Orkney Beef

 Maybe by the time I get back I'll be able to understand the song.

 

Recent Links

 Drug decriminalisation increases deaths.  The research is still mixed, but points strongly in this direction

The Flattening of Time  Ethan Strauss on how some news isn't new - including things he wrote years ago that have gone viral again.

And everybody hates the Jews*  Guess the song before you look

Two from Works in Progress, which seems to prefer controversy 

Flock cameras can be used abusively.  Is that a reason not to have them? 

Just Bury Your Trash.  What if everything we know about recycling is wrong? Well, it would still be a religious acts.  There's that.

*Hint:  Tom Lehrer  

Orcadian Whaling Song

With a bit of showmanship to start off.

 

2015 Links

 Human Extinction. Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution discusses whether artificial intelligence might be the end of the human race, and whether that is an altogether bad thing. I am struck by how the discussion is a little dated even eleven years later.

Paranoia Clearinghouse.  Part One.  Part Two   Still applicable.  With comments

Fibbing About Your Autobiography  Interesting in view of the recent Jason Arday scandal. I regard it as a big deal, but is it really?

False Kindness Kills  With Europeans as an example

Liberation  GKC points out that it is our truisms that are untrue, and Bernie Sanders provides and example. I was fond of pointing out at the time that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders had the same top two issues - restricting immigration and taxing billionaires, but presented them in culturally opposite packages. 

We Have No 'Right to Happiness'  An essay by CS Lewis

 

The Grimness Collection

 An Orcadian musician now based in Scotland. 

Out, Damn'd Scot!

 

Strip The Willow

This looks like you could take it a lot of places in American and fit right in.

Here's a lot more, if you'd like it. 

 

 

"Everyone Does It"

The NBA just put down it's biggest punishment of a team in 80 years. The Los Angeles Clippers have been disciplined for evading the salary cap by arranging to have Kawhi Leonard paid millions by an outside company, pretending it was an endorsement deal. The report is apparently very thorough and watertight. The Clippers have responded by saying "We never did those things, and anyway, everyone in the league does it. If you investigated other teams this hard you would find the same thing." There is an excellent Zach Lowe podcast detailing the scandal.

 This resonates with many people because we are cynical about many businesses and entire industries. We are especially cynical about successful enterprises, believing that they must have cheated to come out on top. Medical billing is like that, as I learned at the hospital. Reformers were unpopular. We know at some level that all the kids are doing it is not a valid moral answer, but we often accept it anyway. Our kid is no worse than the others, really, nor is our Congressman, our university, our police force...why draw a line in the sand here?  Why die on this particular hill?

But what jumps out in this particular scandal is that there is little evidence that everyone, or even most teams are doing anything like this. There is an attitude toward breaking the rules that rather inexorably leads us to the conclusion that everyone is doing it. But everyone isn't doing it. Sometimes saying "Well, politics is a dirty business" isn't just an excuse, it's a lie. Perhaps particularly in politics, who you think is more corrupt may depend greatly on what you sources have curated for you to see. This fits with the recent post on Trusting Your Gut. Your gut may be ill-informed. 

Orkney Music

There's not a lot of specifically Orcadian music on YouTube, but I'll give you a few. It sounds much like other Celtic and more distantly, Appalachian and Norwegian. Here's an intro to what's distinctive.

 

Orkney

 Leaving now.  Back on the 14th. I have preposted some things to keep you entertained, as usual.

Maybe You Can Use It

Cremieux writes about what he calls Cargo Cults in science: things that attempt to work without knowing the principle behind it. He chooses experiments on semagutide extending lifespans in mice as a pertinent recent example. 

The new semaglutide paper does not meet this standard: the researchers behind it failed to set up an experiment that could inform us about semaglutide’s effects on extension of healthy, normal lifespan...

The semaglutide study attempted to anticipate this objection, but did so in a self-defeating way. They referenced six studies on B6 mouse lifespans to note that the control group had a lifespan that was close to typical. But the numbers in the citations don’t support their case. For example, the Ogiso et al. paper found mean lifespans of 798 ± 161 days for B6J females and 763 ± 163 days for B6N females, which includes early deaths—meaning it’s almost-certainly mechanically brought down relative to the numbers in the semaglutide study. 

I get the principle. I am seldom interested enough in medical research these days to put in the effort.  But for those who still try and follow these things, it's a good caution to be aware of with all the new miracles being offered at the candy store. Researchers are still chasing cool and sexy results and can fool themselves, as they always have.

Scandinavian Folk Song

 ...sung in the UK.  Very appropriate for going to Orkney, ja?