RIP Indian Democracy (1947-2019)

India is no longer a democracy. A true democracy would ensure that every one living in it has a voice in the form of the ability to choose elected representatives. India took away the voice of a significant minority of its population by passing the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019, which attempted to strip Indian Muslims of their citizenship. Lest we diverge, members of lower castes in India still face intimidation when they vote during elections. Instead of broadening political representation, the Modi government has only made it more narrow.

References

https://reliefweb.int/report/india/dalits-india-face-attacks-and-intimidation-polls-fear-more-violence-come

My Thoughts on the Trump Indictment

…but let’s not lose our perspective, too!

We stopped Bernie Madoff only after he lost the life’s savings of several million American homeowners during the 2008 financial crisis. We prosecuted the Enron CEOs after they inflated their earnings and crashed their company. And now, we have another example of the watchdogs of American society nabbing the bad guy after they did their unholy deed, got away with it, went straight to the bank, and then added it to their net assets.

But kudos to the voices of reason who helped us navigate the difficult waters of the Trump era. If now, we get to take stock of what really happened. During the Trump presidency, US inflation decreased from 2.2% in 2017 to 1.6% by the end of 2020. The unemployment rate decreased from 4.7% in 2017 to 3.5% just before the coronavirus pandemic.

AJAX Unit Testing

It is a rule of thumb among developers of web applications to test both client-side and server-side code for vulnerabilities. One reason for this is directly related to security: an attacker can invoke server-side code by entering commands in the URL bar. Another reason comes from software engineering practices: either the client or the server can be replaced by another client or server, which results in either piece of the application needing to be robust enough to handle software changes. This led to an interesting question. If the server-side code needs to be testing by entering values into the URL bar, how will the client-side code be tested?

The answer lies partly in the client-side code, and also on the server-side. An AJAX-based client typically sends requests to server-side code to get an XML document as a response. This response can be emulated by placing static XML files on the server, which are then requested by the client. For example:

$.ajax({

method:”GET”,

url:”/MyWebApp/badResponse.xml”,

}).done(function(result) {

var parser = new DOMParser();

var xmlDoc = parser.parseFromString(result, “text/xml”);

//Extract response data here.

});

/MyWebApp/badResponse.xml:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>

<root>

<!– Empty body on purpose to trigger client-side error validation code. –>

</root>

Debunking Stereotypes of Muslim Feminism

Anti-(Muslim) Espositoing???

The Reason Why the Black Community is Poor

A common explanation for the VAST difference in outcomes between the so-called “underrepresented minorities”– black and Hispanic Americans– and other racial and ethnic groups living in the United States– is the concept of “involuntary immigration” developed by John Ogbu. Whereas other immigrant communities came as a result of their own choice (which is also associated with the idea that they were successful in their countries of origin), underrepresented minorities were incorporated into the United States against their will, either through enslavement or annexation.

Ogbu’s classification includes a category for refugee communities, who came to the United States primarily to escape from disasters in their countries of origin, such as war and famine.

Although this explanation outwardly appears to be advocating a Marxist interpretation of American history, with some groups classified as “oppressors” and others as “victims”, it also acknowledges that Americans of European ancestry encountered significant difficulties when they immigrated, including English settlers who had to adjust to a new landscape.

Of course, in order for this explanation to account for the poverty faced by First Nations communities, it has to assume that the “United States” is a cultural entity where the mainstream community consists of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. An alternate explanation is that the real cause is that mainstream white Americans have a stronger sense of individual property ownership, which forms the basis of capitalist economics. This sounds like a triumphalist narrative of human history where socialism is seen as an outmoded system of development, and it is, because it fails to account for the poverty that exists among the white community, specifically among the working class and in rural areas.

References:
Voluntary and Non-Voluntary minorities by John Ogbu, https://faculty.washington.edu/rsoder/EDUC305/OgbuSimonsvoluntaryinvoluntary.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwik4eTA5tPlAhUjT98KHY0xDwEQFjAIegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw3OYOAi7SwTFlaQxxrtfSra&cshid=1572982037314

Time to Stop Taking Fitness Tips from Nature?

Every now and then we hear about a new fitness trend that promises to help us lose weight, improve our physical health, and prevent erectile dysfunction (let’s be realistic, most of us probably wouldn’t bother staying fit if we didn’t have that incentive). However, there are at least some groups out there who would like us to return to the basics when it comes to staying fit.

