Peterhiltz.com

Red Card to America From Australia

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:18:19 -0400

The following take-down by an Australian is unfortunately too true. And will be ignored by the right. Sigh. Red card. A birthday message from Australia to America (by Andrew Brown, Michael West Media) As Belgium responded to the corruption of Trump and Infantino in the best way possible by thumping the US soccer team, Andrew Brown sends birthday greetings to a foundering empire. Dear America, Happy 250th, mate. Quarter of a millennium.

Lip Service Thanks Rant

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 14:18:19 -0400

We just had Veterans Day in the US (honoring those who served in the US armed forces) which is not the same as Memorial Day (honoring those who died in the service of the US armed forces). That means we get to watch more lip service “Thank you for your service” statements performance theater. You don’t see these people giving those thanks to visibly disabled former service personnel. You don’t see these people giving condolences to families who lost family members in the service.

The R is not silent

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 26 Oct 2025 14:18:19 -0400

I recently played a short music set at a venue and the host introduced me as “Pete”. Hey, I’m standing in front of a live microphone too. I called out that the “r” in “Peter” is not silent and then proceeded to play. Afterwards the sound person said that they appreciated my calling out the host on getting the name right, adding that the host kept forgetting their name. I talked to the host at the end of the evening to ensure no ruffled feathers on his side.

Church Happiness BUT

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 14:18:19 -0400

Recent data indicates that churchgoers are happier than non-churchgoers. The real reason seems to be that the church community acts as a support group and that this would be the case regardless of whether the religion is true. I would assert that you can’t stop the analysis there. I haven’t seen data for this yet, but anecdotal stories indicate that some church communities intentionally cause more unhappiness for those outside that specific community.

Society is a Fragile Fabric

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 14:18:19 -0400

Society is a fragile fabric, make up of the threads of gentlemen’s (and ladies') agreements. There is a distinct shortage of gentlemen (and ladies). As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link. My world view is a hypothesis, not a belief.

Idioms from Acrydaanth

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 14:18:19 -0400

Some idioms from a friend: First a fun one: Cæ sirek ceruf kunʋareʋ conkomes ʋymkomet momet. (The universe moved left one pink cow - sudden realization that changes a world view.) More political ones: Cæ surej kanuf cemy dølkomej ranuf. (More hugs and less beatings.) Cæ ŋymʋonej tyrʋomeceʋ dinu koret semjømes. (Treating people like things is evil.) Cæ duldumec cæu jennæmes. (Morals before loyalty.

Ten Commandments and Christianity

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 11 May 2025 14:18:19 -0400

I am amazed at Christians claiming and conflating the Ten Commandments with Christianity. Let’s start with the fact that the Ten Commandments are pre-New Testament, so pre - Jesus Christ. If you are going to be Christian, you should be focusing on Christ’s commandments to (1) love your God and (2) love your neighbour (which includes people outside your tribe/race/group. See the Parable of the Good Samaritan). Those get expanded upon in the Sermon on the Mount.

The DIE World View

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 10:18:19 -0400

Lynn Ungar posted a really interesting note on substack talking about what she refers to as the Dominion, Individualism and Extraction (DIE) worldview. “Dominion is belief that a) you are superior and b) that your superiority entitles you to exert control over others who are inferior.” “Individualism: Not to be confused with individuality, which celebrates the ways that each person is unique, individualism refuses to see the infinite, complex ways that systems are connected.

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 10:18:19 -0400

Techdirt just published a blog post entitiled Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog - Whether We Like It Or Not. Techdirt has been a blog for 27 years dealing with the intersection of technology and policy, often targeting copyright, patents, censorship and privacy issues. They are now asking the question “But what happens when the fundamental systems that make all of those conversations possible start breaking down? When the people dismantling those systems aren’t even pretending to replace them with something better?

Move Fast and Break Things

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 14:18:19 -0400

I heard a news interviewer asking someone about how they felt about Elon Musk’s applying normal business methods, specifically “move fast and break things” to the US Federal government and really wanted to be the one to answer the question. The question demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding that must be corrected. “Move Fast and Break Things” is not a business method, it is a Venture Capitalist approach to businesses.

US Health Insurance Deaths

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 14:18:19 -0400

Health Justice Monitor estimates approximately 200,000 annual deaths in the US potentially representing insurance-related mortality. I would be interested in information from anyone with actual expertise in this area who can review the methodology. US News reported “For example, an analysis from health policy research organization KFF found that major medical insurers offering plans to individuals via the Healthcare.gov marketplace rejected nearly 1 in 5 in-network claims in 2021. Yet while close to 17% of claims were denied, rates varied drastically among plan issuers, ranging from 2% to 49%.

Winds of Change

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 04:18:19 -0400

Something I wrote a few months ago with nothing to do with current political events.

Re: Christ in Christmas Irony

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 06:18:19 -0400

Following up on my previous post. Last night I was one of a lineup of musicians playing at a folk music monthly concert. I was third in the lineup and pointed out that it was Winter Solstice Night and that the holiday season stretching from Oct 31 to Jan 15 is full of holidays for many religions. Two groups later, a singer announces that she is going to play a song that she thinks expresses the real meaning for the season.

Re: Christ in Christmas Slogans

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:18:19 -0400

I have no problem with the “Keep Christ in Christmas” slogans so long as its proponents remember it is an admonition to Christians, not the rest of the population (you can’t co-opt non-Christian Yule celebrations and then claim “Keep Christ in Christmas”). Furthermore, it needs to be limited to Christmas the religious holiday, and is not expanded to Christmas the secular holiday and the religious holiday of Christmas is limited to December 25.

Onion Peeling in a Post Truth World

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:18:19 -0400

It is obvious to the 3 people who read this blog that my enthusiasm for doing the research required for trying to honestly analyze something that caught my eye has waned. Back in 2021 I posted “When an honestly mistaken person is confronted with the truth, he is either no longer mistaken, or no longer honest.” I am confronted with the reality of a post-truth world, where onion peeling analysis is irrelevant.

Susanna the Healer

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This song was written about an episode in a cozy fantasy novella called Andras Hill, which can be found at Anthracyda.org.

Loving Strangeness or Cruel Sanity

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:18:19 -0400

I saw the following recently on reddit: When I worked in a book store, we had a guy come in once looking for waterproof books. I asked why, and he said he wanted something to read to chickens. He went on to say he already had one laminated book of poetry that he read to them every night, but he thought they might want something else. I’ll take that.

Information Shaped Sentences

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 14:18:19 -0400

Neil Gaiman coined the term “information shaped sentences” for the results from ChatGPT. He is right. Much of what comes back from ChatGPT and other “AI” products looks like information, but isn’t. It is one thing for “AI” to look for patterns in actual physical data (e.g. medical research). It is quite another for “AI” to mine from datasets like the internet that is full of misinformation, disinformation, opinion, fiction and a trillion biases.

The Luxury of Existential Crises

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 14:18:19 -0400

I was once told by a left wing activist that existential crises were a luxury for the rich. There was a recent discussion on social media (the askphilosophy subreddit) about whether philosophy is a borgeouise hobby. I thought the most interesting comments came from the “third world” perspective. They distinguished between western academic analytic philosophy and philosophizing done by persons outside that small circle. Some thought the first was becoming a bourgeois hobby, but the second happened every day, every where.

Media Literacy Index

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 14:18:19 -0400

The Open Society Institute attempted to develop a predictor of media literacy in 2019 here. The intent was to develop ideas for resiliency against fake news, post-truth, etc and offset the diminishing public trust and severely polarized politics. It’s an interesting idea but I think it needs more development. This post is a summary of my overthinking of their predicator. CAUTION: Long (About 8,200 words). No, I don’t expect anyone to read it.

Rise to the Bait or Not

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 14:18:19 -0400

I was at a Christmas party a couple of weeks ago. A guy at the party was wearing a shirt clearly intended to trigger liberals. The wording on his shirt read, in part “I am a Christian but I am a born warrior. I will fight for ….xyz things.” The language was clearly written so that if you objected, you would be played as opposing motherhood, apple pie etc, while at the same time demonstrating that he had no intention of following the Sermon on the Mount.

Defending the Innocent

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 14:18:19 -0400

It is a sad commentary on media and the species that so many things are seen only in binary. We are told we are on one side or the other whether we want to be or not - You are with us or you are against us. Either you support X or Y, the A or the B! The innocent noncombatants are conflated with one combatant or the other and then dehumanized and erased from existence.

Gell-Mann Amnesia

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 14:18:19 -0400

How often do you read a story in the media in your area of expertise that is misleading or even completely wrong, then turn to the next story in a different subject and assume that its correct. This is called Gell-Mann Amnesia. Michael Crichton coined the term. In his words: Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well.

