The Eternal Gaijin

110 best books: The perfect library - Telegraph I was wondering how well my own library and reading habits stacked up. Pretty poorly it turns out. And I consider myself widely, if not well, read. And yet this is how my results turn out. If I've read it, it's italicized . If I've got it, it's in bold . So this means? Title By Notes: The Iliad and The Odyssey Homer Long. The Barchester Chronicles Anthony Trollope   Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen   Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift   Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë   War and Peace ...

Expelled has another review. Through:  RichardDawkins.net Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed - Movie - Review - The New York Times Best line? “Expelled” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). It has smoking guns and drunken logic

Hooray. Free wi-fi finally comes to the UK. And Coffee Republic is a lot cheaper than Starbucks. Coffee Republic to offer free wi-fi - Retail & Leisure - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com Latte lovers who like to surf and work from the comfort of a coffee shop will be able to get free wi-fi internet access at Coffee Republic cafes from May. Coffee Republic will become the first UK coffee chain to provide free wi-fi to customers when it launches the service across the majority of its UK chain from 1 May 2008. Powered by ScribeFire .

As the week drags on, the reports dribble in about photography continuing is inexorable slide into illegality in the UK. It's little wonder that Mrs Gaijin is talking about packing it in an moving to Spain. I'm half willing to learn Spanish and go. Combining this sort of thing with my hair-trigger indignation will not be pretty. UK photographer chased down and detained for taking pix at fun fair - Boing Boing Bill sez "Curly, a blogger and photographer from South Shields (in NE England) was pursued by police after they received an emergency 999 call from someone who saw him taking photos in a funfair where children were present. He ended up showing his pics to a policeman in order to be allowed to leave." The original blog post is here: Sex pictures shock! « Curly’s Corner Shop, the blog! Curly taken for a ride Did I mention something about being taken for ride in my last post? Well I was, but I never imagined that a trip to the Ocean Beach Pleasure Park in South...

Jean Chretien, during the 1993 election campaign, once joked about his Bell's Palsy that at least 'e only talked out one side of his mouth, not both like a Tory. So, Jean, what do you make of this? Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With U.S. - washingtonpost.com Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza.

Accused penis thieves captured - Boing Boing

I've heard this. This time it doesn't look like they couldn't figure out if the country's name ended in Q or N so bomb 'em both . I guess that's something then. BBC NEWS | Middle East | Syria 'had covert nuclear scheme' The United States has accused North Korea of helping Syria build a nuclear reactor that "was not intended for peaceful purposes". That 's a slam dunk if I ever saw one.

I can't remember where I saw this. It's been a tab in my saved Firefox session for a half-dozen opens and closes this since last night. The first draft versions show more character than the later, didactic versions, but aren't as refines. Think of them as the indie movie versions. McSweeney's Internet Tendency: First Drafts of the Parables of Jesus. At that time a man said unto Jesus, "Jesus! I do not understand the nature of the kingdom of heaven." Jesus said, "The Father's kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them went astray. He left the 99 and looked for the one until he found it. When it was found, he said to the sheep, 'That you went astray is a clear sign that you misunderstand my instructions. You are nothing to me.' And then the shepherd turned the lost sheep into a pillar of salt, because the shepherd is God in this parable, and that's the sort of thing He does when people fail to understand His Word....

Expelled is still tanking. The worse part is that I liked Win Ben Stein's Money. Oh, how far the semi-great have fallen. Talk Reason: arguments against creationism, intelligent design, and religious apologetics Expelled Exposed: Midweek Roundup 04-23-2008 - The Panda's Thumb

The surge is working so violence is up and we can't leave. If the surge had worked violence would have been reduced and we wouldn't be able to leave. The level of discourse related to violence in Iraq is pathetic. Somewhere out there, though, is Robert Pape, doing the actual stats and work showing that most of what you know about suicide bombing is wrong. Foreign Policy Watch: It's the Occupation, Stupid Writing for The Independent, Robert Fisk notes that the Iraq invasion has spawned an incredible spike in suicide attacks. Since the war began, some 1,121 Muslims have blown themselves up. "On several days," Fisk writes, "six even nine suicide bombers have exploded themselves in Iraq in a display of almost Wal-Mart availability. If life in Iraq is cheap, death is cheaper." The numbers are particularly surprising, given the history. Between 1980 and 2003, there were 'just' 315 suicide attacks by terrorist groups around the world. In the past f...

