Fred Halliday posts his list of candidates for the world’s twelve worst ideas. He hits the target pretty well, I’d say.
(hat tip to Ophelia, over at Butterflies and Wheels)
Year: 2007
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Dancing Waters
When I was a boy, I remember going to the local theatre for a variety show, and one of the acts was simply billed as Dancing Waters. It turned out to be real water fountains on the stage that changed shape and size, with coloured lighting, in time to music. I was entranced. I had never seen anything like it.I’ve always loved fountains. They stand as a metaphor for life. Their shape holds even as the water flows through them, just as humanity endures as we each have our moment in the stream.In later years, I came across others, such as the Font Majica (Magic Fountain) in Barcelona. I was also in Las Vegas at the time when they were testing the fountains in front of the Bellagio.Here’s an example of the current peak of what can be done with this ancient artform. It’s also the Bellagio fountains. True, it’s a teaser advert for a competition, but still, this is well worth watching. I almost wish I had been there to see it in person. Dancing Waters – my, how you’ve grown! -
Guess Who?
Chris Clarke, over at Creek Running North, sets a quiz. Go and see if you can guess who he is talking about. I confess I didn’t know the answer. Oh well, Chris has given me another recommendation to be added to the list of books that I still have to read. -
Windows Home Server
I see that Bill Gates announced this week that there would be a Windows Home Server product available later this year. It’s a computer without screen, mouse or keyboard that runs a stripped down version of the Windows Server software. The idea is that it gets put in a cupboard somewhere, and it acts as the data and backup hub for your home network. It will have a web-based administration interface that’s supposed to be simple enough for anyone to master.I currently have a computer running Windows XP that acts as my backup hub, but it needs a lot of looking after. There are some features in Windows Home Server to simplify these sorts of tasks that make it interesting enough to consider. But really, what I would need to feel really safe is offsite data backup. These days of using servers to store music, video and photos makes that a rather tiresome proposition involving hundred of DVDs. I’m not sure that Windows Home Server does much to simplify that… -
And Yet Another Dose…
It just keeps coming, doesn’t it? Another fine example of woo is Intelligent Design, and today’s Guardian has an article that claims Intelligent Design is science, and not faith. The article is written by Richard Buggs who apparently sits on the scientific panel of Truth in Science – the lobbying body in the UK for Intelligent Design. "Truth in Science" – another fine example of Unspeak – a phrase that suggests the complete opposite of what, in fact, that body is engaged in.Buggs’ article is already being nicely dissected by the commenters and shown to be rubbish, but I can’t help adding a couple of observations of my own.His opening two paragraphs already contain a fine example of Unspeak in themselves. He starts by quoting James Randerson on Darwin:"It is true that complex things in nature look as if they have been designed. Darwin knew this. But the sublime truth about his theory is that it explains how complex things can come about without design."But then in his second paragraph, his paraphrase of that quote effectively shifts the goalposts:"But despite the brilliance of Darwin’s work, it is overoptimistic to claim that his theory explains the origin of all living things".Note the phrase: the origin of all living things. He’s clearly implying "origin of life", and he knows full well that Darwin’s theory of evolution has absolutely nothing to do with origins – it’s about how complex things can come about without design – as Randerson correctly states. This sleight of hand is typical of Buggs, it seems to me. For example, one of the famous arguments of those supporting Intelligent Design is to quote the example of the bacterial flagellum. They claim that the development of the flagellum cannot be explained by evolution, it must have been "intelligently designed". Here’s Buggs, in a letter to the Times of 18 October 2006:"I do not know of a good evolutionary pathway for the development of the bacterial flagellum. In his latest book, Professor Richard Dawkins identifies a single possible intermediate step. This hardly constitutes a pathway".Buggs is either being disingenuous or he is a liar. The evolutionary pathway was proposed back in 2003, and has been further refined since then. Thus far, the hypothesis holds up. While there are discussions in the scientific community about the precise details of the pathway, these will be settled by scientific experiments and data – and not by a version of "Goddidit" as Buggs prefers to do. -
Another Dose of Woo
The telly was in severe danger of being broken last night. I came very close to hurling something at it. As it was, the dog was treated to some fairly colourful language. The cause of all this was a programme on BBC Two called "Trust Me, I’m a Healer". It was about a so-called shaman, Peter Aziz, who claims to heal patients with the help of dragons, tree spirits and hallucinogenic drugs. Yeah, right. At one point, with a completely straight face, he said:The emotions are actually stored in the cells of the body. In every single molecule of DNA in the body, there’s a crystal which forms, storing that emotion. And it’s these crystals that form in the DNA which affect the function of the body. And so only when you release those emotions that are stored does the body then heal.Excuse me while I just count to ten. No, sorry, Peter, that’s just crap. And for this you charge 40 quid an hour? There’s plenty more where that came from on his web site, which has practically broken my woo-meter.What really got me fuming during the film was the way he gives false hope to those poor unfortunates who are gullible enough to believe him. The film followed two such people. One was Margo, who had cancer of the colon. A lovely woman, but completely taken in by Aziz’s hokum. She has, of course, died. I think the nadir of the film was when Aziz almost (but not quite – he was obviously canny enough to realise the danger) said that his treatments for Margo would have been successful if she hadn’t have gone and had chemotherapy.The film was made by Jason Massot, who I think was clearly too easy on Aziz, but then again, perhaps that was what enabled Aziz to give free reign to his nonsensical claims, and condemn himself out of his own mouth. Had I been in Massot’s shoes, I would have found it difficult to keep filming. I would have wanted to stop the camera and shake Aziz warmly by the throat every few minutes. -
