What was Glenn Beck's “Restoring Honor” rally really about? (Maybe not what you think)

29thday Blog ^ | August 31, 2010 | 29thday.com

[Peter from Rutland]

The whole lili pad thing put me to sleep before I got to the rest of it. Practically unreadable.

[agere_contra]

A good article, thanks.

[jessduntno]

“I believe we will see almost all of Congress either truly repent...”

Nope. Flush the Grand Old Potty. Vote Conservative.

[Pete]

Sorry to hear that. I understand. I included it because it is important to understand the difference between linear and geometric problems. Clearly, in your case, I failed. I will reread and consider trying to be more concise and clear. Thanks for the honest feedback.

[TommyDale]

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[ReneeLynn]

There are meds available. Seek them out.

[Pete]

Nope. Flush the Grand Old Potty. Vote Conservative

Yeah. I think you are right. Maybe I am being too charitable to think anyone would change.

[FrankR]

Yea...a tough read.

[Pete]

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yes. I understand. Not everyone's cup of tea. I should probably put less math before getting to the point. I will consider.

[Pete]

Yea...a tough read.

That feedback is helpful. Can you be specific? Too much math/theory up front? Too esoteric? Maybe start with the conclusion then defend it rather than building too it?

[piytar]

Wrong. The Restoring Honor rally was about hating black people. Sharpton and the media told me so, and they keep telling me so again and again and again. /hurl

In reality, I think you’re seeing the overall situation. That said, the pond analogy will lose some people. Maybe revise to include an intro of the conclusion at the start? (Persuasive writing 101: Tell ‘em what your going to tell ‘em, explain it, and then tell ‘em what you told ‘em.)

[hadcat]

I did not read past the pond size because you miss calculated.

Doubles in size every day.

1 foot
2 foot
4 foot
8 foot
16 foot
32 foot

The answer is the 5th day the lily pad covers the pond.

Is the other math in the article correct?
This is why I think not.

[Pete]

In reality, I think you’re seeing the overall situation. That said, the pond analogy will lose some people. Maybe revise to include an intro of the conclusion at the start? (Persuasive writing 101: Tell ‘em what your going to tell ‘em, explain it, and then tell ‘em what you told ‘em.)

Good advice. Thanks.

[NavyCanDo]

The whole lili pad thing put me to sleep before I got to the rest of it.

Sounds like it was from the script of the old Kung Fu Tv series.

MASTER PO: Close your eyes grasshopper, and imagine a lily pond.......

[marron]

Have you noticed that some people are concerned that the Republicans will win in November but then they will do what they have always done and move back to the center? For many, that thought it discouraging. It is like a 30th day solution but a 31st day defeat. In fact, that is exactly what I believe will happen. But, take heart, because I believe there is a bigger scale.

Good point. There are two issues; the first is, don't lose heart when your Repubs do what Repubs always do, which is weasel out. Keep voting out incumbent weasels and replacing them with folks who have a little more grit and don't mind fistfighting. Replacing a few gets the attention of the other weasels.

And don't lose sight of the fact that we have an exponential problem that will swamp this boat if we don't take exponential solutions.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

Yeah, I think the message gets lost in the wordiness of the analogy.

I would also like to think that there's an exponential solution going on, but I don't buy that. People will continue voting liberals into power until the situation becomes so horrid that there's a backlash. We're seeing some of that now but I don't think the 2012 election is going to be exponentially better for conservatives.

[Pete]

Is the other math in the article correct?

Actually, I never said the lily pad in the second scenario is 1 square foot. My starting assumption is that it covers the pond in 30 days rather than the size of the lily pad. In math terms, scenario 1 sets the initial condition and solves for t (time). Scenario 2 sets t (time) and solves for the initial condition.

I thought that might be confusing when I wrote it. That is, that the assumption from scenario 1 would implicitly carry over to scenario 2 but I went ahead because I didn't think anyone would do the math even if they erroneously started with the 1 square foot assumption in scenario 2. You did.

I should probably change it to avoid the confusion.

[Pete]

Sounds like it was from the script of the old Kung Fu Tv series.

Actually, it is an old French riddle used to explain the difference between linear and geometric progressions (like simple versus compound interest).

[jessduntno]

“Yeah. I think you are right. Maybe I am being too charitable to think anyone would change.”

Nah ... charitable is good ... I don’t think that’s my concern ... I think the GOP as an institution is as corrupt as “the other side” (not that you can notice much difference) and they change their tune, get re-elected and are back at it - pandering. I think there is honest to God corruption that has to be rooted out.