Geoff ArnoldExpat Brit. Software engineer. Traveller. Music lover. Mac user. Liberal. Atheist. Dreamer.Rewriting history (as we all do, all the time)- June 28, 2008 Further confirmation (and expansion) of Libet&8217;s classic work demonstrating that we start to act before we are conscious of our decision to do so, and rewrite our subjective experience so that we feel that we&8217;re in control: Dutch researchers led by psychologist Ap Dijksterhuis at the University of Amsterdam recently found that people struggling to make ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2055 Re-Hipify John Scalzi- June 28, 2008 This is going to be a really educational thread&8230; Tell me what new music or artists youre listening to these days. For the purposes of this discussion, new is defined to mean: 1. The artistband started publicly releasing music (or alternately made their major label debut) after January 2005; or 2. The artistband started publicly releasing music (or alternately made ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2054 How to shoot yourself in the foot- June 27, 2008 Riazat Butt, the Guardian&8217;s religion reporter, has been writing about Gafcon, the meeting of conservative Anglicans in Jerusalem. Ostensibly this movement is all about African bishops bemoaning the moral laxity of US and UK Anglicans, and offering them an alternative free from the blight of homosexuality. Apparently, the American conservatives (dominionists, even) who are actually ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2053 Do I know any of you- June 26, 2008 Via the Bad Astronomy Blog comes this graph from a Gallup Poll of US beliefs. Now a number of bloggers have commented on the party political differences that are highlighted by the survey. However, I want to ask a different, rather simpler question. Do I know any of you More specifically, is there anyone that I know - ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2051 Walkers Paradise- June 26, 2008 Here&8217;s why I was able to give up my car when I moved to Seattle. From where I live in the International District, through Downtown, up to South Lake Union (where Amazon is moving in a couple of years) is a &8220;Walkers&8217; Paradise&8221;. And I agree 100%. Check out the interactive map at Walk Score. (Via ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2049 Farewell Routemaster (and other interesting fare)- June 25, 2008 I discovered the rather strange online video site Jaman today. It&8217;s a streaming (or download-to-rent) service, which has a large library of movies and short subject material from &8220;the long tail&8221;. The films range from silent classics to recent gems such as &8220;Conversations with Other Women&8221;, which I saw recently. In addition to pay-to-rent items, ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2048 Lack of blogging, and a thought- June 23, 2008 A quick check at the posting dates for the last few entries in my blog confirms that my blogging rate has fallen off recently. The interesting thing is that I&8217;ve been contributing as much to the blogosphere as I usually do; it&8217;s just that I&8217;ve found myself contributing a lot of comments to other people&8217;s ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2047 By way of an experiment Recent music- June 23, 2008 Amazon Associates just released a blog widget that provides access to the samples for their inventory of MP3 music. I thought I&8217;d use it to show you some of the music I&8217;ve been adding to my collection. One track per album: Amazon.com Widgets Click the play button to get things started; then you can browse the ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2046 The Atheist Thirteen- June 17, 2008 I just noticed an atheist blog-meme over at The Barefoot Bum. I&8217;m shocked, shocked that nobody has tagged me with it, but never mind: I figure that I can always tag myself. So here goes. Q1. How would you define atheism Atheism is the opposite of theism: the belief in god. This may seem to be a ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2045 While we were looking the other way.- June 14, 2008 Casualties in Afghanistan now exceed those in Iraq (and they&8217;re growing). By the Pentagon&8217;s count, 15 U.S. and two allied troops were killed in action in Iraq last month, a total of 17. In Afghanistan it was 19, including 14 Americans and five coalition troops. &8230; Even when non-combat deaths are included, the overall May toll ...http://geoffarnold.com/?p=2044 |