Four Par Fours at Brian McClain

Look at the "Individual Hole Breakdown" on this page:

http://www.sanantoniodiscclub.com/ratings.htm

There are 4 holes at McClain that the "pros" average 4 or more shots on, 5, 10, 13, and 15. Maybe those holes should be par fours. That would make par at McClain a more reasonable 58.

I know I played McClain a bunch of times before I parred 5 or 15. Both are very difficult to get 3's on. 4's on those holes are fairly easy.

Weird Disc Golf Throw

Watch the throw at 1:36 into the video (the next guy falls down -- only dorks fall down playing disc golf). What kind of throw is that? It's insane!

Results From "The Game"

We play in two groups of three. Paul shoots an amazing 58. Chris and I tie for second with a 64. Mike and Ryan follow up with a 67. Clint shoots a 68.

I felt like I didn't play very well. I had my best drive ever on hole 15 (the Yuccatown) hole) and I bogeyed it. My disc landed a little past the big tree at the end of the fairway. I bogeyed both the par 4's.

Mike had seven pars and two bogeys on the front nine. That was great.

That's Amazing

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1209726/Single-molecule-million-times-smaller-grain-sand-pictured-time.html

Totally cool.

It's On

That's right. That's me. I'm in my backyard. That's a practice disc golf basket. It is officially on.

Making a Conversation Clear

Suppose the following scenario. Zack lives in an area where tribalism happens and Zack is identified as a "member" of a tribe by people in his society because of who his parents are or his race or his appearance (but not because he actively joined a tribe).

Now, imagine an international corporation comes in a pays another tribe to attack the tribe Zack is a "member" of and this results in the death of all of Zack's family (his wife Anette and his three kids, Tony, Richard, and Bubba). Further, as a result of this Zack "hates" the tribe that did this.

The question is "Who is wrong in this scenario?". Obviously the international corporation and the tribe that attacked Zack's tribe are wrong, right? Well, who in the attacking tribe should be held responsible for the attack? The people within the tribe that took the payoff did wrong. The people who carried out the attacks did wrong. Anybody in the attacking tribe who knew about the attacks in advance and did nothing about it did wrong (if they were in a position to do something about it). Anybody in the tribe who heard about the attacks and didn't try to bring the wrong doers to justice is wrong (if they are in a position to do something about it). Also, there may be other people in the attacking tribe that did wrong.

However, there are probably "members" of the attacking tribe that did nothing wrong. There is no way very small childen "of the attacking tribe" are responsible for the attack. Maybe the wives of the attackers didn't know anything about the attack in advance and aren't in position to do anything about it after the attack. Future generations of people in the tribe aren't responsible for the attacks either. Etc. The point is, being a member of the attacking tribe isn't enough to be wrong (unless you believe in tribalism which is wrong).

So, in light of the above, if Zack blames the attacking tribe and holds it collectively responsible for the deaths of his family, he's wrong too. He's a triablist. There are ideas in his head that he is responsible for having that are wrong and make him do wrong things.

On the other hand, Zack could be right and completely blameless if he recognizes that his society practices triablism and that tribalism is wrong. If he rejects tribalism and only holds those individuals responsible for the actions they take, he can be right.

This is what I was trying to say today at lunch.

Disc Catcher Construction Pics

My brother, Clint, is making me a disc catcher so I can practice my putting in the backyard. He said he might get done with it today. Here are some pictures:

Mixed Disc Golf Weekend

On Saturday, it was just Michael and I and Michael beat me fairly soundly. Our scorecard for the day was mysteriously lost in a warehouse fire. I think he won by 5 or 6 shots.

On Sunday, I shot a 62 again. A 62 is the lowest I've ever shot at McClain. I could have shot a 60 or a 61. I bogeyed the last two holes. I also missed 2 or 3 putts that I should have made (I made 2 longish putts too so my putting was probably a wash). I always seem to play better the second day if I play two days in a row.

Tess Plays Monster

Why isn't everybody right?

It's the year 2009. The Internet has made the exchange of ideas and information very easy and inexpensive. For example, any person in the World with Internet can read this blog post. It costs me nothing to run a blog like this. I could post to this blog from a free (to me) Internet connection at work, at school, at a friend's house, at a library, etc.

