tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-95833592011-04-22T05:01:29.405+01:00An irreligious being in a religious world.Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.comBlogger1661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-46948479861737275972007-01-23T21:38:00.000+01:002007-01-23T21:39:58.440+01:00

Hundreds of followers of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Artemis, Aphrodite and Hermes stood in a circle, a mile from the Acropolis, in what was the first official religious service allowed in the grounds of an Ancient Greek temple.Hundreds of followers! There are hundreds of people who are willing to pray to a deity last seen on a Xena re-run? When I heard about a group wanting to stage a religious

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-13180443358563160122007-01-21T19:14:00.000+01:002007-01-21T19:57:08.035+01:00

It seems like everywhere you turn you hear the same old line that science and religion are perfectly compatible. I suspect that people hope that, so long as they keep repeating that, it will become true. And, in a weak sense it will, in the sense that so long as people insist on viewing the two as compatible, it is less likely that a serious social conflict will arise between the two. However,

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-11972561621692192322007-01-21T19:12:00.000+01:002007-01-21T19:13:51.452+01:00

Although I grew up in an English-speaking country and spent much of my youth reading about the history of the British culture and society – my memories of being a teenager now filled with visions of various medieval English monasteries, battles and villages all to a Mike Oldfield soundtrack – I have never spent more than a couple of hours in England travelling between the various London airports.

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-48845329562377743602007-01-21T12:35:00.000+01:002007-01-21T12:37:37.709+01:00

Human rationality is bounded in every possible way. Human irrationality, however, is boundless. This may be what drew to it the latest bunch of humans to give public expression to their foolishness:Worshippers who believe in the 12 gods of ancient Greece are trying to stage a ceremony at the Temple of Zeus in Athens on Sunday.That’s right, these people claim to think that Zeus exists. In fact,

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-78315024806568332202007-01-17T00:08:00.000+01:002007-01-16T11:11:02.779+01:00

Although not normally interested in the doings of celebrities, I have been paying quite a bit of attention to Oprah Winfrey’s project of opening an elite school for South Africa’s disadvantaged girls and have been somewhat taken aback by the criticism she has suffered for her efforts. Salon.com has quite a good article about it in which both the motivation of the critics and of Oprah herself is

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-37982880415654226182007-01-16T00:57:00.000+01:002007-01-16T00:59:47.302+01:00

Like many other atheists I am quite fond of sometimes picking on some of the idiotic things that theists believe and showing the problems with what they are saying. I’ve certainly done so in many things that I have mentioned in this blog. It very nicely refreshes one’s inflated sense of superiority and usually without hurting anyone in the process. Still, such intellectual therapy has its

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-88333788870331049972007-01-12T13:09:00.000+01:002007-01-12T13:11:13.752+01:00

What, if anything, is Bush’s strategy in making it sound like he wants to increase the conflict in the Middle East? Does he have some idea that by causing even more trouble he can become the War President again or is it that his mind, as well as those of his administration, have long ago been transferred into an alternative universe and only his body is uttering sounds that not even hawkish

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-24421897016436587752007-01-08T00:06:00.000+01:002007-01-12T13:11:44.780+01:00

Origen is rarely read these days. But, even so, he is very often unknowingly copied. I am currently reading about this early Christian philosopher in Martin’s Inventing Superstition, in particular about Origen’s book Contra Celsum, in which he argues against the views of one of Christianity’s earliest critics – Celsus (of course, Celsus’ book did not manage to survive the hegemony on writing that

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-40037560483369736512007-01-07T23:26:00.000+01:002007-01-07T23:29:20.355+01:00

No great surprise. The Archbishop of Warsaw, who had been a communist spy and who, quite brazenly, had just a day earlier wanted to none-the-less retain his post, had a sudden change of heart and decided to resign from the position. Almost definitely after a terse phone-call from the Vatican.As the BBC reports, “the episode is an unprecedented embarrassment for the Catholic Church in Poland.”

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-86693563666658453682007-01-06T19:53:00.000+01:002007-01-06T20:14:30.819+01:00

A little over a year ago Poland elected a new Parliament and President. Both sets of elections were won by the right-wing Law and Justice party running under the banner of getting rid of corruption and improving morality, and led by the sour-faced Kaczynski twins. Their mandate was quite limited given that they only received a couple of per cent more than another right-wing party, Civic Platform,

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-38396971747847592672007-01-05T23:46:00.000+01:002007-01-06T20:06:39.500+01:00

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Particularly people with whom I disagree. So, when I heard that one of the Polish Archbishops was accused of having worked for the secret police of the communist government that tried to destroy the Church, my reaction was to disbelieve the report. And I had good grounds for disbelieving – the journalists who’d reported this failed to provide any

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-67975287330394034882007-01-02T01:55:00.000+01:002007-01-02T01:57:27.193+01:00

Started reading Inventing Superstition by Dale Martin. It’s about what the ancient Greeks and Romans thought about superstition. Should be quite fascinating to read. I have, however, a few problems with what I’ve read thus far.The first is that Martin seems to be influenced by the currently popular social constructivism. To a certain degree this is not an issue – he is discussing only what people

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-62978849309869309712007-01-02T01:25:00.000+01:002007-01-02T01:27:13.788+01:00

