The Malleable Variance of What We Call Time

In his Rhetoric, Aristotle acknowledges that it would be better if we could make our case without either browbeating or flattering the audience; nothing should matter except "the bare facts." He laments, "other things affect the result considerably, owing to the defects of our hearers."

Your perception of time does not adhere to "world time." You might have the opinion that I should have said, 'does not always adhere to world time', but that's a lie. Your sense of time is as easily disturbed as a puddle of mud, and just as transparent.

If a man with a bass voice reads a script at exactly the same speed as a man with a tenor voice, the bass voice feels slower, by a notable degree.

When your body temperature is high, your sense of time is also slowed. In one experiment, subjects with fevers were asked to count to 60 at one number per second. Without exception, they counted much faster.

Having a low body temperature  you would count slower, as the sense of time moves much faster.

Under the influence of blue light, time is underestimated -- which is why nightclubs use it, to give you the sense that you really haven't been there that long.

Under the long wavelengths of red light, time is overestimated and every thing feels like it is in slow motion.

Noam Chomsky and the Engineering of Consent

Thought Control in a Democratic Society

The Water Army

We initiate a systematic study to help distinguish a special group of online users, called hidden paid posters, or termed "Internet water army" in China, from the legitimate ones. On the Internet, the paid posters represent a new type of online job opportunities. They get paid for posting comments or articles on different online communities and websites for hidden purposes, e.g., to influence the opinion of other people towards certain social events or business markets. While being an interesting strategy in business marketing, paid posters may create a significant negative effect on the online communities, since the information from paid posters is usually not trustworthy. When two competitive companies hire paid posters to post fake news or negative comments about each other, normal netizens may feel overwhelmed and find it difficult to put any trust in the information they acquire from the Internet. In this paper, we thoroughly investigate the behavioral pattern of online paid posters based on real-world trace data. We design and validate a new detection mechanism, using both non-semantic analysis and semantic analysis, to identify potential online paid posters. Our test results with real-world datasets show a very promising performance.

Cheng Chen, Kui Wu, Venkatesh Srinivasan, and Xudong Zhang. 2013. Battling the internet water army: detection of hidden paid posters. In Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM '13). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 116-120. DOI=10.1145/2492517.2492637 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2492517.2492637


If you don't believe that Corporations in the United States are not actively using this same technique and that most of the comments you read on News articles aren't basically paid-for-ads then you seriously need to consider upgrading you're reality to the dawn of a new age.

So, like Bullshit, OK?

Paul Siegel is a man I've been learning quite a bit about and in doing so I've been distracted into far reaching areas of examination probing references from his fantastic book on the First Amendment of the Constitution and Communication in the US. These are points of interest for me right now, with everything I'm doing with the FTC, and my Law proposal, as well as my book on aggressive persuasion. 

This next bit isn't actually in the book, but he writes on his website that it probably should have been.  And this excerpt is from one of his pages on his web site on the acceptance of a policy which made it mandatory to teach Creationism in public schools. 

Aggressive Persuasion - Technical Authority technique

Today's Aggressive Persuasion Spotlight falls on the technique known as: Technical Authority

Name: Technical Authority
Type:  An Automatic Behavior
Medium: Text, Internet, News, In Person, Video, Voice Recording
Chance of Encounter: High
Typical Target: Large Groups, Mass Media
Setup, Conditions, or Environment:  This technique is best used in an environment of multi-level confliction, without overbearing conflict. For example, a problem is perceived through the latest results of a report, that the math standards of the state of California are not providing a needed element. Opinions have been given suggesting, clarity of requirements, limited or vague instruction, low level of expectation, expectations are too high, and fosters an environment which allows too many methods. However, none of these are clear enough to take a stand on at this point.

Automatic Behaviors are frequently underestimated, not recognized when engaged, and commonly attributed to some other origin.[1] The name however is descriptive and accurate. These are behaviors that are 1) triggered by an event. 2) Responsive to the event in predictable ways, 3) The response requires no forethought, planning or conscious agreement. Most people are completely unaware that this behavior is ... a behavior and not a conscious decision on their part.

This particular behaviour however is very strong especially the environment is as described above -- a problem exists, there appear to be several possible areas of exploration, many voices with opinions, and an escalating atmosphere as more people buy into the discussion.

At this point, the introduction of a Technical Authority, someone who establishes credibility in a recognizable, and easily acceptable manner, and then begins to instruct steps and goals -- will be followed and given a great deal of power without question -- such questions might have been "What are you an authority on, exactly?" would have undoubtedly been asked at any other time, but are dismissed by the momentum of the moment.

Once the Technical Authority is accepted by this group, newcomers will also fall in line and an establishment of loyalty by precedent comes in to being -- meaning, any questioning of credentials will be looked down on with derision by the existing members of the core group.

Even on discovery later that the Technical Authority is not qualified, it will take a major abuse of position and power to break the spell.

[1]Bar-Anan, Yoav, Timothy D. Wilson, and Ran R. Hassin. "Inaccurate self-knowledge formation as a result of automatic behavior." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 46.6 (2010): 884-894.

