Welcome to Heather’s Homilies
Australian Columnist Says Atheism Wrecks Liberal Democracy
Prior to the latest census in Australia (2016) the Atheist Foundation of Australia ran a campaign. It was to urge people to mark the "NoReligion" option on the census form. The number that did so was 29.6%, almost double the 16% of 2001, just fifteen years earlier....
Tusked Weta Versus Foraging Pig
Regular readers may remember my recent post about the rare New Zealand Mountain Stone Weta. The Tusked Weta (Motuweta isolata) is also critically endangered, though its impressive tusks and usual habitat make it slightly better known. I always thought "The Dead Wetas"...
CNN, Donald Trump, and Twitter
Personally, I have no problem with President Donald Trump using Twitter. It's not using Twitter that's the issue. Social media is a useful tool for anyone who wants to get a message out to the public. In fact, anyone in a public position is silly not to make the most...
FGM Has Economic Benefits Says Egyptian Imam
Note to Readers: There are images of FGM and sexually explicit statements in this post. Yes, you read that right - an Egyptian imam says FGM (female genital mutilation), which he calls female circumcision, has economic benefits. What's more, he has a doozy of a theory...
Simon’s Cat: Waiting Game
The wait is over, and we have a new Simon's Cat movie. It's very short, but enjoyable all the same. And, as The Kitten is in it, there's a Cute Quotient multiplier effect. New Simon's Cat movies are one of the highlights of my life. I'm not sure how sad and pathetic...
Egypt 1958: Mockery of the Idea of Compulsory Hijab
This video about requiring women to wear the hijab is from a tweet by Ali A Rizvi with the comment "How times have changed." It's from 1958 and has been around for a while, but I think it deserves as much attention as possible. It's a portion of a speech from Egyptian...
Americans Want Universal Healthcare
When US Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare) was introduced in March 2010, it was unpopular. Healthcare affects everyone, and is a very emotional subject. Even though almost nobody thought the previous situation was satisfactory, there was natural fear about what the...
Bulford Kiwi Given Protection Status
If you're a New Zealander, or someone who knows about kiwi, you're probably wondering what a "Bulford Kiwi" is. Well, it's not a new species of kiwi. In fact, it's not even in New Zealand. The Bulford Kiwi is a giant carving in the chalk hills of southern England,...
Jordanian MP: It’s Best for Society for Rape Victims to Marry their Rapist
Many people in this world still have extremely backward attitudes relating to women, and rape is a topic on which they expose themselves. For most of them it's a product of their upbringing. They've often never had exposure to different opinions. But, there's no...
Simon’s Cat Logic: Is Your Cat Talking to You?
There's a new episode in the Simon's Cat Logic series: 'Is Your Cat Talking to You?'. I like this episode very much as it actually answers questions definitively that people have about their cats. It also answers a question that came up for me just yesterday when...
New Zealand’s Stone Weta – Genuine Cryogenics
The Mountain Stone Weta is the subject of the fourth release in a row from BBC Earth relating to New Zealand. They're on quite a roll when it comes to short clips about my country, which I'm loving of course. There are more than seventy species of weta in New Zealand,...
The Carniverous Giant Powelliphanta Snail
Nobody loves me Everybody hates me I'm going down the garden to eat worms ... That's the children's poem that came to mind when I saw this video. It's of Powelliphanta snail, a rare giant snail that's native to New Zealand. The Powelliphanta snail is carniverous, and...