We’re off to California on Thursday for a family trip. In this case, “family” refers to both the travellers and the destinations. (Visitors and visitees?) There will be five of us, occupying most of one row of seats in a United 757 from Boston to San Francisco, ranging in age from 10 months to 55…
Read More Travel en masseIt has been suggested that one reason I like The Divine Comedy‘s album Absent Friends is because of the lyrics to the song “Come Home Billy Bird”. I’ll let you be the judge: William wakes with his clothes on. The morning call has been and gone, And he might not make the flight but he…
Read More You be the judge….River just wrote that television stations in Baghdad broadcast the following warning: “The Ministry of Defense requests that civilians do not comply with the orders of the army or police on nightly patrols unless they are accompanied by coalition forces working in that area.†[…] It confirmed what has been obvious to Iraqis since the…
Read More Just exactly how messed up are things in Iraq?Andrew Sullivan finally realizes that there’s real discrimination against atheists here in the USA. He quotes Volokh: In 2000, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered a mother to take her child to church each week, reasoning that ‘it is certainly to the best interests of [the child] to receive regular and systematic spiritual training’; in 1996,…
Read More Sully discovers anti-atheist discriminationGood piece by Andrew Sullivan in the Sunday Times on the brilliant South Park Scientology episode. Money quote: “Orwell once remarked that one reason fascism never took off in Britain was because the sight of a goose-stepping soldier would prompt your average Englishman to giggle. Someone is now silencing the giggles. And our world is…
Read More Sully on South Park“Oi! iTunes!! Wotcha got for me today?” “Behind Blue Eyes” by the Who (from Who’s Next) “Triad” by Jefferson Airplane (from The Best of Jefferson Airplane) “Grind Me Baby” by DJ Rush (from Keoki – DJmixed.com) “Accident on 3rd Street” by Al Stewart (from Russians & Americans) “Wichita Lineman Was A Song I Once Heard”…
Read More Random 10Film: Mrs. Henderson Presents. Great story, beautifully acted, wonderful songs. (I’m going to pick up the soundtrack CD tomorrow. I was going to download it, but for some reason iTMS only has a few of the songs available.) Music: Absent Friends by The Divine Comedy (i.e. Neil Hannon). I have no idea how I managed…
Read More Two recommendationsThis is what I love about the blogosphere. One of the blogs I read regularly is Shelley Powers’ Burningbird. This evening she posted a long piece which began with a plug for a blog she really likes, 3 Quarks Daily. Shelley is usually reliable, so I clicked over and browsed, and came across this item…
Read More Why evolutionary ideas thrive in Britain better than elsewhereSave the date: We are excited to announce that on Wednesday, April 12th Harvard Book Store and Seed Magazine will cosponsor a discussion on Science in the Age of Certainty with John Brockman, Daniel C. Dennett, Daniel Gilbert, Marc D. Hauser, Elizabeth Spelke and Seth Lloyd. This event coincides with the publication of the new…
Read More "The age of certainty"? Let's talk….Andrew Sullivan sounds surprised that “if you are an American Christian, you are more likely to support torture than if you are an atheist or agnostic.” But I bet he won’t think through the implications of this… UPDATE: At least he recognizes part of the problem. Somebody must have sent him the “most mistrusted minority”…
Read More He may be surprised… I'm not.