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Some waffles... articles, thoughts, ramblings, musings, rants.
I hope you find some of them useful and/or interesting. These are loosely arranged by date with newer pieces mostly near the top.
Some guide to the content is given with symbols.
thoughts
life
economics and earning a living
copyright and implications
toy
problems with religion
prompted by my annoyance at something
anti-war
virtual reality
Religion ills (4k) (228 words)
[comment]
This is a list of links to scientific studies that show religion worsens many social problems. Religious people have the highest divorce rates, the lowest education rates, the worst violence and murder rates, the most abortions, the most disease (especially sexually transmitted disease), the most teen pregnancies, the highest child mortality, lowest levels of happiness, the worst poverty, the shortest lives, and many more problems.
What we should do, but are too stupid to take the hint (4k) (615 words)
[comment]
Some bad things are happening. We should see them as warnings and take appropriate action... but we don't.
The cruel dog breeder (6k) (968 words)
[comment]
Rationalising cruelty is more common than you might think. Even good people do it.
The Tragedy of Religion (6k) (968 words)
[comment]
The great tragedy of religion is that those who are trapped within its falsehood honestly believe it is a great and beautiful truth, that it can heal the world and enlighten people, and that it is the purest source of morality. These people are not stupid, nor are they intentionally wicked. Many are fine, upstanding people who genuinely want the best for those around them.
Note to straight males: queers increase your freedom (5k) (729 words)
[comment]
Tolerance and acceptance of queers (LGBT people) benefits straight people in surprising ways.
Happiness (9k) (1,454 words)
[comment]
How can we be more happy? What strategies can we use? I'm happier than most people. Why is that?
Consciousness (6k) (1,031 words)
[comment]
Consciousness is a strange thing. What is it? How can we examine it? What is its purpose?
The piece that I submitted to the Ruddock Religious "Freedom" Review (13k) (1,790 words)
[comment]
Society is being threatened by Ruddock and his Orwellianly named "Religious Freedom Review". If he succeeds in dismantling our anti-discrimination laws, the resulting wave of hate won't just be utilised by Christian homophobes, and it won't magically stop at gays. Everybody will be fair game.
A steady state economy that grows (13k) (1,790 words)
[comment]
Can we have an economy that grows endlessly without destroying our planet? Yes, we can. But it requires care and thought. 2017-12-25
Biblical Bloopers (36k) (5,862 words)
[comment]
The perfect word of god wouldn't contradict itself would it? Oops. Here are more than 200 bloopers and blunders from the bible. I am sure there are many more.
(Unlike all the other pages on my site I didn't write this one. I reformatted it from the list of contradictions on the great site http://www.evilbible.com)
Why are my web pages so simple? (4k) (720 words)
[comment]
It is surprising how few people truly "get" what the web is. Their misunderstanding leads them to design monstrously inconvenient webpages. 2008-12
Why people turn to religion and cults (6k) (1002 words)
[comment]
Why do so many people feel a strong need to believe in things that are so at odds with reality? 2006-02
A value monoculture
(353B) (444 words)
[comment]
A very short note on how our society is playing a risky game in defining value with money. 2006-03
ebooks and making a living (5k) (745 words)
[comment]
How can we make a living from ebooks, particularly open ebooks? Like the earlier one below, this is a post I sent to a writing group recently. I'll enlarge on this later. 2006-09
ebooks vs paper books (7k) (1,020 words)
[comment]
Discusses why ebooks have a much brighter future than paper does, and looks at the problem of locked ebooks. I need to write more on this. I've covered the topic too briefly -- forgivable in a post to a writing group, but not in an article. I thought I'd put it here till I get around to filling it out more. 2006-09
Still more truchet tiles (6k + 4k images)
[comment]
This time with motion. (You need to have javascript enabled in your web browser.) 2006-03
More truchet tiles (6k)
[comment]
Again, not really so much an article as an experiment in randomly tiling an area with truchet tiles. More cuteness. (You need to have javascript enabled in your web browser.) 2006-03
Truchet tiles (5k)
[comment]
This is not really so much an article as an experiment in randomly tiling an area with truchet tiles. It is very cute. (Note that you need to have javascript enabled in your web browser.) 2006-03
Scarcity vs Plenty (8k) (1,249 words)
[comment]
We get to choose: plenty for all, or poverty for most. 2005-09
Why there is no god (6k) (860 words)
[comment]
It is easy to show that there is no god if you avoid the confusion that religion encourages. 2005-09
The end of money (12k) (2,200 words)
[comment]
A short look at the near future and why I don't think the concept of money will last much longer... at least in its current form. 2004-11
Flying Elephantism (4k) (344 words)
[comment]
You'll believe an elephant can fly!
