Tuesday, August 22, 2006

An interesting weekends worth of information.

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 thought I pointed out the obvious.
Muslim schools devoted to the Koran and nothing else (is that even a
school?) came up in the New York Times.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/16/nyregion/16koran.html?ex=1313380800&en=37facdab5e7a786d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss)
Atheist Revolution also noticed the general trend in the US of moving
away from thinking at all
(http://atheistrevolution.blogspot.com/2006/08/no-thinking-allowed.html)
though a lot of us from outside the US would say it's a pretty
longstanding trend.
The Institute for Humanist Studies gets a lick in at the US for it's
strength of religion and crime rate, based on the study of a few months
back.
(http://www.humaniststudies.org/enews/index.html?id=219&article=7).
Let's face it, the connection between strong religiosity and social
problems is becoming clearer and clearer. Still, I'm a bit hesitant to
accept the conclusions based on one study. I think it's a fruitful line
of inquiry in any case.
And that's a little link-a-palooza about the intersection of religion
and culture this weekend.

--
Posted by
The Eternal Gaijin (email)
London, UK

Words are incapable of describing what I am about to tell you.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Having started work I can tell you that...

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.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Evolution and Medicine

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.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

The Cincinnati Post - Kevin Eigelbach: Lighten up on the scare letters

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

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 shows of force and the unilaterialism that he's been known for, but in the end he just seems to be the steward of the decline. As intellectually substantial as a french crueller, he's a man who's just in completely the wrong job.
As a side note, I wish they would start including Canada in these things. It won't due to lump us in with the States. The book Fire and Ice showed full well the divergence in responses between Canucks and the Yanks.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

NCSE Resource on Brian Alters

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 on Brian Alters

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.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Pooflingers Anonymous: The Hovind Files: Lying for Jesus

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 on Kent Hovind

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

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Guest Post: I Remember Hovey

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.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Pharyngula: Christian Calculus?

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.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

London Masturbating Marathon 2006 - Wank-A-Thon for Charity

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 between sessions.
You can sign up at the link from the article.

Monday, August 07, 2006

David Byrne Journal: 8.2.06: American Madrassas

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 does London, after New York the financial capital of the world, possible run out of water?
Florida has destroyed history education. I just can'tget over that in any way, shape or form. I read so much history and I despair when I hear of this sort of thing.
On the upside, my new job will start in a week, so I can finally get out of the house.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

[Fwd: Mel Gibson Reveals His Anti-Semitism Once Again]

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 incapable of describing what I am about to tell you.