Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

  • Is Your Baby Gay?

    Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, dreams of the day when he can carry out a final solution for gays…
    If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin. 
    (hat tip to Unscrewing the Inscrutable for the link)

    6 responses to “Is Your Baby Gay?”

    1. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      ‘…any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin.’
       
      Shit! He’s going to castrate the whole population??   What an absurd mindset to suggest its only going to apply to the pink babies. What a …… wanker basically. 

      Reply
    2. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      And why only baby boys? Don’t lesbians sin too? Why am I bothering to even consider this?

      Reply
    3. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      that peed me off so much I sent him an e-mail. Now I have to go out. I do love your blog geoff, always gets some part of me or other vibrating with something.

      Reply
    4. Brian Avatar
      Brian

      Our Gelert, when he is sound up thus, is indeed a force of nature.
       
      It’s interesting that these people are willing to interfere with life in the womb to correct what they think is nature’s mistake, but are wholesale against interfering with life in the womb in the form of abortion.  Clearly they are not bright enough to appreciate their own paradox.  I may write to them too, simply because stupid people annoy me and they’ve annoyed my Wednesday morning.

      Reply
    5. Brian Avatar
      Brian

      On the other hand, read this: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=893

      Reply
    6. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      Coboró, Mohler indeed hits the right note in his comments about Coulter. But it seems to me to be simply an extension of his "hate the sin, but not the sinner" view of gays. And that’s a sentiment that I’ve always found rather insidious. It allows, as we’ve seen, him to move to the blithe pronouncement that only heterosexuality is right, and homosexuals should be "cured". It’s basically the "homosexuality is icky and it makes the baby Jesus cry" view of the world. It’s a view that would deny my being if it could.

      Reply

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  • The Case of the Phantom Penis

    As a result of listening to the interview with Patricia Churchland that I mentioned here, I discovered another podcast. This time it was the wonderful VS Ramachandran talking about transsexuals and the phantom penis. Absolutely fascinating stuff, and proof, if any was needed, that the wrinkles of consciousness, and the interplay with genes, are endlessly interesting. 
     
    BTW, that link will get you to a download of the whole show. The rest of the show is also worthwhile. Listen to Steve Chu in particular on replacing oil.

    2 responses to “The Case of the Phantom Penis”

    1. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      This is really interesting Geoff. I know a couple of people who feel they are in the wrong bodies – not going so far as to want surgery, but just to the extent that they always felt vaguely uncomfortable, and that they had more ‘male’ or ‘female’ brains than their bodies intended. I’ve heard every explanation from the fact that the brain is indeed out of step, to a hang over from a previous incarnation.
       
      You’re totaly science based I know – what do you make of it?
       
      btw. I always knew you were my kind of guy – anyone who appreciates Molesworth has got to be worth a bacon sandwich.

      Reply
    2. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      Gelert – well, you know me; I certainly don’t give any credence to the explanation being a result of reincarnation. But I find it interesting that you say that one possibility is that "the brain is out of step". Why should it be the brain that is out of step? Why not the body? Or alternatively, neither are "out of step", they just don’t match. Then the interesting point is which do you "correct" to match the other? Today, our only option is to do physical surgery – i.e. correct the body. But what if we could administer some chemical/hormonal corrective to change the brain? Which would be better? I don’t know if you listened to the Patricia Churchfield interview, but she touches on some of these issues. What I find absolutely fascinating is that so many (and possibly all) of our deepest feelings and reactions can be reduced to chemical reactions in the brain. Listen to Churchfield talking about the Voles, for example. The implications of what she says are truly astounding. I honestly think that if our species lives through the next few centuries, we are going to see such changes in ourselves that what it means to be human will be very different to what it is today.
       
      Oh – re Molesworth – did you catch the end of the Phantom Penis podcast? Then you would have heard Peter Sellars in one of his finest speeches! 

      Reply

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  • Management Speak

    A particular bugbear of mine is the growing encroachment of management-speak into every part of our daily lives. Whenever I hear it I cringe inwardly and sorrow that more humans have been taken over by the pod people.
     
