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by **Kaharz** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 11:17 am

zark169 wrote:@graphitepen
And that kind of failure of logic leads to the other truism gem, "an ounce of prevention is equal to a pound of cure" (or whatever the actual wording is). It baffles me that corporations can say "Spend X amount now to avoid a mess or spend 100 times that amount after the mess happens."

Do you have any kind of insurance policies?

by **Gangler** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:57 pm

Yeah! Who are they to tell us that fencing off the cliff will be cheaper than keeping the valley equipped with ambulances?

by **zark169** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:40 pm

@graphitepen
And that kind of failure of logic leads to the other truism gem, "an ounce of prevention is equal to a pound of cure" (or whatever the actual wording is). It baffles me that corporations can say "Spend X amount now to avoid a mess or spend 100 times that amount after the mess happens."

I guess it's just the "special" accounting that guesstimates the percentage of that cure cost that they may have to pay. "Recall the faulty part in those trucks and eat the costs, or hope that not too many people get hurt/killed so we don't have to pay out as much as the recall?" When will they realize that avoiding the negative publicity is well worth the recall costs?

by **DonRetrasado** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:33 am

Pick all of the courses with 'sex' in the title. Heh.

EDIT: Or feminist studies.

by **Lethal Interjection** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:12 am

Layra-chan wrote:On its logo and associated it's called Penn. Everyone refers to it as UPenn, including the url of its website. Possibly because "Penn" sounds dumb. Also to lower the possibility of the current freshmen making "Penn '15" jokes.

Sweet. It isn't too late for me to enroll and get me a sweet Penn'15 shirt. Now what to take?

by **Layra-chan** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:57 am

On its logo and associated it's called Penn. Everyone refers to it as UPenn, including the url of its website. Possibly because "Penn" sounds dumb. Also to lower the possibility of the current freshmen making "Penn '15" jokes.

by **DonRetrasado** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:03 am

FistsOfIndifference wrote:And I have a whole wardrobe with "Penn" on it

by **FistsOfIndifference** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:28 pm

Huh. I never, ever hear anyone who goes here call it that. And I have a whole wardrobe with "Penn" on it, not "UPenn." I'll grant you that saying "Penn" can lead to the "No, not Penn State" conversation, though.

by **Anon** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:47 pm

FistsOfIndifference wrote:Not sure where to post this so Zach sees it, but he should call our school "Penn" and not "UPenn." Not really a big deal, but it would be a good thing for ingratiating himself and selling more books. And for not getting chased out of Philly by angry students wielding flaming torches and pitchforks and... ... flaming pitchforks?

But our school is called UPenn...

by **FistsOfIndifference** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 3:25 pm

Not sure where to post this so Zach sees it, but he should call our school "Penn" and not "UPenn." Not really a big deal, but it would be a good thing for ingratiating himself and selling more books. And for not getting chased out of Philly by angry students wielding flaming torches and pitchforks and... ... flaming pitchforks?

by **Frostbite** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 1:05 pm

Kaharz wrote:You know how when you have to explain joke, it isn't funny anymore?

You know how when you have to explain a funny joke, that someone didn't get because they're kinda dumb? That makes me sigh.

by **GUTCHUCKER** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:25 pm

I thought this was a good idea when I was a kid. That special kind* of logic I used to have, where I didn't realise that
Study history = no loss
Not study history = loss
and that there is little difference between gaining something and preventing the loss of something. A lion saved is a seagull earned, so I hear.

*On a scale of 1 to 10 it probably would have read 'fucking dumb'

by **Kaharz** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:44 am

You know how when you have to explain joke, it isn't funny anymore?

by **graphitepen** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:01 am

mathnerdjames wrote:The kids argument is a logical fallacy. The father says A implies B. The kid responds so not A implies not B, saying that if we study history we immediately will be not doomed to repeat it, which is a logical fallacy. The father's statement was an implication one way, the lack of studying history will imply that you will be doomed to repeat it, but it is not necessary for one who studies history to be not doomed to repeat it. Therefore, the child's argument is false and the truism holds against the argument.

I agree with this analysis of the logical fallacy but as I don't think it counteracts the conclusion he came to. He seems to make quite a leap and therefore, while his argument may be false, his conclusion could still hold merit (but it doesn't).

Also, after reassessing my position, I now think this is a very poignant satire on personal, corporate and governmental responsibility.
You see this argument made implicitly every day - "Prevention isn't worth doing until what you'd want to prevent happens".
Decisions based on such reasoning usually end up costing much more than original speculation and estimates.

by **Oldrac the Chitinous** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:35 am

If you need them, I'm sure there are enough ponies to go around.

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