Education If only he had used his science for niceness, instead of evil 11 Sep 2010 In the Great Tone Debate, it seems to me that we have been overlooking some of the crucial elements of mixed strategies. Something that works in one case may not work in another, and so general arguments that one should be nice or dickish all the time are going to… Continue Reading
Education Dicks, niceness and evil: a rant 29 Aug 2010 The ongoing blogbattle over whether to be nice or a dick skeptic continues. Phil Plait gave a speech suggesting that niceness works better. There was blowback, of course, which he discusses here and here. The Great Tone Debate seems to resolve down to those who think that minds are changed… Continue Reading
Australian stuff Pundit parody 4 Aug 2010 Australia doesn’t have lunatics of the calibre of the white supremacist Glenn Beck, at least, not on the media, but we have sufficient punditry to fuel a small nation all right. Idiots like Alan Jones, who incited a racial riot, and the entire news teams of the commercial TV stations…. Continue Reading
Evolution Creation, a personal reflection on the movie 18 Jul 201022 Jun 2018 I just saw the movie Creation, with Paul Bettany as Darwin and Jennifer Connelly (Bettany’s real life wife) as Emma Darwin. And I am very pleasantly surprised how well it worked as a film, as well as how effectively it represented the era. My quibbles are just that, quibbles. Mostly,… Continue Reading
Creationism and Intelligent Design The hope of the future of the Illuminati 15 Apr 2010 With young folk like this on the case, I have hope for the future of the evil atheist conspiracy… Continue Reading
Australian stuff On rednecking 2 Apr 2010 A comedian known for his scatological and iconoclastic humour calls Australians “basically English rednecks”, offending three ethnic and regional groups in one go. I watched this and laughed. It was very funny. But a prime minister, who is so uptight only dogs can hear when he farts, takes umbrage, and… Continue Reading
Politics Affirmative Atheism 21 Mar 2010 There is a lot of noise made about “New” Atheists, “militant” atheists, “fundamentalist” atheists and “angry” atheists. All of these are, in my agnostic opinion, prejudicial and false. Atheism as being proposed int he media is neither new, nor militant, definitely not fundamentalist and having just had a lovely time… Continue Reading
Australian stuff The policy policy 4 Mar 2010 Australian Prime Minister for the Obvious has said that there should be a “zero tolerance” policy against bullying. In other news, a 13 year old Victorian girl who held a kitchen knife to the throat of a 12 year old girl – allegedly – is not to be charged by… Continue Reading
Pop culture Updated Olympics rankings 2 Mar 201018 Sep 2017 I did this before, so I’m adding in the Winter Olympics figures to see who is the most successful per head of population… the results might surprise you, again… Continue Reading
Politics McCarthy and the autism demon 27 Feb 2010 Jenny McCarthy has long campaigned against vaccination because her son “acquired” autism after being immunised, and lost the ability to speak. She has since claimed that she has managed to give him (non-medically recognised) therapy that has improved his abilities. She has convinced many credulous people of this. Except, it… Continue Reading