‘Bullshit’ is a distinctive epistemological status. See the explanation below.

Frankfurt, Harry (2005). On Bullshit. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691122946. Full text here: http://ow.ly/u6Xy

It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction. A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false. For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.

[...] Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person’s obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic are more excessive than his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic. This discrepancy is common in public life, where people are frequently impelled — whether by their own propensities or by the demands of others — to speak extensively about matters of which they are to some degree ignorant. Closely related instances arise from the widespread conviction that it is the responsibility of a citizen in a democracy to have opinions about everything, or at least everything that pertains to the conduct of his country’s affairs.

The contemporary proliferation of bullshit also has deeper sources, in various forms of skepticism which deny that we can have any reliable access to an objective reality and which therefore reject the possibility of knowing how things truly are. These “anti-realist” doctrines undermine confidence in the value of disinterested efforts to determine what is true and what is false, and even in the intelligibility of the notion of objective inquiry.

On Bullshit is an essay by philosopher Harry Frankfurt. Originally published in the journal Raritan in 1986, the essay was republished as a separate volume in 2005 and became a nonfiction bestseller, spending twenty-seven weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Anonymous Russian political activists associated with website http://ovoscham.net/ replaced Google ads in Moscow with similar posters where trivial sample search strings replaced with queries like “Police without corruption”, “Government for citizens”, “Elections with choice”, “Television without lies” etc, all ended with the statement: “You’ll find it all on the Net. Will you find it in your country? Depends on you.”
The guys are obviously inspired by Banksy works.

I went to see my first NBA game LIVE at Sunday afternoon in Air Canada Center in Toronto. The game was close in the first half, Toronto only trailing with 1 point at the break, 49-50. So far the game had been about Steve Nash for the Suns and about the big guys in Toronto, Bosh and Bargnani (54 points together this evening). In the third quarter the home team couldn’t keep up with Nash and his team mates. I think Raptors were behind with as much as 17-18 points. But they came back and the game was on the line in the fourth quarter. Raptors had momentum and got a few stops in a row and if I remember right they were only behind with 6 points. But they missed their chances in offense and instead the visiting team could increase the lead in the last minutes of the game and the final score was 94-113.

Defensively this wasn’t maybe the game to see but offensively it was a great game and I’m talking about a great game from the Phoenix point of view.  They pushed the ball, they attacked the basket, got the ball inside, and they passed the ball the extra pass to get the wide open shot and they had Nash….. He just kept feeding his team-mates with great passes, so easy but still so efficient! This is the guy for young basketball players to study and to learn from. Nash played 34 minutes and had 20 points and 16 assists (and only 3 turnovers). This is Mr Efficiency personalized. Another thing I’m impressed about is how active he is on the side when he is subbed out of the game. He is staying warm and stretching and moving to be ready to jump into the game again.

Earlier I posted a about Steve Nash shooting drill on this page >> Check it out

The other big satisfaction of the evening was Jonas Jerebko in the Pistons – Hawks game a few hours west. In the Palace (Detroit) Jonas played 42 minutes and had a double double (10 points, 11 rebounds) and was a key factor in the first win after a long 0-7 loosing streak. His coach, his team mates and his fans are satisfied and he has evolved into a real NBA player in t his short time.

During the afternoon in Air Canada Center I had a chance to meet and talk some to Mike Mackay, Manager of Coach Education and Development at Canada Basketball. I will meet him later this week and I think this will be interesting to share ideas and learn more how they work in Canada.

Keep your eyes open for some new interesting stories I will share with you guys during the upcoming 2 weeks of my stay here in Toronto.’

Expressen: Stabil Jerebko i Pistons segermatch

Spanish

If after reading the title you think that, after the trauma of the crisis, banks want now to abandon their chrematistic guidelines and become saints by feeding the hungry and drink to the thirsty … is that you are simple souls!

Not exactly banks have fallen horse and, like St. Paul, suffered a sudden conversion to altruism, what happens is that the European Committee for Banking Sector (EBIC) has decided to step ahead in the real economic integration of Europe. To achieve this purpose, some measures have been established to ensure that direct debit between the countries of the union is so easy and safe as within the same country.

In practice this means that citizens of the EU -plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Monaco- will be able to pay by direct debit from any aforementioned territory. Up to now it was only possible to debit payments if the creditor and the account charged were in the same country, but with the new system, all banks in the Euro zone countries will have to introduce cross-border direct debit before November 2010 (the rest can wait until November 2014).

It seems that, in short, we will be able to use a single account for all kind of banking operations within the EU. Moreover, the expression “a girlfriend in every harbour” will only be applicable for sailors (with pirates’ permission), because individuals and companies must no longer open and maintain a bank account in every state where they have some economic interest, such as a branch, a subsidiary or a real state property, for example.

We will see if this works as it should and, above all, if banks charge reasonable fees for providing us with these services. Of course I assume they are not going to do it for free, because charity begins with oneself.

• Switch search provider: this allows you to search inside to blog or on google

• Search bar: well a regular search bar where you type the info you are ehhh searching.

• Translate the blog on 20 different languages [including: Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Greek, Dutch, Arabic, Hebrew, Indonesian, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Bengali.] I just added the more frequently used from my visitors.

• Recent Posts: allows you to see the latest post.

• Random Posts: allows you to view a random post from the blog.

• Subscribe to blog RSS

• Share: Share the blog on different social networks [facebook, twitter, delicious, stumbleupon, digg, myspace, friendfeed, techonorati and so on.]

• Fan Page: This shows you my Fan Page on Facebook. From here you can see the latests activities/updates from me or my fans. Also you can join fanpage.