So, in light of this. Why are so many people wrong about so much? Or, why isn't everybody right about everything important? I think there are a lot of reasons for this. Here are some of them:

• There is a lack of knowledge about what it takes to be right about something. Few people can reasonably state what it takes to claim to "know" something. Since people only have an implicit idea of what it takes (at best), they either wrongly or haphazardly accumulate and maintain knowledge.
• People were wrong about a lot before modern times and this "wrongness" continues to be handed down across generations.
  
• People have a tendency to "become who they are" too early in life. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Lots of people have ideas very similar to their parents and/or the culture they grew up in. These ideas were acquired before they could be properly analyzed by the person acquiring them. Now, they hang around unexamined, unchanging, and wrong.
  
• People are "invested" in wrong ideas. Sometimes changing what you believe has a personal cost. Disagreeing with your past self or with society or your friends or family can have negative consequences.
  
• There are all sorts of disingenuous people spouting all sorts of ideas because they think they'll gain something from doing this. Your average politician is a great example of this phenomenon.
  
• Many people don't think ideas are important. Look at what is taught in schools. Look at the kinds of books people read. Look at how much time people spend entertaining themselves compared to how much time they spend educating themselves.
• People have "reversed" how knowledge works. They see knowledge as the product of perception or their place in the world or choices they make about reality. Some say people "create" their own reality or there is no external universal reality. Some people say society creates the truth. However, reality is what it is independent of what we wish it to be.
  
• People are just "willfully" wrong. Many people pick the conclusions they want. Usually people don't want to blatantly do this. Everybody knows on some level this isn't how it really works. So, people rationalize their beliefs. They deceive both themselves and others with flimsy arguments and reasons for their beliefs. Typically people don't discuss ideas with other people for very long. When they do, all that is needed to stubbornly hold onto a belief you've arbitrarily chosen is a five or ten minute memorized argument that has the sheen of plausibility. Nobody comes to the table of ideas and blatantly says "I believe X just because I want to" but people do pick what they want to be true all the time.

The above is only a partial list. Things are actually worse than what is described above.

John David Lewis' Analysis of Obama's Health Care Bill

http://www.classicalideals.com/HR3200.htm

Lewis takes the time to actually read parts of the bill in order to find answers to a handful of questions. All the answers he found are bad. This link has been floating around the Internet for a while.

Rush Limbaugh even read from the page during his show. If you follow the following link you can see the transcript of Rush's comments and see a great picture of him dressed in black and shouldering an American flag:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_081209/content/01125108.guest.html

Government run health care would be such a bad thing. What would I advocate instead? The so called "Whole Foods Plan" seems like a good start.

In particular I'd like to see something I call "Variable Liability" to be enacted. Under this system, you say in advance what the max you can sue for when getting any kind of health care. You foot the bill for liability insurance based on that number. If you are poor and don't have a lot of money, you say you won't sue. Your health care cost could be potentially much less.

Doctors would still have reason to treat all patients properly. Doctors who have no or few malpractice complaints would have lower insurance rates and this would help them attract new patients. Doctors who didn't treat their patients right could lose their medical license and/or face criminal negligence charges. If there is additional health care needed because of a doctor's mistake, the doctor would be on the hook for that.

Anybody have a good source for what percent of the cost of medical care is due to liability issues?

"Big Farm" Link

http://www.american.com/archive/2009/july/the-omnivore2019s-delusion-against-the-agri-intellectuals

We had a discussion at lunch about how food could/should be grown/raised. The above article is spot on. We couldn't raise enough food to feed people if we didn't use "factory" farming methods.

Good Disc Golf Weekend

On Saturday I beat Cory. He didn't play very well at all. So he now has something like 30 wins and 1 loss against me.



On Sunday I shot a 62. I think that is the lowest number I've ever shot at McClain. My arm seems to be almost totally recovered from the injury I had a couple of months ago. Woot!

Tuesday Night Basketball Video

It looks like I'm really out of shape. = (

Hysterical Marker

Disc Golf Practice Video

Those shots went about 240 feet. A couple of them went right down the line I was throwing.

