Debate #2: Lord Edam
Over the past year or two, I've heard sporadic reports that Mike Griffiths (who goes by the screen name of "Lord Edam de Fromage") was running around talking trash and crowing that I was ducking him. That seemed rather curious to me, since he had occasionally E-mailed me directly, and he always seemed very polite. An inquiry to Wayne Poe resulted in some Google links that showed that he was crowing that I was ducking him, and that he insisted on referring to me as "the geezer"; quite a contrast from his polite demeanour in E-mail.
Generally speaking, I don't take well to that sort of two-faced behaviour. If he's going to insult me, he can insult me to my face. If he's going to be polite and smarmy to my face, that should reflect his genuine attitude. As the old saying goes, say what you mean, and mean what you say! In any case, I decided to examine his criticisms in late 2000, and they looked like nothing but nitpicks to me, so I put them on the back burner and I put him on my list of Trekkies who should eventually receive the Imperial Smack-Down™.
However, that would be a while in coming. Last year was the year I decided to throw my efforts into my anti-creationism website, because nobody deserves the Imperial Smack-Down™ more than your average pin-headed creationist. The anti-creationism site grew like Jack's famous beanstalk, while this one languished. In fact, the only site activities for the entire year were maintenance, the Stilgar and Gothmog soap operas, and a couple of new essays (I can't even see my way clear to the day I finally start the DS9 canon database). Anyway, after dispensing with Gothmog and a few of his followers and then taking some time off, I finally got around to MySQL'ing my TNG canon database and then I issued my challenge to "Lord Edam".
Pre-debate Negotiations (don't worry; it's not like Gothmog's long-winded maneuvering)
Edam's First Post (2002-03-04)
Edam's "Star Trek Shields" page (referenced in his first post)
My First Rebuttal (2002-03-06)
Star Trek Shield Energy Limits
Star Trek Shield Plasma Weakness
Base Delta Zero
Edam's Second Post: Edam
Unleashes His Not-so-Secret Weapon: the dreaded Nitpick Storm! (2002-03-08)
Star Trek Shield Energy Limits
Star Trek Shield Plasma Weakness
Base Delta Zero
My Second Rebuttal: His arguments
are fairly easy to deal with, but he nitpicks every conceivable detail, thus dragging the post out to huge length (2002-03-10)
Star Trek Shield Energy Limits
Star Trek Shield Plasma Weakness
Base Delta Zero
Edam's Third Post: Nothing
particularly interesting in this one. He starts to get whiny (2002-03-12)
Star Trek Shield Energy Limits
Star Trek Shield Plasma Weakness
Base Delta Zero
My Third Rebuttal: Drop
the Hammer (2002-03-14)
Star Trek Shield Energy Limits
Star Trek Shield Plasma Weakness
Base Delta Zero