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YouTube Thursday Saturday – Michael Jackson L.I.M

Adrian Hayter — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:00:39 +0000

So I was planning on doing a YouTube Thursday, but our BBQ party turned into a night of card games (Phase 10 FTW!) culminating in a poker game that ended quite early Friday morning. Of course whilst we were playing, the news of Michael Jackson’s demise arrived through a text message. At first, we were certain it was a joke, so I fired up TweetDeck (news travels faster in the Twitterverse), expecting to see nothing but the random tweets of people I follow. This was not to be, as my screen was suddenly filled with the words “Michael Jackson”, “heart attack”, “dead”, and links to various news sources that were covering the story. My heart sunk, and I said to my stunned friends “Oh my goodness…it’s true”.

We got the news quite early on, so early that when we turned on the T.V to watch the BBC news flash, the reporters were still saying that nothing was confirmed, that the LA Times were the only ones saying he was dead, and that other reports claimed he was in a coma, but still alive. I hoped that the LA Times had received a bad source, but 30 minutes later and all the networks were showing the official reports from the hospital; that Michael Jackson had collapsed at his home, fallen into a coma, and had died on the way to hospital. For an hour, medical staff attempted to revive him, but they were unsuccessful.

So for this special YouTube Saturday, here are some of his greatest songs. Oh, and to get away from the dreary and religious “R.I.P”, I say L.I.M (Live In Memory) which is much more upbeat.

Black or White:

Earth Song:

Thriller:

Bad:

I Want You Back (Jackson 5)

ABC (Jackson 5)

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The AHS AGM

Adrian Hayter — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:00:23 +0000

So my last two rather sporadic posts talked very briefly about the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist, and Secular Student Societies (AHS) AGM, and how I got elected to the executive position of Secretary. What I thought I’d do is write a more detailed account of my weekend.

I caught the train up to Coventry at around 13:00 on Friday 19th, and the journey was pretty decent. There was only one change (at Reading) and I managed to not leave my suitcase on the train like I did the last time I was travelling across the country (luckily that time the train was in the station for 30 minutes so I was able to get back on board and retrieve it!). I was in a carriage that had laptop plug sockets, so I booted up and watched some comedy clips I had to pass the time. A couple of hours later, I was arriving into Coventry. I’d already phoned Stewart of Warwick Atheists so he could meet me at the station, but lines got crossed somewhere (my fault probably) and he had gone to Leamington station instead! Not panicking, I followed his directions to a bus stop and caught the bus to Warwick University Campus.

I finally met up with Stewart and Alex (of Oxford Atheists) at a university café, and they took me to a bar on campus. There I was greeted by several other Warwick atheists, and the British Humanist Association (BHA) representative, the lovely Andrew Copson. The afternoon went on, many drinks were had, and more and more atheist students from all over the country kept on entering the bar. We eventually moved away from the noise of the band to a spot next to the bar, where we could pull two tables together and order our meal. At some point during the evening, we tried to come up with a list of atheist songs, that is, songs that either mention atheism or could be interpreted as atheistic. We then proceeded to try and find these in the jukebox. I seem to remember putting in “Losing my religion” by R.E.M and “Thoughts of a dying atheist” by Muse; for some reason Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was also selected.

Then we all decided to go to the shop, buy (more) alcohol and sit on the grass in a circle and chat. The AHS Press Officer, Chloë Clifford-Frith had also arrived, and I caught up with her on the various press issues I had blogged about. I dutifully surrendered a blanket I had brought along so that people could sit on the grass, a decision I would come to regret as it started raining, since I had to sleep under it that night.

The next morning (I slept over at Stewart’s house) was a rush to get ready in time to catch the bus. The morning was a lot of administration, listening to the reports from various people on the status of the organisation, and voting on very specific issues to do with the constitution. Being students though, we tried to keep it fun, and soon it was time for lunch. We went to a Asian restaurant on campus where I had a delicious plate of ribs (was very cheap too), before heading back to yet more voting.

Soon, it was time for the part everyone had been waiting for, the election of the new Executive. Jenna (the outgoing secretary) ran unopposed as the new President, but she still presented a very well thought out plan for the next year, and was quickly elected to the position. Both myself and a guy named Michael put ourselves forward for the Secretary position, and we were grilled by a series of questions from the committee. I aimed my “campaign” at working with national and international organisations (BHA, NSS, Secular Student Alliance, etc) and making administration more effective. Something I said must have been good, because I was voted in as the new Secretary. Stuart was then voted in as the new Treasurer, and after a few more discussions about our web presence, we all went out for a meal.

