Many thanks to our loyal readers for enticing us back into the fray. We had to cut back on our online ventures for quite awhile but have reached a spot, finally, where we will be able to make time for this blog and some others that have been sitting around gathering dust.

If you are new to this site, welcome, if you are an old fan (or enemy) welcome back! We look forward to continuing the debate. By the way, what the hell is wrong with the Republican party??

This one is “Should you Kill the Fat Man?“. I highly recommend playing it now before reading any further because if you keep reading what I say will ruin it for you.

Seriously, go play it.

Go. I’ll wait.

Ok, glad you came back. Trust me you will be happy to have played it before reading this because you may now be thinking the same thing I was at the end. You did play it right? Ok, I trust you.

It starts of by asking the following questions.

• Question 1: Torture, as a matter of principle, is always morally wrong. ( I say True )
• Question 2: The morality of an action is determined by whether, compared to the other available options, it maximizes the sum total of happiness of all the people affected by it. ( I say False because this is a silly way to determine morality ).
• Question 3: It is always, and everywhere, wrong to cause another person’s death – assuming they wish to stay alive – if this outcome is avoidable.( I say False – To save the lives of others etc. )
• Question 4: If you can save the lives of innocent people without reducing the sum total of human happiness, and without putting your own life at risk, you are morally obliged to do so. ( True Again )

Alright, now that they have nailed down your moral absolutes ( silly concept but it’s their game ) they start by presenting some scenarios that are meant to challenge them. I fail the first one which is …

Scenario Part 1:

The brakes of the train that Casey Jones is driving have just failed. There are five people on the track ahead of the train. There is no way that they can get off the track before the train hits them. The track has a siding leading off to the right, and Casey can hit a button to direct the train onto it. Unfortunately, there is one person stuck on the siding. Casey can turn the train, killing one person; or he can allow the train to continue onwards, killing five people.

Should he turn the train (1 dead); or should he allow it to keep going (5 dead)?

I say yes, he should turn the train, effectively saving 4 lives. The game sees this as a contradiction to my belief that causing death is always wrong. Alright, whatever. It is still wrong and I would feel terrible if I were actually in this situation. I would have felt worse doing nothing and letting more die though.  This is why moral absolutes are silly.

Scenario Part 2:

Marty Bakerman is on a footbridge above the train tracks. He can see that the train approaching the bridge is out of control, and that it is going to hit five people who are stuck on the track just past the bridge. The only way to stop the train is to drop a heavy weight into its path. The only available heavy enough weight is a (very) fat man, who is also watching the train from the footbridge. Marty can push the fat man onto the track into the path of the train, which will kill him but save the five people already on the track; or he can allow the train to continue on its way, which will mean that the five will die.

Should he push the fat man onto the track (1 dead); or allow the train to continue (5 dead)?

Here, even though the math is the same the action is very different. The first situation involved making a horrible situation a little less horrible and doing everything possible to save lives. This one is just murdering some hapless bystander to save other hapless bystanders. I chose not to murder the fat man and moved on to the next part.

Scenario Part 3:

Okay so this scenario is identical to the preceding scenario but with one crucial difference. This time Marty Bakerman knows with absolute certainty that the fat man on the bridge is responsible for the failure the train’s brakes: upset by train fare increases, he sabotaged the brakes with the intention of causing an accident. As before, the only way to stop the train and save the lives of the five people already on the track is to push the fat saboteur off the bridge into the path of the train.

Should Marty push the fat saboteur onto the track (1 dead); or allow the train to continue (5 dead)?

This one was a little bit harder. First off I don’t support the death penalty as a punishment doled out by the state after the criminal is safely out of society. I do however have little problem when criminals are killed in the act or while evading arrest. It’s not a contradiction, its a matter of practicality, safety to society, and necessity.

Anyhow, I chose to Push the fat saboteur onto the track. In this case the criminal was still a danger to society and if his crime results in his own death then I think I can sleep just fine. The game agrees and we move on.

Scenario Part 4

Should you torture the fat man?

The fat man, having avoided being thrown in front of the runaway train, has been arrested, and is now in police custody. He states that he has hidden a nuclear device in a major urban centre, which has been primed to explode in 24 hours time. The following things are true:

1. The bomb will explode in 24 hours time.
2. It will kill a million people if it explodes.
3. If bomb disposal experts get to the bomb before it explodes, there’s a chance it could be defused.
4. The fat man cannot be tricked into revealing the location of the bomb, nor is it possible to appeal to his better nature, nor is it possible to persuade him that he was wrong to plant the bomb in the first place.
5. If the fat man is tortured, then there is a 75% chance that he will give up the bomb’s location.
6. If the fat man does not reveal the location, the bomb will explode, and a million people will die: there is no other way of finding out where the bomb is located.

Should the fat man be tortured in the hope that he will reveal the location of the nuclear device?

I couldn’t even answer this stupid ass question. What? Torture is really the only way we’re getting the information? Was this written by a Republican? They think the torture has a 75% chance of success, in under 24 hours, against a hardened criminal. You know what the real chance of success of getting actionable information using only torture when the subject knows they only have to keep you busy for 24 hours is? ZERO! None! Fuck all.

So to play this game I have to make a moral choice based on some republican’s Jack Bauer bedroom fantasy, I stopped playing at this point and chose option #3 and called the psychic hot-line because in reality their advice would be just a good as any information gained through torture.

Obama Pardoning Turkey

President Barack Obama is being targeted by some on the right for being soft on crime after pardoning a Turkey yesterday.  While this was the first pardon of his short presidency some worry that it sets a dangerous precedent.  How after all, they wonder, will he stand up to terrorists when he can’t even take down common poultry.

Sarah Palin shows how it should be done.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.

