The Eternal Gaijin

At about 3am GMT Saddam Hussein was executed, hanged by the neck until dead. It was an act of revenge, justice and politics that lowers the bar of civilization for us all. It lowers from the moral high ground anyone involved. Killing and revenge is a poor way to distinguish yourself from those who kill and take out revenge. Saddam Hussein was killed for 148 Shi'ite deaths, making him a martyr for the Sunni cause now. On the eve of Eid. This cannot end well, if it ends at all. He was never tried for the much touted gassing of the Khurds in northern Iraq. Popular wisdom holds that it's because American involvement and partial culpability would come to light. There is now no-one to hold to account and no impetus to actually investigate further. Look, he was a horrible, indescribably horrible little man who deserved death and we will not miss him one bit. You can't defend his record. But, capital punishment is counter-productive at its core. We (as the West) had the chance to s...

When this sort of thing is happening?

I'm happy to report that I didn't score as a Stupid Gaijin on this test < http://www.seekjapan.jp/article-1/630/Are+you+a+stupid+gaijin? >. Hat Tip to: TokyoMango < http://tokyomango.blogspot.com/ > -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

You drink soy < http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/12/12/soy-beans-make-you-gay/ >milk. This one of those things that's been reported (Here < http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53327 >) and blogged at the first link and at Pharyngula < http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/12/satans_perfect_food_tofu.php >. I don't know why they're acting so surprised. I mean just look at Japan; christ they're all screamers over there. Last time I watched Seven Samurai it was all poofy guys in skirtish things mincing about. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

But given these results, it might be an idea. How evil are you ? -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

Through Pharyngula The link < http://atheistethicist.blogspot.com/2006/12/better-place-selected-essays-on-desire.html >brings you through to some non-theistic moral principles that might nail shut a particularly odious fundamentalist notion: that there is no morality without god. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

http://www.skepticreport.com/creationism/thingscreationistshate.htm That's pretty much my spiel on this. However if you need something offensive < http://www.christonthecrapper.com/sacrilege/theh/ >. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

You are 100% Canuck! You rock, you are an almighty Canadian through and through. You have proven your worthiness and have won the elite prize of living in a country as awesome as Canada. Yes I know other countries think they are better, but we let them have that cuz we know better than they do, eh? How Canadian Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/11/not_in_kansas_anymore.php Honestly, I despair. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

Doesn't it seem like everybody's enjoying this? http://www.geocities.com/rangerhiq/index.html -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

Guy Fawkes may only be famous in North America as the bloke that Hugo Weaving patterned himself after in /V for Vendetta/, but there's a whole series of traditions that are associated with him in the UK. First of all there's the near constant fireworks for nearly 2 weeks. Then there's realizing that there are only 2 displays are actually publicly funded. The rest are just guys firing them off in their backyards. Or at other people. Or on the bus. So tonight taking the little furry one out for his last evening pee before bed meant that we walked across the street in a pea soup of smoke-fog that smelt slightly of sulfur and other crap with bits of wadding floating in it. And all of it to keep alive the memory of how wonderfully tortured to death this one guy was 300 years ago. It's a wonderful way of saying "No, we don't want Catholics to think they're humans in this country, let alone about participating in public life." To this day the Royal Family (no...

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/11/hovinds_trial_is_all_done_but.php -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

You know: "You're so arrogant with your learning . You should read the Bible, chuck away your brain and be more like me. Everything would be so much better if people just followed me. Cause I'm humble ." Oh right him. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5115903,00.html Yeah. You know he hates them gays. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ8_bIji7gQ -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

The ongoing adventures of our favourite Flintston-ologist. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

The problem with this ( link ): do you want to live in a world where kids can see people with tattoos and think it's okay. That way lies madness. Soon they'll be drinking, doing drugs and then jazz music. Won't someone think of the children? -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

A list of the Scariest Americans: Not for the faint of heart. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/39673964/hovind_saga_continues.php -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

My parents left the UK for Canada today. I'm still a bit miffed at the amount of time you have to spend at Heathrow just because an unworkable plan got hatched in some uninhabited heads. So we join a 250 metre line up and look for water bottles and hand cream to throw away. The flat is a bit emptier now and the dog is getting sulkier as he starts to realize that they're not coming back. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

Lovely. The Pensacola News Journal has another story about Dr Flintstone. (http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061020/NEWS01/610200327) Damn he's funny. /Hovind believes he and his employees work for God, are paid by God and therefore aren't subject to taxation. But Horton said whether Hovind works for God is irrelevant and the Bible does not exempt anyone from paying taxes. "We know the Scriptures do not promote (tax evasion)," she said. "It's against Scripture teaching." Horton first heard of Hovind's beliefs about taxes in the mid 1990s. / Pharyngula seems to be capable of digesting this sort of thing: http://www.scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/05/pensacola_christians_are_makin.php http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/03/godless_bloggers_vs_pensacola.php and, of course http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/10/pensacola_hilarity.php Can't wait to see this unfurl. // // -- From: ...

