penrod

10 ms·

61.
by penrod 13y ago
Why do you not hate SQL. I suspect the answer is the relational model. As a language, SQL is terrible. But it (poorly) implements enough of the relational model that it's still incredibly powerful. What really puzzles me is why, when
62.
by penrod 13y ago
And the biggest flaw in contemporary liberalism is the idea that these very obvious flaws in human nature are somehow transcended by the humans we elect to office.
63.
by penrod 13y ago
And more broadly, must we refer to sex as 'gender'?
64.
by penrod 13y ago
The phrase "things that don't work" is obviously not referring to human lives, it is referring to behaviors chosen by people. We make choices as to how we spend our time, how we sustain ourselves, how we interact with other p
65.
by penrod 13y ago
Programs to "prepare the nation’s K-12 teachers" are probably terrible at doing that because it is not their purpose. The purpose of teacher qualifications is to lend status to the profession, and to serve as arbitrary yardsticks
66.
by penrod 13y ago
A normative statement that you disagree with is not a "fallacy". Also, seeing as there is no legally enforceable way that Google could ask anyone to surrender their right to vote, it's an odd hypothetical to base an argument
67.
by penrod 14y ago
What is your point exactly? The article you link to states that the flush reaction is genetic, "appears to have been positively selected in the past" and has been hypothesized to "have conferred protection agains certain parasitic infection
68.
by penrod 14y ago
Nice use of the R-bomb there. And adroit use of weasel words ("some would claim") to give plausible deniability. Unfortunately your objections make no sense. It's well established that some human subgroups have different physical adaptation
69.
by penrod 14y ago
Quite. The purpose of twisting the definition of 'racism' is to use the emotional power of the term to support an unrelated political agenda. The irony is that the academic definition of 'racism' is only rhetorically useful as long as the c
70.
by penrod 14y ago
I have a hard time with the light-hearted tone of reports such as this. In one sense the NK propaganda really is comically weird. But in another sense, if you've read 1984 it's all too grimly familiar.
71.
by penrod 14y ago
The problem with this argument is that anti-competitive regulations that restrict the size of the taxi market probably do not maximize government revenues. The government would probably receive greater revenues if it deregulated the market
72.
by penrod 14y ago
I'll take the bait: Yes an external cab company should be able to come into SF and compete with the local firms. The SF regulations have expressly been rigged to support a local cartel and are morally illegitimate.