Torquay
Much fun in the modest Riviera of Torquay. Drove in listening to Thomases Waits and Tallis and munching Caramel Bunnies; today dusky pink skies, smell of barbeques and late-awakening Sunday Valentines couples. The show last night felt like a good one, and the audience was decidedly rowdier than in Swansea. Apparently the stalls featured a large man who having once appeared on Come Dine With Me, requested (and sarcastically got) special treatment at the start of the show from our crew, and then was noisy throughout. Most of his party were ejected before the second half, during which the duty manager sat with this chap to make sure he behaved. Thus the second act was very much delayed, and the audience energy at the end was, I think, unavoIdably affected. Tonight may prove to be a different, couply, loved-up sort of crowd.
Apologies to a chap called Sam from whom, in a fluster to keep signing at stage door, I grabbed a ticket rather rudely. If you know Sam, please pass on my apologies. I think I may have been grossly disappointing to meet because of it, and I hate that.
My hotel room, though of high chintz, is proving a great place to work with it’s ocean view, so I am keeping tucked away.
Thank you for coming if you did, and I hoped you enjoyed it. It was a fun night
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Atheists are wrong to claim science and religion are incompatible
“General Synod heard that public figures such as Professor Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, use a “crude caricature” of faith to depict worshippers as “blind” and “irrational”.
Clergy and lay members of the Church said it was perfectly possible to believe in God and Darwin’s theory of evolution, and said that religion can explain areas of existence that science cannot.
But they warned against treating the Bible as a scientific textbook, and claimed the “naivety” of some creationists can damage the standing of Christians who work in science and provide ammunition to their enemies.
So-called “young Earth” creationists in the US believe the story of Genesis is literally true and that God made the world in six days.
Peter Capon, a lay member of Synod from Manchester diocese who tabled the Private Member’s Motion on the compatibility of science and religious belief, said that Christians believe the world exists because of the will of God whereas atheists consider this to be a “complete delusion”.
He went on: “We wish to refute the idea promoted by atheist scientists that science is on the side of the atheist in answering these sorts of questions.
“We wish to refute the perception that you have to choose between science and faith.”
Read more at RichardDawkins.net
Futher reading at BBC News
Valentine’s Day – The Science, The History And The Myths
“More than a Hallmark holiday, Valentine’s Day, like Halloween, is rooted in pagan partying.
The lovers’ holiday traces its roots to raucous annual Roman festivals where men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips, and spanked young maidens in hopes of increasing their fertility, said classics professor Noel Lenski of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The annual pagan celebration, called Lupercalia, was held every year on February 15 and remained wildly popular well into the fifth century A.D.—at least 150 years after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
“It is clearly a very popular thing, even in an environment where the [ancient] Christians are trying to close it down,” Lenski said. “So there’s reason to think that the Christians might instead have said, OK, we’ll just call this a Christian festival.”
The church pegged the festival to the legend of St. Valentine.
According to the story, in the third century A.D. Roman Emperor Claudius II, seeking to bolster his army, forbade young men to marry. Valentine, it is said, flouted the ban, performing marriages in secret.”
Read more at National Geographic (thanks, SuZi)
Protestors will tell Pope to ‘snog off’
“A ‘kiss-in’ will be held as part of Sunday’s Valentine’s Day protest against the Pope’s visit to the UK. Demonstrators plan to march from London’s Westminster Cathedral to the Italian embassy in Grosvenor Square and those willing are being asked to take five minutes to publicly show their love for their partners.
Kiss-in organiser Nicolas Chinardet said the idea was to use the traditional day of love to send a message to the Catholic Church over its stance on homosexuality. He told PinkNews.co.uk: “The Pope and his acolytes keep telling us that their god is a god of love, so on the name day of one of their saints, patron of love and lovers, we have decided to take them to their word and show them what love really is and what it can do. “We are asking straight and gay couples, religious or not, to come together to contrast the rejection we too often face from the church with a message of inclusion, love and togetherness. A way to tell the Catholic Church to snog off!”
The kiss-in is to be held at 1:30pm outside Westminster Cathedral. The main protest is being held over the Pope’s visit to the UK in September. Taxpayers will have to foot the bill for at least part of the cost of his stay, the total of which is estimated to be £20 million. The Pope has been accused of opposing gay equality, women’s rights, abortion rights and the use of condoms to prevent HIV.”