Do check out another blog on Dr Dino -- the Panda's Thumb <http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/10/workers_testify.html>. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

You know it's just getting good again. I've kinda disappeared into my own butt between the niece, parents' visit and so on... And then the good news <http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061018/NEWS01/610180337/1006>gets broken by the Old Pensacola News Journal. 'Dr' Dino, our favourite Flintstoneologist is getting his trial rolling along. And I was just forgetting to say 'suborned of false muster' 3 times a day. Don't forget to read the comments. Some whack-a-doodles have a few things to say there. It's also not a bad time to keep an eye on the blogosphere. Dispatches from the Culture Wars <http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2006/10/hovind_trial_begins.php> has a quick blurb. More will come from other soon. Oh, and save your brain <http://darwin-online.org.uk/>. Darwin's on the web. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell...

In the wake of the Korean nuclear test, just let me say this: there is no chance that the US will go into Korea. As I maintained before the Second Gulf War, US soldiers will not be put in the way of this kind of retaliation. Kim Jong-il is safe. We're not. - From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

Let's face it. Cairine Wilson didn't have that many teachers worth hitting on anyway, but still. And yes, I know that I'm missing the point of the article. Don't tell me that. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52044 -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Wandsworth, London "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

Ah yes. All the Sturm and Drang of the foiled terror plot. The more you read the more you think that there's no there there. When my folks arrived over here they barely brought any carryon luggage because they know they can't carry it back. You are free, however, to abandon your carryons in the UK. Look for a big pile of abandoned video cameras in Hyde Park stacked up like empties after a student's lease-breaking party. The first person to really underscore the fact that this has to come to an end was Wonkette (http://www.wonkette.com/politics/dancing-with-the-stars/can-we-please-bring-our-damned-coffee-on-the-plane-again-idiots-201784.php) So why does Wonkette have a mad-on for these new security procedures. Well, because they are the bullshit response to a bullshit threat: There's a pretty good rundown of why there's no there there. http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Sources_August_Terror_Plot_Fiction_Underscoring_0918.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/f...

Sam and Adam Long time listener, etc, etc. I've been listening since the early days and this is one of my favourite podcasts. I enjoy the reviews, the arguments, the hits, the misses... The problem is that I'm usually a couple of weeks behind on listening to the podcasts. So I may be a bit dated but since I only listened this afternoon, here goes: You're way off the mark on your Top Five Truly Moving Pictures list. Forrest Gump? It still astounds me so many years on that a shallow one-note performance - the cinematic equivalent of chopsticks - could still be hailed as being so rich and layered. "It's not chopsticks! It's a symphony," I keep hearing. How does this happen? Ultimately, you missed some of the most powerful and tear provoking movies in cinema... 5) Truly, Madly, Deeply. Juliet Stevenson loses her husband, Alan Rickman, and is still seeking counselling to deal with the grief. Her palpable anguish in the opening scene is real beyond any Hollywoo...

So, Ive been away for the last week or so. I've started the new job and have been running around with that. And then the big news happened. No not my folks coming over to visit. That's actually up in the air because my neice was admitted to the hospital. With a 4cm brain tumour. Between the brainstem and cerebellum. The story was long and convuluted. This is just the Readers' Digest version. To prepare for my grandfather's internment and to begin cleaning and preparing the house for sale (which doesn't make my grandmother happy at all), my parents travelled down to Amherst again. During the stay there, my neice complained of double vision, nausea and other problems. She was lethargic and harder to get up in the mornings than most teenagers. When they got back up to Bourget, my sister booked an appointment for the opthamologist. Who took one look in Bailie's eyes and called the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (make note of the acronym CHEO. You'll ...

I got back to work today from the weekend. Someone asked me a rather typical question. "Did you have a good weekend?" I thought about it and answered, "Do you like wallpapering?" "No," my interlocuter had no reason to even ponder the answer. "Ah, I didn't have much of a weekend then." The few minutes I wasn't covered in wallpaper paste were productive in a sense. I noticed a large number of religion and education related posts and news articles out there. The American Family Association (or NAMBLA) noticed that higher levels of education can de-fundamentalize the kids. (http://www.afajournal.org/2006/august/0806colleges.html) Not sure what the conclusion they drew was. Maybe the kids just need Real Science. Atheist Revolution commented on the recent stories showing that fundamentalist Christian schools do a much worse job at education the kids. (http://atheistrevolution.blogspot.com/2006/08/study-finds-worst-performance-in.html) And I tho...

Being employed is much better than being unemployed. Work is off to a good start. Additional note: I made contact with CB, an old colleague from Tokyo who is another Canadian in Britain (CiB). From what he's said, he didn't land on his feet, but has pulled himself back up to them and is now doing pretty well. Glad to hear it. And the Register has an interesting article about the possibility of actually mixing up a liquid explosive on an airplane, which is extremely informative. Totally debunks the need for all the crap that's been going down at Heathrow all week. (http://www.theregister.com/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/) -- Posted by The Eternal Gaijin (email) London, UK Words are incapable of describing what I am about to tell you.

Evolution and Medicine Over at Respectful Insolence , Orac has run a lot of posts about the intersection of evolution and medicine, and covered the need in depth. Along the same lines, this article outlines the need for evolutionary biology to be more prominently featured in medical school.