Secretary Adrian Hayter, President Jenna Catley, Treasurer Stuart Pilbrow

By Sunday, we were all tired, although not as tired as me since Elles decided that she was lonely without me to talk to on Skype, and decided to call my mobile at 7 am, waking up everyone in the living room (my ringtone is Dawkins saying “Science is interesting, and if you don’t agree you can fuck off”). Nevertheless, we got on with a morning of activities, including a discussion of possible merchandise, and a workshop on how to organize Fresher’s Fairs. The day ended with half the group (myself included) deciding to miss out on the BBQ as it was raining, and to head home instead.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and I hope to help organise more events like this one in the future as the new Secretary!

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Victory Is Mine!

Adrian Hayter — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:56:44 +0000

V for...erm...victory.

I got elected to the position of Secretary of the AHS (National Federation of Atheist, Humanist, and Secular Student Societies) which is great! I am now slightly drunk (in celebration) so I don’t trust myself to type more. Just thought I’d update everyone!

Others elected were Jenna Catley as President, Stuart Pilbrow as Treasurer, and Ellis Pugh as Director of Membership. We hope to work closely with both national and international atheist, humanist, and secular organisations in the future.

Thanks for the support! (if you gave it)

Adrian Hayter,

Secretary of the AHS.

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Atheist Students AGM

Adrian Hayter — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:50:48 +0000

AHS Logo

This weekend is the Annual General Meeting of the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist, and Secular Student Groups (AHS), which gives us all a nice chance to meet up and get drunk (as we did last night). Today we actually get down to business, voting on some motions and electing a new executive (President, Secretary, and Treasurer). I’m standing for the position of Secretary, so wish me luck!

Anyway, let me have this chance to thank Warwick Atheists for their kind hospitality, knowledge of the best drinking areas, and to Stuart Pilbrow for allowing me to sleep on his floor (and save on expensive hotel fees). This should be a fun weekend for all!

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Damn You FOX!

Adrian Hayter — Sun, 31 May 2009 09:00:46 +0000

It’s been 7 years, and I still cannot believe they canceled Firefly. Every now and then I stumble upon a great clip from the show (of which there are an incredible number given the short run it had) and it makes me angry that this show isn’t picked up again. God is Pretend recently included a great clip of River Tam (my favourite character by far) “fixing” the Bible:

Book: What are we up to, sweetheart?

River: Fixing your Bible.

Book: I, um… What?

[Pan over to River, who works on a book with pens, brushes, and loose pages.]

River: Bible’s broken. Contradictions, false logistics… doesn’t make sense.

Book: No, no. You -- you can’t…

River: So we’ll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God’s creation of Eden. Eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one. Noah’s ark is a problem.

Book: Really?

River: We’ll have to call it “early quantum state phenomenon”. Only way to fit 5,000 species of mammals on the same boat.

. . .

Book: River, you don’t… fix the Bible.

River: It’s broken. It doesn’t make sense.

Book: It’s not about… making sense. It’s about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It’s about faith. You don’t fix faith, River. It fixes you.

Oh River, you taught us so much; like how “the human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems“. If you haven’t watched Firefly, then go watch it on Hulu, or buy the DVD. If you simply don’t have the time, then the Wikiquotes article should give you a few laughs.

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My 21st Birthday!

Adrian Hayter — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:26:42 +0000

So today was my 21st birthday, huzzah! I’ve had a great day, was taken out to lunch by my mother and her new boyfriend, had a card made for me by my friends, and got given “The Passion of the Christ – Director’s Edition” by my atheist housemate. Unfortunately I’ve also had to revise a load for exams coming up, so it has been a day of trying to comprehend horrible software engineering slides.

As with this time of year, I’m cutting back on the blog to make time for my studies. I’ll still post every now and then, but it will probably be small posts rather than lengthy philosophical musings. I’ve been contacted by a person who wants to write some articles for the blog, so hopefully that will go ahead and we’ll have some form of content going. If anyone else wants to write the odd article, or share something you think others might like, then feel free to contact me.

Oh, and 21 in binary is 10101 which is palindromic and awesome. Another example is in base 4, where the number is 111. If I ever want to feel like a teenager again, I can use hexadecimal and get 15!

