George Hrab talks about loss from an atheistic perpective

Let's start off the new year with some jolly fun*. Here's George Hrab talking about loss.

http://youtu.be/9S-ngdPZn7M


Geo has some down-to-earth (as opposed to up-to-heaven) things to say about grief, loss, legacy and mourning. I particularly like what he says about "owning" grief.

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*Not really.

George Hrab at #QEDcon — "The Assumption"

George Hrab not only gave stellar service as MC of the QED conference (Question.Explore.Discover) on the weekend of 5th & 6th February 2011 in Manchester, UK but also performed after the Gala Dinner on Saturday night. This is a sample of his gig, shot on a JVC GC-FM1 pocket camcorder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX2exQvY5P0


The quality isn't great, as I was some way away and the lighting levels were fairly low, so the picture is grainy. The image stabilisation in iMovie works well, but judders when camera flashes go off. And I was right next to one of the speakers, which is why the sound is overmodulated in parts. (The JVC GC-FM1 pocket camcorder is fixed-focus and has no adjustments. It's a point-and-shoot camcorder, so I pointed and shot.)

But apart from all that, I'm quite pleased with the result.

Simon Singh at TAM London

Simon Singh, bastion of journalistic integrity with his stand against an apparently vexatious libel suit brought against him by the British Chiropractic Association, talked initially about the Bible Code, which is the idea that holy scripture contains hidden references to modern events — or in other words predictions — and therefore must be the true Word of God. This, apparently, is nonsense and has been shown to be such by applying the same "decoding" techniques to other literature. For instance, Herman Melville's Moby Dick can be shown to contain hidden references to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

This was but preamble to what I think most of us in the audience wanted to hear: the story so far regarding the libel suit. Singh then told us the story, explaining why he decided not to back down, and illustrated how his stand has raised two related but separate issues: the threat to freedom of speech, where essential and legitimate criticism of bogus practices is suppressed — often by journalists' self-censorship for fear of being sued; and the absurdly inflated costs of defending a libel case in England — to the point where aggrieved plaintiffs go out of their way to sue in this country because they know that in most cases a defendant cannot afford to win, let alone lose. Another reason he cited for not backing down, "Because I'm right," elicited spontaneous applause from the TAM London audience.

Singh explained all this without once uttering the "contentious" phrase that apparently triggered the BCA's action. That was left to the blogger "Jack of Kent" (aka lawyer David Allen Green) who during the Q & A read the offending paragraph from Singh's Guardian article. I was pleased to meet the notorious Jack of Kent the previous evening at the Penderel's Oak in Holborn, where several of those attending the "secret" George Hrab gig gravitated afterwards. Jack of Kent explained during conversation on Friday evening that as a lawyer he's able to say stuff others can't, because he knows just how far he can go without being sued.

Simon Singh thanked all those who continue to support him in the stand he's taking, singling out satirical blogger Crispian Jago for lightening his spirit.

For our part, the TAM London audience gave Simon Singh a standing ovation.

George Hrab on the "abrasiveness" of Dawkins and Myers

George Hrab, musician, atheist, sceptic, recently answered a query on his Geologic Podcast about the so-called abrasiveness of "militant atheists" Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers.

Relevant audio clip (4'02" 1.9 MB) here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/341826217/GeorgeHrab_on_DawkinsAndMyers.mp3

(Warning: strong language.)

Get the whole 46-minute show here:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/geologicpodcast/GeologicPodcast106-Mar05-09.mp3

Incidentally, George also wrote and performed the theme song for the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, and has released an accompanying video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF2HG1PVZok


Despite appearances, Geo's production team for this video was minimal in the extreme (consisting of, amongst no others, himself).