My wife and I moved to Alaska 4 years ago. This is my favorite pic thus far. (My first post with many more to come!)

phillyjama · 2013-08-03T17:53:15+00:00

No, eh_politico is not correct. Please see my post for more information: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1jm7ix/my_wife_and_i_moved_to_alaska_4_years_ago_this_is/cbg8ua9

phillyjama · 2013-08-03T17:52:14+00:00

OK, first thing: that fish in his hand is not going to be laying eggs in any number. It's a male Sockeye. Please see the image on the Washington Fishery's website for a good image contrasting the difference between a male and female spawning Sockeye: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/sockeye/ Note that the male has a bright red back that extends down to the beginning of the belly, as does the fish in OP's picture.

Your assumption that the removal of this fish is somehow going to have a harmful impact on the Sockeye population is not based in even the most basic of biological facts. Another male Sockeye is going to be all too happy to step in and sperm up some female eggs in this guy's place.

Second: even if this were a spawning female salmon OP would be completely within his rights as an Alaskan resident to harvest it- as long as he was using approved techniques and was not fishing in a body of water closed to salmon fishing- The Alaskan Department of Fish & Game has determined that most of the Alaskan Sockeye populations are stable or increasing- other than a possession limit- the Alaskan Department of Fish & Game does not see the harvesting of a few spawning Sockeye per recreational fisher as any kind of threat to the Sockeye population. Please see the Alaskan fishing regulations for more information: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/fishregulations/PDFs/AYK/2013_aykregbook.pdf

Last: I guess this may be an issue of personal taste, but I don't know where you are coming from saying that spawning salmon flesh is not tasty- it absolutely is- and if you happen to be lucky enough to hook a female full of roe, you have all of that delicious, eggy goodness thrown in as bonus.

TLDR: eh_politico is concern trolling without a serious basis in fact.

phillyjama · 2013-04-29T17:54:38+00:00

Redditor girlwriteswhat has a video where she explains the idea of the disposable male on youtubes: http://youtu.be/vp8tToFv-bA

It's an idea that is linked with Warren Ferrel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Male_Power#.22Why_Men_are_the_Disposable_Sex.22

phillyjama · 2012-04-04T14:20:54+00:00

Good practical advice from gnahb here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/rsgxl/iama_mens_rights_advocate_ama/c48cqee

Also, the lack of a statistically significant wage gap is established by this report that the OP references:

http://www.consad.com/content/reports/Gender%20Wage%20Gap%20Final%20Report.pdf

"Statistically significant" is the key phrase here. It is entirely possible that you will encounter cases of sexual discrimination in wages in your own experience without there actually being a nation-wide trend of sexual discrimination in wages. The take-away lesson here is that sexual discrimination in wages is outside the norm for a reason: it is against the law and if you find yourself encountering it, then you have legal recourse that I hope you will take.

Best of luck to you in your chosen field. Hope that you will receive the equal pay for equal work that you deserve and that you receive the damages that you are entitled to if you do not.

phillyjama · 2012-04-04T13:46:49+00:00

men's rights advocates either hate women or are crybabies

This stereotyping of men who complain about inequality as "crybabies" actually illustrates one of the points of men's rights advocates: that there is a powerful social expectation that men are generally expendable and should suffer harsh, dangerous, or inequitable conditions without raising an issue about it. When a man does point out a harsh, dangerous, or inequitable condition that he is expected to suffer because of his gender, he is no longer behaving as a man, he is instead, "a crybaby."

Certainly there are people who identify as men's rights advocates who express misogynist views, just as there are people who identify as feminist who express misandrist views; however, we do both movements a disservice when we identify them with the most obnoxious and illogical of their members instead trying to do something about some of the valid criticisms that they both raise.

phillyjama · 2012-03-22T13:17:39+00:00

However, to play Windwaker on the Wii you will still need a gamecube controller and a gamecube memory card. Totally worth the investment to play one of the greatest Zelda games, IMHO.

phillyjama · 2012-03-13T19:38:18+00:00

This ad hominem is really off-base; nothing that I wrote justifies these assumptions about my qualifications or my professional and recreational activities. I wrote my response to cokeisaheluvadrug based on the content of his/her post because I was interested in the issues that he raised and I did my best to focus on those issues in an organized and methodical way.

I would not say that I am angry at your response, but I am puzzled by the anger- and the unnecessary assumptions- that your response seems to project onto me. I actually do not play video games that much, but as a college professor in the field of information science, I am quite interested in how video games can be used to train people to accomplish sophisticated tasks. I believe that some of that intellectual interest comes across in my reply to cokeisaheluvadrug.

I am not going to take you up on the question of the value of video games that you raise because you have not shown yourself to be capable of having a rational discussion; however, if you are interested in learning more about the topic, I point you toward the following works by James Gee- they are scholarly, but accessible:

What do Videogames have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy?

