Richard Wiseman is going to be one of the speakers at TAM London. I can hardly wait. Press the little dark gray square next to the volume control to go full screen, just in case you can’t figure it out….Mum.
June 27th 2009
June 23rd 2009
Oh man this makes me so angry,
When I read this story it made me both really mad and really sad in equal measure. This is being reported as India’s Romeo and Juliet tragedy and for once the media’s poetic language seems very apt. Amreen, a Muslim woman, met Lokesh, a Hindu man, and the two of them fell in love and ran away together to get married. This is where the story should end, with two young people in love and starting the rest of their lives together. Unfortunately religious prejudice decided to raise its ugly head in the form of the village council. When they found out they had the young couple brought before then and were threatened with death and told that their marriage would not be allowed. Devastated by this news Amreen and Lokesh promptly went out, drank poison and killed themselves. Now this is obviously bad enough by itself, but what really made me see red were to comments of the village chief, Achan Singh.
“The boy and girl were told that their marriage would not be allowed. They would have to leave each other or else they would be killed,” he said in a matter of fact way.
Pressed further, Mr Singh sympathised with the couple but said they had made a fatal mistake.
“You see, they fell in love and then ran away to get married. They should have stayed away and lived in the city.
“In our village, Hindus marry Hindus and Muslims marry Muslims. It’s very sad, what happened but what can you expect? The pressure on their families was enormous. They were being disgraced and dishonoured.”
I won’t tell you exactly what I said when I first read that, just that it sounded very similar to ducking barstools. Yes the pressure on their families was enormous, but it was coming from you you fat nosed shithead so how dare you claim to be sad about it. This kind of bigoted thinking just makes me sick. The only good thing to come of this, if good can be used to describe anything involved with this situation, is that the local police have charged the entire village council with abetting suicide. Throw the book at them I say. These people care more about the illusion of honour than they do about the lives of their children.
And relax.
June 19th 2009
As most of you will have noticed I have recently changed the header on my website to a link to the Sense about science website, specifically to their statement aimed at changing English libel laws. I just read an article on this subject that made me realise I never actually put up a post explaining why I support this change, and so I thought I would do so now. However it has been a long week and I just don’t feel like doing a lot of writting right now so I will simply copy Simon Singh’s article below the fold and advise you read it. All I will add is that libel laws in this country are designed in such a way that the burden off proof rests upon the person being accused of libel. This basically means that in libel cases you are guilty until proven innocent. The person accusing you of libel doesn’t have to prove that what you said about them was wrong, instead you have to prove that what was said was the truth. This is completely the opposite way round to how things are done in the vast majority of other countries in the world and means that just the threat of libel is enough to silence most critics. This just isn’t cricket.
If you think that free speech is important then get over to the Sense about science website and add your name to the list. The current libel laws allow organisations like the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) to silence people who speak out against their pseudo-scientific practices. This puts people’s health at risk. If people are unable to point out that a claim is unsupported by any scientific evidence without the fear of massive legal fees then anyone with enough legal clout can push their unsupported and potentially dangerous treatments on the general public. This has to change.
UPDATE: 19/06/09 - Actually reading that has inspired me to go and buy Simon Singh’s book on this subject entitled Trick of Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial. Just doing my little bit to fight the MAN!
June 19th 2009
I’m really not sure I need to add anything to this story, as it pretty much speaks for itself and doesn’t require any reading between the lines on your part to see why I find this kind of strict adherence to religious dogma so ridiculous.
A couple have taken legal action after claiming motion sensors installed at their holiday flat in Dorset breached their rights as Orthodox Jews.
Gordon and Dena Coleman said they cannot leave or enter their Bournemouth flat on the Sabbath because the hallway sensors automatically switch on lights.
The couple’s religious code bans lights and other electrical equipment being switched on during Jewish holidays.
They have now issued a county court writ claiming religious discrimination.
They also claim breach of their rights under the Equality Act 2006 and Human Rights Act 1998 and the case is due to be heard at Bournemouth County Court next month.