Whatever Tony Abbott gets up to in the future, I just hope he doesn’t get ideas from this bunch:A group of Polish members of parliament have submitted a bill seeking to proclaim Jesus Christ king of their overwhelmingly Catholic country.Even the Polish Catholic Church thinks this is a nutty idea. There is a back story to this, however. Part of the reason for why this insanity is being discussed

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-47987283654450047512007-01-02T01:00:00.000+01:002007-01-02T01:27:47.214+01:00

Here’s an exercise. First, read the following story:The federal Health Minister says the Catholic Church will run part of the Government's multi-million dollar pregnancy counselling service aimed at reducing the number of abortions in Australia.Now, try to think of all the reasons why this is not a good thing. Please try to keep your answer to under ten single-spaced pages.Please note: This is

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-20305342325399810862007-01-02T00:46:00.000+01:002007-01-02T01:51:45.415+01:00

Our daughter, at this point, still falls asleep in the same bed as we do. However, as she has grown very rapidly the bed has got too small for the three of us. Particularly as she has the habits of taking at least one large teddy bear to cuddle as she falls asleep, of sleeping sideways across the bed and of moving around so much that she ends up kicking us in our faces. So, we have been letting

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-73928527333260746002006-12-31T19:48:00.001+01:002006-12-31T19:48:36.074+01:00

Outside I can hear the fireworks going off. My wife and daughter are playing in the next room. In many ways I should be grateful for what 2006 has been like for my family. My brother has got engaged and is moving back to live not far from me. My daughter is growing well and is happy and a joy to be around. I have had a few small successes in my work and a big one appears to be about to finally

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-33169181900117945202006-12-31T19:17:00.000+01:002006-12-31T19:18:30.988+01:00

The Americans decided that a good way to celebrate the end of the year and the Hajj would be to hang a dictator. Just like those bound for the pyre during the witch burning days, Saddam was handed over to a different set of authorities – the Iraqis – who then hanged him within a few short hours. Now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology and a handy phone-camera, the video of his execution

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-17436096043603735342006-12-31T19:16:00.000+01:002006-12-31T19:17:12.553+01:00

Bah, humbug. I have to say, I still don’t like Christmas. This year was basically no different, until at least I heard some particularly good news. But I’ll get to that later.It is something of a cliché to mention that Christmas holidays mean having to put up with annoying relatives. But the thing about clichés is that they are clichés for some good reason – very often this being that they are

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1166711869476532702006-12-21T15:36:00.000+01:002006-12-21T15:37:49.480+01:00

While mentioning scientific work on religion I should mention something that is available on the net and which is truly mind-blowing. Edge.org is a very cool site which has lots of interesting articles and, most recently, has material on a conference called “Beyond Belief” which took place in November at the Salk Institute in California and at which some of the current scientific greats discussed

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1166711788978433462006-12-21T15:35:00.000+01:002006-12-21T15:36:28.980+01:00

I have been reading a lot recently. In particular, I have just finished reading both Richard Dawkins’ and Dan Dennett’s latest books, both on religion. It was very good to read the two of them together as it made very clear to me the different between the approaches taken by them. So, while I thought that The God Delusion was a very competently written book, most of which I heartily agreed with I

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1166711676488290092006-12-21T15:33:00.000+01:002006-12-21T15:34:36.490+01:00

Well, my girl is no longer as little as she used to be. In fact, she is in the top few percentiles for her age group when it comes to height. I guess that she probably gets that from me – I have never tended towards the short or, indeed, the weedy. She had her second birthday only a couple of months ago but is now impossible to shut up. Some of her texts are classics. For example – “I do not

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1166711622719983202006-12-21T15:32:00.000+01:002006-12-21T15:34:55.420+01:00

It so happens that my post-doc, assuming it happens, will have quite a bit to do with this blog. It will not be concerned with religion but it will mean that I spend time looking at something that is to some degree related to religion and which I have mentioned numerous times on this blog, i.e. superstition. The persistent survival of superstition is something that, once you look at it, is quite

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1166711544227614972006-12-21T15:29:00.000+01:002006-12-21T15:32:24.240+01:00

In Tolkien’s books there is a word that I am quite fond of – mathom. A mathom is a thing that one has no use for right now but might be useful in the future so you do not throw it away. Indeed, according to Tolkien, the hobbits have a whole special mathom-house in which they keep the mathoms that they do not have the space for in their homes. I mention the word because I find a vaguely similar

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1156861376408318072006-08-29T15:19:00.000+01:002006-08-29T15:22:56.430+01:00

I watched today the Richard Dawkins documentary on religion - The root of all evil? First thing I have to say is that he is right not to like the title that the documentary got saddled with. It is a faux clever faux intellectual title in so far as the phrase comes from the Bible itself. The reason why it is faux intellectual is because it does not actually fit with that the original quoted is

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1156856455362329252006-08-29T13:59:00.000+01:002006-08-29T14:33:10.990+01:00

I was tagged for a literary meme by a blogging friend of mine. This is something just right for me. 1. One book that changed your life O.K. This may seem a somewhat strange choice to those who do not know me but, to those who do, it will make perfect sense. I think that out of all the books I have read it would have to be Alexandre Koyre’s From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1155934297619164702006-08-18T21:44:00.000+01:002006-08-18T21:51:37.650+01:00

