Guess what I'm thinking about

Yes, that's the correct: "The Penis episode."

"The Eleventh Hour" and the return of Doctor Who

As the Good Ones among you O Constant Listenerz no doubt know, DOCTOR WHO has most recently returned with it's new series (numbered 5th, 1st or 31st depending on who is doing the reckoning). Although the first appearance by Matt Smith (the Doctor; specifically the Eleventh Doctor of the title, witty eh?) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) was better than we Heretics had hoped, the episode itself was not altogether wonderful. Something was missing. I found what that something was when I read the following review. We thought best to share it, from IMDB poster pstancer in Hong Kong, "In the first episode, the only black face belongs to a Rottweiler!":

The first thing I noticed with the new Doctor Who is that the only black face in the first episode belongs to a Rottweiler. And that the only sexual reference is a heterosexual one.

Is Steven Moffat, the new Producer, trying to make a point here?

While I sometimes tired of the histrionics of Russell T Davies's plots, I could always chuckle at the thought of middle-class parents cowering behind their sofas while their children were entertained with stories of black/white/gay/lesbian/alien love-triangles, and heroes drawn from the Daily Mail's hate list: single mothers on benefit; gay ex-servicemen; chavs and hoodies a.k.a the working class. Even his first timelord came from that little know northern suburb of Gallifrey: Salford, near Manchester.

Contrarily, Mr Moffat's first solo-offering seems to hark back to days of old. All the episode was missing was some understated misogamy [I think pstancer meant misogyny here, but I am not certain], the Brigadier, and morris dancers dancing around a maypole on the village green, and you have a rehash of the 70's classic: The Dæmons.

Hopefully I am prejudging, Steven Moffat did create Captain Jack in "The Empty Child" back in Series 1. Already there is the hint of child abandonment for young Amy Pond, and maybe she has a whole Belle-De-Jour back-story from her "kiss-a-gram" days? Doctor Who meets Pretty Women anyone?

So despite what I have just said, sheepishly, I would say the omens are good. Karen Gillan and Matt Smith can certainly act and have a curious chemistry - hopefully more Mulder and Scully than Romeo and Juliet - and with Moffat's fine pedigree of past episodes (Blink/ Silence in the Library) it would appear that we have an exciting journey ahead of us.

*

The immediate next episode-- "The Beast Below" --is both better and less stark white-on-white. We are ever hopeful. Also, linguistically interesting is how very Canadian Ms. Gillan/Ms. Pond's accent is most of the time.

Evolution, Big Bang Polls Omitted From NSF Report - ScienceInsider

Evolution, Big Bang Polls Omitted From NSF Report - ScienceInsider

In an era of diminishing returns, statisticians can be clever knowing (of course) that the number never lie. Don't like the skewing? Omit the factors that cause the skew et voilà ce sera parfait! In order to avoid the problem of religious objections to science and better yet avoid having to address his, the

National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF), says it chose to leave the section out of the 2010 edition of the biennial Science and Engineering Indicators because the survey questions used to measure knowledge of the two topics force respondents to choose between factual knowledge and religious beliefs.

What an unpleasant taste this precedent leaves. I guess if you omit the horrific rate in which the US incarcerates its citizens, executes them and foreign nationals, dumbs down sexual education programmes, it is indeed the best country in the world. Just set some more comprehensive accountancy at toil and it will be perfect. Perhaps re-write history books whilst we're at it: Let Texas lead the way!

(Thanks to the Barefoot Bum for the tip on the story.)

CBC News - Montreal - Niqab gets 2nd Quebec student expelled

CBC News - Montreal - Niqab gets 2nd Quebec student expelled

We like the CBC, we do. We do not, however, like how comments on stories so frequently breakdown as follows:

1. Relevant comment.
2. Tangential comment.
3. Racist screed.
4. Racist screed and with added typos for fibre.
5. Ridiculous leftest counter claims.
6.+ More of the same.

This is an important, significant story for all modern liberal democracies. But there's a snag you see, it is not a simple thing, one minor on/off switch and the problem is solved or dissolved. There are really important issues (plural) here: religious freedom, secularism, women's right, individual choice and autonomy, provincial rights, states/federal rights... Not to mention that the law in question has merely been proposed. Why was this woman expelled? What will come of this?

High Art

Banksy is an artist and provocateur and we love him for it. Not enough perhaps to invite him to mural our Very Special Secret Location, mind, but we love him nonetheless. What is most heretical about Banksy is how he elicits such extremes: those who would decry his work as mere vandalism, low brow, ineffectual, trite, or worst of all insipid. And then there are those who are convinced his is the hand of new art, the most important living artist.

We look forward to this documentary.