On Profiling
I have the kind of complexion that cannot enter a blood bank without causing onlookers to question if I intend to make a donation or a withdrawal. Colour photographs of me are indistinguishable from...
View ArticleThe Gospel of James (age 13)
As a young boy, I had almost no concern for the truth of the Jesus story. As any pragmatically selfish child, I could pretend to agree with almost any idea if I thought it was necessary to maintain the...
View ArticleObserving The Transit of Venus
On corresponding with friend back home in England and around the world, it appears that I was rather fortunate to view the transit at all. Walter Lewin was clouded out entirely in Boston, Ahmad Ghaedi...
View ArticleAtheist Limericks
There was a young fellow from Trinity, who took the square root of infinity. But the number of digits, gave him the fidget; he dropped Math and took up Divinity. Gamow, George (1947) “One, Two, Three…...
View ArticleWhy is ‘science’ valuable?
[This is a short speech I presented to a group of around 300 students aged between 11 and 15 to mark ‘National Science Week’ (sometime in March 2011, I forget exactly when).] Hello. If you haven’t met...
View ArticleTeaching Astrology in a Faith School
[The image above is purported to be from a Croatian Church (unsourced). For other examples see the 'Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri' in Rome] [This article is now also available on Secular Post:...
View ArticleAn Inbetween Universe
What the Universe Is Like My first full-time physics teaching job was at a Church of England School in Wigan. The arrangement was mutually appealing for employer and employee: I had just taken some...
View ArticleGod of the Mathematicians
Statistics In 1996, a survey was conducted by the Yale historian Edward Larson which asked a sample of scientists about their religious beliefs. The group’s aim was to discover whether religiosity...
View Article5 Step Guide to Making a Scientific Youtube Hoax
While teaching secondary school physics courses, I sometimes found occasion to show a class a Youtube video. Each time, I would first pose the suggestion, then set my watch and wait. And this...
View ArticleImaginary Sharks
The Setup While sitting down for lunch a few weeks ago, a Christian colleague and I slowly established our inevitable, yet unscheduled, weekly argument about faith. This normally makes for rather trite...
View Article