Is Heaven Communist?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 14:18:19 -0400

TRIGGER WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU TAKE THE BIBLE LITERALLY.

Computer Generated Fan Fic

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 14:18:19 -0400

Now that ChatGpt is claiming the ability to write stories and have conversations, I was talking with someone about whether published authors could have chat rooms where paid subscribers could “talk” to their favorite characters. Requiring a paid subscription would cut down on the internet troll problem and generate additional revenue for the author (and publishing company). On the other hand, just think about a simple user question like “[Protagonist], when you did [X], what were you thinking?

Reddit and Social Media Models

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 14:18:19 -0400

I want to talk briefly about Reddit and social media business models. Like most social media platforms, Reddit’s business model is selling (a) advertising and (b) user data. Social media companies (Reddit, Twitter, Facebook et al) have discovered that enabling outrage increasing engagement and, therefore sales and profit. You can pay for Reddit Premium for $6/month to avoid ads (and get more filtering functionality), but your user data will still be sold and you haven’t reduced the companies' incentive to increase outrage

Winds of Change

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I’m trying to get back to songwriting. This was in response to a challenge on writing a song involving listening to the wind. I started playing around with the theme of “winds of change” and how everything is always changing. So often we don’t hear the first whispers and, when we do, we try to fight it instead of accepting it and going with the flow. The changes can be physical (I can’t stop getting older), they can be cultural, they can be economic or environment or scientific or lots of other things.

Someone once said “Things were simpler when we were younger” and the response was “No, we were simpler”. We can’t go back to the naïveté of our younger days, but we can reset how we engage with life, the universe and others.

For those of you who care, this was actually written in an open D minor tuning.

Jordan Peterson and the Pope

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 14:18:19 -0400

Somehow I just cannot pass up this series of tweets: Pope Francis: “SocialJustice demands that we fight against the causes of poverty: inequality and the lack of labour, land, and lodging; against those who deny social and labor rights; and against the culture that leads to taking away the dignity of others.” Jordan Peterson (a Psychology Professor at University of Toronto): “There is nothing Christian about SocialJustice. Redemptive salvation is a matter of the individual soul.

He Is Gone

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Trigger warning: Song about domestic violence.

This originally started out as a song about recovering from the end of a marriage involving domestic violence. Then after watching some relationships close to me, it took a twist at the end and got more complicated, with a flavor of co-dependency so the ending is sadder and more wistful than the original practically dancing on the grave.

Christians Dislike Atheists More Than Atheists Dislike Christians

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 14:18:19 -0400

A peer-reviewed study found Christians hold more animosity towards atheists than atheists hold toward them. The going in assumption of the researchers was that both groups would be more favorable to their own in-group but it is actually asymmetric. The atheists do not really view Christians any worse than they view other atheists. On the other hand, Christians view atheists as worse than Muslims or convicted criminals. Unlike some other studies, this one took a cross section of the American population rather than just getting samples from atheist organizations and samples from Christian churches.

Sonder

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I’m really only posting this so I can find the word again. Sonder - from the urban dictionary: The realization that there aren’t any main characters in the world and everyone has a complex life, thoughts, crushes, relatives, dreams and mind just as your own. Essentially while you’re the main character in your life, you’re also a background character in someone else’s. Coined in 2012 by John Koenig, whose project, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, aims to come up with new words for emotions that currently lack words.

There is no Paradox of Tolerance

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I occasionally run into people who complain that I am tolerant of X, but I am not tolerant of them, so if I claim to be “tolerant”, I need to be tolerant of everything. NO I DON’T. I am tolerant of people whose actions do not adversely affect others. I do not pretend to be tolerant of people whose actions and beliefs do affect others. Two gay people getting married does not adversely impact anyone else.

What is Human?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I’ve been reading some of the attempts on the anti-abortion side to avoid tying themselves into knots with respect to the definition of when something is a person. This is similar, but not exactly the same as the Cartesian duality question of whether mind and body are separate. In a religious sense it also seems to touch on when a soul is attached to a body. Obviously they can’t say “soul” in the United States due to separation of church and state, but they can use “personhood” as a substitute.

Reposting a Lynn Ungar Post

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 04 May 2022 14:18:19 -0400

After the leaked draft of the US Supreme Court decision yesterday, I decided to share this post from Lynn Ungar, a UU minister. Source: https://www.facebook.com/shirley.worth/posts/10159952661629483 OK, this is going to take a minute, but hear me out. I am pro-religion. I’ve been an ordained minister for 30 years, and not the kind of ordination you buy online. I believe in people coming together in community, being accountable to one another, and to something that is larger than our individual whiny selves.

The Leslie Problem

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 03 May 2022 14:18:19 -0400

In my last post I mentioned collecting random names by nationality as test data for a project. Doing my normal overthinking I started wondering about how authors could choose appropriate random names for characters and ran into discussion about “The Leslie Problem”. Suppose you are a gender equality researcher and your data has actual names, but no gender assigned to them. You can generally assume that “Mark” is probably male (I’m ignoring all the LBGTQ+ issues) and “Susan” is probably female.

English Names I Would Not Give to a Fictional Character

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I needed some random names, by nationality, for a project. So I turned to the intertubes and did a search for common last names for several countries and male and female baby names for those countries and then just did random combinations. Straightforward and relatively boring. I did a double take at the first English generated name and went back and looked at the very large list of actual english boy and girl names.

Worth and Dignity

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 14:18:19 -0400

The first principle of the Unitarian Universalist Church is “to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person.” I find this easy to apply as a default position and more difficult to apply in specific instances. If I don’t know you, I start with an assumption that you are honest and are competent in what you present to the world as your current function when I meet you. From that standpoint, it doesn’t matter whether you are a President, CEO, policeperson, waiter, roofer, farmer or internet influencer, regardless of race, creed, etc - I start with the same baseline of respect for your inherent worth and dignity.

Lies and Silence

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I recently saw someone post a quote that reads as follows: “If you have something to say, then silence is a lie.” I couldn’t help myself and responded “But what if what you have to say is a lie?” I was immediately downvoted because the participants thought I was commenting on the author (who I will leave unnamed) rather than the quote itself. I think that speaks to the sorry state of affairs and the unwillingness to actually engage.

Useful Terry Prachett Quotes

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 14:18:19 -0400

Just a collection of quotes from the British author Terry Pratchett that people have found useful for various contexts: Give a man a fire and he’ll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life. In ancient times, cats were worshipped as gods. They have not forgotten this. Personal’s not the same as important. People just think it is.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1s: Well Being, Wittgenstein and Values in Science

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 09:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1s with the topics being Well Being, Wittgenstein and Values in Science. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1r: Rational Disagreement, Moral Principles and Gender Categories

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1r with the topics being Rational Disagreement, Moral Principles and Gender Categories. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1q: Consciousness, Mind Uploading and Hard Problem of Consciousness

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1q with the topics being Consciousness, Mind Uploading and The Hard Problem of Consciousness. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1p: Analysis of Knowledge, Arguments for Theism and Morality

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1p with the topics being Analysis of Knowledge, Arguments for Theism and Morality. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1o: Chinese Room, Possible Worlds, Human Genetic Engineering

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1o with the topics being “Chinese Room”, “Possible Worlds” and “Human Genetic Engineering”. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1n: Other Minds, Ought Implies Can and Newcombe's Problem

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1n with the topics being “Other Minds”, “Ought Implies Can” and “Newcombe’s Problem”. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1m: Time, Immortality, Politics

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 16:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1 with the topics being “Time”, “Immortality” and “Politics”. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1l: Logic, Perceptual Experience, Proper names

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1 with the topics being “Logic”, “Perceptual Experience” and “Proper Names”. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1k: Knowledge Claims, Vagueness and Moral Motivation

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 15:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1k with the topics being “Knowledge Claims”, “Vagueness” and “Moral Motivation”. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1j: Metaphilosophy, Political Philosophy and Mental Content

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1j with the topics being “Metaphilosophy”, “Political Philosophy” and “Mental Content”. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1i: Zombies, Teletransporter and Laws of Nature

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1i with the topics being Zombies, Teletransporter and Laws of Nature. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1h: Moral Judgement, Epistemic Justification and Personal Identity

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 15:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1h with the topics being Moral Judgement, Epistemic Justification and Personal Identity. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1g: Truth, The Experience Machine and Abstract Objects

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1g with the topics being Truth, The Experience Machine and Abstract Objects. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1f: Science, Gender and Race

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1f with the topics being Science, Gender and Race. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1e: Metaethics, Analytic-Synthetic Distinction and Aesthetic Value

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1e with the topics being Metaethics, Analytic-Synthetic Distinction and Aesthetic Value. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1d: Mind, Meaning of Life and Knowledge

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1d with the topics being Mind, Meaning of Life and Knowledge. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1c: Normative Ethics, Footbridge Experiment and the Trolley Problem

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 17:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1c with the topics being Normative Ethics, Footbridge Experiment and the Trolley Problem. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1b: External World, Free Will and A priori knowledge

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 15:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1b with the topics being External World, Free Will and A priori knowledge. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

2020 Philosophy Survey Part 1a: Aim of Philosophy, God and Eating Animals

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

This post is Part 1a with the topics being Aim of Philosophy, God and Eating Animals. I recently came across the 2020 Philosopher Papers Survey of 7,685 academic philosophers around the world. (I think < 1,800 actually responded). I then ran into my first problem - uhh, what do those answers mean? It reminded me of tax lawyers writing for other tax lawyers. One piece of advice I used to give younger tax lawyers when they were writing for a business audience - drop the nuance.

