It's OVER HERE

In 1977, Paul MacReady and Peter Lissaman, from AeroVironment, won the Kremer Prize for Human Powered flight in a striking aircraft they named Gossamer Condor. They named their craft in tribute to the largest flying land birds in the western hemisphere, The Condors. Later, in 1979, the pair followed up this initial success with a crossing of the English Channel, with an aircraft they named in honour of an accomplished and famed gliding bird, and possessor of the world's longest wingspan. The name? Gossamer Albatross. When it came time to go one step further and experiment with a solar-powered version of these two pioneering aircraft,...

This This This This and This Oh, and the ABC used obvious-nutcase-is-obvious Meryl Dorey to comment on a story about which she knows nothing at all. This is why there are days where, given the chance, I would gladly push the big red button that disentegrates the planet.

Image: Vanity Fair

So. My checklist from yesterday's Newtown Festival Disgusted at Newtown Community Chiropractic's utter quackery - check Tell "psychic" to fuck off because you don't give a fuck about his sincerely held but deeply stupid beliefs - check Have argument with creationist; have creationist prematurely declare "victory" halfway through a sentence; call creationist an "arseclown" - check Sing song containing the word "cunt" on the ukulele - check    aaaaaaaaaand.... check Attempt to avoid festival altogether by hitting the pub instead - partial success ...

It's often said that in an infinite universe, everything is possible - indeed probable. This "infinite potential" is often viewed in an overwhelmingly positive light. Indeed, the word "potential" is almost exclusively used in a positive sense, especially by industries such as marketing, education, finance and #SMEG. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a misapplication of everything we know about the universe. You see, in a universe of infinite potential, it is probably more likely that you'll encounter eye-gouging horror than anything else. If there can exist unicorns which fart cherry-flavoured rainbows, there must also be not only sharks, but kelvar-armoured flying sharks...

There are two ways the following soundbite, from the Daily Telegraph, may have unfolded: Possibility one: The person in question, and the journalist reporting, really seem to think that poverty is defined by the inability to afford frozen chips instead of potatoes and oysters once a month, the line being delivered by a 27-year old uggbooted, chainsmoking, holden-labelled tracksuit wearing mother of six, having been accosted in Kempsey IGA by a first-year journalism student on a torturous internship for News Ltd. The line, for greatest effect while reading out loud, should be read in the broadest ocker you can summon, and prefixed with a solid, nasal "YEEEEEEEEAAAAAH MATE"....

I bought a can of popular energy drink "Mother" just a while ago. Emblazoned upon the can in question is the following legend:   50mls more, eh? Oh good, that has to be a good thing, right? I mean, it's more, and that's good. More is awesome. But, wait. What's this? A footnote? Let's have a look what the footnote says:   Yes, dear reader, Mother feels that it is appropriate to tell you, by means of a footnote, that 300ml is 50ml more than 250ml. We're fucked. Totally fucked.

On walking to the pub I just saw an adshel poster advertising.... well.... see for yourself.   Yes, professional chewing gum. Which implies the existence not only of professional chewers, but of a sufficient population of professional chewers to support a whole brand. Ladies and gentlemen, we're fucked.

I'd seriously never seen this argument before, but christians now seem to be coming out with this more and more often. OK, what's hard to understand that, during the last millennium, Europe was the major colonial power, and that Europe used a christian calendar? And that we still use it because to change it would be expensive, absurd and largely pointless? Are they really this stupid? Yes they are *sigh*

Professor Clive Hamilton is the latest voice in The Australian's ongoing blog series about CleanFeed. Read this, then read this. I think you'll see my first objection to the professor's article. His hatchet-job employment of the slippery slope argument is a collossal fallacy that fails to address the anti-cleanfeed lobby's actual objections to the proposed filter. He then goes on to employ strawmen as low-rent caricatures of the opposition, and repeats several already-addressed objections on GetUp's use of test data, then throws out some more strawmen. There is a simple, currently available, low-impact solution to Clive's extreme, fallacious example: Kids should not have unfettered access...

Yes, Sydney's newspaper of record struggles to spell "grammar". Delicious irony.   link

I'm on twitter. Twitter is a wonderful place. I've met some amazing people and I've been having an absolute blast, so when I sat down at the computer last night with a bottle of red, intending to surf and tweet, it was with a light heart. I was happy. Websinthe and I follow each other, and we had a great exchange in which both us big manly men admitted to being big bloody wusses really. I had a little cry, because of things said over twitter. It might well have been the high-point of my twitterlife so far. So I guess it...

