Destroy Atheism

Still waiting.... the rapture will probably arrive quicker.

New leader?

I see that a new ISIS leader has been appointed. We all know this will not have happened via a democratic election of any kind but I can't help wondering how they decided on their new leader? I do hope it was via some kind of talent contest, perhaps they'd have called it the Semtex factor, or maybe Dancing on ISIS?

Pictures painting words

Amazing how satirical cartoons sum up situations quickly and comprehensively (see above) Doesn't make them right of course, normal standards of evidence should still be required. However, I'm surprised that they aren't more popular in the visually obsessed, media-first age we all live in.

New media

My local craft brewery (Siren) has a cool little gimmick that plays well with beer geeks (like me) they name series of beers after things like relevant movies ("pulp fiction" is relevant in this case because all these beers are massively fruity and hazy, i.e. they look like "pulp") and promote them on social-media for people to contribute and guess what the next one should be. Here's an example of the kind of thing they do, it works really well and is much cheaper than mainstream marketing channels (and more effective IMO) that world really is getting disrupted by this kind of thing. 

Anyway, I reckon it's "Zed's dead baby"..

Mid-Week Mirth

I get the same feeling when I watch old camcorder video tapes that have been transferred to digital-video and the clunky date/time symbol superimposes itself on the screen - we used to think that was so cool..

Brexit humour

Britain in decades to come...

Birthday treats

It was my Wife's birthday this weekend so I decided that we'd splash out on a decent bottle of plonk on Saturday evening to celebrate. I've had this bottle since 2012 (a gift for my 50th birthday) although it's actually now 15 years old, IMO a perfect age for a fine claret like this. It didn't disappoint, classic Pauillac from one of the lesser Rothschild producers on the Left Bank (Bordeaux) A little spicy and minty with a backdrop of wonderful rich, deep dark fruits, particularly blackcurrants, plus that soft chalky tannin thing that fine Bordeaux does so well. We quaffed it with some bread and cheese and a good movie, a very fine wine at just the right stage of development, life is good.

Fraud, pure and simple

I see that the NHS has recommended to the Government that Homeopathy should not be provided by the state; good for them! The reason is simple, there is no evidence (of any quality) that shows it's an effective treatment for anything apart from things that get better of their own accord anyway, which are then grasped with both hands by gullible people as some kind of "proof" that it does. The basis for this whole fraud is fundamentally flawed, it relies on water having some kind of spooky "memory" which has never been shown by anyone to be true. Homeopathy should therefore remain in the category of unsubstantiated or "quack-medicine" and opposed/ridiculed appropriately whenever it's wheeled out. Many people feel that it's important to do this primarily so that vulnerable people don't waste money and emotional energy on "sugar pills" when the alternatives have actually been shown (via double-blind peer reviewed studies) to work.

Towering draft

Spent the day in London yesterday as my Daughter had a school gathering to go to celebrating 250 years of her educational establishment, posh do it was too! My Son, Jack, and I decided to have a wander over to Tower Bridge via some street food in Borough Market (delicious!) we also stopped off at the Draft House just by the bridge and had a half of a lovely session IPA by BBNo (Brew By Numbers) who are based just down the road from there in Bermondsey (fresh as you like)..

This was the beer in question a light refreshing Mosaic based IPA (4.8%), delicious and just the job after a long walk around town. It feels strange these days to go into pubs with my Son, he's 18 years old now and like most parents I suspect, we still see him as a child. I can't quite get used to the idea that he'll happily and legally quaff a pint with me, he's less keen on buying them though..

Friday Smirk (late)

Damn, another border to deal with...

Mid-week Mirth

I've always wondered how otherwise highly intelligent people could truly believe the Christian idea of three entities in one creating some kind of clone of itself for the purpose of faking a human sacrifice, it's so contrived, so obviously man-made..

