissed Aussie teen idol Cody Simpson was discovered much the same way as future tour partner Justin Bieber: from videos he posted on YouTube showing himself singing. Born in 1997 in Queensland, Australia, Cody started taking guitar lessons at the age of 7. He set aside a promising future in competitive swimming to pursue a full-time music career. The decision also meant being uprooted from Down Under, and he moved to Los Angeles. His signing with Atlantic Records in 2010 led to the release of his debut single, 'iYiYi,' featuring Flo Rida. His breakthrough stateside single was 'On My Mind' from his 2011 EP 'Coast to Coast.' Simpson's many TV appearances include a several-week stint on the 18th season of 'Dancing With the Stars.'
Cody Simpson and Gigi Hadid break up for second time.
Cody Simspon will release 'Free' on June 23.
Music fans and celebrities alike headed to the California dessert on Friday (April 10) for Coachella. And while many were there to catch the big acts on the lineup, lots of our favorite celebs also hit up some of the big parties going down in Indio, Calif. this weekend.
Gigi Hadid and Cody Simpson are baring it all for their latest joint photoshoot for Mario Testino's Towel Series.
Justin Bieber and Cody Simpson have both rocked wide-brimmed hats recently. Whose is your fave?
Cody Simpson released a cover of the massive Bob Marley hit, "No Woman No Cry," and we're seriously loving his new, laid-back sound.
Cody Simpson just dropped an acoustic version of his new song "New Problems" and we are loving it.
Cody Simpson recently debuted his new single 'Flower,' and we barely had enough time to take in the cool, laid-back vibe of the track before he dropped the music video to go along with it.
Rixton's 'Hotel Ceiling' faces off against Cody Simpson's 'Flower.' Which song should win the Pop Clash?
Cody Simpson just dropped a brand-new song, 'Flower,' and it's giving us all the summery, beachy vibes we could ever want! Listen here.


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Aamir Khan has denied all allegations regarding him putting any pressure on his society to go in for redevelopment. The fact of the matter is that Mr. Khan left the building more than a year ago, after an incident of a slab of concrete falling on the head of one of the members, resulting in the member being hospitalized.
Thereafter, over the months, in his absence, the society had several meetings and discussions, regarding redevelopment. The general body eventually passed a resolution with 80% majority members voting in favour of redevelopment. Thereafter, society made a request in writing to Mr. Khan to make an offer. Mr. Khan gave the matter due thought and made an offer. In his offer letter, he also suggested to the society to invite other offers to ensure best value for the society and its members.Aamir strongly denies any allegations of pressure tactics or misconduct on his part, and takes strong exception to attempts being made to defame him.
Do you like this article?
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|Vaibhav Javeri
|User Rating
|(3 Votes)
|christiandior., Adinash, addictedlove
Uff why e they so after aamir???
aamir u are a gem!!!!!!!
Oh wow. So now they're after Aamir. SMH.
Aamir Khan played a friendly match with the world chess champion ...
Aamir Khan, who recently visited China for the premiere of his film ...


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Mon-Fri: 7am-1am EST / Sat-Sun: 7am-11pm EST
ApplianceKitchenAid Trash Compactor
Level of DifficultyReally easy
Time to do repairLess than 15 mins
Age of ApplianceLess than 1 year
Screw drivers
7 out of 12 people found this instruction helpful
After less than about 100 uses a little metal piece broke off the compactor. The piece pushes in a plunger switch when the door closes and allows activation of compaction thus prevening compaction with the door open. Without the piece the compactor does not work. Repairman was at my house for another Kitchen Aid repair and said he could come back and fix the compactor for about $200 but suggested I search online for the part because it was super simple to install. Took his advice and am back in action. Simply had to screw two screws to attach the actuator device. Took less time than writing this commentary.Cheers
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Thanks to Laércio Lameira my 42 Fallacies is available in Portuguese as a free PDF.
Tag Archives: logic
Gaming Newcomb's Paradox III: What You Actually Decide
Newcomb's Paradox was created by William Newcomb of the University of California's Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The dread philosopher Robert Nozick published a paper on it in 1969 and it was popularized in Martin Gardner's 1972 Scientific American column.
In this essay I will present the game that creates the paradox and then discuss a specific aspect of Nozick's version, namely his stipulation regarding the effect of how the player of the game actually decides.
