The barmaid may be right about the purpose of having a debate, but the "truth" lies elesewhere…
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BioEnergy
BLDBLOG reports on the use of manure as an energy source. Around here, it probably makes a lot of sense.Leave a comment
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White
BBC2 starts a series of programmes this weekend themed around the white working class of Britain. Judging from the trailers, it strikes me as a particularly crass wallow in imagined victimhood. Justin, over at Chicken Yoghurt, sums up my feelings of distaste very well indeed.Leave a comment
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Teleportation and the Branch Line
Here’s a nice little animation that explores some of the philosophical questions behind teleportation.If you want to explore them further, then the philosopher Derek Parfit devotes six chapters of his book, Reasons and Persons, to questions of personal identity, and uses the teleportation thought-experiment, and others, in a variety of ways to illuminate and entertain.Leave a comment
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Phun
It looks like Crayon Physics Deluxe, which I mentioned last month, has a rival: Phun.Phun can be downloaded here.(hat tip to Ben Goldacre, over at Bad Science)2 responses to “Phun”
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Which do you prefer the look of? The other one seemed to have a fixed purpose, but this one looks more fun.
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I’d like to try them both out before deciding. Phun seems to have its property menus constantly on-screen, which seems a little cluttered to me…
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Captain Disillusion
I’ve only just stumbled across this series of videos by someone who calls himself Captain Disillusion. They are very well done. Here, for example is the debunking of the "Man on Mars" story from a couple of months ago. I particularly like the moment where he confounds our assumptions about his makeup.Leave a comment
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Booklore
When I joined LibraryThing, back in 2005, I was somewhat chuffed to see that I was in the top 50 of members who had the biggest library. Now that LibraryThing has over 368,000 members, it comes as no surprise that my ranking has fallen to 875 (currently). What I do find staggering is that the leader of the pack currently has 43,680 books in his library. I find it difficult enough to find time to read all of my 2,350 books as it is…LibraryThing continues to go from strength to strength. It’s just introduced LibraryThing Local, which gives book-related information about the neighbourhood. In less than a week since it’s been introduced, members have added nearly 6,000 venues.4 responses to “Booklore”
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Wow, almost 44,000 books! Perhaps the person has read all of them. I wonder if they are as we speak cataloging them?
What id tthe bulk of your own reading, are there any series of books you have yourself? What is the genre of most of the books you’ve collected?
I’ve taken a look at the site you mentioned, thanks for the info btw. I may start to catalogue some of my own on the site – I think the site also allows for one to search for books they might be after.
Cicero
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Cicero, you ask what is the genre of most of the books that I’ve collected… One view of this can easily be seen from my Tag Cloud. As for series, then perhaps an inkling of this is given by my Author Tag Cloud. Of course, what these Tag Clouds miss is any sense of how my collection has developed over the years. For that, you would have to look at my acquisitions in date order, which, unfortunately, LibraryThing has not catered for until recently, and I haven’t had time to go back and retrospectively add in this data.
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Glad to see Glen Baxter in there Geoff – always a good sign.
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Ah, yes, his surreal humour. Example, the two grizzled cowboys on horseback, the caption being: "’To me, the window is still a symbolically loaded motif’, drawled Cody".