Motte and Bailey

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I have run into an argumentation tactic several times in the last few years and I finally discovered that it has an actual name. Consider the following: You and I are arguing over something which has a common usage understanding. I can’t convince you and then I insist that we are arguing over something using a technical definition different than common usage. I can prove my point using that definition. Have I won the original point?

Joscha Bach on Political Opinions

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I like this comment from Joscha Bach, a German cognitive scientist: “Political opinions are unlike other kinds of opinions: they appear to be without alternative to the one who has them. ‘This protest is invalid, because the people who participate in it are wrong.’ = ‘These people have political opinions that are different from mine.'” I sometimes need to remind myself that other people’s ways of looking at things may or may not be better than how I look at things.

Responding to Sophists

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I just want to quote from a reddit comment I ran across on how to deal with people who want to argue about terrible positions and are more concerned with scoring debate points than having a reasonable discussion. This is as much a reminder to myself as a note to others. This comment can be found at https://old.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/77hda6/how_to_deal_with_unproductive_gadflies_like/. “Card carrying Sophist here (a rhetorican who teaches philosophy). There is no sure fire way to deal with these folks, but there are a few things worth suggesting.

Upcculfity

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I was watching a youtube video on Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity and reading the comments left me thinking about the many feet of lumber in both the eyes of the commenters and myself. I’m going to somewhat change the terminology used because it is rather loaded with dog whistles and use a made-up word “upcculf” or “upcculfity”, which I will define as a state of conciousness of a true believer in X (left wing, right wing, multi-level marketing, crypto currencies, anti-vax, blind intellectualism, … [insert name your belief to which you have become a convert]).

False Equivalences

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I don’t know about you, but I often see exchanges of the following type (replace “murder” with any of a thousand different behaviors which are unkind to other people): Team Humanity member: “Murder is wrong. Gang A and Gang B murder people. Stop it.” Gang A member: “That is false equivalence. Gang B murders more people and more enthusiastically than we do.” Team Humanity member: “Stop murdering people.

Retired One Year and No Regrets

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 14:18:19 -0400

So, one year into retirement and so far no regrets. I could rant at the abyss about the global state of affairs, but I know exactly how much attention the abyss would pay. Several people asked me if I was behind the Twitter feed @GoodTaxTakes. The answer is no, but I agree with probably 90% of it. Click on the title of this post for some thoughts about the current state of affairs in international tax which I can get away with because I don’t represent anyone anymore.

Covid and Police

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Per the Officer Down Memorial page, so far 243 police officers have died in the line of duty in 2021 and of those deaths, 132 are from COVID-19. So more deaths from Covid than every other cause combined. Remind me why police unions are opposed to masks and vaccination? Seriously, I don’t get it.

Simpson's Paradox

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I was recently re-introduced to Simpson’s Paradox in statistics - how aggregation can mislead. (I’m just making up the numbers here to demonstrate the concept.) Suppose you have China with an overall illness survival rate of 95% and Italy with an overall illness survival rate of 85%. On the face of it, that looks like China does a better job of taking care of patients than Italy. But now suppose you look at the survival rate by age group and Italy has a higher illness survival rate in every single age bracket.

Salem Witch Trial Connections

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I made a comment to my wife about the fact I have ancestors on both sides of the Salem witch trials. So of course I had to prove it out against the family tree (old New England families with relatives who were very interested in genealogy; the family tree currently has over 7,500 people in the database). So, just for fun, here are the results: Actually Accused Winifred Henchman (1597-1671), eleventh great grandmother, accused and acquitted (1659 well before the Salem hysteria).

Yes, you can celebrate with the competition!

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

From the Doctor Who tv episode “The Doctor Falls”: “Winning? Is that what you think it’s about? I’m not trying to win. I’m not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because, because I want to blame someone. It’s not because it’s fun and God knows it’s not because it’s easy. It’s not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do, because it’s right!

Either they work or they don't. NOOOOOO!

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I recently had a useless discussion with someone who was unwilling to either wear a mask or vaccinate and took the position: “If the vaccines work why the fear, and if they do not work why take the risk of getting them?” His refusal to wear a mask was based on his trust in his immune system “I’m healthy and if you wear a mask you are living in fear and halfway dead already.

Creativity and Semantic Distance

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I am in the process of reading a study on creativity and semantic distance. A McGill University newsroom article on it is here. The concept is fairly simple - more creative people will find connections between words that general usage would indicate are “less” connected. “Cat” and “dog” have the feeling of being “related” words. “Cat” and “test tube” feel like “more unrelated” words. Efforts have been done (see the study link) on measuring the “relatedness” of words by crawling the internet and measuring how close the word pairs are to each other in normal usage.

Singing with a mask

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Someone raised a question about singing with a mask on, so experiment time! Obviously singing without a mask is more comfortable, but how does the sound change? I just threw these together for a listen (no production or effects or rehearsal). Yes, I know I’m flat in a few places - this was an experiment in singing with a mask, so not focused as much as I could have been.

Giving Compliments

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 14:18:19 -0400

The BBC has an article on why people should give compliments to others. There are studies that indicate that giving compliments results in a sense of reciprocity. Other studies indicate that people significantly underestimate how happy people would be to receive a compliment. All that being said, as an older male, there are a few things I need to remind myself about: Compliment something someone has done, not something they genetically have.

Slicing the Sourdough

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:18:19 -0400

How many of you have a kitchen utility drawer? How many of you buy your bread pre-sliced, but have a breadknife you never use? How many of you keep it in the kitchen drawer?

Usually I write my own melodies, but this is written to the tune of Waltzing Matilda

Stupid, Ignorant, Brain Freeze or Troll?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 14:18:19 -0400

When reading stuff on the intertubes, it is sometimes difficult to determine whether a comment is stupid, ignorant, brain freeze or troll. You cannot see the other person and have no knowledge about their background. I would treat a lot of statements as simply trolls if I didn’t have the personal experience of an 18 year old American “honors” student ask me why people in Switzerland spoke German because their minds think in English.

Dust Bunnies

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Inadvised use of percussive maintenance, but a good result from a sarcastic comment to someone who can actually change directions.

Procrastination

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I recently finished a 260 page analysis of some open source software projects at the request of someone in Switzerland (no one getting paid, this is open source software). That took about a month. It was followed by a week helping a guy in Italy resolve the performance problems of the software he maintains which had come dead last in the analysis. Then four days adding an feature to some software I have found myself as the maintainer at the request of someone else on the intertubes.

Do People Actually Want Solutions?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 14:18:19 -0400

It seems like a lot of people would have no meaning to life if they didn’t have someone to hate. Fortunately I hate everyone so a lot of targets would have to go away. From time to time friends in the international tax arena call and update me on the latest goings on. Usually it is fairly clear that most of the parties at the table are engaged in political posturing but do not actually seem to want to resolve the issues.

You Know You Have Been Living in France Too Long

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 21 May 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I haven’t posted in awhile due to grandparent duties. This post has no serious content and is just a list of items from an acquaintance living in France. Some of these are familiar to me based on either spending a lot of business travel time in France or living in Belgium, which share some French proclivities. You may or may not be amused. Bonus points if you actually know what a Department is in France without looking it up.

What Constitutes 'Research on Humans'?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Suppose you are an ethical researcher so you needed informed consent before experimenting on people. Now suppose a group of people writing really complicated software read email suggestions for patches on the software and any emailed patch will go through several of review before it is accepted. Finally, suppose you decide to “research” whether you can get patches accepted that look like they are positive on their face, but in reality create security holes in the software.

More Deaths by Pens than by Guns?

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I’ve been hearing horror stories from friends in the medical field about COVID deniers even as they are gasping for breath. Many of these people (and their families) simultaneously deny the existence of COVID and insist that the doctors gave it to them to get more money. How did this happen? Because people told them lies. Children are taught the saying “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Spherical Cow or Assume a Can Opener?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I was told yesterday that business people don’t cheat or cut corners because if they did, investors would punish them and that if I had studied finance I would understand that. It was all I could do to avoid just responding with maniacal laughter. Last year I had an economics professor tell me that Google and Amazon are not profit maximizing companies because they do not operate the way that microeconomic theory says that they will.

