About this site….

My name is Elizabeth Liddle, and I started this site to be a place where people could discuss controversial positions about life, the universe and everything with minimal tribal rancour (pay no attention to the penguins….)

My motivation for starting the site has been the experience of trying to discuss religion, politics, evolution, the Mind/Brain problem, creationism, ethics, exit polls, probability, intelligent design, and many other topics in venues where positions are strongly held and feelings run high. In most venues, one view dominates, and there is a kind of “resident prior” about the integrity, intelligence and motivation of those who differ from the majority view.

That is why the strapline says: “Park your priors by the door”. They may be adjusted by the time you leave!

I will start the blog off with a series of posts arising from some interesting discussions at Uncommon Descent, which were difficult to pursue because of the blog format over there. I hope that the participants in those discussions will come over here where we can continue them without having to move from squat to squat on other threads, derailing them as we go.

I also hope that other people will join me in posting new OPs, so that it becomes a group blog, and that people will also offer to write guest OPs.

In the mean time, welcome to all, and have a free virtual beer on the house!

Lizzie

239 thoughts on “About this site….”

Elizabeth on May 2, 2012 at 8:15 am said:

And thanks, rhampton!

I should do a FAQ for the site, and when I do, I’ll put your post there.
Elizabeth on May 2, 2012 at 8:16 am said:

I will also try to include those in the comment allowed tags.
Allan Miller on May 2, 2012 at 8:43 am said:

rhampton7,

bold – think he no work. Certainly not in preview anyhow. Now let’s try “post”…

eta nope – he no worky.
rhampton7 on May 2, 2012 at 7:07 pm said:

Allan Miller,

On my mac (Firefox v12), the bold tag does render the font face a bit heavier, but not as heavy as the strong tag. Specifically…

text — font-weight: 300
text — font-weight: 400
text — font-weight: 700

In addition, the font-family is set to render in this order: “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif. So it’s also possible that the font your browser renders the comments in doesn’t support separate 300 & 400 weights, and thus uses one version of the typeface in both cases. (Can you guess my profession?)
rhampton7 on May 3, 2012 at 3:15 am said:

To produce this…

This is a test of superscript and subscript

…write your comment like this…

This is test of superscript and subscript

Failure – (it worked in the editor’s preview, I swear!)
Mike Elzinga on May 3, 2012 at 6:53 pm said:

Testing

This text contains subscript text.
This text contains superscript text.

Nope!
Mike Elzinga on May 3, 2012 at 7:07 pm said:

Another test:

ₘCₚ

E = mc⁲

Nope!
olegt on May 3, 2012 at 7:10 pm said:

Mike Elzinga:
Another test:

ₘCₚ

E = mc⁲

Not very pretty.

That’s all right, Mike. We shall rely on TeX code!
E = mc^2.
n(\epsilon) = \frac{1}{e^{\beta \epsilon} + 1}.
🙂
Mike Elzinga on May 3, 2012 at 7:17 pm said:

olegt: That’s all right, Mike. We shall rely on TeX code!

Yeah.

After I have marked up my math comments with HTML tags, it’s so messy that it is almost impossible to edit. Between my mild dyslexia and my aging eyes, I miss a lot and don’t see what I did wrong until it hits the editor. Then I have to find the error. The Unicode would be even worse.

Oh well. 🙂
Elizabeth on May 3, 2012 at 8:21 pm said:

Oh boy. OK, it’s going to have to be next weekend. Do I hear any volunteers for coding?
Joe G on May 3, 2012 at 8:34 pm said:

For bold use strong
Elizabeth on May 5, 2012 at 3:59 pm said:

super and subscripts should now work for comments.

Let me know if you have any problems!
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 4:06 pm said:

Testing:

E = mc²

_nC_p

∇²U = 0

Sweet!
Elizabeth on May 5, 2012 at 4:18 pm said:

Let me know if this editor is any use.

It seems to disappear if you use the quote button, but I guess it could still be useful.
Patrick on May 5, 2012 at 4:24 pm said:

Mike Elzinga: Testing: E = mc² _nC_p ∇²U= 0 Sweet!

You had me at ∇.
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 4:42 pm said:

Patrick: You had me at ∇.

You probably have seen the picture of a smiling stick figure with a straw hat, holding a pitchfork standing inside the del (nabla) operator.