    Here’s a particularly fine example identified by Dr. Crippen over at his NHS Blog Doctor. Watch the video and see if you can remain unmoved. I think it was when Dr. Jonathan Tritter talked about "sharing the vision" that I lost it completely and screamed aloud. Mind you, the signs are there from the very opening sentence which is: "The aim of the new NHS Involvement Centre is to place patients at the heart of new and creative health services". Oh gawd, what the f*ck does that even mean? Forget about "new" and "creative", why not just have health services that work? And that guff about "putting patients at the heart" is right up there alongside "giving the consumer choice" as a trope that sounds good but signifies sod-all.

    6 responses to “Management Speak”

    1. Brian Avatar
      Brian

      I recall sitting in a meeting recently where projects were being assigned and one of my colleagues was announced as "honchoing the foreign repair stations."  I asked what that was and was met with an incredulous look from the chair.  "It means he’s in charge."  well, Why didn’t you just say so, you pretentious git, I thought.

      Reply
    2. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      don’t be shy about the asterisk. This type of bullsh*t is also prevalent in education, with much the same results.

      Reply
    3. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      don’t be shy about the asterisk. This type of bullsh*t is also prevalent in education, with much the same results.

      Reply
    4. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      don’t be shy about the asterisk. This type of bullsh*t is also prevalent in education, with much the same results.

      Reply
    5. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      Hell’s teeth, I only posted it once I promise!

      Reply
    6. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      Gelert – see, there’s an echo in here as well!

      Reply

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  • The Trap

    Via Not Saussure comes news that BBC2 starts a new three-part series next week. It’s The Trap – What Happened To Our Dream of Freedom. As it’s made by Adam Curtis, the man who made the absolutely riveting Power of Nightmares, I can see that I’ll be screwed to the sofa watching this.

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  • Software Made Hard

    Michael Killian is a software engineer by profession. In his spare time, he is an inventor. He has invented the Sideways Bike. It’s clearly a death trap, if ever I saw one. I can only hope that I am not using any of his software.
     
    (hat tip to qwghlm.co.uk for the link)

    2 responses to “Software Made Hard”

    1. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      I watched him demonstrate it on tv. I don’t see it catching on. It’s one of those inventions where you wonder, really, why he bothered. Still, he had fun, and you never know…

      Reply
    2. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      Hmm – you know all these echoes we’ve been getting? It’s probably a Killian moment…

      Reply

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  • Eliminative Materialism

    That’s a phrase that sounds intriguing. From this entry in Mind Hacks, linking to an interview with Patricia Churchland, to this entry in Wikipedia, it looks as though there’s enough material here to keep my mind boggling for years…

    3 responses to “Eliminative Materialism”

    1. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      Yes. Lot’s to think on. I was delighted to see though, that they mentioned the meadow voles experiment I blogged about a while back. Those voles have made a valuable contribution.

      Reply
    2. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      Gelert – just saw your comment on the voles after I mentioned them. Didn’t realise that you’d blogged about them – will go and look it up.

      Reply
    3. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      It wasn’t the most serious of blogs – its listed top under absurdity, but the point behind it intrigued me and made me think about what it means or may mean, for us also.

      Reply

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  • God Is A Spandrel

    Darwin’s God is the title of an interesting article* in the New York Times magazine about exploring the basics of the two major camps in the scientists studying the evolution of religious belief: the byproduct theorists and the adaptionists. The former posit theories that religion is a byproduct of some other cognitive processes. That’s the "God is a spandrel" camp. The adaptionists, on the other hand, posit theories that religion of itself is a succesful evolutionary strategy. The article opens with the author (Robin Marantz Henig) introducing the person and the work of the anthropologist Scott Atran. He’s an interesting character, and I’m in the middle of his book In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion. However, I’m not convinced by his explanation of the "African Relic" anecdote related in the NYT article. It seems to me to be much more reasonable that, rather than the subjects’ reluctance being powered by superstition, as he claims, it’s powered by suspicion.
     
    I need to explore both sides of the byproduct versus adaptionist arguments some more. My natural tendency is to plump for the "God is a spandrel" explanation, but I’m quite willing to accept evidence that religion might have once solved problems of survival and reproduction of our early ancestors. I’m far less convinced that it continues to do so today.
     
