It’s a deep question. And I agree with Le Canard Noir – I miss paternosters.
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Does The Button Do Anything?
One response to “Does The Button Do Anything?”
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Me too (on paternosters)! Place where I worked until 2000 had them at that point but I think they’re now gone
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Dr. Cox Rocks
Physicist Brian Cox talks about his passion – physics – and the Large Hadron Collider in this engaging and informative talk at the recent TED conference. He still strikes me as a young whippersnapper, though; fresh out of school and still wet behind the ears. But I’m only jealous.Leave a comment
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The Fall
Leafing through the Arts section of today’s newspaper, my eye was caught by the rather arresting Daliesque image in the poster for the film The Fall. The film opens here in The Netherlands this week. The review in the newspaper was positive and intriguing. Looking at the IMDb entry for the film, I see that it was actually made in 2006, so it’s taken some time to find distribution. I suspect that it has much to do with the mismatch between the uniqueness of the director’s vision and the grubby horizons of the suits who run Hollywood. User comments in the IMDb entry are also overwhelmingly positive. The clincher for me is the comment that: "If you liked Cinema Paradiso and the Princess Bride then you will also love this film". Say no more, I want to see this film. The trailer, which can be viewed on the film’s web site, only increases my desire.Leave a comment
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The Causes of War: Women or Pigs
Jared Diamond has a story about Daniel Wemp, an employee of ChevronTexaco and avenger of his Uncle Soll, who was killed in a battle with a rival clan. Extraordinary. Go and read it.Leave a comment
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Conversations With Cabbies
Nigel Warburton, who blogs as the Virtual Philosopher, had a rather eyebrow-raising conversation with his taxi-driver last week. Bob, in the comments, points us to this video of Stewart Lee talking about a similar experience with another taxi-driver.Leave a comment
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Tribute To Jim Gray
Jim Gray was an outstanding and influential computer scientist. He made major contributions in the field of database design. He vanished without a trace while on a short solo sailing trip on January 28 2007. I see from Pat Helland’s blog that there is to be a tribute to Jim on May 31st at UC Berkeley. He is missed.Leave a comment
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An Eminent Blogger
I see that Charles Darwin has become a blogger. Welcome to the Blogosphere, Charles!Leave a comment
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Honour Killing
The phrase Honour Killing seems to me to be a perfect example of the societal form of Unspeak, since what it usually means is the murder of women by their husbands or fathers. The Observer reports today thatLast year 133 women were killed in Basra – 47 of them for so-called ‘honour killings’, according to the Basra Security Committee. Out of those 47 cases there have been only three convictions for murder. Since January this year, 36 women have been killed.The statistics are numbing, and mask the fact that each murder victim was an individual, with hopes and fears like all of us. The Observer’s report looks at one case, the story of 17 year old Rand Abdel-Qader. "She was stamped on, suffocated and stabbed by her father. Several brutal knife wounds punctured her slender, bruised body – from her face to her feet. He had done it, he proclaimed to the neighbours who soon gathered round, to ‘cleanse his honour’." He has not been prosecuted for her murder, because it was an "honour killing". Words fail me.Update 11 May 2008: Abdel-Qader Ali has no regrets about killing his daughter and he remains a free man.Leave a comment
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IPTC Photo Metadata 2008
Since 1994, the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) have published a standard for the metadata to be used in photos. They’ve just released a public review document – IPTC Photo Metadata 2008 – for the draft specification of IPTC Core version 1.1.If, like me, you have an interest in using metadata to keep track of your photos, then the IPTC metadata standard is a cross-industry effort that is worth adopting. The authors are inviting comments on the review document to be sent to them at the IPTC Photo Metadata group at Yahoo.One response to “IPTC Photo Metadata 2008”
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[…] Photo Metadata (link to IPTC whitepaper) GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); GA_googleAddAttr("LangId", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "technology"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "photography"); GA_googleFillSlot("wpcom_below_post"); […]
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Wash Those Brains
Matt Taibbi has a riveting article about the techniques used by the pastors of the Cornerstone Church. It makes terrifying reading.By the end of the weekend I realized how quaint was the mere suggestion that Christians of this type should learn to “be rational” or “set aside your religion” about such things as the Iraq War or other policy matters. Once you’ve made a journey like this — once you’ve gone this far — you are beyond suggestible. It’s not merely the informational indoctrination, the constant belittling of homosexuals and atheists and Muslims and pacifists, etc., that’s the issue. It’s that once you’ve gotten to this place, you’ve left behind the mental process that a person would need to form an independent opinion about such things. You make this journey precisely to experience the ecstasy of beating to the same big gristly heart with a roomful of like-minded folks. Once you reach that place with them, you’re thinking with muscles, not neurons.Of course, the same techniques work for any flavour of religious or political dogma, this is not simply true for Christians alone. It is a great pity that we, as a species, are so susceptible to these techniques designed to extinguish critical thinking. As George Carlin has said: Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that””.(hat tip to Dangerous Intersections for the link)Addendum July 2017: …and, wouldn’t you know it, Mr. Taibbi turns out to be a despicable human being himself.Leave a comment