Oh, for fuck's sake... Ontological Argument When you say that no evidence is offered by this argument, you seem to be ruling out immediately the possibility of an a priori argument for the existence of God. As a methodological conclusion, a bit more is required. In any event, I agree that there is something wrong with this argument. Then again, there may be forms of the argument that get past your objection that it also proves the existence of any imaginary kind of thing. Consider this simple form: 1. God is, by definition, the most powerful person. 2. Persons that exist are more powerful...

I've been trying, for quite some time now, to post this response on Toongabbie Anglican's website. All I got was fucking fail:  I'm a bit fucking annoyed about this. Still, I saved the comment and can post it here. Original thread HERE. Hi David, I can understand why you’d feel a little intimidated at the thought of entering a pub full of atheists. After all, you may interrupt us while we’re eating babies and plotting our next shopping mall rampage. Obviously we couldn’t let you out alive if that happened. Note: that is a joke. Anyway, as for discussion with Sydney Atheists as a...

A contingent of Sydney Atheists ran a little sidequest this evening, off to Toongabbie Anglican church in Sydney, where the specialised subject was: "Tough Questions: Does God Exist" Firstly, this is not a tough question, though I will admit some people have trouble. Secondly, well, nothing in the sermon added substantively to existing knowledge, which while not entirely unexpected, was slightly disappointing. We did, however, get a new argument for the existence for god. It goes like this, and forgive me if I'm misremembering. If you're annoyed about this, L2 read my title bar. So a christian sits down with an atheist and over...

Many media outlets are reporting on this, most under their "entertainment" sections, and this being the case, you may wonder, if you're not already in the know, why I'm writing about it, on the homepage of a self-confessed atheist, geek, climber, curmudgeon. How can this possibly tie back to the topic this blog is ostensibly based on? Well, if you'll allow me to elaborate, this ties back to potential harm caused by religious dogma. Come with me on a journey into dogma unleashed. You see, Jett Travolta, in addition to being a 16 year old kid prone to seizures and exhibiting symptoms...

Blogging takes, y'know, dedication and shit. I don't have any of that right now and I'm probably too old to buy any. Y'know. Which might be one reason I've finally twitterfied, after all this time. As penance for this ridiculous decision, all twitter updates will contain the word "fuck" until I finally get bored with that and move on to something else. Things which are getting my goat today: IE8 Toby IE8 Lacking motivation Low levels of life in-office and around the city due to some mythical...

Sarah Palin's Churches and The Third Wave from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo. I don't think I need to comment much further than to show this video. Floor's open

Last night I attended the Great Debate at the Wesley Centre in Sydney, where along with an audience of several hundred, I watched Dr. Michael Shermer debate Professor John Lennox on the Subject: "Does God Exist?". Here is the transcript of that debate:   Moderator: Hello, I'm that bloke from the ABC, you probably recognise my voice. No? Oh. OK then. Anyway, here are the contestants who will enter thunderdome tonight. Audience: two men enter, one man leave... two men enter, one man leave... Shermer: Does God Exist? No. Thank you very much I'll see you after the show. No but seriously, try the veal....

Under the category "Bullshit kills": Homeopath's baby 'died of infections' The next time anyone opens their senseless trap and asks what harm a seemingly trivial 'alternative' belief can do, I'll show them this link, after first punching them in their fat, stupid fucking mouth. There is no evidence that homeopathy works or has ever worked, and belief in this wacky, culty, frankly fucking weird school of alternative medicine is no better than appealling to wood spirits to cure your fucking toothache, or chanting to make it rain. That anyone in this day and age could neglect genuine proven medical treatment to dose their baby...

Questions: What is the past tense of the verb to grind? ground. What is the past tense of the verb to find? found. What is the pas tense of the verb to bind? bound. And what is the past tense of the verb to mind? minded The English Language never ceases to astound. With this unpredictable weapon, anglo saxons have bamboozled and baffled other nations into complete WTFitude for centuries. This particular example has been itching the back of my brain for some time now, so to finally assuage the irritation, I hereby propose we change the verb to mind forthwith. The past tense of to mind is now...

