No that's English literature. Philosophy is a comb over and a black turtleneck. — Tom Storm

Indeed. Since I don't bother with either much anymore I keep forgetting who is whom?

As I don't own a jacket (much less one with elbow patches) or a turtleneck (not even a black one and have a full head of hair I figure I just don't qualify to field answers and only try to post questions.

What Constitutes A Philosopher?

Elbow patches on a jacket?

Osteoarthritis improved your pitching? How can that be? — TiredThinker

The middle finger of my pitching hand had become a bit stiff and when I do a curveball release middle joint no longer flexes. This results in a longer lever where the spin in created making the pitch break quite sharply at the last moment due to increased spin.

In addition I now throw only a two seamed fastball, but with two different griping points respective to the seams. They look fully identical out of my hand, but one crosses the plate 20 cm low than the other. If I get that working well it becomes nearly impossible for a batter to hit a line drive. Again it's how the spin is created and it's all do to the stiff joint.

My speed is far off my top when I was younger, but speed is the easiest to adjust to for a batter.

I figure I have another 4 to 10 years left in me, but if I have to stay out much longer due to Corona making it socially irresponsible to play (my choice), well... if you don't play eventually you can't play anymore.

Then again, my baseball uniform is one of the many 'clown suits' I own. ;)

I had neck injury and have painful spurs that wake me up almost nightly. — TiredThinker

I can relate to you here.

I have cervical radiculopathy. It's been developing since I was in my 20's, so for me it's kind of nothing new. Somedays it's really painful, but I have learned to manage it fairly well.

The joke in baseball is that I've had more surgeries than the whole team combined and play with more current injuries that most of them have had in their lifetime. Either I'm just too stubborn, stupid or difficult to kill.

I have known too many younger than me that needed dangerous painkillers to tolerate muscular/skeletal injury that damaged or perpetually presses on nerves. — TiredThinker

I know too many younger athletes who think sports are never supposed to hurt. Pain and discomfort are really part of the package deal when you sing on for sports. Pain is a necessary guide. Learning to deal with that, as well as how to work around the pain and still perform well is the reality many wish not to face. That's not a new thing or simply something specific to the current generation.

Indeed there are cases and situations where the pharmacology is absolutely necessary, but I've noticed a stronger trend toward dependency rather than it being applied for necessity. I can't say for sure if this is really an increase in cases, but I can say there is more awareness of cases.

Nonetheless... I just do it until I can't. I fully expect to have my baseball participation to end not on my own terms. Good thing is I have more options out there due to more time to investigate.

Not sure if your apology is directed at me, but I think I may have been misunderstood. My comments about the genres posted here weren’t meant to discourage anyone from posting anything. — Pinprick

Actually your observation was clearly correct, as the posts were mostly jazz, classic or experimental.

Basically I listen to Japanese jazz, math rock, shoegaze/dream pop, shibuya-kei and just a small bit of classic/alternative 80's/90's pop, so it's likely I'd still be posting the 'same old same old'... kind of ironic, as outside of this thread it's anything except the 'same old same old'.

My personal tastes in music has really changed over the past few years and quite drastically over the past decade. Perhaps it's just me becoming a victim of my age, as I rarely find much on the mainstream radio that can hold my attention for more than a few moments. Indeed a few artists are intriguing, but they seem to have become few and far between.

Also, let's face it... I'm likely one of the only one's who'll be posting music from Japan, so I realize the audience is very limited for these choices. It's not with the intention to be 'special' or to stand out in a crowd, but rather it's actually what I spend most of my time listening to these days. Kind of odd in a way, as I was known for using 80's/90's pop music to explain everything in philosophy and used to post an endless stream of that sort of thing with every post, whether it really fit or not.

Since I no longer like to engage in philosophy, as it has become far less about an exchange of ideas than it has become more socially diseased with critique competitions, shit posts, territorial pissing and symbolic penis measuring contests (yes... I just said that and I stand behind it) I now try to stick to posting unsolicited music that likely most folks have never heard of before (and will likely forget soon there after)

I'll deviate from my abnormal norm and just post this as kind of a better explanation and a super difficult translation: ビスケットで彼をつかむだけ

Thanks for the songs. I'm quite familiar with them both (and have them in my collection).