The paradox involves a game controlled by the Predictor, a being that is supposed to be masterful at predictions. Like many entities with but one ominous name, the Predictor's predictive capabilities vary with each telling of the tale. The specific range is from having an exceptional chance of success to being infallible. The basis of the Predictor's power also vary. In the science-fiction variants, it can be a psychic, a super alien, or a brain scanning machine. In the fantasy versions, the Predictor is a supernatural entity, such as a deity. In Nozick's telling of the tale, the predictions are "almost certainly" correct and he stipulates that "what you actually decide to do is not part of the explanation of why he made the prediction he made".
Once the player confronts the Predictor, the game is played as follows. The Predictor points to two boxes. Box A is clear and contains $1,000. Box B is opaque. The player has two options: just take box B or take both boxes. The Predictor then explains to the player the rules of its game: the Predictor has already predicted what the player will do. If the Predictor has predicted that the player will take just B, B will contain $1,000,000. Of course, this should probably be adjusted for inflation from the original paper. If the Predictor has predicted that the player will take both boxes, box B will be empty, so the player only gets $1,000. In Nozick's version, if the player chooses randomly, then box B will be empty. The Predictor does not inform the player of its prediction, but box B is either empty or stuffed with cash before the players actually picks. The game begins and ends when the player makers her choice.
This paradox is regarded as a paradox because the two stock solutions are in conflict. The first stock solution is that the best choice is to take both boxes. If the Predictor has predicted the player will take both boxes, the player gets $1,000. If the Predicator has predicted (wrongly) that the player will take B, she gets $1,001,000. If the player takes just B, then she risks getting $0 (assuming the Predicator predicted wrong).
The second stock solution is that the best choice is to take B. Given the assumption that the Predictor is either infallible or almost certainly right, then if the player decides to take both boxes, she will get $1,000. If the player elects to take just B, then she will get $1,000,000. Since $1,000,000 is more than $1,000, the rational choice is to take B. Now that the paradox has been presented, I can turn to Nozick's condition that "what you actually decide to do is not part of the explanation of why he made the prediction he made".
This stipulation provides some insight into how the Predictor's prediction ability is supposed to work. This is important because the workings of the Predictor's ability to predict are, as I argued in my previous essay, rather significant in sorting out how one should decide.
The stipulation mainly serves to indicate how the Predicator's ability does not work. First, it would seem to indicate that the Predictor does not rely on time travel—that is, it does not go forward in time to observe the decision and then travel back to place (or not place) the money in the box. After all, the prediction in this case would be explained in terms of what the player decided to do. This still leaves it open for the Predictor to visit (or observe) a possible future (or, more accurately, a possible world that is running ahead of the actual world in its time) since the possible future does not reveal what the player actually decides, just what she decides in that possible future. Second, this would seem to indicate that the Predictor is not able to "see" the actual future (perhaps by being able to perceive all of time "at once" rather than linearly as humans do). After all, in this case it would be predicting based on what the player actually decided. Third, this would also rule out any form of backwards causation in which the actual choice was the cause of the prediction. While there are, perhaps, other specific possibilities that are also eliminated, the gist is that the Predictor has to, by Nozick's stipulation, be limited to information available at the time of the prediction and not information from the future. There are a multitude of possibilities here.
One possibility is that the Predictor is telepathic and can predict based on what it reads regarding the player's intentions at the time of the prediction. In this case, the best approach would be for the player to think that she will take one box, and then after the prediction is made, take both. Or, alternatively, use some sort of drugs or technology to "trick" the Predictor. The success of this strategy would depend on how well the player can fool the Predictor. If the Predictor cannot be fooled or is unlikely to be fooled then the smart strategy would be to intend to take box B and then just take box B. After all, if the Predictor cannot be fooled, then box B will be empty if the player intends on taking both.
Another possibility is that the Predictor is a researcher—it gathers as much information as it can about the player and makes a shrewd guess based on that information (which might include what the player has written about the paradox). Since Nozick stipulates that the Predictor is "almost certainly" right, the Predictor would need to be an amazing researcher. In this case, the player's only way to mislead the Predictor is to determine its research methods and try to "game" it so the Predictor will predict that she will just take B, then actually decide to take both. But, once again, the Predictor is stipulated to be "almost certainly" right—so it would seem that the player should just take B. If B is empty, then the Predictor got it wrong, which would "almost certainly" not happen. Of course, it could be contended that since the player does not know how the Predictor will predict based on its research (the player might not know what she will do), then the player should take both. This, of course, assumes that the Predictor has a reasonable chance of being wrong—contrary to the stipulation.