The Cincinnati Post - Kevin Eigelbach: Lighten up on the scare letters Ken Ham is freaking out and starting more of his (and the Religious Right's) War on Christianity crap based on a sticker found in a Bible somewhere that said it should be approached critically. Nice take on the evolution warning sticker. Sorry this backfired on you Ken, but do you know where I can order some of those stickers?

LiveScience.com - U.S. Lags World in Grasp of Genetics and Acceptance of Evolution Dennis Miller (before his road to Damascus conversion) put it very well when he said little says more about American anti-intellectualism than the fact that calling someone a bit of an Einstein is an insult. He also pointed out that on one of the 3Rs actually starts with the letter r . So is that why these results are scary? (Come on, the US finished behind Latvia and Cyprus. How the hell does that happen? Or does it have to do with the ongoing PR campaign being waged by the Religious Right and IDC folks? Maybe is the growing backlash against any form of public education. Whatever factor or combination thereof, it's taking its toll. The US is slipping from it's heights. China is ascendent, bio-medical research has started its flight to other countries, science is moving elsewhere and India has started to make progress. W. seems to think that he can maintain and increase American power with his s...

NCSE Resource Follow the link for a good rundown on Brian Alters, the prof whose study was rejected for not providing sufficient evidence of evolution. Lotta links out to other articles.

NCSE Resource Follow the link for a good rundown on Brian Alters, the prof whose study was rejected for not providing sufficient evidence of evolution. Lotta links out to other articles.

Pooflingers Anonymous: The Hovind Files: Lying for Jesus The Pooflinger gave a hell of an effort and nearly gave himself aneurysm trying to get through Dr Flintsone's video series. A bit of linkage to his series.

NCSE Resource A nice rebuttal to Dr Dino and his spiel.

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Guest Post: I Remember Hovey Another great article outlining the delicious insanity of the world of Kent Hovind, degree mill PhD, paranoid conspiracy nut, religious zealot and tax evader. 'Nuff said.

Pharyngula: Christian Calculus? A while back I went for an interview to do IT support for a Catholic college. Part of the application asked me my religion. Although it never came up in the interview I prepped an answer to any question about religion: Until I see a papal bull on DNS technologies, I don't see how it's a consideration. And now, through PZ Myers at Pharyngula, we see that there are problems getting fully Christian calculus delivered to the masses.

London Masturbating Marathon 2006 - Wank-A-Thon for Charity Harkening back to the Daily Show and it's segment on the guy who hated a-thon's and had to stay in his apartment, friend KP sent me a link to the upcoming London Wank-a-thon. Given how inhibited the English are it really surprises me that this is happening. Now, I'm not against masturbation, certainly not given my teen years (you can blush, but you know it's true for you too), but what the hell is this? On the other hand, it's well planned for: The Wank-A-Thon will take place in Clerkenwell this summer and will see hundreds of men and women doing it for themselves and for charity. They will be sponsored for how many minutes they can masturbate for and how many orgasms they achieve. Couples are welcome, as are more shy and retiring types who can masturbate in the privacy of a special booth. There will also be men only areas, women only areas and a comfort zone where contestants can spend time relaxing betwee...

David Byrne Journal: 8.2.06: American Madrassas David Byrne has a review of a movie called Jesus Camp which puts together the worst elements of Christianity and fundamentalism in a nice little re-education camp format and ships kids in for the summer. Frankly the whole idea gives me the wigguns but apparently nobody is asking me what to do about the States these days. But it does bring to mind the fundamental (ha-ha) hypocrisy of the ultra-religious: your fundamentalism is scary; ours is a reflection of solid values. Your martyrs are deranged whack-a-doodles; ours are on the side of god. The inability to see that each reflects the other is amazing and reflects a cognitive dissonance of astounding depth. Fundamentalists from both sides are looking in a mirror. The rest of us realize they are the funhouse mirror image of ourselves. In the meantime London is running out of water . This is hard to understand when you come from a country with half the fresh water in the world. How on earth...

Pooflingers Anonymous: Visiting the "Doctor" We should all be grateful to have a Pooflinger like this among us.

In tonight's Evening Standard there was an article on Mel Gibson's DWI arrest. When he was being cuffed he asked the officer if he was Jewish and then launched into a Elders of Zion kind of anti-semitic rant. Good one, Mel. That'll fix that South Park episode that made you look crazy! From Atheist Revolution Link The primary criticism received by Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was that it was anti-Semitic. Nevertheless, the film and Gibson himself were embraced by Christians. Now it appears that Gibson has revealed his true feelings about Jews even more clearly. During a recent DUI arrest Gibson became belligerent and made unmistakably anti-Semitic statements to the police arresting him. It doesn't sound like Jewish leaders are buying his post-incident apology either. I can't help wondering if this incident will make Gibson more or less popular among his many Christian fans. -- Posted by The Eternal Gaijin (email) London, UK Words are incapa...

My wife received notice today that at the start of next year (2007) she will be sent to Osaka, Japan for 3 years. 永年外人と呼ぶだけど。。。 Time to get the Japanese back in shape...wonder if I can get my old job back. -- Posted by The Eternal Gaijin (email) London, UK Words are incapable of describing what I am about to tell you.