I used to follow much more music from hip hop, as well as soul/funk/hip hop or is it hip hop/soul/funk or funk/hip hop/soul... I get all the specifics of genres mixed up, as I simply like what I like. ;)

I have to say my interests have definitely shifted toward Japan (music and much more), still I'm open to a multitude of genres.

At the moment I find Japanese Math Rock, Modern Jazz and Shoegaze/Dream Pop and classic Shibuya-kei are my got to musical interests. Things change over time, but that's OK.

Keep on posting the music you like and it's all good.

(but there is a bit of Japanese hip hop I can plague people with... すみません ;) )

To my understanding a religion asks us to believe.

To be good according to a religion is to comply with a religion's definition of what is good.

Does any religion have a standard of measure for what is good for everyone all the time in all cases?

So then, the question would be is the life of Pascal the standard of measure for everyone's life or could it be him pleading a special case or something else?

Not that this matters much, but Pascal's Wager contains nothing to argue if a god is real, but rather is there to discuss only if it is practical to believe in a god.

The only ending variables involved (according to Pascal) are eternal reward, eternal punishment or neither.

The only options Pascal allows are to believe or not to believe.

What seems odd here is:

To assume nothing is lost if you believe in a god and it ends up that god isn't real is a bit hasty on the part of Pascal, as to believe in a god does require some significant time and changes in one's life, so the question that also needs to be address is:

Are the necessary investments of time and the changes that one must endure (for the sake of belief) in one's life worth it if the god turns out not to exist, meaning if there is no god did one just waste the only life they had with this belief?

There may be some truth in it, but truth lies everywhere. — Astrophel

I can't speak for anyone else and can only make reference to my particular situation, so with that as the context... not really.

Between the ages of 40 and 57 (now), in spite of having various health issues to deal with (actually quite large issues), I ended up competing in sports (in particular cycling and baseball - a sport I restarted at the age of 47) with people mostly in their 20's and doing quite well. Sure it's not professional sports, but when I was in my 20's I wasn't at the level of a professional athlete either, so that's not the standard of measure here. Indeed I'm now not quite as fast or a strong as in those days of my 20's, but my experience in the sports leading to me becoming far more innovative (plus a far more mature and relaxed temperament) coupled with my necessity to deal with adversity of injury and other health issues (and overcome them) has allowed me to excel in spite of bad circumstances when many much younger simply throw in the towel and give up at the first sign of trouble.

Perhaps realizing what doesn't kill me simply didn't try hard enough and playing with the skills I have rather than focusing upon what is outside of my skill set is what keeps me competitive.

I'm now well into my 50's closer to 60, but I just keep on going.

Personally I don't try to confuse youth with innovation and energy, just as I try not to confuse age with wisdom or stability... I simply figure I'll just keep on until I can't rather than fret over a bit of decline in my speed and strength and giving up. Life is simply a series of adjustments and adaptations, so aging is part of that process one gets to experience... why take that away?

Funny things is due to developing osteoarthritis I now have a rather wicked curveball and slider I didn't have prior to that issue. It totally upped my game as a pitcher. I didn't see that coming, but hey... work with what you have and don't waste time fretting over what you don't have, which was likely never there in the first place.

As to mental focus... it's likely I'm sharper than ever. My only 'regret' is that I'd like to take my current brain and put it into my 20's head... thus make far better use of what experiences I had come my way with a far better mind for reasoning.

Heck... I decided last year to start learning Japanese... no real clear reason other than I wanted to try it. Sure I suck at it, but I keep on learning. Now I'm involved in Japanese Baseball and will likely take up Kyudo if this damned Corona virus let's up and allows such an activity to be socially responsible again.

In truth... I don't want to be who I was when I was in my 20's or even 30's (the times were fun, but I was a terrible as a human - I see that now, but didn't then - and was really then only a work in progress). Post 50's me is far far better. ;)

Recently I tend toward avoiding music from 'the West', but if (western) hip-hop... well for me... this...

