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Showing posts from December, 2015

16 Ways to Win an Argument from Schopenhauer's "The Art of Controversy"

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1 Carry your opponent's proposition beyond its natural limits; exaggerate it. The more general your opponent's statement becomes, the more objections you can find against it. The more restricted and narrow your own propositions remain, the easier they are to defend. 2 Use different meanings of your opponent's words to refute his argument. Example: Person A says, "You do not understand the mysteries of Kant's philosophy." Person B replies, "Of, if it's mysteries you're talking about, I'll have nothing to do with them." 3 Ignore your opponent's proposition, which was intended to refer to some particular thing. Rather, understand it in some quite different sense, and then refute it. Attack something different than what was asserted. 4 Hide your conclusion from your opponent until the end. Mingle your premises here and there in your talk. Get your opponent to agree to them in no definite order. By this circuitous route you conceal you...

The 20 Most Expensive Presidential Planes in the World

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Via mirror.co.uk Engines and wingspans, cockpits and more. These are the things that make great planes. Forget trains and automobiles; we all know that if you want to travel in the ultimate style and luxury, you need to go with a nice aircraft, and the leaders of the world definitely know that this is the case. They cough up huge amounts of money (sometimes to the chagrin of the people they are governing) to ride in the swankiest modes of transport available. Here we have the 20 most expensive presidential planes in the world. The price tags are astronomical, but these are some airliners that we need to see to believe. From in-house spas and dining rooms, to the latest technological and aviation equipment, to interior design that rivals the most pristine and lavish royal palaces, these planes are pieces of luxury in the skies. And while we would love to take a ride in them, the best most of us can do is to read about them. If you can get over t...