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Hovind Not Allowed to Travel Dispatches from the Culture Wars (a place I skulk a lot through RSS) has an update on Kent Hovind's glee inducing troubles. (Through Pensacola News ) Now he had to surrender his passport. I've previously mused about what Hovind's passport says, citizenship wise. As a citizen of god, how does he have a US passport in the first place. Moves in mysterious ways, as they say.

There are some real whack-a-doodles out there and they are becoming a larger part of the vocal segment of the US population. And that's a problem for the rest of us. 'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon - Los Angeles Times

Park owner pleads not guilty to tax fraud | Local News | PensacolaNewsJournal.com Guess who I'm thinking of? Dr Dino himself, the Flintstone paleontologist. Why is it that when ever I read anything about this guy I inevitably run into some other twit just as bad. I'm thinking of his fellow anti-evilutionist, Dr Jason Gastrich. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you see a fair amount of commentary with only a few defenders of either one of them. From the linkage provided it turns out that Jason Gastrich is a carbon copy of Flintstone-philiac. Speaking of Hovind, in a post somewhat about him, he tried to plea "suborned of false muster." I like the section of the Pensacola news article where the reporter, failing to find it referenced in a legal dictionary, has to parse the plea word by word to figure out what the frak he's banging on about. Here's what dictionary.law.com says about pleas: plea n. 1) in criminal law, the response by an accused defendan...

http://pooflingers.blogspot.com/2006/07/news.html You know a lot of the blogosphere is really really happy that "Dr Dino" is finally getting what is coming to him. I've got a little schadefraude coming through. Make way! It's taking up two lanes on the highway.

Evangelist arrested on federal charges | Local News | PensacolaNewsJournal.com More details. Better and Better. I can hardly read over the sound of my own joy.

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Hovind Arrested for Tax Evasion Could better news come along than this today?

Freethought Today, March 2006 Believe it or not there is a bill in Wisconsin that would basically ban Intelligent Design Creationism from the science classrooms in the state. The act maintains that to be in the science curriculum the content must be 1) testable 2) is limited to natural 3) consistent with National Academy of Sciences definitions. Beauty. Money Quote: Prof. Alan Attie, who teaches biochemistry, said the bill puts Wisconsin on the map in opposing creationism. As he put it to Judith Davidoff of The Capital Times: "We can be the un-Kansas." Beauty. Hat tip: The Uncredible Hallq

Thanks to the Japundit podcast for introducing me to the song and whoever put together the video for YouTube. (Jim's Big Ego - Stress) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzmFHpyyY7Q

Our neighbourhood in south London is fairly quiet, fairly safe. It's an uneventful end of the city that has little happening in it but for a few days a year when Wimbledon tennis blows through the neighbourhood two train stops away. We're in the middle of that maelstrom, though it's only really that busy near the station and along Wimbledon Park Road where the shuttle buses run. I'm actually not really going to say much about Wimbledon, the neighbourhood, the park or the tennis courts/games. I've been up doing a little shopping but that's about it. But animals are a big thing around this part of London and they occupy my thoughts a lot. The local Wandsworth brewery, Young's, recently folded up production, but it did something special until recently: it locally delivered the beer by horse-drawn carriage. Now that's something you don't see everyday, anymore. On the horsey front, periodic police patrols wander by on horse. I've been walking the dog...

God is for Suckers! » Blog Archive » Atheist This is a good video that I found at God is for Suckers!. You have to check it out. It's a great refutation of almost everything the US religious right has to say about us these days.

It's a small, crap comment that still got lost somehow so I'm reposting. http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2006/06/satan_plays_political_favorite.php Somedays you have to wonder what the hell some people are thinking. Satan is too busy dogging my job hunt in the UK to bother with a politician's campaign.

It's not a stretch to distinguish the English from the British. In a sense there's no /British/ culture, rather British is a conflation of several distinctive nationalities and several cultures with in each; English is not Scottish is not Irish, in other words. Similarly, there's a difference between Yorshire and Anglian, Essex and Liverpudlian. We had some carpet laid down yesterday. One small bedroom needed new carpet. My wife had prepaid the company for carpet, underlay and gripper rails. The two man team showed up in the morning. One of the guys was a miserable ghit. Barely spoke and looked at the dog like he was carrying the plague (no particular plague, pick one). Guess which part of the order they didn't install. The gripper rails. And they tossed the old carpet and underlay over the rail to the concourse below our flat (without looking). When I asked them not to, they gave that English answer: It's got nuffin to do wiff me. And the older guy, the miserble gh...

