Well, I'll be completely honest with you.
I couldn't figure out how to do a 43-man bracket.
Laugh all you want. Yes, yes.
However, I still have a fair way to make matches for this. The seeding will still be determined by C-SPAN's 2009 Presidential Rankings. The highest seeds will always play the lowest seeds.
Let the one-on-one basketball begin tomorrow.
Abraham Lincoln gets a first-round bye, for being top seed.
Friday, March 19, 2010
The Seasons
With the rapidly approaching vernal equinox, I thought I'd get into the spirit of the season and talk about seasons.
But is spring actually approaching?
What we call spring should not be defined as such. Think for a moment of the Earth as it travels around the Sun. Spring and fall each begin with an equinox, when the Sun is directly over a point of the Equator. Summer and winter each begin with a solstice, when the Sun is furthest from the Equator.
But these definitions are stupid. We say that the three months after each of these events is a season.
It makes far more sense to define the seasons as 1.5 months on either side of the celestial event. The vernal equinox should occur IN THE MIDDLE of spring, not at the beginning!
Think I'm crazy? Consider summer and winter. These are supposed to be the times of most extreme weather, hot and cold. However, the days theoretically hottest and coldest (with all other variables removed) would be the solstices and the days surrounding them. Why do we call the days leading up to the summer solstice spring, when they're part of those hottest days?
So maybe for you, spring begins tomorrow afternoon. But for me, it began over a month ago.
But is spring actually approaching?
What we call spring should not be defined as such. Think for a moment of the Earth as it travels around the Sun. Spring and fall each begin with an equinox, when the Sun is directly over a point of the Equator. Summer and winter each begin with a solstice, when the Sun is furthest from the Equator.
But these definitions are stupid. We say that the three months after each of these events is a season.
It makes far more sense to define the seasons as 1.5 months on either side of the celestial event. The vernal equinox should occur IN THE MIDDLE of spring, not at the beginning!
Think I'm crazy? Consider summer and winter. These are supposed to be the times of most extreme weather, hot and cold. However, the days theoretically hottest and coldest (with all other variables removed) would be the solstices and the days surrounding them. Why do we call the days leading up to the summer solstice spring, when they're part of those hottest days?
So maybe for you, spring begins tomorrow afternoon. But for me, it began over a month ago.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
March Madness: PST2
At one point or another, we've all found ourselves pondering the United States Presidents and thinking "Who would win in a one-on-one basketball tournament?"
Well, boy, do I have some good news for you.
I'm going to answer that question for you over the next weeks in...
PRESIDENTIAL SUPER TOURNAMENT 2:
One-on-one Basketball
I'll make up a proper bracket and post it tomorrow, but let me put forth a list of assumptions we will make for the sake of this tournament.
1. Everyone knows the rules of basketball.
2. The fitness of each man is determined by the time during his presidency.
3. The ref is from Switzerland.
And so, no longer will you have to ponder whether Abe Lincoln was master of the dribble, or if George Washington was makin' buckets, or if James Buchanan could play with balls.
(Presidents will be seeded by their position in C-Span's latest presidential ranking list.)
Well, boy, do I have some good news for you.
I'm going to answer that question for you over the next weeks in...
PRESIDENTIAL SUPER TOURNAMENT 2:
One-on-one Basketball
I'll make up a proper bracket and post it tomorrow, but let me put forth a list of assumptions we will make for the sake of this tournament.
1. Everyone knows the rules of basketball.
2. The fitness of each man is determined by the time during his presidency.
3. The ref is from Switzerland.
And so, no longer will you have to ponder whether Abe Lincoln was master of the dribble, or if George Washington was makin' buckets, or if James Buchanan could play with balls.
(Presidents will be seeded by their position in C-Span's latest presidential ranking list.)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Who was the best president of the Gilded Age?
Recently, I put on a test about the Gilded Age the following essay question:
"Who was the best president of the Gilded Age? Why?"
I got answers of Grant, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, and Harrison. Sorry, Rutherford B. Hayes. Nobody loves you, apparently.
To be fair, about half of the people who said Arthur only said so because "He's Jay's favorite president and Jay is smart and Jay wouldn't like a bad president."
To this essay, I commented something along the lines of thinking that Cleveland is the best president of the Gilded Age and that Arthur is indeed my favorite, but not the greatest.