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Fences
J. Carter Wood, over at Obscene Desserts, has an excellent post on the mental fences that we, or more usually, persons with power (real or imagined), attempt to erect around our mental processes. Definitely worth reading. Some fences are not only false, but actively harmful.Leave a comment
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Boiling The Frogs
Interesting piece by David Byrne. Perhaps the super-rich will indeed go on partying as they always have, but perhaps they are also frogs sitting in water that is slowly being heated to boiling point along with the rest of us.Leave a comment
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Could Do Better
I see that Daniel Dennett and Lord Winston fired the opening salvos of their debate yesterday (on the question of whether religion is a threat to rationality and science) in written form. I must admit that I was surprised at how weak the arguments of Lord Winston seem to be. But then, I don’t find the Book of Job to be "deeply mysterious and spiritual", but a rather unpleasant story of what happens when God has a bet with Satan.One response to “Could Do Better”
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Haha. Yes, me too – but slightly better than bloody Joshua surely? I think we need to seperate ‘Religion’ from God and spirituality too by the way, which I have never found to be at odds with logic or science – the whole of life is at odds with logic, and science is just the illumination of the amazing fact of our existence at all. To my mind anyway.
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Head, Meet Desk
Perhaps the person responsible for this banner was in full irony mode; but somehow, I rather doubt it. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.One response to “Head, Meet Desk”
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Yes indeed – and if we hadn’t – Jesse Owens would never have got the chance to shove it to them!
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Hotel Skeletons
Over at BLDGBLOG, a very Ballardian post – drained swimming pools and all. Very spooky, possums.2 responses to “Hotel Skeletons”
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After a long absence, its always a pleasure to come back here. The bizaare lost hotels, that beautiful dog, the pinpointed idiocy, all presented in nutshells of exactly the right size and texture. Right. sycophancy over, I’m off to bed.
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Thanks, Gelert. Hope you slept well.
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The Universe and Morality
I do enjoy reading Ophelia Benson’s thoughts on this bizarre world in which we live. Her post "Chatting with Clerics" is a good example. Yup, Richard Harries, Gene Robinson and Desmond Tutu all have their hearts in the right place; but they do come out with the oddest statements now and then. The sort of thing that makes Ophelia and I go: "Pardon? Do you realise what you just said?"Leave a comment
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Schadenfreude
I really don’t know why my fellow Brits are complaining – it’s that time of year when the farmers fertilise their fields. Around here, we’ve smelt nothing else for days. Get used to it, you bloody townies!2 responses to “Schadenfreude”
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I’m a townie and believe me there are far worse smells in the city than liquidfied manure
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Candy, I do believe that you are right!
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Don’t Be Honest
I find it strange that a rare honesty from a politician, telling the unvarnished truth, is likely to count against him. But then, this is the US Presidential race. Why should I expect normality?4 responses to “Don’t Be Honest”
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I don’t think America is ready for Obama because he’s black, nor do I believe he isn’t ready for the Presidency. I think America isn’t ready for him precisely because he appeals to people’s intelligence and integrity, rather than pandering to stupidity and fear they way Bush and Clinton do. If he isn’t elected, it will be a sad comment on America’s political immaturity. All you have to do is watch the ABC News coverage of the debate to see what a perilous state that’s in.
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I agree. To me, his skin colour is irrelevant, and I believe that he is more than capable of doing the job. Jeez, looking at the current incumbent, clearly capability is not a pre-requisite. I first came across Obama a number of years ago, and I thought then that this man was worth watching. He could be an inspiring President. Lord knows, the poor US of A is in dire need of leadership. But I share your fears. America could fall back to more of the same old, same old – and that would be a tragedy for all of us.
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what dose it matter who wins lets face it either one has a huge mountin to clumb with the mess that bush has got the us into and another thing no matter who wins they will be making history
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Candy, no… It does matter who wins. Believe me. I agree about the mess. But, for heaven’s sake, let the Americans make the right choice not the "cross fingers, it’s better than the last wanker" choice.
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Geoff Coupe's Blog 
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