カウボーイビバップファンのために...

(For "Cowboy BeBop" fans ...)

申し訳ありませんが、日本からジャズを投稿することに戻りました。

(I'm sorry, but I'm back to posting jazz from Japan.)

美しくシンプルなギターリフが完璧なシューゲイザー音楽を作っていると思います。

(I think the beautiful and simple guitar riff makes for the perfect shoegaze music.)

Translated lyrics:

All the things I’ve scattered around
Because of you…
I’ll leave them here

Don’t put them in order, baby
I know they’re unpleasant
But I want them near me

Your gaze
I’ve been wearing
And the words I’ve borrowed from you

They’re all here,
They’re still here,
The truth is...

Your sugar was so sweet
I’ve been poisoned by it
But I will never say
It was your fault or such, sugar

日本留学中に見つけた楽しいもの。
(Fun things I found while studying in Japan.)



ダンサー「ストロングマシンNo.2」は10歳です。わお！
(Dancer "Strong Machine No.2" is 10 years old. Wow! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Murakami )

幼い頃は胸いっぱいに夢を見なさいと言っていた大人達が
年を取るにつれて現実を見なさいと煩く繰り返した
自分の頭の中の常識しか信じられないようなヤツらに
踊らされんな 好きに踊れ。

The same adults who told you to fill your
heart with dreams as a child,
as you grow older
they nag you repeatedly to face reality
don't let the bastards who can't believe
in anything but the commonplace ideas in their own heads
lead you on a dance
dance how you want.

I'm only here to post a bit of music every now and then that I've encountered along my way of trying to learn Japanese. In truth I completely suck at both music and Japanese (likely to go well with my sucking at philosophy), but hey... I've a lot of free time.

Anyway...

This has a little 'Chili Peppers' influence. Some younger rockers from Oita, Japan. Nice to see that on occasion younger musicians can still rock. ;)

私の現在のギターヒーロー。

日本のマスロックでの私のお気に入りのもう一つ。

今日の最後の1つ...もっと日本語を勉強しなければなりません。(Last one for today, I have to go study more Japanese.)

もう1つ、しかしもう少しジャズ。(One more, but a little more Jazz.)

私の音楽の好みは最近少し進化しました。(My musical taste has evolved a bit lately.)

日本語を学ぶことは私にいくつかの変化をもたらしました。(Learning Japanese has made some changes to me.)


ともかく...

A big, hot, steaming cup of Joe... — 0 thru 9

Pros or cons(ervatives)? Thoughts? Feelings? News stories? What is Joe Biden’s philosophy? Do share! — 0 thru 9

Now for something completely different...

Well... to be honest my only valued take away from this epic ordeal of change in leadership in the USA is this:

The nightly news in the country I live in (Austria) no longer has to dedicate 4 to 5 minutes of valuable time to the daily topic of:

"What new vitriolic brain fart did that Orange Julius Caesar Asshat Trump spew forth today..."

My personal 'happy part' of this transition is that finally I don't have to hear about the USA every fucking day of my life, in spite of the fact I choose to no longer live there.

I can finally have the focus of news put back onto things that actually concern my life in Austria and Europe, instead of the constant and tedious reminders of what I already know and what I've tried my best to leave behind me... that being:

Yes Greg... you do come from the stupid country.

:up:

This probably isn't what you are looking for, nor is it really a documentary, but I found it absolutely fascinating. It was not at all what I expected.

The more I watched the more the story became incredible.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2032218/

I feel I'm in a bit of an ethical quandary.

Where the line between 'sounds like' and 'copy-write violation'?

Probably one of my favorite recently released songs from DIIV "Under the Sun" (a marriage between Joy Division and The Cure) always sounded a bit more than vaguely familiar.

Today going thru some of my unusual CDs I found this and I had a 'that's it' moment.

Now I'm not too sure what to think.

Anyway...

This is DIIV (2015):

and this is Servotron (1998):

Tomorrow are they gonna fly all those Trump 2020 flags at half mast?

