Designing men and women by Adam Ferber at Fanatical Apathy.
I think I'm one of many natural skeptics who came up with the idea of our universe as a long-forgotten school science experiment long before the Simpsons episode or reading Golden Age SF that informed me many others had thought the same decades earlier.
Natural Deism really is just that obvious.
2005-11-27
2005-11-25
Generalising about generalisations
Question from my lovely son:
LS: What do people mean when they say you can never have enough of a good thing, and then someone else says yes you can?
Me: [attempt to explain generalisations, and on the above use the icecream example]
I think I need to work on some more generalisations to get the idea properly across.
Best/worst examples?
LS: What do people mean when they say you can never have enough of a good thing, and then someone else says yes you can?
Me: [attempt to explain generalisations, and on the above use the icecream example]
I think I need to work on some more generalisations to get the idea properly across.
Best/worst examples?
2005-11-17
Pay no attention to that blatant outrage behind the curtain
Look at this quibbling spin over here instead!
Pay no attention to the fact that obstetric services in rural Oz are woefully inadequate, let's quibble over how dangerous it would be for rural women to have easy access to RU486 without adequate medical supervision. Consequence: rural women have to add the expense of travel to the city to the expense and extra risks of a surgical abortion as compared to a medical abortion. And our anti-abortion Health Minister will use alleged rural danger to deny RU486 to all Australian women. Abbott has no place as Health Minister and should be shuffled off to another portfolio.
Pay no attention to the illegality of targeting civilians, let's quibble that the USA never signed off on the section of the Geneva Convention that says it's wrong to use white phosphorus, and it's not really a chemical weapon anyway, so it's legal for the USA to use it. Special Crunchy Irony: wasn't the invasion of Iraq predicated on preventing the use of chemical weapons?
Pay no attention to the illegality of outing an active CIA operative, resulting in the exposure of of an ongoing covert investigation of who was purchasing weapons of mass destruction, let's quibble over the fact that her position as part of that ongoing covert investigation was a deskjob in Virginia rather than being "out in the field", therefore outing her did not compromise national security.
Consequence: blowing her cover means blowing the cover of an entire CIA covert operation, front company Brewster Jennings, and also "exposed everyone who worked for or hired or sent a check or an e-mail to Brewster Jennings. And everyone who ever talked to anyone who worked for Brewster Jennings."
Pay no attention to the fact that obstetric services in rural Oz are woefully inadequate, let's quibble over how dangerous it would be for rural women to have easy access to RU486 without adequate medical supervision. Consequence: rural women have to add the expense of travel to the city to the expense and extra risks of a surgical abortion as compared to a medical abortion. And our anti-abortion Health Minister will use alleged rural danger to deny RU486 to all Australian women. Abbott has no place as Health Minister and should be shuffled off to another portfolio.
Pay no attention to the illegality of targeting civilians, let's quibble that the USA never signed off on the section of the Geneva Convention that says it's wrong to use white phosphorus, and it's not really a chemical weapon anyway, so it's legal for the USA to use it. Special Crunchy Irony: wasn't the invasion of Iraq predicated on preventing the use of chemical weapons?
Pay no attention to the illegality of outing an active CIA operative, resulting in the exposure of of an ongoing covert investigation of who was purchasing weapons of mass destruction, let's quibble over the fact that her position as part of that ongoing covert investigation was a deskjob in Virginia rather than being "out in the field", therefore outing her did not compromise national security.
Consequence: blowing her cover means blowing the cover of an entire CIA covert operation, front company Brewster Jennings, and also "exposed everyone who worked for or hired or sent a check or an e-mail to Brewster Jennings. And everyone who ever talked to anyone who worked for Brewster Jennings."
Blog against Racism Day
December 1st, 2005: the fiftieth anniversary of Rosa Parks' action in Montgomery, Alabama.
This was suggested by Chris Clarke, who I am fortunate enough to have been reading for years on USENet before he even started his blog. A while back he commented on a cartoon he felt was racist, and received many dissenting comments because it was felt the cartoonist's intent was benign, but racism is inherently evil, therefore a benign cartoon can't be racist. Hmm.
I'm not sure what I'll write yet - racism in Australia has a whole different history from racism in the States, although the roots of both obviously lie in European colonialism. Anyway, join in! Announce it on your blog, link to Chris' post (trackback if you can, Blogger doesn't allow it) and let's see what happens December 1st.
This was suggested by Chris Clarke, who I am fortunate enough to have been reading for years on USENet before he even started his blog. A while back he commented on a cartoon he felt was racist, and received many dissenting comments because it was felt the cartoonist's intent was benign, but racism is inherently evil, therefore a benign cartoon can't be racist. Hmm.