    *This link goes to the opening section of the article reproduced on the Richard Dawkins web site. The full article is currently to be found here, but the NYT has a habit of placing archive material behind a subscription wall. Get it while it’s hot.

    4 responses to “God Is A Spandrel”

    1. Brian Avatar
      Brian

      How very interesting.  Is God a King Charles Spandrel, or a Cocker Spandrel?
       
      The New York Times has free registration except for the Times Select sections denoted by the orange gothic T icon, which will cost you.  Rather annoying as it hides all its columnists behind the charge and I love Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich.  I try to pick them up in the International Herald Tribune hard copy the next day.

      Reply
    2. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      Neither – God lives in the intersection between two arches 🙂  Thanks for clearing up the subscription conditions of the NYT. Hopefully that means the Henig’s article will live on and be freely accessible…

      Reply
    3. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      I agree about the box – it’s fine with a pencil, cos if there’s some trick and its gets mashed, so what. Your driving license now – you want to be able to get home right, and if there’s some trick or magician’s tactic, no license. It’s suspicion I agree. Not a good experiment.
       
      Of course, you know there is a third posibility here?

      Reply
    4. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      A third possibility? Nah. No way. 🙂 But I still enjoy fairy stories, I admit. 

      Reply

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  • Purple Haze

    There’s something about seeing mountains in mist and twilight that I like. Here’s two examples. The first I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph way back in 1969 on the Isle of Man.
     
    1969_north_barrule 
     
    The second is a stunning example of the genre from Miyukiutada, and it can be found here. 

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  • Old Schooldays

    Via Gelert’s Experiment in Normality, I am gladly reminded of two books from my childhood and currently snuggled together in the library: Down With Skool and How To Be Topp, both written by Geoffrey Willans and illustrated by Ronald Searle. Both long out of print, but they have been reissued as a compendium. There’s even a short animation using the original Searle illustrations from Down With Skool:
     
     

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  • Coulrophobia

    I’ve often suspected that I suffer from a mild form of coulrophobia – I find clowns somewhat disturbing. But I think that when I end up in a nursing home, the last thing I want to invade my space is a posse of clowns, particularly Christian Clowns…
     
     
     
     
    (hat tip, I think, to Orac)

    2 responses to “Coulrophobia”

    1. Gelert Avatar
      Gelert

      Bloody hell, I’d like to see just one of them try that crap on my mother!

      Reply
    2. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      Gelert – a swift kick to the goolies, I take it? Your mother sounds like a fine woman!

      Reply

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  • How Will You Die?

    Another little quiz, and I learn that…
    You’ll die from a Heart Attack during Sex.

    Your a lover not a fighter but sadly, in the act of making love your heart will stop. But what a way to go.
    ‘How will you die?’ at QuizGalaxy.com

     

    Well, I can think of worse ways to go, but it might prove to be a bit traumatic for Martin…

     

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  • Dune

    Carrying on from the previous entry… the next DVD that I think I shall watch again is Dune. I’ve just been prompted by reading an entry on Kevin’s Blog. Like him, I really enjoyed the books, and I like the feel that David Lynch brought to his visualisation of the story. Yes, there’s a lot of voiceover exposition, so those who have not read the book are in danger of feeling lost, but seeing the duel of the House Harkonnen and the House Atreides visualised in such a baroque style is, for me, a real treat. For he is the Kwisatz Haderach!
     
    Update: Out of curiosity, I’ve just leafed through my paperback copy of Dune. It was published in 1965. I was somewhat amused to see that it bears the proud declamation on its cover: "Soon to be a major film!". Well, in fact it was almost twenty years later when Lynch’s Dune reached the silver screen in 1984…

    2 responses to “Dune”

    1. Kevin Avatar
      Kevin

      Hey! Have you seen the SciFi channels adaptation of Dune?  I think it is fantastic and quite a bit better than the David Lynch film (which I still like too).

      Reply
    2. Geoff Avatar
      Geoff

      Kevin – no I haven’t seen that adaptation. I thought at first you were referring to the TV (extended) version of Lynch’s Dune, which apparently is a bit of a mess, but now I see there is a version produced in 2000. The reviews look interesting, so I’ll try and catch up with that. I see there’s even a "Children of Dune" sequel dating from 2003, which has even more enthusiastic reviews

      Reply

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  • When The Cat’s Away…

    …the mice will play. Well, the mouse in this case. Martin’s away visiting friends, so it’s a chance to watch DVDs by myself, with a kleenex box to hand as required.
     