A look at Aggressive Persuasion on the Internet

The Condition is well known and implicit.The Indoctrinated will fight to defend their conditioning -- Jane Robbins on Using Social Engineering on the Internet to Maintain Party Loyalty, Jan 24th 2013

She's right of course. It is a fool's errand to fight against those who have accepted a conditioning -- expecting to win. And, I want to be upfront on this -- the conditioning, it is not a sign of weakness, any more than having a bleeding hole in your chest is a sign of weakness after you've been shot.

The human brain, in evolutionary terms, is still fairly young -- with the frontal lobes and upper hemispheres being even younger than that. Language is also more powerful than we give it credit.

I was first introduced to indoctrinated minds when I was 20. I took the position as the personal security of a man named Ted Patrick.

The Open Letter to James Milgram The Inciter

Professor James Milgram has been around for some time. In 1996 he left his place at Stanford and without invitation came to California, introduced himself as a expert of Education and began making claims, which had no basis, and he didn't have any real experience with the education of K-12. He strode in on reputation as a mathematician alone. Now... that reputation was fairly solid at that time, and as he was sure would happen, the people he approached endowed reputation with more than it warranted.

The Math Wars had begun several years later, and this was his next target. On reputation he could only do so much. Very soon other tactics were introduced to the traditionalists side -- tactics no one would expect academics to use on each other.


September 20, 2002

Professor James Milgram
Department of Mathematics
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Jim

I am replying to you with an open letter. Events of this past week or so have dismayed me and brought me to ask if my views on democracy in America are out of line with those of my peers. Though I feel that people have the legal right to express even extreme forms of dissent, I also believe that there is a slow decrease in our civility to one another, making it much more difficult to bring about consensus and accomplish common goals. In the range between civility and the extremity of legal expression is a gray area where all of us react negatively or positively. I need to ask if many people would react as I have. First I'd like to outline as objectively as I can the events to which I am reacting.

Of Men, Women, and Orange Goo

In response to Rob Port, and the “Bad Data Used to Justify Gender Pay in Legislation”

This is probably the most naive article I've ever read. I'm stunned yet again this evening and I've only read three things on this site. -- at least I'm hoping that it is naive. Otherwise we're looking at either dreadfully challenged in the "short-bus & Scooby-Do lunch box" way, or sexist denier on the "foaming mouth" level.

"Here’s another inconvenient fact for the narrative:77 percent of human resources positions are held by women. Given that HR personnel are deeply involved in the areas of hiring, pay, promotion, and investigating workplace discrimination it’s a little hard to believe that all there’s an institutional bias against women…perpetrated by other women." -- Rob Port

Yes... because your low-paid HR person, frequently seen as an "over-paid secretary" -- and who you would not have at all if you could get away with it, but your insurance won't let you -- is so very often the person who negotiates salary and benefits.

Right, yes... that's the way it works, yes... let's go with that fantasy shall we?

Who the Hell are All of these Experts?

I was just reading over a story on Democracy Now! about the sudden flood of Terrorist Experts hitting the Media after the attack in Paris.

How to Be a Terror "Expert": Ignore Facts, Blame Muslims, Trumpet U.S. Propaganda

Who are the so-called terrorism experts? In the wake of the Paris attacks, the corporate media has once again flooded its news programs with pundits claiming authority on terrorism, foreign policy and world events. (read the story if interested)

I reflected that this was much the same situation we have with US Education, Common Core, Teachers and what Data should be collected, and why. To be an Education Expert, apparently all that is required is to stand up and start proclaiming you are one. No credentials, experience level, or history of success in the field is required. Also, no references are needed either.

• Dr. Sandra Stotsky: No educational experience of any merit. No degree in education, zero history of success, no peer references.
• Dr. James Milgram:  No educational experience of any merit. No degree in education, zero history of success, no peer references (in fact most professors who have worked with him give negative reviews in the are of professionalism)
• Jane Robbins:  An attorney employed by APP (a propaganda machine) with vague ties to the EPA -- surface background check suggests her name at one time could have been Jane Scott-Smith, but in fact doesn't show an Internet footprint at all before 2009. This is a very unlikely result, even from a surface scan, which suggests that Jane Robbins is a character played by someone else -- as in having even less credentials to discuss the validity or effectiveness of a an educational proposal. 

I would gladly put my name up on this list, since I'm basically as qualified as these three are -- and I'm a real person. But I've yet to introduce myself as someone qualified  to make statements on the validity of particular methods or standards for education. All I do, and all I'll ever do, is to check the claims given, point out the tactics of propaganda being used, if any, and background check the claims of those giving these judgements on Common Core.

And in those areas I am highly qualified and if you have questions about the core you would like to receive information on, just ask.

Am I the only one who thinks it's a waste of tax dollars to guard a tomb?

An open response to Hank Green, and his insightful Response to Cable News

Written in response to Hank Green's

Holy Shit, I Interviewed the President

Yes, but there’s a little more to it…

Like most things in life, if you scratch the surface of understanding, you are frequently engulfed in the complexity of even the simplest of issues.