Another Dog on the Internet
Richard Clayton, over at the Light Blue Touchpaper blog, has discovered that the European Human Rights Centre is not what it seems… Another example of "on the Internet, no-one knows you’re a dog". -
Dark Matter
The BBC reports on a new astronomical study of the "dark matter" in the Universe. For more detail of what the study is about and its findings, read what the Bad Astronomer has to say about it. -
The Geostationary Banana
There’s an art project to put a geostationary banana in orbit over Texas. I suppose it makes about as much sense as some of the other things that hail from that State. It seems appropriate that it’s a banana, as well.(hat tip to BLDBLOG) -
Dizzying Madness
Another fine rant today from Mr. Brooker. And like all the best rants, it contains the grit of truth at the heart of its black, shimmering pearl. -
Augmented Cognition
For those of us who are either fascinated, or alternatively scared shitless, by developments in technology that seek to augment our cognitive capabilities – have I got a link for you… -
Get Unhooked
A great anti-smoking campaign. I wish that my nearest and dearest would get unhooked. -
The Secret Life of Brian
I see that someone has added the Channel4 documentary about the circumstances around the making of The Life of Brian to YouTube. Perhaps it is in contravention of copyright, but this is an excellent documentary about the ongoing tussle between free speech and causing offence, and I for one, am glad to see it reaching a potentially wider audience.I am pleased to see that the documentary has extracts of a famous (at the time) discussion between John Cleese and Michael Palin (representing the forces of comedy) and the Bishop of Stockwood and Malcolm Muggeridge (representing the forces of Christians against blasphemy).Mervyn Stockwood represents the sort of secretive homosexual that I am grateful never to have been; that final comment in the interview about the Python team having received their thirty pieces of silver is truly beyond contempt. And I well recall the one occasion that I was in the physical presence of Mr. Muggeridge. It was when the Festival of Light (organised by the National Viewers and Listeners Association) was at its peak in the 1970s, and it had a public meeting in Bournemouth starring Mary Whitehouse and St. Mugg. I went along to hear what they had to say. What I heard disgusted me about the organisers and people such as Muggeridge involved in that eruption of hate speech. I felt physically sick at being in a large hall and listening to the baying of people led on by the platform speakers who had no compunction about uttering slander and lies. Even now, at a distance of thirty years, it disgusts me. And these were so-called Christians. -
Choosing the Moment
I’m a believer in free speech and so forth, but sometimes I find myself having a sharp intake of breath. This morning, for example. I was reading yesterday’s Volkskrant (one of the Dutch broadsheet newspapers) over breakfast. I leafed through the magazine, and was suddenly confronted with a selection of images taken by a police forensics photographer during the course of his 30-year career.The images (both black and white and colour) showed a series of bodies at the scene of their deaths, either by crime or suicide. I found the images shocking and unbearable to look at. I suppose part of it was that I was unprepared to see them.The reason for the article is that there is an exhibition of the photographs opening in Amsterdam. And while I have no objection to the exhibition as such – after all, the images are of real events taken by a photographer in the course of his job – I do question the judgement of the editors in reproducing some of them in a colour supplement delivered to thousands of homes without warning. After that sudden intake of breath, I chose to skip the article and continue with breakfast, but the images that I saw remain. I can choose for myself whether to go to the exhibition, or buy the coffee-table book, just as you can choose whether you want to watch the video report (Bloedige tafelren op de foto) on the Volkskrant web site. I suppose what I am objecting to here is the removal, by the editors, of that ability to choose the moment, and the opportunity to prepare myself for the experience. -
Tsujigiri
Wandering down the byways of the Internet, one comes across some interesting terms, and reminders of history… -
Highs and Lows
Two articles in today’s Guardian illustrate the highs and lows of the quality of their opinion pieces. The high is Terry Jones’ blackly humorous piece on the cost of the war in Iraq. The low is a shrill piece by Tobias Jones (no relation, I hope) on the mythical beasts called the secular fundamentalists. -
Steam-Powered Spacecraft
BBC News reports on the recent successful launch trial of the experimental vehicle designed and built by Blue Origin, the private spacecraft company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos.The report says:Called Goddard, the retro-looking development vehicle is shown standing on four legs before blasting off in a cloud of smoke from thrusters on its base. The vehicle continues to ascend for approximately 10 seconds, reaching a height of nearly 300ft (90m).Well, looking at the videos on the Blue Origin web site, I don’t think it’s smoke at all. It looks more like ground dust to me. The interesting thing is that there really doesn’t seem to be any evidence of flame from the craft’s thrusters.All of which has led some people to speculate that the propulsion system is using hydrogen peroxide (hair bleach!). The hydrogen peroxide reaction produces simply oxygen and water, which at the high temperature involved, is in the form of steam. -
A Sense of Perspective
A short animation that compares the size of planets and stars. I hadn’t appreciated before just how big Betelgeuse is, and it’s not the biggest star that we know of… -
Silent Star Wars
This is almost as good as the original three films, and has the additional advantage that it takes but a fraction of the time.
Geoff Coupe's Blog 