On a recent thread there was a conversation about the use of a certain in term in reference to what another blogger had posted. I don't want this thread to turn into a finger-pointing fest, but I want to talk about how we relate with and react to one another here.

If I post something it typically means that I've put a lot of thought into it or feel very deeply about what I'm saying. I know that when I read criticisms of my opinions that carry an overtly argumentative tone, or if I feel like I'm being taken way out of context with no regard toward what I'm actually saying, or just flat our called names, it flips a switch in my brain that makes my synapses start firing in a different way. I immediately stop really looking for any meaning in what I'm reading and immediately start looking for things to attack.

I think a solution to this is for all of us to commit to not using inflammatory language with one another. If it does happen, we have to try to bring it up with the other person in a non-threatening way. If I say, "Don't talk to me like that," there is an implied consequence and it will immediately put the other person on the defensive, or perhaps on the attack. If instead we ask the other person to explain what they mean by that, it gives them the opportunity to withdraw, or clarify their point using softer language.

The issue of humor brought up as well. There was some fairly offensive, though good natured humor used on a thread recently. We have to be careful not to post offensive comments, even in joke form, because it has an effect on the comfort level of the blog for many people. Also, in my opinion, if we feel the need to use sarcasm we should make it abundantly clear that it is sarcasm and not serious. I've seen some threads get fairly heated because of misunderstandings around humor.

That's my two cents, what are yours?

Jeff "The Snowman" Monson

There are squirrels (or squirrel) living in the ceiling of my office. It's also the floor to my room. I don't know what they're building in there, but it's loud and it wakes me up. I think I know how they got in and could seal it, but don't want to seal them in and have to smell them rot. I don't really want them to die at all, they just need to find another place to live.

Does anybody know a cheap (the freer the better) way to get rid of squirrels?

Here is the entry for "anarchism" from the 1910 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. I post the 1910 version because it is the truest definition from a mainstream source. Later definitions in many dictionaries and encyclopedias seemed to have morphed into a political statement condemning anarchism as comprising nothing but violence, chaos, and disorder.

This is for the most part, an honest and true description of what I claim to believe when I say that I am an anarchist.

 

document.write(cnnRenderT1TimeStamp(1197589246392));updated 4 minutes agoBaseball All-Stars listed in steroid reportThe list of major league baseball players linked to performance enhancing substances reads like a who's who. All-Stars and a repeated Cy Young winner are in the Mitchell report released today. developing story

More on the developing story from Sports Illustrated

Mariners players linked to the report, from The Seattle Times

I just watched Barton Fink for the first time in a while. I thought it was an amazingly well done movie. I'm struggling to understand it completely though. If it's only about writer's block, then it's one of the best comedies I've ever seen. I have a feeling it's about much more than that though. Any thoughts?

WOW