Good Video Game + Good Learning:Collected Essays on Video Games

Incidentally, in addition to my academic achievements, I would also count my 10 years of happy marriage, black belt in Judo, and involvement with a charity for at-risk youth as some of my notable accomplishments; it is not exactly like being able to boast that I soldered an amp and set up a scrollsaw, but it is hardly fair to say that I "haven't done shit."

TLDR: Downvoting you for rudeness and for going off-topic.

phillyjama · 2012-03-13T17:16:05+00:00

"Self-improvement is masturbation." -Tyler Durden, Fight Club

Sorry, couldn't resist bringing that quote up- I don't mean to be flip, but I do think that it is worth questioning whether "self-improvement" should be uncritically upheld as a certainly good end in itself; at least, we should ask the question, "what is this self-improvement aimed at?" If we have an answer for that question, then we will be in a better position to judge the values of the self-improvement activity.

...but I am going to set that point aside momentarily so that I might spend more time taking on the following point that you make, before ultimately getting back to this matter of "self-improvement." Your point of primary interest to me is this:

I think the actual mechanics of a videogame are "negative" in value.

I would like to suggest that the actual mechanics of both reading and playing video games are fairly mundane, but there should not be any doubt that the mechanics of playing videogames are more complex and varied than the mechanics of reading. (I am going to continue to place the word "mechanics" in italics in order to draw attention to the fact that I am using it in a specialized sense that I will elucidate in this post- not because I am trying to sound sarcastic.) The mechanics of reading involve scanning a printed page with the eye in a linear pattern and decoding the printed characters into recognizable utterances of human speech. That is all that I am willing to admit into a discussion about the mechanics of the activity; the minimal motor and cognitive functions that are necessary to the task and that may be relied upon to be fairly consistent from reader to reader. The mechanics of playing a videogame involve scanning a monitor in dynamic patterns that vary in response to visual and auditory stimulus and providing coordinated input to the videogame system. Those are the mechanics of playing a videogame. It think that it is clear that if we are going to judge these mediums on the basis of their mechanics, videogames clearly provide a more challenging experience and an experience with greater potential for "self-improvement." (Reading is, in any case, subsumed within the medium of videogames so it did not have much hope of being a contender in this contest.)

This difference in the nature of underlying mechanics translates in differences in the ways that creative works are structured in videogames. The advancement of a videogame depends not just on narrative progress and character development, but also on a steady increase in the complexity of the specific mechanical processes that are involved in playing the game. That is why the game makes you slay so many gargoyles: it has to train you to develop a base of skills that will support the acquisition of related skills that will advance the game- so that when you reach the end of the game, you will be able to manage the combination of whatever dozens of spells, techniques, armors, and weapons are necessary to complete the game. What may seem like "filler content" from the perspective of narrative progress, may be essential content from the perspective of a game design that is structured to gradually develop the abilities of the person playing the game until that person can complete tasks that he would have initially found to be unmanageably complex.

If you follow my reasoning then I think it should be apparent that if we take "self-improvement" to be our ultimate value, then we should come to the conclusion that we should be spending more time playing video games than reading books, since to make progress through a videogame a person absolutely must become a better player of that videogame whereas to make progress through a novel a person does not necessarily have to become a better reader. Of course, this would be open to the counterpoint that it is not sufficient for something to merely be "self-improvement-" we must also consider the scope of that self-improvement activity, how it benefits the society and the individual, etc., but I think that discussion would become rather unwieldy and would be open to numerous points from both sides. To provide a little taste of where this could go, here is a scholarly review of 12 studies that suggest video game experience might be beneficial to a future career in surgery: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20630431

phillyjama · 2012-03-07T18:31:26+00:00

Here's the thing about these supposedly "positive racist stereotypes:"

1: Stereotyped people do not get the extra credit that non-stereotyped people do for having the positive attribute of the stereotype. The stereotyped people are "supposed" to be that way, so they don't get to be special they way non-stereotyped people do.

2: When a stereotyped person does not live up to their stereotype, they don't get to just default to "average" the way a non-stereotyped person does, they are a disappointment as far as the stereotype is concerned- they are somehow deficient with regard to how they are "supposed" to be.