If nothing else, the shit storm gave us this image...

The deception with tact
Just what are you trying to say?
You got a blank face, which irritates
Communicate, pull out your party piece
You see dimensions in two
State your case with black or white
But when one little cross
Leads to shots, grit your teeth
You run for cover so discreet

The impression that you sell
Passes in and out like a scent
But the long face that you see
Comes from living close to your fears
If this is up, then I'm up
But you're running out of sight
You've seen your name on the walls
And when one little bump
Leads to shock miss a beat
You run for cover and there's heat

Then it's easy to believe
Somebody's been lying to me
But when the wrong word
Goes in the right ear
I know you've been lying to me
It's getting rough, off the cuff
I've got to say enough's enough
Bigger the harder, he falls
But when the wrong antidote
Is like a bulge on the throat
You run for cover in the heat
Why don't they

Do what they say
Say what you mean
Oh baby, one thing leads to another
You told me something wrong
I know I listen too long
But then one thing leads to another

Maybe it's just worse due to the vacation? — frank

They were able thru network theory and contact tracing to identify the many origins and source of the new clusters... over 80% were linked to the vacations themselves and activities where the vacationers upon their return came into further contact with social grouping... most of the grouping also in violation of a whole number of guidelines and rules.

While indeed there were mild cases that went undetected that wasn't the real catalyst for this shit show.

btw... the vacationers were not just younger people at beaches. The elderly have taken up the charge to 'spread the good word' by bus vacations as usual. It's a collective failure.

Apparently, 'human nature' is a COVID-19 risk-factor. — 180 Proof

There's no cure for the willfully stupid. To be honest, I'm not too sure how to prevent it.

I have to say one things I've noticed in all of the 'freedom at all costs' apologetic replies...

... 'existential crisis' has really been dumbed down in the past few years.

'Give me convenience even if it gives them death'.

Well, as long as they are not promoting pseudoscience of preference and non-peer reviewed findings I'd say they are doing their job as they should and being responsible to their relationship with knowledge.

At the moment I can't seem to make heads or tails of what relationship you are referring to.

It seems you are still sort of holding scientists responsible for the misguided actions of others, as if those are somehow predictable and certain outcomes.

I wonder if the manufactures of the baseball bats I own to play baseball should face criminal charges for the actions of football hooligans?

If the science doesn't have intentions of malice in the results, how exactly are they supposed to be held responsible for the actions of malice others do by misusing their findings?

I can't speak to the reasons why the spread of the virus has increased in other countries, but I can say something about Austria.

Austria was one of the first counties to place a lockdown into effect. We had a great deal of mild panic in the beginning, but it really settled down after a few days. Home office became the norm. Home schooling became an ordeal, but for the most part Austria was well prepared with decent internet connections and all teachers being able to do online classes.

Once the masks were proven to be somewhat effective, Austria took little time to put measures into effect to make masks norms without endless debate. Sure it was strange and to a degree inconvenient, but hey it helped a lot.

We used network theory to help find potential hot spots and clusters before they formed. The models were extremely helpful and yes... were a major player in the fight against this virus.

We did home office and got that up and running as well as it could run very quickly. We set up social programs to have partial employment of those in sectors that were very much exposed to the virus as to keep people employed with most of the incomes and keep business afloat without too many going belly up.

We did home schooling and yes parent for a brief moment came to value the profession of teachers. Thankfully Austria has a very good internet service and for those who were in a disadvantage they rather quickly found aid to help their kids still learn.

Sure some folks complained about not getting haircuts or being able to go to the fitness center, but for the vast majority such measures were viewed as absolutely necessary. Austria became, for a short while, a model of success in the battle.

OK... the number of cases were worked down fairly quickly from a 7 day moving average of about 740 new cases in late March to a moving average of between 25 to 35 new cases from the end of May to the end of June.

Today we had over 3,500 new cases and now a moving 7 day average of new cases over well over 2000. (and to think during all of May and June we had only 2,300 new cases in total)

So, what happened?