Don't sit there. Go watch this. onegoodmove: Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss

Sez it all, doesn't it? Condoleezza Rice Must GO HT to No More Mr Nice Guy

Week before last my wife was struck by an idea. How about we get out of town for a few days, she suggested. It may have been to recover from the visit by the family, or that could just be how I interpreted it.  It would appear that having the little ones around can be truly draining. Her suggestion was to visit Kyushu, specifically the towns of Yufuin and Kurokawa Onsen. We also intended to climb to the top of Mt Aso, but more on that in a second. We took the shinkansen to Hakata and a local commuter train to Yufuin. I love the shinkansen. By the way, it's not a translation of bullet train; that's just the English concept. It's best translated as New (Shin) Trunk (kan) Line (sen), intended to be the rail transport backbone across Japan. The shinkansen is wonderfully comfortable, generous with leg room and may be the best form of transport on the planet. The on-board coffee leaves something to be desired, flavour mostly. At Hakata, we got on a relatively comfortable trai...

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Fight erupts in Jerusalem church Israeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity's holiest sites. The scuffles broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Orthodox Palm Sunday.

Via Bay of Fundie Looks like more people are piling on Expelled . And who can blame them. If you've seen Why do people laugh at creationists? on YouTube, you're already familiar with the formula. By the way, Expelled is tanking . Why Do People Laugh At Creationists? (pt. 23) Pretty good stuff, eh?

Paranoia, as Alan Parsons warned us, will destroy ya. UK man hassled by cop for not having a "camera license" - Boing Boing Middlesbrough cops, goons and clerks grab and detain photographer for shooting on a public street - Boing Boing

Predictably they don't. Reason Magazine - Flunk This Movie! "This is not a religious argument," asserts Discovery Institute president Bruce Chapman in conservative Hollywood gadfly Ben Stein's new anti-science propaganda film, Expelled : No Intelligence Allowed. The movie opens this Friday in 1,100 theaters, the largest theatrical release ever for a documentary, according to Expelled 's producers. They go on a bit further. Yet despite its topic, the film is entirely free of scientific content—no scientific evidence against biological evolution and none for "intelligent design" (ID) theory is given. Which makes sense because biological evolution is amply supported by evidence from the fossil record, molecular biology, and morphology. For example, the younger the rocks in which fossils are found, the more closely they resemble species alive today, and the older the rocks, the less resemblance there is. In addition, molecular biology confirms that the mo...

So now they're complaining that Obama was foretold in the Book of Revelations . Two words: As-fucking-if. The claims are circulating that Revelations says the anti-christ will be a charming man in his 40s who is a Muslim. I feel nostalgic for the days of Jack van Impe telling me that Gorbachev's birthmark was the mark of the beast. When I was in high school Revelations foretold of the anti-christ coming from the Soviet Union, you see? As for Obama's Revelations link, how do I debunk thee? Let me count the ways. PolitiFact | Complete distortion of the Bible • The word “anti-christ” does not appear in the Book of Revelation. ... • There’s no mention of a man of a certain age. ... • There’s no mention of the word “Muslim.” Do we all understand? Good. Now if I hear this sort of thing from you again I'll whack you on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper.

I was taking a Poli-Sci course at Uni long, long ago. Part of the discussion in this one class turned to prejudice in society. One of the students proposed that when people have a common ethnic and cultural heritage there will be no prejudice. As an example she held up Japan. Japan she said was over 80% homogeneous and had as a result no problems with racism. Wipe the coffee off your computer screen and ponder that little tid-bit. Being a prickly sort at times, I countered that Japan has a lot of problems dealing with foreigners and foreign residents, Koreans and Chinese to name two. Also, ask the Ainu if being a minority in Japan is that much fun. If you can find a couple. Finally, I patronized, the fewer others you have, the more you pick on little details within your own group, as the experience of the burakumin attests. I wasn't too popular, but I was right. If only I'd had Boing Boing at U of O. Yes, there can be prejudice in Japan. Here's just a bit of proof. Video o...

