I’m just going to ignore it. That’s okay isn’t it? Just pretend it’s not there. Or at least that I don’t particularly have to talk about it. I mean, what is there to say, and everybody else is already saying it anyway. I don’t have to chime in. (It’s not even just the politics. It’s more basic. It’s the thing about minimal competence. It’s like having a choice between a grown-up and a not very bright child to do a difficult job – designing a bridge, doing research into a new killer virus, figuring out how to get cookies right-side-up on a plate, that kind of thing – and choosing the child.) I don’t have to chime in so I’m … Read the rest
All entries by this author
The Myth of Infant Determinism
Nov 3rd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe idea that the first three years of our lives make us who we are is scientifically unsound, argues Helene Guldberg.… Read the rest
Ban Homophobic Singer
Nov 3rd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGay rights campaigners want police to ban a controversial Jamaican reggae artist from appearing in Britain.… Read the rest
Californians Approve Stem Cell Funding
Nov 3rd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCalifornians pass Proposition 71, a $3 billion bond measure to raise money for stem cell research.… Read the rest
Dutch ‘Anti-Islam’ Film Maker Murdered
Nov 3rd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTheo van Gogh made film that criticised Islam’s treatment of women. … Read the rest
Inhouse
Nov 3rd, 2004 3:43 am | By Ophelia BensonYo, I’m back! Out of the outhouse, into the inhouse, back at the desk, back to work. I’ve left the bright lights and whirling crowds of Bedford Square for the quiet backwater of Seattle. I came in, dropped all my cases and bags and excess sweatshirts in the middle of the living room, grabbed a water bottle, and rushed out to vote. Saw a friend on the way in; did not have to stand in line; saw another friend on the way out. You see what a quiet backwater it is. That wouldn’t happen in Bedford Square.
Ohio. Pennsylvania. Michigan. Florida. Well, we’ll see. I don’t dare let myself think about how I long to be rid of Bush.
More … Read the rest
The Arctic is Melting
Nov 2nd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBut no consensus as to appropriate response.… Read the rest
Probe into ‘Murder Music’
Nov 2nd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPolice have launched an investigation into anti-gay reggae lyrics after the homophobic killing of a man in London.… Read the rest
Gene Screening Controversy
Nov 2nd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNot really a surprise.… Read the rest
Darwin’s Greatest Challenge Tackled
Nov 1st, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonResearchers provide concrete evidence about how the human eye evolved.… Read the rest
Scientists to Screen Embryos for Cancer
Nov 1st, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA team at UCL has been granted permission to screen embryos for a gene which causes rectal or colon cancer.… Read the rest
Musings on Evolution and Christianity
Nov 1st, 2004 1:01 am | By Ophelia BensonOkay, so I have to post something so that November isn’t just a blank page (yes, I should have been cleverer when I programmed this thing). But unfortunately I have so little going on in my head that I’m really struggling here…
I did have a thought – a couple of weeks ago now, whilst running over a golf course – about Michael Ruse. In his book, The Evolution Wars, he claims:
I am arguing what history has shown: there is really no reason why a Christian should not be a Darwinian, and there is really no reason why a Darwinian should not be a Christian.
At first thought, this doesn’t seem an unreasonable claim. But it does raise … Read the rest
Paterson Attacks Harold Pinter
Oct 31st, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLet’s tell it how it is. Pinter’s anti-war poems are dreadful.… Read the rest
Anti-vaccine Madness
Oct 31st, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOpponents of MMR believe in homoeopathy, the Force, ESP and all sorts of other rubbish.… Read the rest
Eton or the Zoo?
Oct 29th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDesmond Morris wonders how we would treat members of Homo floresiensis if they were still around.… Read the rest
Hobbit Species to Rewrite Textbooks
Oct 29th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe discovery of Homo floresiensis shows how much we still have to learn about human evolution.… Read the rest
We Were Not Alone
Oct 28th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHomo sapiens shared the planet with a hobbit species.… Read the rest
Aborted Foetus Cures Blindness
Oct 28th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBut, as usual, there are critics.… Read the rest
NHS Nonsense
Oct 27th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhatever affliction it is that Prince Charles is suffering – it’s catching.… Read the rest
Forced Marriage Law Considered
Oct 27th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt could become illegal in the UK to compel two people to marry.… Read the rest