A third possibility is that the Predictor predicts in virtue of its understanding of what it takes to be a determinist system. Alternatively, the system might be a random system, but one that has probabilities. In either case, the Predictor uses the data available to it at the time and then "does the math" to predict what the player will decide.
If the world really is deterministic, then the Predictor could be wrong if it is determined to make an error in its "math." So, the player would need to predict how likely this is and then act accordingly. But, of course, the player will simply act as she is determined to act. If the world is probabilistic, then the player would need to estimate the probability that the Predictor will get it right. But, it is stipulated that the Predictor is "almost certainly" right so any strategy used by the player to get one over on the Predictor will "almost certainly" fail, so the player should take box B. Of course, the player will do what "the dice say" and the choice is not a "true" choice.
If the world is one with some sort of metaphysical free will that is in principle unpredictable, then the player's actual choice would, in principle, be unpredictable. But, of course, this directly violates the stipulation that the Predictor is "almost certainly" right. If the player's choice is truly unpredictable, then the Predictor might make a shrewd/educated guess, but it would not be "almost certainly" right. In that case, the player could make a rational case for taking both—based on the estimate of how likely it is that the Predictor got it wrong. But this would be a different game, one in which the Predictor is not "almost certainly" right.
This discussion seems to nicely show that the stipulation that "what you actually decide to do is not part of the explanation of why he made the prediction he made" is a red herring. Given the stipulation that the Predictor is "almost certainly" right, it does not really matter how its predictions are explained. The stipulation that what the player actually decides is not part of the explanation simply serves to mislead by creating the false impression that there is a way to "beat" the Predictor by actually deciding to take both boxes and gambling that it has predicted the player will just take B. As such, the paradox seems to be dissolved—it is the result of some people being misled by one stipulation and not realizing that the stipulation that the Predictor is "almost certainly" right makes the other irrelevant.
Education & Negativity Bias
In general, people suffer from a wide range of cognitive biases. One of these is known as negativity bias and it is manifested by the tendency people have to give more weight to the negative than to the positive. For example, people tend to weigh the wrongs done to them more heavily than the good done to them. As another example, people tend to be more swayed by negative political advertisements than by positives ones. This bias can also have an impact on education.
A colleague of mine asks his logic students each semester how many of them are planning on law school. In the past, he had many students. Now, the number is considerably less. Curious about this, he checked and found that logic had switched from being a requirement for pre-law to being a mere recommendation. My colleague noted that it seemed irrational for students who plan on taking the LSAT and becoming lawyers to avoid the logic class, given that the LSAT is largely a logic test and that law school requires skill in logic. He made the point that students often prefer to avoid the useful when it is not required and only grudgingly take what is required. We discussed a bit how this relates to the negativity bias: a student who did not take the logic class when it was required would be punished by being unable to graduate. Now that the class is optional, there is only the positive benefit of a likely improvement on the LSAT and better performance in law school. Since people weigh punishments more than rewards, this behavior makes sense—but is still irrational. Especially since many of the students who skip the logic class will end up spending money taking LSAT preparation classes that will endeavor to spackle over their lack of skills in logic.
I have seen a similar sort of thing in my own classes. At my university, university policy allows us to lower student grades on the basis of a lack of attendance. We are even permitted to fail a student for excessive absences. While attendance is mandatory in my classes, I do not have a special punishment for missing class. Not surprisingly, when the students figure this out around week three or four, attendance plummets and then stabilizes at a low level. Before I used BlackBoard for quizzes, exams and for turning in assignments and papers, attendance would spike back up for days on which something had to be done in class. Since students can do their work via BlackBoard, these spikes are gone. They are, however, replaced by post-exam spikes when students do badly on the exams because they have not been in class. Then attendance slumps again. Interestingly, students often claim that they think the class is interesting and useful. But, since there is no direct and immediate punishment for not attending (just a delayed "punishment" in terms of lower grades and a lack of learning), many students are not motivated to attend class.
Naturally, I do consider the possibility that I am a bad professor who is teaching a subject that students regard as useless or boring. However, my evaluations are consistently good, former students have returned to say good things about me and my classes, and so on. That said, perhaps I am merely deluding myself and being humored. That said, it is easy enough to draw an analogy to exercise: exercise does not provide immediate rewards and there is no immediate punishment for not staying fit—just a loss of benefits. Most people elect to under-exercise or avoid it altogether. This, and similar things, does show that people generally avoid that which is difficult now but yields lasting benefits latter.