Alien Intelligence (5k) (755 words)
[comment]
There are aliens right here on Earth if we open our eyes. 2004
the invaders (2k) (141 words)
[comment]
How would you feel about an invasion by ferocious aliens? 2004-08
Gravity and the rubber membrane analogy (3k) (325 words)
[comment]
This is one of those things that really annoy me. 2004-08-27
soulless (4k) (600 words)
[comment]
The most damaging thing in the world is religion. It is based upon a few terribly persistent mind viruses (they work something like computer viruses). Here is a simple, easy dismissal of one of the fundamental tenets of all religions -- the soul. It is an easy argument to comprehend, but even something so simple and obviously correct will usually not have any effect on the belief structure maintained by the religion meme -- such is the power of that mind virus over its victim. 2003-08-27
On the Silliness of the Big Bang Hypothesis (9k) (1,439 words)
[comment]
The Big Bang hypothesis is religion dressed up in a lab coat to look like science. 2003-08, revised 2007-01
VR Fiction -- Machinima (10k) (3,310 words)
[comment]
What is it? Production advantages. How can you make money from it? 2003, 2006, revised 2016.
Consciousness and Immortality (11k) (1,002 words)
[comment]
The main part of an email I sent to a very smart friend, Michael Green. It concerns the likelihood that we will soon be able to backup our minds and become effectively immortal. 2001-11
VRML Problems (30k) (4,743 words)
[comment]
...
this is just a personal list of inconsistencies and other things that make it hard to use VRML ...2006-01-21
VR Language Wishlist (17k) (3,603 words)
[comment]
...
I have become worried about the future of VRML... 2001-10-08
Peer to Peer File Sharing (7k) (1,076 words)
[comment]
It isn't what you are being told it is, legally, financially, or practically. 2001-04
Uses of VR (31k) (5,400 words)
[comment]
(This one and the 3 below are the talks I gave at the ElectroFringe Festival a while back.)
Virtual Reality has a lot more uses than you would expect. I have done my best here to round them up. 2000-10
Social Aspects of VR (18k) (3,000 words)
[comment]
Currently most people visiting VR do it to socialize in shared worlds. This has had some quite unexpected effects as communities grow under the influence of environments where individuals can't be physically harmed and annoying people can be ignored so that they become like ghosts. 2000-10
VR Fiction (16k) (2,622 words)
[comment]
This (I believe) will become the most important form of entertainment in the near future, eventually displacing film. You can see a VR story from any angle -- even through the eyes of the actors. Some VR Fiction will allow you to interact with, and change the outcome of, the story. Some will be set in worlds that are independant of human visitors and are different each time you return -- the plants will have grown and the animal populations will have altered. 2000-10
Building Virtual Worlds (18k) (3,019 words)
[comment]
Building in VR is very different from building in the real world. This talk has 2 parts: making worlds efficient and making VR cool. What can be done to make a world move smoothly yet still be interesting to explore? Why have doors when you can walk though the walls? Why have walls when roofs may float in the air? Why have roofs when there is no rain? There is much more to VR than at first glance, but we usually try to (inappropriately) duplicate the real world in there. 2000-10
Efficient building (15k + pics 8k) (2,150 words)
[comment]
Less an article, more a checklist for building a home... a real home, not a VR one. 2000-06
Why VR? (44k + pics 278k) (6,894 words)
[comment]
I wrote this as a chapter for an anthology on Cyberfeminism. I am only one of the contributors to the book, which is published by Spinifex Press. I recommend you buy the book -- the rest of the book makes very interesting reading. (The other authors are far more talented than I am.) The book is not strictly about feminism and is not just about computers, but as a whole it encompasses women and computing. 1999-07
Time Confusion (5k) (730 words)
[comment]
I become exasperated at the craziness of daylight saving time and the loony effect on web meetings. There is really no place in the global village for something as stupid as daylight saving time. I have no idea how this was sold as a good idea, but it has to rank as one of the most pointless con-tricks ever. 1998-12-11