    First up was Tim Burton’s Big Fish. I have a very soft spot for all of Tim Burton’s films. More than one of them have sent me stumbling from the cinema in floods of tears, and I mean that as a compliment of the highest order. I like Big Fish for both the tall tales, beautifully told and visualised, and for the story of a father and son who are reconciled at the moment of the father’s death. I hasten to add that this is nothing like my own story, but I recognise and respond to such basic human motifs. I laugh and cry at the same time during this wonderful film.
     
    Second up was The Iron Giant. OK, it’s a children’s film, but it captured the feeling of growing up in the late 1950s very well. While I would not say that I had the bravado of the film’s boy hero Hogarth Hughes, I knew the world of wonder and paranoia that he inhabits. It’s a terrific film, forget the children’s film label, just see it. 

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  • Solar Eclipse

    By one of those cosmic coincidences, when we view a solar eclipse from the Earth, the moon’s disc appears to be the same size as the sun. But here’s a transit of the moon across the sun that has never been seen by human eyes before. It was captured by the STEREO-B satellite. Watch the animation of the images for the full, staggering, effect. Absolutely spectacular.
     
    (hat tip to the Bad Astronomer for the link)

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  • Denounce

    Denounce – not a verb, in this case, but a combined Blog reader and Podcast player application. Well, to be strictly accurate – it’s more of a conceptual application, built to show off some of the new capabilities of the user interface of Microsoft’s Vista. It’s not functionally complete, and it’s buggy; but it does succeed in showing some of the new ways of interacting with your PC.
     
    Denounce screenshot 1 

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  • Turning The Pages

    I’ve mentioned the British Library’s Turning The Pages application before. If you haven’t seen it for yourself, or are unable to run it on your computer, then here’s a short video that shows it off, and gives the background to the initiative. For the best quality, download the video and then play it, rather than watch the online streamed version.

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  • Magic For Beginners

    That’s the title of a book of short stories by Kelly Link. It has a glowing review in today’s Guardian, which is sufficiently enthusiastic and makes the book sound inviting enough that I’ve just ordered it. I look forward to reading it – although my pile of unread books is starting to grow again as I wrestle to find enough time to do all the things that need doing…

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  • Life Was Simpler Then…

    …and Health and Safety issues were a thing of the future. Still, I’m sure a barrel with a pipe stuck through it worked out a good deal cheaper than the Playstations, Nintendos and Xboxes that today’s children have come to demand.

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  • One For The Scrapbook

    A newspaper cutting to savour, perhaps?

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  • Usability – Take Three

    I’ve mentioned Adobe’s Lightroom application before – and not in a good light, as far as I was concerned. Admittedly, it was then in beta. It has now been released in all its glory as a fully-fledged version 1.0 application. And my verdict? I’ve given it the hook.

    Its performance is still terrible, its metadata handling is poor, it costs too much and I really don’t need it.

    Performance – really, scrolling through thumbnails is jerky and incredibly frustrating. There is no feel that there is a real connection between a movement of the mouse on the scrollbar and the scrolling of the images. As I’ve noted before, Google’s Picasa (a free application) has this down pat, and is an example to aspire to. Adobe doesn’t come anywhere close.

    Metadata – in its favour, it does have a complete implementation of IPTC Core. However, it only reveals a few fields of EXIF metadata. Where is Orientation, for example? Lightroom seems to expose a grand total of 12 EXIF metadata fields. IDimager shows over 110 EXIF metadata fields.

    I did like the Metadata browser of Lightroom – particularly the “location” hierarchy, which allowed me to identify a few metadata errors immediately. However, performance again is pretty poor, and turning on the option to enable Lightroom to update metadata directly in the image files makes it unusable – at least on my system.

    All in all, Adobe’s Lightroom is not for me: overpriced and underperforming for what I am looking for. My ideal digital asset manager will be something like the offspring of Picasa and IDimager – a child having the Picasa’s lightning fast image library and search capability coupled with IDimager’s comprehensive metadata capabilities.

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