What's up with further vs farther?

Yeah, I know it's been a while since I posted, and I've kinda let this blog die off, but I figure, better late than never, right?

So, to start with just a random thought: Why is it that "farther" seems to be the only word we can't use figuratively? The standard explanation is that "farther" is only used for literal distance, while "further" can be used in a figurative sense.

What's up with that? What other word do we have this rule for? As I understand it, you get to use any word you want in a figurative or metaphorical sense. Why not "farther" as well? (I guess the one other example would be "literal", which I oppose the figurative use of, since, ya know, it's the one word that's supposed to actually distinguish the two cases, and without which we can't even speak of the difference.)

It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[Insert usual remark about how I composed this entire post, including navigating to and copying the link, without the mouse or trackpad.]

I'm going to Hungary tomorrow.

That is all.

Taking the anti-mouse campaign ... to the next level

Wow, did you guys know that you can buy domain names now?

And that no one had yet taken "tyrannyofthemouse.com"?

Well, I snapped it up, and it will include a showcase of my programming projects soon.

I also managed to move this blog to the subdomain blog.tyrannyofthemouse.com (as you might have already noticed).  Don't worry, all the old links will still work!

The secret unleased: I will become a software developer!

I know I've kept my readers kind of in the dark, but I just left my day job to attempt a career change into software development and otherwise make sense of all the projects out there that I could improve. I'll be flying to San Francisco today for it, where I'll stay for at least 2-3 months, residing on the luxurious (s)Nob Hill.

Here is the site for the "Developer bootcamp" program, for which I'll be in the Feb/March cohort.

Flight leaves at 1:30 pm, wish me luck!

I'm such a twit...

I didn't think I'd ever see the day, but because of that "thing I applied for" (more on that later) I had to get a Twitter account, and as luck would have it, @SilasBarta was available and I took it.

So you can be reassured that @SilasBarta isn't some dastardly soul trying to impersonate me.

(I was going to make another remark about having made this post purely through the keyboard, but Twitter ruined it ... some of their clickable buttons can't be recognized by Pentadactyl, the Firefox extension that tries to let you do everything from the keyboard but gets stymied by by poor web design.)

A great chance to meet Silas in person!

Since I currently live in a small, remote town, I don't get many chances to meet my readers. But I'll be spending my vacation time this year in New York City, from Oct. 30 (my birthday!) to Nov. 21. I'll be staying in an internet friend's apartment in lower Manhattan and visiting a lot of my like-minded internet friends -- for all of them, it will be the first time I meet in person.

So, if you live anywhere in that general vicinity and want to meet me, now's your chance! Give me a shout, either by email or in the comments, and we'll work something out.

Also, advice for a non-NYCer for navigating this rough city will be quite welcome.

About the redesign

To all of you hecklers about to write me that, "Um, I think someone hacked your site, bro, LOL": No, I accepted the services of someone I know from Less Wrong. The eminent Ian Pollock, freelance graphic designer and electrical engineering major, did the redesign. I like this much better that what I had before.

The Möbius strip exemplifies the site's goal: where before, an issue was hopelessly twisted on itself, I cut through the assumptions and let it start making sense again!

If you find yourself in need of a site redesign, well, now you know where to go.

Why would a Serious Thinker(tm) fear my comments?

Gene Callahan now has the cute slogan on his blog: "Silas-free for over eight twelve days":



I had submitted thoughtful criticisms to his blog more recently than that, alerting him of errors he's making, and of phenomena he might not be aware of. (Example saved from before then.) So why would this Serious Thinker feel the need to reject, on sight, my comments from appearing, and then advertise it?

A self-serving reason I might give is "Well, Callahan actually not a very good thinker and only gets validation from a clique that already agrees with him, so he can't bear to see remarks that might cause him to question his worldview." But I'm far too biased to make such a judgment.

Instead I invite readers to judge for themselves how Deep and Serious a thinker Callahan is by looking at the link above. He uses the example of a monk who can't explain why a prohibition on touching women exists as a characteristic example of how some things can only be learned from experience.

(It looks to me like maybe Callahan just isn't very good at explaining, and doesn't have much of an incentive to change that. After all, that would undermine his worldview that requires knowledge to be mostly inarticulable, not to mention the aura of unquestionable expertise he tries to maintain.)

As you might expect, he justifies the Silas-free-ness by reference to the "many sites I've been banned from" for my unhelpful comments. True -- I have been banned from many sites for that reason -- it's just that they've all been controlled by him! Information cascade, anyone?

Yay! I'm famous now! For real!

