At the April meeting of the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire, Guy Otten presented a talk on the origins of Islam. The thesis of the talk was that the origins were mythological, and were created in a similar way to the Christian religion, being affected by politics and evolving over time.
There is something truly magical about the Spanish Grand Prix. While the sport us ultimately dominated by Britain, the following in Spain is colossal, and is reflected in them having both the Spanish and European races in the country.
What was most impressive about Sunday’s race was the sheer noise generated by the crowds. Usually you can’t hear anything above the roar of the engines, but every time Fernando Alonso passed the grand stands you could hear their cries – no wonder he brought his Ferrari home to a dominant victory.
Last month, Michael Burgess gave a talk to Leeds Atheist Society on “The Christian Ideology of New Atheism”. The video will be available on Worfolk Lectures at a later date.
Were you under the impression that you were not allowed to cover your face while in a bank, because of security seasons? I was. But it turns out that I was mistaken.
For privacy reasons, I’ve hidden the identity of the subject, but as you can see, this is a bank customer who has clearly hidden their face. Why is this an issue? Because if they are, but I am now, that is religious discrimination. You have to treat everyone equally, and if you grant or restrict extra privileges for one specific group, you are discriminating.
I wrote to HSBC to ask them to clarify the situation.
To Whom It May Concern:
I was of the understanding that when using your bank, I was not allowed to cover my face for security reasons. However, when I visited your branch on 17 April, I noticed a customer using the banks facilities while wearing a full-face veil. I was hoping you could clarify whether these restrictions have been relaxed?
Yours faithfully,
Chris Worfolk
HSBC phoned me a few days later in response. They said that balaclavas and motor cycle helmets were specifically band, because they are associated with burglaries, but I was otherwise free to cover my face while using their bank.
In the forth book of the Discworld series, a young man named Mort becomes Death’s apprentice. This had a lot of resonance with me as I considered a similar career path back when I was younger, before deciding to go on and become the lion tamer you all now know and love.
I found the book far more witty and engaging than the previous books in the series. Not that I didn’t enjoy them, because I did, but I thought this level was on a level above them – it was simply better. Though of course, it’s easier to write a great novel when you have an inherently funny topic, such as Death.
Last month, I took my camera down to Toastmasters so we could get some updated photos for our website.
Last month, I attended QED for the first time. I’ve not been in previous years due to the cost, but having more disposable income now, I’m making an effort to get round the various conferences.
They certainly had a good speaker line up. I don’t think it was as good as TAM, but is better than the BHA’s conference this year, and both TAM and BHA Con are twice the price that QED was. In value for money terms, it was OK. There was no food provided during the weekend, so the £99 ticket price is actually more when you factor that in.
I also attended the Gala Dinner, which was supposed to have Brooke Magnanti on our table. She missed the dinner, which I didn’t mind too much as I was hosting her at Leeds Skeptics a few days after, but I might have been rather disappointed if not.
The speakers themselves varied in quality. Natalie Haynes was a bit of a disappointment because her speaking style is incredibly erratic – she was constantly darting back and forward on the stage and her talk had very little structure. It was still interesting and funny, but could have been a lot better. Rose Shapiro also seemed a bit out of her depth when it came to public speaking.
Stevyn Colgan justified his place as opening keynote though, with a brilliant talk about applying skepticism to police work, Rachael Dunlop was as entertaining and charming as ever, and Carrie Poppy delivered a brilliant talk too. Brian Thompson was a delight as Master of Ceremonies as well – imagine an American version of Andrew Copson and you’ve got a pretty accurate picture.
The star of the show for me, and I imagine many other people too though, was Lawrence Krauss, who presented an outstanding talk on how you get a universe from nothing. Well worth watching the video for that once it is posted.
While I was at QED, I stayed at the hotel the conference is in – the Mercure. It is a good hotel for a conference, as it had the facilities right next to the bar, as I discovered when I was there last year for PHPNW. However, staying there, I was a little disappointed.
I will say that the staff were very friendly and accommodating – which really made the stay a lot better than it could have been, and they are a real asset to the hotel.
However, I’ve clearly been spoilt by too many stays at The Marriot. The room was small and if you wanted room service, there was a £3 tray charge. The room had internet listed as a feature, which I naively took to mean free internet. I’m told it wasn’t free, but I couldn’t even find out, because it wasn’t wireless and I hadn’t brought my little adapter, so I didn’t have a network port.
When we got there on the Friday night, we ate in the restaurant bar, which took ages to order and even when we only ordered two burgers, took around 35 minutes to arrive.
At breakfast, I felt the food was rather overcooked, and their lunchtime sandwiches, that master of ceremonies Brian Thompson joked “cheap sandwiches are available – I don’t know if that means inexpensive…”, were £2.50 and lacking in filling.
Given the Britannia Hotel is just across the road, I’m not sure the Mercure represents best option.
