I’m just outside of Cork, Ireland right now. I’ll be here for the next 10 days or so. Tonight we sat in a very crowded pub and watched Ireland play in the Rugby World Cup. I’ve never really watched rugby — it is a fun game to watch! Ireland got their asses kicked, though, unfortunately.
I’ll be posting more photos and travelogues as we go along. On Sunday night we are playing a gig in Myrtleville and then we are heading up to Clifden.
I like to debate. I do it with all sorts of people, online and offline. I like to probe other people’s views, examine my own views, challenge ideas, have my own ideas challenged and hopefully learn things in the process.
To me, the sign of an honest debate is when small little areas of agreement are forged along the way. Many, many times I will concede points or agree with general sentiments even as I disagree with a broader point. I do this for 2 reasons, one, I am honest with myself and I’m not arguing for arguments sake, so I don’t take a partisan or opposition view on every little issue. I’m honest. Two, it’s a show of good faith in the debate that I’m not going to argue the sky is green just because you say it is blue. I’ll concede the obvious and my hope is that my opponent will concede the obvious, too.
The debates I tire of, like my recent outbursts at Say Anything, are the ones where no middle ground is sought, where nothing is ever conceded and where the goal is to trounce and not to engage. It’s no longer valid debate when the ideas because secondary to gamesmanship.
In addition, in a many-against-one hogpile, which I can’t imagine is fun for anybody except the most petty amongst us, you are damned no matter what you do. For example, I was called a coward if I didn’t come back but a loser if I did! There was no action I could take where the hooligans wouldn’t accuse me of being wrong.
I regret at times that I don’t ignore the retards and engage with the rational ones. There were a few comments that had honest questions with an honest possibility of debate. Those voices, unfortunately, are drowned out by the assholes who are looking for blood and honor from the mob.
Not one of the cowards at Say Anything have commented on my many liberal rantings here at lolife.com. I guess they get scared when they are not in a pack. I suspect, with the wonders of google and technorati, they may someday appear. Be kind to them.
BTW, I didn’t learn a single thing over there. Not one new piece of information. If a liberal says the sky is blue, we’d get a long lecture about how at night the sky is black, clouds can make the sky gray and near sunset at the horizon things get a reddish hue. Liberals can not say anything true, ever, at Say Anything. That is why I shan’t be reading or commenting there anymore.
Swiss court finds Russian man guilty of revenge killing Skyguide’s employee
Fascinating article. Two planes collide and 70 people are killed. There was one overworked air traffic controller working 15 planes: he made 118 radio contacts with them, and he was guiding another plane into land.
The father of 3 of the victims of the crash later murdered the air traffic controller.
Now 4 people from the private air traffic control firm have been found guilty of manslaughter.
There’s also on article about it on Wikipedia.
All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.
– Douglas Adams
Courtesy of Rosio Pavoris .
Clockwork Unable to Avoid Awards
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Clockwork Active Media Systems (www.clockwork.net) has once again been selected as one of the “Best Places to Work” by the Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journal. This year, the award was a complete accident.
Check out our very own bsherwood started his own blog: 2 Focus Inn. Lots of interesting stuff to check out.
I suppose I should start a blogroll one of these days…
Paul Myers, better known as the science blogger Pharyngula, has been sued for libel by Stuart Pivar, author of Lifecode.
Pivar, a wealthy art collector, alleged Stephen Jay Gould buddy and Renaissance-throwback science hobbyist, published Lifecode in 2004.
Type-A asshole turns legal system on people with opinions. WTF.
The WiReD article concludes with:
Pivar’s case is clearly empty. And given his wealth, he can undoubtedly afford better legal advice. So what’s the deal? I’m guessing that it’s just a PR stunt. What better way to sell your book than get the blogosphere boiling, in the hope that the lawsuit becomes a full-blown — and wholly undeserved — controversy?
This is indeed scary. Either the guy is a clueless loser, suing someone who didn’t like his book or he is a clueless loser trying to generate interest in his book.
I hope the legal system and the market punish the crap out of said clueless loser.
You know those moments when you feel you are uniquely and expertly qualified to speak about something? You almost always fuck up in those moments. While confidence is a great thing, that prideful feeling of competence is almost always accompanied by absent-minded failure.
In the height of your glory, when the world is gathered around you to listen to your wisdom and benefit from your experience…
be humble.
This is ridiculous: American Red Cross sued over its emblem by Johnson & Johnson.
Take ’em out, boys!
lolife 
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