Richard Dawkins
- Thread starter Bangpuss
- Start date
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I'm not worried about a fight. it's that most of things I could say would just be more specific iterations of things that've already been said more generally.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
i have friends who work as academics who think a lot of continental philosophy is pure onanism, and to whom Derrida is a swearword. i always preferred writers who i could get something from on the first reading, even if not the whole meaning - it kind of suggested there was something there to get.
unapologetic assholes in sport - floyd mayweather. he's an interesting character, though his comments about that basketball player Jeremy Lin were quite appalling.
unapologetic assholes in sport - floyd mayweather. he's an interesting character, though his comments about that basketball player Jeremy Lin were quite appalling.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
And if it has increased in recent years, its because funding bodies are having their budgets slashed by cash-strapped governments. No-one goes into a career in science - I mean pure science, not developing the next big wonderdrug for GSK - in order to earn megabucks. It just ain't gonna happen. And with so many researchers working on so many different research programmes, and massive layers of bureaucracy and paperwork between the guy in the lab and the grant money he needs to carry on his work, it's no wonder a lot of time is spent chasing grants. It's not because of greedy scientists with $$$ in their eyes, if that's what you (CL) are implying.
As padraig says, it gets more complicated in areas of science that have strong links to the private sector. But if you want to critique this, it should be in terms of a discussion about the ethics of using public money to fund research that benefits big business, or whatever - it has nothing to do with deep issues of the scientific method, lawyer-ish arguments about the meaning of the word "meaning", and all that jazz.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I couldn't stand academia in my brush with it. I liked the people a lot but the mountains + mountains of bullshit, no.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
i was watching youtube vids of Mayweather fights yesterday. The skills he uses not to take many direct hits are pretty awesome. That Ortiz debacle wasn't so good though, but then the guy did headbutt him. I'd have probably done the same.
Pacquiao's quickness is electrifying though. Have to hope the fight happens, it would surely be up there with Leonard-Duran or somesuch.
What did Mayweather say about Pacquiao - don't think i've seen that?
Pacquiao's quickness is electrifying though. Have to hope the fight happens, it would surely be up there with Leonard-Duran or somesuch.
What did Mayweather say about Pacquiao - don't think i've seen that?
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Slothrop
Tight but Polite
Is it relevant that a lot of the theists who disagree with Dawkins - I'd say the vast majority of them, in fact - would side with Tea as far as the existence of Facts goes? They tend to be quite happy with the existence of Absolute Facts, it's just that they consider one of those Facts to be that an invisible man in the sky wants them to do what He says. I mean, one standard posture for religious types these days is hostility towards "postmodern relativism".
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
my tutor hated the people too. can't say i blame him.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
yes he is. not to get o/t, but the intersection of race + sports in the U.S. is a massive, thorny thing. bigger than in Europe I think, b/c the minorities here are much larger + black men so heavily dominate 2 of our 4 major sports (boxing also to a lesser extent but boxing has been largely eclipsed by mma which is actually quite racially diverse).
about lin, I understand where he was coming from but he said in a really dumb way. it is true that this wouldn't be near as big a story if lin wasn't asian, from harvard, etc, (+ if he was black). there's nothing wrong with that tho. it's insane to deny that race is a big factor in the story, mostly in a positive way (altho he's also just legitimately playing great basketball; he's actually made me root for the knicks, who I've hated since I was six yrs old). you gotta remember mayweather's built a whole career on picking at the scab of those racial undertones in sports (well also on being great boxer).
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
luka mma is hella serious. my favorite is actually just muay thai itself (or K-1, which is watered down muay thai) but the groundwork aspect is hella technical.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
nothing big really. they bullshit each other (or more like their people do) but that's what boxers do. I dunno there's all this nonsense about money + blood tests. big time boxing shoots itself in the foot yet again.
it'd be a great fight tho. I'm all for manny + he is a great fighter but mayweather's defense is just so flawless, even with all the weird manny can fight of off.
luka
Well-known member
i think thats the problem. the groundwork to the uninformed (ie me) looks like two men rolling about in their undwerwear. having ex-wwf superstar becoming champions doesnt help particulalry when they get winded in under 2 minutes. boxers can fight for for 12 3 minute rounds. real athletes. different level of dedication needed.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
this is it. or something like that. also reckon you're dead right about the real issue with $ being the surreally inefficient way in which it is relegated. it's set up so that scientists (+ grad students) have to constantly hustle. also grants have to be based off results so there's added pressure to show results even if there really aren't any. as well as the pressure to publish. like any academic thing science is freaking cutthroat as hell.
sidenote: one professor I worked for had his own biotech startup, which is very common (you're not allowed to use your academic research in your private venture I'm sure there's a lot of gray area). I later found out that the like 4 or 5 top guys in his sub-sub field of m. bio all had companies + all sat on the boards of each others' companies. freaking conflict of interest to the max. actually also, the stuff we were studying in that was very obscure + kind of a dead end but that guy just was a master of wrangling $. the lab was essentially his personal fiefdom which is often the case with big time tenured professors.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
the video on youtube of mayweather jr and mayweather sr is probably his most difficult fight...
I think it would be epic. Mayweather hasn't knocked many bigtime fighters out lately though, has he, with the exception of Ortiz, which doesnt' count? So he'd presumably be relying on going 12 rounds and winning onthe scorecard, but won't Pacquiao be (a) quicker than anyone he's fought, and (b) equally technically good?
Plus Mayweather is obviously running scared. What will happen if he's behind on the scorecard coming into the last few rounds? Can his psychology handle the immediate threat of a loss?
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
@luka - sorry but no way man. groundwork is incredibly exhausting, way more so even than striking. also kickboxing is more tiring than boxing. plus the rounds are longer (5 minutes). nothing against boxers but top mma guys are in fantastic shape. it requires a ton of hard work + dedication (+ talent) to reach that level.