An article published by the Guardian in 2017 reported that health-obsessed Britons were taking their fitness routines too seriously, and were injuring themselves in the process:

Deep squats, lunges, deadlifts and high-intensity cardio are the mainstay of online workouts, and keep Cameron Tudor, owner of West London Physiotherapy, in business. “We’ve seen an increase in the numbers of clients coming to us having injured themselves doing online workouts,” he says. “People get hurt largely because the message is: ‘This is what I do and there’s no reason it won’t work for you.’ Extrapolated across the population, that’s not going to be good. While it’s a great thing that people are being encouraged to be active, if you’ve never lifted a barbell and then start lifting 10kg, you’ll put your tissues at risk.” Part of the problem, Tudor says, is in the age differences. “The trainers are usually in their early 20s, but a lot of the people using the programmes are mid-to-late 30s and 40s. That matters, because your tissues are far more resilient when you’re under 30.”

Luckily for us, there are at least a few options available to us that haven’t been caught up by online fitness trends. A recent article from the Gateway YMCA extolled the health benefits of slow-paced cardio exercise, stating that it’s a good way to preserve physical health. But does it actually work?

As a blog dealing with scientific issues, we like to test things out before we accept them. For two months starting in February 2016, the author started exercising at a slower pace to see it this would burn more calories, and it did. I will be painfully honest, my previous routine of fast-paced exercise was more about enjoying my workout time than about trying to stay healthy.

However, when the time came in April to measure the impact of this new routine, I discovered that my blood pressure was actually not within the healthy zone. On a personal note, I was feeling stressed out at this time because I had just gotten into an argument. But if that really was the cause, then two months of practicing beforehand was actually not improving anything behind the scenes. There are only two conclusions that can explain the results I got: either regular exercise does not improve your response to stress (which means the medical establishment is wrong) or it takes longer than two months for the results to completely manifest (which means “instant gratification” includes much more than we originaly thought it did).

References:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/30/has-extreme-fitness-gone-too-far-instagram-gym-classes
https://gwrymca.org/blogs/which-burns-more-calories-running-steady-pace-or-varied-pace

Why Post-Midterm American Voters Should Call Themselves Survivors

Our current president was given two years by the American public, along with a legislative branch where his party was the majority, to try to reverse that state that the United States had fallen into at the end of the previous decade, which his predecessor put time, money, and effort to prevent from worsening. According to several indicators, it looks like matters both domestically and abroad have improved for the United States. However, those who have are able to read this blog post should consider ourselves lucky to have survived this period of prime conservative power. It is not as though the Trump administration was significantly more corrosive to American values than previous periods of Republican rule: following the 1994 Contract with America election, the Republican party in cooperation with our first Reagan Democrat President were able to pass a bill severely curtailing access to welfare benefits. The most that can be said of the current administration is that they withdrew from a climate agreement that even the liberal democratic government of Mexico is having a difficult tine complying with.

The one thing that we should be glad did not happen under the under the current period of Republican government and that we can be happy will not happen now that the Democratic party controls the House of Representatives. For all that he is accused of having done by the left, our current president did not try to pass any treaties that would worsen our economic relationship with the Chinese. Treaties that would require the approval of both the House and the Senate.

FYI:

http://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/26895/EGR2018_FullReport_EN.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/07/03/andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-and-a-new-era-of-politics-in-mexico/
https://halrogers.house.gov/legislation
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/01/15/assessing-u-s-china-relations-2-years-into-the-trump-presidency/

A Hypothetical Scenario

Warning: This post discusses non-PC topics related to human biology, and some of the topics discussed in it have been attached as a Word document to protect readers.  This document has been scanned and guaranteed fry Internet Security.

Conventional wisdom states that every society throughout human history has been patriarchal, and that the social conservatism that serves as the basis for patriarchy is more likely to cause problems for the comman man and woman than radical feminism, which has historically been associated with elite groups.  It is still possible for radical feminist societies to exist, especially during times of disaster.  Karmin, Saag, Kivislid et al. describe a genetic bottleneck in the Y-chromosome which coincided with the rise of agriculture 10,000 years ago.  In other words, once humans started farming the land, social inequality became more pronounced, with a select few alpha males dominating the mating pool.

However, what is missing from their article is the role played by climate in bringing about this change.  The previous system of hunting and gathering was no longer sustainable due to the end of the last Glacial Maximum, with a warming climate leading to the extinction of a number of big game species which had thrived previously. Rare is the society that practices radical feminism for the sole purpose of pursuing pleasure; it is typically imposed by circumstance.