Abroad from me, anyway. So, I'm catching up on the blogs at The Guardian website and there's a few interesting points to be made. First what is the next big fictional sport that'll become real-world popular: Stranger than fiction - new sports for the 21st century | Sport | Guardian Unlimited The planet is obviously screaming out for new sports. So I combed the annals of fiction for an admittedly incomplete but still fascinating list of the games that might just make the grade when the tired old Brit-invented warhorses of football, baseball, basketball and cricket finally get boiled down for glue. Anbo-Jitsu (aka anbo-jytsu) From: Star Trek: The Next Generation. What is it: Staff-fighting with blindfolds. Chances of replacing an old Brit invented sport: 2% Assassin's Guild Wall Game Disc World "A cross between squash, urban rock climbing and actual bodily harm." Chances: High, especially with suburban white kids who aren't racist but are desperately see...

Yeah, it's a week old. Bite me. You want cutting edge news? Watch the Beeb. I just like the idea of Gonzalez parked on the sidewalk outside a Wall St law firm with a felt tip drawn sign reading, "Will Dissemble for Food." Canadian Cynic: Let’s just file this under “No ... duh”. The Galloping Beaver: That law degree is... quaint. Crooks and Liars » Gonzo Can’t Find A Job Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Crying Crocodile Tears In Searching for New Job, Gonzales Sees No Takers - New York Times

HT to Pharygula Fox, that bastion of journalistic integrity, has panned Expelled . I guess I should repeat that, Expelled panned by Fox. Which is like the Pope panning Mass. We knew that Scientific American would say it was bullshit. And so would Michael Shermer . But Fox. How inaccurate do you have to be for Fox to give you 2 minutes in the box? Expelled . How do you make another pun on it? I'm pretty much out.

This will probably say extremely odd things about my taste in music and how dated everything on my iPod is. In my defence, I mostly just listen to news and science/skepticism podcasts. Don't It Make You Feel - The Headpins. Gift Shop - The Tragically Hip Suzanne - Peter Gabriel I Still Feel for You - Animal Logic Coldsweat - Sugarcubes I'm Not Waiting - Chris Isaak Sun - Tomonao Hara Aeroplane - Bjork Mr Bad Man - Tori Amos Masquerade - Vendemmian I almost feel I have to justify some of this. Well, just the goth tune at the end. To be honest, I'm still a bit of a goth at heart though Sisters of Mercy would be highest on my list. Sing it with me: Twenty-five whores in the room next door, twenty-five floors and I need more... Just me, hunh?

I guess I should say good bye to Charlton Heston in my own way.

I used to live in Kawasaki's Musashi Shinjo area, but I never got out to see the festival despite knowing that it was going on. Do take a look at the pics here. Funny stuff 2000 Years of Deception: So if you HAVE to be religious . . .

Into the Diana fray we go. About 10 years ago, a former member of the Royal Family, a divorcee with a new boyfriend, a rich woman with some respectable charity work on the side was killed in a car crash in Paris. A lot of people were sad out of proportion to the woman's impact on their lives. And the story ends. Except for one man - the boyfriend's father. And he believes. Oh, how he believes. And it has grown and grown to monumental proportions. One man's grief and inability to come to terms with the death of his son have spun so far out of reason and probability, then eventually possibility. At first, years ago, I suspect it was just denial. After several years it slowly appeared that Al-Fayed was drinking his own Kool-aid and starting to believe his own stories. Now, he's wandered off onto his own plane of existence. BBC NEWS | UK | Fayed conspiracy claim collapses He made up his mind the moment he was telephoned by the president of the Ritz Hotel to be told that ...

