See You In A Couple Of Weeks

Push Your MP For Darwin Day

2009 is the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his most significant work, On the Origin of the Species. Darwin is clearly one of the truly great and most important British thinkers - and it's good to know that a campaign is underway to make his birthday, 12 February, a national public holiday here in the UK.

An Early Day Motion ( No 377) has been submitted in the House of Commons by Ashok Kumar MP and other MPs are being invited to sign up for it. The motion reads:
"That this House notes the extraordinary achievements of Charles Darwin; notes that 2009 marks both the 200th anniversary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of the Species; welcomes proposals for the creation of a Darwin Day in recognition of the ground-breaking work of the British scientist responsible for the theory of evolution by natural selection; and calls for Darwin's birthday, 12 February, to be designated a public holiday in honour of one of the fathers of modern science and one of Britain's greatest, if not the greatest, scientific minds."  

I can think of few better reasons; especially if it helps serve as a nationally sanctioned poke in the eye to all the creationist / intelligent design mentalists out there...
If you want to ask your MP to support this motion but you are not sure who s/he is, go to www.theyworkforyou.com and type in your postcode. Then send the MP a copy of this motion and encourage them to support it.

For further details of Darwin events across the country, go and check out www.darwin200.org & for details about the Darwin exhibition which is running at the Natural History Museum until 19 April, go take a look here.

Random Pics: Porthcawl

Spent the weekend down in Bridgend, So here's just a few iPhone shots from a hangover-clearing walk with my cousins along the front at Porthcawl, including the almost unfeasibly exotic entrance to the Boating Club. My application is in the post already...

Tyrant, Rock Star, Diva, King... & Don't Forget Human Being

There's an excellent piece on Cult of Mac at the moment, reflecting on Steve Jobs' decision to step back from Apple till the summer on account of health issues being "more complex" than previously thought.
I wanted to share it as it's a pared down, non-hysterical look at the present and the future and - without getting ghoulish or mawkish - also attempts to understand the nature of Jobs' legacy, whenever his time may come.
Most chatter on the various Mac forums is a mix of hysteria and cynicism, and some utterly unreal trolling from sickeningly greedy and self-obsessed shareholders (apparently), who deserve nothing short of the mightiest punch in the gob.

There's not really much to do except hope that the stepping back / treatment etc is not a gentle euphemism for the long goodbye but a genuine assessment (and in no way loaded) of what's going on; to wish Steve Jobs all the best, and to hope he's back doing more "insanely great" things when he's good and ready.

Click here for the article...

Have The Humanists Got It Arse Over Tit?

Far be it from me to piss in somebody's chips when they're basically standing for something I believe in / stand for, but having noticed lots of posters on the Tube recently for the Humanist Association's "There's Probably No God" campaign I can't help wondering if, in trying to make it 'appealing' and 'attractive' (my emphasis) they haven't ended up saying something that's worse than banal, in that it's actually dangerous.

Let's get it out of the way - I absolutely agree with the headline that "There's probably no god"... absolutely. Totally.
The problem is the strapline that sits below it. It says "Now stop worrying and enjoy your life"...
Let's just be clear - having taken on a fundamental philosophical position about the need to believe and in the importance of showing clear blue water between the principles of faith and belief as opposed to logic and knowledge and rationality and reality - something terribly important in suggesting that you have control and responsibility, they then fob you off with a twee little pat on the head. Go enjoy yourself... Have fun...

The world teeters on a knife-edge today: it is almost entirely composed of poverty, hunger, death, imperialism, war, terror, pollution, climate change, diminishing energy and water resources - and they say "enjoy your life"...
The truth is that if there's no god to bail you out, to intervene, or for you to hang your hopes on - then more than ever you need to understand these issues, and that the way they end up resides entirely with you, the human.

Frankly it should be:
THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD.
NOW GET YOUR FUCKING ARSE IN GEAR AND SORT OUT THIS PLANET BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN ON ITS SODDING OWN, YOU KNOW. NOPE.

There is no god - and it absolutely *is* down to us.
It's a shame that the Humanist Association seems to have allowed people to abdicate that responsibility in its attempts to win them over.

Not Always MotoGP But Always Hot

(*Above: the kind of thing you'll find at MotoGPHotties.com... You pervert.)

Given that this blog is so random anyway, I hope you'll forgive the blatant plug for another website - as I'm duty bound to pass on the word.
Although it has the word "MotoGP" in the title (STOP FALLING ASLEEP THERE!!!), MotoGP Hotties - (MotoGPHotties.com - brought to you by the people who made the popular MotoGP Hotties application for Facebook) is probably bound to appeal way beyond those interested in the racing.
A website that's particularly aimed at the laydeez (and a few of the guys too) it's a pretty much daily dose of totty from the various categories of motorcyle racing: MotoGP itself, and its lower categories - 250cc and 125cc, and also World Superbikes, British Superbikes, World Supersport, the Spanish CEV championship and more.

There's already the odd bit of partial, generous nudity and some of the poses do lean towards the homoerotic. It's all basically good clean fun though and looks like building into a pretty vast ongoing archive to keep happy all those who are either:
a) interested in much more than the bikes and the racing,
b) not able to give a toss about the bikes or the racing.

So if you fancy a smile (and actually some odd snippets of useful/useless info too) then do point your browser at MotoGP Hotties...

Could Be Worse

Okay, so my MacBook Pro may have completely lost contact with its own keyboard and trackpad, annoying the hell out of me and forcing me to plug in a mouse and keyboard and carry them round with me - and to also contemplate a hefty repair bill or pricey replacement, but things could always be worse.
Thanks to Chris for reminding me that life ain't so bad...

What Might Have Been...

