Recreationism

* Among the February 2007 postings to this blog, is one titled "Human condition". In it, I contemplated a humanistic religion, a body of wisdom and practices that would provide as much meaning and satisfaction for adherents as are justified by evidence and reason and that would tilt society towards diminishing harm. I had a vague idea about the body of wisdom and no idea about practices that would attract people to embrace such a religion.
* One could assemble a bible consisting of wisdom scriptures from all established religions, a section from each such religion, avoiding all text encouraging tribalism and all supernatural claims. Their ethics derive from centuries of experience.
* Sunday-morning assembly programs might be discussions of personal ethics and ethical implications of public policy and cultural conventions. They might include stories exemplifying ethical and practical consequences of individual and governmental choices.
* Sunday-school lessons might consist of presentations and discussions of social and economic dynamics as well as recreational explorations of scientific discoveries advancing the understanding of nature (physics, biology, astronomy, sociology, even chemistry). There are plenty of web pages to support such explorations. I have more than 200 germane links. Outside experts and students might welcome opportunities to discuss their interests with curious people.
* Stimulating recreation would be promoted. That would include sports, arts, crafts, literature, instrumental music, writing, theater, dance, songs of dignified genres and invented play. Opportunities for inter-generational sharing and fellowship might unfold.
* Most of the above should be stimulating and enlightening, but may not activate the amygdala enough for internalization of ethical principals. Anyone of any age needs to learn and reinforce noble sentiments through emotional responses to justice, generosity, unexpected nobility, etc. This might be accomplished through the music program. I have collected 130 songs that activate the amygdala, these in a songbook titled "Country Pathos, Country Soul".
* I'm too senile to begin the above implied project, but I'd love to participate in such gatherings. I wouldn't abandon the Christian churches to which I'm indebted for my most thrilling experiences. Perhaps the Humanistic Church could meet on first Sundays rather than weekly.
* It seems likely that numerous academic and professional types would benefit from church participation for the social interaction with serious people of good will and for help in raising children, people who would not join a conventional church requiring frequent rejection of evidence.
* The broad purpose of this additional church is to make progress towards a great civilization, one lacking gratuitous harm, one where people's rights are respected across ethnic and religious boundaries, across time and across town. Existing religions are failing in this long-term human project.

Government needed

* Milt Herring's July-6 letter to the Tennessean news paper said that Americans satisfied with their liberty fell from 91% in 2006 to 79% in 2013. He attributed the decline in satisfaction to government intervention in the form of regulation, taxes, political correctness, church-state separation, etc.
* The decline seems modest, considering that we were at the peak of a speculative bubble in 2006 and have been climbing out of the resulting economic collapse since 2008, and considering that we have been told since 2008 that Obama is an illegitimate leader destroying the economy, nation and constitution (more than 9 hrs/day by that pernicious purveyor of seditious slander, Fox radio).
* I doubt Mr Herring applauds the freedom from government intervention in northern Nigeria. He probably wishes regulators had prevented banks from tempting home buyers into adjustable-rate mortgages up to 125% of appraised value. He probably hopes there are some resources for future Americans. I doubt he misses the pre-PC belittling of disadvantaged people around the water cooler. Surely he doesn't admire religion-permeated governments common outside Europe and the Americas.
* Government intervention is the price of a civilized society, where people respect each others rights, even if begrudgingly. Without it, the primitive drives that enabled our survival and evolution would lead to rampant harm. Government compensates for failures of family, school, church and culture to instill character.
* Government would be better if leaders discussed economics with engineers, mathematicians, biologists and inventors, imaginative people who understand system dynamics.

Tax-table formula

* We calculate our income tax by use of a Tax Table, employing one of four columns depending on filing status. Out of curiosity, I plotted this year's "filing-jointly" column to see its implications and to see whether an equation could generate the tax-vs-income relation.
* The plot consists of about seven end-on-end straight-line segments. Their slopes are called marginal tax rates.
* Surprisingly, the plot of tax (Y) vs income (X) could be generated faithfully by the formula:
Y = Yao + Sa*X - Yao*e^(-X*ln2/H)
which makes me suspect that the line segments were positioned to mimic the smooth curve generated by this formula. The first two terms express the y intercept (Yao = -52.354k) and slope (Sa = 0.396) of the highest-income segment (Income > 450k) extrapolated to zero income, this being treated as the asymptote of the curve. The exponential term adds to the asymptote diminishingly as income rises above zero. The exponential term falls to half its intercept value at an income (H) of 120k. The natural-log of 2 is 0.693.
* The red lines in the chart illustrate the dependence of the equation's terms and their sum (calculated tax) on income in thousands. The calculated tax is almost superimposed on Tax-Table values (black diamonds and dashes).
* If every taxpayer had a calculator with the e^x function (inverse natural-log or exp function) and knew how to use it, then the tax tables could be replaced by four such formulae (one for each filing status) differing only in the constants.
* Though it is unrealistic to expect every taxpayer to calculate tax by use of the above equation, it would be rational to generate the tax tables by use of that equation rather than by a string of straight-line segments. Then the taxpayer would have the option of using the equation or the table. The result would be consistent with the purpose of today's tax table and would obviate concern with tax brackets, which often confuse people.
* The applicable marginal rate for a given income is the first derivative of the above formula:
dY/dX = Sa + Yao*(ln2/H)*e^(-X*ln2/H)
For example, at 120k income the marginal rate is 0.245, but there's no need to know it.

