Welcome to Heather’s Homilies
Evolution is Cool: Coral Reef Cleaning Stations
One of the YouTube Channels I subscribe to is Earth Touch, which I discovered via Amy Carparelli regularly tweeting me their videos. Back in January they published this fascinating video about coral reef cleaning stations, entitled Spa Day for the Creatures of the Sea...
Evolution, Religion, and Freedom of Speech
Yesterday (26 March) was Richard Dawkins's 74th birthday. I'm a big fan of Dawkins - it was while watching one of his documentaries a few years ago that I realized that I was an atheist, and had been at least agnostic since I was a child. The God Delusion was my first...
New Zealand Man Jailed for Blasphemy in Burma
I wrote about New Zealander Philip Blackwood here in January when he was still awaiting trial after his arrest on 10 December last year. 10 December is International Human Rights Day, and so I thought it particularly ironic that he was arrested for his particular...
Natural History Art
Amy Carparelli (Twitter: @AmyAmylou1993) has done it again - tweeted me a video that's so special I just have to share it. This one was produced by the London Natural History Museum; it showcases some of the stunningly beautiful art that was produced to enable people...
International Women’s Day: 8 March 2015
The celebration of an International Women's Day was first proposed at an international socialist women's conference in August 1910. It was partly inspired by a women's day celebrated by the Socialist Party of America in New York the previous year. Initially it was...
The Injustice of Sharia in Saudi Arabia
Most of you have probably see the video below of Maajid Nawaz trying to get some of his fellow Muslims admit that some of the punishments in Sharia are inhumane. For whatever reason, they simply won't say that punishments like stoning to death are wrong. Sometimes,...
Putin is a Real Threat to World Peace
The conflict between Russia and the Ukraine has the potential to be a much bigger problem for world peace than even the horrific behaviour of Islamist terrorists in the Middle East and northern Nigeria. The terrorists actions aren't sustainable long-term, not least...
Magnificent Universe I
I've retreated from writing about what's going on around the world again into the stunning beauty that's all around us. This time it's a breathtaking video from NASA made up of pictures shot from its Solar Dynamics Observatory, released on 11 February 2015. From NASA:...
Beautiful New Zealand IV
With all the awful things that have been happening around the world in the last few days, I feel the need to once again remind myself how lucky I am that I was born in New Zealand. Immerse yourself in this short film by Bevan Percival. It was shot in Tongariro...
The Effects of Terror
On Tuesday 10 February 2015, Sydney Police arrested two Muslim men. They had received information that they planned to carry out a random murder that day. On raiding the men's home the police found a hunting knife, a DAESH flag and a self-made video describing their...
Beautiful New Zealand III
It's time for another of filmmaker Martin Heck's (TimeStorm Films) stunning time lapses. This one is called Solitude. It was shot over four months and was first released in mid-2014. http://vimeo.com/95647770 Locations are: Tongariro National Park, Taranaki National...
Calling it like it is: Islamic Terrorism
In the United States there is a growing rift between Democrats and Republicans on how to describe the terrorism in the Middle East and northern Nigeria. (As if politics in America needed any more rifts!) The Obama administration will not use the word "Islamic" in...