7 Things You Can’t Say in Canada Reader's Digest says these things. I have to agree with the Atwood comment. Blah!

There's always a way around laws and some kind of loophole to exploit. Although there's a certain quaintness to places with no Sunday shopping, but having been to NS just recently I have to admit that you can a) be very accustomed to being able to shop when you need b) find it very frustrating to not be able to get necessities (I don't know tire puncture sealant) when the need arises. So a minor hooray for Sobey's for working out the way around it. http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/06/18/sunday-shopping.html?ref=rss

One of the great chances we had on the QM2 was to participate in a series of Oxford extension lectures. (Got a certificate!) I attended the lectures on evolution by Dr Robert Barton of Durham University. Barton is definitely in the Dawkins camp, supporting the idea of gene level selection. As he put it the logic is impeccable. I got the chance to speak with him about his thoughts on species level selection (a la Gould); in his opinion Gould managed several mental gymnastics to rationalize certain thoughts. I had noticed that Gould's writings had reflected a belief that natural selection could account for the most wonderful adaptations and structures but somehow not the brain. Barton's lectures covered natural selection in general, sexual selection, evolution and culture and were informative for the informed layman (me). In our short conversation Barton admitted to me that the prospect of doing evolution lectures on a ship half full of Americans made him a bit nervous, what with...

It's quite the thing to watch the World Cup (unlike the World Series this involves more than 2 countries). One of the more amusing things is a series of Budweiser ads showing American commentators either preparing or watching footie and making the most profoundly ignorant comments. I have no idea if they've been posted on You Tube or somewhere else yet, but if they have been check them out.

Through Dispatches from the Culture War. Saw this last night. Only about a day behind. Stewart's triumph here was reversing the slippery slope metaphor to include the next step is banning inter-racial marriage. Very well done. I still have yet to see a slippery slope thin edge of the wedge argument that I thought much of. http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2006/06/jon_stewart_hammers_bill_benne.php

Hooray, the insurgency is over. Peace breaks out in Iraq. http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/06/08/zarqawi-killed.html?ref=rss Jordanian-born militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted insurgent in Iraq, has been killed in a U.S. air raid north of Baghdad, Iraq's prime minister said Thursday.

Today I thought I'd repudiate some of my previouse statements. But then I realized I wasn't using the word properly. Still: 1. Weather: Today it's absolutely beautiful. Direct from wholesale ordering. 2. TV: Tony Robinson and Terry Jones's documentary series are on a lot. All the Futuramas that Canadian TV never plays (all but 4 in other words) are on. Lots of Buffy and Angel. Sky TV is pretty cool. 3. Cars: Volkswagon Polo? Nissan Micra? Vauxhall Nova? Vauxhall anything? I don't really know cars but these things are an intruiging mystery. 4. Argos: Consumer's Distributing lives! The catalogue is great. You still write down your number on the little slips and pick your order. It's great! It's a nostalgia trip. /Cheap/ laser printers too. (Cheap for the UK) 5. Beer: Brits love beer. Canadians do too, but we don't love variety in our beer the way Brits do. They have some great beers h...

Some things that I've noticed since being here. Numbered, but not ordered. 1. Neighbours: There are some great people in the UK, but everyone that you've ever seen in a BritFlick saying "That's got nuffin' to do wiff me." as they see you lying bleeding in the ditch lives on this street and the next two over. 2. Weather: Why do they hire meteorologists here? I mean seriously...look out the window. You're in London. What do you think it's doing? It's raining. Meteorologist is Greek for "underemployed." 3. Drought: Only England could possibly create the Rain Sodden Drought. It's rained just shy of every day since we got here and the drought continues. Where the hell does the water go? 4. Street signs: are all mounted at my knees. What am I, a hobbitt? 5. Smoking in bars: This just has to stop. Have you every been around a smoker and they say something like: I really nee...

http://www.uncommondescent.com/index.php/archives/1141 I mentioned this in my previous post. Check out link then check out the Questionable Authority's take on things at http://thequestionableauthority.blogspot.com/2006/05/davescott-and-new-depths-of-slime.html

Robertson says he leg-pressed 2,000 pounds - Yahoo! News Is this a joke or did something go really weird while I've been out of touch. Does a 70+year old man really think people are so gullible that they wouldn't see through this? Given the recent joy from Uncommon Descent jumping all over the ACLU/Marines Praying urban myth, my sinking feeling is that there is no shortage of people who will by it.

So here we are 2 weeks into the UK and I still haven't been up into London central yet. I've been busy stripping wallpaper. Which is fine. I mean let's face it: London is nothing if not home decorating. We've kept ourselves busy day to day by going to B&Q (the local Rona equivalent), cleaning, patching cracks in the walls and hopefully getting the flat to look like what we want. So the days, well they don't drag on but they certainly do take their time. The other thing I've been doing is dabbling in self-employment. I've started doing network and pc support for a local internet cafe. I managed to hit the timing exactly right when his previous tech went moved and became unavailable. My wife noted that they had problems with their computers and approached the staff. The next day I was in speaking to the manager and the day after that I was starting to service their computers. It's amazing what you can get 40 pounds an hour doing... And culture shock. I...

For the last week, I haven't had net or phone access, nor even television. You'd be amazed how different your life can become without TV and how little you miss it. Phones, maybe a little more you miss them. But net access. You miss email. You just can't get comfortable without it. I say this because it took me until tonight to find out that my grandfather died last Sunday morning. And I feel the same I did before I knew. It's better this way; I know he's happier now. I miss him.