It is called “the farmer in the del.”
olegt on May 5, 2012 at 4:58 pm said:

Test. a^b. Δ
olegt on May 5, 2012 at 5:02 pm said:

Mike Elzinga: You probably have seen the picture of a smiling stick figure with a straw hat, holding a pitchfork standing inside the del (nabla) operator. It is called “the farmer in the del.”

∇²φ = −4πρ.

Hey, this seems to work! Thanks, Elizabeth!
Elizabeth on May 5, 2012 at 6:05 pm said:
ElizabethsSock on May 5, 2012 at 6:08 pm said:
Elizabeth on May 5, 2012 at 6:10 pm said:

Yay, latex enabled in comments!
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 6:35 pm said:

Hmmm.

I didn’t get it right the first time.
Elizabeth on May 5, 2012 at 6:41 pm said:

You need to put it in latex tags: {latex} {/latex}

(replace {}with square brackets)
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 6:42 pm said:

ε_i,k,k

ε

ε_i,j,k
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 6:46 pm said:

Elizabeth:

You need to put it in latex tags: {latex} {/latex}

(replace {}with square brackets)

Ah; DUH!

Thank you.
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 6:50 pm said:

$frac{{ - bpm sqrt {b^2 - 4ac}}}{{2a}}$

I think I am going to have to go back and review my LaTeX.
olegt on May 5, 2012 at 7:05 pm said:

$int_{-infty}^{infty} exp{(-ax^2/2)} = sqrt{2pi/a}.$
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 7:08 pm said:

$1/2,sqrt {{b}^{2}-4,ac}a$

I think I am getting old and forgetful. 🙁
olegt on May 5, 2012 at 7:11 pm said:

It looks like LaTeX works in the standard reply window, but when I edit a comment later, all of the formatting is stripped away.
$i\hbar \, \partial \psi/\partial t = \hat{H} \psi.$
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 7:13 pm said:

olegt:

It looks like LaTeX works in the standard reply window, but when I edit a comment later, all of the formatting is stripped away.

I’m noticing the same thing.

Now how do I log out? The logout link seems to have disappeared.

Wait a minute! I appears that I AM logged out. but I can still edit this comment.
Elizabeth on May 5, 2012 at 7:56 pm said:

That’s because I briefly allowed nonregistered users to comment so that the person who wrote the Quote Comments plug-in could see why it wasn’t working properly.

I’ve put it back to how it was now.
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 7:57 pm said:

OK. I’m logged in and I see the “log out?” link.

I will post this, log out, and check to see if I can still edit it.
Mike Elzinga on May 5, 2012 at 7:58 pm said:

Elizabeth:

That’s because I briefly allowed the nonregistered users to comment so that the person who wrote the Quote Comments plug-in could see why it wasn’t working properly.

Ok. I was beginng to think I was losing it.

I’ve put it back to how it was now.

I replied to this and the message didn’t post. Now I am trying to reply by editing.

Ok, the edit posted. Now I am going to log out.
ElizabethsSock on May 6, 2012 at 9:52 am said:
lkksdj ospdfj odjdnv dlkvjoseu _ankcv dideo ^dfvndkfn fhsdii hdsfn oed oah eh kvkdf oaj oh oihdiahdi hoheoihei fdjf i dfodfjoe jkvd ofjndoifoeieoapppidk dkfj doape efihdipe fewqop adjpij dj d padoifjd of jeopi fdkovpdj oeapvoiasdpoewpdkdopa fea oej eao apo iaepij eo jeap

lkksdj ospdfj odjdnv dlkvjoseu ankcv dideo dfvndkfn fhsdii hdsfn oed oah eh kvkdf oaj oh oihdiahdi hoheoihei fdjf i dfodfjoe jkvd ofjndoifoeieoapppidk dkfj doape efihdipe fewqop adjpij dj d padoifjd of jeopi fdkovpdj oeapvoiasdpoewpdkdopa fea oej eao apo iaepij eo jeap
- dslakfjdsj djdopasf peorjwapj eowap japjeowaui podijfdoidaspuaw9ereaw dskfhdsioia e9d sfoa
- dkjfpoads
- asdf japodf adpsf
- dfadspoj daspfo
- dfkopj odaspf as
jgopofg
1. kfg pfdogj fdg
2. fg opjfjd
3. fkg posdf
4. df gpodsf
5. fgopdsfo
6. eip
lkksdj ospdfj odjdnv dlkvjoseu ankcv dideo dfvndkfn fhsdii hdsfn oed oah eh kvkdf oaj oh oihdiahdi hoheoihei fdjf i dfodfjoe jkvd ofjndoifoeieoapppidk dkfj doape efihdipe fewqop adjpij dj d padoifjd of jeopi fdkovpdj oeapvoiasdpoewpdkdopa fea oej eao apo iaepij eo jeap