'Nuff said. BBC NEWS: NZ man 'used hedgehog as weapon'

-- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Kobe, Japan "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

My faith in the NHS and other services in the UK goes up a notch. BBC sees the light: removes Alternative Medicine Pages In a wonderful demonstration of common sense, the BBC has removed all the alternative medicine pages from BBC Health web site. I expect that it was helped in making that decision by the many complaints it had received about statements on these pages that were simply not true, The existence of these pages was just not compatible with the BBC’s commitment to accuracy.

I had a crap tech job in Ottawa for a while. One of the funny bits I remember was talking to a Yank from one of the border states who told me that he used to love coming up to Canada to go to concerts and such. I asked him why. He answered, "Canadians just know how to behave in public." A similar experience happened when I took Mrs Gaijin to see a Sens vs Habs game at the Corel Centre. The Missus was amazed to see endless effort, on the parts of both the organizers and the fans, to make a hockey game a family-friendly event. I had a hard time deciding why this should be a surprise. Turns out that going to a sporting event in the UK is a risky thing indeed. If you aren't wearing the right shirt or fan scarf in the right section, well, that's a beating. Here is an article by a sports writer on why he likes visiting Canada. ESPN - O Canada, my home away from home - NHL Tip o' the hat to the Rev .

Hero of the Week Nominee, Sanal Edamarku, challenged a tawddle peddler to put up or shut up. And he did. Well, he tried. What did you think would happen? Edamarku would be killed by magic? Skeptic giggles on Indian national TV as mystic totally fails to curse him to death - Boing Boing Pandit Surinder Sharma, a famous Indian tantrick (magician) was on a televised panel discussion when he claimed he could kill any man with black magic in under three minutes. Fellow panelist, Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged the tantrick to kill him right then and there. Hilarity ensued as Sharma chanted the death mantra, and, when that failed, waved a knife and sprinkled water on him, as Edamarku laughed the entire time.

I've played Assassin's Creed and am eagerly awaiting Metal Gear Solid 4 . Assassin's Creed was an immersive experience, highly evocative of the period. As someone interested in the Crusades, I deeply enjoyed but saw the flaws in the occasionally shaky frame-rates and repetitive gameplay. Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 were, by comparison superlative game experiences. The game play was wonderful, the environments rich and graphics pushed the edge of what the PS2 platform could do. They were wordy in the Japanese style (I'm looking at you Ryuu ga Gotoku: Kenzan!) But they've set me up to really want Metal Gear Solid 4 on the PS3. So I don't know what to do with this. -- From: The Eternal Gaijin Lost Somewhere in Kobe, Japan "Words Cannot Describe What I Am About To Tell You."

Fire up your BitTorrent client PVR or BBC iPlayer. Doctor Who returns to the world on Saturday. The show that taught a 2 generations of British children to watch TV from behind the sofa or through their fingers, that made wobbly-voiced pepper mills scary, and rightly showed that camp acting and noble ideas trumped shaky, shaky sets is back. The plans are to have the show go into hiatus after this series. So, Donna (The Runaway Bride) is back, so is Rose (briefly) and the Sontarans. From the gala preview article: In the first of two episodes screened on Tuesday, the Doctor was seen being reunited with Donna Noble - Tate's character from 2006 Christmas special The Runaway Bride. The second saw the pair transported to ancient Pompeii on the eve of Mount Vesuvius's eruption - impressively rendered in a computer-generated sequence Tennant called "gob-smacking". And of course Russell T. Davies can't resist the call of the Daleks... Tuesday's audience was ...

...I always am concerned with whether I'm the one wearing clothes or not. emperormetaphorwhatever.jpg (JPEG Image, 1097x911 pixels)

How do you not love Prince Philip? Any list of the mild things he says makes a Dan Quayle Top Ten look like the combined writings of Isaac Asimov and Shakespeare combined. Lovely. His son says things of blistering ignorance and un-informed-ness, but the lovely, old fashioned prejudice of a Prince Philip is a charm to himself. (It's okay, he's old. Times were different back then.) Neatorama » Blog Archive » The Very Quotable Prince Philip: Not Exactly Prince Charming Speaking to British students studying in China: "If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty-eyed."