There is an old joke about how the easiest way to make a woman lose her libido is to put a wedding ring on her finger. Well, the figures are in and the scientists concur. Within a few years of settling down, women tend to lose their libido. All I can do is commiserate with the other married guys. A number of evolutionary reasons for this lamentable state of affairs have been suggested, none of

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1155762257232280672006-08-16T21:58:00.000+01:002006-08-16T22:04:17.243+01:00

Everyone was afraid of the bird flu just a few months ago. Right now it is the fear of everyone else aboard the plane one is travelling on. Yet it is seems to me that very few have been willing to face the biggest threat our way of living is facing right now – paranoia. The latest news is that a plane to Washington was rerouted and accompanied to the alternative airport by not one but two

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1155738371309746792006-08-16T15:25:00.000+01:002006-08-16T15:27:11.496+01:00

Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like bringing up kids in the States right now and am very glad to be living the EU. I just came across a great example of what it must be like, written by Dennis Perrin, in his blog, Red State Son, where he describes the particular mix of “happiness, love, and fear” that a day out with his kid at the swimming pool makes him feel. Surely, one of the great

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1154598913756218312006-08-03T10:52:00.000+01:002006-08-03T10:55:13.776+01:00

Kent Hovind, who claimed to offer 250,000 dollars to anyone who could provide scientific evidence for evolution, has got himself into serious legal trouble because of very shady business dealings that he tried to cover with ridiculous religious claims such as that the business owner is actually God and not Hovind and his wife. The classic comment from the PensacolaNewsJournal.com was: Members

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1153673551418745292006-07-23T17:52:00.000+01:002006-07-23T17:52:31.430+01:00

Over the last couple of days I have noticed my daughter do a couple of things that I am very impressed by but which probably don’t mean anything to anyone else. The first is that she did today a 24 piece jig-saw puzzle with only a little prompting from her mum – 6 piece jig-saws are now a doodle that she can do very rapidly, almost without having to turn the pieces in different directions to try

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1153672839788525462006-07-23T17:39:00.000+01:002006-07-23T17:40:39.806+01:00

I love my job. It lets me ask questions about the world around me and allows me to go out and try and satisfy my curiosity. One of the best thing s about my job is when I get together with other people who are interested in much the same things and we begin to try and nut out some of the things that either I or the others working on. Thus, there is little that I enjoy more than the opportunity to

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1153435104864587892006-07-20T23:37:00.000+01:002006-07-20T23:38:24.893+01:00

I checked where the visitors to my blog come from and found, once again, that the great majority – over 75% in fact – come from the US. One reason for this must be that there is just so many people in the US who have access to the internet. But that can’t be the whole story. There are also a lot of people in the UK who have internet access and I hardly ever see their visits account for a tenth of

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1153400002412851952006-07-20T13:52:00.000+01:002006-07-20T13:53:22.440+01:00

At the same time, my little one has been growing up fast. Earlier on, if I went away for a couple of days, she would look different when I returned. Now, she is learning more and more words so that whenever I get back from a trip I notice that she is saying things she didn’t use to. Unfortunately, due to my various absences her English is not getting as much work as it ought to so that she says

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1153398123098757722006-07-20T13:21:00.000+01:002006-07-20T13:22:14.013+01:00

It is hard to believe how little time I have had in the last while. I thought that the end of the university year would lead to some respite but have been very wrong. Just a few days ago I returned from one trip and am about to leave on another a few days from now. I spent a few days in Salzburg. The place has turned Mozart into a local industry, with Mozartkugeln, Mozartalar and other tacky

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1151613554301131062006-06-29T21:37:00.000+01:002006-06-29T21:39:14.316+01:00

Every day I find myself wondering at how life manages to present us with the worst and the best. My daughter is growing in front of my eyes, every day bringing joy to me with her little ways. Just today she ran up to me and rested her chin on my knee while looking up at me with those laughing, mischievous eyes of hers. Later, while she was trying to water the garden, she and I watched as a

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1151607286717421562006-06-29T19:53:00.000+01:002006-06-29T19:56:32.280+01:00

Had a truly strange experience the other day. My cousins are over from the States and are travelling round the country with their kids for whom this is the first time here. We were having dinner together and started to talk politics. The topic of the last elections came up and my cousin opined that they had a hard choice to make between Bush and Kerry, going on to justify this claim by saying all

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1150740303598797292006-06-19T18:45:00.000+01:002006-06-19T19:05:03.746+01:00

We occasionally allow the little one to watch a bit of television and one of the things she’d been watching is old Disney cartoons, the ones with Pluto, Mickey and Donald. Having seen a couple of them, myself, I have to the conclusion that they are just a basically a concentrated fix of violence designed to go straight to the basic response centres in our basal brains, like something out of

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1150047095505958892006-06-11T18:30:00.000+01:002006-06-11T18:31:35.520+01:00

Hell no! Now that I think of it, the great PR stunt and act of war the Guantanamo prisoners have committed by killing themselves must not go unanswered! We must show the enemy that everything they do only makes us more determined! Which four members of the Bush administration are going to show the terrorists who’s boss by committing seppuku in the Rose Garden?