ACLU - What Were You Thinking?

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 14:18:19 -0400

The ACLU just updated its privacy statement on its webpage. Included in that statement was the following: “To enable us to provide the most relevant information on our activities, we may share your personal information with communications platforms, such as Facebook and Mother Jones, including to deliver our content to you or to identify other people who may enjoy our content.” “We may also share ACLU supporter information with organizations that display our advertisements or petitions to their subscribers.

Irregular Verbs/Noun

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Courtesy of Paul in a comment on Charlie Stross' blog. “I know the facts.” “You have opinions.” “He’s biased.” “They’ve been brainwashed.” Like everyone else, I occasionally need to be reminded of my own biases and preconceptions. As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link. My world view is a hypothesis, not a belief.

You are Stepping on My Foot

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I’ve been read some of the excuses for bad behavior, most recently discussions about Richard Stallman being neurodivergent and therefore he did nothing wrong. In this context I and others thought to dig up this comment by someone calling themselves Hershele Ostropoler about sexual harassment at public gatherings in John Scalzi’s blog in 2012: “If you step on my foot, you need to get off my foot.” “If you step on my foot without meaning to, you need to get off my foot.

Lets Talk About Bitcoin

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 21 Mar 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Bitcoin is another example of the gig economy - outsourcing business costs to someone else who may or may not recover their costs. In addition, there is the question of its impact on the environment. Let’s spend a minute thinking about what bitcoin really is. Bitcoin is a let’s pretend commodity, limited by contract to 21 million bitcoins. Simplifying greatly, bitcoins are supposed to be a way to exchange value and anonymously with the transaction guaranteed by cryptoanalysis.

Phantom Tollbooth

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Norton Juster, the author of “The Phantom Tollbooth” died yesterday at age 91. In my opinion, it is a book that everyone should read (or have read to them - you can choose to take this as snark or not as you see fit). It is possible to appreciate it more as an adult than as a child. Below are some of my favorite quotes. “You must never feel badly about making mistakes … as long as you take the trouble to learn from them.

Morality - Religious and Atheists

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 14:18:19 -0400

An interesting study was recently released (Feb 24, 2021) on morality and atheists v. religious. It started from the observation that while attitudes in the US have improved towards minorities over time, attitudes towards atheists have not. According to a Pew poll in 2019, 44% of Americans think belief in God is necessary for morality (apparently people only behave well if someone is watching). The researchers decided to look at morality among the atheists and religious in the US (a religious country) and Sweden (a non-religious country) and investigate “whether disbelievers differ from believers in how they conceptualize morality.

Conversation Length, Journalism and the Apparent Inability of Scientists to Write a Coherent Report

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Psych News Daily reports that Conversations Rarely End When People Want Them to End. Scientific American reports that People Literally Don’t Know When to Shut Up or Keep Talking. You would think this was consistent reporting. Are you sure about that? Psych News Daily states “On average, participants wished their conversations had been 1.9 minutes (or 24%) longer. They also said they believed that their partners wished that the conversation had been 5.

Nothing is that Simple

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Sometimes (some people would say often) I feel the need to flag some study in an area I am completely unqualified to comment on the substance. I am, however, really good at pulling apart logic, generalizations and over-broad journalistic pronouncements, however, so I feel completely at ease in doing that. What else is the internet for? WARNING: Long read. Cambridge University researchers just came out with a study entitled The cognitive and perceptual correlates of ideological attitudes: a data-driven approach with a rather astounding claim in the abstract: “[W]e uncovered the specific psychological signatures of political, nationalistic, religious and dogmatic beliefs.

On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 14 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I mentioned William James when talking about all the different personas that exist in personal interactions I think William James Undercounted. I think I should mention his On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings. You can find an abridged version here. If I was to summarize as concisely as possible, he says that there is a lot more of life and the universe to appreciate than any of us, encased in our own experiences and training, realize.

Definition Oriented v. Culture Oriented

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Shirley pointed me towards an interesting article entitled Why You Can’t Understand Conservative Rhetoric. I’ll change the terminology slightly to “Definition Oriented People” and “Culture Oriented People”. Think of the word “red” as in the color. A physicist or a graphic designer may have an exact definition of what that word means. I can point to something and say it is red and something else is not red (examples), but I wouldn’t be able to actually define “red”.

I think William James Undercounted

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

One of many quotes attributed to William James is “Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.” Interestingly, no collection of quotes actually provides a cite to when or where he said it. A similar concept was raised by Oliver Wendell Holmes in “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table”.

Britain takes lead in shellfish conservation!

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Britain has taken the lead in shellfish conservation and restoration! By accident. EU health and safety rules have long required shellfish to be purified and processed and any shellfish brought into the EU must have been purified and processed before entry. While Britain has a shellfish industry, all the purification and processing has been done on the continent. Can you see where this is going? Yeah. Until Britain builds a shellfish purification and processing plant, the entire British shellfish industry is practically shutdown because almost all their sales were to the continent.

Groundhog Carols

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Groundhog Carols by Gail Pilgrim. Click the title to get to them.

Must Comment on New Wombat Discovery

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

It has been known for a long time that wombats produce cubical poo. Zoologist Eric Guiler noted it in 1960, but I think it is a safe bet that Tasmanian inhabitants knew a long time before that. Finally scientists have figured out how they do it. Historically scientists have said “that’s weird” but never looked into how a round tube could create cubes. As so often happens in science, the discovery of “how” was accidental.

Microsoft Patents Chat bot Based on a Specific Person

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Microsoft was just granted a patent on creating a conversational chat bot of a specific person. The chat bot’s personality would apparently be based on images, voice data, social media posts, electronic messages and more personal information. The Independent claims Microsoft Patent Shows Plans to Revive Dead Loved Ones as Chat bots. Seances would take on new life, but it could also prevent someone from moving on. I leave it to the psychologists as to whether this would be a good thing or bad thing.

Frazz and Unnecessary Paranoia

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I like the daily comic strip Frazz. The main character is a young man who is a janitor at the elementary school that he went to as a child. He gets along with teachers and kids talk to him about questions they don’t want to ask an authority figure. There are also lots of strips involving kids talking to their teachers. It is a bit of homage to Calvin and Hobbes, with a little less snark.

My Sympathies for Ghana

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 23 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

As far as I can tell, Ghana is getting hammered by Brexit. Huh? What? Yes, 40% of Ghana’s banana crop is sold to the UK. Now that the UK is no longer part of the EU and therefore the trade agreement which would have applied no longer exists, Ghana’s bananas are subject to tariffs on import. One UK importer indicated it was 20k pounds a week in increased tariffs, not counting the additional red tape.

Amanda Gorman - Inaugural Poem - The Hill We Climb

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I thought I would just put Amanda Gorman’s Inauguration Poem “The Hill We Climb” here. I have no idea where line breaks should be. Note to self - there are poetry readings on Youtube, but check out the ones by the poet, not by actors reading the poetry. Do poets do poetry readings on Zoom? “Mr President, Dr Biden, Madam Vice President, Mr Emhoff, Americans and the world: when day comes we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

Is Media Emotionally Abusing its Viewers?

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Someone on Reddit made a comment about fear driving the extreme ends of the political spectrum and that the media drives that fear because it creates addiction and keeps their viewers/listeners and enables their market. That leads me to the question of whether the media (at least at the extremes) could be viewed as emotionally abusing their viewers or listeners. Thoughts? As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link.

Business Plans For Space Pirates

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Have you ever really thought about the business plan for space pirates or smugglers as portrayed in science fiction? Upfront investment, maintenance, and expected revenue and variability of the expected revenue are the first things that come to mind. We have to assume really high value, small size items that can be transported. Let’s call it unobtainium. We also have to assume technology is not only discovered, but becomes relatively inexpensive and can be handled by small groups.

Character

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Early early draft. Sometimes you drop nuance and need to be heavy handed. This song is a bit unusual in that it starts with an accidental.

The Earth is Spinning Faster

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

For quite a while now, the earth’s rotation has been slowing just slightly. This year, it sped up. July 19 last year was the shortest day ever was recorded — it was 1.4602 milliseconds shorter than the standard. No one is sure why. If you think of an ice skater, they spin faster if they pull in their arms to preserve angular momentum. The earth doesn’t have arms, but in theory the same thing could happen if global warming means enough water in the mountains has melted down to the sea or if heavy material in the mantle has subsided towards the core.