Around 0900h on 5 May 06, the Queen Mary 2 berthed in Southhampton, UK bringing my wife, dog and I to the next stage in our lives. Leaving Ottawa on the 27th of April my father trucked us down to Syracuse where we picked up a rental car at the airport and stayed the night at the Comfort Inn at the Syracuse Airport. From there we drove down to Manhattan to stay the night in the Holiday Inn Wall Street. Now you may think that's an odd choice of hotels. This may be true enough but keep in mind out tag-along mammal. Finding pet friendly hotels is a bit troublesome when you are searching from a different country, so you grab the first ones that leap up to be seen. After a 6 night Atlantic crossing we arrived in Southhampton, got a car to Southfields. And then the work began: There's a lot of cleaning to be done in the flat, redecorating of rooms, painting and papering, not to mention a job to be found... And that's the next while. Makes me wonder when I'll be able to actuall...

To start with a cliche: you won't believe the week I've just had. Unless you've ever moved. My wife and I are on our way to New York to board the Queen Mary 2 on Saturday. We're overnighting in Syracuse and will be driving to NYC tomorrow. So far the trip is uneventful. One thing that is noticable is the types of cars that Americans drive.There are almost no compact cars on the road in northern New York state. And very few foreign (i.e. Japanese) cars. The majority of vehicles are domestic (i.e. American) which surprises me because I've driven American cars, and I'm surprised people would do it a second time.

EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools | We believe in ET, not ID Seth Shostak is a name that I wouldn't really know if it wasn't for iTunes and the SETI podcast. His liking of painful puns and intelligent but folksy way of dealing with scientific issues appeals to me. (No math.) It will always make me happy to say that Shostak is slamming the ID movement. Unlike many Europeans, who find this whole debate faintly farcical, I am not amused. Teaching ID in biology class muddles science with metaphysics. In a country that rides high on technical proficiency, that's serious business. Support the man.

British scientists reject 'intelligent design' theory Hooray, good news in the papers... Let's hope the American malaise doesn't spread to the UK. Christ I'll be there in 3 weeks.

Unscientific biases The Ottawa Citizen is often hit and miss about their coverage of a lot of issues. I thought they were getting a bit better with their coverage of several science related stories recently. Then along came this article I found at the online site dated 8 Apr 06. The opening starts out okay. Canadian agency that funds university research made international headlines this week because it challenged a professor's assumption that evolution theory is incontrovertible. Good start. I mean we all seem to agree with this and thankfully they haven't decided to argue the facts. But what the hell is this supposed to mean? But the agency wasn't being backward, it was defending objective scholarship. Hunh? Isn't reality objective? Brian Alters, a professor of education at McGill University, had applied for a $40,000 grant to study "Detrimental effects of popularizing anti-evolution's intelligent design theory on Canadian students, teachers, parents, administ...

Why the Gospel of Judas makes sense. By Christopher Hitchens I don't always agree with Christopher Hitchens, but apparently he agrees with me about the Judas Gospel

Thermodynamics There are a lot of people who only have a pop-science knowledge of evilution (can't resist), and I happen to be one of them. I read a lot of Gould and Dawkins (and feel qualified to comment whether or not they're actually at odds), and follow a lot of the issues in the States surrounding the 'controversy.' It's so good to see a post like this one smacking down an argument that needs it.

Thoughts from Kansas: Lying liars Wow, there's just no stopping those folks in the States. There are defenders of these peoples? Via Thoughts From Kansas

Up early today. We had to go up to the hospital to talk to my grandfather's doctor, Dr F., before he spoke to Grampy about what decisions to take in the event of his condition, mobility and prospects taking a downturn, but we were a bit late. My grandfather is already DNR; having died once already, he only wants one last shot at it. In the event of him needing full-time care, needing to leave my grandmother and the others at the home, he just wants to be made comfortable. Treatment should be withheld, pain managed and family called. Somewhere in the stress of all this, Mum mentally edited out the middle step of treat, evaluate, release, repeat until release isn't an option, discuss and carry out wishes; she got to treat then wishes. Our conversations managed to take a load off her mind. Still, the idea of making him comfortable as he waits to die feels like killing him. I'm my typically conflicted self. I believe in dignity and quality of life as self-evident; I don't w...

There are days when you have to make decisions. Some of them are affect other people. Some of them are about other people. Some of them you make around other people about them. Today, a bit of all of them happened in one. My Mum, speaking to the doctor treating my grandfather worried that he wouldn't be able to do this sort of thing much longer.This sort of stress and recovery is just too hard on a 90-year old, no matter how stubborn or robust he was in his youth. The doctor knows the stress that he's been having adjusting to his weakened state. He knows how independent my grandfather was, is and wishes he still were. He knows that the move from a retirement home to a nursing home would kill him, as my father says, as sure as a bullet. Based on his assessment, the doctor felt that when he could no longer be cared for at the retirement home and would have to make the move to the next level of care, he would need to speak to my grandfather about options. Options would mean contin...

The Ottawa Citizen had an article on the Gospel when I got up on Friday. The Halifax Chronicle Herald ran a similar article. I didn't really read it too hard, but the basics were: * A manuscript that had bounced around for about 30 years was subjected to analysis, scrutiny and translation. * It was a Coptic script written early Gnostic text * It was dated to the 4th century * Judas was depicted as heroic and following Jesus' directions. He didn't betray; he obeyed. The thing with it is that I don't really know what new, philosophically or theologically, this brings to the table. First of all, Judas' role in the crucifixion is well known, but the idea that it's vital and indispensible has also been teased out of the canon and hashed over pretty well. That an all powerful being's earthly incarnation would have seen it coming is pretty obvious. That Judas might have been dispatched isn't canon to my memory, but it's hardly ne...

