New Solar Revolution’s Resolution

So I said at the end of last year that my resolution for 2009, if I were to insist on summing up my aspirations in a single pithy phrase, would be “More words”. There weren’t really any areas of my life that I thought needed a major overhaul, but I wanted to get some more [...]

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Daily Fail and Akmal Shaikh

The first I heard of it was on the Radio 1 news report that woke me up today, though I get the impression that I’m rather late to the game. This morning, a British man called Akmal Shaikh was executed in China. He’d been caught at an airport in 2007, carrying 4kg of heroin, which [...]

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I’ll blitzkrieg your grinchitude

Just a quite note from the family homestead to say Happy Christmas, everyone. Or other wishes of seasonal awesomeness if Christmas isn’t your thing. I’ll be back this weekend or shortly thereafter, with some news and probably yet more apologies for not writing anything interesting lately. Meh, I’m having a legitimate break. Hope you’re all [...]

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Randi & climate change 2: the quickening boogaloo

Well, there were other things I was hoping to get around to blogging about today. But I’m only one (lazy) man, and the Randi-centric climate change fiasco is still rendering my gears thoroughly ground. The man himself posted some follow-up remarks today. Here are some of the things he said, to clarify his position on [...]

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Ball, Randi, and climate change denialism

Okay, this is bugging me. Last night was the first of this year’s run of Nine Lessons And Carols For Godless People, a science-themed comedy and variety show orchestrated by Robin Ince. The second show is presumably in full swing as I type this, and I’ll be going myself on Friday. Reviews of last night’s [...]

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Holidays are coming

Someone at work gave me a Christmas card today, which actually mentioned Jesus. Right there on the front, a blatant reference to religion. How dare people think they can push their mystical nonsense on me like that? I shall of course be suing the NHS trust for this inexcusable intrusion onto my personal freedoms. Oh [...]

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Oddly for a Friday…

…I’m here saying stuff. – Even if you’re not in the UK, you can sign the national petition for libel reform. Libel law in England is hideously stifling, and is becoming a global embarrassment. Parts of the US are bringing in new legislation specifically to protect people from libel tourism. Jack of Kent explains in [...]

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Monopoly, Homeopathy, and Adam Baldwin, oh my!

It might be old news, but I saw one of these in a shop for the first time today. A Boutique edition of Monopoly, coloured entirely in different shades of pink. The focus is shifted from ruthlessly trading in real estate, to having lots of girly fun going shopping. Chance and Community Chest are replaced [...]

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Where the heck did this evening go?

Yes, I’m still moaning about the lack of time I find to get anything done. Couple of quick links. James Randi on Uri Geller, summing things up nicely. The guy’s made a decades-long career out of convincing people that he does real, genuine, no-foolin’ magic using psychic alien powers and no trickery whatever. If he’s [...]

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I think they meant “underdose”

Oh no! She took too much homeopathy! Wait, how does that infinitesimals thing work again? Oh, right. Billy Joel’s daughter had a fight with her boyfriend, took some homeopathy, and was later hospitalised. I’m sure those three things may have happened in that order, but I’m doubtful that there’s really a linear causal connection between [...]

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