Unity Requires Shared Reality

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I spent my career finding ways to thread through conflicting laws and priorities in multiple countries. Once you found a way to thread through the conflicts, you could pull it together in a way that made sense and reduce the conflicts. The most difficult situations were when governments were intentionally writing rules that favored their national interests and penalized other countries' businesses. Sometimes the public and private rhetoric was different. This generally happened only when you had achieved a respectful relationship with the government officials - they still wouldn’t change their positions, but they would admit to the politics involved rather than the logic.

Hanlon's Razor and Useful Idiots

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

While lots of social media focused on videos of individual Capitol Police being “friendly” to the rioters I want to focus on Capitol Police leadership. If you might recall, I mentioned “Hanlon’s Razor” in an earlier post. Hanlon’s razor says that you should never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence or stupidity. I also mentioned that malice is often assumed to be someone being out to get you, but more often the person is just out for themselves and you are collateral damage (roadkill).

Children's Crusade or Bay of Pigs or ???

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

President Trump told attendees at the political rally earlier in the day to “take back our country”. Rudy Giuliani told the same crowd at the rally “If we are wrong, we will be made fools of, but if we’re right a lot of them will go to jail. So let’s have trial by combat.trial by combat” and is now condemning the assault on the Capitol as shameful. I’ve been watching interviews of reporters who talked to the mob that rushed the Capitol yesterday.

What Can I Say?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Ok. My December 20 post Case Nightmare Orange was wrong. It considered whether President Trump might try to use Homeland Security forces to disrupt the Congressional certification of the Electoral College results. There was, however, a distinct lack of police manpower to deal with protests that everyone saw coming. Looking at this video, there was no way those four police officers could deal with that mob. It didn’t look like much more manpower than normal around the Capitol building.

When are Aphorisms Profound or Trite?

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I was helping a friend with some data analysis which included a file of roughly 500k quotes collected from the internet. Looking at the “quotes”, I thought a dismaying number were trite aphorisms from motivational speakers/writers and religious feelgood writers. I began to wonder why are sayings I consider “trite” obviously not “trite” to enough people that there is a market? Actually, I seem to be misusing the word “trite”. The dictionary indicates that trite means “not evoking interest because of overuse or repetition”.

Happy? Brexit UK - Now About the Paperwork

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

So today the initial transition period for the UK leaving the EU is over and the next stage of transition periods begin. Since the UK government did sod all to actually prepare, at 11PM on Dec 31 the government issued notices saying, among other things, that shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland don’t need export paperwork for another 12 months (because no one knows what the paperwork should look like).

Universal Lithium Shortage

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Did you know the entire universe seems to be short on lithium? Astronomers actually refer to it as the Cosmological Lithium Problem. The current standard model of the Big Bang theory (not the tv show) matches up with observations about (a) microwave background radiation (b) cosmic expansion as measured by light from distant supernovae and (c) primordial abundances of hydrogen and helium. There is a bit of an issue with (c) however.

Practicing the Little Lies

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 26 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Ars Technica published an article on Christmas Day (yesterday) entitled Children’s Belief in Santa is more Nuanced than you Think. The story talks about studies showing that children have hierarchies of belief, with individual figures falling categories like: “Real Person”, “Virtually Real”, “Cultural Figures”, “Ambiguous Figures” and finally “Fictional Figures”. So, like so many things, there is no binary on/off, but rather a spectrum between “real” and “nonreal”. One of the studies argued that three factors influence children’s belief and placement of the figures in the spectrum: Testimony (being told about the figure), indirect evidence (which included rituals like leaving milk and cookies for Santa or hunting for Easter Bunny eggs, and direct evidence like visiting Santa in the mall.

Case Nightmare Orange

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Suppose, in some far off land, there lived a president and his inner circle who had gaslit themselves into believing that an election had been stolen rather than lost. That somehow or other the opposition who couldn’t organize themselves out of a paper bag had convinced the deep state and all the judges and republican owned voting machine manufacturers to change just the presidential votes. Now suppose my post about Your Brain on Grievances has some validity and they decide on one more attempt to retain power when the Congress goes to count the votes.

The Spreadable Butter Assumptions

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

You would think after all the years we’ve been married that we would know each other’s little ways and preferences. That is by and large true, but the spreadable butter question had never come up before. Taking a step back, we normally use some type of easily spreadable margarine and real butter is for cooking and special occasions. Just prior to the COVID mandated cocooning, we had been watching the Great British Bake Off and Shirley started baking a couple times a week in the afternoon.

Your Brain on Grievances

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

There is an interesting article on Politico about Grievance Addiction focusing on Donald Trump. The author is James Kimmel, Jr., a lecturer in psychiatry at Yale Med School and he notes that “your brain on grievances looks a lot like your brain on drugs. In fact, brain imaging studies show that harboring a grievance (a perceived wrong or injustice, real or imagined) activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.”

Where is Canada?

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

It might seem like a silly question, but where is Canada? I mean, when you ask the intertubes for the latitude and longitude of the geographic center of Canada, you get really different answers. Maps of the World says that Canada’s latitude and longitude is 60° 00' N and 95° 00' W. If I drop that into Google maps, I get a point on the line between Manitoba and Nunavut about 5 miles west of Hudson Bay.

An Honest 2020 Christmas Medley

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Back to less serious stuff. Malinda just put up a highly enjoyable parody mashup of Christmas songs sung from the standpoint of both her optimistic and pessimistic sides looking at 2020. She also has done this for 2019 and 2018. She has two channels on youtube. The first, Translator Fails she runs various things through Google translate into multiple languages and back until it makes absolutely no sense. The second, just entitled Malinda is both more personal and has more original stuff.

Talking Past Each Other We Are

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I was reading a discussion on social media about a request for a book recommendation and, after awhile, thought maybe I should be diagramming arguments. The request was for science fiction book recommendations from a conservative, non-libertarian view. The person submitting the request specifically asked for books where “the central tenets of conservatism - tradition, hierarchy and authority - are working for humanity; where tradition is used to help, guide and comfort people rather than cynically used as a tool to keep people down.

Senator Tillis, I Don't Understand

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Senator Thom Tillis is angry that Twitter is not sending a witness to an Anti-Piracy hearing he is holding in December. Setting aside the question of why the Senator is actually holding a hearing in December, I’m puzzled why the Senator thinks Twitter is a giant avenue of piracy. Lies and deceit, yes, but piracy? The Senator’s letter to Twitter claims that “[Twitter] continues to host and permit rampant infringement of music files on its platform” and that it hasn’t taken any “meaningful steps to address the scale of the problem.

Microsoft Patents Recording and Scoring Meetings on Body Language

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Ok, the title is just slightly over the top because Microsoft filed for the patents back in July but the filings just became public; it doesn’t have them yet. BBC News So apparently there would be sensors which “could” record, which invitees actually attend a meeting attendees body language and facial expressions amount of time each participant spent contributing to the meeting speech patterns “consistent with boredom and fatigue” This information would be combined with other factors such as how efficient the meeting was, emotional sentiment expressed by participants and how comfortable the environment was into an overall quality score.

Update on Kentucky Police Training - Warrior or Guardian

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

An update on an earlier post about a training deck used by the Kentucky State Police urging cadets to be ruthless killers and quoting Hitler advocating violence. At the time that story broke on Oct 30, the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet claimed the material had been removed in 2013. Since that date, state police have not replied to subsequent records requests. Maybe that particular slide deck was removed in 2013, but the Lexington Herald Leader reported today, confirmed by the Governor and the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet that another training video had been approved for training use in September of this year that featured Nazi symbols.

Suggestions? I don't want to watch assholes be assholes

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I don’t want to watch assholes be assholes. This seems to eliminate all news, any social media where echo chambers interact, all sitcoms (really, is there any sitcom which doesn’t consist of making fun of people?), most dramas, most movies and most social media or forum where people are anonymous. Any suggestions would be appreciated. As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link. My world view is a hypothesis, not a belief.

Brussels Sprouts

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Many of us grew up with a dislike for Brussels sprouts. One reason we knew - our parents, as taught by their parents, as taught by their parents …. back to some English ancestors boiled everything to death. Maybe it was for sanitary reasons, but as an old Asterix and Obelix cartoon claimed, the British boil everything so that it has that lovely “same” flavour. (Some people claim that Britain became a global empire just looking for good food.

Thank You Aaron Van Langevelde

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Thank you Aaron Van Langevelde, the Republican member of the Michigan board of state canvassers who said “We must not attempt to exercise power we simply don’t have. As John Adams once said, ‘We are a government of laws, not men.’ This board needs to adhere to that principle here today. This board must do its part to uphold the rule of law and comply with our legal duty to certify this election.

