tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post7407244367065518492..comments2024-03-29T03:05:05.850-05:00Comments on Althouse: The de-normalization of "normal."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-11600880888530553262021-03-10T12:56:20.740-06:002021-03-10T12:56:20.740-06:00"Juicy" = fat + ugly."Juicy" = fat + ugly.Rayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077571884048375224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-47357301321810927042021-03-10T11:33:15.248-06:002021-03-10T11:33:15.248-06:00In this light, "normal" is not a bad wor...<i>In this light, "normal" is not a bad word, to be avoided. It's a concept that demands more attention. If the position in the middle is called "normal," then it makes it sound as though the other positions on the continuum are defective.</i><br /><br />Wrong<br /><br />"She is of normal intelligence. He is of superior intelligence." The "normal" intelligence is in the middle of the range. That doesn't make having a different position defective.<br /><br />What this is about is freaks demanding that their freakishness be "celebrated."<br /><br />Which is to say, it's about freaks being losers.<br /><br />There are many ways in which I'm a "freak", where I'm significantly different from the norm.<br /><br />Some of these are failings. Others of these are successes. Others are just different, where I prefer the difference from the norm.<br /><br />But, because I'm a functional human being, I own them all.<br /><br />People who are freaks, but don't own it? They are losers. And they shoudl be mocked for being losers.<br /><br />Is your skin to oily? to dry? No, and no?<br /><br />Well, you have "normal" skin. Or, you have "superior" skin, because it's clearly better than having skin that's too oily, or too dry.<br /><br />This decision is just more pandering to the pathetic. it's a bad decision, and makes me think less of Dove.<br /><br />Which means I won't be buying their products any moreGreg The Class Traitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01222722152851867806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-9004097948825259472021-03-10T11:30:50.105-06:002021-03-10T11:30:50.105-06:00I guess I'm supernormal now.I guess I'm supernormal now.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12072828878629499814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-90062018909640089762021-03-10T10:02:44.373-06:002021-03-10T10:02:44.373-06:00katikati said...
My husband suggests "median&...<i>katikati said...<br />My husband suggests "median"<br /><br />3/10/21, 7:40 AM</i><br /><br />'Mean' would be more appropriate - in this day and age.stlcdrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07407669183827851656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-25714065097464542712021-03-10T07:41:02.315-06:002021-03-10T07:41:02.315-06:00Update: "How 'bout they call it 'unin...Update: "How 'bout they call it 'uninteresting'?"katikatihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08612206455183013697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-10411112234758919442021-03-10T07:40:08.692-06:002021-03-10T07:40:08.692-06:00My husband suggests "median"My husband suggests "median"katikatihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08612206455183013697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-16628350588133176972021-03-10T07:21:57.286-06:002021-03-10T07:21:57.286-06:00"The normal position of the switch is for Mar..."The normal position of the switch is for Marlboro'." Railroad operations will never be the same. But I thought Dove soap was "tested on real curves"!<br />Nathan Redshieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13875374894832105416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-29127908354735981262021-03-10T06:24:28.742-06:002021-03-10T06:24:28.742-06:00Most people are weird.
Duh.Most people are weird.<br /><br />Duh.The Crack Emceehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08366101526773588864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-50601793585693547362021-03-10T06:11:19.599-06:002021-03-10T06:11:19.599-06:00Sorry but "juicy" is not normal.Sorry but "juicy" is not normal.BBridgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06396930020494095550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-5865070402483351422021-03-10T05:50:51.484-06:002021-03-10T05:50:51.484-06:00As a very acne-prone teenager, I welcomed the idea...As a very acne-prone teenager, I welcomed the idea that there was "normal" skin, which apparently I didn't have, and that my complexionary woes were the result of my "oily" skin, which wasn't really something I could change (except to mask the effects by purchasing products tailored for my needs). It's a useful dichotomy and while I might have wished, at the time, that my skin had been "normal," the difference in skin type was a neutral explanation, not a condemnation of me. The cosmetics industry didn't "exclude" me, my genetics did.Misinforminimalismhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11420058444431162570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-52738371461652210732021-03-09T21:50:54.700-06:002021-03-09T21:50:54.700-06:00Let's replace "normal" with "or...Let's replace "normal" with "ordinary".<br /><br />I'm sure Ateh Jewel would just <i>love</i> to be called "ordinary."LA_Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09775262019154051166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-38361387003541614792021-03-09T20:36:29.277-06:002021-03-09T20:36:29.277-06:00In need of a song:
