One year anniversary!

It's been one year since I first started this blog, one year since I used it to post a concert review. I thought "no time like the present", and the rest as they say is history. I've wanted to do something like a blog for a while. Or a webpage. I've tried in the past but for whatever reason my drive to keep it updated hasn't been there. And in the early months of this blog I struggled for ideas. At the beginning, the blog felt like a parallel of the concert reviews on my last.fm account. But as time went on, I became more confident in my writing. My early posts were poor, the language primitive, the structure almost non-existent. I experimented in style, in concept, hoping to learn something out of it.

Around the same time as I started this blog, I joined an atheist group on facebook. Over time believers kept coming onto that group and preaching, the same fallacious arguments kept coming up over and over. The same basic ignorance of science kept coming up over and over. While the net is full of resources dedicated to exposing those fallacious arguments for what they were, I had some inspiration for what to write. Linking to another's source doesn't teach anyone anything, especially to a group not willing to listen. Instead of writing out the same arguments over and over again, the blog became a way for me to formalise certain arguments both for my own understanding and to stop having to write it out again and again. At times I've realised that my understanding on certain topics was less than I've liked, and there have been many an occasion where I've thrown away half-completed entries because I felt the argument was either incomplete or logically flawed.

So one year. It feels pretty good to not only stick with it, but to increase the frequency of output. I've enjoyed the mental challenge of writing such a blog, and I look forward to branching out in the future and bring reason to certain areas of reality so misused by those who don't know better. I'm an optimist and I believe in the best in people, so while I get disappointed over and over again as ignorance seems to win out over rational thought, I still think of the best in people to use their brains. I believe with that critical thinking that evidence will win out, so it's best to present an argument as completely and accurately as possible. It's then not about winning an argument, but presenting the argument in an honest way. And that is far more important than just witnessing a belief.

So one year, I'm happy. The feedback I've had has been very positive and I plan on continuing, hopefully getting better with each post. Stay tuned for more scepticism and exercises in pragmatism, there's more to come. Thank you to everyone who has read this blog, pointed out flaws, and pushed me to do better each time.I appreciate anyone and everyone who has taken the time out to consider my words, even if they don't agree with everything I've said. For with debate comes understanding, even if it's not understanding the debate topic. Hearing another's point of view is gaining a fresh perspective, and that is always a refreshing idea. It keeps our own ideas in check.