I'm away for much of next week, so here's the last blogpost for a while - there should be podcast episodes very soon, however, for both Token Skeptic and 365 Days of Philosophy. Until then - enjoy some of the photos from the Perth Writers festival, taken this morning. [View the story "Adventures At The Perth Writers Festival - Sunday #PWF #PerthFest" on Storify] … [Read more...]
Adventures At The Perth Writers Festival – Sunday #PWF #PerthFest
February 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment
What’s In My Bag (UWA Open Day And Start Of Perth Writers Festival Edition)?
February 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment
It's been a time where I honestly don't care about anything to do with atheism, skepticism, -isms of any kind and whether there's fraught-ness and fighting - because I've been merrily busy! Step one - empty out bag for cleaning. It's a mess. There's even an uneaten pear sitting in the middle; I'll have that for breakfast tomorrow morning. Top centre - My pink converse shoes, which happened to match the scarf worn by Margaret Atwood - I think she was bemused. A hair decoration, black … [Read more...]
My 2012 Reading And Viewing (And Event-Going) In Review
December 17, 2012 By 1 Comment
Currently on a break - back on Thursday. Here's something I blogged before I left. Penn Jillette used to do this all the time when he kept a blog, and I used to find it interesting. I don't know if you'll find my reading and viewing (and conference-attending) habits interesting, but I've kept a quasi-regular log in the back of my diaries throughout the decades and this year is no exception. This is the first time I've typed one out, however. I haven't included books or films or documentaries … [Read more...]
Robert Siegel Interviews Salman Rushdie Video – Joseph Anton At Centre For Inquiry, Washington
October 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Author Salman Rushdie discusses his memoir, Joseph Anton, in which he discussed his ten years spent in hiding as a result of the fatwa issued against him by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 for his authorship of the novel, The Satanic Verses. It's a great book - took it with me to Adelaide and it distracted me wonderfully during airplane turbulence ... which is high praise from me, I hate turbulence. The one-hour, nineteen minutes video isn't embeddable, so just click on through: … [Read more...]
Packing For ScienceRewired (What Books To Take?) #SRW12
October 9, 2012 By 2 Comments
Quick! New Token Skeptic Podcast episode now out! Episode One Hundred And Forty – On Great Skepticism – With Pat Linse And Donald Prothero! I've just discovered a book or two that I left in the suitcase from the time I went to Berlin. So, I decided to round up a few of the other usual suspects that I take with me to conferences or while travelling here and there. I should point out that no, I don't have an ebook reader, but I have been really enjoying re-reading Faitheist on my laptop... … [Read more...]
The Fatwa – Salman Rushdie – BBC Documentary
October 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Currently on tour in the USA; latest book currently sitting next to my bathtub after I cycled out for the day and got a very good weights workout carrying a copy of "Joseph Anton" back home. Here's the BBC documentary that I watched earlier in the year, that I highly recommend. There's also subtitles in the YouTube version if you want to click over. Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, tells for the first time the inside story of how it felt to be condemned to death by the … [Read more...]
18,100 Miles In The Air, With 438 Pages To Read
February 26, 2012 By 9 Comments
I'm on the road again. Since I just finished a few days at the Perth Writers Festival (and I promise to blog about how great it was catching up with authors Alom Shaha, Leslie Cannold and Jane Caro - by the way, get their books), what to pack for the plane trip to Sydney and Melbourne (and back again) is on my mind. This is a revised post from a few years back. Many of the recommendations still hold, although for this trip I have packed Anna Funder's Stasiland: True Stories From Behind the … [Read more...]
Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled – The Psychology Behind Blank Page Syndrome
February 22, 2012 By 2 Comments
After reviewing the verse of Digital Cuttlefish (poet laureate of the Scientific Blogohedron) and remembering a comment they made, long ago - I began wondering as to what extent is it true that one MUST practice in order to write good poetry. Good poetry is a passion of mine; I've even sent two friends copies of Stephen Fry's guide to poetry - 'The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within': I believe poetry is a primal impulse within us all. I believe we are all capable of it and … [Read more...]
Dystopia And Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale: 1986 – 2012
February 20, 2012 By 7 Comments
"OfFred was a normal everyday woman with a career, a name, a life like all women have come to expect and take for granted in this age. When the Religious Right came into power, they began to put into practice their insane beliefs which strip women of their identity, their rights, their body, their very name. Women are to be called Of (whatever asshat they belong to), instead of, say Beatrix. Reproduction is an issue because all the toxins in the environment have rendered many women infertile. … [Read more...]
The Young Atheist’s Handbook – On Love
February 14, 2012 By 1 Comment
Expect the next Token Skeptic podcast episode very soon. Until then, a little spoiler: Lessons from The Young Atheist's Handbook: Love. … [Read more...]
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