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Sci-Fi

May 21, 2023 · 2 min read · Prattle

Deep Space 9, Season 6, Episode 9 - 'Statistical Probabilities' This episode introduces the ridiculous notion that clever people can predict the future with clever Maths, and it's very special. Most sci-fi relies on now-but-later ideas of how the world works, and fancy special effects, to entertain. This episode didn't …

Alternative School Programs

May 12, 2023 · 6 min read · Learning

I find it bizarre how similar all schooling is, and how few alternatives people have tried. Of course some experiments exist, such as Summer Hill, run by Neil, which famously did not demand that pupils attend any classes, and showed why children would attend classes anyway. And of course different schools exist - …

Critical Thinking: An Introduction

May 7, 2023 · 3 min read · Prattle Philosophy

Fallacies and critical thinking are all the rage in some circles, but I hear a lot about (and occasionally experience) people making 'logic-noises' who clearly haven't studied the subject. In fact, they seem unaware one can take a University course in the subject, as they've missed the first lesson every student of …

Auto Eugenics

Apr 28, 2023 · 5 min read · Politics Philosophy

Once in a while I hear of someone who's decided to not have children because of bad ideas. I don't want to argue that anyone should or should not have children, but I do want to remove those bad ideas. The bad ideas usually go something like this: "I have this condition, and I don't think I should inflict that on …

University Degrees are Weird

Apr 26, 2023 · 1 min read · Prattle Learning

I imagine the conversation between a University and potential student going like this: 1 I'd like to get qualified in a subject. Four years. 1 Woah there, I haven't told you what I want to learn yet. Doesn't matter. Everything takes four years to learn. 1 Really? Everything? Art and medicine? Computing and Sociology? …

Building a Meme in Under a Month

Apr 20, 2023 · 10 min read · Security Politics

People have parroted that old cyber-security phrase - 'depends on the threat model' - so often, so quickly, and so vacuously, that I find my toes curling at the sound of it. But after a run-in with the mods on Reddit's /r/privacy, some noteworthy gaffs came up which made the old phrase feel new. It started with …

Neutral News

Apr 15, 2023 · 3 min read · Prattle Politics

"News sources are biased", and "everyone lives in a bubble", we all hear constantly (or perhaps that's just my bubble). But what would a non-biased news source look like? Taking a strict middle-ground gives immediately ridiculous conclusions. Perhaps the UK's food banks suggest some problem, but not much of a problem? …

Pens Must Die

Mar 30, 2023 · 2 min read · Prattle Prognostication

I'll miss pens when they go. I like how they feel. I like that handwriting is almost impossible to fake. I like that when I receive a letter, I can tell who sent it just from how they write the address. But it all has to go. Pens have some advantages over computers. One can generally access a pen-record faster - just …

The Inescapable Algorithm

Mar 27, 2023 · 2 min read · Prattle FOSS

I wake, and enter my algorithm-free RSS feed. It is perfect and pure. I see a list (in the order I select) of everyone I want to follow. YouTube channels show up just like everything else, and I see only the name. With a quick shortcut-key, I tell the computer I want to watch the video later. Onto the next feed, I find …

Do Mention the War

Mar 3, 2023 · 1 min read · Prattle Learning Memoirs

I felt so very bored with learning in high school that WWII was bad. The lesson plan, as far as I remember, was this: War happened, it was bad. It was bad the war happened. Nazis did a war, which was bad. Nazis did it because of racism, which is also bad. (English class) Poetry about how the war was bad 11 Million dead …