The God Delusion and Brights

I am currently reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and am thoroughly engrossed.

It is a relief of sorts to see ideas in my mind that had been clear as mud being articulated by a brilliant mind in a clear and captivating style. I find myself exclaiming, 'EXACTLY!" every second sentence or so :D

The book is also surprisingly funny. I've laughed out loud in several places.

I've learned of many nifty things from this book, one of which is the Brights. I am now a registered Bright.

Another nifty thing for Americans and Canadians who send their kids to summer cap is Camp Quest. Entry in Wikipedia.

And for a good laff, there is this site: Hundreds of proofs of God's existence

Excerpted by Dawkins:

36. ARGUMENT FROM INCOMPLETE DEVASTATION

(1) A plane crashed killing 143 passengers and crew.
(2) But one child survived with only third-degree burns.
(3) Therefore, God exists.

37. ARGUMENT FROM POSSIBLE WORLDS

(1) If things had been different, then things would be different.
(2) That would be bad.
(3) Therefore, God exists.

38. ARGUMENT FROM SHEER WILL

(1) I DO believe in God! I DO believe in God! I do I do I do I DO believe in God!
(2) Therefore, God exists.

39. ARGUMENT FROM NONBELIEF

(1) The majority of the world's population are nonbelievers in Christianity.
(2) This is just what Satan intended.
(3) Therefore, God exists.

40. ARGUMENT FROM POST-DEATH EXPERIENCE

(1) Person X died an Atheist.
(2) He now realizes his mistake.
(3) Therefore, God exists.

41. ARGUMENT FROM EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL

(1) God loves you.
(2) How could you be so heartless to not believe in him?
(3) Therefore, God exists.

I was not familiar with the difference between a theist, deist, and pantheist before. Here's an excerpt from the book:

Page 18: "Let's remind ourselves of the terminology. A theist believes in a supernatural intelligence who, in addition to his main work of creating the universe in the first place, is still around to oversee and influence the subsequent fate of his initial creation. In many theistic belief systems, the deity is intimately involved in human affairs. He answers prayers; forgives or punishes sins; intervenes in the world by performing miracles; frets about good and bad deeds, and knows when we do them (or even think of doing them). A deist, too, believes in a supernatural intelligence, but one whose activities were confined to setting up the laws that govern the universe in the first place. The deist God never intervenes thereafter, and certainly has no specific interest in human affairs. Pantheists don't believe in a supernatural God at all, but use the word God as a non-supernatural synonym for Nature, or for the Universe, or for the lawfulness that governs its workings. Deists differ from theists in that their God does not answer prayers, is not interested in sins or confessions, does not read our thoughts and does not intervene with capricious miracles. Deists differ from pantheists in that the deist God is some kind of cosmic intelligence, rather than the pantheist's metaphoric or poetic synonym for the laws of the universe. Pantheism is sexed-up atheism. Deism is watered-down theism."

I highly recommend this book for both religious and non-religious folk.

Panda Sneeze

Nifty Mac Widget: Free SMS all around the world

Works a treat between Scooterboy in Shanghai and me in Melb.

Sahweet!

Callwave

Great Wired article on Joost

"Zennström and Friis have day jobs as Skype's CEO and executive vice president of innovation, respectively. But in the cute way that Internet billionaires can do whatever the hell they want, they're teeing up the mother of all side projects."

:D

Why Joost is Good for TV

Felipe Fernandez Armesto jailed for jaywalking in Atlanta, U.S.

Idiot cops.

"Police say a British historian was handcuffed, thrown to the ground and jailed because he refused to obey a uniformed officer's order to use a crosswalk and wouldn't show identification.

The historian says he had no idea the upset young man was a police officer.

``Where I'm from, you don't associate young gentlemen in bomber jackets with the police. But he was extremely upset I had questioned his bona fides,'' said the historian, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, a professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts and expert on colonial history."

Article in the Sydney Morning Herald

Article in the Guardian

New China, New Crisis

An interesting article on China which points out certain worrisome issues. But there is always hope:

"Over stir-fried curried chicken and crispy fried flying sea bass, the Chinese guests repeated politely and persuasively that China was making up new economic and political rules. Afterwards, I chanced to have a few words alone with one of the local rising government stars as we walked out of the complex. He kept his eyes on the ground. 'Don't allow yourself to be dissuaded, despite what you have heard. You are right that China is not different. I want my children to see a China with human rights and democratic institutions. And I am not alone.' He jumped into a taxi and was gone."

New China, New Crisis

I wonder if the article will be blocked in China. While living in China, i found that the BBC was always blocked and the Guardian often shared the same fate.

Morons of the world

Brief accounts of ridiculous lawsuits from the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch.