lkksdj ospdfj odjdnv dlkvjoseu ankcv dideo dfvndkfn fhsdii hdsfn oed oah eh kvkdf oaj oh oihdiahdi hoheoihei fdjf i dfodfjoe jkvd ofjndoifoeieoapppidk dkfj doape efihdipe fewqop adjpij dj d padoifjd of jeopi fdkovpdj oeapvoiasdpoewpdkdopa fea oej eao apo iaepij eo jeap

lkksdj ospdfj odjdnv dlkvjoseu ankcv dideo dfvndkfn fhsdii hdsfn oed oah eh kvkdf oaj oh oihdiahdi hoheoihei fdjf i dfodfjoe jkvd ofjndoifoeieoapppidk dkfj doape efihdipe fewqop adjpij dj d padoifjd of jeopi fdkovpdj oeapvoiasdpoewpdkdopa fea oej eao apo iaepij eo jeap
Elizabeth on May 6, 2012 at 11:26 am said:

Let me know what you think of the new comment area. I’ve dropped the spell check as it seemed unnecessary, and I’ve managed to remove the clusterfuck of labels that was obliterating the left hand end of the menu bar. I think all the buttons work for all users, but let me know if they don’t.

Latex now works, but you have to enclose it in {latex}{/latex} tags (replace curly brackets by square brackets).

The quote function was conflicting with a number of other functions, so I have removed it.

However copy and paste plus the quote button should work reasonably well.

I’ve kept the nesting at 1 layer, so that if people want to make a specific comment to one post they can do so (I find that quite useful, for something a bit off topic, so as not to start a major derail).

Feedback welcome 🙂
olegt on May 6, 2012 at 12:14 pm said:

Let’s see…

$int cos{kx} , dx = 2pidelta(k).$

TeX works in the reply mode. Editing a comment removes all of the TeX formatting.
Elizabeth on May 6, 2012 at 1:13 pm said:

I’m not sure I can do anything about that. The Edit Comments plug in isn’t very flexible.

I can do it in the main editor, so you could email me the changes you want.

Or alternatively, repost, and click the “request deletion” button for your original.

Feel free to use this thread to experiment before posting!
olegt on May 6, 2012 at 1:55 pm said:

I was slightly mistaken. The Edit Comment plugs does not remove all of the TeX stuff, it jut seems to strip away the backslashes. So [latex]\exp{ikx}[\latex] turns into [latex]exp{ikx}[\latex].

I think we can live with it in the comments. I have not yet tried TeX in an opening post.
olegt on May 6, 2012 at 1:58 pm said:

Is there a chance that we can get back the non-wysiwygReply window?
Elizabeth on May 6, 2012 at 3:08 pm said:

Well, I could disable it. Or you could use the HTML button I’ve just added, which gives you straight code.
Elizabeth on May 6, 2012 at 3:09 pm said:

test

test
olegt on May 6, 2012 at 3:17 pm said:

$H = J \sum_{\langle ij\rangle} \mathbf S_i \cdot \mathbf S_j.$
olegt on May 6, 2012 at 3:18 pm said:

That works! Thank you, Liz.
Joe G on May 6, 2012 at 6:07 pm said:

[quote]quotes[/quote]
Joe G on May 6, 2012 at 6:08 pm said:

<q>quotes</q>
Joe G on May 6, 2012 at 6:08 pm said:

<blockquote>quotes</blockquote>
Joe G on May 6, 2012 at 6:08 pm said:

I found the button!
Joe G on May 6, 2012 at 6:09 pm said:

Does the quote button work?
Joe G on May 6, 2012 at 6:12 pm said:

OK got it.

what can be quoted?

It seems to quote the entire comment – can we select what we want quoted?
rhampton7 on May 7, 2012 at 7:24 pm said:

Elizabeth,

When you get the chance, can you fix the CSS so that the textarea of the comment window is white? It looks like the style is currently set to a transparent background. If this is the only iframe then this should do the trick:

.wp_themeSkin iframe {background-color:#fff;}

But if that interferes with other iframes, then you can add this style to the CSS:

.wp_themeSkin iframe#comment_ifr {background-color:#fff;}