I have, of course, considered going to the punishment model for my classes. However, I have resisted this for a variety of reasons. The first is that my personality is such that I am more inclined to want to offer benefits rather than punishments. This seems to be a clear mistake given the general psychology of people. The second is that I believe in free choice: like God, I think people should be free to make bad choices and not be coerced into doing what is right. It has to be a free choice. Naturally, choosing poorly brings its own punishment—albeit later on. The third is the hassle of dealing with attendance: the paper work, having to handle excuses, being lied to regularly and so on. The fourth is the fact that classes are generally better for the good students when the students who do not want to be in class elect to not attend. While I want everyone to learn, I would rather have the people who would prefer not to learn not be in class disrupting the learning of others—college is not the place where the educator should have to spend time dealing with behavioral issues in the classroom. The fifth is I prefer to reduce the amount of lying that students think they have to engage in.
In terms of why I have been considering using the punishment model, there are three reasons. One is that if students are compelled to attend, they might very well inadvertently learn something. The second is that this model is a lesson for what the workplace will be like for most of the students—so habituating them to this (or, rather, keeping the habituation they should have acquired in K-12) would be valuable. After all, they will probably need to endure awful jobs until they retire or die. The third is that perhaps many people lack the discipline to do what they should and they simply must be compelled by punishment—this is, of course, the model put forth by thinkers like Aristotle and Hobbes.
A Million Dollar Puzzle: The Newcomb Paradox
I've put together a new interactive activity at Philosophy Experiments. It's here:
If you follow me on Twitter, then you'll probably already have played through it. Thing is, I find it genuinely baffling, so I'm not sure I have much to say about it, other than see what you think.
You'll see at the end that people simply don't agree about the best answer – there is nothing like a crowd-sourced consensus here.
The activity is a version of Newcomb's Paradox, which you can read about here. Apparently, Robert Nozick once said of the puzzle, "To almost everyone, it is perfectly clear and obvious what should be done. The difficulty is that these people seem to divide almost evenly on the problem, with large numbers thinking that the opposing half is just being silly."
For what it's worth, I'm inclined towards the response that is slightly the more popular (see final analysis page).
The Evolution of the Irrational
- Image via Wikipedia
While doing my part to keep the print media alive, I read Sharon Begley's "The Limits of Reason ." Yes, I do see the irony in linking to the online version.
Begley begins her discussion by pointing out the obvious: humans are bad at reasoning. While she notes that psychologists have been documenting this from the 1960s, I would be remiss not to point out that philosophers have been discussing this since the beginnings of philosophy.
According to Begley, a new wave in philosophy and cognitive science is the view that such failures of reason have a purpose in that they enable us to "devise and evaluate arguments that are intended to persuade other people." She notes that Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber claim that this poor reasoning is, in fact, an effective strategy aimed at winning arguments. This point is, of course, something that has been made by teacher of logic and critical thing for quite some time. For example, when I taught my first logic class a student asked me why people use fallacies. I still use the two answers I gave back then. The first is that people are generally bad at reasoning. The second is that it works (as a way to persuade).
In philosophy, it is generally assumed that the goal of argumentation is to establish truth. However, Begley considers the idea that argumentation is about overcoming opposing views. That is, the goal is to persuade rather than to prove. The idea that people argue in the informal sense in order to persuade is, obviously enough, nothing new. However a standard approach in critical thinking is to distinguish between the goal of argumentation (truth) and persuasion (to get someone to believe). Part of making this distinction involves pointing out that people often confuse persuasion and argumentation. As such, to say that the goal of argumentation is to overcome opposition is to merely call persuasion by the name "argumentation." Since there are two distinct goals and methods, it certainly makes excellent sense to maintain a distinction in terms.
To anticipate some obvious objections, arguments can be used to persuade and persuasive techniques can be used in arguments. However, the fact that a hammer can be used to pound in screws does not make it a screwdriver.
Begley then turns to a specific error, that of confirmation bias. As folks who read blogs have surely noticed, people tend to focus on evidence that supports their view and ignore that which goes against it. She notes that this serves a useful purpose when "arguing" because "it maximizes the artillery we wield when trying to convince someone…" Mercier even claims that "it contributes to effective argumentation."
