Mat Bowles

Today is one of those birthday things. I knew it was coming up, because the BHA invited me to their annual event but a) I'd have had to pay and b) it was in London, so have fun all that do go, I'm sure it'll be good. Fortunately, bagrec reminded me this morning, so I half inched this image from him . Evolution was, I used to think, something that we generally all just accepted, sure, there were a few minority extremists that thought otherwise, but anyone with a decent education, including the entire Catholic Church, just know it to be real, right? Unfortunately the internet reveals this to be untrue, and that someone who is an avowed Creationist has a good chance at the Republican nomination (although no chance at the actual Presidency) is something that really does bother me. Fortunately, there are voices of reason out there, including my better half, and we all know what Theory means, etc, right? Ah well, if you need a bit more explanation, ask a skientist, I recommend Debi the evolutionary morphologist if you don't have another one handy. I'm sure her hangover will allow her to answer questions in her comments ;-)

In other news, Anonymous vs Scientology had a good weekend of protests it seems, deathboy went to the London protest and has a good report, and the Phoenix protest got /.ed. There's a little bit of me that dislikes the thing as a whole bunch of people, including people that have their own personal different brand of sky fairy, are ganging up on the Scientologists—I'm all for mocking all religions, but a dog pile seems a bit off when your allies are also batshit. Then I remember that they're Scientologists and that it's therefore OK anyway, right?

Last up, I've been promising various people for ages a post on markets, economics, and why I like them despite being a lot of a lefty, but while that's still on the planned list with a bunch of other stuff, Tim Harford continues his climb up my "top people" list by writing a post about why markets can at times fail, and how analysis of these "externalities" can help them get back on track and do a lot of good; "Green taxes" and similar are a method of dealing with externalities, and are generally much better than simply banning stuff.

Right, that's it for now, I have a fiancée to go snuggle for a bit before shrublette gets home...

My belief in markets isn't really equivocated. Free (and fair) markets require free movement in goods, services, people, whatever. In order for that to happen, border controls are something to be done away with--it's one of the reasons I love the principles behind the EU, if not the bureaucratic monstrosity it's becoming. But today, James linked to an article that I agreed with. Hyberbole, a few missed shots, a little bit of innacuracy, but the point he makes is 100% sound, and applies just as well over here as it does in the US. The problem is the author.

Orson Scott Card, bigot extraordinaire.

A case of stopped clocks, or does his religious fueled fundamentalism have an underlying streak of rationalism in some areas?

Meh. Um, yeah, pirates. Talk like a seagoing criminal day? historical seagoing criminal day? Spacegoing criminal day? Humourless git day?

I like movie pirates. I like pop culture pirates. I also, (whispers) like ninjas. Like most Lib Dems, I want it both ways and am somewhere in between. ( Thoughts on the modern term 'pirate' )

So, yeah, talk like a pirate. Use a silly icon. Have a giggle. Only, LJ? Next time you decide to celebrate International Talk like a pirate day? Could you make it so the little tricks you put on the profile and update pages showed up for people using English English as well as US/LJ English? Thx muchly.

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notes from the basement

lithium_doll managed to get to 1000 comments. Utter insanity. Cool.

Also? How not to hunt for a place to live in London. Not a good day. More seriously, jantshira really could do with a stroke of luck finding a room to rent in London. If anyone reading this knows someone that could help?