Less harmful coercion

The police and military are tasked with coercing some people on behalf of others. Often, the coercion is unnecessarily harmful and/or dangerous. Some inventive engineering might be valuable:
* 1) The mortality of helicopter crashes is too high. It is possible to build in safety devices that would greatly reduce the mortality.
* 2) It seems that the technology for locating the source(s) of enemy fire could be improved greatly, so as to return fire much more quickly and accurately.
* 3) From reports of civil unrest, it is clear that methods of mob control are ineffective and unnecessarily harmful/lethal and could benefit from new technology.
* 4) In attempting to persuade a foreign government, there are too few options between economic sanctions and bombing. It is worth examining untried in-between options.
* 5) From the success of road-side bombs placed by terrorists, it is clear that aerial surveillance needs some new thinking and technology. Likewise, from the growing crime near the Mexican border.
* 6) A few years ago, a Russian submarine sank in deep water and all perished over the course of days. One can imagine numerous emergency measures that could have saved everyone on board had the relevant equipment been built into the vessel originally. Do our submarines have such equipment?
* 7) Car chases endanger uninvolved citizens. It should be possible to tag a fleeing car so a to apprehend it leisurely.  (This is now done)

Snow driving

* Much of the late-January 2014 chaos in Atlanta GA could have been prevented, had the authorities passed on a bit of snow-driving wisdom that I learned 65 years ago. To drive through snow up to about 3 inches deep, it helps to let some air out of the tires, enough to lower the axle about an inch.
* This improves traction substantially, probably because more tread touches the surface at any time, broadening the tire-road interaction and diminishing pressure-induced melting over the tire-road contact.

Obama Scandals

* In a Jan 18 letter, Craig Thomas complained that the main-stream media under-reported Obama scandals: IRS, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, NSA, ACA. In fact, these were not unqualified scandals.
* Since Tea Party, Patriot and Progressive organizations were created for politics and propaganda, IRS agents would be derelict not to make those 501.c4 applicants prove that less than half of their expenses would go to politics and propaganda.
* Fast and Furious was part of a poorly designed program initiated by the Bush administration in 2006 to track weapons from southwest gun dealers to Mexican gangs. Under congressional questioning, Eric Holder forgot when he first knew of the program. That's something I could have done.
* While the State Department and CIA can be faulted for inadequate protection of the Benghazi outpost, Susan Rice's talking points reflected early communications from the scene during and after the attack, and the most damning criticism of the American response during the attack was flawed, as there was no stand-down order to assets that could have prevented the deaths.
* After 9/11/01, it is rational for NSA to store communication data so as to identify networks associated with suspected terrorists.
* Given that health-care is 1/6 of GDP, implementing ACA without bugs should not have been expected. Much of the complexity was to accommodate existing stakeholders instead of making Medicaid buyable. Republican governors added to the difficulty.
* Even if all these scandal claims were justified, their total pales beside fabricating reasons to invade Iraq, a secular nation that didn't threaten us and which opposed al Qaeda.

Israeli security

* About a third of the December-4 Tennessean Opinion page was given to officials of the Jewish Federation of Nashville maligning a limited, provisional and reversible easing of sanctions on Iran in exchange for verified limitations of uranium enrichment by Iran. I believe that Israel, the US and most other nations would eventually regret failure to explore this opportunity to reduce danger in the middle east.
* We can intensify the harming of innocent Persian children, giving rise to another generation of malnourished, humiliated and resentful enemies. Or we can sit around a table with Iranian leaders imagining a future Iran in the community of peaceful nations, as prosperous as their people, myths and resources allow.
* Leaders often misconstrue their national interests, as demonstrated in the "Axis of Evil" speech and the invasion of Iraq. If my view is correct, Netanyahu misconstrues his nation's long-term interest, or he is doing a kabuki dance showing Iranian leaders the dark side of unsatisfactory negotiations.