Having observed this numerous times, I do agree that it can be an effective persuasive tool. Of course, it depends on the opposition not being prepared with evidence and also on the ignorance of the target. Someone who is aware that the person using this artillery is selectively focusing on supporting evidence will hardly find this approach convincing (either logically or rhetorically).
As a tool of argumentation in the proper sense, it is obviously not effective. After all, falling victim to the confirmation bias is not an effective way to establish truth. If someone wants to say that the goal of argumentation is persuasion, then that is fine. However, we will need a new term for what it is that we do when we try to establish truth. Sticking with the spirit of the thing, perhaps we should call that "persuasion."
Begley moves on to note the value of motivated reasoning. An example of this is when a person looks very hard for flaws in a blog that supports a position she disagrees with. Another example is when people dismiss evidence that goes against their view. From a logical standpoint, falling victim to this is an error since it will impede an objective assessment. However, as Begley points out it does have its advantages. Someone who falls victim to this will tend to be more effective in finding flaws. Of course, there is the concern that the flaws might be imagined as opposed to real. There is also the concern that evidence will simply be ignored (as in Begley's example of the Birthers who refuse to accept Obama's birth certificate as real).
Begley finishes with a last example, what she calls the "sunk-cost fallacy" (often presented as a slippery slope variant). This fallacy occurs when a person believes that she should or must follow a course of action because she is already embarked on that course. This, as she notes, is a rather effective persuasive device. For example, this sort of fallacy was used to "argue" in favor of re-electing George Bush. As another example, this fallacy is sometimes called the "Vietnam fallacy" and that war nicely illustrates how persuasive it can be. However, it is clearly bad logic.
While Begley does not go into any detail, the subtitle of the essay "Why evolution may favor irrationality" suggests her overall point. The idea seems to be that the dominance of bad reasoning can be explained on the grounds that bad reasoning confers an evolutionary advantage.
Based on my own experience studying and teaching critical thinking, I can attest to the persuasive power of poor reasoning and fallacies. As I mentioned above, I tell my students that one of the main reasons people use fallacies is because they work marvelously as persuasive devices. This, of course, gives those who effectively use such methods an advantage in terms of convincing others. Presumably this provides a reproductive advantage so that people who are bad at reasoning but good at persuading tend to be selected.
However, fallacies and poor reasoning are obviously not very effective when it comes to getting things right. In fact, the fallacies and errors Begley used as examples tend to lead people towards disaster and death. For example, the sunk-cost fallacy can keep people stupidly grinding away on a failed plan, war, or way of life. In a nutshell, our greater persuasive skills can overcome our inferior logic skills and convince us to do remarkably unwise and stupid things.
Obviously, poor reasoning has not killed off the species…yet. However, it is interesting to speculate what the long term consequences might be if the hypothesis that Begley considers is correct.
While the evolution folks tend to focus almost entirely on what they think are the evolutionary advantages of our traits, they should give due consideration to the negative aspect of natural selection. To be specific, perhaps our tendency to reason poorly and to be persuaded by poor reasoning are traits that will result in our species being selected out of the evolutionary game. Perhaps a long time hence clever academics from whatever species succeeds us will be writing essays about how evolution weeded out the irrational animal known as man. I imagine one of the sentences would be something like this: "Homo sapiens became extinct largely because humans were very good at persuading each other to believe very stupid things and very bad at telling what was, in fact, very stupid."
Hitchens on Sports
While I am a professional philosopher, I am also an amateur athlete and, as such, found Hitchens' recent article on sports to be rather…interesting.
Hitchens does make some reasonable and valid criticisms of international sports. To be specific, he does point out that international sporting events have led to serious conflicts and some rather reprehensible behavior. However, he does not stop there. He moves on to attack sportsmanship itself by pointing out bad behavior on the part of athletes and fans. He also attacks the overuse of sports metaphors in politics, complains about the coverage afforded sports, and takes the usual shots at the overemphasis of sports in major universities.
His criticism of sports does have some merit. After all, the incidents and behavior he points to are quite real. Like him, I find the excessive coverage of sports a bit tedious and I also have been critical of how sports is often handled at the university level. However, Hitchens sweeping attack has a rather serious flaw, namely that he is engaging in a relentless straw man attack.