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Obfuscating Archbishops
I see Ophelia is raising an eyebrow here and here at the fact that Archbishops Williams and Sentamu seem to be changing their minds about not resisting the repeal of the UK’s blasphemy laws. I can’t say I blame her. Their letter to Hazel Blears indeed makes interesting reading. Just for fun, I also measured its readability, by using the Flesch Reading Ease index. It scores 36.8. Roughly speaking, on the Flesch Reading Ease scale, 0 is completely incomprehensible and 100 is perfectly readable. So with a score of 36.8, they could try a little harder to make their point clearer. Mind you, this is far better than Archbishop Williams previous effort. I found that his "Sharia" speech to the Royal Courts of Justice scored a miserable 19.2. No wonder he complained about being misunderstood.One response to “Obfuscating Archbishops”
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[…] his writing a bit of a struggle to comprehend. A clear writer he is not. I sometimes amuse myself by putting his prose through the reading comprehension tester in Microsoft Word. Inevitably it will rate the text as being difficult to […]
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National Treasure
There’s an excellent article in today’s Guardian that illustrates nicely why Sir David Attenborough is a National Treasure. The article is both a eulogy for Sir David and an elegy for a vanished world.Leave a comment
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A Little List
DC Colquhoun went to a revival of Jonathan Miller’s staging of The Mikado recently, and rewrote the verses to Ko-Ko’s song: "I’ve Got a Little List". Perfect.Leave a comment
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Clash of Ideologies
Here’s a perfect example of far apart our perceptions of the world can get. Trouble is, I can’t quite decide who to side with. On balance though, I think I come down on the side of Mr. Eugenides. Mr. Boyle is either a saint or a fool, and, lord knows, there is often not enough space betwixt the two to insert a cigarette paper.Leave a comment
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Autistic Pride
I’ve got a confession to make; when I heard about the YouTube video "In My Language" last year, I watched about two minutes of it, before I stopped, thinking to myself "why do I want to see any more of this autistic woman humming to herself and making noises with objects?"Well, more fool me. Today, I went back to it and watched it to the end. And I have to say, it’s remarkable. I was prompted to return by this article in Wired, which opens with a portrait of Amanda Baggs (the young woman in the video). The article is definitely worth reading, and you really should see the video, if you haven’t already done so.Update: Amanda Baggs makes a few clarifications on the Wired article over at her blog.2 responses to “Autistic Pride”
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I only saw the part of your post above the video and was coming back to say – Geoff, watch it to the end! But you did. Amazing I thought. I expect you’ve seen Stephen the artist before – but I thought this video of him drawing ‘Rome’ after one 40 min helicopter ride was incredible – the brain (his at least) is phenomenal. Have a look if you’ve not seen it –
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I have a copy of Stephen Wiltshire’s Floating Cities in the library. Wonderful.
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Hidden Lives
Honor Moore writes about her father, Bishop Moore. A bittersweet tale.6 responses to “Hidden Lives”
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That was beautiful – beautifully written and as you say, a bittersweet tale. So much nonsense is made out of nothing; sometimes I get so tired of it. The other night at my evening course one of the people was going on a bit about ‘gay priests and vicars’ and how unnaceptable it was and the man running it (who is a vicar) cut in slightly and said ‘Oh.. I assure you, you will have taken communion from more than one gay vicar, and you will again.’ and I looked at him, and I wondered, as I already had since meeting him. Why does this stuff go on, and will it ever not be so?
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Why does it go on? I need to bite my tongue here, and just point to the Anglican Church tearing itself apart over a "non-issue", to Pope Benedict talking about "intrinsic disorders", and to Islamists executing gays and women for merely existing. Will it ever not be so? Not in my lifetime.
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Oh, and GayUganda has a post up at the moment that is another illustration of how narrow the knife-edge can be. I can’t help feeling that it’s all going to end in tears. I hope not, but I fear so.
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It doesn’t sound too good does it. I feel deeply sorry for both of them. The thing that gets forgotten by these narrow opponents, is that they may say that ‘gay believer’ is an oxymoron, but they ignore the fact that God seems to respond (I know, I know, I’m not asking you to accept) to the gay person the same way as to the straight. I think secretly, its that that annoys them more than anything.
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Oh, and MadPriest has a blog entry on Bishop Moore, and the comments also make interesting reading. I will not throw stones, much as I’m tempted to.
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Ohh. So depressing. I love the opening:
was a man of enormous personal courage, a passionate, articulate, and tireless champion of the poor, the disenfranchised and the most desperately helpless in society. He was all that, but …
the ‘but’ saying it all. Then the point being his ‘violation of his wedding vows’ – Hmm. you mean ‘he’s gay’ just say so.
‘I feel like he has died twice’ – why? He’s the same person now you know this as he was before you knew this. Throw as many stones as you like Geoff – and get me a packet of gravel while you’re at it will you.
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The Value of Evidence
Professor Alan Sokal has an interesting piece in the Guardian’s Comment is Free section today: "Taking Evidence Seriously. He is perhaps best known for his joke on Post-modernism: "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity". I only wish that the good professor were joking when he writes here on the propensity of people, and politicians in particular, to give credence to irrationalism. Alas, he’s not, and quite right too.Update: Norm Geras makes an excellent point over at his blog: a secular State is not the same as an atheistic State. Prof. Sokal appears to conflate the two, and Norm is quite right to point out this obfuscation.Leave a comment
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21st Century Kitsch
Good art is difficult to do, great art even more so. Personally, despite the technical accomplishment, The Prophecy strikes me as kitsch of the highest order. It’s a pity, because the artist, Aymeric Giraudel, has some stunning digital photos on his site. But this work leaves me stone cold. It’s The Chinese Girl for the 21st Century gay male fashionista. And the accompanying video – complete with Madonna reading a bowdlerised version of Revelations – is even more toe-curling. Not for me. Give me Pierre et Gilles any day.One response to “21st Century Kitsch”
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Pretty, bland, odd. Didn’t do much for me either fraid.