The river runs wide, the river...In need of a song:<br /><br />The river runs wide, the river runs muddy.<br />The river runs long after I am gone;<br />With a steamboat running at a wide bend<br />Skipping in the mississippi dew.<br />39 days I skip on the river<br />39 days on a BalliLine boat<br />Wouldn't get home without the muddy water rolling<br />Towboat making up barges <br />On a long hot summerday<br />Paraphrase, the great John Hartford.Josephbleauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12407587570806062403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-44208705017785088092021-03-09T20:18:43.398-06:002021-03-09T20:18:43.398-06:00Caligula: 'Gaussian distribution' Ohhh. ...Caligula: 'Gaussian distribution' Ohhh. <br />Josephbleau: A further exposition. Ahhh.<br /><br />John Henry is usually not so opaque. <br /><br />Thanks guys. Hercules, not that one thoughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13741704032573869808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-43139988688958795762021-03-09T20:14:41.969-06:002021-03-09T20:14:41.969-06:00"I also, from my naval days, know how to de-g..."I also, from my naval days, know how to de-gauss a ship."<br /><br />Gauss was a Genius, the measure of a magnetic field is the Gauss. Force is a Newton. De-Gaussing,say, an old CRT color TV or a sub is eliminating the magnetic field it builds up over time. A magnetic field can be used by mines or magnetic detectors on aircraft or destroyers. So be happy to de-gauss if you are steel navy, but also know that there are new quantum ways to find subs.Josephbleauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12407587570806062403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-56608618727841234062021-03-09T20:14:01.600-06:002021-03-09T20:14:01.600-06:00Speaking of modes and modalities. Or rather, singi...Speaking of modes and modalities. Or rather, singing about them:<br /><br /><br /><i>When the mode of music changes<br />When the mode of music is changed<br />When the mode of music changes<br />The walls of the city shake<br /><br />He who does not dance neither shall he eat<br />He who does not prance neither shall he drink<br />He who won't romance neither can he think<br /><br />He who does not dance neither shall he eat<br /><br />You can have the men who make the laws<br />You can have the men who make the laws<br />You can have the men who make the laws<br />Give me the music makers<br /><br />When beauty barks I heel<br />When beauty barks I heel<br />When beauty barks I heel<br />When beauty barks I heel<br /><br />Beware a man who is not moved by sound<br />Beware a man who is not moved by sound<br />Beware a man who is not moved by sound<br />He'll drag you to the ground<br />Drag you to the ground<br /><br />Come dance with me come dance with me in Johnson's land<br />Come dance with me and we'll beat that hooary band<br /><br />Music have alarums to wild the civil breast<br />Music have alarums to wild the civil breast<br />Music have alarums to wild the civil breast<br />It does not bring me rest<br />It does not bring me rest<br /><br />But in the bitter end<br />This wildness brings me rest<br />I sleep in the eye of the storm<br />And in the startling end<br />Bluewhiteness makes me calm<br />I dream in the eye of the wind</i><br /><br />The fugs<br /><br />https://youtu.be/n-Tk5nDm0F4<br /><br />John HenryJohn henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13529920006532904660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-90654907403723576092021-03-09T20:11:39.495-06:002021-03-09T20:11:39.495-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.Josephbleauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12407587570806062403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-81328884685733083412021-03-09T20:10:32.113-06:002021-03-09T20:10:32.113-06:00Re body temp,
A lot of plants I visit take my tem...Re body temp,<br /><br />A lot of plants I visit take my temperature as I drive in. I always make a point of keeping my let forearm directly in front of the AC vent when I am driving to the plant with AC on high and cold. <br /><br />I once scored 80 degrees (real, not eurotemp). I told the guard I was actually dead. He didn't care. I was not over 99 or whatever he had been told. <br /><br />Just doing my bit to widen the curve. <br /><br />John HenryJohn henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13529920006532904660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-60310110908070938332021-03-09T20:04:39.541-06:002021-03-09T20:04:39.541-06:00Where do they diverge? when variables not in the ...Where do they diverge? when variables not in the model change.Josephbleauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12407587570806062403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-32516296205230712832021-03-09T20:03:36.178-06:002021-03-09T20:03:36.178-06:00"Normal" surely has multiple meanings.
