Gigs Shrugged

Entropy, in lay terms, is a measure of the disorder or chaos in a system.  Anyone who has to keep a house clean can tell you that entropy tends to increase on its own.

Our current understanding of the second law of thermodynamics is that entropy in a closed system will tend to increase.  It doesn’t, however, steadily increase.  It will only increase in long run, taking a statistical random walk on the way.

The stunning implication here is that there is a non-zero chance that entropy will drastically decrease.  It’s infinitesimally small, but it’s non-zero.  An example I saw used once is that you might start a game of pool with a nice hard break, and there’s a non-zero chance that all the balls will wind up exactly back where they began.

The odds of this happening are so small that we can generally ignore them.  But suppose the universe is enduring.  Suppose that time goes on forever.  A non-zero chance taken over a period of infinity is guaranteed to happen eventually.

The ultimate implication here is that every moment that has been, and will ever be, will happen again.  Not only will it happen again, but it will happen an infinite number of times.  Next time you have a feeling of Déjà vu, maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it.

1. Wish Cris would change the status tag to “Banninated”
2. Watch threads devolve into flame wars…  Without my help!
3. Sleep.  Lots.
4. Go Grocery Shopping
5. Cook more (bacon)
6. Worry that people I respect might have taken those deliberately outrageous posts seriously
7. Work on that project that I really should be working on but I keep putting it off
8. Actually log on to SL (gasp)
9. Rotate my canned foods
10. Write a lot more blog posts, like this one!

While I’m not the least controversial character, I usually don’t embrace drama for drama’s sake.  I want to post about my recent banning from SLU to clear the air about certain things though.

1. Cris was absolutely justified in banning me.
2. It’s only for a week.
3. The threads were as described, various extremely tasteless “parody threads”.
4. They were just parodies and I don’t really feel that way about any of the attacked groups.

At the time the “stupid libertarian” thread was building up, I was in bed with food poisoning.  This much of it wasn’t Richie’s fault, but it did contribute to me flying off the handle, especially since I still felt pretty awful when I logged on.

As for why I did it, basically see Cale’s thread.  It wasn’t just that a couple people were attacking me, more upsetting was that no one was particularly calling them on it.  Cale sums up the situation nicely and I appreciate her being a rational voice.  It means that much more because I know she rarely agrees with me.  I do enjoy discussing politics with the majority of people on SLU, even if I only rarely get agreement.

See you all in a week or so.

It seems a lot of arguments these days are using the logic, “If it saves one person, then it’s worth it”, where “it” is … pretty much anything.  It doesn’t matter how expensive, draconian, or detrimental “it” is, if it saves just one life then it’s all worth it!

More formally this could be expressed as:

1. X provides benefit Y
2. The value of Y can’t be measured
3. Therefore X is justified no matter what the cost

To make this concrete:

1. Embedded RFID chips can detect kidnapped children in public places
2. The value of a kidnapped child’s life is unmeasurable
3. Therefore mandatory embedding of RFID chips in every child is justified

Or a more mundane example:

1. Corporate charity sponsorship foster consumer goodwill
2. Consumer goodwill is a largely unmeasurable benefit
3. Therefore large charity budgets are justified

And very closely related:

1. Doing Y has a minuscule chance of killing someone
2. The cost of someone dying is unmeasurable
3. Therefore no one should do Y

I don’t believe this logical fallacy has been formally described before.  If it doesn’t have a name, I suggest calling it “Appeal to unmeasurable value”.

The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered. -Thomas Jefferson

As if it’s not enough to crap up every article with hundreds of pointless [citation needed] tags on every clause of every sentence they happen to disagree with, there’s this type of mess:

An unused highway may reference a highway or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed but was unused[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] or later closed.[10][11][12] An unused ramp can be referred to as a ghost ramp, stub ramp,[13] stub street,[14][2][15] stub-out,[2] or simply stub.[16][17]

17 sources and 19 citations for what amounts to a dictionary definition.  Way to make a readable encyclopedia.

