Monthly Archives: June 2003

bored now

.. as Willow would say; the business about gays in the church was really beginning to madden me. So I had a little rant about the whole nonsense, after warming up on a bunch of evangelical bigots on a mailing … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in God | 2 Comments

Genes and ends

David Sloan Wilson’s book Darwin’s Cathedral is a kind of follow-on to the book he wrote with Elliot Sober, defending group seleciton and the possibility of real altruism. DCis about religion considered as an agent of group selection. So he … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Science without worms | Comments Off on Genes and ends

the bewildered topologist

couldn’t understand why it wasn’t called ‘Lord of the doughnuts’. Continue reading

Posted in Blather | 3 Comments

Pure Geek

This is of limited interest if you don’t make web sites, but wonderful news if you do: at least I’d rather use this service than load my computer with three more browsers and then have to buy a mac as … Continue reading Continue reading

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A young man makes his way

One of the books I have been meaning to read for at least 20 years is Eckermann’s Conversations with Goethe, which I bought when I was a factory worker in Sweden, at a book sale in <a href Continue reading

Posted in Literature | Comments Off on A young man makes his way

The descent of larynges

The descent of the human larynx is one of the things which makes speech possible. It’s also the reason we can choke on our food, so it must have had large advantages. It was therefore one of the crucial steps … Continue reading Continue reading

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monotheism explained

All religions of brotherly love imply a circle of unbrotherly hate. They spread fastest in times of general war. What makes doctrines of universal love appealing is not that they’re actually universal, but that they can be expanded to include … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in God | 2 Comments

Breathing fire and farting

To the Saffron Walden library last night, to hear Jojo Moyes, who is an ex-Independent colleague married to my friend Charles Arthur, who’s still there. I was the lone male bobbing in a sea of oestrogen. There were two other … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Journalism | 4 Comments

British reserve

I never thought anything would make me nostalgic for London buses. But this story from Frizzy Logic did. It’s a dialogue between a young woman who thinks she has aids, and a young man who thinks her problem is contagious … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on British reserve

usability enhancement

I have just realised what the next useful enhancement to a word processor would be. I want somethng that tracks my eye movement on screen, and a key combination which will jump the cursor to where I am looking. That’s … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Software | 4 Comments