January 17, 2007
School Board Folds After One Idiot Parent Objects to Global Warming Video
Please read the above. This incensed me so much that I had to write my own commentary on the subject below:
Let me make something clear from the outset, I’m a Christian. Now thats out of the way, I’m also a Physicist in academia. Do I have any porblems reconciling the two? Not really, I believe that God has given me an equiring mind and senses that are the only Earthly things I can trust. As a result, when I’m experimenting I must trust my senses, which tell me that a raidoactive isotope has the half-life it does. The amount of the isotope in my possesion now easily inferrs the amount there was in previous time; now if this isotope happens to be carbon-14, it is simple to find out how long ago my coal sample was formed. This coal used to be a tree and would have had died with a relatively standard amount of carbon-14 in it, so the amount there is now tells me how old it is, if that is greater that 14,000 years, then the world is older. It’s very simple.
Global warming is a scientifically corraborated and accepted fact, our senses show that it’s happening, and will get worse if left unchecked. When Christians argue that global warming is the manifestation of the predictions in Revelation that, as put by Frosty Hardison, ‘everything will burn up’, and therefore should be ignored, irritates me greatly. Should Christians disregard looking after our planet because we’re living in the end times? I heartily diagree for two reasons: firstly, we have no proof that we are living in the ‘end times’ as described in the Bible, Christians have continually pointed to world events as indications of this, and we are still here; secondly, I cannot believe that God, who created this Universe (in seven days or over billions of years) would want us to disregard our responsibilty to look ofter the gift he has given us. Who can possibly be so sure that we are living in the end times that they are so prepared to risk leaving a broken world for their children? The movement of Evangelical Chritians in the US, and somewhat in the UK too, would appear to show that members of the Church are so self-confident that this is a risk they are willing to take. It’s embarrasing that I may inadvertantly be lumped in with thaat crowd of small-minded, unquestioning people.
5 Comments | 
Christianity, Global Warming, Ignorance, Religion | 
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Posted by Jonathan Dann
January 9, 2007
Well, I have to say it was a let-down. After all the rumours of upgraded Mac computers, more on the upcoming Leopard operating system and new iLife and iWork applications, the keynote at the expo in San Francisco was disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone looks excellent, and seems to be the phone I’ve been wanting for such a long time. Finally we have one that is intuitive and simple to use, but does so much you want it to do. The touch screen is a fantastic addition, and the only way to allow a complicated phone to be operated. I don’t mind about the price of it, or the availability in the fourth-quarter of 2007 here in the UK, but I was expecting more about the Mac. The Apple TV isn’t bad too, but I would never need anything like that, especially since the rumoured TV and Movie download service from iTunes in the UK didn’t come to fruition.
For a computer company, I think many people will be disappointed at the lack of computing innovation at the expo, and the loss of ‘Computer’ from the the name ‘Apple Computer Inc.’ may, for some, hail the beginning of the end for the Mac. I’m not so pessimistic, but I would definitely be loathed to return to using Windows after 3 years of an iMac doing everything I wanted to do, and more.
No Comments » | 
Apple, Apple TV, Mac Stuff, iPhone | 
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Posted by Jonathan Dann
January 5, 2007
So it turns out that Steve Job’s famous reality distortion field was at work again when he first talk about the ease of use of dashcode. From a cursory glance at it, to do anything even remotely out of the field of the templates still requires you to learn java, or is it javascript?
It is very powerful, don’t get me wrong, but as someone who cant program in the relevant languages, and has no artistic bones in his body, I was only able to create a simple widget to display the RSS feed from this blog. Many of the components are drag-and-drop, so more playing may allow me to create a widget with a field on the back that allows the entering of a feed URL, only time will tell.
2 Comments | Mac Stuff | Permalink
Posted by Jonathan Dann
January 4, 2007
On the 20th December, Apple released a public beta of ‘Dashcode’. A scaled-down version of that to be included in OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Over the next few days, I will be seeing just how easy it is to use, and begin to scratch the surface of what it can do.
I’m no developer, I know a bit of C++ and FORTRAN, so this may help the average user to get started with makiing their own widgets for our favourite OS.
No Comments » | Mac Stuff | Permalink
Posted by Jonathan Dann
January 4, 2007
I received a copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach this Christmas from my lovely girlfriend Xiaoyu, and have just finished reading it.
A delightful read, Jonathan Gull tells of hard work and the rewards therein. The religious tones to the book are an almalgamation of Karmic philosophies and Christianity, and talks of perfection being an goal being attainable through hard work. As you can probably tell, I haven’t discussed a book in a very long time, and am struggling to express my thoughts on the page.
No Comments » | 
Books | 
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Posted by Jonathan Dann
January 4, 2007
I’ve started to take photos after purchasing a digital camrea (Canon IXUS 750) in June, and have of course discovered the wonderful world of Flickr. When stumbling through the interestingness page, I found a photo by Bonny Kang and fell in love with her photos.
She can capture food that makes your mouth water expectantly, and the pictures of her daughter are delightful. Check her out.
No Comments » | Flickr | Permalink
Posted by Jonathan Dann
January 4, 2007
I’m a trainee Medical Physicist in the UK, a job that pays reasonably well when starting and will certainly be a worthwhile career with options for specialisation and progression. This having been said, I would very much love to set up my own coffee-house chain. To do this will require a lot of research and savings whilst not sacrificing my current job, I will attempt to post my progress, research and ideas here when I have the time; mostly for my own benefit so I have a place to see everything, and to seek advice from others much smarter and capable than myself.
Now, where to start….
5 Comments | Coffee Shop | Permalink
Posted by Jonathan Dann
January 4, 2007
My beautiful girlfriend had just submitted her UCAS application to the University of Birmingham, UK, to read Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics. This means that she may be coming to the UK in September. However, she is so incredibly intelligent that she’ll pass the exams for the French Grande Ecoles anyway so won’t have to come here.
Obviously I’ll be very pleased for her if her hard work pays off and she gets in, but I would like her to be a little closer than Paris. She’ll probably just go to Uni in France regardless.
No Comments » | Relationships | Permalink
Posted by Jonathan Dann
