#bad information

[king-minyard]

this website I just found: it's okay to keep one guppy in at least a one gallon tank! three gallons for two guppies!!

me:

[ambient-entropy]

[ambient-entropy]

[cosmologicalhedgehogephemera]

Conspiracy theories like QAnon are ultimately a social problem rather than a cognitive one. We should blame politics, not the faulty reasoning of individuals.

Cited from the article: “What is remarkable fifty years later is the extent to which the real world has disappeared from our discussions of conspiracy theories. We have replaced social and economic conditions with cognitive deficiencies, ancient mythologies with logical fallacies, history with atavistic biases. It is not just that we have projected the causes of conspiracism deep into the recesses of the human brain; we assume that these depths are easier to know than the world that surrounds us and more amenable to reform. The champions of debunking and the new information vigilantes are not interested in entertaining the possibility that the root cause of conspiracy theories may be located outside the mind and may require a reexamination of our economic and social arrangements. For them, the world is fine as it is; it is all a matter of bringing people in alignment with a reality which they fail to appreciate. Steven Pinker, one of the paladins of truth and rationality, suggests implementing nothing less than “debiasing” programs that would help individuals see that there is nothing wrong with the world and that everything will be okay if we let those in charge take care of it. The imperative is to adapt to a world given a free pass and avoid the temptation of meddling with it. Debunking ultimately turns out to be a defense of the status quo—not because conspiracy theories may be true, but because it uses them to further restrict the space for politics. “ This puts in such great language the reason why Steven Pinker is so immensely annoying. Recommended read!

[elminx]

Incorrect things About the Winter Solstice That I've Read (so far) This Morning

1. That it's the "Great Conjunction" - no...that was last year when Jupiter and Saturn met up at 00 Aquarius....are you recycling content?!?

2. That the Earth "tilts" today - ummmm...WHAT?!? If the Earth tilted more on a particular day it would be really bad for life...the Earth is tilted (to the same degree give or take) ALL OF THE TIME. For a lot of places, this isn't even the darkest day - for real, look it up.

Because knowing is half the battle. (Go Joe?!?)

[tonyjwash]

Walking in the Mud...

Walking in the Mud…

“Some days you’re the bug and some days you’re the windshield.” “Some days you’re the dog and some days you’re the hydrant.” “Some days you’re the hammer and some days you’re the nail.” I’m sure we have all felt like that at times. Some days for some inexplicable reason everything feels hard and laborious compared to days when everything feels effortless and easy. Just what exactly is going on…

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[taperwolf]

Sometimes, I worry about the increasing tendency we have of going to automated sources for answers — that we're confusing data with information, and knowledge with wisdom — and that we're asking our questions of computers, rather than people.

Then I slap myself in the forehead and remind myself that I've met people.

The particular thing that set this off was when I wondered who the second named woman in the Bible was. Eve was the first, of course — she shows up in either the first or second chapter of Genesis, depending on whether you consider her first appearance to be the first creation story (when God creates "man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them") or the second creation story (the one with the bit about the rib); either way she's not given a name until the third chapter — but I couldn't for the life of me remember another named woman until Sarai/Sarah, the wife of Abraham. Surely there couldn't have been that whole span without another?

Well, yes, there could have been; the Bible isn't big on women. But was Sarah the second? I found a Quora user who'd asked this very question, and had gotten some truly terrible answers, from supposedly real people.

The first respondent didn't actually answer the question — he seemed to be going off on a rant on how hard it is to write Hebrew. The second said that the second named woman in the Bible was Lillith — who is a fascinating character but is not in Genesis (she was, according to folklore, Adam's first wife, and the one referred to in the first version of the creation story, and was expelled for wanting equality) — she does show up in the Bible, but not until a passing mention in Isaiah (Isaiah 34:14, and not all translations come out and say "Lillith" — sometimes she's "the night hag", sometimes she's "the screech owl"). A third said that sure, it was Sarah, which is incorrect. These are all identified people, and the upvoting or preference sorting or whatever Quora does didn't sort the actual answer to the top.

The actual answer was also in there. It's a weird story. See, in the 4th chapter, after Cain gets double-cast-out for killing his brother Abel, he finds a wife somewhere (she's never given a name, but I guess she must have been his sister? There just weren't other people around). Cain, for some unfathomable reason, builds a city for the two of them, or rather, the three of them, because it's named after his son Enoch (no, not that Enoch). Enoch finds an unmentioned wife, and they have Irad; Irad has Mehujael, Mehujael has Methusael, and Methusael has Lamech (no, not that Lamech). Lamech is the first polygamist in the book, and marries the second and third named women, Adah and Zillah. There's a weird bit about how his kids are the inventors of tents, musical instruments, and metalworking — and there's a named daughter, Namaah, who didn't do anything, but she's number four! — and then Lamech kills some random guy and either whines or brags about it, and that's the end of the story.

After that there's a bunch — lots of begats, and the Flood, and the tower of Babel — but none of it with a single named woman, until we hit the end of chapter 11, and we meet Abram, taking to wife Sarai. So she's the fifth named woman in the Bible, not the second.

I'm sure you're all glad to know that.

[placeholder-0]

I don't do well when I fuck up. I wish I had radical acceptance because that's what I preach to others. It's okay to fuck up. But it's ok for others and not for me. Because it's always something stupid and if someone says it's okay or to forget about it, I can't. I feel like there needs to be some kind of penance or something so I can be forgiven. I have no idea why my brain works this way but it's what I feel and all I'm sorry.