Europeans

Interesting table showing part of the genetic make-up of different European countries. Despite the wishes of our brexit gammon's, native English people are genetically European with high similarity to exactly who you'd expect us to be most similar to, i.e. Dutch, Belgians, Irish etc. This kind of clustering of genes is precisely what you would expect to see for an Island dwelling race that needs to trade and mingle with it's neighbors, and has been doing for thousands of years.

Marketing

Not sure this branding is quite right, especially for the quarreling couples among us..

Hammers & nails

I see that Baroness Lawrence (a Labour peer) has stuck her oar into the Grenfell Tower disaster by claiming that if the block had been full of "white" people then somehow the rescue services would have acted differently and that somehow this represents "racism". This is how the Left will eat itself. The Woman is a hammer and sees every problem as a nail, except that in her case she sees racism. On many levels this is a disgusting, insulting and paranoid statement and perhaps we should feel sorry for her, she is obviously suffering from some kind of delusional episode since her Son was murdered (that was real racism) Her problem is that by calling everything bad "racism" she simply provides cover for real racists, thereby negating her position and giving them a free-pass, i.e. no one will take her seriously anymore. I include a picture of the fire-fighters attending the Grenfell Tower fire, are they racists? I'm not paranoid but the guy in the middle looks a bit suspicious (eyebrows a bit too close together for my liking!)...

Voting with feet

American chicken fast-food chain Chick-fil-A is well known for it's controversial Christian outlook on human rights for LGBT people. The company was founded by biblical literalist S. Truett Cathy who was of the Southern Baptist flavour and was outwardly against things like gay marriage, he famously instilled those values into his company. Cathy died in 2014 but the key question for many is whether his values remain? I've never visited any of these restaurants and never will (sounds like crap food to me), but I was interested to see that a branch had opened recently in my nearest big town (Reading). No sooner had this happened than the protests started up and now I read that the outlet will have it's lease revoked by the host shopping centre and will be closed within six months. The company claims to have a pluralistic outlook these days and donates huge amounts of cash to worthy causes, I wonder if they've changed? Should we give them the benefit of the doubt or should we allow people to vote with their feet? Strange times.

Inclusive division

The Queen attended a service at Westminster Abbey this week celebrating the 750th anniversary of it's rebuilding, the only reason I know this is that my Daughter's school was represented because of a historical link with the borough of Westminster. The outgoing Dean of the Abbey (John Hall) delivered a speech in which he proposed that the state fund more "Muslim faith schools" as currently the ones in the private sector were under-funded (and by implication not very good). He went on to claim that this would help Muslims to be "incorporated" into British society.

One of my normal logical devices for interpreting religious pronouncements is to take the meaning implied and to reverse it 180 degrees, I find this often allows the assertions to more easily align with reality. How could deeper division between children at such an impressionable age help to bring more understanding and integration later in life? Every shred of evidence there has ever been suggests that if you put people in silos at a young age they tend to remain in silos, Northern Island being a great example of this effect. The only satisfactory way of integrating different faiths together is via a secular approach to education where none are given preference or prejudice and children learn about all faiths as well as their own (including none). What people talk about in the privacy of their Mosque, Church or Star-Trek convention is their own business but when it comes to tax funded education I (seriously) object to paying for indoctrination and fully support the NSS campaign on this topic.

As if to rub salt into this gaping non-sequitur The good Dean also said "he saw no evidence that religion was becoming less relevant in modern society" - this is from a man who clearly bases his worldview on what he can see from "evidence" (not!) No doubt this chap is sincere but he seems to speak as though he has never heard a single argument against his position, ever! I wonder what he sees when he looks into his bathroom mirror in his medieval regalia, almost certainly not what the rest of us see.. Apparently he is retiring soon, hopefully this will allow more time for looking at real evidence, reason and rationality, good luck to him on that!

Friday Smirk

Most believers I've ever met wouldn't recognise this, or if they did they wouldn't acknowledge the true cause of the dissonance (i.e. childhood indoctrination)

Exports down

It's amazing how changing a single letter can sum up something as complex as Brexit three years on.

