Category: Consciousness

How not to disprove evolution

There is a certain strand of Christianity, particularly in America, who think the solution to the “science v religion” debate is to write letters to the editor trying to engage with the science they are questioning.

Please, brethren, if that is you, at least try to get the science right. We Christians get angry at the way atheists caricaturise Christianity and misunderstand religion. We’d like them to try to understand that we can believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and not see a need to throw rocks at homosexuals or disobedient children. Please extend those in the scientific community the same courtesy – and don’t write letters like this:

Via Geekologie.

September 8, 2010

The last of the Mexicans

That would be a Daniel Day Lewis movie I’d watch… However, if you have a picture of our non-Mexican Mexican friend to submit for the “Make Him A Mexican” challenge – today is the day. Last chance to win a fabulous Mexican prize. I promise you will be disappointed by whatever it is I choose to send your way should you win.

Entries have dried up somewhat, but a couple of people have suggested they’d be entering, and haven’t yet. So get cracking. Here’s a late submission from my wife, Robyn, who is working up some mad photoshopping skillz.

September 7, 2010

Links – September 3, 2010

September 3, 2010

How to identify awkward social interactions

You’ll find it easier to get away from the old school “friend” you didn’t really like all that much next time you bump into them thanks to this, the four levels of social entrapment, identifying these situations is half the battle. Sometimes they happen at supermarkets, so you can probably start ordering your groceries online to avoid that one, sometimes they happen while you’re sitting in a cafe – which is why I make my coffee at home. Unfortunately, that leads to people dropping around unannounced, just for coffee.

Conversely, if you would like to catch up with your old friends in a meaningful way (and Facebook isn’t “meaningful” or “catching up”) then there are some typically awkward conversations to avoid.

There is, of course, the fifth social entrapment in church circles – which involves obligation, it looks like going to working bees and joining committees, and awkward conversations with new people where you ask them what they do and then talk about the weather.

Perhaps a solution to all of these problems is to work at having interesting things to say and to ask people about that extend past the weather, last night’s dinner and your job.

h/t Mikey.

September 3, 2010

Links – September 2, 2010

I’m bringing back the link post. Huzzah. I turned the plugin on, and ran it, and below are some posts I shared via Google Reader in the last four weeks or so. These will be daily and will feature stuff from around the interwebs that I’ve enjoyed but not posted independently.

September 2, 2010

Mexican Americans

Well, the Mexican entries seem to have dried up. If you want to enter this amazing competition, in order to win a not so amazing Mexican prize – then please email me your Mexican man by tomorrow. Then I’ll throw open some sort of voting process, and announce a winner next week sometime.

If you haven’t entered the competition because you’re worried that the man, who you don’t know, might not approve, then let me soothe your conscience with these two emails that I received this week. The first is from the guy who asked me to “make him a Mexican” the second is from the Mexican man’s wife.

“This has been the funniest set of events that I have ever experienced! The face behind the burrito and the naked guy laying in the pile of Doritos is priceless. Keep sending me updates. All of my colleagues are getting kicks out of this.”

“Hi
I am the guy’s wife and this is hilarious!!!! A job well done by you and your friends. Thanks for making us laugh.”

Here’s the guy we’re Mexicanising.

If you’ve made a Mexican and don’t know how to submit it – send me an email to the gmail address linked in the header.

September 2, 2010

Grrr…

I (stupidly, and against the wise and regular counsel of my wife) left the car unlocked last night. In our driveway. I won’t be doing that again. We’re clearly not in Townsville anymore… (though I did the same thing there last year with similar results – a stolen pocket knife (luckily not my “I inherited it from my pa so it’s a family heirloom pocket knife”).

Items stolen from the centre console include the case of the new Basement Birds CD I bought on Monday, sadly holding my (favourite of all time) Gomez “How We Operate” CD, and my iPod. They also pinched Robyn’s car survival kit from our glovebox. So they’re the proud owners of a box of mints, some strapping tape, and other miscellaneous items.

If I catch them I’ll bash’em.

September 1, 2010

My Happiness

Ben tagged me in a meme. I have to list ten things that make me happy. Presuppose that there are ten or more things about my relationship with God, and my relationship with my wife that make me happier than the things on this list. Neither of those are “things” though. I’m going to try to limit my list to nouns, without too many abstractions.

  1. Conversation.
  2. Coffee.
  3. Bacon.
  4. Venn Diagrams.
  5. Arguments about fun stuff.
  6. Pictures of Mexicans.
  7. Ninjas.
  8. Politics.
  9. Words, used well.
  10. Home-cooked meals that rival their restaurant counterparts.

I tag anybody who stands close enough. I’m too slow to catch you.

