When I was a kid, I thought Jim Bakker looked creepy. Now I know enough to judge people by their deeds rather than their looks. My mature verdict: he’s a creep.

The second item is from The Washington Post.

Some may be relieved that the world isn’t going to end on December 21. Others may be disappointed that they won’t be able to have amazing End-of-The-World parties. Still others who were thinking about buying Jim Bakker’s End-of-the-World survival gear may be pleased that they can hang onto their cash a little bit longer. They can spend it on Christmas gifts instead. But I’m pretty sure that most people don’t give a damn about any of it. Except, perhaps, the Christmas gifts.

– the chaplain

Lady Gaga is forced to cancel concerts in Indonesia because of pressure from Islamic hard-liners
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/16/lady-gaga-indonesia-concert-protests

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/robcrilly/100158051/why-do-people-hear-wisdom-in-the-dalai-lamas-empty-rhetoric-and-meaningless-tautologies/

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/more-northern-ireland-teenagers-crossing-religious-divide-to-make-friends-16159289.html

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/05/16/welsh-government-will-not-scrap-religious-assemblies-in-schools-91466-30983966/

According to Jim Stewart, the Evangelical Alliance’s National Assembly liaison officer, refugees come to the UK because it is a ‘Christian country’.

“She can reach out to segments of the population that may be receptive to our message but maybe never heard of us before or maybe associated us with one particular political party. She can help this organization grow beyond its traditional reach.”

"Aside from conservative religious reaction, there is a second explanation for secularism’s crack-up: a colossal failure of leadership and strategic vision. Those who advocated on its behalf in the 1970s and ’80s had little understanding of who their irate, coalescing adversaries actually were. In the secular mindset these “Fundies” were just a bunch of yokels, sitting on their front porches, cleaning their guns to the musical accompaniment of Pa strumming the gutbucket. In reality, however, the movement had scads of charismatic and savvy, if not incendiary, leaders.

Secular leadership, by contrast, was static and moribund. As I demonstrate in my forthcoming book it is exceedingly difficult to figure out exactly who was steering the good ship secularism while the Jerry Falwells, Pat Robertsons and Ralph Reeds of the nation suited up and took to the pitch. My own research indicates that in the waning decades of the past century, there was little in the way of effective direction and guidance provided to the secular base.

Then again, who was the base? And with that we arrive at one of the most debilitating ironies afflicting American secularism, if not secularism itself. If one looks at the history of this movement it is exceedingly difficult to gain clarity as to what precisely it stands for and what types of people it represents."

Looking in Looking Out is an innovative series of screenings, workshops and talks, in which modern and classic cinema is examined and enjoyed in a philosophical context which is being held at Conway Hall from the 27 June – 5 July 2012.

The BHA is hosting a screening of the 2010 film ‘Into Eternity’, a documentary by director and presenter Michael Madsden on the safety of nuclear storage.

Along with Liam Young,  designer, futurist, critic and curator from the thinktank Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today, we will be taking a humanist and philosophical look at our responsibility to future generations far into the future.

The full programme for the festival can be found here.

Film synopsis:

Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storage, which is vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and to societal changes.

In Finland the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnels – that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous.

Watch the trailer here:

About Liam Young

Liam Young currently lives and works in London as an independent designer, futurist, critic and curator. 

Liam was recently named by Blueprint magazine as one of 25 people who will change architecture and design in 2010. He is a founder of the think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today, a group whose work explores the consequences of fantastic, perverse, and underrated urbanisms and teaches award winning design studios around the world. 

His projects deploy fictional near-future scenarios as critical instruments for instigating debate about the social, architectural and political consequences of emerging biological and technological futures.

A new campaign is launched to reform the Public Order Act:

• Campaigners say Public Order Act is unclear and has resulted in string of controversial arrests
• Groups join forces to have ‘insulting words or behaviour’ phrase removed from legislation
• Former shadow home secretary David Davis: ‘Nobody likes to be insulted, but nor does anyone have a right not to be insulted’

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145009/Public-Order-Act-Free-speech-strangled-law-bans-insults.html

The British Humanist Association has a useful overview of recent bids for faith-based Free Schools (Creationist Free School bids rejected before interview as other ‘faith’ schools advance to interviews). The article seems fairly upbeat about the failure of several bids from groups clearly planning to teach creationism as an alternative to scientific reality. 

Bids to set up creationist Free Schools have been rejected by the Department for Education (DfE). In particular, the DfE have turned down a high-profile bid from Sheffield Christian Free School, which would have been affiliated to the Christian Schools’ Trust (CST) network of largely creationist private schools. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the news; however, at least 15 other proposals to open ‘faith’ schools in 2013 have advanced to the interview stage.

The fate of several specific bids for creationist Free Schools is summarised in the article:

• Creationist Everyday Champions Church’s bid to establish Exemplar Academy appears to have been withdrawn, with the website having vanished prior to the application deadline.
• The fate of other proposals from CST schools such as Destiny Christian School in Bedford and Barnsley Christian School is unknown, but it is unlikely that they were successful.
• Similarly, it is unknown whether CofE school Clayton Academy, proposed by creationist Jesmond Parish Church – who have strong links to the Christian Institute – has progressed.
• Interestingly, creationism is not given as a cause for Sheffield Christian Free School’s rejection, in contrast to when Everyday Champions Academy’s bid was rejected last year.

I share the BHA’s concern about the general tendency for diverse and factional religiously motivated Free School proposals to be made. I also have a worry about school bids with a focus on barmpottery (as David Colquhoun puts it) suchas the three Steiner schools which have progressed in the application process. 

Bookmark It

But with a simple HTML tag or two, it cleans up nicely to this:

Here is how to do it:

• Step 1: type the HTML skeleton  <a href=”"> <a>
• Step 2: add the URL <a href=”address here“> </a>
• Step 3: add the words <a href=”">words here</a>
• Final Product: <a href=”address here“> words here </a>

So in our example, the final product would look like this:

The code may look sloppy, but once you submit your comment, the blog makes it beautiful.  NOW you are an HTML Coder!  Congratulations!

Finally, let’s add two more beautification tags – the bold tag (<b></b>) & the italic tag (<i></i>) . If you add the bold tags around the word “Sabio”  and the italic tags around “Please” your comment will now look like this:

Isn’t that gorgeous?  It may look scary when you put it all together, but with a little practice, it comes easy. The advantage to learning these simple HTML tags is:

• It beautifies the comment.
• People may not copy and paste a link, but they will click on it.
• People may respect your comment more because you took time to make it attractive for readers.

Go ahead, practice the HTML and leave a link in the comments!  And FYI: I made a simple diagram to say the same in another post here.