09Feb04 — 0

“…And Promote World Peace”

As part of my “bonkers news from Israel” season I give you the naked settler midriffs of Miss Samaria 2004.

Rabbi Daniel Shiloh, spokesman for the Committee of Rabbis in Judea and Samaria, the religious designation for the West Bank, said in an interview before the pageant. “It starts with beauty contests and ends with the escort parlors.”

(Over at Harry’s Place there are some promising noises from Palestine.)

08Feb04 — 0

Odds and Sods

I’ve been flitting about posh, but un-networked, corners of London again so I’ve not had a chance to post so far this weekend. At a party in Highgate yesterday, I spent some time railing against this kind of educational hypocrisy and was told by two of the nice, privileged, middle-class guests to “lighten up”.

Leftie Nick Cohen once again skewers woolly-thinking Lefties by asking if they’ve really thought about the consequences if they succeeded in pressuring the U.S. into making Guantanamo Bay a prisoner-of-war camp.

Claire would probably respond to this front page story in The Observer by saying something along the lines of “Well, duh. ‘British spies spy on people’. What are they supposed to do? Offer bereavement counselling?”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Med, Judith points out a juxtaposition, on the other side of the Atlantic. Across the front page of the not-exactly-wholeheartedly-pro-war New York Times adjacent headlines read:

KERRY VICTORIOUS BY WIDE MARGIN IN TWO MORE STATES

and

REGIONAL TERRORIST GROUPS POSE GROWING THREAT, EXPERTS WARN

Mrs Wrubel Levy is not the only one of the opinion that John “Bush is an extremist” Kerry would not be a safe pair of hands.

05Feb04 — 1

Geeks Don’t Iron

Thanks to Maoi and the Cambridge University Filipino Students’ Society (don’t ask) for a tip-off to this story about how to get a paper in PNAS (a highly respected scientific journal—and I’m not being sarcastic for a change) by mathematically modelling the folding of fabrics.

Incidentally, Maoi, I’ve just been to see Lost in Translation (as recommended by Judith and Jo, but warned against by Sonya) with your favourite polemicist this evening. You won’t be surprised to read that she was bored. My review to follow.

04Feb04 — 0

Russian Dolls?

A while ago I wrote about Bratz dolls in a flippant way. It seems I didn’t take the subject as seriously as it deserved. Charles Laurence in the Sunday Telegraph has been reflecting on the usurping of Barbie by the Bratz:

In toy terms, this is an upheaval on the same scale as the fall of the Berlin Wall.

This earned him entry to Private Eye‘s Pseuds Corner. (It’s also worth checking out the front cover of the magazine [warning: large image], for its attack on the Hutton Report.) If you’re looking for a real political revolution in the doll world, Razanne‘s your woman.

03Feb04 — 0

Compare and Contrast

You thought Andrew Gilligan was in denial:

Some of my story was wrong, as I admitted at the inquiry, and I again apologise for it… …But the BBC collectively has been the victim of a grave injustice.

, but there’s always a French politician to put things in proportion. According to the BBC:

Juppé said that while he had made mistakes, he had been ‘stunned’ by the verdict… ‘I don’t believe I deserve this’

Of course, this part of the Beeb’s report might be wrong.

03Feb04 — 0

Man of Mystery

The Sun promises us a Web chat with celebrity hypnotist Paul McKenna and invites us to send in our questions. Here’s mine:

“Apparently you can give women orgasms by snapping your fingers and it’s safe to say you aren’t short of a bob or two, so why do you find it necessary to comb thin strands of hair over your balding pate?”

(This is also a neat opportunity to dredge up another case of the BBC getting itself in trouble with a judge for making unsupported allegations.)

02Feb04 — 0

Help Wanted

I have received a grant from EMBnet to pay for someone to work on one of my mad ideas. If you would like to work with me for a year at the Genome Campus you might want to read this.

01Feb04 — 0

Anti-Hate Speech

Why is it a big story in The Guardian when a Saudi Muslim religious leader tells Muslims not to kill Muslims and non-Muslims? Is it because no one reports routine outpourings of hateful rhetoric from Saudi Muslim religious leaders? (“Yeah, dogs bite men every day. So what?”) Is it because Saudi Muslim religious leaders are always encouraging peace, but it isn’t reported enough? (“Dogs still man’s best friends.”) Is it because everyone takes their exhortations to bloody violence for granted, so exhortations to peace are worthy of comment? (“Man bites dog!”). Only The Guardian can tell us.

UPDATE: Didn’t work.

UPDATE: “Saudi cleric condemns violence” is a perfect headline match for “Conservative American Christians approve of film“.

29Jan04 — 0

Blood for Oil

I think Saddam showed something of a misunderstanding of organic chemistry and renewable energy. The idea that you can take oil out of the ground and replace it with human corpses seems, superficially, to make sense—especially if you can use the extracted oil itself to pay people to let you carry on doing something that those interfering Anglos were so unreasonably squeamish about. Unfortunately for the thousands of dead, the British and American bullies came along and dug the slaughterees up before they could be converted into useful hydrocarbons. They died in vain.

28Jan04 — 3

Who Lied?

I’d just like to comment, on behalf of my own party, The Militant Rationalists: “O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” and “Bring me the head of John Humphrys on a stick!” before linking you to this news item.

By the way, can anyone see anything a little inappropriate about Michael Howard (Jewish) accusing Tony Blair (conspicuously Anglo-Catholic) of being part of a “cabal” of ministers planning war on Iraq? Surely he’s confused his religious/ethnic slurs? Tony Blair is part of an inquisition that put David Kelly to the stake. For God’s sake Michael, get it right. (While we’re at it, what about George Bush (Methodist) being part of a “crusade” to destroy Islam?)

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