More or less the people became very comfortable with the virus . They also became impatient with the governing authorities and wanted life as usual. As we began to slowly reopen the people put pressure upon the political authorities to quicken the removal of restrictions much faster than the medical community recommended. Once a restriction was loosened the people took to it like American shoppers on Black Friday. If the restrictions stated a social gather of 50 people was the maximum there was no social gathering happening under 70 people. Basically the pushed every loosing of the restrictions to the very limit of the law and beyond.

The watershed moment came when the people placed extreme pressure upon the government that summer vacations outside Austria for Austrians and of course having tourism return for a few weeks in summer was SO NECESSARY to keep themselves sane and of course to recover a small bit of the losses in the economy.

So for the final month of the season Austria reopened. Now there were restrictions and guidelines, but hey... it's a vacation... which meant a vacation from the guidelines as well.

Prior to the vacation is a must the cases were beginning to go on the rise once more, but it 'seemed' a slow and 'manageable' increase from the perspective of the people demanding a vacation and the political heads remembering that they are exactly that political heads... they needed the people's support to keep their jobs.

Of course the medical professions were stating over and over this is going to be really bad, but no one cared to listen. The populist talking heads constantly mentioned how there are so many beds free in our super equipped hospitals for patients and as long as that's the case why constrict anyone's freedom. (once I heard this BS I kind of felt the virus quietly say "Yummie!")

As if someone set off a light switch the numbers exactly 2 weeks after the vacation season was over exploded like never before, but the people grew found of the reacquired social mobility and the 'liberty of the individual' was touted as the real important issue in debates. In the case of Austria mostly by the liberal parties, especially the Greens. (this ain't America)

So... after nearly 3 months of lockdown and nearly beating this damned virus, the NEED for a vacation for 4 weeks has caused us to be in worse shape than ever thought. Well... more than ever thought by the people, as the folks in the medical professions kept saying 'this is a very bad idea... a very bad idea indeed'.

So now we are on the verge of another lockdown, but they can't call it that, but that's what it's gonna be. At the moment the government turned back into a political theater with wishy washy restrictions that seem to change on a daily basis. They set up a 'Corona Stop Light'... after weeks of debate and anticipation, well... on the first day it was presented if was already redundant. That's what happens when the science is no longer done by scientists, but by political science appointees. It's a total mess.

Personally I hope the people of Austria remember how nice those 4 weeks of vacation were when they realize that the entire Ski vacation season in Austria (the entire industry of Ski Vacations!!!) will be more or less a total bust. Basically 4 weeks of vacation will likely kill off 5 months of a ski season... the single biggest money maker in the tourist sector and the 3rd most important sector of the Austrian economy.

I just hope the 'selfies' were nice, as they'll have all winter to admire them while they find themselves unemployed.

To be honest, I've never really heard of these reprint databases. Probably because they simply aren't necessary for me to gain access to the journal articles.

I'm happy nothing I've been a part of publishing is to be found here, as it would have been re-printed without any consent.

As I was not aware of these databases, I can't say if any of the journals we publish in have restrictions or not.

Then again, most of what we publish is in German, so maybe it fails the language criteria, if they have one.

Funny... I could not find a single article published by any one my colleagues on arXiv, medRxiv or bioRxiv.

As these platforms are not journals in themselves, are there standards for peer review?

Is there any standard in place to prevent the dissemination of articles from predatory journals?

Is it possible that no such measure exists for the simple reason that the mind actually doesn't age? — TheMadFool

I don't think that is the complication. The aging of the mind may play a role in it's development, be that an increase or a decline in capacity, but I believe the real issue here is an overall standard of measure that will apply to every context in which one can discuss mental age. In short, the mental decline in one context, say chess is X, but in another context might be Y. What if X is 30 and Y is 80?

As to the chess issue, perhaps one can build a case within that particular game for mental age. The problem is the result will be subject to the established measure for chess; thus the result would only apply to chess. (btw... thanks for catching the intended irony of the cherry picking - note the "Indeed this isn't a large sample size, but... ") as to plea a special case as if it is a general norm for all cases creates far more problems than it ever solves

So as I see it...

