Welcome to Heather’s Homilies
Huge Crack in Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica Grows
Today, the Washington Post reports the Antarctic ice shelf crack has grown by almost ten kilometres (six miles) in the last two weeks. Another extension of almost eighteen kilometres (11 miles) was also reported in the last two weeks of December. It's now more than...
Betsy DeVos Doesn’t Inspire Confidence in the Future of US Education
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Trump's nomination of Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary. I concluded K-12 education in the United States was going to get worse. (K = kindergarten; 12 = year 12.) DeVos's confirmation hearing occurred this week, and I'm now even...
Our Planet: Norway
I regularly post the time lapse films by Martin Heck of TimeStorm films, but somehow I missed this one. He released it back it December 2015 after a trip to Norway, and, as always it's stunning. Heck describes the filming thus: Norway 8K shows the wild landscapes of...
Why Trump’s Tax Cuts Probably Won’t Create the Jobs He Promises
Donald Trump has been telling everyone that he's going to cut business taxes to 15% and make up the reduction in federal income by introducing a consumption tax. According to him, this will kick start the US economy and bring back well-paid jobs. He has support for...
Simon’s Cat Logic: Why Do Cats like Hunting?
Simon's Cat Logic published a new video on 20 December and it's another good one. It's about why cats like hunting, and includes a couple of new animation sequences. There's a lovely segment in which Simon's Cat attempts to catch a squirrel while the squirrel mocks...
The Israeli Settlements
This morning I started writing a post about how Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been outraging me lately. The tipping point came with his call for the pardon of an Israeli soldier who killed an incapacitated Palestinian terrorist. The military's moral...
Putin’s Russia
2016 has been Putin's year. He has succeeded in much of what he wants. He tells himself it's about Making Russia Great Again. In reality, it's about Putin himself. The Russian people are suffering and because of Putin, so are millions of others. And it's going to get...
Just To Let You Know I Survived Christmas
Actually, I mostly had a good time. On 23 December I flew to Christchurch, and did all the traditional holiday stuff down there. The tree was surrounded by dozens of gifts; most were for the kids, but there were some for me too! We did a few touristy things, and it...
Impeach Trump
Reader and attorney Ann German has had IMPEACH PUSSY GRABBER bumper stickers (see below) printed. In you live in or near Missoula you may see this vehicle, belonging to a friend of Ann's. He's apparently happy to have his number plate in the picture too, but blurring...
Trying to Make the Hijab a Feminist Statement
Many of you will have read Jerry Coyne's post at Why Evolution is True yesterday: 'Hijab hijinks at Harvard'. It refers to an article in the Harvard Gazette, 'Islamic studies scholar addresses myths and mores behind the veil'. That article is about a talk by academic...
Another Egregious Headline From Breitbart
I frequently notice the difference between New Zealand media and the media in the United States. There's plenty of lying for Jesus here, but the media is largely free of it. On the whole, our media don't deliberately lie to push a certain point of view. We're lucky to...
Gad Saad in discussion with Nick Cohen: Guest Post by Ken
Regular reader and commenter Ken posted the video below in the comments of an old post a few days ago. It's one that engendered a lot of discussion and I felt that it needed a post of its own. I was busy writing my post on China, North Korea, and Taiwan at the time,...