Will 8/31/09

Washington Is Seriously Unserious

My take on George Will's latest. His essay was published in the Newsweek Magazine.

Summary: On at least two main issues in the news, health care, global warming, the legislation before Congress does not seriously face the facts. The global warming bill is called “cap and trade”.

Quote:

That legislation is a particularly lurid illustration of why no serious person nowadays takes seriously Washington's increasingly infantile bandying of numbers.

My Views: I’ve been drawing attention to the articles by George Will and Charles Krauthammer because they make serious criticisms of the issues. I fear that too much of the press is too infatuated with Obama to give these issues the kind of objective analysis that they deserve. In this essay, Will’s points ought to be addressed by responsible people in power.

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George Will almost didn't make it as a syndicated columnist. His style was considered too erudite for a general audience.

Whatever one thinks of his views, read his work for use of language and for how he marshals facts and uses logic.

Here's his Wiki bio.

His latest book is at the right.

Mafia Wars

I started playing this game a couple of days ago because my Facebook friends were playing it.

This is an internet-based role-playing game. You play it on Facebook or on MySpace. In a role-playing game, you create a character which represents you in the game world.

It is also a social game. This means that the more people you can recruit into your character’s “mob”, the stronger it becomes. This encourages you go go out and get “friends”, since only “friends” can be recruited. I put the word friends in quotes because, I notice that most people seem to connect as friends just to play the game. But that doesn’t mean that these “friends” cannot develop some personal relations as a result of the shared experience of playing this game.

Game strategy sites talk about “power-leveling”. This term means that people want to grow in strength. (I think that the phrase “take it to the next level” comes from the role-play game mechanics.) Levels is how the game defines advancement.

I think that the leveling process is largely an illusion, though. Yes, you gain more power and money as you level up, but the risks and costs go up, too. There is an inflation factor (in effect) built in to each role-playing game. For fights, what is important is the risk/reward ratio. For finances, it is the revenue/cost ratio.

My conclusion is to not worry about power-leveling, too much. I think that players will get the most enjoyment from just playing the game at the level they are at. Advancement in levels will come naturally.

Quote for the Day 8/29/09

I spent the last few days in Ohio at my 10th year college reunion, but before I could write anything about it, something occurred to me: on this date four years ago, Beauty and the Geek first hit the airwaves and turned me into an international superstar. Or at least put my face on TV—the “superstar” status is questionable at best.

Four years… wow.

- Shawn Bakken, who made it to the penultimate episode in Season 1 - from Shawn Bakken's Blog

And even the quote is 2 months old now. How time flies!

Coulter 8/28/09

Left's Healthcare Lies - Part 2

My take on Ann Coulter's latest. Her column was published on Townhall.com.

Summary: This installment covers abortions, rationing, and cost control with a humorous play on the CIA angle to distract attention from the Healthcare issue.

List: The New National Health Care Plan will:

6. Have no rationing.
7. Reduce costs.
8. Not cover abortions.

Quote:

With the Democrats getting slaughtered -- or should I say, "receiving mandatory end-of-life counseling" -- in the debate over national health care, the Obama administration has decided to change the subject by indicting CIA interrogators for talking tough to three of the world's leading Muslim terrorists.

My Views: I doubt that Obama is using the prosecution of CIA agents as a device to distract attention to the issue. This is just Coulter humor. As for the main topics, she makes some effective points. Abortion funding may not be explicitly included in the bill but does anybody seriously think that when passed and it comes to Obama implementing it, that abortion funding won't be there? As for rationing, well . . . how can it be otherwise? Others have looked at the costs of this thing is a very seriously way and there is a great deal to be concerned about.

Part 1

Series Summary

Part 3

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Anybody who is as hated as Ann Coulter is must be doing something right. She is very right-wing but every left-wing blogger would love to write like her. I hate rants; opinion pieces must argue from the facts. Pay attention to how she uses facts and draws politically incorrect connections among them. People would do well to think and not just be outraged.

Here's her Wiki bio. Her latest book is at the right.

Kennedy RIP: End of an Era

Lots of eulogies of Edward Kennedy. Here's a larger view of the significance of this event.

This is the first time since 1956 that there has not been a Kennedy on the national scene in the first rank. At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, John F. Kennedy mounted a short-lived bid for the Vice-Presidential nomination. While he lost to Estes Kefauver, he emerged from that convention as a national figure and a contender for President in 1960.

Since then, there has been a Kennedy as a possible contender for top honors through the 1980's. After Ted Kennedy's loss of the presidential campaign in 1980 to Jimmy Carter, he gradually fell back upon Senate power. He was a major player in the Senate until his death a couple days ago.

There are other Kennedys, of course. A Kennedy may even be elected to replace him in the Senate. But no Kennedy will have front-rank stature and this marks a change in America's politics.

No Kennedy in the front rank. An era has passed.

The Political Line of Work

Politics is a great line of work. If you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book. Of course, you must first possess the ability to write one. - Or hire a ghost writer.

USCF Politics - Ugh!

I've spent wa-ay too much time on the USCF's Forums in the past few months. I had a reason: the campaign against Paul Truong and Susan Polgar. But that's over now. The USCF has expelled them entirely. So now the attacks become ever more petty and the gimmicks to purnish Polgar supporters (me) ever more arbitrary. They won; we lost. And they've made it clear that there will be no olive branch to the loosers.

I can go into the latest problem but why bother? (It was another attack on Susan's Chess Discussion Forum of which I am a Moderator.)

The USCF's forum still has useful information that comes up from time to time so I recommend that you still go there if you can. But I can't recommend becoming too involved in it. Most of the time, they're just going round in circles in meaningless discussions on lawsuits. The central questions surrounding the Delegate's verdict are all hush hush. So, forget trying to find them out.

As for much else, well. It's all so sad, really. On a more positive note, there are several really good chess sites - like the much maligned Susan Polgar's Chess Discussion. And Chessvine, too.

(Yes, I am a contributor to both.) Which brings me to my main point of this: I really need to start spending more of my time on those places (and here, too!) than on the USCF's Forums.