An offer they can’t refuse

As 2009 draws to a close, commentators across the world will be writing articles about “Milestones of the past decade”. There will be some consensus between such lists. I’d be surprised if many such lists were published without Barak Obama featuring. In Australia, naturally, the defeat of John Howard’s coalition and the election of Kevin Rudd’s Labor will also rank highly.

One development which might not be so commonly heralded, but no less significant to those within some circles, will be the recent and unprecedented offer by the Roman Catholic Church for disaffected Anglican priests and congregations to rejoin their communion.

More equal than others

The anonymity of the internet seems to encourage the emergence of a certain kind of group of people. These online communities are united in holding fervent and eagerly-espoused concepts, and in becoming mortally offended at those who so much as disagree. Their opinions may be based on well-considered logical arguments or on illogical and biased premises, but their arguments almost always end up as ad hominem attacks on their detractors. Amongst these groups might be numbered Apple Mac fans; militant atheists; and filesharers.