Read more at Pink News
Transsexualism No Longer Viewed As A Mental Illness In France
“France has removed transsexualism from an official list of mental illnesses, according to an order issued by the French Ministry of Health reported Friday by French news media. The order issued Wednesday removed “gender identity disorders” from an article of the social security code related to “long-term psychiatric diseases.” According to media reports, France is the first country in the world to do so.”
Full article at NY Times (thanks, @JoyDaley)
Crabzilla! At 5 Feet Tall, Biggest Known Crab Heads to UK
“Hail Crabzilla! The Japanese Spider Crab is the biggest arthropod on Earth–their legs are believed to grow up to 12 feet long. But since they live at such great depths (typically 1,000 feet down or so) a full grown spider crab has yet to be caught. So for now, we’ll have to make due with the 5 foot long Crabzilla (that’s what it’s called–I didn’t make it up!), one of the largest known crabs in the planet.
According to the BBC, Crabzilla will be the biggest crab ever seen in Britain when it’s brought on show at Birmingham’s National Sea Life Centre. From the report:
The crabs are commonly found in the Pacific in 1,000 ft (300m) deep waters but have been known to live deeper. Curator Graham Burrows said: “It is rumoured these crabs can grow as big as four metres, big enough to straddle a car. “He will absolutely dwarf the other crabs in there, but he’s not aggressive and they should have nothing to worry about.”"
Read more at Tree Hugger
Patrick Page lives on
I’ve just heard the very sad news that Patrick Page has passed away. Magicians worth their salt will be know that Patrick was a genius of our craft, and a famously generous man. I knew him a little from his consultancy work on some of my projects: he was a brilliantly rude, sharp-witted, sensationally likeable Scot, better at magic and more knowledgeable than any of us. All of us at Objective are devastated by the news. For some time, the sheer force of his personality has kept him going through illness, but now he doesn’t need to fight any more. At the same time, as with any powerfully creative force, he will live on strongly and defiantly through his work and the legacy he leaves. There’s a bit of Patrick every night in Enigma, and in countless other performances happening now across the world.
It is an honour to have known him, and to continue to know him through his particular genius. Much love to his friends and family from all of us.
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Finishing in Swansea
Last night was a classic second night – all good, and very happy with it, but was aware I wasn’t quite on top of it in the same way as the first night. Had a bit of a senior moment in the second half, but all went well. It all read fine, and the show was a good one. Tonight will most likely be an equally textbook third night: aware of a tiny dip on the second, you find renewed vigour for the third and it goes extremely well. After that, it’s just great fun and you’re in the hands of chance from night to night.
Would love to talk about favourite moments – Olly provided one – but don’t want to spoil anything for people coming to see it for the first time. Managed to cut my finger fairly badly at some point but I carried on like the brave little bunny that I am.
Intrigued to hear a white Swansea teenager talk to me with the cross-racial street patois I have previously only heard used by London’s self-possessed minors. The mixture of trademark South-Wales cadence and hip hop argot was far richer than our duller, flatter, more obvious version. This is an especially lovely part of the UK when it comes to dialect. Am fascinated to know to what extent our accents affect how we are perceived and therefore our behaviour: this local lilting speech, for example, must trigger something in the listener that suggests questioning and engagement, and in turn makes the speakers seem more rather more alert, friendly, and lovely to be around. Which surely, in turn, makes them nicer people. A wonderful self-perpetuating process, if it’s at all true.
Last show here tonight then up early for a long drive to Torquay.
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Win Tickets to Enigma at the Torquay Princess
Yes you heard it – we’re giving away two free tickets to the fantastic Enigma 2010 show at the Princess Theatre in Torquay. Tickets are for Monday 15th of February and all you have to do to win them is the following:
Find someone to go with. Get THEM to email US with the best (true) reason as to why YOU should win. You can ask as many friends as you like to email us - but each friend can only email us once.
You have just a few days to win so get out there and ask someone if they would like to go with you to see Mr Brown and his incredible Enigma show.
South Carolina Now Requires Terrorists To Register
“Terrorists who want to overthrow the United States government must now register with South Carolina’s Secretary of State and declare their intentions — or face a $25,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.
The state’s “Subversive Activities Registration Act,” passed last year and now officially on the books, states that “every member of a subversive organization, or an organization subject to foreign control, every foreign agent and every person who advocates, teaches, advises or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States … shall register with the Secretary of State.”
There’s even a $5 filing fee.”
Read more at Raw Story