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Windows Live Photo Gallery – Part II
I see that Microsoft has released an update to Windows Live Photo Gallery. The build number has gone from 12.0.1308.1023 to 12.0.1329.201.
I can’t see any obvious changes in the functionality of the program, so presumably there are only bug fixes in this release.
I had hoped that one of the bugs to be fixed would be the one that is in the “Publish on Flickr” process. As I wrote back in October last year, during the upload process, the XMP Title field gets put into the Flickr Description field. What should happen is that the XMP Description field should be used for the Flickr Description field. Microsoft has acknowledged the bug, but here we are, four months later, and no sign of a fix.
Sigh.
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XML People
OK, if you’re not a geek, this will mean nothing to you. Tim Bray writes about the people behind XML. Wonderful. I have had the privilege of meeting some of them. What continues to give me electric shocks is the self evident fact that Ted was right; Tim BL has reinvented the whoopee cushion and the joy buzzer in Internet terms. But, ultimately, that doesn’t matter. Le roi est mort, vive le roi!Leave a comment
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Damn
One of the blogs I try and make a point of reading regularly is Tom Reynolds’ Random Acts of Reality. Consequences is a fairly typical entry. Just when you think the story is bad enough, he delivers a real kicker in the last line. Damn.2 responses to “Damn”
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i wanted to say hi i know non of this tom reynolds but i thought i would say hi i have family in rotterdam and thought it would be nice to have another friend im in cornwall england so anyway nice to meet you love and sunshine antoinette
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Yes. The last line was a kicker alright. On the helpline I do shifts answering we occasionally get people who have done the same thing. They too have changed their minds and ‘phone for an ambulance. It’s crap because you know that with what they have taken, it’s too late anyway. Most people don’t realise that these over the counter things work like this.
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Freeheld
I’m pleased to see that Cynthia Wade’s film Freeheld has been recognised with an Oscar. Laurel Hester may not have died in vain, but the fact that her life was held in such contempt continues to leave a very nasty taste, and a reminder that the struggle for simple recognition of human rights goes on, seemingly without end.Leave a comment
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Strawman Alert
Andrew Brown reaches a new low in his opinion piece in today’s Guardian. I really am getting awfully tired of the falsehoods that he and people like him (Theo Hobson springs to mind) trot out whenever they mention the name of Richard Dawkins.8 responses to “Strawman Alert”
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Yes. Agree. I have, however, seen some more rational pull downs of Dawkins, who does indeed have flaws in both his reasoning and understanding of what it is to believe. I don’t have that much time for the man, not because he opposes belief, which is his natural right, but because of faulty logic and connections, and because he descends into polemic. People with an agenda so often do.
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And his agenda is?
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Gelert, please give references for these pull-downs. I’ve not seen anything so far that I find convincing. And I like polemic, I think it has value.
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It’s not ‘pull downs’ – that would be to fall into the same trap, but I have seen some good responses to what he says, which addresses the errors he makes, I will track em down if I can.
I don’t argue with his view – its how he expresses it, and the fact that he makes errors in what he states. I feel he is not interested in discussing so much as spouting. He is a ‘fundamental atheist’ as much as any fundamental believer, and seems more interested in hammering his own opinion than actually engaging in debate. I’ve heard atheists on the topic many times, but doing it with interest, debate, respect and a willingness to be corrected, learn, or even be wrong. I don’t any of that in him, that’s all.
He debates it like someone whose personal issues are in the way of the subject matter, and he offers statements as ‘definites’ that I, as a believer know are simply not. I have a lot of time for his other work, I just don’t respect his style of discussion on this topic, too much agenda behind it. -
Is there a prob. with the link to that ‘value’ marker? It won’t let me access it.
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Gelert, sorry, yes – a malformed link. Here’s the proper one.
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Gelert, clearly, we have different opinions on Dawkins. I prefer his straightforward manner, but I can understand that it can make some folks very uncomfortable. I saw that in action at the Beyond Belief Conference in 2006. But, I don’t see that as being "more interested in hammering his own opinion than actually engaging in debate". And, please give me examples of "offering statements as ‘definites’ that I, as a believer know are simply not".
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I’ll come back to you on this one – I’m looking out that reposte I mentioned.
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Geoff Coupe's Blog 
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