Despite the general lack of updates to this blog, I'm now famous by the Google standard. Try it out for yourself: type in "silas" to Google, and watch the suggestions pop up. The first suggestion after "Silas Marner" and silastic (the silicone/plastic gel), you get ME! Take a look (click to enlarge):



And what if you type in "silas b"? You get this:



So in case you're wondering, I'm available for speaking engagements. I charge $10 million per visit, but I give discounts if I agree with your cause.

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Now, find what question from a previous post that's an answer to.

Now I'm even famouser*!

Bob Murphy mentions me in a Buffalo News opinion piece. And promotes me to "financial commentator"!

For those of you who got here after wondering, "Huh? Who's Silas Barta?": welcome to my blog! Since you're probably not aware, Bob and I have had some pretty vicious disputes over the issues, so it's quite honorable of him to mention me. He said he felt he owed it to me because I originally suggested the point to him.

Don't worry though, I'll be back criticizing him in no time at all! Like, what's with the sudden reversal of his position on not making conditional endorsements of government intervention "because it might confuse the readers"? More on that later.

*Not actually a valid conjugation in proper English

New name for blog?

When I started this blog, I gave a name intended to represent the general theme of the blog. I figured that sooner or later as it took on a character, I'd be giving it a new one. So is it that time? One good candidate I thought of would be "Scarce Bengal", an unusual combination of words that reflects a major issue that's been around since before the blog started. Here's why it would be a good name for the blog:

1) The unique word combo.

2) It is a reference to my long-held dissatisfaction with Bob Murphy for casually dismissing huge classes of people (one of them Bengals) as basically "not counting" for purposes of determining whether there is scarcity. Did the price of your fresh, clean oil go up because governments restricted the total consumption in order to keep countries from flooding? Well guess what? That higher price, according to Bob, doesn't reflect scarcity!

3) Its initials match my initials.

4) I have a cute Mii caricature of a friend of mine who is a Bengal (i.e. person from Bangladesh).

The die is cast: Party at Dave and Buster's on Saturday

Well, I've finalized the reservations for Dave and Buster's this Saturday (8/16/08) at 8pm in Austin. We'll have two hours of free play on the hyperbowl machine and free food, drinks, and game play for everyone. Hope to see you there! Unfortunately, if you check out the poll, the only people who seem to read this blog are far away or terrorists. Go fig.

(On a side note, do not detonate yourself in an attempt to kill others. Plz.)

Update on non-pizza pizza party

Alright, I've talked with an event planner at Dave and Buster's, and I've reserved the "Hyperbowl" table, one that puts us near a type of bowling game. I'm now working out the appetizer trays and game credits for the guests. Plus, it looks like some of the people that can't make it are going to be able to make it, so I have attendance at about 8 at this point. Remember: Saturday, August 16, 8pm Dave and Busters, Northern corner of 183 and Mopac, Austin, Texas.

Now here's the kicker

Do I say that too much?

Yay! One month blog anniversary! ~Pizza Party!~

So, I made it one month without abandoning this blog! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! And, I got plenty of great comments from people -- including from one of my favorite bloggers, Robin Hanson -- and lots of participants on my poll. All in all, a GREAT first month for my third attempt at blogging. Readers, give yourselves a pat on the back for all your love and support you've given me!

As a celebration of this success, I'm hosting a pizza party at the Dave & Buster's in Austin, Texas on Saturday, August 16th, starting at 8pm, and ending whenever you leave or get kicked out. (It's at 9333 Research Blvd, or, for normal people, the northeast corner of the 183/Mopac intersection.) That's next week, on Saturday. "Wait wait wait, do you mean THIS COMING Saturday, or NEXT WEEK, on Saturday?" Next week, on Saturday. "Oh, okay, thanks, you were unclear before." [1]

So, if you've read this, and plan to be in Austin, Texas that day, you're legally obligated to stop by. Please RSVP by email or in the comments. But if you forget to, don't be afraid to come anyway. There will be non-pizza options if you, like me, don't eat pizza.

[1] Sadly, this is isomorphic to a conversation I've actually had.

My latest attempt at starting a blog

I've tried starting blogs before -- there was the movementarian one with Tim Swanson, and then the Intellectual Propriety one on TypePad -- and this is the latest.  Let's hope it works out.

I've titled it "Setting Things Straight" because a lot of my posts on other blogs have been criticizing others' arguments, and I've gotten a big case of "GYOB" (get your own blog).  So these thoughtful criticisms will find their place here more often.

It will also be a general-use blog, so you'll see my comments on a variety of issues that interest me, including artificial intelligence, global warming, social psychology, evolution, and anything else that tends to piss people off.

EDIT: Oh, and intellectual property.  Don't forget that.