The God Delusion

This is a great video of Richard Dawkins, author of “The God Delusion”. From my perspective he always seems to be eminently reasonable when answering the most crackpot questions, which always seem to come from students who attend “Liberty University” which I’m fairly sure was set up by the chief crackpot Jerry Falwell. Enjoy

Its a great book too, you should read it.

Lydia Phillips

I met Lyds about 4 years ago as she is an old friend of the gf. She’s a quiet one so it was quite a revelation to see her get up at the Stork and play a few of her self-written songs. She’s one of those performers who gives you the backstory to every song they play, which I think is a great way to get the audience involved during a gig.

She has a beautiful voice and plays piano and guitar to back it up. If you were going to compare her to anyone you would probably say that she sounds a bit like Jewel with an Australian Missy Higgins-esque lilt. There’s a hint of indie and folk but it leans towards the pop side of the equation. The songs though are much more complex and involving than the formulaic stuff on the radio.

Lyds has just launched her EP entitled Hibiscus January and the least 4 of the songs on their will suck you in. My favourite bit is the funky intro to Please though I keep catching myself humming Be my past with its change ups in tempo.

Preview some of Lyd’s songs and grab a copy of her EP at her website. Its definitely worth the 15 bucks.

I can has a clever uncle?

smart uncle, originally uploaded by Tim.

This is my uncle just before (or after, I’m not sure) he gave his speech to the UN General Assembly. Pretty cool huh?

Something to aspire to.

Everyone hates telstra. A lot

There’s a great piece on The Age website about Telstra and how they’re frackin up the internet in this country by abusing their monopoly and killing off competition. Simultaneously ripping people off with obscenley high prices and slow speeds.

The article is titled, Why We All Hate Telstra. Amen.

Oh, and ignore the propaganda bullshit on the Telstra website, Now We Are Talking

Connex and their employees are a**holes

So I parked my car at the train station on Monday morning and piss bolted onto the train which had just pulled up to the station. The trains in Melbourne suck. If I hadn’t got on that train I would have had to wait half an hour for the privilege of being able to smell some woman’s hair on another overcrowded train. Then I would have been late for work and generally grumpy. So I got onto the train.

Now when I arrived in the city, I immediately went to the ticket officer at the gates to ask if I could purchase a ticket. I could have flashed an old ticket and walked straight through but I wanted to do the right thing. As I’m doing this, a little undercover Nazi drags me off, asks for name, address etc. and starts asking me why I dont have a ticket.

“I didn’t have time to purchase a ticket before I got onto the train” I say, “I was attempting to purchase one when you began talking to me” I say.

“You’ll be receiving some correspondence in the mail” he says, “What correspondence?” I enquire, “correspondence” he says, “It’s a fine isn’t it?” I say, “You’ll receive some correspondence” he says. “Call it what it is, it’s a fine isn’t it?” “Yes” he says.

What sort of fracking company and their dipshit employees penalise customers who are attempting to pay for the service that they have provided. What sort of fracking company destroys customer good will in this way? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM!!!!!!

According to the moronic Transport (Ticketing) Regulations 2006 they can legally give me a fine in this sort of situation. But what sort of heartless asshole would?

The only reason I did get fined was because I was trying to buy a ticket.

I hope that guy enjoys his depressingly shit job. And Connex can go and choke on the $62 million that they’ve been fined for late and cancelled trains since 2004.

I now feel a little bit better.

When idiots consort with idiots

Australia’s venerable A Current Affair, in another one of their so called pieces of “journalism” may have caused another car accident involving a truck in the Domain tunnel where 3 people died in a car and truck pile-up in March.

The Age is reporting that the team of geniuses from ACA drove through the tunnel with a camera crew in a car driven by another genius who is scared of trucks.

An icy pole is distracting enough, let alone a camera crew! A witness said that they sat in the right hand lane for the entire length of the tunnel unable to maintain a constant speed, in front of a 22 tonne truck! The truck was forced to change lanes, allegedly resulting in an accident with another vehicle. How stupid are these guys?

There’s nothing that annoys me more than idiots who sit in the right hand lane! So don’t do that, move to the left, you don’t own the road. Now when you combine that with moronic current affairs shows that try to pass themselves of as journalism, you’ve got a corker.

Here’s my advice, don’t watch anything on commercial TV at 6.30pm. Better yet, don’t watch commercial TV. Full stop.

You should do these things.

If you have the time, money or inclination (you don’t need much of either) and you occasionally feel like you want to do something that might make a tiny difference, you should do one of these things. None of these things require much time money or effort and you’ll feel better for having done it (if not a little light headed).

Sponsor a child

If the Howard government is going to be too stingy to commit to decent foreign aid targets, you’ll have to do it yourself. Dont listen to people who winge about not knowing where the money goes. Every charity has administration costs. That’s a fact of life. Merely ask them who they’ve tried to help recently. You might want to try a few different organisations that have programs and philosphies that you’re comfortable with. Once that money starts disappearing every month, you wont miss it.

Join Amnesty International or any other group that promotes human rights.

For about $30 -$50 a year (its cheaper if your a student) you can become a member. You’ll get kept up to date with campaigns and can be as involved as much or as little as you like. You might just want to sign a few petitions and send a few emails, or alternatively join one of the action groups.

Donate Blood

Only 3% of people in Australia do it and the supplies are always low. I takes a couple of hours 4 times a year. Pretty much anyone can do it, you don’t have to be in perfect health. And it doesn’t hurt. Much.

Volunteer your time

This one is probably the hardest, mainly because it requires the most effort on your behalf. The best way to go about it is to have a look at your own skills and find somewhere you can be useful. If you’re a lawyer volunteer at a Community Legal Centre. If you’re an accountant see if you can do the books for a local community group or charity. Whatever you’re good at, do that. Time is like money, once that few hours a week disappears, you wont miss it. Too much.

World Vision
Amnesty International
Red Cross Australia Blood Donation
Volunteering Australia

Don’t need to compensate for anything?

If you live in Australia and don’t feel the need to drive a car with an engine that compensates for deficiencies in other areas then this site may be for you. OzHotHatches is a new forum for those of us who drive cars that can actually make it round a corner and don’t burn hundreds of litres of fuel in the process.

You can discuss new models, get tuning tips and have a look at what other people are driving. Most of the discussion seems to be around Euro models which get a bit neglected in Aus.

Ozhothatches.com

Point Nepean Music Fest

The inaugural Point Nepean Music festival was held down at the old quarantine station on the Mornington Peninsula. Just thought that this photo captured the great atmosphere there.

Atheism and Clogs. Linked?

You should also check out Ben’s blog which revolves around his trip to Europe and associated musings. Its the associated musings that I’m concerned with here. There’s some really interesting posts re religion and atheism which I might cover later.

Have a look at the appropriately titled Clog Blog