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1150026625021098052006-06-11T10:17:00.000+01:002006-06-11T12:50:25.090+01:00

Rear Admiral Harris is the commander of Guantanamo. As such he has hundreds if not thousands of trained and well armed men under his command and is able to call upon the resources of the biggest armed forces in the world. Still, it appears that he does not feel safe. "They are smart. They are creative, they are committed," he said. "They have no regard for life, either ours or

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1149778257465268152006-06-08T15:44:00.000+01:002006-06-08T16:06:14.390+01:00

When I see reports of the crowds that adulated the Pope on his visit to Poland, as well as when I talk to various Catholics about their views regarding Ratzinger, I find myself struck by an attitude I find very peculiar but which seems perfectly normal to them. I am speaking of a type of uncritical adoration that assigns to Ratzinger any and all virtues and is totally unwilling to consider the

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1149769955642788512006-06-08T13:31:00.000+01:002006-06-08T13:32:35.670+01:00

Would it be facetious if I were to thank all those who prayed on 6/6/6 for the fact that Armageddon has not begun (despite Shrub and Co.’s best efforts in the Middle East)? I guess it would be, wouldn’t it. We’ve had so many ends of the world predicted that I should like to see someone predict that some particular end of the world will be the last end of the world prediction we have to put up

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1149354024389921732006-06-03T17:55:00.000+01:002006-06-03T18:00:24.413+01:00

As I observed in my last post spring is always a busy time of year for me. This year, however, has been particularly hectic, as evidenced by that post being now over a month old. May has come and gone in a whirlwind of activity. In among other things I got to see the amazing Alhambra and what the Christians managed to do with it after they took control of it. Still, I was not so busy as to not

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1145883348241394562006-04-24T13:54:00.000+01:002006-04-24T14:10:08.200+01:00

Certainly feels that way. The end of the university year is getting close and there are a number of dead-lines either looming or already here. As a result I do not even have enough time to spend with my daughter showing her how new things keep appearing in the garden. For example, the tulips started to come up even before the snow was all gone this year. Still, I have been making the effort to

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1144944396719434942006-04-13T17:05:00.000+01:002006-04-13T17:06:36.736+01:00

BBC News has the following report: A Polish Roman Catholic radio station has apologised for broadcasting comments widely viewed as anti-Semitic. Radio Maryja, founded by an outspoken priest, was criticised for broadcasting claims that Jews made a business out of Holocaust compensation payments. The station's Rev Tadeusz Rydzyk said he was sorry if anyone was offended,

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1143802346410697302006-03-31T11:51:00.000+01:002006-03-31T11:53:14.423+01:00

A number of times now I have heard of studies carried out in the US to test the effect of prayer upon the well-being of those prayed for. The results of the latest and biggest of these have just been released: New York — Does praying for a sick person's recovery do any good? In the largest scientific test of its kind, heart surgery patients showed no benefit when strangers prayed for their

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1143581332999706322006-03-28T22:27:00.000+01:002006-03-28T22:28:53.036+01:00

It seems that Ark stories come along much like the seasons – there isn’t year that someone doesn’t find the remains of the Ark hiding somewhere. So, I wasn’t too surprised when I read the latest twist on Bible literalism: Dutchman Johan Huibers is building a working replica of Noah's Ark as a testament to his Christian faith. The BBC News report says that the replica is only going to be a

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1143412113824946752006-03-26T23:27:00.000+01:002006-03-26T23:28:33.826+01:00

Today, we all woke up an hour later. The effect is that the sun now sets at a very respectable evening hour. Perhaps I imagined it but it seemed to me like I heard everyone sigh in relief. Mind you, I really wish that we were on summer time all the time. The switching back to winter time makes no sense to me. You end up going to work in the dark anyway so at least you could leave work while it

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1143411997429953452006-03-26T23:24:00.000+01:002006-03-26T23:26:37.446+01:00

It was a difficult day yesterday. My wife and daughter were in the other room and I was talking with a friend when we heard a crash and a cry. The tyke had fallen, clearly. I froze, as I do whenever I hear that. Then, I heard my daughter’s cry – good, she’s still breathing – and my wife’s cry – not good, it must be serious. I rushed towards the other room only to see my wife rushing out holding

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1143212286803831132006-03-24T15:57:00.000+01:002006-03-24T15:58:06.840+01:00

I’ve spent most of my thirty something years trying to get educated. All the more reason for me to be ashamed of how little I know about such men as Voltaire and Pascal – both of whom should by all rights be something of a role model for anyone who, like myself, thinks fondly of the Enlightenment. I had read Candide years ago but little apart from that. One the things that I find positive about

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1143114279898280972006-03-23T12:44:00.000+01:002006-03-23T16:59:29.453+01:00

Every time this winter looks like it is finished it just comes back to give us more of the same – just the other day we had yet another short snow-fall. Most of the snow that is lying on the ground, however, has been here since before New Year’s. Given the few above zero days we’ve had it is now looking pitted and ugly, the omnipresent puddles all freezing overnight and turning into ice just in