This is Kieren and Symantha. Isn't this a terrible picture? Look at it and imagine the sort of people it suggests. Kieren and Symantha have matching pyjamas. They watch wholesome family entertainment on Channel 10, and think Rove McManus is the bee's knees. They use pet names for each other in public. Symantha still has her childhood teddy bear collection, which graces the single bed in their pastel spare room. They want to have several children "when they're ready". They drive a Prius. Slowly. It has a fish on it. They like fondue, and have matching tiger feet slippers. They drink hot chocolate from matching...

I've been cycling to work a bit lately, and the slower pace makes you notice the surroundings a bit more. I also go through a popular jogging area (The Iron Cove Bridge), and let me tell you something; Sydney has a BOBFOC problem. For those of you unfamilar, BOBFOC is an acronym which stands for Body Off Baywatch, Face Off Crimewatch. Side note: for those who don't know, Crimewatch is a TV programme in the UK during which timid viewers are terrified by reconstructions of unsolved crimes, usually with stereotypical villains and vulnerable, plain women out walking alone. You know what Baywatch is, though....

I note with interest that Sea Shepherd have found and engaged the Japanese whaling fleet in the southern ocean and are actively harrying the ships. Which kinda got me thinking. It's not really like me to side with the zealots, but in this one, I think I'm on their side. Let me expand upon this. Up until recently I'd seen Sea Shepherd as almost the naval wing of PETA, who are themselves a sort of nutty animal rights cult with some serious issues. Sea Shepherd are operating outside legal means and are subject to penalties including being treated as pirates. Yes, Pirates,...

... and creepy. I've been following the saga from afar for the last week or two. It started when PM's kid submitted a school essay highlighting her atheist viewpoint and questioning her teacher's christian one. It's escalated now to the point where a local christian minister/pastor* has tracked down the PM's identity, and has gone as far as to stalk her child to the school bus-stop, and now that local xtian nutter is subject to an order of protection, aka a Stay-The-Fuck-Away-From-The-Kid injunction. Creepy. Scary. Two words that sum up religious zealots for me. Will be keeping an eye on this as more details...

In today's so-off-the-wall-it's-funny news, Ted Haggard, disgraced jesus-nut pastor of New Life Church in Colorado springs, who you'll remember was caught out fucking a male prostitute on methamphetamine, has returned to the public eye claiming he's now completely closeted straight. This just really goes to show that religio-nuts are just crazy. They're mentally ill and need help from reputable, rational sources, not some unnamed jesus-freak brainwashing centre in Arizona. OK, that's enough sympathy for the maniacs. Ted, just give up. Admit that the whole jesus thing is bollocks and move to godless San Francisco, where you'll get all the succulent man-meat you ever...

In one of today's more "what's wrong with the world?" stories, some kid from singapore faces a jail term for logging on to his neighbour's open wireless network. I despair, I really do. Some fuckwit fails to secure his access point, and his neighbour could get three years in jail? Fuck that.

So I'm surfing the web for source images and I stumble upon this site, and find this image: To the author of the site this is the hands of god. The me, this is Godse.cx. I haven't done the background research yet, having just shot beer out of my nose on seeing the image on a serious (if slightly insane) religio-zealot's website, but I'd be willing to lay odds that this is a Fark photoshop entry or possibly a SomethingAwful forum item. My nose hurts. Update: this, trivially enough, is what I was after: "Moses, dude. Get it fucking right, OK? You're looking for a land...

"Pigeon Rights Activists" Is this really how far our species has come? We might as well give up now.

Don't you find it makes people so calm, sensible, rational and reluctant to use violence? Textbook case of a some insignificant little event escalating and moving into out-of-control territory due to the fact that religion is in the mix. Really, what do people see in the whole religion thing? Don't they notice how many religious people are utterly batshit-mental? (quick aside: I channel surfed past 'Cops' on the TV the other night to see some nutter in Maricopa County, Arizona raving on about "finding god" while amped up to the scalp on crystal meth. It would be funny were it not so tragic)

Why is it getting warmer? And what are we doing in this handbasket anyway? Professional chewing gum. I mean, really. What has our species come to? Is this, in fact, the zenith of our civilisation's achievements, heralding our peak before our precipitous descent into obscurity? Let me just say it again: Professional. Chewing. Gum. Excuse me. I'm off now to weep quietly in a corner, for our society has, finally, convinced me of its utter, utter absurdity.