Great mind bit of a shit

“To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.” – Voltaire This is a somewhat tricky post to write, as I have no desire to cause upset to the friends or family of the recently departed. Also one of the problems with critiquing great people is you are open to accusations of jealousy, sour grapes, trying to drag other people down and so forth. However the current sanctification of the late Dr. Hawking within my social circle has been a little grating. Given recent popular movements regarding micro-agressions, believing the victim, #MeToo and so … Continue reading

Regret, apologies, offense and upset

I recently got into a bit of a debate or if you prefer an argument with someone about uses of phrases such as: “I’m sorry that you found that offensive” compared to: “I’m sorry that I offended you”. Their view was that the former was a poor excuse of an apology and was worse than not simply not offering an apology, that if you were sorry then you should apologise for causing offense not try to make it the other persons fault, and that such phrases are attempts to invalidate the other persons point of view. Now obviously that’s a … Continue reading

Last week elsewhere

Another week another round up of links, next trick remember to find time to write stuff in between link round ups. Hopefully I’ve resolved recent server issues otherwise I need to change where I host this. Josh responds to climate foolishness on XKCD Bob Crow was resting up before his members go on strike (again) Velvet glove, Iron fist – provides a bit of a retrospective of the slippery slope (which doesn’t exist honest) Jacob Rees-Mogg makes some very reasoned objections to the latest financial monarch bashing LegIron has an awfully amusing idea The NSA use data from one warrant … Continue reading