here's an interesting article about the current tension between religious thinkers and atheists. You might have read my recent post about believing in God. It wasn't really an attempt to convince anyone of my subjective beliefs, but was simply in order to illustrate that believing in God can be perfectly reasonable and rational - it's not just the sole preserve of superstitious simpletons (though it might help)....

kind of related (and I'm not one of those people that thinks that religion requires a rejection of science) here are 13 things that do not make sense from New Scientist

check out the amazing differences in video quality between the various video sites. As expected, youtube looks like crap (someone commented on my last youtube video to day, just to say it was terrible - I knew that). The MSN video quality looks fantastic. Hopefully it'll all be that good one day and we can nick the content and put it on DVD (which will probably be considered very passé and lo-tech by then when everyone has HDTV and Blu-ray discs)

Also, have you ever wondered what things would look like if you could travel at the speed of light? (I have). Well this might help answer the question

I've found a new addiction (apart from "I'm a celebrity" I mean). In my quest to find a new compulsive game to while away the hours, I came across Cubis 2 Gold(!) It's a bit like bejeweled in that it's very pretty - in a way that would appeal to 8 year old girls - and there's not a whole lot to it, though unlike bejeweled there is actually some slight point to it - it's not just hi-tech bubble wrap. It's more like tetris in that once you get the hang of it, you go into a trance and your fingers take over. I played it for about 90 minutes this morning and a few hours last night too, all the time thinking "I'll just do this next level, then I'll switch it off and do something useful....okay, just one more, then I really will do something else. I can stop anytime..." There's something really rewarding about the colours and the sound. Someone could write a thesis on it. There's an online version which you can play here (though it's too small really) or you can download the full version and play for an hour before having to register it (for £12 - I couldn't resist). I was lucky enough to find two different versions so got 120 free minutes, which maybe is why I was so successfully sucked in....

despite being laid-up for the last few weeks I have been enjoying the wealth of reality TV on at the moment. First there was "make me a supermodel" which was great, though I think Luke woz robbed. Then there was the start of "unanimous" in which a varied group of people are locked up together and have to decide who gets a million pounds. Some of them are quite vile - the work-shy leech who doesn't believe in giving to charity is aptly named Lusipher (sic). As long as he doesn't win the money I don't mind (he reckons he could get away without working for ten years or more if he got £100,000). Somehow I don't think he's going to convince anyone he's a worthy cause. If it was up to me I'd give the money to the handsome man in the black shirt who appears on screen to give the contestants their orders.

Currently I'm enjoying every minute of I'm a celebrity. I'm glad the eating of animal parts was a damp squib so far this year. They were asked to eat Kangaroo testicles, penis and anus this time. It makes you wonder where it would end if the trend for disgusting exploitation in the name of charity was taken to it's ultimate conclusion - being forced to fight to the death and eat eachother's brains maybe - anything is justifiable if it's for charity isn't it? Who knew that Jan Leeming is such a neurotic mess. Her incredible talent for pedantic pessimism knows no bounds. I'm not sure if it's funny or tragic when she's convinced that everyone is against her, when in fact they're just incredibly frustrated that she's convinced that everyone is against her. She really is a stark demonstration of how you can be your own self-fulfilling prophecy (of doom, if you so wish).. Apparently she's been married 5 times if I heard correctly. David Gest is surprisingly normal though his surgery scars and asymmetric cheekbone implants are rather alarming. And I was surprised when Toby Anstis said he missed his girlfriend. I always just assumed he played for the opposite team - I guess I was wrong, but there's no harm in fancying him I suppose...

I've not watched "Asbo teen to beauty Queen" - the whole concept is far too depressing

I've been a bit quiet lately as you may have noticed. I had a couple of weeks where my symptoms flared up significantly so didn't feel like doing anything. Trouble is I've now got into the rut of sleeping all day and being awake all night. It's not nice when you wake up to find the sun has already gone down. It feels like you've wasted a whole day, even if you're busy doing things all night. I've tried using Nytol to get back into a more sociable routine with no success so far. I'm not even sure they make me feel drowsy - they're only anti-histamines anyway, otherwise known as Benadryl. Piriton makes a lot of people drowsy but has no effect on me at all...ho hum.

I indulged my audio gadget obsession again and bought a 320gb media player. It's basically just a cheap hard disk enclosure with integral mediaplayer (which you can buy empty for £40), plus a 320gb hard disk. I got it on ebay for about a hundred pounds. You can see some pics here. It has quite a lot of annoying quirks - the navigation is cumbersome, it lists folders with short names in capitals, longer names in lower case, but lists the two seperately so you have to scroll twice through the alphabet to get to the file you want. Anyway, I've organised my thousands of files in such a way to make it less painful. I've got loads and loads of CDs and am buying new ones most weeks but noticed that now in the advent of mp3, I never bothered playing any cds which weren't on my computer - simply because it seems like too much effort. Lazy innit. There was a time when people had to get up and change the channel on the TV by hand, that seems unthinkable now too. I figured that if I had all that music close to hand I'd actually listen to it all and wouldn't have wasted all that money... I'm not sure how many dozens I've ripped but I've filled up about 60gb so far - and done a few films too. Oh yes, one of the most annoying quirks is that the sound is kind of weedy and lack the highest and lowest frequencies. So much so that I'd rather not listen to. So... I've had to indulge my obsession again and get a graphic equaliser in order to compensate. I got one for a tenner of ebay. When that arrives I'm all set! (for a while at least)

I found out today that I'm on the Scientology mailing list. I bought some books on behalf of a friend (from that well known auction site), he just fancied a laugh. He was expecting them to be all about Xenu and aliens in volcanos, but they were just pseudopsychology and cartoon drawings of people on drugs and what mumbo jumbo you should use to "help" them. Anyway the seller asked me if I was interested in more information. I was tempted to write back saying I was researching evil cults but never got around to it. Anyway today I got a copy of their latest newsletter in the post. I hope they don't come after me.... I notice they didn't invite me to Tom and Katie's wedding

do people need guidance in how to have a conversation these days? it would appear so. Maybe one day social skills will seem slightly retro, like having good handwriting or knowing how to cook. I have a couple of friends who have an extremely annoying habit of asking a question and then interrupting your answer with something completely unrelated. Maybe I should send them that link....

When Iceland hired gobby Kerry Katona to be in their ads for supercheap and nasty food, I suspect they were aiming for a particular socio-economic group. Their latest ad only seems to confirm this when she says "I thought you had to be rich, posh and clever to have a party" and then demonstrates that if you shop at Iceland, you can have a party - even if you're poor, common and stupid - well that's what the ad implies anyway. There's nothing like insulting your target market. She's not poor though after pretending to sing with atomic kitten and then marrying another successful popstar....

apropos nothing really, I heart Jason Isaacs. I wish he was my daddy.

Event Horizon is one of my fave films (except where it gets really gory towards the end)

the UK head of Sony BMG, has reignited the debate over the future of the record industry by predicting that CD sales will collapse by 50% over the next three years

damn, that means a decline in bargains to be had on ebay in years to come. How will I cope?

"We are running our businesses like it is 1982," said Mr Doherty. "We're running a business model that is so out of date it's not true.

....erm, how long have record buyers and mp3 users been saying this? quite a few years now at least.

Mr Doherty said the current situation was "stupid" while Mike Smith, managing director of Columbia Records UK, predicted that the (digital) rights management regime would be gone within a year.

well that would be fantastic but I'll believe it when I see it....

full article here

make a comic - via bignjuicy