Your points are valid and easily verified. Your concerns are as well. News content has a powerful impact on politics, with ideologically diverse content producing socially desirable outcomes. According to the U.S. Supreme Court (1945),

International Core's - Fool Your Friends! Benchmark At Home!

Finland Core 

Singapore Core

This is really exactly what it looks like. Instead of taking the time to make this more attractive and a more stable, maintainable feature, I've taken the lazy way out and slapped them into a post.

The Letter Requesting James Milgram to be Removed from Stanford Professorship 2002

This letter was signed and supported by 1007 academic supporters in 2002 as a protest against James Milgram, his lack of professionalism, his intimidation methods and the outright assault on Professor Jo Boaler of Stanford University


Dear President Hennessy and Provost Etchemendy:

On November 1, 2012, Professor Jo Boaler of Stanford University gave a keynote address at the meeting of the North American chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA). In her address, Professor Boaler discussed the importance of communicating research with broader audiences and recognizing and facing the challenging political climates in which we work. Professor Boaler made public the troubling attacks to which she has been subjected from a member of your mathematics faculty, Professor James Milgram. She has also posted a detailed account (http://www.stanford.edu/~joboaler/) of these attacks. The response, from the research community around the world, has been immediate and virulent. Shocked reactions are spreading rapidly.

Professor Boaler’s report describes some serious breaches of academic integrity (protecting the confidentiality of human subjects) and of ethical behavior (harassment and personal attacks). We view the behavior that has been reported as a threat to Professor Boaler’s academic freedom, that is, her freedom to conduct research without harassment. Professor Boaler is a valued and respected member of our community, and we cannot stand by and see such activity without lodging a protest. Furthermore, we see the attacks on the work of Professor Boaler, and Stanford’s inaction in response, as threatening to the work of the mathematics education research community.

We the undersigned believe, on the basis of the evidence that has been made publicly available, that Professor Jo Boaler has been the object of a campaign of harassment conducted by Stanford University Professor James Milgram and others that far exceeds the boundaries of scholarly discourse and academic freedom, that these actions have harmed Professor Boaler, and that these actions, if unaddressed by Stanford, will continue to damage Professor Boaler and may well damage the university itself. We ask you to open an official inquiry into the actions taken against Professor Boaler, and to make public the results of that inquiry and the actions that follow from it.

First man killed in the American Revolution

A bit of interesting trivia I just came across. I wonder at the validity, considering the circumstances of his death, but it seems to be witnessed and confirmed by several of the people at the protest in journals and in a news paper. So, may I present the first person to die for our country while actively involved in defending and promoting its right to exist.

HankGreen and Edu Tool Kits

Hank Green from Vlog Brothers (a damn cool show) talks briefly about two problems he feels we have with our Education system

And then he gets to interview the President of the United States

The Education Wars The Achievements of James Milgram

100%/x%=800/26 (100/x)*x=(800/26)*x       100=30.769230769231 * x   (30.769230769231) to get x 100/30.769230769231=x  3.25=x  x=3.25 26 is 3.25% of 800

Just trying to get into the Spirit of things. And actually, that's the most math I've done for a whole year. I might have counted a couple of times how many slices of pizza were left, and made an estimation of probability on the chances of me finishing the slice I already had, before my son snaked the last one -- but that is really all I use math for estimations and probability.

I do love data though. I consume a great deal of data.

Milgram -- Inciter of the Math Wars

Do you recall the Math Wars?

I think anyone who was a researcher or near the academic world at least heard about them. Prof James Milgram is probably one of the last soldiers standing -- which seems appropriate since from many accounts, he started them. They began, in true form, the declaration being called, in 1994, though there are some references to 1987, which I'm not sure count -- signs of where things were leading? ... Definitely.

Education, public education, especially in the areas of Math and ELS are terrible. I believe... I haven't checked this though I'll probably confirm some time soon ... that they are worse than they were in the 50s.

Questions and Research on Common Core Real Research, Qualified Answers

I Don't Charge, but a Tip would be nice

Other than the guidelines below I invite any questions you have. Need to know where to find some resources for Homeschooling? Want to know how CCSS is being accepted by schools, teachers? (no students, that is not legal). Where to find Education Scores? Do other countries use Common Core? How many people Really helped with writing CCSS?  Who is this Robbins person and Why should I believe her?

It is Not that We Can't Be Like Finland ....well... that's not really ... um...

So I'm out on the Web looking for the Finnish Education Standards for 6th Grade Math -- why? Well, because Finnland is the number one country in the world in the area of Education. And, they kick the hell out of the US -- we're like 23 or 27 or something (32). Right? So, this guy, Milgram is going around saying that the CCSS Math (which he helped write) isn't good enough to accept as a school standard. He likes to point at 6th grade. So, I'm out looking for Finnland's 6th grade Standards -- which are written in Finnish *sigh*
There has to be a copy somewhere in English.

So, anyway, I found out some cool stuff about this International Rockstar in of Education.

Malala Yousafzai - Jon Stewart Interview

For those who might be confused, This is a News interview -- though this is a Comedian performing it -- which is somewhat Ironic since Fox News are Experts and Reporters performing Comedy.