I mean do you really believe that your God is so judgemental and small minded that he would punish you for this kind of unintentional breach of your religious laws? Yeah I know I said I wouldn’t comment but I have to ask if these people should be leaving the house at all on the Sabbath if they are this strict about following the laws. No switching on of lights means no indicators or headlights on cars, though they probably can’t drive on the Sabbath anyway. No using pedestrian crossings or do they just have to wait until someone else presses the button. No lifts, no door bells, no sounding fire alarms. I think it best they just stay inside for their safety and for ours.
June 15th 2009
So did anyone else catch the first two episodes of Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire over the weekend? I’m going to go out on a limb and say the answer is no. Heck, I knew it was on and I still ended up missing it and having to download it from iPlayer. For those of you who don’t know this is a new British comedy set in a dungeons and dragons style fantasy world and starting Sean Maquire as the central character Kröd Mandoon and Matt Lucas as the villainous Dongalor. Yeah I know what you’re thinking but despite all that it was actually rather funny…well at least much funnier than most of the crap masquerading as “comedy” that has come out of the UK in recent years.
The story revolves around Kröd, and his gang of hapless freedom fighters, who are on a mission to rid the land of the evil Dongalor and the Xanusian Empire. While trying to rescue his mentor, General Arcadius, from jail Kröd discovers the he is “The Golden One” (Kröd: What’s the Golden One? Arcadius: It’s a less clichéd way of saying the chosen one, but it is essentially the same thing) the central figure in an ancient prophecy. Wackiness ensues.
It’s really rather difficult to describe this show. The comedy style had hints of programs Little Britain with their character driven gags, but then it is possible that I am just thinking this because Matt Lucas is in it. For some reason it reminded me a lot of Shaun of the Dead as most of the laughs came from every day conversations at completely inappropriate times and places. One example that springs to mind is when Kröd is about to go into battle and asks one of his gang to pass on his necklace to his girl friend should he not survive. This sparks conversation about how cheep the necklace is and whether that is really the message he wants to be sending to his love, meanwhile the bad guy is trying to chat up the daughter of someone he just killed. It is a bit surreal but it raised a smile.
At the end of the day the show had a lot more in common with modern British movie comedy than modern British TV comedy, and not just because it has very high production value for a TV show. As to whether it is actually funny or just funnier than the other options I will leave up to you. It made me chuckle and even laugh out loud a few times, but then I laughed at Rambo so I’m probably not the best judge of these things. Either way there is one very good reason to tune into this show:
June 11th 2009
I wish I could say this surprised me,
Some things are just so stupid that you just can’t adequately put them into words. Take this news story for example.
KINGSVILLE, Texas (AP) — In this friendly little ranching town, “hello” is wearing out its welcome. And Leonso Canales Jr. is happy as heck.
At his urging, the Kleberg County commissioners on Monday unanimously designated “heaven-o” as the county’s official greeting. The reason: “hello” contains the word “hell.”
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
June 10th 2009
It finally looks like it is going to happen. Yup, that’s right, that dream many of us have had for years looks like it is going to come true. They are finally going to make an A Team movie. Rumour has it that Liam Neeson will star as the great John “Hannibal” Smith, while The Hangover star Bradley Cooper is set to play Templeton “Faceman” Peck. The story will be brought up to date with the A Team being veterans of the Iraq war rather than Vietnam. It is also rumours that it will be directed by Ridley Scott…or not. Actually I have no idea what is going on and it is possible it won’t happen after all. Man don’t you love it when I bring you important news like this?
On a completely unrelated note I came across this comic that made me chuckle. It is a little rude so I have put it below the fold.
June 8th 2009
Pirates and cute Swedish girls, where do I sign?
This story made me smile. It seems that the Swedish Pirate Party has landed itself a seat in the EU. Er, yeah, so that’s pretty much all there is to the story. Do we have a pirate party in this country? If so I may have to vote next election.
June 6th 2009
The Skeptical Toolkit - The Placebo Effect,
Wow, ok so this subject took a lot more work and research than I was expecting. I really expected to get this done last week in an afternoon but instead it took me all that time just to read up on the subject. As Ben Goldacre said in his book Bad Science the placebo effect is one of those subject that seems simple at first but about which you could write entire books and not even scratch the surface. But don’t worry, I’m going to try to keep this as short as possible and just cover the basics as well as a few interesting little facts. What? Yes I know I have an inability to keep anything short, but I’m going to try. See, my introductions is over already.