Is there a context that can contain all possible context in which one can speak of 'mental age'?

I don't know of a context that can fulfill this role, but perhaps someone does.

Perhaps I need to clarify...

By open access I mean 'open source', as in open to the public.

To my knowledge the vast majority of journals I access, being in Orthopedics, Sports Medicine, Dietary Science and Rheumatology, are not open source, as in open to the public.

Indeed the economics involved with the publishing process play a role, but no journal I know of is there as a profit making enterprise.

One of the main reasons as to this not being open source is the tendency for patients to self-medicate or misunderstand a potential treatment or medication and subsequently petitioning the medical professionals without end to treat them with this misunderstood option. (in the case of Rheumatology, we have patients calling the main office of the Professional Organization at least 2 to 4 times a week claiming to be 'professionals in the field' and demanding access to journals and other sensitive information)

I know this sort of discretion with such information in Austria is the norm, but in the USA or the UK I'm not up to date. Things such as Pharmaceutical Companies giving out 'goodies' at medical conferences have been eliminated for quite some time now and to have them create advertisements prescription medication to the public is forbidden. (in short none of those commercials where you are told to 'ask if this is right for you' you have in the USA)

As Pharmaceutical Companies fund the majority of the research a control needs to be put into place and one of these controls is in open public access that can potentially turn into a means for commercial gain at the cost of quality medical care.

For that matter the people who attend a medical conference have to have a proper accreditation. These are not open source to the public and in the event patient are needed (as is the case in medical workshops dealing with various illnesses) these patients are carefully escorted as to not grant them access to any other part of the conference where they do not have an accreditation other than the workshops where they play a role in hands on techniques involved in those sessions.

Why are scientists responsible for someone else's relationship with knowledge?

In short... a scientist is responsible for the things they say, but are not responsible for someone else's understanding what has been said.

Indeed they will try to explain a statement, but at some point in the fray the listener has to make some effort in the understanding and some indication that they are (possibly) not a scientist.

Perhaps the problem isn't science or the scientists, but the people (laymen) who are presumptuous and self-assuming of understanding of science or the finding of scientists?

In science if you don't understand something a scientist asks a question, but what a scientist doesn't do is issue an accusation those who understand or a grievance against their ability to understand. In science you make an effort to learn.

Also, in science, if you don't know or it's not your field in all cases I've experienced a good scientist will make reference another colleague who is knowledgeable in the field, saying 'ask them'. If they do make a statement it always has the preface of 'this is not my particular field of study, so take what I say with a grain of salt'.

Ironically this is the hubris of the layman... the one who has not studied in the field, who is too quick to understand and who employs psychological deflection in the blaming to those who are actually being humble in their statements in science as being arrogant.

All that said, scientists are not evil. They are human beings doing the job we hired them to do, and they very reasonably prioritize their kids college education over the fate of civilization etc, which as parents is also their valid job. — Hippyhead

This assumes that scientists have been hired to simply do a job (who is the 'we' who hired them?), as many do it out of a passion for understanding and building upon knowledge further knowledge where the 'hired for the job' aspect plays a lesser role. It also assumes they have kids and it assumes they want their assumed kids to go to college and assumes that they prioritize their assumed kids over the possible greater good of humanity (whatever that means).

Why is all of this perceived within the context of economics and assumed social dynamics of parenting?

Also, if scientists are human and some humans have agendas and goals deemed to be 'evil' within a given social structure, why assume that scientists are not potentially evil?

Again... science isn't the problem or a death trap, but rather humans.

... that scientists have a built in bias towards the acquisition of ever more knowledge, ... — Hippyhead

Why call that a 'bias'?

If anything the acquisition of more knowledge via scientific methods is itself the prevention of a bias.

This might be worth a read: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2917255/

EDIT:

In addition to this I'd add in that for quality science to be applied one needs to be fully aware of cognitive biases... here are examples in that a check list that is applied when a study is peer reviewed or as I like to call it a mental colonoscopy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases