The Strategic Retreat

Michael Phelps Is Not The Greatest Olympian Ever

Posted on: by Zervas

Michael Phelps by Marcopako cc license

Michael Phelps is not the greatest Olympian ever. Despite what The Guardian or Sports Illustrated brashly declared before the 2012 Olympics even ended he is very far from being “the greatest”. Unlike SI.com I don’t have the misguided hubris to state my opinion is “beyond debate”. Nothing is beyond debate so I will present to you 7 points as to why Michael Phelps isn’t the greatest Olympian.

1. Swimming is not a real sport.

That’s the crux of it all right there. Swimming is athletic, it is challenging, it’s even sporting in a way but it’s not… Read the rest

False Proverbs: Occam’s Razor

Posted on: by Zervas

Occam’s Razor pisses me right off. Not, necessarily, the actual Occam’s Razor but more specifically the belief that “the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one”. The belief that the simplest explanation is most likely correct is -for sure- wrong.

People like to smugly throw around this wording, somehow believing that “razor” means law or theory. First off, that’s not actually Occam’s Razor. Second, please stop basing your beliefs off Jody Foster films.

“Simplest” is relative and is based more on our place in the world than the world itself. What is simpler; A rabbi created man… Read the rest

The Grass Will Always Be Greener

Posted on: by Zervas

A couple of days ago I ran across an article on Slate.com which asks, “Is Facebook making us sad?“. The answered seemed to be, yes. Basically; people judge their happiness in a relative way, overestimate their own struggles and underestimate the struggles of others.

The thing is; we will always overestimate the happiness of others. The grass will always be greener on the other side of the fence. The reason for both is that we allow our false perceptions to become real beliefs. Grass looks greener when viewed from an angle, people put their big-boy underoos on… Read the rest