(Part 2) Top products from r/tumblr

That's literally the point. Rats are clearly more highly-evolved than us, as we have had to turn to natural phenomena (birds, tea leaves, bones, etc.) to get that same benefit.

> If a hunter shows any bias to return to previous spots, where he or others have seen caribou, then the caribou can benefit (survive better) by avoiding those locations (where they have previously seen humans). Thus, the best hunting strategy requires randomizing...Traditionally, Naskapi hunters decided where to go to hunt using divination and believed that the shoulder bones of caribou could point the way to success. The cracking patterns were (probably) essentially random...Thus, these divination rituals may have provided a crude randomizing device that helped hunters avoid their own decision-making biases.

and

>In Indonesia, the Kantus of Kalimantan use bird augury to select locations for their agricultural plots. Geographer Michael Dove argues that two factors will cause farmers to make plot placements that are too risky. First, Kantu ecological models contain the Gambler’s Fallacy, and lead them to expect floods to be less likely to occur in a specific location after a big flood in that location (which is not true). Second…Kantus pay attention to others’ success and copy the choices of successful households, meaning that if one of their neighbors has a good yield in an area one year, many other people will want to plant there in the next year. To reduce the risks posed by these cognitive and decision-making biases, Kantu rely on a system of bird augury that effectively randomizes their choices for locating garden plots, which helps them avoid catastrophic crop failures.

and

>I’m reminded of the Romans using augury to decide when and where to attack. This always struck me as crazy; generals are going to risk the lives of thousands of soldiers because they saw a weird bird earlier that morning? But war is a classic example of when a random strategy can be useful. If you’re deciding whether to attack the enemy’s right vs. left flank, it’s important that the enemy can’t predict your decision and send his best defenders there. If you’re generally predictable – and Scott Aaronson says you are – then outsourcing your decision to weird birds might be the best way to go.

All from here, reviewing this book

Take a harmless hobby done for passion and joy, add guilt, shaming, and profit motive. Subtract joy and passion. == "Parenting" in capitalist hell.

https://www.amazon.com/Kids-These-Days-Capital-Millennials/dp/0316510866

I dunno what it was called but a while back I read a story where a dude was saved from a tollbooth/robot-murder checkpoint on the road because the AI manning it was the bank teller AI that he had always said "Thank You" to.

EDIT: Found it and a buncha others! I'm not gonna bother to find a download link but the amazon page is here: https://www.amazon.com/Robot-Uprisings-Daniel-H-Wilson/dp/0345803639 (Also fair warning the first story is kinda lame)

But it wasn't in flux. The Council of Nicea didn't pick the four gospels out of thin air. They were the ones used by the majority of churches. There were serious discussions about what books to include, yes, but these were scholastic and not ideological. The Good Shepherd, a popular text written soon after the Gospels, was omitted on scholastic grounds.

This is a good book about the history of the Bible.

There was a very long debate about psychological egoism, a debate ended by an American philosopher James Rachels in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Moral-Philosophy-James-Rachels/dp/0078038243

Philosophy doesn't lend itself very well to bumper sticker wisdom.

They're talking about the relationship between Leonard of Quirm and Lord Vetinari.

These two feature in quite a few of the Discworld novels, but chiefly it would be in:

Wyrd Sisters
Men at Arms
Jingo
The Fifth Elephant
The Last Hero

All Amazon-linked for your convenience. ;)

https://www.amazon.com/Reborn-Vending-Machine-Wander-Dungeon/dp/031647911X

A vending machine, yes.

Here it is in novel form!

The Rise And Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland touches on this sort of stuff quite a bit.
Amazon | iBooks

I got you

https://www.amazon.com/Sibley-Field-Guide-Eastern-America/dp/0307957918

This one is basically the bible if you fall into its range

A Child's Machiavelli: A Primer On Power

Yup.

In his book Young Frankenstein: The Story of the Making of the Film he says he got the name Blucher from the man who fought Napoleon at Waterloo, "Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher." Mel said he just liked the name.

What you said about the horses reacting is correct. He wanted to show there was something ominous about her.

I recommend "How Not To Write A Novel". It covers this and a lot of other crazy awful things writers do that are un-publishable.

I just finished reading "Chernobyl Prayer" by Svetlana Alexievich It's a book made up of interviews with people who lived through Chernobyl and its aftermath. It's probably the most heartbreaking book I have ever read. I can't recommend it enough to anyone who wants to understand the human cost of Chernobyl on an intimate, deeply personal level.

I call bullshit. I read the Archer textbook and there’s nothing about this.

>I'm not wrong

Sure you are. 1) You think Bart Ehrman is a Jesus mythicist apparently ignorant about the fact that he wrote an entire book against the position. In what world is that not wrong? 2) The academic consensus amongst those who are actually experts on this is that Jesus of Nazareth existed. This is the academic position among scholars regardless of their particular religious position. This is the position represented at every major research university. If I'm wrong here, it's easy to prove it. Just name a single scholar of ancient history/early Christianity who teaches at a reputable university and holds to Jesus mythicism. Simple.