I'm not sure what I'll write yet - racism in Australia has a whole different history from racism in the States, although the roots of both obviously lie in European colonialism. Anyway, join in! Announce it on your blog, link to Chris' post (trackback if you can, Blogger doesn't allow it) and let's see what happens December 1st.
Let me guess...
...if Howard loses out on this bill (a joint Greens/Democrats initiative to lift the ideologically-imposed ban on RU486), it somehow magically won't be as important a story in Bushco's media as how Howard won on sending troops to Iraq.
2005-11-11
How to win friends and influence people
Another day, another blogwar. Usually. This one's a trainwreck.
Threatened libel lawsuits, contacting doctoral advisors, attempts to "out" an anonymous blogger who has clearly stated she values her anonymity highly as a wall between her private and professional lives, and a soon-to-be-Dr. HowDareYouIgnoreMe who thinks an "innovative" addition to the blogosphere is the first ever live-blogged lawsuit, AKA every single thought that crosses his obessed mind about this spat. And of course, anybody at all who points out that this sort of public breast-beating is a really poor legal strategy is a lefty.
Strangely absorbing. Hat tip to Chris.
Threatened libel lawsuits, contacting doctoral advisors, attempts to "out" an anonymous blogger who has clearly stated she values her anonymity highly as a wall between her private and professional lives, and a soon-to-be-Dr. HowDareYouIgnoreMe who thinks an "innovative" addition to the blogosphere is the first ever live-blogged lawsuit, AKA every single thought that crosses his obessed mind about this spat. And of course, anybody at all who points out that this sort of public breast-beating is a really poor legal strategy is a lefty.
Strangely absorbing. Hat tip to Chris.
PH3@r m3!!!!!1!!
... and my L33T G@rD3n0r skillz!!!!11!
Last night, I'll have you know, I won Third Place (tied) in the Front Garden category of my local council's annual Spring Garden Competition. Mwahahahahahahahaha!!!!!1!
My neighbour across the road, who won first place in the Native Garden category, reckons I wuz robbed. Denied my rightful dominion! Never mind, the new roses are settling beautifully, so I will continue to mulch and fertilise and next year my plans for municipal overlordship will not fail.
Last night, I'll have you know, I won Third Place (tied) in the Front Garden category of my local council's annual Spring Garden Competition. Mwahahahahahahahaha!!!!!1!
My neighbour across the road, who won first place in the Native Garden category, reckons I wuz robbed. Denied my rightful dominion! Never mind, the new roses are settling beautifully, so I will continue to mulch and fertilise and next year my plans for municipal overlordship will not fail.
2005-11-10
Two steps forward, three steps back
In Dover, Pennsylvania, the school board elections ousted the Republican fundevangelicals who want intelligent design taught in high school science class.
In Kansas, a different lot of fundevangelicals voted to change school science standards to include be more critical of evolutionary biology theory.
I feel very sad for the people of faith who accept science as an explanation for how God created, and don't let that interfere with their faith in a scriptural exegesis of why God created. The radical fundevangelicals are attempting to marginalise them, telling them that belief in God and acceptance of the science of biological evolution cannot coexist.
As an atheist my views may not especially matter to a person of faith (and certainly won't to the fundevangelicals), but I personally find the idea of a Creator incorporating such an elegant mechanism as biological evolution to ensure ecological variation quite attractive, and if I ever saw evidence for such a Creator I'd be a theist in a heartbeat. (So, I'm a doubting Thomas kind of person - the Gospel doesn't say Thomas was damned for his skepticism, does it now?)
In Kansas, a different lot of fundevangelicals voted to change school science standards to include be more critical of evolutionary biology theory.
I feel very sad for the people of faith who accept science as an explanation for how God created, and don't let that interfere with their faith in a scriptural exegesis of why God created. The radical fundevangelicals are attempting to marginalise them, telling them that belief in God and acceptance of the science of biological evolution cannot coexist.
As an atheist my views may not especially matter to a person of faith (and certainly won't to the fundevangelicals), but I personally find the idea of a Creator incorporating such an elegant mechanism as biological evolution to ensure ecological variation quite attractive, and if I ever saw evidence for such a Creator I'd be a theist in a heartbeat. (So, I'm a doubting Thomas kind of person - the Gospel doesn't say Thomas was damned for his skepticism, does it now?)
Forgive me, blogosphere...
...it's been two months since my last update.
Went on holidays, had a birthday party to organise, got the flu, and had lots of weeding to do BECAUSE IT'S BEEN RAINING! CALLOO CALLAY etc etc
Anyway, back to the irregular blogging.
Viv
Went on holidays, had a birthday party to organise, got the flu, and had lots of weeding to do BECAUSE IT'S BEEN RAINING! CALLOO CALLAY etc etc
Anyway, back to the irregular blogging.
Viv
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