One of the things that I can remember from my first-year logic and reasoning is that, when engaged in a debate, attacking the person making the argument, rather than their argument itself, is fallacious. Even so, when I read this report about Al Gore's personal energy consumption, I couldn't help but smile. The report said that the Gores spend about 20 times the (American) national average on energy. The report came out a day after An Inconvenient Truth won best documentary at the Oscars. I bet the voters who voted for it have similar rates of energy consumption. So while its not a great logical argument to point out the flaws of the person making the argument rather than responding to the argument itself, my sentiment is if Gore doesn't believe in his message to stop global warming enough to curb his own energy consumption, why should the rest of us?
Caveats: I dont know what the Tennesee Center for Policy Research is, but judging from a cursory glance at their website, they are probably conservative think-tank. Also, Gore's energy consumption might be reasonable for someone who owns a house as large as his, but still, his message of conservation seems to be a little hollow to me.
Well, I've booked my trip to the DR for next thursday. I'll be going w/ Isaac and Bryan, and we'll be playing 5 rounds of golf. It'll be a nice change from the awful weather we've been having here. Also, if you know her, Tammy is currently in the Dominican and hopefully, we'll be able to meet up. My mandarin lesson was cancelled today. It would have been my fourth lesson. So far its not like learning chinese at all, but just like learning to read english in a different way. Hopefully, I'll get around to actually learning some vocabulary soon, as opposed to just practicing tones.
Here is some very colourful use of the english language. This is another example of why hockey is the best sport in the world. I saw this clip back at Western about 4 years ago and was reminded of it when I heard that it got taken off of youtube recently. Bryan Trottier and Kevin Stevens chatting with Brian Bellows.