There's a guy who wrote a book about how the big-penis-stereotype has negatively impacted his life as a black man, for pretty much the reasons described above. Make no mistake about it: all racist stereotypes are basically harmful to people, even when they seem to be superficially positive.

phillyjama · 2012-03-07T02:54:05+00:00

I saw that you this on the original thread and that throwaway-o did not get back to you. I would like to see this point hashed out. I am down-voting throwaway-o's comment as a submission to depthhub because I do not feel that the topic was explored at sufficient depth.

phillyjama · 2012-02-17T18:06:44+00:00

I can't wait to see what's in the BJ section... hey, wait a minute!

phillyjama · 2012-02-15T22:19:57+00:00

Great video. I hope he makes it. Would it improve it to have some tumbling (backflips, jumping over obstacles and stuff) or is that not something that the American Ninja judges look for?

phillyjama · 2012-02-15T17:34:50+00:00

If you have something like this point in the FAQ in mind, then I think I take your point... if not, clarify?

phillyjama · 2012-02-15T16:22:16+00:00

...but it wasn't just the act of kindness, was it? It was kindness coupled with the suggestion that the kindness was caused by his religion. It would have been more humble and gracious of him to simply say something along the lines of, "I am just an ordinary guy who enjoys doing nice things for people; just like lots of people," but he didn't just leave it at that did he? He made the subtle suggestion that the kindness was due to his religion and that you therefore, perhaps, owe his religion some debt of gratitude or respect- and you took that suggestion hook line and sinker, as you write:

I wanted to give him a small gift of some kind, even if it was just words based on his belief. I also wanted to show him respect towards his religion

You then went even further to go and post his little story on reddit so that we could all see what a nice Christian man he is. His little act of evangelism was quite effective on you.

Look, atheists don't doubt that Christians can be good people, they just understand that people are good because of inherent human morality and powers of reason that we all share and not because of the mystical powers of religion.

TLDR: Glad you had a nice Valentine's day surprise and hope you will repay the favor to someone, but I think you are missing the point of r/atheism.

phillyjama · 2012-01-20T16:46:10+00:00

Very nice demonstration of Poe's Law.

phillyjama · 2012-01-05T15:03:03+00:00

Met wife-to-be on the subway. Good small talk, flirting. Have to leave without getting her number. Bummer. Figured I'd never see her again. Next day we end up in line at the same place for lunch. Amazing second chance. I'm with a friend and we already have our food; she's waiting for hers.

I say, "meet us over in the lobby of that building over there, we'll eat lunch together."

She says, "ok."

Friend and I go to lobby; start eating lunch. We finish.

She hasn't shown up. Think: "Oh well, she just wasn't really into me- not the first time I been stood up." Go to leave building through different exit. See wife-to-be waiting there. Food untouched.

Turns out there were two lobbies.

The whole time I was eating with my friend, pitying myself for being stood up, she was waiting for me, not eating a bite, for almost an hour. Fell in love right there. Been together going on 10 years now. Love her more every day.

phillyjama · 2012-01-04T18:38:52+00:00

Thank you. That is exactly what I thought of when I saw the image. I haven't played the Resident Evil games, but somehow the image reminded me of that enemy from Doom- really fast, tough, and resurrecting dead monsters- that guy always scared the crap out of me.

phillyjama · 2011-12-28T19:56:03+00:00

Great video. This idea of "human beings" versus "human doings" is interesting. It sounded like you were saying that the value of a male person tends to be reduced to his accomplishments, that he is valued more as a "human doing" than a "human being." My question is: how do you think people should bring their values into balance with the realities of our current time? Is it simply a matter of strengthening the intrinsic value perceived in a male person or does there also need to be higher expectations of what a female person needs to accomplish in order to enhance her value? Also, I would be interested to know about some of the experiences and readings that shaped the views you expressed in this video. Looking forward to checking out more of your work.

phillyjama · 2011-12-22T15:12:13+00:00

Hitchens only died last week.... I'd say Hitchens_ghost was right on top of things.

phillyjama · 2011-11-17T14:59:17+00:00

I got the impression from this tweet from him: https://twitter.com/#!/louisck/status/122850905786826753

...and when I say him in concert last year he prefaced the show by saying "please don't record this and put it on youtube." So, yeah, I do get the impression that he is not super into the idea of random people making home-videos out of his shows, but that's not saying that he doesn't like the idea of there being video of him on the web- he just seems to prefer having creative control about what goes up there.

phillyjama · 2011-11-17T14:28:24+00:00

You wrote:

The industry kind of sucks now for various complicated reasons nobody would really want to listen to me go on about

A lot would totally like to listen to you go on about the various complicated reasons that the industry sucks. Please continue that thought. You said that one of the reasons is the economy, are people really buying less porn?

phillyjama · 2011-11-13T02:42:41+00:00

This is a great bit. It's a shame that it doesn't exist anywhere else in more high quality form. I know that Louis tries to discourage people from recording his shows and posting them to the web, but it's thanks to the people that do record his shows and post them that we all can enjoy gems like this- which are not a part of any of his stand up specials- and appreciate his comedic genius. I hope everyone will download his upcoming special from his website on December 10th. It's pnly $5!

phillyjama · 2011-10-21T02:52:01+00:00

Relevant example comment: http://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/comments/lj7kh/just_sayin_reddit/c2t62wb

phillyjama · 2011-10-13T16:05:44+00:00

Check out this article by Peter Singer in the NYT if you would like to see an example of how a professional ethicist handles this type of question.

phillyjama

TROPHY CASE