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Ralph Snyder

@ralphsnyder.bsky.social

270 followers 160 following 3.3K posts

I post and repost about books, philosophy, art, history, photography, random observations, and, sometimes, just silly stuff.

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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · Aug 20

l make distinction between Poltical and political

The Political is akin to Philosophy and Religion. It is about how we understand our relationship to one another, how we navigate our disagreements, how we make decisions together, how we imagine our relationships within the larger social setting.

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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 8m

It is not clear that humanity should survive.

-- Reinhold Niebuhr (adapted)

Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 4h

Johnson is the definition of clueless. He's so lost in his own head he might as well be AI.

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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 4h

I know you will be.

Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 4h

I have ridden many busses. None has been half so convivial. I am jealous.

Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 4h

In Herbert Badham's 'The Night Bus,' (1943) the interior lights highlight the different figures and their gestures, all still, fixed in the moment. A woman reads a magazine, a man smokes, the conductor chats to a passenger.

Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 5h

I have many unhelpful suggestions if you'd like to hear them.

Otherwise just sympathy and support.

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Reposted by Ralph Snyder

NO KINGS IN AMERICA… 😎 @jerasikehorn.bsky.social · 7h

BREAKING: A judge just signed an order BANNING ICE from arresting people at court in Chicago and all of Cook County.

Any ICE agents attempting to do so will now be arrested on the spot.

GOOD. 😎✨

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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 5h

Two hours is more typical. Enough time to eat, relax, and maybe nap a little.

Reposted by Ralph Snyder

Structured Success @structuredsucc.bsky.social · 1d

Remember: Neurodivergent isn't shorthand for being ADHD and/or autistic.

Neurodivergent is an umbrella term for anyone and everyone who has differences in their neurological structure or function.

This includes mental health issues, brain injuries, and developmental conditions

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Reposted by Ralph Snyder

Crip Dyke @cripdyke.bsky.social · 1d

Critical Race Theory is, as almost no one remembers, a subset of CLegalT & is best described the body of work seeking to identify & understand how race & racism has affected laws (and thus gov'ts and institutions).

This judge's concurrence is actual CRT, and they don't teach this in kindergarten.

A Washington State Supreme Court Justice Condemns Federal Indian Law as Racist and Awful

"Each time a court cites a case that has as its foundation such racist fallacies, it is incumbent on us to call out that racism, even if just in a footnote."

ballsandstrikes.org

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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 1d

Not sure which the more difficult

Heavy traffic city driving, or

Narrow, twisty, hilly country driving.

Suffice it to say I've had a fair amount of both today.

And a lot of Le Metro and walking and waiting in doctors' offices.

And I'm just a little bit tired.

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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 1d

Actually, it's from a deleted paragraph in Vonnegut's "Player Piano" and refers to a defective piano roll that, because of random cuts and tears, transformed its rendition of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" to a recitation of the poems of Emily Dickinson.

Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 1d

2. Glib, completely unsupported claims such as intellectual disability (lead paint) results in right wing ideology.

And it's mostly about the latter, dammit.
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 1d

1. Endless "news" reports about single studies that give none of these details. This results in confusion: coffee is bad for you! No coffee is good for you. Alcohol is bad. No! Actually red wine is good.

So it goes.
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 1d

5. (The Biggy): Reproducibility. Do other studies support the conclusions? This is a huge problem in many medical and sociological reports.

6. What do researchers uninvolved with the study think?

What is all this in sub-post to?

Well, a lot of things, but two things mostly:
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 1d

4. Is the statistical treatment robust? What is the sample size? Are there controls for other factors like income, education, and other demographics? What statistical model was used and why? What standard was used? >50%, >1 sigma, >3 sigma?
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 1d

2. Does the design reasonably test the hypothesis? If it employs a proxy (e.g. education level for class), is the proxy a good approximation? (No, it is not)

3. What is the methodology? Does it really operationalize the methodology?
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 1d

This is a subtweet (and no doubt incomplete)

When I see a study, I look at several factors (which, alas, are not often reported in the popular press)

1. Is the hypothesis well formulated? Does it allow for a reasonable falsifiablity?
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 2d

In my twenties I ran a bunch of TTRPGs.

In retrospect many of them had the same structure: a gradual peeling away of delusion.

Interestingly, no party peeled back any layer.

I think that means something, but I can't say what.

Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 2d

I gave them a theater, a cave, and a tree house.

Thirty years later, turns out, I'm still pretty pissed.

Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 2d

"What if all that was really necessary was imagining and living as if the imagining was already real?"

"That would not be this world," said Narjawan. "Though it is an interesting world to contemplate."
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 2d

"I wonder," I said. "What if all the rules and traditions that the engineer, the artist, the child follow to make their dreams a reality were unnecessary.

"What if it was all because of an illusion about natural law and causality.
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 2d

"A child may dream of being this or that and spend decades in pursuit of that goal

"All of it begins with imagination. All that striving is to make the imaginary real."
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 2d

"Magic is when you use imagination to create reality.

"It happens all the time. An engineer thinks of a machine that can do thus and thus. They might spend years and years working to make it happen.

"An artist may have an inspiration and strive, days, months, years, to realize it.
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Ralph Snyder @ralphsnyder.bsky.social · 2d

Narjawan came for a visit. Luckily I had just baked up some scones. I put up a pot of tea and found some jam that wasn't too old.

"I once heard," he said. "That a sufficiently advanced technology would seem like magic.

"But it isn't magic, you know." He leaned in conspiricoloritry.
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Reposted by Ralph Snyder

Jim Musil Painter @jimmusilpainter.bsky.social · 2d

My painting GREAT PLAINS STORM

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