Briefly, some points of frustration as Saturday rolls on:
Here is a short summary of the last week of my life.
Monday: Attended Westminster Skeptics in the Pub special on libel reform, with 7 speeches on the need for changes to English law. Talked to this lawyer, listened to a speech by this lawyer, heard jokes from Simon Singh's lawyer, and listened to banter between all three of them.
Tuesday: Blessedly free of lawyers, but spent all day following Simon Singh in court via Twitter.
Wednesday: Two-hour meeting to discuss contract and related instructions for lawyers. Meeting with lawyer to pass on said instructions.
Thursday: Meeting with 2 different lawyers and late night phone call to a third.
Friday: Meeting with 3 lawyers (again all different) to get advice from legal counsel over the phone.
Now, don't get me wrong - I have nothing against lawyers, some of my best friends are lawyers, lawyers are people just like us, if we cut lawyers they do bleed, etc, etc. I just prefer them in smaller doses.
And speaking of small doses...
Homeopaths
I hadn't met many homeopaths before, but this week I spoke to several of them. They were all very friendly and interested in talking , and quite happy to explain why they believe what they believe. Sadly, as with other proponents of woo, it's hard to find sufficient common ground to have a decent argument. We disagreed on pretty much everything - including how many of them there were. 250 my bottom.
Blogger
I'm quite enjoying the whole blogging experience, but it drives me literally insane that Blogger randomly puts double spacing between some paragraphs for absolutely no reason. Can anyone fix this?
I hadn't met many homeopaths before, but this week I spoke to several of them. They were all very friendly and interested in talking , and quite happy to explain why they believe what they believe. Sadly, as with other proponents of woo, it's hard to find sufficient common ground to have a decent argument. We disagreed on pretty much everything - including how many of them there were. 250 my bottom.
Blogger
I'm quite enjoying the whole blogging experience, but it drives me literally insane that Blogger randomly puts double spacing between some paragraphs for absolutely no reason. Can anyone fix this?
Richard Dawkins
While I applaud him for his quick dig at homeopaths this week, Dawkins has also reacted to abuse directed at those who run his website. The cause was the sudden disappearance of the site's forum without apparent regard for the community that had built it, and the deletion of people's accounts without consultation. This has attracted some press coverage - here and here.
While I applaud him for his quick dig at homeopaths this week, Dawkins has also reacted to abuse directed at those who run his website. The cause was the sudden disappearance of the site's forum without apparent regard for the community that had built it, and the deletion of people's accounts without consultation. This has attracted some press coverage - here and here.
Although there isn't really anything wrong with the points Dawkins makes, it's disappointing he didn't engage with the more measured points being made. These are folks who used to administer the forum, and so added to the richness and variety of the site that bears Dawkins name without being paid for it. I think they deserve a little bit more than he offers in his article. He doesn't really acknowledge them, and that's a shame given the importance he places on debate in other areas.
And for a someone who makes so light of the abuse he receives, shouldn't Dawkins encourage his employees to grow thicker skins? Abuse from trolls is a part of life with web 2.o (I can't wait until I'm famous enough to get some), especially for someone of Dawkins' stature. It's better to ignore them than to ban or delete them.
Anyway, that's your lot for now. Possibly some more later if I don't go to the pub.
And for a someone who makes so light of the abuse he receives, shouldn't Dawkins encourage his employees to grow thicker skins? Abuse from trolls is a part of life with web 2.o (I can't wait until I'm famous enough to get some), especially for someone of Dawkins' stature. It's better to ignore them than to ban or delete them.
When it comes to writing in Blogger, it's all about the HTML editor, none of this (ironic) WYSIWYG nonsense. That way you have complete control over your line spacing.
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