Nikita and Lau

Nikita’s problem

Lau has learned from Nikita how to be a lawyer, under a very generous arrangement whereby he doesn’t need to pay anything for his tuition until and unless he wins his first court case. Rather to Nikita’s’ annoyance, however, after giving up hours of his time training Lau, the pupil decides to become a musician and never takes any court cases. Nikita demands that Lau pay him for his trouble and, when the musician refuses, decides to sue him in court. Nikita reasons that if Lau loses the case, he, Nikita, will have won, in which case he will get his money back, and furthermore, that even if he loses, Lau will then have won a case, despite his protestations about being a musician now, and will therefore still have to pay up.

Lau reasons a little differently however. If I lose, he thinks, then I will have lost my first court case, in which event, the original agreement releases me from having to pay any tuition fees. And, even if he wins, Nikita will still have lost the right to enforce the contract, so he will not need to pay anything.

They can’t both be right. So who’s making the mistake?

Welll.....

Please look at each others' blogs and comments - try and work out the answer. Read very carefully....

Meanwhile watch this, learn Philosophy - and Japanese!

Fix your own dental problems

Cause: Exposed nerve roots, often from receding gums

Treatment: Lay off the whitening, tartar-control, and baking-soda toothpastes—they're abrasive and can contain phosphates, which make teeth sensitive. Don't brush too hard, which can lead to other dental problems, such as recessed gums, says Sherri Worth, D.D.S., a celebrity cosmetic dentist. If pain persists, visit your dentist for a prescription fluoride treatment to toughen up your choppers.

Lost Tooth

Causes: Dikembe Mutombo, inline skates, Jell-O shots, or all three

Treatment: Rinse it off and push it back in right away, then bite down gently on a soft cloth or moistened tea bag to hold it in place. Knocking out a tooth tears the periodontal ligaments, but some might still cling to the tooth. If reconnected early enough, they can reattach to the gums.

The tooth will feel strong in a few days and could be good as new in a month or two, says Dr. Worth. Want to make sure? See a dentist.

Burned Palate

Causes: Hot pizza, impatience

Treatment: You might not think this can cause dental problems, but burning the roof of your mouth softens the tissue, making it more prone to infection, says Pia Lieb, D.D.S., a cosmetic dentist in New York City. She recommends using Kenalog in Orabase, a corticosteroid paste that creates a protective coating on the burn and speeds healing.

Burned Tongue

Causes: Hot coffee, improper flame-breathing technique

Treatment: Rinse your mouth with a solution of 1 teaspoon of salt and a cup of warm water. "It's actually very soothing," says Dr. Worth. The salt can draw infection to the surface of the tissue, where the body eliminates it, and salt helps neutralize the acidic environment that fosters bacteria.

Jaw Soreness

Cause: Possibly temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMD, which can lead to splitting headaches marked by pain radiating down the front of your ears to your jaw. The improper alignment of your jaw leads to unconscious grinding of the teeth, often at night.

Treatment: "Your muscles are looking to find comfort, so you move your jaw around constantly," Dr. Lieb says. Try sleeping on your side or back with a supportive pillow, instead of facedown.

Canker Sore

Causes: There are numerous possible causes—but Cap'n Crunch, Doritos, salsa, and other sharp and spicy foods can further irritate the sore. Avoid mixing them.

Treatment: Apply vegetable oil to a cotton ball and hold it against the sore three or four times a day. "The oil helps coat the sore and protect it from irritation," says Mary Ellen Camire, Ph.D., a Men's Health nutrition advisor

Chipped or Cracked Teeth

Cause: Temperature disparity that occurs when you bite into hot food then swig an ice-cold drink. "Between the expansion and contraction, cracks will form on your enamel," says Richard Price, D.M.D., a consumer advisor for the American Dental Association.

Treatment: A chip can be the San Andreas Fault; your tooth can be California, sliding gently into the ocean. Or the chip or crack could simply leave you susceptible to infection and decay. A dentist can bond or seal the tooth, repairing chips while keeping your choppers safe from ending up a dental dead zone

'Bugger'

Richard the Farmer

He believed it to be the case.
He has a good relevant reason for the belief.
It was the case.

This is 'justified true belief'

But...did he really 'know' it?

For a start, Farmer Richard says that he wants to be 100% certain that Doris is in the field, but we cannot be 100% certain about anything if we allow for various unpredictable circumstances, such as his mistaking a black and white piece of paper for his cow.

Obviously, there is no purpose to a word if it refers to something that is impossible, and so there would be no purpose in having the word 'know' mean '100% certainty'.

It is like with the colour black. We originally gained the meanings of our words by referring to objects in the world which we had categorised on some easily observable basis. So, black was a category of observable characteristics.

We eventually understood this phenomenon to come about due to a lack of reflectivity of all wavelengths of light.

Then, we understood that no object reflects completely no light, and so we occasionally hear people claiming that various objects that in the vernacular we refer to as black, are not black.

This is a terrible misuse of language caused by skipping back and forth between technical and common usage, and the progression of those usages.

Back to knowledge.. The farmer has used the basis of viewing what appeared to be his cow in the field for the formation of a belief, being that his cow is in the field.

Had the cow not been in the field when the dairyman checked, and he had shown Farmer Richard the piece of paper Farmer Richard may have been a little red in the face. I contend, though, that he would probably have still felt that he had falsely known.

This, I think, is a key point. Can we allow 'false knowledge'?

If not, since we have already established that 100% certainty is impossible, then we have to disallow knowledge.

The JTB model should be fine with this, because while it might not be 'knowledge', it is still the best thing we can have.

False knowledge articles...

60 popular pieces of false knowledge


Have a leisurely read - it will take a long time if you follow the links - of this...

Escaping Death

Very good!

This is because:

1. The Chief Executioner cannot execute him because the relatives could sue for wrongful execution arguing that Rob had told the truth

2. If the Chief Executioner accepted the problem and sent Rob to prison he would be sent back with the Governor lacking the authority to admit him. Thsi is because the Governor would see that Rob had lied in court again and so the punishment should have been execution after all.

Wartime Prayers

Prayers offered in times of peace are silent conversations,
Appeals for love or love's release
In private invocations
But all that is changed now,
Gone like a memory from the day before the fires.
People hungry for the voice of God
Hear lunatics and liars
Wartime prayers, wartime prayers
In every language spoken,
For every family scattered and broken.

Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genius marketing plan.
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop will do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.

Times are hard, it's a hard time
But everybody knows all about hard times.
The thing is, what are you gonna do?
Well, you cry and try to muscle through
Try to rearrange your stuff
But when the wounds are deep enough,
It's all that we can bear,
We wrap ourselves in prayer.

Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genius marketing plan.
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop willdo.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.
A mother murmurs in twilight sleep
And draws her babies closer.
With hush-a-byes for sleepy eyes,
And kisses on the shoulder.
To drive away despair
she says a wartime prayer

Paul Simon

Visiting Speaker - Monday

This person...