"How to Save a Life" written by Jim on estrip.org

08/19/09 09:06 - 72ºF - ID#49574

How to Save a Life

In 1972, the philosopher Peter Singer proposed a simple thought experiment: Imagine you're on your way to work and you come across a child drowning in a shallow pond. You're tall enough that you can run in and rescue him, but if you do so you'll ruin your new suit. Should you save the child?

Almost everyone says yes: the value of saving a child's life far outweighs the cost of losing your new suit. Indeed, someone who would let a child die to save their clothes seems like a monster.

But aha, Singer says. You - yes, you, the reader - probably spent several hundred dollars on new clothes recently, clothes you didn't really need. (Or if not clothes, perhaps a dinner out, or music, or books you could've gotten from the library.) And instead of spending that money on luxuries, you could have sent it to Partners in Health, and they could have used it to save a child's life in the developing world. (GiveWell estimates that you can save a life for between $150-$750.) How are you not a monster? [...]

-- Aaron Swartz

Read the whole post here:

metalpeter writes at 07:54:36 08/19/09 - Comment #50941: Now that I have read it all I do have a few more things to ad.

Often times when people go into water to save drowning people they drown them selves. Yes I get that it is a metaphor but what about people who go over to other countries and get caught in between to groups. Also who says these are good kids? Maybe they where thrown in for being bad. If you take the evil man as an example. I'm sure he thinks he is the good guy and the kids are bad. It is up to us to judge and decide who is really the bad guy. But see that isn't so easy. Yes oxfam is a good cause. But Feed the Children has stolen all kinds of money. Some times you give food to a food pantry and the people who voulenter take all the good food. Hey sometimes you give food and it goes to the people but the army takes the food from them, in a civil war who do you give the food to?

metalpeter writes at 07:43:22 08/19/09 - Comment #50940: Once I read the entire thing maybe my view will be different. But Chances are if you are wearing a suit and you are driving by then that means you are on your way to work. The only people who wear suits to work do so because they have to. If you are in a job that requires a suit, then most of the time you also need a good suit. Yes the suit is only part of the package but often in these types of jobs how you present your self is a big issue. What if you don't present your self well enough and you lose your Job, well then what about the well being of your family. Isn't the well being of your family more important then some other person you don't even know. What about the fact that this dying person is in some other country. The bigger question is why isn't any one where they are helping them. That brings up the question is if people in the same area of the world can't help this kid then why should I? I assume that they have the choice to do so and choose not to. I'm guessing maybe this kid is important to them. If this is true then who am I to say that these people are wrong and that I should help this person. Not to mention sometimes people don't want help and if they don't want help one shouldn't help them.

Ethics and Moraltiy aren't so Cut and Dry.

joshua writes at 11:55:01 08/19/09 - Comment #50937: Damn those people who do what they like with their earnings!

jim writes at 10:11:27 08/19/09 - Comment #50936: I've always thought utilitarian ethics were cold. But they also have lots of logical weight :)

james writes at 09:27:04 08/19/09 - Comment #50935: Imagine a child molesting grizzly bear. He is mauling and molesting all day long. To stop him, all you have to do is politely ask.

Now, in this example, the child molesting grizzly bear is you not giving me $5. Asking politely is giving me $5. Wont you save the children?

Permalink: How_to_Save_a_Life.html
Words: 198
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: ui

08/18/09 04:20 - 79ºF - ID#49569

Most Honest Error Message Ever?

"Such is life"

Permalink: Most_Honest_Error_Message_Ever_.html
Words: 5
Location: Buffalo, NY

08/18/09 08:26 - 73ºF - ID#49565

Communication Breakdown

found on twitter

Permalink: Communication_Breakdown.html
Words: 11
Location: Buffalo, NY

08/15/09 07:42 - 83ºF - ID#49546

Botanical Garden

Permalink: Botanical_Garden.html
Words: 21
Location: Buffalo, NY

08/15/09 07:39 - 83ºF - ID#49545

Mario & Princess

Permalink: Mario_Princess.html
Words: 5
Location: Buffalo, NY

08/11/09 09:14 - 72ºF - ID#49509

Running Out of Desk Space

Permalink: Running_Out_of_Desk_Space.html
Words: 4
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: music

08/09/09 03:26 - 70ºF - ID#49491

APC40

So this is my first attempt at assembling a song using the APC40 with Ableton Live. I sampled the sounds in the song, or used existing small loops and applied filters, so the actual instrumental/melody/beats are definitely not mine.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

The bits laid out look like this:

Permalink: APC40.html
Words: 52
Location: Buffalo, NY

08/06/09 08:58 - 62ºF - ID#49467

Knowing is Half the Battle

A t-shirt:

Permalink: Knowing_is_Half_the_Battle.html
Words: 12
Location: Buffalo, NY

08/05/09 12:33 - 69ºF - ID#49462

Burrito Bay

Decent cheap enchiladas. Millerport Hwy.