(*Above: Uh-oh, here comes trouble... The Operative arrives to kidnap Inara)

If UK gossip merchent Holy Moly is to be believed and Chiwetel Ejiofor had already turned down the role of the next Doctor Who (now gone to Matt Smith, of whom the producers/writers said "we knew we'd found our doctor" when he showed up as their third audtionee) then it's possibly a very great shame indeed, and could rate as one of those "the greatest ... who never..." missed opportunities.

Holy Moly describes Chiwetel Ejiofor as a Shakesperian actor - something which whilst true, actually ignores a superb film role of his which could give clues as to how intense and profound a performance he could have brought to the show.
I'm talking of his part as "The Operative", a sociopathic assassin tracking down River Tam on behalf of the Alliance in the Joss Whedon's superb "Serenity" - the big screen outing of the much-missed Firefly mob.

The Operative was clearly unhinged and completely principled *and* unprincipled - a truly dangerous and fascinating character who brought down seven tons of shit on Mal, his crew and anybody they knew, throughout the course of the movie.
That kind of intensity played with utter cold conviction and calmness and purpose would have been an excellent marker for possibilities with the Doctor, and given the current incumbent's penchant for SHOUTING A LOT and getting quite emotionally messy and pulling staggering faces, becoming overwrought and then GETTING A BIT SHOUTY AGAIN, Ejiofor might well have also been a genuinely interesting departure.

Ah well - guess we'll never know.

It's Macworld, So There's Bound To Be Something Amazing...

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard
The Onion, as always merciless and spot-on in its spoofery, gives us all a good cackle ahead of Macworld....

:-)

Narnia; A Fairy Tale. No Really...

News that Disney has bailed on the Narnia films should not, I'm guessing, find the *real* driving force behind them - the Christian conservative backed Walden Media - left in the lurch when it comes to completing the series.
At the moment the most likely backer would appear to be that bastion of arch conservatism and neoconservatism, Fox.

The only reason I'm rambling on about the Narnia films (when they could hardly be described as great pieces of cinema worth rambling about) is that it's ironic that such forces of conservatism are behind them when the most standout thing about the second film "Prince Caspian" (apart from Ben Barnes' outlandish Spanish-Icelandic-French-Japanese-Australian-Russian accent) was the hilariously smouldering homoeroticism between his character and the posh kid who looks like Charlie out of Busted.
Unintentional though it surely was, it made me laugh till I almost peed - and it must be a bit galling for Walden to have such do-gooding preachy moralising undone by those two boys spending the entire movie furrowing eyebrows and pursing lips at each other as if they don't know whether to kick off an almighty bitch-slapping or just get down and dirty behind some rocks, out of sight of all the talking badgers...

If Fox ended up being responsible for another unintentionally funny slice of fairytales (yes, that's both cheap and deliberate), then it would make my day.
And if they keep Ben Barnes' fabulous "French Taunter" accent, then that's just a bonus...

El Canto Del Loco - "La Película"

Those lucky ECDL fans in Spain get to see in the new year with a cinema release of a documentary on the band, "La Película".
Sadly those of us in the UK will have to wait to see it by other means.
I guess for me that means waiting for it to arrive on DVD and in the hope that either:
a) my language skills have improved considerably or
b) it has subtitles.

Looks good though, doesn't it :-)
Ooooh - and by the way, if you *are* an ECDL fan in Great Britain, then why not consider joining up to the UK Fans of El Canto Del Loco group on Facebook...

Steve Jobs - The Truth About Macworld No-Show

Following a shitload of rumour, speculation and unhealthy ghoulishness it turns out that in fact Steve Jobs does have some health issues - and that the hoo-hah caused by his decision to let Phil Schiller do the keynote triggered the rumours he needed to finally address.
Sometimes the Mac community can be infuriating, and recent weeks have made ever-increasing static about his health (and indeed his very existence) seem like something you'd expect to hear of Kim Jong Il or Fidel Castro.

Thankfully he's NOT on his deathbed, and in fine spirits - fine enough in fact to get a nice little jibe in at the end of his open letter (below) to the Mac community.
We know they're (mostly) only so interested in him cos they love him, but they do need to get out a bit more at times...


.......................................................

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I'm getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.
Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.
I've decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.
Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause — a hormone imbalance that has been "robbing" me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.
The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment. But, just like I didn't lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple's CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best forApple first.

So now I've said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.
Steve

.......................................................


Get well Steve :-)
And the rest of you - Enjoy Macworld, enjoy the Keynote, and FFS get a life!

Not So Much Who As Why?

(*Above - the new Doctor: like the current one... only more so...)

In what cynics might regard as a marketing rather than a genuinely creative decision, the 11th Doctor appears to be a younger and probably more fey version of the current one.
Matt Smith, who will take over from David Tennant in 2010, does seem to tick a lot of "demographic" boxes and will probably lead to a lot of grumbling over the youngness, whiteness and maleness of the choice until he hits the screens and we can all make a proper judgement. Let's be honest, about the only surprise in the choice is not the aesthetics of it all, but the fact that the guy is largely unknown.

Got to admit that I'm very fond of Tennant (although I'm aware he winds some people up something chronic...) and I'm also one of the very very few people I know who actually rated Eccleston too.
The only shame is that they're clealry fixated on the young and the pretty and have forgotten that John Pertwee - the spooky, be-cuffed & collared powder-wigged incarnation - was surely the "best" Doctor (whatever I may actually mean by that...)

I'd have to admit I'd rather have seen a braver, more imaginative choice - my friend and companion in red wine Madame Arcati has always championed the idea of Sandi Toksvig, which I must admit would be brill. But I can't help but feel I detect a certain cowardice / play-safery in the Smith decision.
Only time - and timelord - will tell.

In the meantime, the Beeb can probably go ahead and renew their product-placement contract with Converse for another few years.