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Telegraph Caught Lying For Jesus

Adrian Hayter — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:03:23 +0000

The British broadsheet newspaper The Telegraph has been caught in a despicable attempt to blacken the name of a new atheist student organisation of which I am a proud member. The article in question, titled “Atheists target UK schools” is only made more misleading by its subheading, which reads “Atheists are targeting schools in a campaign designed to challenge Christian societies, collective worship and religious education.” Of course, neither of these is an accurate description of what the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS) is campaigning for. The AHS is a student organisation aimed at universities and colleges, not schools, and nothing the AHS is campaigning for includes challenging religious education or collective worship.

The Telegraph articles states:

The federation aims to encourage students to lobby their schools and local authorities over what is taught in RE lessons and to call for daily acts of collective worship to be scrapped. It wants the societies to hold talks and educational events to persuade students not to believe in God.

What the AHS actually wants to do is encourage interfaith discussion through a variety of events, focusing on both scientific and religious education, as well as supporting charity work. The aims of the current initiative are outlined in brief here:

To teach students how to debate and create dialogue between school faith groups.
Provide the school with fun and educational events and activities, including two student-led courses: ‘Perspectives’ in which a speaker from a faith group gives a talk followed by Q&A, and our ‘One Life’ course, which considers moral and ethical issues without god. Many events will also support the scientific curriculum.
Encourage charity volunteering.
Give students the experience of running a group and managing events.
Show students that it’s ok not to believe in god and encourage critical thinking.
Bring out issues concerning religious privilege in schools such as collective worship and incomplete or biased religious education.

The Telegraph article, perhaps one of the most blatant examples in recent years of “lying for Jesus” goes on to quote Simon Calvert of the Christian Institute on the matter of this supposed atheistic child indoctrination.

Atheists are becoming increasingly militant in their desperate attempts to stamp out faith. It is deeply worrying that they now want to use children to attack the Christian ethos of their schools. Many parents will also be anxious at the thought of militant atheists targeting their children. – Simon Calvert, Christian Institute

Of course the AHS is using children to counter Christianity, but the children in question are well into their late teens and early twenties, old enough to think for themselves one might have concluded. The implication present in both the Telegraph article and in Simon Calvert’s quotation is that the AHS are targeting children of primary and secondary school age, and this is a completely fallacious assertion. Recently, the AHS has been approached by several 6th form students who wish to form atheist groups at their respective colleges, and as a result 16-18 year olds from across the UK have been invited to a conference at Warwick University on 21st June. The aim of this is to help students set up societies at their colleges, and to support them.

As far as I am aware, the only organisation who are involving the younger generations of children is Camp Quest, which is a summer camp for the children of nonbelievers. This can hardly be called atheistic indoctrination though, since the children who go there all choose to participate, and the parents of those children are well aware of the activities that the camp includes.

In response to the article, AHS Press Officer Chloë Clifford-Frith had this to say:

The AHS is disappointed that the paper chose to twist information as far as possible to create a negative, sensationalist message out of a positive development for educational provision in schools.

The AHS does not and would never seek to challenge religious education in the manner that article goes on to suggest. The AHS strongly believes in the importance of a balanced, impartial and full religious education and would support the introduction of a national RE curriculum to ensure standards are met.

To find out more about the Warwick University conference on 21st June, please contact press@ahsstudents.org.uk or visit ahsstudents.org.uk.

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Spiritual Experience In A Basket: Meeting Brother Richard

Adrian Hayter — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:00:24 +0000

It was a dark and stormy night…well, not really. It was actually a rather lovely (albeit windy) day in Georgia. The night before had seen torrential rain, although nothing on par with the tornado that hit the north of the state only a few days earlier. For a couple of weeks, Brother Richard (of Life Without Faith and Atheist Nexus) and I had been planning on meeting up, as we were only an hour’s drive apart. So we chose a meeting point about halfway between our two locations, at a shady bar called “Chip’s Bar & Grill”. We arrived and proceeded to enter, only to get promptly asked to leave because the US has backwards drinking laws, I wasn’t 21 yet (14 days dammit), and this bar didn’t even let 20 year olds set foot inside.

Heading down the road, we found a Fatz Cafe that would be suitable for lunch. Our small group of heathens (comprised of myself, Brother Richard, and my girlfriend Amanda) had only just been seated when our waitress asked us if we would like some complimentary bread rolls, saying “They are the ultimate spiritual experience in a basket, and they will bring you closer to God“. I hastily looked around; it seemed as though our godless meeting had been rumbled by the faith squad, but they were nowhere to be seen. A coincidence perhaps? Maybe, but just to be sure we decided to de-convert some of the bread rolls before eating them. You can never be too careful:

The ultimate Godless experience in a basket!

Brother Richard also insisted on praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for protection:

RAmen!

