What Rug Thinks

I am a citizen of the United States, and my country has been taken over by the antiscience movement. I hope the people of this world will survive my countries' willful ignorance. From: Discover Magazine The post linked by Phil Plait is dated, but still completely relevant.  I don't know when the antiscience movement started. It may have been there since the beginning. When the human race first started figure out how to use fire, make tools, and plant crops. Maybe it's always been part of the human nature to fear what we don't understand. Maybe a portion of human race has always felt an uneasiness going beyond what is known. When you look back at history, there are a few times when the world celebrated intelligence and the progression of science. WWII comes to mind rather quickly, as well as, the cold war with the USSR. Another time that comes to mind is the age of enlightenment (AKA age of reason) which ranges from 1685-1815 according to history.com . Which cove...

It's that time again folks, time to debate taxes! Yes, again. Ugh, thanks Trump. From:  quickmeme.com I'll be the first to admit George was not exactly accurate here, but it's funny so I give him a pass.  It seems that with every new president comes another tax debate flair up. Once the fire is tamped out, a few years later it roars back to life. Always with the same sides, same lies, same misconceptions, same facts, and many of the same people. Are you as tired of it as I am? I figured for once I should put in my take on taxes and then just leave it be. Taxes suck. You can't tell me when you look at your gross income compared to your net income you are not dismayed by the difference. Since I don't make much money, mine is about 30% for federal, state, social security, and medicare combined. That means that about 12 hours out of my 40 hour work week was for the government. Your taxes may be different, but you can do the math yourself and see how many hours a...

There is an acronym to take to heart in all things. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) From:  uvic.ca Those of you that have read my past post, might realize that I prefer to keep things simple. I have found in my life that everything is really, very simple. Even something as complex as morality. Which of course boils down to, do or do not. Just about everything comes down to do, do not, yes, no, maybe, and depends. These simple words cover just about every question in life. The US has a new secretary of education Betsy DeVos. During her confirmation hearing she was asked a lot of questions that should have been simple answers. One of them was from Senator Murphy, "Do you think guns have a place in or around schools?" This was a simple question with a yes or no answer. DeVos response was, "I think that's best left to locals and states to decide." Fine, she thinks it should be left up to the states, but that was not the question. The question was what's ...

What does it matter what restroom people use? Do you have separate bathrooms in your house for males and females?  Does a female using the toilet after a male or vice versa cause some kind of harm to them? From: openclipart.org Obviously, the answer is there is no harm. People share bathrooms all the time in their houses. Thus it doesn't really matter. There has been a lot of commotion about trans people using restrooms that conform to their gender identity. Many states have even made laws to prevent such things. My simple response to these dumbasses is, "Get over it." However, I should probably explain. I have heard a few dads talk about how they don't want their daughters to use the bathroom with a man in there. Well, they are not. Even if an trans female (often snidely referred to as a male) is using that restroom they have separate stalls. Going the other way, a trans male using the mens room is probably using the stall because gender reassignment surger...

Today Donald Trump, somehow the president of the currently are not so United States, figured out our healthcare system is complicated. He seemed rather put out by this fact. At this point I'm just surprised he didn't call it fake news and forget about it ten seconds later. It kills me to admit this, but it did get me thinking. What exactly would it take for our healthcare system to not be complicated. From wikipedia.org To start this journey of thought, let's start with you as a patient. You choose a healthcare facility based on your need. Making the assumption you are not about to die, you choose to go to the local general physician. You know the one I'm talking about. The doctor you have seen basically the entire time you have lived in this area and possibly your entire life. You go in, tell the doctor what symptoms you have, they poke and prod you a little, tell you what's wrong, and write a prescription. You leave the office and go get your meds for some ...

You may be familiar with the new (as far as I can tell) term snowflake. This seems to be a disparaging term for millennials. Let me explain why this has gotten under my skin.  From: pbs.org People get older and watch the world change. There is always new music, books, radio, television, and now the internet geared toward the new generation. Every generation seems to have it's own advancement in media that it grew up with and take for granted. They always take more advantage of this medium for their own expression. The previous generation normally does not understand this new medium as well, thus not taking full advantage of it.  In the 60's The Beatles and Elvis came out with so called revolutionary music. The generation of young adults and teenagers in the 60's and 70's loved it. Hence both are still famous today. The music spoke to the new generation in a way that nothing ever had. One of the first things that this generation could call their own. However, th...