Permalink: Burrito_Bay.html
Words: 11
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: aaaargh

08/03/09 01:01 - 74ºF - ID#49446

Funny/Terrible Story

So, I had something that I decided to print this weekend, to show to James. It didn't print at home, our printer is out of ink or just generally screwed up.

It was something... shall we say, sexually explicit and very detailed and personal.

Today when I went to work, my local print queue somehow sent it to the main office printer, where it sat for about 4 hours before the office manager brought it to me.

She seemed OK and reassuring about it, but I'm just sooo nervous about who else might have seen it and how much they read.

It's like one of those things you're always afraid of happening, and then it does and you can only laugh. And freak out. Freak out a lot.

dimartiste writes at 02:35:41 08/10/09 - Comment #50708: Well the silver lining is that you did not get into trouble, lose your job kind of thing!

I have to work with large groups of people and most of the time, I glance at whatever it is and put it on a pile of papers in the corner where people retrieve thier print outs.

I agree with tiny and metalpeter. Maybe you could send it to (e:Terry)'s printer too?! Ok, just joking.

I know the feeling you are talking about just because I am an artist and most of the stuff I draw can be taken in all sorts of ways.

Yet, lilho has my curiosity. I wonder what you were going to printout? hmm... (evil mini me)

Everyone has a dark side and we are all sexual beings, now they know what you are interested in!

hodown writes at 06:43:43 08/07/09 - Comment #50645: Ok:

1. So if your office manager got to read it, can we?

2. Paul- That kinda stuff? What are you guys printing out?!

metalpeter writes at 07:29:15 08/03/09 - Comment #50527: Here is what I'm guessing would have happened if anyone other then the Person who found it found it. If they read it and liked it they would have copied it and passed to others who they thought might like it and some might not like it. If someone who didn't like it or you found it, it would be plastered every where, unless they thought it would make you look good. So unless you walk into a room and everyone shuts up and the giggling stops I wouldn't worry about it. I'm guessing if people knew you would know they knew.

paul writes at 02:02:18 08/03/09 - Comment #50521: Omg - That is why I only use terry's computer for that kind of stuff.

tinypliny writes at 01:45:24 08/03/09 - Comment #50520: Or here is a rather complicated attack-attack strategy. Make a mental list of worst case scenarios. The what-if case list should assume that all the people whom you mainly don't want to see this print-out have seen it.

Then, summarize. You will find most of your "end-result-worries" are not worth worrying about because they are somewhat ridiculous.

jim writes at 01:36:03 08/03/09 - Comment #50519: Thank you, you're right. Whether or not I can manage to do that I'm not so sure of :)

tinypliny writes at 01:33:38 08/03/09 - Comment #50518: I don't think you should avoid eye-contact either. Psychologically, that intensifies feelings of internal guilt. When you don't really have anything to be guilty about, it is not a sound strategy.

I say be as you normally would be. If you perceive people acting strangely, then that will probably point out that they are the fickle ones! Ditch them. Problem solved.

jim writes at 01:27:48 08/03/09 - Comment #50517: That's what I'm telling myself. It's sorta working :)

I also think the whole thing is kinda funny, hence telling it here.

But I'm not going to be able to look anyone in the eye for a while...

tinypliny writes at 01:26:02 08/03/09 - Comment #50516: Forget about it. Whoever has read it won't really tell you they have read it. If they have read it and reading it changes their opinion of you, then you probably shouldn't worry about them anyway because they are so fickle.

In the end, you can't do anything about it. So quit thinking about it.

I don't know how many people adopt my strategies. I usually avoid looking at anything that has printed out in the print queue because it gives me a headache. I have enough worries and articles and what-nots of my own to hover over the printer reading other print-jobs. Ugh.