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1141072554022112482006-02-27T21:31:00.000+01:002006-02-27T21:37:07.326+01:00

I’ve decide to change the quote at the foot of the page – not that it is all that noticeable. While I am very fond of Dave Allen I find that a particular thing that Niels Bohr said is most condign - Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question. I might add that while Bohr was born in Copenhagen, the city seems far more keen on celebrating H.C. Andersen by

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1140995524683997772006-02-27T00:10:00.000+01:002006-02-27T20:25:14.470+01:00

The Australian finance minister Peter Costello – being a responsible, competent politician – has been doing his best to smooth the tensions following the riots in Sydney a few weeks ago. Well, I figure he must have been, though I find it hard to understand how his actions will lead to such a result: Mr Costello said migrants who did not respect Australia's laws and traditions should lose

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1140822848890433272006-02-25T00:13:00.000+01:002006-02-27T00:21:34.343+01:00

Was the Mona Lisa more beautiful just after Da Vinci painted it or is it more beautiful now? And I do not mean due to the natural deterioration of the paint and canvass. The question seems nonsensical. The Mona Lisa was as beautiful then as it is now, is the obvious answer. So why am I asking the question? I had never been into the avant-garde. As the famous twentieth century composer

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1140820834646060912006-02-24T23:38:00.000+01:002006-02-24T23:40:34.680+01:00

Reading the news from the US, I often come across information about creationism. Thankfully, we don’t have much of a problem over here in Europe. Of course, the Church has its view about divinely-guided evolution (though why God would have to guide it if he can foresee the end result is beyond me). However, neither creationism nor the ID monster it has transmogrified into are much in evidence

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1139945884651104902006-02-14T20:16:00.001+01:002006-02-16T23:05:21.846+01:00

A Polish pop-culture magazine Machina has added to the recent spate of images that have caused consternation and angry reactions by putting on its cover the following image:To understand the image it is necessary to get some background. The face of the woman in the picture is known around the world (the child is her daughter, Lourdes). The clothes, however, belong to another Madonna – the Black

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1139767227170617292006-02-12T18:51:00.000+01:002006-02-12T19:00:27.193+01:00

The parents of the children from the Colorado elementary who were shown a video of the opera Faust claimed that their children had been traumatised. I guess it would have been better if they had stayed at home and read The Lord’s Word – there are so many morally uplifting stories about children there, after all. For example, there is the classic about the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 2.23-24:

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1139764569951263382006-02-12T18:12:00.000+01:002006-02-12T18:16:09.970+01:00

Mentioning Faust reminded me of another piece of news I’d recently come across. An elementary school music teacher in Colorado got into serious trouble when she showed a portion of an old children’s series which featured bits from the opera Faust – the parents seemed to be more concerned about Satan being mentioned than the fact their kids saw opera, I gather. The local school district supervisor

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1139742211653962772006-02-12T12:01:00.000+01:002006-02-12T12:03:32.426+01:00

I quite seriously wonder what is the reason why Christians are hypocritical so often. Just a couple of weeks ago I mentioned the Pope’s stance on charity being used to convert people and, now, a new piece of news has reached me that goes way beyond the Pope’s ingenuous stance. BBC News reports: The Venezuelan government has given a Christian missionary group from the US until Sunday to

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1139572146627170482006-02-10T12:48:00.000+01:002006-02-10T12:49:06.650+01:00

A couple of days ago in discussing the Muhammad cartoon row I mentioned Robert Fisk as someone who is very much worth reading when it comes to discussions of the Middle East. I should have mentioned another writer – this one an academic rather than a journalist – who is very dependable when it comes to going in-depth into Middle Eastern matters. Juan Cole runs a blog with a well chosen name –

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1139406148363788982006-02-08T14:40:00.000+01:002006-02-08T14:42:28.386+01:00

Over the last few days I have read very many things about the Muhammad cartoon row, both those written by journalists and those written by normal, every-day people. Among them there have been a great number of comments which basically said – It’s just a stupid cartoon, by reacting the way they have to it, the Muslims have once again shown themselves to be crazy, religious fanatics. For my part,

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1139097268197669252006-02-05T00:52:00.000+01:002006-02-05T01:33:20.703+01:00

Just watched an episode of Penn and Teller’s Bullshit! on the Bible. The exclamation mark is well-deserved – a well put together, surprisingly thoughtful, fun, no-nonsense show that really hits Christianity where it hurts, i.e. in the Bible. I have no idea what the actual reaction to that show was in the States. But a particular comparison comes to mind - Penn and Teller have all the bravery and

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1139093409876266112006-02-04T23:47:00.000+01:002006-02-04T23:50:09.893+01:00

I am feeling very conflicted about the row over the Muhammad cartoons. I have now seen them and most of them are just plain obnoxious. I am sure that if I was an Arab or a Muslim I would be grossly offended. Mind you, I’d be writing a letter to an editor and not burning buildings down. Of course, everyone is trying to roast their own marshmallows on the bonfire. The latest to jump on the

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1138906979117114282006-02-02T20:01:00.000+01:002006-02-02T20:06:28.576+01:00