So look for a fresh new … erm … look and a renewed energy.  I honestly can’t say how excited I am to be back at WWJV4.com and I hope that some of our old readers are still around.  So check out Talk Topeka, it just launched and its still trying to find its sea legs, and look for even more blogs to be rolled out over the winter.

copyright © 2007-2008, Rudis Muiznieks

Normally on Mondays I try to post a few funny things to make everyones worst day at work or school a little easier to deal with. Today I thought I would try something different and concentrate on a funny yet important subject, Homeopathy. For most rational people homeopathy is an easy subject to laugh at. Sadly though the misplaced belief in these superstitious “remedies” has many dire consequences that are often overlooked.

For those unfamiliar with homeopathy here is a short summery. Homeopathy is based upon the theories of Samuel Hahnemann who believed that disease and sickness were caused by imbalances in the body. Whats more he believed that these imbalances could be cured by taking microscopic quantities of minerals, herbs, and other bizarre substances. For a good overview I strongly suggest this article “Homeopathy: The Ultimate Fake“.

It is important to remember that homeopathic remedies have never been proven more effective than placebos. However homeopaths are quick to defend their beliefs by saying that their remedies have special magical attributes that prevent them from being tested scientifically. If this defense sounds familiar its the same as the one used for intelligent design. For an excellent overview of the science behind homeopathy I strongly recommend Ben Goldacre’s “The End of Homeopathy“.

Skepchick ran a series on Homeopathy a few weeks back during Homeopathy Awareness Week. I read every one but since we don’t normally cover superstitious nonsense never brought it up here. However if you have time to read them they are very good.

• Skepchick: Celebrating Homeopathy Awareness Week #1
• Skepchick: Celebrating Homeopathy Awareness Week #2
• Skepchick: Celebrating Homeopathy Awareness Week #3
• Skepchick: Celebrating Homeopathy Awareness Week #4
• Skepchick: Celebrating Homeopathy Awareness Week #5
• Skepchick: Celebrating Homeopathy Awareness Week #6
• Skepchick: Celebrating Homeopathy Awareness Week #7

DAMMIT!!!!

A sex tape featuring Marilyn Monroe engaging in oral sex with an unknown man was recently purchased for 1.5 Million dollars. This isn’t really surprising and honestly I figured the price would be considerably higher. At 1.5 Million the thing is a steal. What sucks is that apparently the guy who purchased it is planning on keeping it private. How sad, finally a celebrity sex tape I actually would want to watch and its going to be kept private.

Random SNL Humor

SNL was pretty good this weekend and these first two videos are from that. This first one is dedicated to a friend of my wifes who does a good impression of this.

Creationist Humor

If you follow the flat earthers quest to replace science education with religious indoctrination you are probably familiar with the movie Expelled. Well it was only a matter of time until some good cartoons started popping up. Here is one of the best for you. Now you can all join us as we point and laugh at the silly creationists.

Funny Music Video

This last video is courtesy of Skepchick, a great blog that I highly recommend. In addition to this great video there are also 2 funny “Rickrolling” videos on that page. The first is at a Westboro Baptist Church protest and the second is at some random Scientology thing. Enjoy and don’t hesitate to comment.

[youtube width="500" height="394"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nlaJ4zPbSI[/youtube]

Part 1

Part 2

Tip of the hat to Huffington Post for posting this video.

William’s Bracket

Summer’s Bracket

I know some games have been played at this point, but I promise I haven’t had a chance to check scores and edit my bracket. Considering my skill at picking winners I’m sure that will be obvious. I’ll get Summer to post her bracket this evening since she made one up yesterday at work. I havn’t seen it yet so it will be interesting to see who does better.

Feel free to consider this an open thread for discussion on the tournament. Also feel free to mock my selections, though I feel good about my bracket. I may want to take that back after I see todays scores though. I’ll be updating this thread through the tournament so look forward to hearing me gloat when KU wins it all!

UPDATE: You wont be seeing too many more changes around here. I have some stuff planned but nothing intrusive. Thanks for everyones patience. I know that the contact form is broken and that is on the top of my list of things to resolve this weekend.

UPDATE: Ok, well maintenance is completed for the most part. As you can see we have a spiffy new theme so please let me know if you run across problems. Just post a comment here or use the contact form (needs testing anyhow).

Just a bit of fair warning, the website is currently undergoing pseudo-planned maintenance and will be fluctuating wildly between designs for a while. Please be patient and bear with me. This is part of an ongoing effort to modernize and improve performance. Thanks for your patience.

– Original Email –

A Coincidence????

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye…and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female – they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? …. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Onions look like body cells. Today’s research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

“The news isn’t that fruits and vegetables are good for you, it’s that they are so good for you, they can save your life.” David Bjerklie, TIME Magazine, Oct. 2003.

– My Response – Sent as Reply to All –

Amazing,
Right after work I’m going to the store to stock up on bananas and cucumbers. Seriously, WTH?? Carrots look like eyes? I have a rock that looks like an eye, is that ok to eat? What about tomatoes that are not red? Are they ok to eat? What about the bunches of grapes that don’t look like hearts? Or the ones that fall off in the bag? Are they less healthy for my heart? What If I hold two bunches of grapes up next to each other so look kind of like lungs, will that help me get over a chest cold? Sooo many questions…!

FYI Avocados don’t take exactly 9 months to ripen. This is just made up. Fact “Mexican types ripen in 6 – 8 months from bloom while Guatemalan types usually take 12 – 18 months” Source (http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/avocado.html). You know what else takes 12 – 18 months to “bloom”? Whales. So by this logic Avocados are not meant for human consumption, they are meant for whales to eat so that they will have healthy wombs. (Don’t forget to feed them olives too so their ovaries will be healthy) So please stop making dip out of all the whale food!