I’ll start off by saying that this article deals only with my own experiences learning to ride a bicycle at nearly twenty years old. There are plenty of articles available offering step-by-step guides, tips for choosing a bicycle or places you can buy cheer-up cake, but when I was desperately scouring the internet, looking for somebody to tell me what to do, I was more interested in the personal accounts of how learning to conquer a bicycle could be achieved, rather than seven to fifteen easy, impersonal steps. Read the rest of this post »
Teaching Yourself to Ride a Bike (for adults)
Posted September 8, 2010 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Cycling, Personal
Tags: adult, bicycle, bike, Cycling, learn to ride
Rundle Mall: Preachers banned for hate speech
Posted August 31, 2010 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Atheism, Religion
Tags: Adelaide, Advertiser, ban, Christians, preaching, Rundle
The Advertiser reported this afternoon that a pair of Christian preachers, commonly seen proselytising in Rundle Mall, the central shopping district in the Adelaide CBD, had been temporarily banned. Shop owners had allegedly complained about the content of the sermons being delivered by the group, which reportedly contained offensive comments regarding Islamic people and threats of divine retribution. Furthermore, it is alleged that the preachers ‘shouted and screamed’ their sermons using amplifying equipment.
Many Adelaidians will be familiar with these street preachers, commonly seen tag-team proselytising in the mall. Despite their obnoxious volume, they’re generally either ignored or are the target of some derision. However, it is difficult to say that they should be banned from making their views public to those who want to listen, as one of the preachers reportedly argued; “In order for a democracy to work, there needs to be a free-flow of information.”
Global Atheist Convention: The Rise of Atheism
Posted March 15, 2010 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Atheism, Photo-Heavy, Politics, Religion, Science & Nature
Tags: Atheism, Atheist Convention, Melbourne, PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins, Rise of Atheism, Secular
APPARENTLY I am not alone in thinking that A C Grayling, noted philosopher and speaker at the Rise of Atheism convention, was greeted like a rock star. A greeting he went on to live up to with a superb talk entitled ‘Atheism, Secularism, Humanism: Three Zones of Argument’. A striking contrast to this proper, treatise-esque title was Catherine Deveny’s performance, bearing the legend: ‘God is Bullshit. That’s the Good News.” Both of these speakers are representative of an overall superb convention in Melbourne last weekend, a success which can scarcely be expressed by words, in the humble opinion of this Full Weekend Pass-holding attendee. Read the rest of this post »
Australian Governance: Censorship Update
Posted February 2, 2010 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Personal, Politics
Tags: Atkinson, Australia, censorship, clean feed, gamers, games, Government, R18
It can hardly have escaped the notice of even the most vaguely politically inclined that the current state of affairs with our de-facto two party system is less than ideal for the left-leaning voter. We have, in simple terms, a decision between Tony Abbott’s Super-Catholic Hooray Party and our current mob, who are steadily transforming into the Censorship Party. In this post, I’ll provide a summary of some of the issues around Censorship, both recent and ongoing. Read the rest of this post »
Cadbury: Inadvertently funding terrorism?
Posted October 14, 2009 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Politics, Religion
Tags: Cadbury, chocolate, Food, Halal, Islam, terrorism
“Have you ever seen this symbol on the back of your food products?”
This question heads a forwarded e-mail which concisely details the horror of the ‘Halal Foods Authority’ and their association with Australian branches of food corporations such as Cadbury. Wikipedia defines Halal as a term referring to “any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law.” For the purposes of this article, it is used specifically regarding food and preparation procedures. The author of the e-mail does not approve of the appearance of the pictured logo, writing:
This is a Muslim Association that collects money from the Australian Food Industry for this symbol, so that Muslims will purchase the product. Yet we are told the Muslim population are only one and a half percent of Australia’s total!
Les histoires d’une créature étrange.
Posted August 31, 2009 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Comedy, French, Personal
Tags: comic, French, sad, smile, Wug
A short, nonsensical comic about a Wug. The English translation follows. I suspect there are mistakes in my French lurking within, but it was a fun exercise.
Le test de Wug
Posted August 31, 2009 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Comedy, French, Personal
Tags: French, linguistics, psychology, Wug
A linguistically invalid version of Berko Gleason’s Wug Test, en français! Celebrating the fact that the Wug test was mentioned in today’s Developmental Psych lecture and the (perhaps more important) fact that I thought it was super. I drew Les Wugs myself using my tablet.
Le test de Wug
A brief explanation of the Wug Test (via Wikipedia):
APN Outdoor
Posted August 22, 2009 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Atheism, Media, Religion
Tags: Advertising, APN, Atheist bus, Australia
Billboard with Religious advertising in Port Adelaide
If you can’t read the billboard, it says: “Christ hath ONCE SUFFERED for SINS, the JUST for the UNJUST that HE MIGHT BRING US to GOD. Read your Bible!”
Apparently APN have no issues with this particular bit of advertising. Seems a bit inconsistent.
“Stop wasting money and do some real scientific studies!”
Posted August 22, 2009 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Experiments, Media, Science & Nature
Tags: Experiments, Media, News, Research, Science, Study, Taxpayers
In July of 2009 the American Medical Association published two journal articles suggesting that healthy eating and exercise can significantly reduce chances of cardiovascular heart disease. Condensed-news website Shortnews reported the findings and received a tepid response from the attached forums. “[I]‘m sure any 2 year old could tell you what the scientists found out.” One poster whined. Other posters complained that the funding probably came from the taxpayer’s pocket, what an outrage. This response to published research findings is far from unique.
Leaving aside the fact that newspapers routinely sensationalise the findings of research for marketing purposes, it is common to see the nature of current research appearing in the popular media. It seems that whenever research confirming a seemingly self-evident truth is published in the mainstream media, the response (at least on Shortnews, whose forums I visit regularly) ranges from lukewarm to openly hostile. Read the rest of this post »
Photos from Brisbane
Posted July 20, 2009 by Daniel CarabelleseCategories: Digital Art, Personal, Photo-Heavy
Here are some photos from my holiday to Brisbane.
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