"ARSONISTS SUE FOR INSURANCE BENEFITS AFTER BEING DENIED COVERAGE FOR DAMAGES THEY CAUSED TO NEIGHBORING BUILDING

Two Alpena, Michigan men set an arson fire in their store with the hope of collecting insurance money. They admitted that they intended to simply have a small, smokey fire that would damage their inventory, which apparently wasn't selling very well, so they could collect on their insurance policy. However, when the fire spilled over into the adjoining store, the men sued the insurance company. They argued that they set the fire in their own store, but that the fire next door was accidental and therefore they should receive coverage for the damage to the other building. A panel of the state Court of Appeals amazingly reversed the trial court's decision to dismiss this ridiculous case, but the Michigan Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, eventually reversed the Court of Appeals and ruled that the fire "cannot be characterized as an accident.

INMATE BLAMES STATE FOR HIS FLATULENCE, THEN SUES

According to a Michigan Assistant Attorney General testifying before the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee, frivolous prisoner lawsuits are overburdening state and federal courts. In Case No. 9650302, a prisoner sued the state blaming the food in prison for his flatulence problem. The Attorney General's Office estimates the annual cost of defending the state against frivolous prisoner lawsuits to be several million dollars, all paid for by the state taxpayer."

More here.

See also M-Law's collection of hand-holding labels for idiot consumers.

Courtesy of BoingBoing.

The Loot

This morning, a buddy and I decided to investigate a book sale that had been advertised on TV. We figured, pop in, have a look-see for around 10 minutes among what would certainly be Mills&Boon type fare then get some brekkie.

We popped in. 2 hours later, arms sore from lugging half our weight in books, we staggered out of the warehouse with bags upon bags of loot.

Anyone in the vicinity of Collingwood, on the corner of Johnston and Hoddle Streets, should drop in to check out the sale at Dirt Cheap Books. All books are AUD4.99 (a handful, including I have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty, are only AUD1.99).

I found some gems including Jared Diamond's Collapse, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby, Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, Himalaya by Michael Palin and lots more (loot pictured).

There are rows upon rows of books on two levels of a massive warehouse and you could lose yourself for hours, as we did!

I highly recommend this adventure.

UPDATE: In response to Christina's comment - Hi there, apologies for not responding within the comment section. I'm currently living in Shanghai and have very limited access to my blog - can do certain things but not others. In answer to your query, yes, they are open all the time and have a number of branches (though I can't recall where the others are located off the top of my head). If you head over, join the mailing list - very handy to know when new stock has arrived and when they hold specials (yep... even cheaper than the already super cheap prices on a normal day). Have fun and happy reading! 8)

Sunset 4 Jan 2007

Happy New Year!

Have a great 2007!

Nice one for the holidays: The Pursuit of Happiness

"Take your dad to the Super Bowl. Buy a home near the office. Get married. Go out to dinner with the family. Take a memorable vacation, and be sure to buy souvenirs."

The Pursuit of Happiness: Six experts tell what they've done to achieve it

Barack Obama on Charlie Rose

The Charlie Rose interview with the future president of the US (with any luck)

Obama's inspiring speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

I found this wonderful gem today, which will be a perfect present for my sisters to celebrate 20 years in Australia since the family migrated from South East Asia.


The Arrival is a hauntingly beautiful book by Shaun Tan and is filled with stunning drawings.


"The Arrival is a migrant story told as a series of wordless images that might seem to come from a long forgotten time. A man leaves his wife and child in an impoverished town, seeking better prospects in an unknown country on the other side of a vast ocean. He eventually finds himself in a bewildering city of foreign customs, peculiar animals, curious floating objects and indecipherable languages. With nothing more than a suitcase and a handful of currency, the immigrant must find a place to live, food to eat and some kind of gainful employment. He is helped along the way by sympathetic strangers, each carrying their own unspoken history: stories of struggle and survival in a world of incomprehensible violence, upheaval and hope."


The Arrival on Amazon.

So many things to do, so little time.

For the last 6 months or so of wedding planning shenanigans, I've been hopeless with keeping up to date with the news and I have barely read any books. Now that the Big Day is over (although the boy and I have yet to write our Thank You cards - yikes), I'm just starting to ease my way back into things.

However, I find myself wishing I had more time to do everything I want to do. So many newspapers, magazines and books to read, so little time.

I've got my stack of books ready to go. Currently reading Snow Crash and The Fingerprints of the Gods, both have my imagination running wild. Can't wait to dive into Heart of Fire , The God Delusion, The Naked Scientist, Who Invented What When, The Diamond Age, The Prize, All the Shah's Men, and A Little History of the World (an excellent book which I never got to finish on my first pass for various reasons).