His specific form of a straw man is one that I point out to my students in my critical thinking class: one way to make a straw man of something is to focus entirely on the negative aspects of the target, while conveniently ignoring or underplaying the positive aspects. To fairly assess something, such as sports, it is important to consider the positive aspects as well. After all, focusing merely on the negatives will produce a rather distorted assessment (as would focusing only on the positive). Naturally enough, such a balanced assessment can lead to the conclusion that something is rather negative. But, at least such a conclusion would be properly justified.
This tactic is standard for Hitchens and one he routinely employs against religion. Perhaps he honestly sees the world this way and is psychologically incapable of presenting a fair assessment. Perhaps he merely uses this tool because it works as a persuasive device (while failing as a logical method). However, his motivations are (obviously enough) irrelevant to assessing his case.
To begin with my reply, I am obligated to say once more that I am an athlete so as to allow people to be aware of this as a possible biasing factor in my views. I competed in high shool and college and still compete today. Of course, the merit of my case has no connection to my status as an athlete-to think otherwise would be to fall victim to an ad hominem fallacy.
My main contention against his case is, as noted above, that he seems to simply ignore any positive evidence in favor of sports. While my view of sports is based on my own experiences, these still count as evidence for the positive aspects of sports.
First, my own experience as an athlete has made me a better person. My coaches always emphasized fairness, good sportsmanship and character and they took all this very seriously. Through their guidance and through the lessons of competition I learned the importance of competing fairly, of maintaining integrity and showing respect to my fellow athletes. I can honestly say that sports helped shape my moral character and much of what is best about me has come through sports. I am not claiming to be a saint or exceptionally good. But, I do know that my experience in sports has, as Aristotlewould say, has developed my virtues.
Second, my observations of my fellow athletes has shown that most of them have also benefited from sports. With some notable exceptions, the people I have competed with and against have shown good character. To see this for yourself, go to a local road race or even a large race and observe how people behave. To use just a few examples, runners will share water with their competitors, tell people they are racing against the right way to go, and even stop to help an injured competitor. People also volunteer to work at such races, often getting up very early and sometimes enduring rather tough conditions. This is hardly a sign of bad character or poor behavior. Yes, there are some people who are jerks (I've taken a few needless elbows to the chest, for example). But, what I have observed has generally been rather positive in character. Lest I be accused of presenting a small sample or a biased one, I have competed in hundreds of races ranging from the Beach to Beacon 10K to the Columbus Marathon to high school meets to college meets and so on. As such, I have a fairly broad sample to work with.
Of course, I can still be accused of presenting a biased sample. After all, my experience has been primarily with runners and often with runners I know. Perhaps running is different from other sports in significant ways. Also, there is the obvious concern about extending my experiences from this one sport to other sports. However, even if running is unusual it does serve as counterexample against Hitchens' attacks on sports. Also, Hitchens can also be accused of using a biased sample: he focuses only on the negative while ignoring the positive.
To finish up, I do agree that Hitchens makes some points well worth considering. Sports can lead to rather bad behavior and serious problems. However, this is not a quality that seems to be inherent to sports. Rather, it is a problem with how people react to sports and how people behave. The fact that some athletes act badly and that some fans are true fanatics who engage in violence over sports merely serves to show their failings rather than the failings of sports. As noted above, my experiences with running have been very positive and shows that sports can be something very positive. Like everything else in life, sports is largely what we make of it. Those who bring vice to sports will find it there. Those who bring virtue will find that.
The Political Brain & Inconsistency
One thing I love about the Daily Show is that Jon Stewart and his fellows take the effort to find videos which show the inconsistency of political figures. A recent episode featured a plethora of examples of such inconsistency.
The first part of the segment featured Karl Rove. When asked about Sarah Palin's qualifications, he noted that she had been mayor of the second largest town in Alaska (with a population under 10,000) and is now the governor of Alaska. As such, his principle seems to be that experience as the mayor of a small town and as governor qualifies a person to be Vice President.
Interestingly enough, when Governor Kaine was being considered as a possible VP pick by the Democrats, Rove had this to say:
"With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years. He's been able but undistinguished. I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done … [Kaine] was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa, or Gilbert, Arizona; North Las Vegas, or Henderson, Nevada. It's not a big town…So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with — is this person capable of being president of the United States?'"