New Disc Golf Practice Equipment

I went out and practiced today for the first time with my new 300 foot measuring tape and the cone target. I threw a bunch of approaches from 100 and 150 feet. Hopefully practicing like this will shave a few shots off my game in a couple of months.

Results From "The Game"

Cory wins again (62). Nels shoots his low round ever at McClain (64). Ryan gets a 65. Mike gets a 67. Paul is the last to break 70 with a 68. Chris and I have bad days and don't break 70.

I missed probably 5 putts that I should have made. I should have birdied the first hole and parred the two hardest holes on the front nine, 2 and 5. = (

Partial Results From "the Game" (The Battle of India)

Cory, Paul, and Chris played in a different group. I don't have their scorecard. However, Cory shot a 59 again, Paul shot a 66, and Chris shot a 70. I finished with a 63. Cory parred every hole on the back nine.

Nadeem and Trinabh (two guys from work) played disc golf for the first time. They are both from India. So, it was "the Battle of India". Trinabh won 86 to 89.

Greg's Plan For College Football

1) Every team plays a ten game regular season schedule.

2) Every team plays two to five postseason games.

3) Sixteen teams make the playoffs and play for the championship.

4) All other teams play two extra "ladder" games.

5) The regular season takes place from September through November. Teams have eleven or twelve weekends to play their ten regular season games.

6) The typical conference would consist of two six team divisions (like the Big 12). Each conference would hold a conference championship game between the winner of the two divisions.

7) Conference championships are played the last weekend in November.

8) No games are played the first or second weekend in December. This allows football players to have time to focus on school at the end of the semester.

9) All "ladder" games are played the last two weekends in December.

10) Each team has one home and one road "ladder" game.

11) Opponents in "ladder" games are determined in the following way. All teams that don't make the playoffs are ranked. Each team plays two teams near themselves in the rankings. No two teams from the same conference play each other. No two teams that played this or last season play each other.

12) The "ladder" games serve several purposes. They allow everybody to have at least a twelve game regular season. They help in more accurately determining the relative strength of the conferences. They take the place of bowl games to some extent. Each team can plan on having a home, year end, fund raising, and recruiting game.

13) Since teams are near each other in the rankings, the quality of these games should be better than those non-conference games we typically see at the beginning of the year.

14) All conferences get at least one team in the sixteen team playoff. Some conferences get two. Which conferences get two is determined by the results of the previous two to four years of "ladder" games plus the results of the previous year's playoffs.

15) Because there are about 120 teams that play for the championship, there would be ten or eleven conferences. That means five or six conferences would get two teams in the playoffs.

16) If a conference gets one team in the playoffs, the winner of the conference's championship game goes. If a conference gets two teams in the playoffs, both teams playing in the conference title game go.

17) All but sixteen teams would be done with football on the last weekend of the year.

18) The playoff would take place the first five weeks of the year.

19) Each team making the playoffs would get at least two playoff games. A loss eliminates the team from getting first or second place. However, teams still compete for third through fifth place after their first loss.

20) To win the championship, a team has to win four straight times.

21) In week one of the playoffs, all sixteen teams play in eight games (in the 1st bracket). The losers of these games go into a single elimination bracket to compete for fifth place (the 3rd bracket). All games are played at the stadium of the higher seed.

22) In week two of the playoffs, eight teams remain in the 1st bracket and play four games. The losers of these four games go into a single elimination bracket to compete for third and fourth place (the 2nd bracket). There are also four games played in the 3rd bracket. Losers in the 3rd bracket are eliminated. A total of eight games are played. All games are played at the stadium of the higher seed.

23) In week three of the playoffs, there are two games in the 1st bracket, two games in the 2nd bracket, and two games in the 3rd bracket. All losers this weekend are eliminated. The two games in the 1st bracket are played at a neutral sites. All other games are played at the stadium of the higher seed.

24) In week four of the playoffs, only the championship games of the 2nd and 3rd brackets are played. The games are played at neutral sites. Third through fifth place is determined this weekend.

25) In week five of the playoffs, the overall (1st bracket) champion is determined at a neutral site.

26) If a conference places two teams in the top five, they get two teams in next year's playoffs no matter the results of the ladder games.

27) Brackets are seeded by relative rankings of teams at the time the teams in the brackets are determined.