Hamilton Saint

Do you draw a distinction between killing an innocent child up-close and personal, and killing an innocent child by dropping a bomb on him?

Fair enough. My last word on this topic: I also consider myself a "live-and-let-live-atheist" . But fundamentalist religion (especially the "Bible belt" variety found in the US and the "jihadist" type of Islam) does get me going. I did a degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies at university, so I certainly respect people's beliefs and faith - but religious extremism does need to be recognised and condemned. One can understand the scientist's dismay with the sort of religious fundamentalism that rejects obvious scientific fact (creationism, for example). And science, furthermore, does recognise that new theories and new evidence arise to challenge previous understandings. I consider science and religion two distinct versions of reality. When "religious" people deny scientific truth, or scientists deny that human experience contains other "realities" than scientific truth, I think of it as a "category mistake". Often, the so-called conflict between science and religion is based on this failure to recognise that category mistake. Two ways of experiencing the world that should not be confused or conflated.

Great book! I read it again in Cuba in March. When you've finished it watch the 1940s film version starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. Cooper became a good friend of Hemingway.

But if you did change his words it wouldn't correspond to what he was saying. And he's not dressed in khaki, wearing an explosives belt or toting an AK47. That's the point. He may be sat in front of a video camera having a bit of a rant, but he is engaged in rational argument. You might not like his take-no-prisoners style, but he's talking about ideas and cultural trends. He's not attacking individuals. And he is criticising religion in general, not focusing on only one religion. The parallel you try to draw there is a false one, since you are mis-characterising what he's doing. An aggressive debating style is hardly equivalent to a fundamentalist world-view. Fundamentalism is the strict adherence to a set of prescribed beliefs or doctrines. And that is the mental attitude this guy is arguing against.

Shoddy journalism: the article does not reveal when the interview was done, and what the context for it is.

So, if it's OK with them, it ought to be OK with me? I prefer to think for myself.

So, your response to torture and killing is to "bomb the f*ck" out of the country, which would indiscriminantly kill and maim innocent civilians. Where's the logic or empathy in that response?

I have to disagree fundamentally (but not in a fundamentalist way!) with the part I've put in bold type. There's no parallel at all.

Fundamentalist atheist? What exactly do you mean by that?

Yes, what an amazing line-up that was! Well, to give LJB his due, after his brief flirtation with the "big time" as an Engelbert Humperdinck-styled pop singer, he returned to the Blues. In 1971 he put out a great LP called It Ain't Easy - one side produced by Rod Stewart, the other side produced by Elton John. It featured the amusing lead-off track "Don't Try to Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll". BTW, Long John Baldry became a Canadian in the late 70s. He lived near Hamilton first and then went out to the west coast.

Must be about extermination, then, not evolution.

I remember doing a radio interview with Long John Baldry shortly after she died and asking him about her. He said he was impressed by her voice but found her material rather "twee". I was rather annoyed with the comment, but got a little dig in at him later when I referred to his brief stint as a "housewives' choice"-style of pop singer in the late 60s. [Remember Let the Heartaches Begin?] He wasn't too thrilled with me bringing that up!

Here's a live performance of B Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ipWM3DWe4

Sad news. I used to play B Movie and H2O Gate Blues regularly on my radio program.

The acropolis in Athens Salisbury Cathedral Niagara Falls Central Park in NYC Trafalgar Square Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris)

Thanks for your interesting reply. OMG! John Wayne in The Green Berets. How out of touch was that?! I remember seeing that and being appalled by its political view of the Vietnam War. Have you see The Train with Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield. Scofield plays a Nazi officer trying to steal all the best French art classics (paintings) and ship them back to Germany by train. Lancaster plays a French railway engineer linked to the Resistance, who does everything he can to stop it. What's great in the film is the focus on the French trains and the railway infrastructure of France at the time. Interesting and different approach.

Have you ever watched Tora! Tora! Tora!? Probably the definitive account of Pearl Harbour. Also of minor interest (unless you're a huge WWII film fan), is Midway. Similar topic (a Japanese attack on the U.S.-controlled island of Midway, north-west of Pearl Harbour), but it relies on lots of stock footage from the US military, and a couple of other war films. Worth a look, though -and it gives you a slice of WWII history.

I don't know what it's like over there, but over here police are not interested at all in dealing with stolen bicycles, so stamping them is pretty much a waste of time. They're clearly not keen on collecting information about stolen bikes, and when they do find abandoned bikes, they just stick them in a warehouse somewhere, in case someone should ask whether their bike has been found. Every once in a while they will sell off the bikes in a public sale or auction.

I was behind someone in line at a tea shop a few weeks back. His order was, "I'd like a large green tea - make it black."

I always use loose tea, not teabags! I like English Breakfast Tea, Irish Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey and Darjeeling. Yorkshire Tea is good, too (loose, of course!). There are a couple of specialty tea shops in Toronto I go to every few months; they import lots of excellent teas from all over Asia. My favourites so far - a Darjeeling variety, and a black tea from Sri Lanka. When I can't get into Toronto, I'll buy a Twinings tin of loose tea.

And thanks to you for delivering the messages.

I find this and other so-called "funny" comments by WGS highly overrated. People go on as though he's Tommy Cooper. Not even remotely close.

Where's that? I went to Hythe Primary.

Indeed, but they like to be consistent in their inconsistency.

That sounds painful.