Affirming the consequent, Southgate-stylee

In Today’s Guardian:

Mido has long had a reputation for having a suspect temperament. “The way I react to things now is totally different,” he said. Southgate added: “Mido is prepared to speak his mind. The best players are those who have an opinion.”

I predict relegation.

On the Feast of the Assumption

The feast of the Assumption is a day of joy. God has won. Love has won. It has won life. Love has shown that it is stronger than death, that God possesses the true strength and that his strength is goodness and love.

As B16 once said.

This should go without saying

But evidently it isn’t going to. The proposed Media Bill was passed on the votes of 29 (BBC) or 27 (Standard) MPs (out of 222). That is nowhere near quorum.

Section 38(4) was snuck into the bill at a very late stage in the process; it reads, in, part:

When a story includes unnamed parties who are not disclosed and the same becomes the subject of a legal tussle as to who is meant, then the editor shall be obligated to disclose the identity of the party or parties referred to.

This section compels editors to reveal their sources. It is easy to see that it will have disastrously discouraging effects on (actual or potential) whistle-blowers. We have David Munyakei’s story before us; we can’t claim ignorance.

The bill has now, apparently, passed, and awaits presidential assent. It should be opposed; anyone who would like to join the campaign is welcome to write to the office of the President at: Harambee House, Harambee Avenue, P.O. Box 30510, Nairobi.

Truly, He wears a magic hat

Pharyngula on the meaning of the Koobi Fora discoveries

PZ Myers:

To translate,

The two species are anatomically distinct, and they don’t see signs of a blending between the two.

The two species were sympatric, or living in the same territory at the same time. This suggests that they probably had different lifestyles, or conflict would have driven out one or the other.

They did not have an anagenetic relationship, that is, one species did not gradually and imperceptibly change into the other. The Homo lineage had branched at some earlier date.

That branch occurred elsewhere and earlier, and the H. habilis→H. erectus→H. sapiens line of descent is still tenable; it’s just that KNM-ER 42703 would then be a member of a dead-end branch that did not leave descendents in modern times (of course, KNM-ER 42700 is probably also not a direct ancestor — it’s representative of a population that may have led to us.)

On the ethics of slave redemption

From the intro:

This volume has its origins in an unsolicited telemarketing call. One of us (MB) was asked for money to (purportedly) free a slave in Sudan and was intrigued enough to solicit views from a variety of human rights and international relief organizations. Struck by the near unanimous condemnation of the practice, the editors began an extended conversation with others about just what (if only under idealized circumstances) would make such a practice morally wrong. We began with a small meeting at the Center for Human Values at Princeton, where we brought together a multidisciplinary group of philosophers, anthropologists, and economists, to begin thinking about these questions

Understatement

David Hasselhoff’s fans are not convinced of its merits. Hilarity ensues.

Good news fur Darfur

The UNSC unanimously resolve to establish, and deploy to Darfur, a joint UN/AU force:

Determining that the situation in Darfur, Sudan continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security,

1. Decides, in support of the early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement and the outcome of the negotiations foreseen in paragraph 18, to authorise and mandate the establishment, for an initial period of 12 months, of an AU/UN Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) as set out in this resolution and pursuant to the report of the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission of 5 June 2007, and further decides that the mandate of UNAMID shall be as set out in paragraphs 54 and 55 of the report of the Secretary General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission of 5 June 2007

Contrast

A dazzling example of; here.

The Return

Ok, I’m back now, and I’ll even try to post regularly.

Everybody should read the Nigeria briefing (not universally accessible) in the latest African Affairs.

No matter who you damage, you’re still a false prophet

Jerry Falwell passes on.

RIP Alan Ball

From Brian Glanville’s obit in the Guardian:

…It was now that Ball came truly into his own, with his constant runs down the right. Within 90 seconds, he had left Schnellinger behind, ending with a shot which Tilkowski turned over the bar. On 100 minutes, Nobby Stiles sent him a searching pass. Ball would later say that he had “already died twice” and that he told himself, “Oh, no, I can’t get that one! I’m finished!” But get it he did, putting over the cross which Geoff Hurst struck furiously against the underside of the bar. Bakhramov, the Soviet linesman, flagged for a goal and controversial though it was, it tipped the balance.

Cuss in Kinyarwanda

Profanity in 180 languages. Dazzling stuff.

Christos Anesti

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

(John 11:25-26. KJV)

Embarrassingly, I had never heard his name before

While my government was devoting its energies to figuring out how to describe what was happening in Rwanda without using the word “genocide”, Mbaye Diagne just saw what had to be done and did it, at the cost of his own life.

(Via Hilzoy, who continues to be mandatory reading.)