I'm thinking I need to get rid of the idiot box with which I have waaaay too good a relationship.

Sniff your way to a diagnosis!

Nifty!

"Australian scientists are promising a new era in the detection of brain disorders like Alzheimer's, with diagnosis through smell tests.

The University of Melbourne team has discovered a link between an inability to identify odours and at least five diseases..."

Scientists use smell tests to detect brain disorders

scooterbride!

The Big Day was a blast. Scooterboy and I had a wonderful day and Melbourne sure turned on the good weather *phew*!!

Heading off to the beach soon for a mini-moon. We hope to get away for a real honeymoon sometime next year. Will post more once I get back in a few days.

Here's a little pic from the day. A HUGE THANK YOU to our photographer, Joseph Koprek, who did an AMAZING job on the day. Joseph made us feel so relaxed and we had a lot of fun taking all the shots. He even uploaded the shots on the night of the wedding! That's efficiency all right!

Joe, if you're reading this, so many of our friends and family have commented on how brilliant the shots are.

Thanks too to Marcus, of C2 Video, the videographer, who helped bring on the fun.

Also, thank you to the rest of the Big Day Crew (see earlier post) who all came through with flying colours on the day.

Apologies for missing Angel Faces in my earlier post. Alison (hair) and Kylie (makeup) were terrific on the day and Tess who helped to put it all together was always lovely.

Tokyo ticket machines powered by footsteps

Sweet!

"JR East's new experiment consists of energy-generators under ticket wickets, a milliwatt-tracking counter, and 700,000 daily commuters. For the next two months, the railway company will be using using the vibrations of human footsteps at Tokyo Station to generate up to 100 milliwatts per second per person that walks through. The idea is to be able to generate enough electricity to power the wickets themselves and their display panels regularly." BoingBoing

Thumbs up for the big day crew!

I hope I'm not jumping the gun but I thought I would plug the excellent people whom I have dealt with to date for my wedding. I hope some Melbourne bride or groom out there will find this helpful.

All mentioned here have been professional, really friendly, helpful and a pleasure to deal with.

Wedding Gown

Sue and Christa at Brides of Armadale, High Street, Armadale. Amaline and Sue helped me to choose my dress and made the experience enjoyable and pain-free. First fitting went well and again, Sue and Christa made it an entertaining evening.

Photographer

Joseph of Joseph Koprek Photography. Down to earth, friendly and showed us some beautiful shots from previous weddings. Joseph was recommended to me by a friend whose wedding photographs worked out fantastically.

Videographer

Marcus of C2 Video. Down to earth, friendly, full of ideas. You can view a number of brilliant sample videos on his website.

Venue for ceremony and reception

Churchers on Richmond Hill. Judith and Joe have been so friendly and upbeat. They have been most helpful and happily answer questions and offer their assistance at every turn. Churchers has a beautiful, brick-paved courtyard which is most versatile. I've attended a wedding at Churchers when the couple held their ceremony in the courtyard. Scooterboy and I will hold the ceremony in an adjoining room, electing to set up the tables for the reception in the courtyard.

Bouquet

Gaylene at Flowers Vasette was an absolute delight to meet and work with. Friendly and funny, I had a great time walking through sample bouquets with her. Vasette have a wonderful selection of bouquets and arrangements. From the good old bunch of red roses to more interesting and different arrangements at a reasonable price.

Wedding Cake

The ladies at AbFab Cakes were really friendly despite my showing up without an appointment when they were incredibly busy in the shop. AbFab have a great showroom where you can wander around amongst the sample cakes and samples are free for the taking in a covered cake tray. Their chocolate cake is this-must-be-some-kind-of-sin good. My sister's wedding cake ages ago was made with this chocolate cake... a number of her guests still remember her cake to this day!

Vintage Car

TripleR - friendly and easy to deal with. They have a huge warehouse where you can wander around all the cars on offer and are free to jump into them to test them out.

Celebrant

Marie Scomazzon - Very helpful, friendly and we have greatly appreciated Marie's no-nonsense, non flappy-hands-wedding-frou-frou approach. Google "Marie Scomazzon" and her details should pop up on a number of wedding sites.

So, that's the crew to date. I hope the positive experience continues right up to the wedding!

Scooterboy's Shanghai Caper Round 2

Scooterboy set off this morning for Shanghai Misadventures Round 2. For various reasons, I will remain at home in Melbourne. He will be gone for more than a year. Missing him already.

I am forcing myself to see the glass as half full. We will travel to see each other, Skype released video for Mac and we can chat to each other easily, Jajah will also help to close the miles between us. December 2007 will be here before I know it. Yes it will. Dammit.

Pic Host