Yearly Archives: 2004

An argument for pacifism

Posted on January 21, 2004 by acb

In all of England, there are only 27 “thankful villages” – places to which all the soldiers returned who had gone to fight in the First World War. They are all listed in the Guardian’s Notes and Queries page today. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Not to stereotype the Finns

Posted on January 20, 2004 by acb

or anything, because I am sure that at this time of year their workplaces are full of lively gossip from long before sunrise till deep into the night, but the Telegraph reports (via AFP, via Ilta Sanomat) that a 60-year-old … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Travel notes | 3 Comments

Tact in obituaries

Posted on January 20, 2004 by acb

Stewart Steven, who died of a heart attack yesterday, rose to the summit of British journalism despite, or perhaps because of, two monumentally false and expensive stories. He was the man who found Martin Bormann in 1972; and who, in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 1 Comment

Very belated technology award

Posted on January 19, 2004 by acb

If there is one piece of technology that has most improved my life in the last year, it is these speakers: actually, I have a slightly less grand set, with only two satellites and not four, but that seems to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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What must an elk do to get served?

Posted on January 19, 2004 by acb

Dagens Nyheter reports that an elk has done a runner from a restaurant in the centre Kungsbacka, a small town south of Göteborg. The monarch of the forest had broken in — at lunchtime — thorugh a plate glass window. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Good software is boring

Posted on January 19, 2004 by acb

There are two astonishing statistics in the latest OpenOffice.org newsletter. The first is that nearly 25m downloads of the software have been reported. 24,800,000 — that’s a lot of 60mb downloads, and the rate is climbing steadily. The second is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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What kind of a machine is writing this?

Posted on January 18, 2004 by acb

One of the most enjoyable things that ever happened to me in the God business was meeting John Lucas, the philosopher who came up with one of the early arguments against AI. It is much more subtle than it’s usually … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Science without worms | 3 Comments

what kind of a thing might a meme be?

Posted on January 16, 2004 by acb

How does meaning emerge in the world? How can it? How did it? What new forms might arise? Continue reading →

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Interview technique

Posted on January 15, 2004 by acb

Playing the tape of my interview with Dan Dennett, I hear myself, and think ‘what was I thinking’; then I can hear in the following silence the other party thinking the same thing and desperately trying to discover some peg … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 2 Comments

Creepy liars

Posted on January 14, 2004 by acb

I’m not a huge fan of Carl Hiaassen’s, but one of his books has a marvellous PR campaign waged against a crooked theme park. The kind of exuberant lying that both sides indulge in seems like satire, until you read … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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