So here we are at the end of another day. I took a few notes at Duncan's Pub on Victoria Street, but still haven't gotten them out of my daypack. (Try the Seafood Chowder if you're in town) My grandfather is doing better, but still can't really stand on his own. We're not sure if he ever will. Bringing my grandmother up to see Grampy, we had to make sure that she sat looking at his left side. Yesterday she spent all her time commenitng on the razor cut on the right side of his chin. It seemed that she couldn't focus on anything else when she was up yesterday. At one point we started to giggle to ourselves about it. Today, we had to avoid it. We actually wanted her to focus on the fact that Grampy is sick. Later in the day, Mum had to discuss the inevitable with him: arrangements. Over supper we'd discussed it. And I'm glad she gritted her teeth and asked him about his wishes. On some level, it's got to be a worry for him as well, that his wishes migh...

Creekside: Uh oh, Toto, NaPo's gone to Kansas Last link of the day. I mentioned the 9 scientists who signed the Dissent from Darwin petition in a post on the SSHRC debacle yesterday (or the day before). Creekside takes down the National Post article in the link above. Search the Ottawa Citizen archieve for the article I found. No matter how thin you slice it it's still crap.

Study, in a First, Explains Evolution's Molecular Advance - New York Times Dear New York Times. Why would you take an article about anything scientific and quote Behe in it? Hat tip to Canadian Cynic

The Lancelet: Professor denied federal research funds for assuming evolution to be scientific fact! Maybe I'm being lazy by linking to another post on the SSHRC decision, but the more we kick up a stink about how this went down the better. Maybe. But it's late, so here we go.

We overslept this morning. And then the phone rang. My grandfather was unresponsive when they tried to wake him. The preliminary thought was he might have had a massive stroke during the night. If we were say anything to him, we'd want to get over to the hospital soonest. There were periods where he wasn't breathing for a few minutes at a time. We rushed over. My mother held his hand and he made a noise, gutteral and sub-linguistic, but it was an acknowledgement. There was still presence there. with advice from the doctor, he was moved to a private room. The doctor, who has an obviously forgettable name, felt that 2-3 days was all he had. We sat with him for a while, then I grabbed a cellphone and walked outside. I called my father (still looking after the wife back in O-town) and let him know what was going on. I just don't see how a 90-year old man can go to the hospital and nearly die 6 days out of 10 for a month and have anyone expect it to go on. Then I called my siste...

The Lancelet: More on the SSHRC fiasco It's not news anymore but I still think it's worth laughing at the SSHRC a bit more. Nod and hat tip to the Lancelet

CanJet seems to be a reasonable way to travel. As a cut rate airline it's decent. Let's face it Air Canada doesn't offer any more services but will charge full service price. My grandfather is ill again, or still, depending on how you view these things. Lately, he's been in hospital more than out. He's one of these old school guys who just doesn't seem to give up the fight, no matter how much he may want to nowadays. At 90, it's really not that hard to let go and decide to move on. Or is it? I don't know. I can think about it, but who knows anything until we're there ourselves. It's a sad time in the family as his health declines. My mother, travelling with me, is quite distraught. She's not sure what to do. As my wife and I prepare to leave Canada, this is one of the things I have to do. It's still tough to make the visit. We land easily enough and a rented Altima gets us to Amherst.

Skeptic: eSkeptic for Thursday, February 16th, 2006 SETI and Intelligent Design are not comparable. Continuing the theme that's already started up, I bumped into another article telling ID to go get bent when it want's to bask in the respectability of actual sciences. Hat Tip to Nightlight for leading me to this one.

And then the NCSE drops their opinion which is also good to hear. Name and shame, people.

Canadian Cynic: Canada, Intelligent Design and unintentional irony. And then Canadian Cynic drops his hat into the fray. His follow up post calls for Halliwell's resignation.

Page A8. That's where Brian Alters and the Evo-ID debate moves to after being front page news yesterday. Making up for it is the fact that new transition fossil hit front page. Yeah. ID gets another Reebok in the grapes. Under the headline 'Intelligent Design' debate crosses the border, the Ottawa Citizen actually sided with reason while exploring the background of the situation. ID is gaining some ground in Canada, that's undeniable. The Social Sciences and Humanitites Research Council rejected Alters' proposal for a study on the topic as his proposal hinged on the 'assumption that evolution is unassailable.' "If I was talking about gravity in an application," says Mr Alters, "I wouldn't have to justify the law of gravity. Evolution is not an assumption - it is a scientific fact." Which is pretty much what we're on about. The article gives some background on the development of the debate, including the 9 uni professors who recen...

