Got around to listening to Ep 1 of the Gladwell podcast, Revisionist History. It was complete drivel even by Gladwell standards. He talks about an artist called Elizabeth Thompson and uses it to introduce a legit concept called moral licensing, which is that having done something which is a public demonstration of morals you give yourself license to do something amoral. For example, if you cede a disputed pot to an opponent at poker, you might not feel bad about sneaking a look at his cards later on. So far so good.

Gladwell then segues into politics and talks about former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the first woman to hold the office. He spends time talking about the misogyny and sexism she faced. He then wants to argue that the fact that she was voted out of office and there have been only men since is an example of "moral licensing" - that having voted in a token woman, people feel licensed to oppose women from then on. He breathlessly reels off a list of countries which have had one and only one female leader. The thing is, that's exactly what you expect if a female becoming leader is simply a low probability event. There's no reason to suppose that the election of one woman will open the floodgates. Just because you spin zero on a roulette wheel once doesn't mean you need conspiracy theories to explain why it doesn't come up much thereafter. Moral licensing has zero explanatory power there because there's nothing to explain. In the case of Gillard it's especially ludicrous because there have been only two Prime Ministers since.

I'm certain Gladwell is smart enough to realise this. The annoying thing about him is not that he advances arguments of dubious repute, it's that I'm convinced that he often knows it and disingenuously does it anyway.

Like I don't mind Gladwell when he's suggesting theories which are interesting but for which the evidence isnt there. But in the example above, there's simply nothing needs explaining. If a woman being leader is still unlikely, then the observed patterns of their appearance is exactly what you'd expect to see.

The only Revisionist History I've listened to is the 3 part series on inefficiencies in American education, but I would highly recommend those episodes.

Seems like you should be able to measure this effect through polling in the same way you use roundabout questions to measure other types of bias.

Yeah. I was going to post that but decided I couldn't be bothered arguing.

My office used to provide an endless supply of Coke products in 6-packs, so I did end up disposing of a lot of those rings. They may well be illegal in California, but not here.

Are you saying that a plastic bag that is buried in a landfill is somehow going to migrate to the ocean? I guess it's possible, but it doesn't seem very likely. Over the scale of centuries, I would imagine that most landfill sites end up getting developed over before they erode down to a pile of loose garbage blowing around in the wind.

A ****load of plastic crap seems to wind up in the oceans pretty routinely.

Breaking News: People are lazy, inconsiderate slobs who frequently don't bother disposing of their trash properly.

I live on a fairly busy main road and the amount of crap I routinely pick up in my front yard is pretty depressing. I also have a small lake in my back yard, with equally depressing numbers of bottles and other waste washing up on the shore.

By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans, study says

Eric: the dumbest Trump? Holy **** his twitter!

But Boboman's imagination simply cannot conceive of how it got there! Fake news, LDO.

lol, sometimes you guys are so bad.

Most of the plastic in the ocean is in tiny pieces and tiny pieces can travel.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...25326X16300066

Bob,

My criticism of you here is that you, like a climate change denier, have the burden of proof going the wrong way. Plastic in the environment being harmful is common knowledge. Bans and restrictions have been advocated by environmentalists and scientists for more than a generation while they have been fought by reactionaries and industry. If you want to be contrarian on this instead of making the massive effort of getting a reusable bag, then it's on you to know you're right and by way of something more rigorous than your speculation about landfills.

I used to take walks around the neighborhood when the kids were stroller age. There was a lot of trash on the street and in the parks near me so that finally I got one of those handled grabbers and a bag and picked it up on my way. It seemed never ending, though, and didn't make sense because I never saw anyone litter.

One morning I was out when the garbage truck picked up all the cans. It was the type that had big arm that would grab the can and lifts it to dump the contents in the top. That mother****er was spilling random bits everywhere and when it took off down the street it was billowing out the top like a tinker tape parade showering the entire neighborhood with plastic wrappers.

We have little fish on all the street grates in gutters letting us know that they go right to the waterways.

The solution is to stop producing and using the ****.

And to carry your soup home in your arms like a real man.

This.

So what does this mean for us potheads? God I hate this administration. I know it's selfish with all the other **** going on but it was one thing that seemed to be progressing for the better still.

There will be pot.

What does it mean for us solar contractors? Last week I had a very promising meeting with someone who distributes equipment to commercial growers and many of them want solar.

lol trump voting stoner white dudes. Get wrekt

When you are advocating for police harassment of your political enemies you are no better than Trump.

To set your mind at ease, my wife does most of the grocery shopping for our family and she is a good Californian who invariably uses reusable bags. Dog waste bags are a much bigger concern for us, especially since we dispose of those loose rather than with the rest of our garbage. I just ordered some degradable bags even. You should be happy we had this discussion.

What about when you're reveling in the schadenfreude of a bunch of total a******s getting some small measure of comeuppance?

That would probably be true if anyone was doing that.

Seriously, watch blue planet 2. It's beautiful and amazing and accessible but also informative about our impact on the world in a way that mere stats can never be.