Monthly Archives: December 2006

Why no knighthood for Saddam Hussein?

If John Scarlett could get a knighthood for helping to get us into the war, and for services in the fight against Al-Qaeda, it seems very unfair that Saddam Hussein could not, too. After all, he did as much as … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in War | 2 Comments

slikewatch in Berkeley

There is a paper referenced in Language Log which charts the use of “all” as a quotative in Californian speech over the last decade. It seems to be falling out of favour, replaced in this usage by “like”, so that … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Science without worms | 1 Comment

Twelve great Britons

A spasm of irritation at some posturing lefty in the Independent made me wonder what my list of twelve great Britons would be. Here is something like it. They are chosen because they all changed the world and all are … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in British politics | 14 Comments

Scott Atran rips open Sam Harris

Fantastic stuff here, (jump to Scott Atran) pointing towards a scientifically informed study of religion. To get there, of course, it is necessary first to remove the sillinesses of pharyngular atheism and dogmatic assertions about “religion” based on nothing but … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in God | 4 Comments

Name that spiritual leader

Who said at Christmas this year: %(loony)“Many people say I embarrass them with my humility.”%? Please put your guesses in comments before you look up [the answer.]

Posted in God | 5 Comments

The speed of spaghetti affects the shape

Jeremy Ahouse sends me an amazingly good story from The Scientist about protein folding. As you know, proteins are made of a long chain, or chains, of amino acids folded up on themselves in complicated ways to make nubbly shapes, … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Science without worms | Comments Off on The speed of spaghetti affects the shape

Is theology nonsense (no 599968 in an ongoing series)?

Interesting piece in the TLS (I hope it’s not paywalled) by Thomas Dixon, who has organised a conference to which I think I am going next summer, rounding up a bunch of science-and-theology books. One of them appears to be … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in God | 2 Comments

living well

One of the most creative areas of British journalism is the creation of synonyms for “notorious drunk”. Such people exist in British public life, but the constraints of libel laws mean that you would be very very foolish to say … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Journalism | 1 Comment

Sneaking anti-piracy

My laptop runs windows XP, which none of the other computers in the house do – why should they upgrade? — and is also set to collect automatic security fixes. So this morning it asked whether it should upgrade to … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in nördig | Comments Off on Sneaking anti-piracy

In which I have a dream unlike MLK

So I was at a conference of some kind, vaguely religious or journalistic: people sat at long benches along refectory tables, and we were discussing the Bishop of Southwark when a slim, dark-haired woman, a friend of mine though unidentifiable … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in God | 1 Comment