In this quote, Rowe seems to be following quite a different set of standards than he used to assess Palin. After all, Kaine (like Palin) was a mayor and is a governor. In fact, he was the mayor of a much larger city and is the governor of a more heavily populated state. If Rove had applied the same set of standards to both, they would either both be equally qualified or neither would be qualified.
Naturally enough, this sort of political "reasoning" is quite interesting and can be addressed philosophically.
It is tempting to respond to such inconsistency by simply rejecting what, for example, Rove said about Palin. However, to do so would be to commit one version of the ad hominem tu quoque fallacy. If a person makes inconsistent claims, then at least one of his claims must be false. However, the inconsistency does not (in itself) reveal which claim is in error. In this example, Rove is either mistaken about Palin or Kaine. This is because either being a mayor and a governor qualifies a person for the VP position or it does not. Not even Rove can have it both ways. Hence, he is wrong-but it must be determined whether he is wrong about Palin or Kaine.
It is certainly interesting to speculate about how intelligent people can hold such inconsistent views and apply their principles in such an inconsistent manner. It is, however, not surprising. When it comes to politics, Mill seems to have gotten it quite right in his work on Liberty . He notes that "men very rarely chose a side because of a consistently held opinion about what is fit to be done by government." The same can be said about the principles people use to assess political matters, such as the qualifications of a candidate.
In terms of why people are inconsistent, one possibility is that such people have poor memories. Perhaps, for example, Rove simply forgot the standards he used to assess Kaine when he went to assess Palin. Presumably people also forget that when they say something on television, it is recorded and can be replayed later.
Another possibility is that such people are simply poor at reasoning and do not grasp the concepts of consistency and inconsistency. As such, the sort of inconsistency presented by Rove and others is a sign of a cognitive defect. If so, they should seek treatment-perhaps it has an underlying medical cause.
A third possibility is that such people are simply ruled by their political passions. As such, they tend to "feel" rather than reason when it comes to political situations. For example, since Rove is a devoted Republican, his political passion might lead him to feel positive emotions for the Republican Palin and negative emotions for the Democrat Kaine. These emotions could cause him to regard Palin as qualified and Kaine as unqualified. Since his "judgment" is based on feeling (rather than a rational assessment) and he feels two different emotions, he would have no sense of inconsistency. If his assessment was based on a standard, then he would have (obviously enough)reached the same judgment for both Palin and Kaine.
A fourth possibility is that such people simply change their standards a great deal. In what can only be a series of amazing coincidences, they just happen to always change their principles in accord with their political views.
A fifth possibility is that such people say whatever they think will support the claim they are making at the time and they do not worry too much about what they say from day to day. In this case, such people do have a principle that they apply consistently: I will say whatever I think will support the claim I am making now.
While I have been using an example from the American right, the same sort of behavior occurs with equal frequency on the left. This sort of "reasoning" no doubt contributes to many of the problems in the world.
The Value of Philosophy, Yet Again
One of the most annoying things about being a professional philosopher is the fact that I so often am called upon to defend the value of my profession and my discipline. One thing that makes it especially annoying is that so many philosophers have written so much about the value of philosophy (including, of course, Russell's work on the subject). One would think that the value of philosophy would be a settled matter by now. However, this is not the case.
Like almost all professors, I have to deal with the occasional student who questions the value of my discipline in general or my class in particular. I have, naturally enough, worked out a well developed reply to such questions. In addition to the challenges put forth by students, philosophers also face a challenge put forth by fellow academics. For example, The Philosophers' Magazine (third quarter 2008, pages 120-126) features an article by Julian Baggini in which Lewis Wolpert's view of philosophy is discussed. Wolpert puts forth the usual charge against philosophy: "…philosophy is not successful. It has achieved nothing." (page 121). He does concede that Aristotle did make a difference and does allow a place for political and moral philosophy. Other than that, he regards philosophy as not making "the slightest difference" in regards to what we know.
Naturally enough, these criticisms have some plausibility. Philosophy has long been attacked because it bakes no bread, builds no weapons, and seems to do nothing. In short, philosophy seems to be useless. If this is the case, then philosophy professors like me have worked out quite a scheme: we get paid to achieve nothing. However, I think that Wolpert and the other critics are fundamentally mistaken about the value of philosophy.
One stock argument is to present the accomplishment of philosophers such as Thales, Descartes, Leibniz, Newton and others. Since these people accomplished so much in terms of science, mathematics, and geometry it would seem mistaken to regard philosophy as lacking in achievements.