August 30, 2010

The “Make me a Mexican” Challenge

Ok. So yesterday I posted about how I’d received a misdirected email with this photo and the words “make him a Mexican”…

Not knowing the original sender, or the guy in question, but being a helpful soul I complied. And I asked for further submissions. This post will serve to store all sch submissions (I’ve also asked my Facebook friends to help). Feel free to pass this on to everybody you know. I want as many Mexican photos of this guy as I can get, and I’ll eventually send the link to the guy who sent me the photo.

These three are examples of how easy making a Mexican is. All three have simply googled “Mexican Man” and stuck the guy’s head in the picture. This was Robyn’s first go at Photoshopping (well it was GIMP actually). You can do whatever you want. Use MS Paint. Just give him a Mexican flavour.

I will conjure up some sort of Mexican prize for the best.

1. From Therese (who used the same image and approach as me, though with tidier edges and a less fu manchu moustache)

2. From Robyn

3. From Ben

4. Another one from Ben.

5. And another one from Ben.

6. And another one from Ben.

7. Simone went for an artistic approach.

8. And a passport.

9. I had a couple more goes. Including two Doritos versions

10. And an old Mexican man in Black and White.

11. Here’s one from Andrew.

August 30, 2010

Once Upon A Time In Mexico…

I get some really strange emails addressed to people who aren’t me. Some people get really confused. I once got assignment proposals from an entire class of Washington State University Students. I replied to each of them. You can read the exchanges here.

Today I received an unusually abrupt request from some guy I didn’t know to “make him look like a Mexican” and an attached photo. So I complied.

This was the guy.

This was the Mexican.

This was the guy as the Mexican.

If you think you can make this guy a better Mexican please download the photo, edit it, and send it to me at the gmail address linked in my header.

I will, if I get submissions, send them on to the person who made the original request.

August 29, 2010

Confessions #6: I want people to agree with me… sometimes

I feel like I’ve been doing a fair bit of arguing lately. And I enjoy arguing. In person and online. Mostly I enjoy constructive arguing. And I like the process of road testing ideas in the form of an argument. I’m also fine with being a minority voice. I just don’t like being a solitary voice.

Today at college I was in such an argument at lunch time. Surrounded by some innocent bystanders who could well have been on my side. But they didn’t say anything. And a group of other intelligent people who clearly weren’t.

For a moment I truly understood Tony Abbott’s comment about only taken carefully thought out written statements as gospel, and being flexible on the rest. Because when you’re being badgered with four or five complex counterpoints to your one point and trying to address them all it’s pretty easy to be led down an argumentative garden path where you end up saying something inconsistent with your actual position that then can not be unsaid – and it essentially is impossible to recover that ground.

It’s hard to think, and speak, and address multiple questions at once. It’s easier when somebody else is on your team. I’m going to try harder to voice agreement with people when I agree, rather than just speaking when I disagree.

I’ve covered the issue at the heart of this particular debate before (basically I said that all our actions will be tainted by sin, which means even questions of being right and wrong are sinful, and even “righteous” acts carry some sin) – but I might develop the argument further in a subsequent post.

August 26, 2010

Nathan’s College Day

I’ve recently been thinking about how important efficient communication is. As a result I’ve learnt to ‘speak Nathan’s language.’

August 26, 2010

For those not following at home…

If you’re not already reading the comments on Simone’s follow up post to the one she took down the other day… then do yourself a favour.

I’ve witnessed other people having long discussions with Mark Baddeley, but never had the pleasure myself up until this one. Mostly because I agree with him on other issues.

Lets just say, not this time…

See if you can catch my veiled homage to Godwin’s Law.

August 26, 2010

Nailing jelly to a wall. Diagrammatically

Damien, in my previous post, asked what a Venn Diagram of nailing Jelly to a wall would look like. So here I am, obliging my readers as always…

August 25, 2010

Off with the birds

One of the reasons my biting election coverage didn’t happen as a liveblog, in fact, the only reason, was that over the weekend Robyn and I took off to the Bunya Mountains for a surprise birthday celebration for her father. Who turned fifty.

Sadly, everybody but caught a violently unpleasant case of gastro. I have a stomach of iron. The upside was that I had the pick of the fridge for 12 hours.

I took the camera. The Bunyas teem with bird life. I’m not a “twitcher” but I do enjoy playing with my camera.


We tried feeding the birds – the others enjoyed more success. But they just weren’t that into me.

Robyn took this photo.

On the other “upside” – I picked up one of those three-in-one DVD collections from Woolworths in Dalby featuring Steven Seagal in his aging best.

Steven Seagal is cooler than Chuck Norris.

August 24, 2010