..."Normal" surely has multiple meanings. <br /><br />If you tell someone their intelligence is "normal" they'll probably be insulted, as something like 80% of adults are convinced their intelligence is above average. And, clearly, to be "normal" in this regard is, if not exactly bad, certainly not as good as you might wish.<br /><br />So, there's "normal" in the sense of the peak of that Gaussian distribution: there's nothing especially bad about being there, but being "normal" in that sense does not (can not) imply any sense of being superior to those who are not. Especially if they're on the right-hand side of that curve.<br /><br />And then there's "normal" in the sense of "the norm": most of us would prefer not to see ourselves written up as a case study in a book on abnormal psychology. And so, too, if you take your temperature with a fever thermometer, "normal" is just where you want to be. Just as it is when you read your medical-lab report to see if your measurement falls in that "reference" range, normal is good and not-normal is not-so-good.<br /><br />Nonetheless, this level of subtlety (if that's what it is) is not at all what Righteous Woke Indignation seeks: <i>that</i> world is a moral crusade, a Manichean world of pure, shadow-free intensely bright light and abysmal, inky-black shadows; a world in which subtlety of any kind is simply intolerable, unbearable, a thing which cannot be tolerated to exist.<br /><br />Caligulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14845933309483623110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-40618853466289648442021-03-09T20:03:30.157-06:002021-03-09T20:03:30.157-06:00I've often seen gaussian distribution and norm...I've often seen gaussian distribution and normal distribution used interchangeably to describe a bell curve. For example in looking at quality with some products falling below the target spec and some above. Normally, this distribution is normal.<br /><br />I also, from my naval days, know how to de-gauss a ship. <br /><br />I do not know how to do much more with gauss. When I look at gaussian functions, my head starts to hurt. <br /><br />John HenryJohn henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13529920006532904660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-63693017115579628322021-03-09T20:01:51.626-06:002021-03-09T20:01:51.626-06:00Never confuse the model with reality, never confus...Never confuse the model with reality, never confuse the map with the territory.Josephbleauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12407587570806062403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-24730211808857500862021-03-09T19:54:07.941-06:002021-03-09T19:54:07.941-06:00I checked out the most recent magazine I have here...I checked out the most recent magazine I have here - Feb 2021 - to see how it handled "more attractive" without saying it. This wasn't an AARP health magazine. It was for young women with men and children in their lives, with a house to run and a job Yet it seemed to be marketing looking good after fifty: how can you look good at 53?; "Give hair immunity from future damage". There was an escape from Covid theme: "Makeup that lasts beneath your mask"; hand soap with ethylene alcohol and shea butter; "results backed by nature and science." There were some heavy women (I've heard that Covid-19 stands for how many pounds we'll each gain from this pandemic.) And there were some sharp-featured young women. The models all seemed like the before picture but that's my Fifties outlook. The idea was not wokeness so much as not jarring fearful and dumpy women with pictures from a brighter land with good-looking men (there were none). I can't think that will last. wildswanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11975129877750876072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-36687759248310016542021-03-09T19:44:42.071-06:002021-03-09T19:44:42.071-06:00John Henry - "Gaussian"
I just spent 15...John Henry - "Gaussian"<br /><br />I just spent 15 minutes exploring that. Can't comment on it right now. 'electronic structure modeling'? I want to tie it into Buddha's veil of illusion, but...I don't really know.<br /><br />I'll give you this. It sounds sciency. Kali? The destroyer. Hercules, not that one thoughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13741704032573869808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-19573117164580565902021-03-09T19:41:28.114-06:002021-03-09T19:41:28.114-06:00"Would I be incorrect if I said my hair is ne..."Would I be incorrect if I said my hair is neither dry nor oily but "Gaussian"Or is it "gaussian" in this usage."<br /><br />I think you would have to state your hair at any point as between non-oily and oily, a continuous interval. Dry confuses understanding as it is merely completely non oily. "Gaussian" applies as an abstraction, if it is useful.Josephbleauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12407587570806062403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-25288100525896009242021-03-09T19:40:38.694-06:002021-03-09T19:40:38.694-06:00Or perhaps my hair is "median"
I usua...Or perhaps my hair is "median" <br /><br />I usually just buy whatever shampoo they have in Costco in the biggest bottle at the lowest price. <br /><br />My wife also has 10 bottles of shampoo and another 10 or so of conditioner. <br /><br />A couple months ago I needed shampoo and was in a Walmart so figured I would pick up a bottle there. A full aisle of shampoos and pretty much everyone was something to eat. Strawberries, avocado, blueberry and so on. What was not food was some kind of flower. <br /><br />All I wanted was plain old shampoo and it took me 20 minutes to find. <br /><br />Skin cream or is it "creme"? is even worse. <br /><br />John HenryJohn henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13529920006532904660noreply@blogger.com