Of course, there is an obvious reply to this. While Thales, Descartes, Leibniz, and Newton were all philosophers, it could be argued that their achievements were within other disciplines. For example, Descartes' work in mathematics and geometry were great achievements-of mathematics and geometry. To use analogy, while I am a philosopher and I have won 5Ks and 10Ks, it would be incorrect to say that philosophy has achieved victories in running. Rather, I just happen to be a philosopher who is also a runner. It is as a runner that I accomplish such achievements. Likewise, it is as a scientist that Newton accomplished his great achievements. Thus, the mere fact that philosophers have had great achievements does not entail that philosophy has achieved anything.
Another stock argument is to present achievements that seem to clearly be within the discipline of philosophy. The modern sciences, it is often argued, arose from philosophy (mainly what was known as "natural philosophy"). Further, logic, critical thinking and reasoning are all within the domain of philosophy. Wolpert himself notes the importance of avoiding logical contradictions (page 125) when using the scientific method. Thus, it would seem that philosophy has achieved something after all.
Not surprisingly, there are ways to reply to this defense of philosophy.
In regards to the sciences, it can be argued that while philosophers did contribute to the rise of the sciences, they did so as scientists (or pre-scientists). This is a variation on the argument given above. It could be conceded that (as Wolpert does for Aristotle) that philosophy did give rise to the sciences. However, it could be argued that this is analogous to parents having children who accomplish great things. While the child would not exist without the parents, the children's accomplishments are their own and hence do not count as achievements for the parents. Philosophy can, of course, take pride in bringing such children into the world. But that is all the credit she deserves.
The matter of logic (broadly taken) does present a tougher dragon to slay. On the face of it, there seem to be two important points here. First, logic belongs to philosophy. Second, logic is extremely useful and seems to be quite a feather in philosophy's cap. Not to brag, but logic is critical to the information age. Without such logic, there would be no PCs, no internet, no Nintendo Wiis, no Xboxes (360 or otherwise), and no iPods. This alone should refute the charge that philosophy has achieved nothing. Of course, logic and its various domains (such as critical thinking) are also useful in many other ways. Imagine a world without logic and critical thinking and their value seems evident.
This would seem to provide philosophy with an iron clad claim to achievements. However, perhaps philosophy can still be robbed of her prize.
One way to rob philosophy in this matter is to argue that logic belongs to another discipline or that specific types of logic belong to specific disciplines. For example, symbolic logic could be seen as belonging to the discipline of mathematics. The logic used in computers could be seen as belonging to computer science. Scientific and professional reasoning (law, economics, business, etc.) could be seen as belonging to those disciplines. This approach, obviously enough, mimics that used by Socrates against Ion. Socrates argued that the specific content of a poem belonged not to poetry but rather to some other field. For example, while chariot racing is described in the Iliad, the art of racing does not belong to poetry and poets cannot claim the accomplishments of the chariot racers as their own. Likewise, while philosophers talk about logic, logic does not belong to philosophy. Hence, philosophy deserves no credit for the value of logic. Rather, proper credit belongs to all the various disciplines that own a piece of logic.
In defense of philosophy, it can be argued that while other disciplines have employed and developed logic, philosophy deserves the credit for creating logic. To use an analogy, to deny philosophy credit for logic would be like denying Thomas Edison credit for his inventions because other people have developed them in so many new and useful ways over the years.
While this seems like a reasonable argument, there is a way to counter it. When I was in graduate school, I first encountered what turned out to be a standard means of arguing that philosophy accomplishes nothing. Put bluntly, the tactic is to argue that every accomplishment attributed to philosophy belongs to another discipline. This is often done by defining "philosophy" in such a way that achieving results means that one is no longer practicing philosophy but doing something else. For example, once a philosopher begins to develop logic, then he is no longer doing philosophy. Hence, philosophy did not even give the world the beginnings of logic.
This approach does, in a way, work. If the discipline of philosophy is defined in a way that precludes achievement, then philosophy can (by definition) never achieve anything. The same sort of method can be used to "prove" that a liberal can never accomplish anything. Just define "liberal" such that if someone achieves something, then she is not a liberal.
There seems to be no compelling reason why philosophers should accept this view of philosophy. Naturally enough, those who claim philosophy accomplishes nothing would need to provide an adequate defense of such a definition. Philosophers are, of course, obligated to provide an alternative definition.