I heard this interview (15.6 MB) on the Redi Thlabi show on Cape Talk. There are some quite interesting points made, and there are some funny moments–poor Redi nearly cracked up with laughter at one point.
Richard Dawkins Interview
February 24, 2012
6 Comments | 
religion, Science | Tagged: atheism, cape talk, interview, redi thlabi, richard dawkins | 
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Posted by Mark Widdicombe
Gay Uganda
February 16, 2012David Bahati doesn’t like gays. In fact, he dislikes them so passionately he wants them to be put to death. This wouldn’t matter a jot if David Bahati were some African version of Archie Bunker, sitting on his LazyBoy in front of his television with an open can of Tusker, watching a football game and fulminating against all and sundry; but David Bahati is a member of Uganda’s parliament and the National Resistance Movement, which is the ruling party in that splendid country. He has brought a Private Member’s Bill called the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (PDF) which, if passed, will ensure that no one’s member remains private. He wants life imprisonment for homosexual acts and the death sentence for what he regards as “aggravated” homosexuality–offences in which the perpetrator is either HIV positive, or seduces a minor, or is a serial offender.
Apart from the barbarity of penalties envisioned, the entire Bill is based on a false premise. The first paragraph of the Bill states:
This legislation further recognizes the fact that same sex attraction is not an innate and immutable characteristic.
But same sex attraction has been shown in numerous peer-reviewed research papers to be precisely an innate and immutable characteristic.
Here are some examples. But even if homosexuality were a choice and not an immutable characteristic, it would still not be excusable to pass legislation of this sort which seeks to criminalise consensual sexual behaviour between adults.
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80 Comments | Law, Libertarian, Morality, religion | Tagged: anti-homosexuality bill, david bahati, scott lively, the family, the fellowship, uganda | Permalink
Posted by Mark Widdicombe
Intellectual Property
February 9, 2012I am in favour of the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights. It is reasonable for a musician, author, artist or company to be remunerated for the products of their minds, whether individual or collective. Without protection for IP, no one would have any incentive to be creative and produce works that entertain, uplift, contribute to our culture, cure our diseases, or make life simpler and more enjoyable.
However, I do have a problem with the way IP is being protected at the moment. For example, an author writes a book. That book will remain in copyright until seventy years after the author’s death. Why? Because, say the copyright Gestapo, the author’s heirs and their heirs must have a slice of the pie. I see no reason for this because it is unreasonable. I write computer software for a corporate company. My contract includes the boilerplate that cedes copyright in my work to the company, who certainly won’t pay my salary to my heirs for seventy years after I drop off the twig, even if the software I wrote is still in production. I have to buy life insurance if I want my heirs to be taken care of financially after my death, and I fail to see why creative artists should be any different.
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1 Comment | Law, Libertarian | Tagged: africa intellectual property forum, copyright, intellectual property, patents | Permalink
Posted by Mark Widdicombe
Great Green Con
February 2, 2012I’ve just returned home from my holiday at Knysna on the Garden Route. In our bathroom was a notice informing us that the Garden Route was suffering its worst drought in 130 years and to therefore use water sparingly. Whether or not this drought is an effect of climate change I am not qualified to say, but it did lead me to think about our concern for the environment, and what we are being encouraged to do about it.
The messages the public gets seem to fall into two distinct classes, the first of which contains the general exhortations to be conscious of our impact on the environment, minimising our carbon footprints and so on; and the specific, commercial messages as corporations attempt to cash in on the new environmental awareness. It is with this second class of message that I have a problem.
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5 Comments | Scams, Science | Tagged: catamaran, climate change, environment, knysna, knysna 48, knysna yacht company, nedbank | Permalink
Posted by Mark Widdicombe
Grumpy Old Man 