domain:slatestarcodex.com
Gaashk
5hr ago
Elementary schools are a bit paranoid that someone out there might be a murderer, and might come to their school, but I haven't heard any I've been in suggest that their students themselves might become murderers, and should instead choose not to.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
5hr ago
The research supports this - plenty of people manage without pain control or with more deliberate OTC medication usage.
Yes, if you have to suffer without pain control you can suffer. Having suffered this way, I do not wish to suffer in the future because some drug warrior thinks that opiods are a stain on the American soul. And I have seen some of their writings about how it's better that someone die horribly of acetaminophen toxicity rather than feed an opiod addiction, so I do not believe they have anyone's best interests at heart.
sun_the_second
could survive a COD lobby and a gay furry discord server
5hr ago
Why is homicide specifically worse when it's another person doing it?
Wow I really cocked that one up didn't I? Good catch.
Throwaway05
6hr ago
Anecdotally I've had several significant injuries some of which have been managed with controlled substances and some of which have been managed with staggered dose ibuprofen and APAP, absent the "high" effect they are comparable (for me) when it comes to pain control. The research supports this - plenty of people manage without pain control or with more deliberate OTC medication usage.
Some amount of breakthrough pain or discomfort is normal and to an extent beneficial. Some research suggests that that the desire for total pain control and numbing is a somewhat American cultural specific desire and part of why we have addiction problems in this country.
Analgesia and addiction considerations aside, the medications have a number of problematic side effects that need to be considered. They do have their use though, and the people doing research in this area are aware of that.
Looking at a JAMA article and saying this clinical research is fabricated by non-clinician puritans is conspiratorial thinking, especially because the types of people have cultural sway for this kinda of thing at the moment are probably best categorized as dangerously pro-opioid - see: safe injection sites, methadone clinics, and pushing of Suboxone as the best solution to the problem.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
6hr ago
This isn't actually an argument.
I didn't spell it out, but it should be obvious. If it is appropriate to ban a class of weapons because they are the weapons with which "[m]ost crimes and accidents happen", then a successful ban on that class will result in another class becoming the weapons with which most crimes and accidents happen and are therefore OK to ban. Thus such a principle leads to banning all weapons.
An assault weapons is a better defense than a pistol against any assailant you can see coming in advance-- and banning pistols makes it much easier to notice and be wary of criminals in the first place. Meanwhile, against an assailant that gets the jump on you, a gun-- and especially a small gun-- is worse that useless.
The second part is not empirically true. As for the rest, no weapon that you don't have with you is much good for defense, and walking around with an AR-15 all the time is simply inconvenient. And even if you have it, presumably slung, the difficulty of bringing it to bear means a pistol-armed (yeah, you banned them, but they didn't listen) or even knife-armed attacker can far more easily get the drop on you.
TitaniumButterfly
6hr ago
Definitely not.
MaiqTheTrue
Renrijra Krin
6hr ago
I’m not demanding a literalist view of the Bible, in fact it’s a naive reading. But I don’t really think it’s a problem to suggest that certain events were highlighted or downplayed by the author to be more memorable and appealing to the audience they were writing for. It’s a narrative story, and any story humans tell will highlight and downplay elements to make the story appealing or to make heroes look better or villains look worse. I don’t find the early church reading the Bible with the kind of literalism that modern evangelical fundamentalists use in interpreting the text. Not that they don’t believe the Bible and the stories in the Bible are true, but that they are not literalists insisting that everything described is absolutely meant to be literal.
GBRK
6hr ago
We do that, gun misuse shifts to larger guns, someone draws a circle around some subclass (e.g. "assault weapons") and moves to ban that one, lather, rinse, repeat.
This isn't actually an argument. If you hold "people asking to ban guns" as an intrinsic evil, then your solution is to ban every gun before they do. If your actual intrinsic evil is "banning guns" then trading a ban on large weapons for a ban on small weapons is at worst net-neutral and at best (as I argued) allows for the better fulfilment of the socially useful properties of guns.
Also, most categories of misuse are linked to specific formats of weapons. A crew served weapon is great in a civil war, but not so great for robbing a convenience store. It's much easier to commit suicide with a pistol than with an M-1 Abrahms.
Personal defense is not.