Why is Cleveland the best president of the era? In short, because he made good moves regardless of political gain. No one else really seemed very successful at this, except maybe Arthur. But Cleveland had something that Arthur lacked, and that's people who'd renominate him.
Starting in the election, Cleveland knew how to handle himself. The election of 1884 was one of the greatest mud-slinging festivals in history. "Ma, ma, where's my Pa?" yelled Republicans. Cleveland had a bastard child. And so, he stood up and admitted what he had done. The people seem to have forgiven him, as he defeated James G. Blaine of Maine.
In his first term, Cleveland found a surplus. Can you believe that? A national surplus. No debt of trillions of dollars. No debt at all. Negative debt, in fact! But, along the lines of Hamiltonian thinking, Cleveland was embarrassed by this extra money lying around and wanted to get rid of it. (This wasn't immediately accomplished, but the Billion Dollar Congress during Harrison's term sure lost the money.)
In the same term, he also took a firm stand on the place of government in people's lives. There was a drought in Texas and Cleveland vetoed a bill to give Texan farmers seeds. "Though the people should support the government, the government should not support the people." This statement can't be a popular thing to say, but Ol' Grover takes a stand against the strong Congress and wins this round.
Like many other presidents of the era, Cleveland attempted to lower the tariff rates. But Congress wasn't losing this round. As happened to other presidents, Congress starts with a nice low tariff bill and then tacks on more and more until it's basically the exact opposite of what Cleveland wanted. Congress does win this round.
However, as I said, Cleveland is not the only president this happened to. Harrison would soon sign the McKinley Tariff, the highest in our nation's history. Arthur attempted to lower rates, but Congress would only almost negligibly lower them.
Cleveland also made a very important move for decreasing sectionalism in politics. His cabinet had two former Confederates in it. It may seem to you that "Well it was 20 years since the Civil War, obviously no one cares anymore about former Confederates." Well, that's not really true. It had only been 8 years since Reconstruction had ended, and Jim Crow laws ran rampant in the South, along with grandfather clauses and literacy tests, anything to keep down the blacks almost as they had been pre-Civil War. The South and North were vastly different and were voting vastly differently. Cleveland began to soothe the tension.
Speaking of the Civil War, veterans really really wanted nice pensions. Congress and the presidents were generally satisfied to give these men such pensions. But Cleveland was the first president since Andrew Johnson to not be a Civil War veteran himself and had no problem vetoing bills for these pensions.
Of course, Cleveland lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888. But he still won the popular vote, and came back to win the election of 1892.
In his second term, Cleveland no longer had to worry about an embarrassing surplus. Instead, he could take solace in the Panic of 1893. As always, overspeculation is the main cause of this depression. But a greater problem arose during this depression for Cleveland.
People were exchanging their old greenbacks for gold currency. The banks were required by law to give away the gold. The Treasury's gold reserve kept shrinking and shrinking. It shrank below the "safe" level of $100 million.
Cleveland makes the most unpopular and most necessary move of either of his terms. He goes to rich man J.P. Morgan and buys $65 million worth of gold from him. People think the government has sold out, but Cleveland quite possibly saved the United States economy.
In conclusion, Cleveland is clearly the greatest president of the Gilded Age. He's not top 10 overall material, but for the time he was in, he did a phenomenal job. He wasn't afraid of making unpopular moves that he felt were right, and he avoided scandals and corruption. If he were to run for president today, I'd seriously consider him as worthy of my vote.
"Who was the best president of the Gilded Age? Why?"
I got answers of Grant, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, and Harrison. Sorry, Rutherford B. Hayes. Nobody loves you, apparently.
To be fair, about half of the people who said Arthur only said so because "He's Jay's favorite president and Jay is smart and Jay wouldn't like a bad president."
To this essay, I commented something along the lines of thinking that Cleveland is the best president of the Gilded Age and that Arthur is indeed my favorite, but not the greatest.
Why is Cleveland the best president of the era? In short, because he made good moves regardless of political gain. No one else really seemed very successful at this, except maybe Arthur. But Cleveland had something that Arthur lacked, and that's people who'd renominate him.
Starting in the election, Cleveland knew how to handle himself. The election of 1884 was one of the greatest mud-slinging festivals in history. "Ma, ma, where's my Pa?" yelled Republicans. Cleveland had a bastard child. And so, he stood up and admitted what he had done. The people seem to have forgiven him, as he defeated James G. Blaine of Maine.