Mystery

Love  this video, it shows a lump of Uranium emitting radiation (alpha-particles) in a super-cooled cloud-chamber; it makes visible something which is normally mysterious, feared and utterly baffling to most people outside of the few who have studied Physics to a reasonable level. Shame there are no such illuminating demonstrations for believers in equally mysterious things like supernatural entities, making America "great" again and the benefits of Brexit.

Tuesday Titter

Love the smell of a good pun in the morning...

Crime wave?

Interesting article in the Spectator today about a supposed "trans-phobic crime wave" happening in Oxford at the moment. Thames Valley Police have issued a statement asking people for information, the wording is as follows,

“Thames Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following a number of public offences in Oxford.

Officers are investigating a large number of offensive stickers that have been placed across Oxford city centre containing trans-phobic comments. It is believed they started appearing in March 2019 within the High Street, Catte Street and Parks Road area.

Investigating officer PC Rebecca Nightingale based at St Aldates police station said: “Behaviour like this is not acceptable and we take incidents of this nature very seriously.

“I am appealing for anyone who may of witnesses these stickers being placed around the city or anyone who has information that may assist our investigation to call the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 43190163238 or report online.

“Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crime-stoppers 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Sounds serious, until that is, you realise what is printed on aforementioned stickers, apparently TVP were reluctant to share that information but an eagle-eyed reporter simply went out and looked at some, they found stickers that said...

"Woman: noun. Adult human female" and "Women don't have penises"

Clearly the first is simply a dictionary definition and the second is an assertion that could be lifted from any GCSE Biology reference book. You have to wonder what the hell happened to our society when the police feel the need to spend our money investigating things like this? What exactly is the "crime" here, stating the bleeding obvious with littering? It's obvious that this is probably some immature student activists aiming to whip up some controversy around the current trans/pronoun/identity-politics hot-potato, but since when did we all forget the age old saying? Repeat after me, "sticks and stones may break my bones but..." etc..

Southampton beer

Spent a rain and beer filled day in Southampton yesterday. Took the train from Reading and met up with some good buddies in the city centre. The boys of the group attended the above event whilst the girls did a bit of shopping. Great line up of breweries from the South including Siren and Elusive (both local to my home) and many others from around the region. The stand-outs for me were Vibrant Forest (based in the New forest) and Eight-arch (based in Wimborne, Dorset) both presented some wonderful beers, although we only had a couple of hours so weren't able to get around all the stalls. Must look out for this event next year, good venue, music, food and beer, shame about the weather but at least it was indoors!

Above is a sample from Vibrant Forest, in the modern hazy style this fruity IPA called "Leyana" stole the show for us, we started with it and finished with it, so refreshing, a super beer. Must see if I can snag a few cans from somewhere..

Anti-vaxx bonkers

Following the above tweet from an "anti-vaxxer" Twitter delivered a swift and resounding verdict.. some of the tweets bear republishing, for example...

"Have the kid adopted by a responsible adult?"

"My kids totally changed after vaccination, now they contain immunity to preventable diseases."

"Brochures from local funeral homes?"

As if I needed to say anything, there's only one thing that vaccines cause...

Mission Accomplished

For anyone in any doubt that American politicians are more concerned with their own parochial agendas than the literal survival of their supposed "allies" they need look no further than the desperately sad plight of the Kurdish people. The Kurds in N.E. Syria have put their lives and livelihoods on the line to win Syrian territory back from the evil theocracy of Islamism (aka ISIS). Following the withdrawal of American troops from the area they now have to swallow the loss of that territory, territory gained with their own blood and bravery, to superior firepower from a Turkish army who did sweet FA to remove ISIS when they were still a force to be reckoned with. As if to rub salt into this wound we have to put up with Turkey being a NATO member. Clearly the Kurdish situation is a very complex one since they don't have their own state, but if you take a high-level perspective it's clear that the USA has now let them down on at least 3 occasions in recent times, the previous two being in N.E. Iraq. We wonder who the US is going to turn to now should ISIS re-emerge from the chaos that the Turks are inflicting, a plague on both their houses I say..

