Flying the Confederate Flag

What do you think about flying the confederate flag? The Confederacy actually had ass-loads of different flags. What we think of as THE Confederate Flag is a modern combination of the CSA's Battle Flag's colors with the Second Navy Jack's design. Actual historical flags of the CSA have become more obscure. Still, this flag arouses strong feelings in many people.

Rednecks think that the flag represents their heritage and they should be allowed to fly it freely. It is displayed anywhere from a front porch to a vehicle to someone's clothing or even tattoos. It is a symbol of pride to which they have a birthright.

In general, hippies and blacks are opposed to the flying of the confederate flag. They think that it recalls an era of slavery and oppression of minorities by the white man. ¿The past should be forgotten and put behind us?

If people are opposed to it based on the atrocities committed by the government represented by the flag, then they should start to think about what the USA has done under its current flag...

Both sides refuse to see the validity of the other side's argument. I heard a pretty original response from Whitney's Jason. He says that he doesn't like it because it represents treason against the USA. I think that most people's opinions are valid. You have the right to free speech and should be able to fly your own flag if you damn well please. However, your rights stop where they start to encroach on those of others. BUT, you do NOT have the right to not be offended. As for flying by governments, I guess that's something that maybe should come down to a vote.

Pick #42

Juan Luis Guerra - Frío frío

Janny burned me a disc with this song on it. I liked it a lot and started listening to it often. I sang this song at a local karaoke bar in Madrid (not in the touristy part of town). Not only can I not sing, but I butchered a beautiful song...but I learned all the lyrics by reading them on the screen.

Ease of Use v. Control

It seems that in order to make something easier to use, the user must have less control over that something. For example:

automatic v. manual transmission cars
AOL v. Firefox
zTree v. Java (I've never programmed in Java, but I'm pretty sure this is true)
Nintendo (8-bit) v. X-Box (it's a stretch)

I wonder if there's some inherent property of simplification that requires removal of control...any thoughts?

Meet New People

Friday, it's going down...a "meet new people" party @ my place. Even if you know people, it's guaranteed that you'll meet someone new here. Show up, Friday after 10. Keg of Killians.

Things to do Before I Die

I have a running list of things I want to do while I can do them. Here is a tentative list. I'm working on the 3rd language thing (kind of slowly aka "at my own pace" right now) and even slower at the piano thing. I'm training for the Tallahassee marathon, which is not a qualifier for Boston, but it's a step in the right direction. Motorcycle should be quick. I plan to knock out parasailing later this semester.


In no particular order:
learn to wallflip
run the boston marathon
learn to ride a horse
parasailing
surf
learn to ride a motorcycle
learn a 3rd language
learn the piano
spend a day in outer space

Let me know if you have any suggestions (preferably ones you know that I might add myself but didn't...don't say "oh, you should put bungee jumping on there").

Pick #41

Tim McGraw - Live Like You Were Dying

Owe man, would I do some of that stuff...I don't know about the bull riding, but why not give it a shot. I think I would go to Macchu Picchu and maybe dive the Great Barrier Reef. Deffly skydiving again.

Take Away

There is (supposedly) a parlor game called Take Away (TA). It goes like this: there are 21 pennies on a table and 2 players who alternate in taking a turn. During a turn, each player may remove 1,2, or 3 pennies. The loser is the one who removes the last penny. I was thinking about this game and how one would go about winning it. Obviously, you want to leave your opponent with the last penny (because if there are 2 left (or 3 or 4), then they will just leave you with the last penny.

As I was reading in my Jehle & Reny text, the second player should always win the game (kind of like tic-tac-toe...except that there IS a winner)...From my above logic, it would be good to leave your opponent with 5 pennies when they make their move, because then, no matter what they do, you can leave only one after your move. J&R call 5 a "losing position." In fact, they extend this to say that the following are losing positions: 1,5,9,13,17,21...all others are winning positions. So, be careful of just taking away 3 at the beginning to get the game over fast, because even if you're the second player, you could lose...player one takes 3, you take 3, he takes only 2, then you are in a losing position!

I thought that it was cool that I thought about the structure of the game using backward induction without even realizing what I was doing until later on.