Even worse, take a look at the source code:
An '''unused highway''' may reference a [[highway]] or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed but was unused”US&R and NY-TF1 Practice for the Real Thing.” City of New York 20 June 2005. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/news/05_06_20_usar_mobex.shtml].”Kentucky Model Access Management Ordinance.” Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Oct. 2004. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://transportation.ky.gov/planning/traffic/access_files/KY%20Model%20Local%20AM%20Ordinance.pdf].”Barrie (City) v. 1606533 Ontario Inc.”, 2005 CanLII 24746 (ON S.C.). 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.canlii.ca/on/cas/onsc/2005/2005onsc14170.html].Iowa House. 1998. House File 686., 77th, H.R. 0686. [http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/77GA/BillHistory/HF/00600/HF00686.html] [http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/77GA/Legislation/HF/00600/HF00686/Current.html].”PETITIONED PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT.” New York City. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/brookfield/bal_p1.html].House. 1993. LAND TITLE AMENDMENT ACT, 1993. 35th Parliament, 2nd sess., H.R. 78. [http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/35th2nd/h0721pm.htm].Munroe, Tapan. “TRENDS ANALYSIS for PARKS & RECREATION: 2000 AND BEYOND.” California Park & Recreation Society Jan. 1999. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.cprs.org/pdf/trends2000.pdf]“Chapter 5: Detailed Comparison of Alternatives – Seattle.” SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Project, Washington Department of Transportation, 2 May. 2005. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.sr520deiscomments.com/Pages/SR520_DEIS_Section7.pdf] [http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/FEE76803-E971-4DEE-BA3D-06D6A2F64D6B/0/SR520DEIS_AppendixEPart1.pdf].Anderson, Steve. “CT 11 Expressway.” New York City Roads. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.nycroads.com/roads/CT-11/]. or later closed.”Leasing of Closed Highways Regulation”, Alta. Reg. 36/1986. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.canlii.ca/ab/laws/regu/1986r.36/20061113/whole.html].”R. v. Sanders”, 2004 NBPC 12 (CanLII). 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.canlii.ca/nb/cas/nbpc/2004/2004nbpc12.html].”HIGHWAY CLOSINGS”, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 599. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.canlii.ca/on/laws/regu/1990r.599/20061120/whole.html]. An unused ramp can be referred to as a ”’ghost ramp”’, ”’stub ramp”’,{{PDFlink|[http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/transit/ptr_newsletter/2006_october.pdf Washington State Department of Transportation Public Transportation and Rail Division Monthly News, October 2006, page 4]|286 [[Kibibyte|KiB]]}}, accessed [[December 28]], [[2006]] ”’stub street”’,Sommer, Dick. “Ten Ways to Manage Roadway Access in Your Community.” Ohio Department of Transportation, 2005. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.dot.state.oh.us/roadwayengineering/documents/access_management/10ways2005.pdf].Bauserman, Christian E. “DELAWARE COUNTY ENGINEER’S DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION & SURVEYING STANDARDS.” 18 May, 1998. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.dot.state.oh.us/prod/ROW/CtyCvy/delaware.pdf]. ”’stub-out”’, or simply ”’stub”’.Geiger, Gene. “Ohio DOT Constructs I-670 over a Water Treatment Sludge Lagoon in Columbus.” Ohio LTAP Quarterly. Ohio Department of Transportation. 15:3 (1999) [http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ltap/Newsletters/1999/Q4/Fall%201999.pdf].”CITY OF UNION, KENTUCKY.” City of Union, Kentucky 23 June 2006. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.cityofunionky.org/files/19078672.htm].

That’s the source code for the first sentence. Yes, just like that with no linebreaks.  If you feel motivated to fix this mess of an article, it’s here: Unused Highway

Zara Linden unilaterally approves SL gambling scheme?

This came up on my playlist, I think it’s appropriate:

Don't need no fast buck lame duck profits for fun
Quick trick plans, take the money and run
We need long term, slow burn, getting it done
And some straight talking, hard working son of a gun.
Whatcha doin tonight, I got faith in our generation
Lets stick together and futurize our attitudes
I ain't lookin' to fight, but I know with determination
We can challenge the schemers who cheat all the rules

I just tried out this system. I paid 500 L$ and got 500 Z$. I played a few hands of blackjack on a fairly well written machine, betting 100 Z$ per hand. I got my balance up to 600 Z$ and decided to quit while I was ahead.

I went to the cash out game, it’s a matching game like concentration.
You pay 1 L$ to play, and you get a free Z$ for trying. You have 2 minutes to complete a 4×4 game of concentration. You’d have to be really really slow or bad at it to lose. If you lose the match game, you don’t lose and Z$. So you can play as many times as you need to until you cash out successfully. There is nothing at-risk in the game of skill.

(Image Credit: Jeff Kubina)

We look at the world through windows on which have been drawn grids (concepts). Different philosophies use different grids.

A culture is a group of people with rather similar grids. Through a window we view chaos, and relate it to the points on our grid, and thereby understand it. The ORDER is in the GRID. That is the Aneristic Principle.

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It seems that clever trolling is really a lost art. I’m of the opinion that trolling should be a pure expression of Socratic irony. Somewhere along the way, the whole “pissing people off” part has taken center stage, to the detriment of the higher purpose of actually making some sort of (useful) point.
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Your moment of developer’s Zen for today:

Software is like a penis, the more flexible it is, it the less useful it is.

I’m still simmering two articles in my head. Keep your eyes peeled for “Technological Platform Capital”, and “The Invisible Hand of Open Source”, coming soon to a blog near you (this one).