Now you may wonder why this blog condemns radical feminism in spite of the fact that those who practice it can be considered victims.  To understand this apparent contradiction, it helps to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.  Most people who find themselves in a radical feminist scenario try to leave as soon as reasonably possible, thanks to the neolibertarian doctrine of a self-regulating universe.  In other words, your survival instinct is telling you that you are in danger and need to leave.  The first step to doing that is proper identification.  There are several indicators that will allow you to tell if a woman you know is a radical feminist:

1. They feel insecure when you are interacting with other females, even when it is apparent from the context that this interaction is non-sexual in nature.
2. They try to interfere with your work; modern society has still not progressed to the point where there is no stigma attached to a male partner who stays at home while the female partner goes to work. An exception to this rule is the case of classical neoliberalism, a system that became widespread in the United States during the 1980s. Under this system, there were situations in which the male population would refrain from working for reasons not related to labor relations, such as ensuring physical safety. The primary reason why this is not considered radical feminism is because classical neoliberals are still expected to have some way of accessing means to protect themselves. Take, for example, this guard protecting an illegal diamond mine in Angola:



3. They try to use your children against you by blaming you for all the problems in the relationship and the household.  Although a traditional family structure is no longer the only way to lead a healthy fulfilling life, most young people eventually go on to lead this kind of lifestyle once they achieve socioeconomic stability.  Alternative lifestyles do exist, but they have issues with sustainability, as will be explained in the posts describing postmodern feminism.
4. Last but not least, they threaten or resort to violence even when they are not facing any imminent threat of danger that requires the use of violence in self-defense.  This should only be done as an absolute last resort, and neolibertarianism can often prevent such a scenario from arising in the first place.

Although radical feminism has traditionally been viewed as a problem that only women can have, men who are not alpha males are also capable of engaging in behavior resembling radical feminism by becoming aloof from society and neglecting their responsibilities to their jobs and families.  The above listed behaviors could theoretically be practiced by men, but are far less common since most men do not possess the necessary alpha traits to back them up.  Even in the case of an alpha male, these behaviors typically aren’t condemned as radical feminism, because some of them may be sanctioned by traditional gender roles.

References

Time Magazine article about stay-at-home dads:  http://time.com/4836/5-myths-about-stay-at-home-dads/.  The fact that this article was written in the first place indicates that social expectations still favor men who behave according to traditional roles, although it does admit that trend is changing.  Due to its authorship following the Great Recession, it reflects a change in social attitudes brought about by a difficult economic climate.

“A recent bottleneck in Y-chromosome diversity coincides with a global change in culture.” Karmin, Saag, Kivislid et al.  Gemone Research April 2015, Volume 25, Issue 4, pp. 459-466.

Australian website describing Malicious Mother Syndrome:  http://www.parentalalienation.com.au/node/11.  It’s primarily for divorced couples, but the behaviors described therein are not exclusive to them.

UN website describing illegal diamond mining operations in West Africa: https://www.un.org/africarenewal/fr/magazine/january-2007/conflits-et-ressources-naturelles. English translation available at this link.
hypothetical.doc

The Importance of Biodiversity

A classic example of neolibertarianism at work is the Daisyworld simulation, where self-regulating mechanisms within a fictional planet allowed life to thrive there long after it should have gone extinct.

On a hypothetical planet with both white and black daisies, the proportion of white daisies increased as the planet’s Sun heated up because the light-colored daisies reflect more light, thus cooling the planet and keeping the temperature within an acceptable range.

Similarly, when the planet is cooler, black daisies become more prevalent because they absorb sunlight and increase the planet’s temperature. The most important finding of this simulation was that the daisies contributed to increasing the duration where life could exist on Daisyworld, and this duration was longer than what it would be if no daisies were present.

Furthermore, when more species were added to the planet, such as rabbits to consume the daisies and foxes to consume the rabbits, the duration of the period where life could exist only increases. The Daisyworld simulation provided clear evidence that biodiversity was good for life on Earth, since diverse ecosystems were more resilient to changes in their environment.

Reference: http://www.indiana.edu/~geol105b/1425chap9.htm

The American Middle Class

Throughout the history of the United States, many have asked exactly what it means to achieve the American Dream and be a member of the middle class. A precise definition has probably never been agreed upon, but there are several traits that many have in mind when they think of someone who has “made it”:

• They live on land wholly owned by them which is subject to the laws of the United States.
• They have good knowledge of the country’s infrastructure, which causes “normal” people to raise questions about what sorts of activities the person engages in during their free time.
• A subset of this trope involves knowledge of what are called “open standards”, such as IEEE 802.11, which is the specification for the kind of wireless internet that you use in Starbucks. Everybody takes these for granted, and yet they act surprised to see people who have studied them in enough depth to gain unauthorized access to information systems.


Figure 1–Commonly-used electromagnetic spectrum bands. Radio spectrum is divided into bands ranging fromVLF (very low frequency) on the left to EHF (extremely high frequency) on the right.

• They are actively involved in their local community through civic participation, such as charitable giving, mentoring, and political activism.
• They possess a strong work ethic. This is necessary to maintain the aforementioned property, but it also helps if they can solve problems from scratch with very little prior instruction.

References:

Electromagnetic Spectrum Chart, https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/electromagnetic_spectrum_2016.png