Some quick jottings...

... I've just gotten my arse handed to me in squash again, and I can't be bovvered to split this up nicely into separate posts.

On the conversation with a fundie:
I was tres surprised to find people actually read my blog when I'm being serious! Anyway, Rench raised the point that perhaps I should have taken a different tack to swaying the fundie to my point of view, that is, he suggested that I should pick apart each of said fundie's points one by one. I, on the other hand, favoured the strategy of identifying the key point of his argument (that there is evidence against evolution) that was relevant to the posted video and squish that instead.

In my limited experience of watching fundies try to justify their ravings, particularly on Youtube and RDF, it doesn't actually matter if you call their points into question. Lacking an adequate response, they will quickly change topic, i.e. try to distract you with even more bullshit. Hence the reason for my choice of strategy comes from the metaphor of debating a fundie as a game of Whack-a-Mole.

With Rench's way, the moles (that is, the bullshit) pops up, and you whack 'em (that is, debunk them). But they just keep coming! With my way, I look for the biggest mole, grab it and crucify the little bastard.

To be honest, I can't really vouch for the efficacy of either method, but I get more satisfaction out of mine. The fundie mind, owing to its lack of consistency and coherency, moves in ways that are completely unpredictable to an empiricist like me. But hey, I'm totally open to suggestions, eh?

GAAAHGETOUTOFMYHEAD!!
This was playing on the radio on my way home:


BzzzzzHeeeeelp meeeeeee!!!
Remember The Fly? Silly old B-grade movie, chock-full of appallingly bad pseudoscience, even worse acting and a tinge of romance? I loved it. No, really, I did. It's because it was such a shit movie that it had that special charm about it. Anyway, I was visiting the Bloomberg site and stumbled on this article. Long story short, The Fly is now an OPERA! Rock on! Just think - the fly-human hybrid, stuck in a spider's web, struggling for its life and belting out, at the top of his lungs, with a fantastic soprano, "HEEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Fade to black...