Hi again Robert >Keith Addison wrote: > > > Hi Robert > > > > Was it him, or the other one? The other one I think - or did both of > > them do it? Sorry, it gets a bit blurred sometimes, seems to be such > > a stereotyped set of views, see one and you can guess all the others. > > Yes, it IS difficult to keep all of them straight. > > <big snip> > > > Etc etc. I'm at a loss to see anything at all that could be regarded > > as efficiency. > > I remember one of my uncles coming up from Brasil back in the >1960's. He was an agricultural research scientist at the time, so we >proudly paraded him around some fields in California, thinking he would >learn from our "advanced" agriculture. Rather, he scoffed and said >something to the effect of: "This is California exporting its soil for >profit." I dismissed his remark at the time, thinking (rather >arrogantly) that his remarks were simply anti American.
He knew what the basic wealth is, very wise. You'd think of course an agricultural research scientist would know that, but so many don't, even today. Yields! Efficiency! > I'm older now, and I no longer think like a child. I don't have to >put my country up on some unrealistic and unsupported pedestal to feel >good about my citizenship. I've read somewhere (was it Plato?) that "an >unexamined life is not worth living." People who post thoughtless, >unsupported nonsense fall under that criticism--but there I go, acting >like an intellectual snob again! What do you do when it happens socially, face to face? Just smile and accept it? Why should you accept it here? Perhaps some people don't mix enough with others who might have different views from their own, but then they should, and they surely should be aware that a list like this isn't their local bar. ><another big snip> > > > > > For my part, I haven't had the time (we just did another biodiesel > > seminar here today, good, but hard work, and lots of preparation), > > nor, I'll admit, the inclination. Seems to me there's no discussion > > involved, you're faced with what I was saying the other day, people > > "who'd rather preserve their cherished notions against all comers", > > including facts, evidence, history, anything that doesn't agree with > > them, all of which will be labelled and dismissed, sneered at, or > > just ignored, but never considered, while they themselves see no need > > to substantiate what they say - after all, "everybody knows that". > > Sigh. . . I've been home with the flu all week, so I've had some >time. But I will be returning to work tomorrow, and I won't have time >for this nonsense either! > > > As > > a discussion it has no integrity whatsoever, it's a total waste of > > time, and about the most tedious thing I know. You take a bit of time > > (not very much, but still, it's your time) to counter nonsense like > > the above about US farming efficiency, but what hope is there that > > it'll even be read? Instead more thoughtless and careless obfuscation > > and denial gets chucked back, taking up little or no time, and you > > have to counter that too. About the best you can hope for is that > > they finally get outgunned and don't respond - and come back again in > > a few weeks or months pretending it never happened and post the very > > same crap all over again. It's like being pecked to death by a duck. > > Indeed! We've seen this repeated many times in this forum. >Sometimes I wonder where these people come from, and why they're >interested in biofuels at all. . . So do I, but maybe it's just an unaccustomed awkwardness in strange company, they feel defensive so they overcompensate or something... Huh, paperback psychology, sorry. Could this be the answer? "Imagine how different politics would be if debates were conducted in Tariana, an Amazonian language in which it is a grammatical error to report something without saying how you found it out. ... In some languages, including Tariana, you always have to put a little suffix onto your verb saying how you know something - we call it "evidentiality"... If you don't say how you know things, they think you are a liar." We could require all posts to be in Tariana, that'd solve the problem, LOL! It's from an interview in New Scientist, nice Russian woman. I sure wish I had her language skills. Give it a read, you'll enjoy it. Important issue. http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp;jsessionid=KNBHENH KEGCH?id=ns24321 For want of a word Hope you're better now, take care. Keith >robert luis rabello >"The Edge of Justice" >Adventure for Your Mind >http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/9782 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