William Saletan, somebody who has been pretty hit and miss on his coverage of the Dover trial, has this article summarizing takes on the study of prayer and heart patients. He ends with 17 possible answers to why patients prayed for were slightly worse off. 1. God doesn't exist. 2. God doesn't intervene. 3. God is highly selective. 4. God ignores form letters. 5. God requires a personal reference. 6. God is unmoved by the size of your lobbying team. 7. God ignores third parties. 8. God takes His time. 9. God has a backlog. 10. God ignores you if you don't pray hard enough. 11. God ignores you if you're wicked. 12. God helps those who help themselves. 13. God does not hear the prayer of a Christian. 14. God chooses His own outcome measures. 15. God doesn't participate in studies. 16. God hates being told what to do. 17. God is malevolent. Good list. I favour reason 1 though if you assume a god, the others make sense (in an assumed Christian God kind of way)

McGill challenges denial of funding for evolution research Spectacular Arctic fossil shows how creatures first came ashore Two, count 'em two, stories in the Citizen today. Normally, I'd worry about what they might say, but both of them assume the veracity of evolution. If you recall yesterday, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council turned down an application for $40,000 in grant money to look at the effects of popularizing pseudo-science (ID in particular) on the acceptance of evolution in Canadian society. Among the reasons cited was the fact that the proposal didn't convincingly prove that evolution was correct and Intelligent Design was not. McGill University in Montreal has decided to chalenge the decision, and I say more power to them for it. The council reacted as such: Eva Schacherl, a spokeswoman for the council, said Wednesday the multidisciplinary committee was not convinced the proposal's scholarly approach was sound or that it would provide obj...

Northstate Science: Archaeology and Creationism This Blogger Bar extension for Firefox is pretty great, but I seem to be having trouble with the computer tonight. So I'll do this post over again. I've been running into post and articles recently where actual experts in fields loved by the Creationist (sorry, I forgot the tuxedo...ID) crowd have been telling the IDers to get out of their sandbox. A while back SETI astronomer Seth Shostak wrote an article for Space.com (previously posted on) telling the ID crowd and get bent. He didn't see the connection between Intelligent Design and SETI. Now, new to me, I've found a good post telling these guys to stop trying to paddle in the archaeological pool. It's always nice to hear someone saying that. Give it a read.

Pharyngula: Sorry, Canada. We didn't know it was that contagious. PZ Myers (Pee Zed, to flaunt my Frostback side) picked up on the story of Brian Alters as well. On behalf of Canada, I'll say it's not your fault, PZ, so no apology needed. On the other hand, there are a lot of whack-a-doodles on your side of 49 who need to cough up a couple of mea culpas. There was a reference to this week's Nature covering this as well, but the story is premium content and I don't have a subscription. If you do, let us know what it says.

Professor denied federal research funds for assuming evolution to be scientific fact Yesterday I think I mentioned that what happens with our American cousins affects us all. Today's front page of the Ottawa Citizen confirmed that for me. Staring me in the face was the above headline. (Weblink to the online version of the story) The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council decided that McGill professor Brian Alters couldn't get a $40k grant The planned project, submitted last year to the research council, is titled: "Detrimental effects of popularizing anti-evolution's intelligent design theory on Canadian students, teachers, parents, administrators and policymakers." Why you may ask did they deny the grant? In denying his request, the research council's peer-review committee recently sent Mr. Alters a letter explaining he'd failed to "substantiate the premise" of his study. It said he hadn't provided "adequate justification for t...

Why Won't God Heal Amputees? This is about the 3rd time I've bumped into links to this site. Fags, shrimp, amputees: What is it about God hating things these days? Unlike God hates fags (no link, I won't pollute the TFT screen with that shit), this site actually asks and pretty much wraps up the main question that can be asked about God and prayer. And it asks it in a pretty indisputable way. A worthy site to check out for a profound question.

In the Arkansas Times there's an article about teachers self-censoring to avoid the dreaded "e-word". I originally found it about a week back through the NCSE website listing Jason Wiles as the author of work on the topic. And then I screwed up the posting. (A prouder person would probably say that Blogger screwed up, but I'm not that proud and I think it was me...) Probably as big a screw up was the fact that I wrote the post around a whole squodge of stuff I was doing at work and just sort of tacked a segue into Stephen Harper on the end. I'm not even sure it made sense to me. Anyway, cut to the end, I went to edit the post and lost it. Since that time, the article has come to the front with Aetiology , The Education Wonks , and others. (none had much to say about the connection to Stephen Harper) There is a real threat here, though. While it is the States, what happens to our American cousins affects us all. And it's not like we're immune here, as evid...

WorldNetDaily: Why intelligent design will change everything Over at Dispatches from the Culture War, there was an invitation to fisk a really, really bad article from the WorldNutDaily. I'm not a scientist, and I'm not going to go through it thoroughly but I did have some fun with what little knowledge I have and some really, choice bits. In the opening paragraph, Lynn Barton states : Like a fierce game of whack-a-mole, wherever I.D.'s politically incorrect head pops up, its opponents rush to smack it back down. I have to agree with this, but I'm not looking at it in the same light as her. I just want to know why everytime a commentator or movement wears the 'politically incorrect' label proudly, it usually means they're politically motivated and politically uninformed. Barton goes on to talk about how intelligent design theory is going to become a major force for good in the battle to rescue our collapsing culture – because the way we think about origins ...