We need a new enemy

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Given the degree of polarization in the US, I don’t see both sides making nice. The obvious answer is to stop trying to shove the two magnets together and get them both focused on a new common enemy. I’d prefer the common enemy to be COVID or climate change, but such a large percentage of the US is anti-science that those would just feed the current polarization. The only thought I’ve been able to come up with so far is anti-corruption, and it needs to be targeted at both in business and government.

Sound Familiar? Extracts from Guards, Guards

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

These are extracts from Guards, Guards, a fantasy novel written by the late Terry Pratchett in 1989. Sound familiar to any current events? Historical events? The Supreme Grand Master “What a shower, he told himself. A bunch of incompetents no other secret society would touch with a ten-foot Sceptre of Authority. The sort to dislocate their fingers with even the simplest secret handshake. But incompetents with possibilities, nevertheless. Let the other societies take the skilled, the hopefuls, the ambitious, the self-confident.

I've put myself in your shoes. You're still wrong

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

A lot of times I find myself telling people that I don’t disagree with them BUT… Everyone’s ears and brain immediately shut down at the word “But”. I know it, and still can’t help myself. The word “AND"works much better. The point that I am often trying to make is asking the person whether they are actually trying to accomplish something or just rant. To change a situation, you either need enough force to override the other side or you need to change minds on the other side.

Dreams and Overfitting - Broken Conversations

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

We don’t know a lot about dreams. A recent paper by Erik Hoel The Overfitted Brain: Dreams evolved ot assist generalization at Tufts Universtity suggests that one possible reason for weird dreams is your brain is trying to avoid “overfitting”. If you don’t want to read the paper itself (long but easy read), you can read an article about it at Discover Magazine. The concept of overfitting is borrowed from deep neural networks where the network is trying to “learn” from a dataset, but focuses so tightly on that dataset that it can’t generalize to similar but not identical datasets.

Where is Peru's President?

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

As a distraction from US politics, where is Peru’s president? Let’s set the scene. More than half of the members of Congress are currently under investigation for corruption. Congress removed the popular former President Martín Vizcarra on Nov 9 claiming he had mismanaged the COVID situation and claiming he had taken bribes while as a regional governor years ago. The head of Congress, Manuel Merino, took over as President and faced immediate huge protests, leading to police killing two protestors and injuring dozens of others on Saturday.

Queen of Method Singing?

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

There is a subtle, and sometimes not so subtle difference between singing for an audience, to an audience, with an audience and at an audience. And there can be good reasons for choosing any of those approaches. I think of the Dixie Chicks doing Not Ready to Make Nice as a song that they could sing at an audience although that particular performance had a sympathetic crowd. I can get irritated watching a singer be overly dramatic because it distracts me from the song itself.

Disorganization?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Just out of curiosity, I looked back at my phone and text messages over the course of the election season. I had two phone calls from campaigners before actual voting was possible and none after that. I counted 34 text messages from different groups campaigning for a democrat candidate, 32 of them for Biden, 27 of which thought I was someone named Sarah. I responded to each one, pointing out (1) I wasn’t Sarah; (2) I’ve had my cellphone number since 2006 so this is not likely some change of number faux pas; and (3) I had already voted on the first possible day by dropping of my ballot at the City Clerk’s office.

Tax Policy by Politicians? Who Knew?

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Warning: Tax geek post with no attempt to explain references for non-international tax readers. There was once a law firm at the forefront of partnership tax shelters. The actual statutory law was ambiguous to say the least and the partners at this law firm believed, in their hearts, that they were the ones who actually defined what the law and tax policy was in this area. Eventually the politicians change the law and the firm no longer exists.

Adding Insult to Self Inflicted Injury

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

As you know, the UK is leaving the European Union by choice (aka Brexit) regardless of the economic damage that is expected to cause. As a result, the UK will now have to setup customs import and export locations for goods getting shipped to and from the EU. As part of that project, they are building a 27 acre lorry (truck for the Americans) parking lot in Kent to handle backups from the port in Dover.

Guardian or Warrior?

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

A high school newspaper in Kentucky broke a story on October 30 about a training slideshow used by the Kentucky State Police urging cadets to be “ruthless killers[s]” and quoting Hitler advocating violence. By 4:15 PM that day, the Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear responded with the following statement: “This is absolutely unacceptable. It is further unacceptable that I just learned about this through social media. We will collect all the facts and take immediate corrective action.

Enough With the Name Calling

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

All the jokes and insults about the other side just make the polarization worse. So stop it. We are wired differently, we think differently we respond to different motivations. For example, one study Political Ideology and the Perceived Impact of Coronavirus Prevention Behaviors for the Self and Others indicates that conservatives apparently are more likely to wear masks if you point out it keeps them safer and less likely to wear masks if you point out it keeps others safer.

Think of the Children and Other Political Lies

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

If politicians actually believed in their pleas to ‘think of the children’, they wouldn’t make so many outright lies. Think of the bad example it sets. And that goes double for the people writing the lies in the political ads. Criminal defense lawyers are not allowed to lie for their clients. Why is it allowed in the political process? As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link. My world view is a hypothesis, not a belief.

I Guess I Don't Match Lifewire

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

So, trying to keep myself from fixating on the political news, I asked DuckDuckGo for suggestions on random websites. One of the suggestions was from lifewire that claimed “cool websites to look at when bored”. It claimed “Whether you need to kill some time or you’re in the mood to laugh, learn, or be inspired, this list of cool sites is all you need.” It was a typical list with “what we like” and “what we don’t like”.

Changing the Clocks for Daylight Saving

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Today I woke up at either 6:10 am or 5:10 am depending on whether I was looking at a clock that automatically reset itself for the end of daylight savings time in the US. I remember writing a song 20 years ago about the hassle of resetting all the digital clocks in the house. You had to hold down buttons and some of them didn’t go backwards or get faster, so you had to wait while it slowly advanced 23 hours.

Tax Law Changes Won't Bring Back Jobs

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I’m trying to stay away from taxes on this blog, but I was just asked again whether Biden’s tax plan would bring back manufacturing jobs to the US. I’m always a little disappointed when someone asks this question and particularly disappointed if that person is in the Federal government. It indicates that the person asking the question is so fixated on “taxes” that they have not stopped to think about all the other aspects and will be spectacularly unsuccessful.

Most Dangerous Jobs in the US and Where Do Those Numbers Come From?

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

This blog is eclectic because I can get sidetracked by lots of different things. Yesterday was the origin of the word “scientist”. Today it is data sourcing and analysis. WARNING: This is a data analysis rat hole expedition. Someone made a comment to me that police were the 22nd most dangerous job in the US which triggered some recollection in my brain that I had seen a report where they were 16th.

Gender and the Origin of 'Scientist'

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

There is general agreement that the word “scientist” was coined by William Whewell (May 24, 1794 - March 6, 1866), a carpenter’s son who won a scholarship to Trinity College and eventually became the Master of Trinity College. He was a polymath and John Herschel described him as “… a more wonderful variety and amount of knowledge in almost every department of human inquiry was perhaps never in the same interval of time accumulated by any man.

Don't Track Me Like I Track You: Facebook Edition

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Facebook, one of the leading practitioners of surveillance capitalism, has apparently threatened New York University researchers for tracking Facebook’s political ads. The NYU researchers built a tool that allows 6,500 volunteers to keep track of what ads Facebook is showing them. The legal theory behind Facebook' threat is that Facebook’s terms of service say that you cannot use automated bulk collection of data from its platform and this tool constitutes automated bulk collection.

[Gender] in Pronouns

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

The 2014 Nebula Award winner for best science fiction novel was Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. It was interesting (sometimes pleasantly, sometimes horrifyingly) to watch reactions to the use of pronouns in the book. The main character and narrator natively speaks a language that doesn’t make gender distinctions in pronouns. (Finnish and Hungarian are similar in this respect). English, of course, does have gendered pronouns so to get the point across, the author has the narrator using feminine pronouns throughout the book except in dialog.

Happy Anniversary Treaty of Westphalia - You Founding Myth

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

The “Treaty of Westphalia” aka “Peace of Westphalia” is the combination of treaties signed in October 1648 in Osnabruck and Munster ending the Thirty Years War which had killed eight million people, including 30% of the population of what is now Germany. To give an idea of how complicated the political situation was, there were 109 different delegations represented. Some sources claim the peace conference had thousands of ancillary diplomats and support staff who needed housing and food despite the famine all around them caused by the war.

How Many Razors Do Philosophers Need?

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Think of a generic picture of a philosopher. When I did, I came up with a picture of a bearded old white guy. Now why do they have so many razors if so many of them have beards? All of the following rules of thumb are intended to reduce the explanations you should have to think about. “Occam’s razor” says that simpler explanations are more likely to be true than complicated explanations.