An assault weapons is a better defense than a pistol against any assailant you can see coming in advance-- and banning pistols makes it much easier to notice and be wary of criminals in the first place. Meanwhile, against an assailant that gets the jump on you, a gun-- and especially a small gun-- is worse that useless. Trying to pull one out is all too likely to transform a robbery into a murder-- either because the assailant will notice your suspicious motion and shoot you, or because a smaller weapon is easier to take away from you. The deterrent property of having a big, obvious weapons would result in net better outcomes than using cowboy kung fu to quickfire your pistol straight through your pants.
In sum, banning small guns and legalizing big ones would both save lives AND provide a bigger deterrent against government overreach. It's the ideal compromise between 2A advocates and gun control crusaders. I'm not being facetious here, this is my actual position.
Jiro
6hr ago
If keeping blacks from voting caused no harm to blacks, why did anyone even bother keeping them from voting?
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
7hr ago
LOL, you just want to stop that guy when he starts talking about brain development of teenagers and say "SAT-M".
MaximumCuddles
The world-spirit texting on the toilet
7hr ago
Did Kulak eat a ban? I must have missed that, I just thought he got really involved on X / Substack and drifted away.
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
7hr ago
600 people per year being deliberately killed
*Voluntarily killed
although if they want to DIY it that seems fine
How is a ~77 year old terminal cancer patient going to DIY suicide, and how is that better for literally anyone? Sucks for them to DIY it, sucks for them even more if they fuck up DIYing it and survive with a crippling injury, sucks if they just can't, and have to die of their terminal disease slowly, sucks for whoever has to find their DIY remains (likely, a family member).
this new category of homicide is totally cool and no problem.
It's not homicide, it's literally voluntary. The average age is 75 for track 2.
Further, given it's VOLUNTARY, it won't happen to you, so why are you so tilted other people are doing it?
I feel like you should convince me why terminal or near terminal old people shouldn't be able to go out peacefully and painlessly. I think everyone has a right to a dignified and painless end, justify why they should be stopped if they consent.
Amadan
Enjoying my short-lived victory
7hr ago
I'm going to pretend you're not being a bad faith ankle-biter here.
The only way back is by promising you will follow the rules and not continue breaking the rules. Under those circumstances, we will consider unbanning someone.
No one should consider this unreasonable.
The alternative is no forgiveness ever.
You can disingenuously characterize this as "Begging can save you from banning" but you know that is not remotely the same thing.
We've never rescinded a ban because someone begged (and once or twice someone has tried).
Also worth noting that as far as I can recall, no one has ever actually petitioned us to be unbanned other than the ones who pleaded for leniency as soon as it happened (and then flew into a rage when we said no). Quite a few people have complained that their banning was unwarranted, and a few times someone else has petitioned on behalf of a banned member, but this scenario in which someone genuinely asks us for amnesty (whether you call it "begging" or not) is to date entirely hypothetical.
Jiro
7hr ago
Arguments about ‘abuse’ are unconvincing. If “the government” or “the powers that be” want to kill me, they can and they will.
The main problem isn't that someone in the government wants you dead. It's that incentives will lead to bad decisions that end up with you dead. Nobody has to specifically want you dead as a terminal goal (no pun intended) for incentives to have an effect.
thrownaway24e89172
Death is the inevitable and only true freedom
7hr ago
It's only considered "cheating" when it is framed to make progressives look bad. It's considered a perfectly valid solution when framed as a solution for groups progressives hate.
wayfarer
7hr ago
percieve and react to the obstacle by applying the brakes and/or going around?
that is doable with single sensor and single if instruction
also, automatic door is able to react to events
claiming that it is core of intelligence is a highly motivated reasoning to ensure that heron is counted as intelligent and LLM not
if you want to claim that automatic doors are more intelligent than LLM feel free to do so
wayfarer
7hr ago
though they probably wouldn't be comfortable mentioning the possibility of murder, even.