• Community: This creates a community on facebook with me and the visitors. lets ay a group where you can comment with others visitors whatever you liked/didn’t liked about the blog.

• Twitter:  You can see who is post about the blog on twitter. You can also search or follow me on twitter from there. You can reply, retweet or search.

• Notifications: here you can read my lastest notes to you the reader. sometime they show up automaticly but if they dont you can always check them here.

• Minimize/Expand: If you dont like the toolbar you can click here and it will hide.

Well there you have it the complete guide to the new toolbar on the blog. Hope you find it very useful. Now you know.

Just a casual cameraphone video from my last trip.

At last, David Cameron has answered the devolution question – in part at least. A Conservative government in London wouldn’t block a request to hold a referendum on full legislative powers for the Assembly if one was requested by Cardiff Bay. Conservative Assembly Members are overjoyed. Like the Labour MPs in 2007, Conservative MPs have been marginalised. This is a big step forward for a Conservative Party in Wales that 10 years ago opposed any form of devolution. These are small steps but welcome ones.
But before we get too carried away, it should be noted that Cameron still doesn’t “get” devolution. When asked about the referendum Cameron said

“But my own view is let’s roll up our sleeves and deal with the real priorities – jobs investment, getting the economy going – that is what I think people in Wales care about most of all.”

The standard answer from a politician that can’t think of a valid reason to oppose something is to claim that it isn’t what real people are talking about. It’s somehow not important. But devolving legislative powers in areas where the Assembly has responsibility IS important. Cardiff Bay can’t implement policy without going through a long and convoluted process of asking for powers which delays much needed reforms. To return to Mr Cameron’s point, the Welsh Government’s policies to create jobs and attract investment are hampered by the LCO process.
Perhaps Mr Cameron should speak to people who are on waiting lists for rented housing about whether the constitutional settlement is important. It’s kept them waiting for over 2 years for measure which would help get them somewehere to live. Peter Hain’s finest achievment is causing homelessness and unemployment. That is what I think people in Wales care about most of all Mr Cameron

Steve Jobs’  famous phrase “One of the design goals was when you saw it you wanted to lick it” was only partly a joke. In fact, that was not a joke at all. A [female] friend of mine says that sometimes you have nothing to do but to lick your iPhone touchscreen.

You see,  in the countries with rigorous climate you wear gloves. And  iPhone touchscreen does not respond to glove’s touch. So it is not very convenient to use when there’s -15 degrees Celcius outdoor, you wear gloves, and you drive. What my friends Sveta does when she receives an incoming call to her Phone is she uses her tongue to unlock it. She says some of her friends use their noses, but she prefers her tongue. I don’t know about dialing or Safari browsing with one’s tongue but here’s a quick tip for accepting calls when the temperature is low: lick to unlock.

What about your girlfriend? Can she show within seconds how cool she really is!?

PS. I don’t know if iPhone can measure outside temperature. If it does, Apple might think about introducing a versatile ‘Slide/lick to unlock’ GUI element which changes according to weather condition – like on the picture above

See also:

• iLickit: The First iPhone Game You Can Play With Your Tongue
• Apple has a patent describing winter gloves for using iPhone

Jane Davidson, the Minister for the Environment announced this week that a charge will be raised on one-trip plastic bags from 20100 onwards. The minister believed that while a voluntary scheme had reduced the number of bags handed out by participating retailers by nearly 50%, further significant progress wasn’t possible without legislation. This is not a “tax” as some have charged – the government won’t get it’s hands on the money – it will be collected by the retailers and they will be encouraged to use it for environmental benefits.
Some have attacked the proposal, saying that reducing the number of one-trip bags in circulation will make no significant difference to the environment. I don’t agree. I’ve tried to use cotton bags for the last 4 years and I’ve seen my attitude change in that time. Taking a cotton bag to the Co-op has now become second nature and my bin (and recycling bags) are no longer full of carrier bags. I don’t know how much plastic I have saved but a quick caluclation of 4 bags a week from the Co-op and another 3 from other sources add up to over 1,400 bags over the period. That is one person’s contribution to reducing rubbish and oil use with pretty much no sacrifice.
Perhaps a 15p charge on bags isn’t going to change the world overnight but it will make us think before we pick up another one. Over time, the change in attitude will be the main effect, and once again, in Wales, we’re leading the way.

From now on anyone wishing to follow my antics, rants and ramblings should direct their browser to http://barbedwirebytecodebaconburger.com since I will no longer be updating the blog here at WordPress.com.

That’s http://barbedwirebytecodebaconburger.com people! Learn it, live it, love it!

END OF LINE

Spanish

This pair of examples are useful to illustrate a phenomenon of migration that was starting then and today is developing effects from the inheritance’s point of view. Tempus fugit and  those who then crossed borders -for necessity or for pleasure- are today passing away. As it turns out that the Spanish emigrants at the end of their lives were not as poor as when they left, and Germans who discovered Spain in the 60’s decided to buy a villa here to come back each summer or even retire … Can you imagine the legal and administrative mess that heirs must face when receiving goods from another country? Believe me, it’s an ordeal.

But it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel, as the European Commission has approved a Proposal to simplify rules for international inheritances in the EU: both the competent authority and the law applicable to the inheritance will be those from the country where the deceased used to live, although it would be possible to choose the inheritance to be governed by the laws of  the homeland. It is also planned to create a European Certificate of Inheritance which will attest  the quality of heir all over EU. The Proposal will not change, though, the national substantive law nor the inheritance tax, which will be regulated by each state.

I trust this Commission’s Proposal will soon be converted into applicable law and will serve as a guide in this labyrinth of Theseus of cross-border inheritances, at least at a European level (those who expect to inherit from their uncle of America still must continue to seek exit).