Friday Smirk

"Which one" is my standard response to any question or point regarding "God", as J&M point out, precision is clearly key when talking about the attributes of entities whose attributes cannot be known.

Christians with special relationships

Interesting development in the story about the teenager killed in a road accident by the wife of a US diplomat near a US air base in Northamptonshire in August. The person involved fled the UK claiming "diplomatic immunity" and the family of the victim have since been campaigning for her to come back and face justice. Apparently notes being held by the hairpiece in chief at a recent press briefing show that the US has already decided that Anne Sacoolas (the driver in the accident) will not return to the UK, even though he said that he'd "see what could be done". So much for a "special relationship"! People close to the diplomat in the UK described them as a "Christian Family", well, I guess that they'll be whispering the correct propitiation's to their imaginary deity to absolve them of any responsibility for this event, after all, that would be the "Christian" thing to do.. (as opposed to the moral thing)

Mid-week dad-joke

Police "kettled" an Extinction Rebellion octopus in Whitehall today, escorting it back to Trafalgar square, apparently it was heavily armed...

Climate change education..

I'm in two minds about this whole "extinction rebellion" thing. On the one hand climate change is real and if we leave it unchecked we will undoubtedly cause the deaths of millions of creatures and perhaps millions people too as nature reacts to the increase in average temperature around the globe. On the other hand what is the best way to motivate people to change their behaviour, is it the carrot or the stick? I guess the correct answer is both but it seems to me that maybe some attempt at more education might enable the pill to be swallowed a little more easily? I think we seriously need to consider how we educate children about this, remove the kid gloves (current teaching is far too timid in my view) and perhaps try a little "bottom-up" pressure on the "adults" of the world.

Turn of phrase

Doing the rounds on the inter-webs at the moment is a lovely little video of an elderly woman giving her opinion to a TV interviewer about our Prime Minister, the phrase she used was "filthy piece of tow-rag" which seems to have amused many observers. The term "tow rag" is an interesting one, it emanates from the Royal Navy where in olden days a piece of rag was attached to a rope and trailed behind the ship. The purpose of this rag was to provide sailors defecating over the side of the ship with a handy arse-wipe that could be pulled up, used, and then dropped back into the sea; where you would probably hope that its movement through the water would clean it before the next customer came along. What an interesting, economic and historic "turn of phrase"..

Monday Mirth

Care is always needed with abbreviations, always double-take..

Project fear

Questions which Brexiters struggle to answer:

• How has EU membership harmed you personally?
• How will Brexit benefit you personally?
• Which EU law are you most looking forward to losing?

Questions which Remainers find it very easy to answer:

• How has EU membership benefited you personally?
• How will Brexit harm you personally?
• Which EU law are you most worried about losing?

Colab's

Snagged a delicious birthday present this week, it's a box of six beers representing a set of collaborations between brewers from New York and London. Looking forward to sampling these beauties, particularly the one from BBNo (Brew by Numbers) & Finback since Finback was my absolute favourite brewery of 2018, you'll have to wait until December to find out who won that accolade this year!

Friday Smirk II

Scientists warn that around a quarter of UK animal species face extinction, except of course snakes, tits, leeches and weasels, all of which thrive in Westminster..

Friday Smirk

This 2009 painting by Banksy showing MP's in Parliament as chimps sold for nearly £10 million pounds recently. With everything that's going on around Brexit at the moment I think it's a painting whose time has most definitely come, hilarious!

Trees & forests

J&M pointing out a few things on religious "offence-taking", it's one of those dilemmas like the tree falling in the forest when no one is around to hear it, type things. Some people just love to be offended, it's the only way they can participate in the public debate...

What a difference a few weeks make

I see on the news that the South West of the country is receiving a beating from the climate at the moment, above is a picture of the harbor entrance at Porthleven in Cornwall (September). I used this photo because I was at this exact spot in August and it was a picture of tranquility, blue-skies and calm-seas amazing what difference a few weeks can make at our latitude.