As the BBC News reports, it seems that much of the world is agog over the controversy of several European papers printing pictures of the Prophet Muhammad. Guys with guns are demonstrating while guys with armies are sending envoys. What is very important and not at all clear from the reports is whether the cartoons merely depicted Muhammad or, whether, they were actually derogatory towards the

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1138892886362706672006-02-02T16:06:00.000+01:002006-02-02T16:09:44.916+01:00

I was just thinking about the great Dylan line: Ah, but I was so much older then,I'm younger than that now. I often feel that way, especially ever since I’d turned thirty. This time, just as I was thinking about the line, the music player I’ve got running in the background started to play “My back pages”, the song from which comes the line. Now, there are two explanation that

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1138832463315680142006-02-01T23:19:00.000+01:002006-02-01T23:21:03.346+01:00

Something that I’ve always found interesting is the differences between traditional Christian practices and view-points and those of traditional Jews. The comparison is fascinating for a number of reasons. One is that both faiths are relatively closely related, one being an out-growth from the other. Another reason is to see how differently a number of things are treated by religious Jews as

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1138711658884698642006-01-31T13:40:00.000+01:002006-01-31T13:51:28.126+01:00

I’d heard of the terrible twos before but I hadn’t expected to experience them so early. Our tyke is not yet 16 months old and she’s already well into the stage during which she is constantly testing the limits of what we’ll let her get away with. The moment something is not going according to her requirements she will throw a hissy fit, which is funniest when she isn’t clear in her mind what she

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1138204483580471962006-01-25T16:51:00.000+01:002006-01-25T16:54:43.600+01:00

Go to the Vatican site and search for ‘truth’. You will get 4194 hits. I quote from some below. John Paul II to Australian academics in 1986: By dedicating yourselves to human learning, you declare your willingness to stand face to face with truth – the truth about man as he relates to the whole world, to all creation. In so doing, you proclaim to the world the Author of creation. Indeed

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1138201933919862992006-01-25T16:10:00.000+01:002006-01-25T16:16:01.576+01:00

More Vatican dissonance. Here is some of what Reuters writes about the Pope’s encyclical: "Our times call for a new readiness to assist our neighbours in need," he wrote. Catholic charity organisations cannot be used as a tool to win converts from other religions -- something which some in non-Christian countries fear. "Love is free. It is practised as a way of achieving

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1138200737693268832006-01-25T15:51:00.000+01:002006-01-25T15:52:17.710+01:00

Two bits of news from the Vatican. The first is that the new Pope’s first encyclical is out and in it he speaks of love and charity. The second is that the Vatican is going to enforce copyright on anything that the Popes (and the Roman Curia) have written or said in the last fifty years. Am I the only one who can feel the dissonance between these facts? The Vatican is enforcing copyright for

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1137974034755492822006-01-23T00:53:00.000+01:002006-01-23T09:26:49.083+01:00

Finished reading The Seduction of Unreason. The weakest chapter seems to be the one where Wolin looks at Anti-Americanism. The problem isn’t that he is wrong that for many writers the attitude is an automatic pose. Rather, he fails to make his case that the attitude of today’s anti-Americans is the descendant of authoritarian anti-Americans of yore who feared America’s claims to democracy were

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1137972442754879412006-01-23T00:00:00.000+01:002006-01-23T00:27:22.766+01:00

... when you have snow drifts deep enough to hide a lion’s body till spring and temperatures so low that even the Fahrenheit goes into negative scores. This winter is getting seriously dangerous. And, if that wasn’t enough, while Europe is suffering through one of the coldest winters on record, parts of the Antipodes are boiling away in temperatures that refuse to fall below 40 degrees Celsius.

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1137620788694075622006-01-18T22:44:00.000+01:002006-01-23T00:07:16.413+01:00

One day while I was in high school my class went to the school library where the librarian told us how important and how much fun it is to read. Later, while the kids walked about the library, mostly mucking about, rather than looking at books, the librarian took each one of us aside one-by-one to sign something that was meant to be a reading contract where we would pledge to read some number of

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1137616919904550812006-01-18T21:06:00.000+01:002006-01-23T00:06:11.630+01:00

About a year ago I was visited by friend who'd never seen snow. For him, seeing snow falling for the first time was a thing of wonder. He walked out of the house and stood watching the flakes descending ; their motion strangely hypnotic and seemingly too slow to believe. I also remember one particular snow-fall when great flakes began to fall in the middle of the city and it was as if someone had

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1136591238100997252006-01-07T00:45:00.000+01:002006-01-07T00:47:18.116+01:00

It was still dark when I woke up the other day. I had a couple of hours before I had to rise and I did not feel like sleeping. I had had a dream and, though I no longer recall it, this was enough to put me in the mood to consider where I was in my life. As the sky slowly grew brighter I thought back to when I was a teenager in high school and then at university. I thought about how seriously I

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1136368123424211322006-01-04T10:47:00.000+01:002006-01-04T10:49:34.226+01:00

Finished reading Sagan’s book (The Demon-Haunted World). I was very glad to see that he was very much aware of and valued the political significance of scepticism. Pity he isn’t around any more. Among other things, he looks at Thomas Jefferson, showing how Jefferson’s scientific frame of mind was related to his political actions. In the course, Sagan writes about what Jefferson was up against:

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1136159700083893982006-01-02T00:54:00.000+01:002006-01-04T10:51:46.730+01:00

I’m reading Carl Sagan’s Demon-Haunted World. Quite good. It is clear that he is trying to be as fair to everyone as it is possible and is very open about his own limitations. Still, I think he goes a little bit too easy on religion. He claims that there is the possibility of religion which does not make empirical claims but is still useful in the role it plays in terms of shaping ethics and so

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1136158276398970162006-01-02T00:30:00.000+01:002006-01-02T00:31:16.410+01:00

Anybody got a pair of skis I could borrow? Over the New Year’s Weekend we were pretty much snowed in here. In the end a snowplough did manage to make it down our street – just in time to wreck much of the work I had done in clearing the snow off the footpath outside our house. Well, more like shovelling it into a big long pile down one side of the footpath. Now the snow has started to melt a

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1135814973595673232005-12-29T01:01:00.000+01:002005-12-29T01:09:33.620+01:00

I was listening to a radio interview the other day and the person being interviewed - an American - kept on saying things like “I have the right to do what I want to” and “No-one has the right to stop me.” At first I just let the words flow over me not really even noticing them but, then, I found the phrases more and more grating. They reminded me of the great number of times I’d heard those same

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1135807279362683262005-12-28T22:59:00.000+01:002005-12-28T23:03:35.186+01:00

Among the presents I received this year were a couple of DVDs of Monty Python movies. One of them was Life of Brian so we watched it over at my in-laws’ house in the evening on Christmas day. It had been quite a few years since I’d seen it last so I had forgotten many of the scenes. Also, being older I was able to appreciate some of the things the Pythons did in that movie. For example, the way

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1135374484621820722005-12-23T22:47:00.000+01:002005-12-23T22:48:04.633+01:00

The United States is now in the thick of its annual tradition of hating non-Christians and anyone else who dares to wish anybody Season’s Greetings. Thankfully, on this side of the Pond we are only hearing the distant rumblings of all those Scrooges. The one good thing about it has been that it has made me about the what the actual reason for the season is. Of course, it has nothing to do with

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1134848821040470082005-12-17T20:44:00.000+01:002005-12-17T20:47:01.053+01:00

I have been reading some of the stuff coming out of the US in relation to the moral panic surrounding Christmas. I can not help but think that if Grinch had been clever he would have done exactly what some fundamentalist Christians are doing – insisting that the holiday period be made specifically Christian, with signs of pluralism to be wiped away. Of course, the call to put Jesus back in

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1134427885050067982005-12-12T23:50:00.000+01:002005-12-12T23:51:25.073+01:00

When I first met my wife, six years ago now, she was still very much a girl. She was at university, had always lived with her parents and has only a limited idea about life. She was also vibrant, cheerful and filled with curiosity about the world. In the time since then she has, of course, matured. She has become competent and confident in her job. At the same time, I take pleasure at watching

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1134425400929234742005-12-12T23:03:00.000+01:002005-12-12T23:14:15.323+01:00

I started writing this blog exactly one year ago. One year ago my daughter was just about two months old and spent most of her time staring at the ceiling. I still remember her eyes when I first saw her – expressionless and sucking the whole world into their dark orbs – a little alien that had landed among us and was gathering information about her new surroundings. Today she is running around,

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1133778691284926642005-12-05T11:31:00.000+01:002005-12-05T11:31:31.296+01:00

More brilliance from my daughter. She’s fourteen months old and she has learned how to recognise shapes so as to match holes with blocks. Still has a problem turning the blocks the right way though she’s realised she can get a long way by just slowly turning them and jiggling until they fit. For a long time now she’s known a phrase “No mo” i.e. “No more” which she uses when something is missing,

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1133777693880761762005-12-05T11:12:00.000+01:002005-12-05T11:32:03.136+01:00

Imagine the scene, if you will. A couple of guys made a deal with a mafia boss and they’re a bit worried if he’s going to come through so they have been asking the Don’s wise guys if everything is O.K. One day his limo rolls up to their place, the Don steps out and walks on into their house, “I heyd yas bin trabbled. Yas bin sayn yas not so sure da Don’s gonna come throo fer ya? Wassamater? We’s

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1133278847759795292005-11-29T16:39:00.000+01:002005-11-29T16:40:47.780+01:00

The Vatican has published guidelines regarding homosexuals and priesthood. I have no idea why anyone who is a homosexual would in this day and age even consider becoming a priest, given the Church’s antediluvian attitude, but what I found interesting was an apparent dissonance in what the Vatican is saying. Thus, quoting from BBC News: The document, drafted by the Vatican's Congregation for

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1133221088729943312005-11-29T00:36:00.000+01:002005-11-29T00:38:08.743+01:00

That it actually stands for something. That’s what. So it is good to see that it is going after the secret CIA prisons and treating them as exactly what they are. As the BBC News report states: [The EU Justice Commissioner] said a suspension of voting rights would be justified if any country is found to have breached the bloc's founding principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1133162422847309932005-11-28T08:20:00.000+01:002005-11-28T08:23:41.893+01:00