IIRC schools in USA keep holding shooting drills intended to make subset of "You shall not murder." harder
(in effect cause more damage than shootings themselves, but that should obviate "wouldn't be comfortable mentioning the possibility of murder" anyway)
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
7hr ago
I did not misunderstand you, nor am I pretending to. I am merely seeing the issue from a perspective you don't share. If you permaban someone and they go away and never come back and never contact you again, they remain permabanned; this is what "permaban" means, of course. If they go to you and request to come back and promise they'll be a good boy, you might let them come back. You don't want to call that begging, but I can't see how it is anything else; you're saying the only way back is through the supplicant's door.
Amadan
Enjoying my short-lived victory
7hr ago
That is not what I said. You did not misunderstand me. You are pretending to misunderstand me. Stop doing that.
wemptronics
7hr ago
Throwback T-saturday*
I've developed a burgeoning, if still nascent, interest in the IRA. I was reminded of a post from ancient times. Mcjunker's quality contribution on The Ins and Outs of the Kilmichael Ambush where, a week after Bloody Sunday in 1920, the IRA hit the Brits with unprecedented lethality in an orchestrated ambush.
Maybe this topic or post isn't so much fun, but I figured one or more interested parties might not have had a chance to read a dusty old effort post. I felt like I rediscovered it, enjoyed reading with new old eyes, and thought to share.
- If only this was some flavor of Tsar related it could be Tsar-turday. First one's free, folks.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
7hr ago
I don't know a single person in clinical medicine who wants to eliminate opioids
Yeah, but I'm not talking about people in clinical medicine, though I suppose it's not out of the question there are some drug warriors there. Ask a clinician who deals with severe pain as part of their practice whether APAP or ASA or ibuprofen control pain as well as opiods, and they're going to laugh. The reason studies like this are done is to come to the conclusion "Non-opioid medications are just as good as opoids for , therefore we should move to legally discourage the use of opoids for that condition."
To be "fair" to the drug warriors, in recent years they've been moving from accepting the presence of APAP in combination drugs as a reason for lesser regulation to not doing so, instead making both the combination and the straight opoid hard to deal with. I presume this means more people with broken bones being sent home with an aspirin.
coffee_enjoyer
☕️
7hr ago
I’m not necessarily pointing to invention here, though the similarities are pretty shocking. Re: the line from Isaiah, that’s true, but the second half of Isaiah is sometimes referred to as the “fifth gospel” because of its prophecy of the Messiah (according to the theology). In any case, it is still hundreds of years older than Ad Herennium.
But Ad Herennium was the most important book on rhetoric in the Middle Ages, which likely means it was esteemed around Christ’s time. So it’s not impossible that the authors used the go-to manual on rhetoric to emphasize certain aspects of the event. I suppose a more literalist reader can just as well say, “of course God would author the real events in line with the best rhetoric and memory advice; the only new info here is that Cicero had some Godly wisdom about rhetoric”.
Gaashk
8hr ago
I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, they are a foundational part of our civilization, and it's good for people to know about and consider them, so I would certainly address them in the curriculum at some point. On the other hand, they're kind of appropriate as actual classroom rules.
I am the LORD your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.
Clearly inappropriate for American public schools.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
I don't think religious people even agree about what this means, and also not appropriate for American public schools.
Remember to keep holy the LORD’s Day.
They get Saturday and Sunday off, anyway. It would be an improvement on playing Roblox all weekend, but not seriously taught in public schools.
Honor your father and mother.
Good advice. Public schools like to focus on the dishonorable parents, with messaging like this Mother's Day, think about all the women who are unable to be mothers, or are estranged from their mothers, and how sad they are. This would probably be a net improvement.
You shall not murder.
Schools are very serious about this one.
You shall not commit adultery.
Inappropriate for school aged children to discuss.
You shall not steal.
Schools are and should be serious about this.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Schools should be more serious than they are about this.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
Inappropriate for children.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
Schools should be much more serious about this, and especially about flaunting your goods at your neighbor to try to bait them into covetousness.
So I guess that's half of them, where the Commandments and schools align, though they probably wouldn't be comfortable mentioning the possibility of murder, even.
That's a meaningful improvement over the training some friends of mine went through. Are they still teaching Gardner's multiple intelligences? And a few years ago, the district where I had gone to school adopted a commitment to achieving the same outcomes for all students regardless of their gifts or circumstances.
An acknowledgment that not all children are the same, and that their different gifts cannot be made to produce the same outcomes in the classroom, is actually a big deal.
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