<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' gd:etag='W/&quot;CE4DQX4-fCp7ImA9WhdVGEs.&quot;'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980321159324564627</id><updated>2011-09-24T04:16:10.054-07:00</updated><title>Daily Mugwumpery</title><subtitle type='html'>Random thoughts from a strange mind.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thecastrapraetoria.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2980321159324564627/posts/default?redirect=false&amp;v=2'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thecastrapraetoria.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Xiphos</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09573704828100166166</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry gd:etag='W/&quot;CE4DQX4ycCp7ImA9WhdVGEs.&quot;'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980321159324564627.post-1102306965124972541</id><published>2011-09-24T03:19:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-09-24T04:16:10.098-07:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app='http://www.w3.org/2007/app'>2011-09-24T04:16:10.098-07:00</app:edited><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Introduction'/><title></title><content type='html'>Recently a friend of mine started blogging (I know, we are joining late in the game, but better late than never) and it inspired me to follow suit. I am not really sure what this blog will be about, but I hope you will find the posts to be interesting, stimulating and funny. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, a little about me. I am a scientist at heart, I approach situations with a skeptical mind and try to base my decisions on empirical data. I try to remove as much emotion and sentiment as possible and I strive to be objective. I love science, so hopefully my science posts will be interesting and not too geeky (no promises though). I also love history, current events, the outdoors, animals, and so much more. I hope to provide you eclectic collection of posts, but feel free to comment, make requests, and criticize.Tell me which posts you love, and which you hate. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So what's up with the name "Daily Mugwumpery?" The official definition from Merriam-Webster is, "a person who is independent (as in politics) or who remains undecided or neutral." I consider myself a centrist, both politically and practically. This means that my ideas do not necessarily follow standard political ideologies and that in my daily life I try to see things from all perspective. This does not mean that I flip-flop or change ideas constantly. Basically, it means that I am not a cookie-cutter person who is easily classified. I was introduced to the word "mugwump" by my lovely wife. She said she had a word she wanted to share with me and I could not believe that it was a real word. When I heard the word i though, "that's an awesome word, I gotta put it in my pocket so I can use it later." Unfortunately I never had the chance to use it conversation (that was probably for the best) but when I needed a name for my blog, I knew this was my chance. Voila, it is the name of my blog.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since there is nothing easier to find than sins among humans, it is almost guaranteed I will offend someone, or voice an idea that you do not agree with. This is great! I welcome new ideas as long as they are honest and well thought out. I put a lot of time into my thoughts, but there must be opinions I have not heard and I welcome them. I just request that we be prepared for the inevitable situation where we must, "agree to disagree."  Given an objective and logical argument, I will support an idea even if I was initially opposed to it.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2980321159324564627-1102306965124972541?l=thecastrapraetoria.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thecastrapraetoria.blogspot.com/feeds/1102306965124972541/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thecastrapraetoria.blogspot.com/2011/09/recently-friend-of-mine-started.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2980321159324564627/posts/default/1102306965124972541?v=2'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2980321159324564627/posts/default/1102306965124972541?v=2'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thecastrapraetoria.blogspot.com/2011/09/recently-friend-of-mine-started.html' title=''/><author><name>Xiphos</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09573704828100166166</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>