The other day my daughter pointed to herself when asked where the pumpkin was. She’s not even fourteen months old and I hadn’t expected her to do that for another four months or so, as it seems to me that being aware of its own existence isn’t something that comes till a child is about eighteen months old. Another example of my pumpkin’s brilliance is how she picked up on plastic container and

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1133161886902218632005-11-28T08:10:00.000+01:002005-11-28T08:11:26.920+01:00

It’s dark most of the time, it’s cold and there is snow everywhere. I really wish that I was somewhere more southern, brighter, warmer and with a bigger range of colours in the palette. At least the sky is beautiful today – a light blue that it only gets on cloudless winter days. O.K. So if you just look at the snow on the trees and the icy blue of the sky it actually is quite nice. Especially if

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1132960305585492642005-11-26T00:11:00.000+01:002005-11-26T00:14:26.893+01:00

Tolerance is an interesting word. At first it seems to be a very positive word which is all about what is necessary for different people to get along together. After all, if society lacks tolerance, it punishes being different in any visible way. Doesn’t it? Well, the thing is that when I think about it I do not tolerate homosexuals. What do I mean? Much the same thing as I mean when I say that I

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1132926481519542182005-11-25T14:46:00.000+01:002005-11-25T14:48:01.536+01:00

I’m reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond and I can heartily recommend it. Here’s what he has to say about copulation: Whatever the main biological function of human copulation, it is not conception, which is just an occasional by-product. In these days of growing human overpopulation, one of the most ironic tragedies is the Catholic Church’s claim that human

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1132365457660241492005-11-19T02:53:00.000+01:002005-11-19T02:57:37.676+01:00

I am glad to have managed to put some of my thoughts about what is happening in America on paper but I feel somewhat drained having done so and, at the same time, concerned that I am becoming as one sided as the so called ‘debate’ in America. So, I should mention just two of the many wonderful places in America that I have had the pleasure of visiting. The first is MoMA in New York. The place

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1132362896449489132005-11-19T02:08:00.000+01:002005-11-19T02:14:56.483+01:00

Over the last few months I have been reading a lot of different Americans. I have read blogs, I have read magazines, I have read online papers and journals. And everywhere I have been struck by one thing above all others – the tenor of discourse has grown so vitriolic as to disallow any communication beyond what is offered by chest pounding. Now, I have my own load of vitriol but I try to save it

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1132354666174469062005-11-18T23:47:00.000+01:002005-11-18T23:57:46.190+01:00

I have mentioned Bob Harris’ blog on a couple of occasions. Another person with a blog, whom I haven’t mentioned though have been meaning to, is Wil Wheaton. Wil’s name ought to be familiar to anyone who, like me, spent his adolescence watching Star Trek: The Next Generation as he played the role of Wesley Crusher, the somewhat annoying wonderboy that all of the trekkie nerd boys were supposed

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1132351719384545242005-11-18T23:07:00.000+01:002005-11-18T23:08:39.403+01:00

I sometimes write messages on various discussion lists and, when the topic comes up, do not stop myself from making comments about the disaster that is the Bush administration. The other morning I got a private message from a person on one of these lists challenging me to go and look at a film that someone had done which tries to show that Fahrenheit 9/11 was biased. When challenged like this the

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1132060329985820502005-11-15T14:10:00.000+01:002005-11-15T14:28:02.446+01:00

President Bush is to be commended on his successes. Though I was somewhat critical earlier, the ever growing list of brilliant policy decisions and bold moral stances his administration has taken has convinced me that it is a pity he can not run for President again. Allow me to give examples: His dogged insistence on not taking more than minimal time off in what he sees as a crucial time

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1131979146902814202005-11-14T15:38:00.000+01:002005-11-14T15:39:06.943+01:00

Just recently some people in Russia celebrated the anniversary of the October 1917 revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power (according to one site, 200,000 people in all). Some of those people are still willing to walk out in public holding up placards of Stalin among whose many achievements were: The Great Purge Holodomor Gulag So, when I hear about people who still support

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1131288380565865062005-11-06T15:45:00.000+01:002005-11-14T14:37:08.336+01:00

Here’s another argument against the existence of God. It is now three thirty in the afternoon here and it is starting to get dark. In an hour it will be as dark as midnight. The short daylight hours are starting to drive me insane. I will soon be the batty neighbour who sits outside his house sunbathing stark naked in the middle of winter, all just to catch the few hours of light we do get here.

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1131284425272456312005-11-06T14:36:00.000+01:002005-11-06T15:46:41.090+01:00

My daughter is now 13 months old and her favourite book is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. She’ll come up to me, point at the book shelf and say “Boo, boo.” When I take out two books she always points to Carle’s book and when I start reading she insists on first turning to the page where the caterpillar turns into a butterfly and then sticking her little fingers into the tiny holes

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9583359.post-1131282914274182822005-11-06T14:13:00.000+01:002005-11-06T14:15:14.286+01:00

I’ve been thinking about the fact that well over a third of all Americans think that the US government has been contacted by aliens. This means that the promise to reveal secret government files on Area 52 might be a very good political platform. In between that and revealing the truth about Big Foot someone might get the numbers to start moving into Pennsylvania Ave. Good thing that voting

Notorious Apostatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13994167909604152674noreply@blogger.com0