What Data do Companies Collect on You?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

One of the many cultural differences between the US and Europe seems to be that Americans don’t trust the government collecting data about themselves but seem to find it acceptable that companies collect data and Europe seems to be the reverse. The American idea becomes an exercise in futility as soon as you understand that the government buys data from companies if it can’t collect the data directly. But what about other geographies and what data is getting collected about you anyway?

Is the Universe a Simulation?

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Warning: Very Long Post and Very Deep Rabbit Hole about something that doesn’t really matter. Elon Musk has publicly said that we’re most likely in a simulation. Before we get into anything, please note that this is a hypothesis, not a theory. What is the Simulation Hypothesis? The super simple description of the idea that the universe could be a simulation is you assume unlimited computing power and God/aliens create a sufficiently complex version of the Matrix, Inception, Minecraft or the Sims and we are just the characters running around inside a computer program.

Diversity Training or Divisive Training?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

UPDATE: Apparently a judge has blocked the order. See USA Today The President reportedly signed an executive order banning diversity training in federal agencies, the military, federal contrators and grant recipients. I use the word “reportedly” because you can read the literal words of the order differently depending on your philosophical persuasion. Executive Order 13950 bars the military, federal contractors and federal grant recipients from teaching “divisive concepts”. OK, what are “divisive concepts”?

The Speed of Swoosh

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Have you ever heard somebody say something that you think is so incorrect that, to use physicist Wolfgang Pauli’s phrase “Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig, es ist nicht einmal falsch!” — “That is not only not right, it is not even wrong!”? As a result you see it as your duty to jump in to correct them. I am as guilty of that as anyone - why else this blog.

Pomplamoose is Up For a Grammy - Best Jazz Vocal Ablum

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Pomplamoose, one of my favorite little jazz music groups is up for a Grammy in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category. The album is ‘En Francais’ which is a collection of French jazz standards. This is impressive seeing as They don’t have a record label deal or a publicist other than their youtube channel. Nataly Dawn, the vocalist, spent a large part of her childhood in France and Belgium which is where she picked up a love for French jazz and her pronunciation.

That which can be destroyed by the truth should be?

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Author Pat Hodgell in her book Godstalk has a character say “That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.” I think we can probably all agree that often little white lies can keep relationships from blowing up, so maybe the statement is too broad. But during the disputes about fake news and lies on Facebook and Twitter, maybe we should look at the corollary: “That which is created by lies shouldn’t be”.

Stop Comparing COVID-19 Death Rates

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I really get tired of people comparing death rates from COVID-19 v. XYZ and thinking that is the end of the story - it isn’t so bad. NO. As the Mayo Clinic says, most people who have it recovery completely within a few weeks. But many people end up with lingering problems because it damages the lung and other organs. Organ damage caused by COVID-19 Organs that may be affected by COVID-19 include:

Government Obligations?

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

For any of you small government types reading this, the following applies to state and local governments as well as the Federal govt. The Supreme Court has held that the government (police or social services) does not have a duty to protect individuals from harm, even when they know harm will occur. See DeShaney vs. Winnebago 489 U.S. 189 (1989) and Town of Castle Rock vs. Gonzales. See also Warren v.

What do Peace and Liberty Mean?

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Mike Lee, US Senator from Utah tweeted the following on Oct 7, 2020: “Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prosperity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.” Subsequent tweets included “We’re not a democracy”, Government is the official use of coercive force-nothing more and nothing less. The Constitution protects us by limiting the use of government force" and “The word ‘democracy’ appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy.

Grapefruit?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I like grapefruit. The real kind, not the pink sweet kind. However, I have just read an article https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/grapefruit-history-and-drug-interactions indicating that you need to be careful when drinking it and taking prescription medicine. Drug manufacturers determine dosage based on how much of the drug your body will actually ingest. Grapefruit knocks out several of the enzymes that would otherwise be reducing the drugs to an inactive form. Net result, your body actually absorbs a lot more of the drug than the dosage assumes and you overdose.

Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste - Part Two

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I can’t possibly express the anger I feel at the irresponsibility of a tweet saying don’t fear COVID. As of Oct 6, there have been 1,038,534 COVID deaths globally and 208,433 COVID deaths in the US. https://covid19.who.int/ There have been 35 million globally confirmed cases, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people who survived, but have respiratory and other problems caused by COVID. There is a reason to fear COVID but as I have expressed before - I can’t make people care about other people.

Use the Right Tool For the Job

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

When all you know is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In the most recent case, the UK managed to drop almost 16,000 COVID-19 cases from their result compilation because they were using Excel in the data gathering process. Excel has a limit on the number of rows or columns and apparently the amount of data exceeded one or the other of those limits. A BBC Report claims that the row limit was breached because someone chose to use a very old file format.

New Caledonia Narrowly Votes No on Independence From France

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

New Caledonia voted no today on its second of three votes on independence from France. The first vote was in 2018 and the no votes came in at 56.7%. This time, as expected, the no votes came in narrower at 53.26%. Turnout was 85.64%, which was four points higher than the 2018 vote, evidently showing that people felt their votes would count given the expected tight vote. Polling stations were kept open after the scheduled closing time so long as there were people in line to vote.

Happy Reunification Day Germany

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Happy Reunification Day to Germany. I’ve been in Berlin both before and after the wall fell. Its nicer to be able to just walk across the street. Maybe we can all work towards reducing the polarizing behavior that is acting like a psychic Berlin wall in so many countries. By the way, can anyone tell me why east and west Berlin still use different street lamp bulbs? Nightime aerial photos clearly show a color difference.

Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste - Part One

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

This post will likely get deleted as things progress, but my innate cynicism is too strong to keep quiet right now. So, I just saw the news that President Trump tweeted that he had tested positive for COVID-19. It is interesting that it happened the same day that a Cornell study claimed the President was the single greatest source of covid disinformation. This also has national security implications. See a twitter thread from Sam Vinograd, a national security expert, written before the news but after a White House Staffer tested positive.

Adding Injury to Injury - Ransomware Victims That Pay May Be Penalized By The Government

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Suppose you are a business that has been hacked and discover that all your files are locked and you will need to pay some unknown X to get them unlocked. Not Fun. Paying ransoms just make it more enticing to criminals and fund future attacks, but not paying may cause your business to fail. The US Treasury now says if you pay and the unknown person is subject to US sanctions, then you and everyone involved in the payments may be committing a crime.

We Are All Bit Players In Other People's Plays

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Most of us are the main character in the plays running through our heads. As those scenes happen and as we review them later, all the other people are either focused on us or are NPCs (non-playing characters). And that’s fine so long as we remember that while our play is happening, every other person is the center of their own play and we are not the main character in their plays.

Missing from the working from home debate

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

There have been lots of discussions about whether employees are more or less efficient working from home. I certainly see lots of comments from people who are happier left alone to work from home. I also see occasional comments from parents trying to juggle working from home, helping their kids learning from home and how all the distractions at home get in the way of being efficient. What I have not seen is the impact on new young workers of not having informal face time training.

Why Write Songs If You Aren't Going to Sell?

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Someone asked if I was going to try to make it in the music business. Obviously not someone who knows me. The answer is, of course not. Its a hobby. [insert obligatory hobby loss joke that only tax lawyers and accountants will understand]. A hobby is something that you do primarily for yourself. I write the occasional song for me, or someone going through a rough time. Sometimes they get played for friends or family, sometimes at a funeral or wedding.

I Can Learn From Anyone

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I’m an infovore. I take in a lot of information (or in the words of my sister-in-law - “more useless crap”) and occasionally it makes new patterns that I can learn from. Its not just written information. I can learn watching two carpenters do things differently. I can learn from listening to different conversations about practically anything (maybe not sports because I really don’t care). It doesn’t matter the socioeconomic level, intelligence level or age level.

Arsenic Before Oxygen?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

So we know that life has existed on Earth for billions of years (think bacteria, not dinosaurs) but we also know that bacterial life existed for 1.5 billion years before there was free oxygen present. Life as we generally know it requires oxygen serve as a vehicle for electrons gained and lost through various metabolic processes. How did it all work pre-oxygen? There have been various theories posited, including life processes using hydrogen or sulfur or iron.

Hubris or Aspiration

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

There is a trope throughout history about hubris. Wikipedia defines it as “foolish pride, dangerous overconfidence or arrogance”. The Encyclopedia Britannica has a more nuanced definition: “overweening presumption that leads a person to disregard the divinely fixed limits on human action in an ordered cosmos.” The general theory of the trope is that hubris will lead to your downfall. As examples, in Greek mythology, think Icarus flying too close to the sun; in Christian theology think the fall of Lucifer.

Make the Chili

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

There is a Carrie Newcomer song called “Forever Ray” where the wife (Ella) shooes the husband (Ray) out of the house and suggests that since it is a nice day, maybe he could do something in the yard. So Ray goes out and buys a little cement statue of a rabbit on its hind legs holding a tray. Then everyday he leaves Ella a note on the tray held down by a stone with just something to say that he loves her.