In his first term, Cleveland found a surplus. Can you believe that? A national surplus. No debt of trillions of dollars. No debt at all. Negative debt, in fact! But, along the lines of Hamiltonian thinking, Cleveland was embarrassed by this extra money lying around and wanted to get rid of it. (This wasn't immediately accomplished, but the Billion Dollar Congress during Harrison's term sure lost the money.)
In the same term, he also took a firm stand on the place of government in people's lives. There was a drought in Texas and Cleveland vetoed a bill to give Texan farmers seeds. "Though the people should support the government, the government should not support the people." This statement can't be a popular thing to say, but Ol' Grover takes a stand against the strong Congress and wins this round.
Like many other presidents of the era, Cleveland attempted to lower the tariff rates. But Congress wasn't losing this round. As happened to other presidents, Congress starts with a nice low tariff bill and then tacks on more and more until it's basically the exact opposite of what Cleveland wanted. Congress does win this round.
However, as I said, Cleveland is not the only president this happened to. Harrison would soon sign the McKinley Tariff, the highest in our nation's history. Arthur attempted to lower rates, but Congress would only almost negligibly lower them.
Cleveland also made a very important move for decreasing sectionalism in politics. His cabinet had two former Confederates in it. It may seem to you that "Well it was 20 years since the Civil War, obviously no one cares anymore about former Confederates." Well, that's not really true. It had only been 8 years since Reconstruction had ended, and Jim Crow laws ran rampant in the South, along with grandfather clauses and literacy tests, anything to keep down the blacks almost as they had been pre-Civil War. The South and North were vastly different and were voting vastly differently. Cleveland began to soothe the tension.
Speaking of the Civil War, veterans really really wanted nice pensions. Congress and the presidents were generally satisfied to give these men such pensions. But Cleveland was the first president since Andrew Johnson to not be a Civil War veteran himself and had no problem vetoing bills for these pensions.
Of course, Cleveland lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888. But he still won the popular vote, and came back to win the election of 1892.
In his second term, Cleveland no longer had to worry about an embarrassing surplus. Instead, he could take solace in the Panic of 1893. As always, overspeculation is the main cause of this depression. But a greater problem arose during this depression for Cleveland.
People were exchanging their old greenbacks for gold currency. The banks were required by law to give away the gold. The Treasury's gold reserve kept shrinking and shrinking. It shrank below the "safe" level of $100 million.
Cleveland makes the most unpopular and most necessary move of either of his terms. He goes to rich man J.P. Morgan and buys $65 million worth of gold from him. People think the government has sold out, but Cleveland quite possibly saved the United States economy.
In conclusion, Cleveland is clearly the greatest president of the Gilded Age. He's not top 10 overall material, but for the time he was in, he did a phenomenal job. He wasn't afraid of making unpopular moves that he felt were right, and he avoided scandals and corruption. If he were to run for president today, I'd seriously consider him as worthy of my vote.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Science Jokes
DISCLAIMER: I'm not original and yes, I did copy and paste these.
Two atoms were walking down the street. One turns to the other and says,
"Oh, no! I think I'm an ion!"
The other responds, "Are you sure?!?"
"Yes, I'm positive!"
Q: What is the fastest way to determine the sex of a chromosome?
A: Pull down its genes.
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions.
You enter the laboratory and see an experiment.
How will you know which class is it?
If it's green and wiggles, it's biology.
If it stinks, it's chemistry.
If it doesn't work, it's physics.
Two atoms were walking down the street. One turns to the other and says,
"Oh, no! I think I'm an ion!"
The other responds, "Are you sure?!?"
"Yes, I'm positive!"
Q: What is the fastest way to determine the sex of a chromosome?
A: Pull down its genes.
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions.
You enter the laboratory and see an experiment.
How will you know which class is it?
If it's green and wiggles, it's biology.
If it stinks, it's chemistry.
