Royal Cafe Copenhagen
Merisi reminded me that the most important part of the whole Academy Awards in this part of the world was that our very own won Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for "Inglourious Basterds".
Curiously, this film has been on Sky Box Office (which we cannot get because we are not a UK subscriber) but is listed as Inglourious B**terds.
No one seems to worry about the smorgasbord of depravity, murder, rape, mayhem, slaughter and pornography that floods TV on a daily basis – but someone is concerned enough to censor the (incorrect) spelling of a word in common usage. It’s a funny old world.
Speaking of funny old worlds – there has been brief moment of clarity in Australia. There has been a decision by the South Australian Non-Government Schools Registration Board that will effectively ban the teaching of creationism in science classes in schools.
Under policies published in December, the board said it required ''teaching of science as an empirical discipline, focusing on inquiry, hypothesis, investigation, experimentation, observation and evidential analysis''.
The board said it ''does not accept as satisfactory a science curriculum in a non-government school which is based on, espouses or reflects the literal interpretation of a religious text in its treatment of either creationism or intelligent design''.
Good grief. Teaching science as science – without fairy tales. What breathtaking audacity!
Naturally the Creationists are not going to take this lying down. The chief executive of Christian Schools Australia, Stephen O'Doherty, said the board statement was too strident, removing the right to teach ''biblical perspectives'' as part of science. He said if the South Australian policy was taken literally, ''it means you cannot mention the Bible in science classes''.
The creationists will of course campaign against this radical 21st Century perspective until we all come to our senses and accept that the earth was created less than 10,000 years ago and that all the animals – including more than 350,000 species of beetles – were hustled onto the ark and saved from the great flood.
A spokesman for the South Australian Non-Government Schools Registration Board said it was not banning teaching of creationism full-stop. ''It can be taught in religious studies.''
Precisely – that’s what it is – RELIGION!
Incidentally I have met Steven O’Doherty. He is living proof that Dinosaurs walked the earth. He was one the few to survive – and only because he is so tiny – in body and mind - that he was missed in the great gasping dinosaur-pulverization.
And also incidentally, in a moment of idle curiosity, I did a quick calculation of how big the ark would need to have been – JUST for the beetles. The answer. VERY big indeed.
In the interests of keeping you informed of the Weird Wild World of the Internet I should let you know of a site called chatroulette
This is a concept apparently developed by a young Russian. What you do is turn on your webcam, plug into chatroulette.com and watch other people using their PCs. You will see other people doing all sorts of other weird things (as you can well imagine – this is after all the Internet).
Enter at your own risk - there are some STRANGE people out there. Let me know how you get on.
Merisi reminded me that the most important part of the whole Academy Awards in this part of the world was that our very own won Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for "Inglourious Basterds".
Curiously, this film has been on Sky Box Office (which we cannot get because we are not a UK subscriber) but is listed as Inglourious B**terds.
No one seems to worry about the smorgasbord of depravity, murder, rape, mayhem, slaughter and pornography that floods TV on a daily basis – but someone is concerned enough to censor the (incorrect) spelling of a word in common usage. It’s a funny old world.
Speaking of funny old worlds – there has been brief moment of clarity in Australia. There has been a decision by the South Australian Non-Government Schools Registration Board that will effectively ban the teaching of creationism in science classes in schools.
Under policies published in December, the board said it required ''teaching of science as an empirical discipline, focusing on inquiry, hypothesis, investigation, experimentation, observation and evidential analysis''.
The board said it ''does not accept as satisfactory a science curriculum in a non-government school which is based on, espouses or reflects the literal interpretation of a religious text in its treatment of either creationism or intelligent design''.
Good grief. Teaching science as science – without fairy tales. What breathtaking audacity!
Naturally the Creationists are not going to take this lying down. The chief executive of Christian Schools Australia, Stephen O'Doherty, said the board statement was too strident, removing the right to teach ''biblical perspectives'' as part of science. He said if the South Australian policy was taken literally, ''it means you cannot mention the Bible in science classes''.
The creationists will of course campaign against this radical 21st Century perspective until we all come to our senses and accept that the earth was created less than 10,000 years ago and that all the animals – including more than 350,000 species of beetles – were hustled onto the ark and saved from the great flood.
A spokesman for the South Australian Non-Government Schools Registration Board said it was not banning teaching of creationism full-stop. ''It can be taught in religious studies.''
Precisely – that’s what it is – RELIGION!
Incidentally I have met Steven O’Doherty. He is living proof that Dinosaurs walked the earth. He was one the few to survive – and only because he is so tiny – in body and mind - that he was missed in the great gasping dinosaur-pulverization.
And also incidentally, in a moment of idle curiosity, I did a quick calculation of how big the ark would need to have been – JUST for the beetles. The answer. VERY big indeed.
In the interests of keeping you informed of the Weird Wild World of the Internet I should let you know of a site called chatroulette
This is a concept apparently developed by a young Russian. What you do is turn on your webcam, plug into chatroulette.com and watch other people using their PCs. You will see other people doing all sorts of other weird things (as you can well imagine – this is after all the Internet).
Enter at your own risk - there are some STRANGE people out there. Let me know how you get on.