Read the words

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Trying to have a rational conversation is difficult enough without people fixating on a single word in a sentence and then letting their lizard hind brain take control. A recent case in point was an article in the Washington Post about political scientists and sociologists concerned that the US is backsliding into autocracy. Link. One of the people commenting immediately started saying that this was sensationalist nonsense to sell papers - the President does not have autocratic power and the people around him are managing him very well so as to ensure that he never gets that power.

If We Close Our Eyes - Libertarian Edition

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I was browsing some libertarian social media sites trying to understand the different variations of libertarians and I was struck by the similarity with religious converts. If you believe in the invisible market hand, then everything will be fine is the same as if you believe in my version of God, then everything will be fine. When asking about exploitation, I was pointed to this quote: “With the State - biggest, baddest exploiter of all time - out of the picture, exploitation, in terms of aggression, would all but vanish.

Its not Capitalism v. Communism, Its Corruption v. Everyone

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

It is painful to watch the echo chambers missing what is happening right in front of their faces because they are so fixated on the enemy they have been brought up to hate. Is it that corruption is okay if its the guys behind our cheerleaders engaged in the corruption? I see people point to the problems in Venezuela as demonstrating the evils of socialism. No, the problems in Venezuela demonstrate the evils of corruption.

Woe is You

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 19 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Terry Pratchett once said “Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it’s not satire, it’s bullying.” I absolutely agree. At the same time, I want you to think about the phrase “people who are hurting”. Let’s assume that someone is hurting but it is not “justifiable” in your mind. Have you now decided that they aren’t really hurting? There seems to be a tendency by both parties to a disagreement to deny the reality of any hurt feelings by the other side and claim that they are the only side that has the right to feel hurt.

RIP Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 20:18:19 -0400

RIP Justice Ginsburg. From a pure power politics perspective I can understand why the Republicans said that they will bring the next nominee to a vote before the US election. I can’t make people care about other people. But don’t for a second believe that there are any morals or ethics left in the bloody carcass of a once respectable party. As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link.

When The Disgusted Have Left

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Apparently there is an old French proverb that says “When the disgusted have left, only the disgusting remain”. Painful, but true. There does become a point where leaving someplace because you cannot continue to work there and keep your integrity creates the danger that the place will get worse. However, if you have been sidelined and are no longer effective in trying to keep some integrity, morals, ethics there, then staying doesn’t help and maybe society is better placed for change from the outside.

Oh Look, A Squirrel! Christopher Columbus Edition

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Introduction (because this will be long) There is an old proverb that you should never meet your heroes or heroines. If you do, you will see their feet of clay. How you do react? If you have idolized and attached a sense of yourself to the hero or heroine, people often either hide the issues and double down on the hero/heroine worship or they are so upset they throw away the good with the bad.

Counting Coup in an Echo Chamber and Other Wastes of Time

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I watched Ed Miliband’s speech in the UK Parliament and then watched all the social media posts from the “Remainders” congratulating each other. A typical title started “Boris Johnson’s humiliation by Ed Miliband…”. The same thing happens on the other side. It doesn’t matter whether it is in the UK, the US, India or elsewhere and it doesn’t matter what the subject is so long as there are at least two extremes on the position.

What is Respect?

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 06:18:19 -0400

I was reading an interchange on social media the other day about a shoplifting incident at a Lowe’s. In the discussion was a short interchange that got me thinking. One commentor said don’t bother reporting it to the police because they won’t do anything. Another commentator responded this is what happens when people don’t respect the police. My first thought was “What does respecting police have to do with shoplifting”. Then I wondered whether the second commentator was saying you don’t respect the police the police will not respond i.

To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

One of the questions that comes up when writing a song after you have settled on the idea and the feel is whether you are going to rhyme or not. We all know songs that rhyme, don’t rhyme, have near rhymes etc. Each has their pros and cons and the strength of those pros and cons can differ depending on the music genre.

Tax Law Quotes

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 12:18:19 -0400

The problem is not just that the law is overly complex. The problem is also that we change it all the time. We [Judges of the U.S. Tax Court] have from time-to time complained about the complexity of our revenue laws and the almost impossible challenge they present to taxpayers or their representatives who have not been initiated into the mysteries of the convoluted, complex provisions affecting the particular corner of the law

Beliefs, Opinions and Personalities

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 06:18:19 -0400

I will posit this as my opinion - it is easier to change opinions than it is to change beliefs. The line drawing between opinions and beliefs is probably fuzzy, however. I would also suggest that your own personality will affect whether seeing facts contrary to your own opinion will cause you to change that opinion. I think this opinion of mine gets some support in a recent paper (abstract published at Close Minded Cognition).

That paper determined that people scoring high in the desire for order, structure and preservation of social norms tend to be less successful at correcting erroneous beliefs when confronted by new information. For those people, a close-minded cognitive style negatively influences belief updating. (click on the title to see more)

Dark Stone Wall

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

My only obviously autobiographical song. Families pay a price for the
games that politicians play that those politicians never pay.

Flanders Fields Rejoined

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The poem “Flanders Fields” was written by a Canadian doctor during
WWI. It is patriotic and, unfortunately, glories in the continuation
of conflict. Must so many people insist on having an enemy to unite
and fight against?

Friends

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Lifelong friends who will pick you up when you are down are to be treasured.

Ghosts of Westminster

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

There is a difference between politician: “one engaged in party
politics, especially as a trade; one who promotes the interests of a
political party, one concerned with public affairs for the sake of
profit or of a clique.” and statesman: “enlightened, disinterested,
and high-minded service to the state or the people of the state”.

We usually have too many politicians and not enough statesmen.

Give Me a Reason

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

For my daughter when she was in junior high school. If you insisted on
a rule and justified it because the authority figure said so, you
guaranteed a fight. If you gave reasonable reasons for the rule, there
wouldn’t be any problem. I’ve seen reports that up to 30% of any human
population consists of authoritarians. Those in power want mindless
obedience. Even those not in positions of power want to be
thoughtlessly led and will insist on mindless obedience to authority
and punishment otherwise.

New Fallen Snow

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We as adults are afraid of things that we as children were ignorant
of. Sometimes we think it would be nice to be back at that age, but
now we are the ones with responsibility.

Candle in the Window

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Growing up from the parent’s point of view.

Childhood Stories

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Friends thinking back to our childhood dreams and where we ended up instead.

Christmas Threads

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Remember christmas cards and sitting down at the kitchen table,
sending out those once a year notes to friends and relatives. Facebook
is not quite the same.

Drip, Drop

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Written for my daughter when she was young and believed that animals
were nicer than people. Sometimes I even think she was right.

Empty Seat

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

After the relationship is over and the fights have ceased.

Expat Community

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Expats are temporary immigrants. But there are different types of
expats. Some just treat it as an extended vacation. Others are
seasonal and tend to forget the real truth that they are guests and
the local rules apply. Some become more native than the natives. A
fourth group is more internationalist and are more at home crossing
borders and dealing with multiple cultures than they are back home.

This song is about that last group.

Call of the Loon

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Fall is my favorite time of year. Fall in New England is especially
entrancing. This has also been called a love song.

Ball Parks in Heaven

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Memorial to a minor league baseball fan.

About

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Onion peeling commentary on life and the world. Sometimes tears, sometimes songs and always lots of layers.

Markdown Syntax

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This article offers a sample of basic Markdown syntax that can be used in Hugo content files, also it shows whether basic HTML elements are decorated with CSS in a Hugo theme.

Headings

The following HTML <h1>—<h6> elements represent six levels of section headings. <h1> is the highest section level while <h6> is the lowest.

Great Ocean Road

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote this on a paper placemat in a restaurant in Melbourne,
Australia after doing a tour of the Great Ocean Road and hearing a bit
of its history. Nearby diners were either amused or confused as the
waitress kept trying to put the food on the placemat and I kept pushing
it away because I didn’t want to lose the melody and my train of thought.

What Will Happen to Magic

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

There is a place for warriors. There is a place for story
tellers. Sometimes both groups forget there is a need for the other.

Wordsmith

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Just a little fun pretending wordsmiths exist the same as blacksmiths did.

You Never Drew a Breath

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

For some friends after the death of a child.

Feedback

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 21:52:00 +0100

Feel free to add some senseful content here.

Waiting at Christmas

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Spouses have been waiting for their loved ones to return from business
trips for centuries. This story happens at Christmas.

Happiness and Tears (2001)

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 31 Dec 2001 00:00:00 +0000

2001 was an eventful year for many reasons. I wrote this to sing with
some friends at a new years eve party.