If it doesn't work, it's physics.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Song Review: "Washy Ad Jeffy"
Link to the song
Downloadable legally AND free on Jonathan Coulton's website
Lyrics:
Washy Ad Jeffy
Maddy Monroe
Ad Jackson Van Hair
Ty Po Tay Phil Pear
Bu Lincoln John Grant2
Hayes Gar Thur and Cleve
Hair Cleve and McKin
Roosevelt Taft
Wilson Hard Coolidge
Hoov Franklin Roosevelt Truman Ikey
Ken Johnson Nixon Ford Cart Reagan Bush
Clinton Dubya
And maybe you someday
And if you do they’ll say
What a fine president you made
Washy Ad Jeffy
Maddy Monroe
Ad Jackson Van Hair
Ty Po Tay Phil Pear
Bu Lincoln John Grant2
Hayes Gar Thur and Cleve
Hair Cleve and McKin
Roosevelt Taft
Wilson Hard Coolidge
Hoov Franklin Roosevelt Truman Ikey
Ken Johnson Nixon Ford Cart Reagan Bush
Clinton Dubya
First, let me acknowledge that this song lacks Obama. It's old, okay? Deal with it.
This song is meant to be a mnemonic device for remembering not only the presidents, but how many terms they served. (The number of syllables in their name is the number of terms they served. Ex: Dub-ya = 2 terms)
As a mnemonic, it fails.
It's easier to just go in and learn the information straight up. Honestly, I knew it ahead of time and had more trouble recalling the lyrics to the song even though I listened to it time and time again, back to back some of these times.
Musically, though, the light guitar and vocals are appealing.
If examined solely as a song, it's decent. If examined as a learning tool, don't bother with it.
Downloadable legally AND free on Jonathan Coulton's website
Lyrics:
Washy Ad Jeffy
Maddy Monroe
Ad Jackson Van Hair
Ty Po Tay Phil Pear
Bu Lincoln John Grant2
Hayes Gar Thur and Cleve
Hair Cleve and McKin
Roosevelt Taft
Wilson Hard Coolidge
Hoov Franklin Roosevelt Truman Ikey
Ken Johnson Nixon Ford Cart Reagan Bush
Clinton Dubya
And maybe you someday
And if you do they’ll say
What a fine president you made
Washy Ad Jeffy
Maddy Monroe
Ad Jackson Van Hair
Ty Po Tay Phil Pear
Bu Lincoln John Grant2
Hayes Gar Thur and Cleve
Hair Cleve and McKin
Roosevelt Taft
Wilson Hard Coolidge
Hoov Franklin Roosevelt Truman Ikey
Ken Johnson Nixon Ford Cart Reagan Bush
Clinton Dubya
First, let me acknowledge that this song lacks Obama. It's old, okay? Deal with it.
This song is meant to be a mnemonic device for remembering not only the presidents, but how many terms they served. (The number of syllables in their name is the number of terms they served. Ex: Dub-ya = 2 terms)
As a mnemonic, it fails.
It's easier to just go in and learn the information straight up. Honestly, I knew it ahead of time and had more trouble recalling the lyrics to the song even though I listened to it time and time again, back to back some of these times.
Musically, though, the light guitar and vocals are appealing.
If examined solely as a song, it's decent. If examined as a learning tool, don't bother with it.
Monday, March 1, 2010
High five!
A recent study on the language of touch in human interactions suggests that touch can express emotion more fully and more quickly than other forms of non-verbal communication.
It is important to note with this the universality of some non-verbal cues. An obvious example is punching someone in the face. This generally indicates anger. Generally. Certain facial expressions, such as smiling, are biologically programmed to correlate to emotions, not learned from our environment.
Over time, numerous studies have been run on the science of positive touch and performance in humans. It's been shown to make students volunteer more in their classes, to improve performance in the NBA, and prevent diarrhea.
Okay, I made that last one up. But I really wish I hadn't.
But the most interesting point is what a caring touch does chemically inside of our bodies. Something like a high five raises levels of oxytocin and lowers levels of cortisol. Oxytocin brings trust, while cortisol brings stress.
So are you feeling stressed? Go out and get yourself a high five.
It is important to note with this the universality of some non-verbal cues. An obvious example is punching someone in the face. This generally indicates anger. Generally. Certain facial expressions, such as smiling, are biologically programmed to correlate to emotions, not learned from our environment.
Over time, numerous studies have been run on the science of positive touch and performance in humans. It's been shown to make students volunteer more in their classes, to improve performance in the NBA, and prevent diarrhea.
Okay, I made that last one up. But I really wish I hadn't.
But the most interesting point is what a caring touch does chemically inside of our bodies. Something like a high five raises levels of oxytocin and lowers levels of cortisol. Oxytocin brings trust, while cortisol brings stress.
So are you feeling stressed? Go out and get yourself a high five.
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