I'm going to leave this here, without comment.

We don't wait for known paedophiles to rape children before locking the pervs up. Why wait for known terror sympathizers to rape society?

— Maurizio Morabito (@omnologos) June 6, 2017

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I shave with a shavette. It's basically a straight edge razor that uses disposable blades. I like it. I find it gives a close shave much like that of a straight edge without having to deal with all the fuss of maintaining the sharp blade. I've loved using one since the first day I tried one, and I've never regretted switching to them. Until today.

I have a long history with wasps. I've had encounters where a wasp ignored other people walking by but attacked me the moment I came near. I don't know what it is, but it's been a source of amusement for my family since I was a kid. Combine that with bad reactions to wasps, and I am somewhat paranoid about them.

I'm usually not worried they'll kill me though. My throat doesn't close up when I'm stung or anything like that. The last time I got stung a wasp got me on my ankle. I couldn't walk for three days. Now I hear that dreaded buzzing sound and I... react poorly.

This isn't just some random, embarrassing thing I'm sharing. Today, a wasp was hiding in my bathroom. It waited until I was halfway done shaving to attack. I didn't see the thing until it was a few inches from my face. I was holding a razor blade to my throat.

I think I'm switching to disposable blades from here on. Can anyone recommend a good brand?

One feature I've been wanting to enable on this site for a while now is the ability for people to edit their comments for a short period of time after submitting them. I think this is useful so people can fix mistakes/add additional thoughts. I hadn't been able to find a plugin for this I like because the ones I tried had ugly icons or other problems like that.

I found one that might be alright though. This post is so people (including myself) can try it out and see what it's like. Feel free to post here and tell me what you think.

For today's post, I'd like to ask people a question. I've been thinking about this question for the last few days, and I can't come up with a good answer. The question is this. Suppose a group of people published a scientific paper in which they said:

Powell’s main criticism of C13 is that 66.4% of the abstracts examined were rated as “no
position” and excluded from the consensus calculation. To count as an endorsement, C13
required that the abstract text refer to modern global warming or climate change and state, either
implicitly or explicitly, that humans are the main cause. It is true that many authors of those “no
position” abstracts may hold views that endorse AGW, but if the texts of their abstracts did not
provide evidence for this, no guess was made about their opinions. The “no position” abstracts
were therefore not used to calculate the consensus percentage.

Even though they knew beyond any doubt papers (or rather, their abstracts) were routinely rated as endorsing the "consensus" without expressing any opinion on what contribution humans might have had on global warming. Given this supposition, what should an onlooker do?
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As I am trying to wrap up a new eBook (I swear, I've rewritten the same three paragraphs twenty times now), a question occurred to me. Should I contact the people who I discuss in the eBook to provide them an opportunity to raise any concerns/dispute any claims prior to publication?

I'm not sure. The people being included in the book have all been chosen, at least in part, due to their repeated demonstration of an unwillingness or inability to have disagreements in a reasonable manner. Would there be any foreseeable benefit to giving them the opportunity to respond preemptively?

I'm skeptical there would be, but that raises a second question. Would there be any downside to doing it? I'm not sure I can think of any.

Some time back I wrote a post on this site noting "Murder is Bad." Today I would like to extend that insightful observation by noting rape is also bad. This should go without saying, but since some people in the climate debate are utterly shameless, I thought I'd say it to be safe.
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I can be a jerk. I get that. I don't pretend to be a nice person. Being nice isn't important to me. What is important to me is being reasonable. I may disagree with you quite violently, but I will listen to what you have to say and try to understand it befor I dismiss it as stupid. That's why you would never see me write a post with a title like:

The Dummy, Dishonest and Intolerant Left

Though an additional reason you would never see me write a post with such a title is I have a basic understanding of grammar. I'll get back to that in a second. First, I want to address how the author of the post with that title said:

By criticizing the Left in a very strong manner, I have thrown down the gauntlet. If I am wrong, those who disagree with me can blast away at my arguments. If no one can disprove or take down my arguments, I at least have a record of the Left’s dishonesty and stupidity that has not been rebutted.

Which is just stupid. Nobody on the "left" who reads a post with a title like that would ever have try ot have a discussion with its author. This would be like me saying people could challenge me when I say their mother was a hamster and their father smelt of elderberries. Nobody would. Anyone who saw me say that would just think, "That's stupid.. You're just being a dick. Why would I ever want to talk to you?"
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