And he was quickly filled with the presence of His Noodliness (I’m assured this wasn’t just me turning the camera flash on):

Book of Noodles 7:1-3 "And he glowed with the power of the spaghedeity, and all was well amongst the midgets"

After the prayer we turned to business, and discussed the progression of several projects like Atheist Nexus and NoGodTube. I am very grateful to Brother Richard for inviting me onto the board of directors for Atheist Nexus, and I hope that we can work closely together to see the site grow and expand outside the realms of the Ning interface. NoGodTube is also going very well, and will hopefully continue to collect atheist videos from around the web. As a result of some recent backlash against the name, Brother Richard has secured a “freethoughttube” domain (not entirely sure on the exact wording of it) in order to have a more “open” name to the site as opposed to the jab at GodTube.

Brother Richard also encouraged my girlfriend to start a UGA atheist group if one does not already exist. So if you attend the University of Georgia and are interested, you’ll have both my support and the support of Brother Richard behind you! Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Conversation veered onto marriage, with Brother Richard making not-so-subtle suggestions about my relationship with my girlfriend, and whether we were “serious”. I guess the answer lies in the fact that I fly out to America to come see her (which isn’t cheap) so often. I told Brother Richard that if we ever tied the knot, I would get him to perform the ceremony in the most secular way possible.

At the end of our meeting we decided to take some fun pictures, all of which are available here (you shouldn’t need a facebook account as the album is public). Below are some of my favourites:

I choose reason!

Deep in thought, Brother Richard gets a sign from above...well, not really.

My girlfriend Amanda (on the right...duh) and Brother Richard

All in all it was a very nice meeting, and Brother Richard is the first person from the atheist blogosphere I have actually met offline. Hopefully I’ll meet a few others at the London “The Amaz!ng Meeting” later this year, or at some conventions I’m hoping to attend in the future. Obviously I couldn’t attend the American Atheists convention this year (it was too expensive for my budget) but I might be able to make it to some others. Given the recession, it is becoming more expensive for me to travel across the pond, which is a shame. If I get a good enough summer job things may change though!

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Fun “Intelligence” Test

Adrian Hayter — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:30:53 +0000

This has been confusing both my Twitter followers and I for the past hour, so I think it’s good enough to share. There are a series of “intelligence” tests on this website where you are given a code like “24 H in a D” and you have to replace the capital letters with the words they represent. The example I gave is quite obviously “24 Hours in a Day”. Some of them are easy, some of them are extremely difficult. So far I’m stuck on the first test with 31/33 correct answers, but how can you do?

The first test is here: http://intelligence-test.net/part1/ and whilst it has some cultural answers, it is a nice starting point for the others. Whilst this may be an indicator of how intelligent you are, I don’t think it can be called a real “intelligence test”. It certainly doesn’t test visual pattern recognition or the ability to work out patterns with numbers. It does test how good you are at visualizing sentence structure and recognizing certain numerical attributes of objects though.

Good luck!

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Election Tweeting

Where Do I Begin?

Adrian Hayter — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:49:51 +0000

If people have noticed, I haven’t been posting on the blog for about a week and a half. I’ve been extremely busy with coursework deadlines and general other university related stuff that I haven’t had the time to post. Ok well I maybe had the time, but not the drive. I’ve also been preparing for my trip to Georgia (state not country) which I leave for today. Luckily, this time I get to take my laptop along since it hasn’t exploded like the last one. I have a few blog posts in the burner, including some updates to the Ray Comfort series (which admittedly isn’t “almost daily” due to my absence and Ray’s trip to NZ). I also have an interview with Darrin Rasberry, the now-agnostic who wrote the foreword to Ray’s latest book.

One thing that I have been doing with my spare time is using Twitter because it allows me to blog 140 characters at a time, which isn’t much, and therefore doesn’t take much time to do. If you aren’t using the service, I highly recommend it. If you are, please follow me! Another thing I’ve been doing whilst not posting is reading the multitude of comments that have appeared on my post about religious child abuse in the form of Deborah Drapper. The 127 (currently) comments on that post are a very interesting read, and there is a lot of debate going on, something which I am thankful I have Intense Debate installed to handle.

So now I have to go check everything is packed before leaving for Heathrow Terminal 5 (which luckily is a 15 minute drive from here). I hear the new terminal actually works now, and they don’t lose bags anymore. My flight leaves at 15:00 and according to British Airways I’ll be in sunny Georgia at around 19:10, just in time for dinner! I’ll be posting on Twitter as much as I can at the airport, since I won’t have anything better to do. No idea if I’ll be able to respond though.