Burden of proof

Yes, 0.1% = 1 in 1,000, not 1 in 10,000. But otherwise, amen.

Built to last?

If a comedian gets it, why don't our politicians?
H/T Dave.

"We'll eliminate wasteful spending"

No tax hikes, no service cuts: eliminating wasteful spending is the get out of gaol free card of politicians. It is also a load of rubbish.

Eating, mortality and fellowship

"Eating together always implies trust."

He's actually onto a deep thread of Christian thought. We share meals and vulnerabilities. This was the power of Jesus' eating with sinners, of his reform of the food laws, and of the institution of a common meal as a mark of fellowship in his death.

It's also quite funny.

Addressing climate change is (not) fun

What is the best way to motivate people? Should we be offered carrots or sticks? Should the benefits of a low carbon society be emphasised or the dangers of climate change highlighted? Should the focus be on the benefits and costs to me, or to those who will feel them first and hardest? Or should responsible action be put forward simply because it is the right thing to do (as this video does so humourously)?
H/T Dave Taylor.

Of apostrophes and snakes

A man after my own heart:

"Apostrophes, however, I love with all my heart. I support the correctly used apostrophe with that kind of fierce emotional investment in an irrelevance that most people reserve for football. (Go the team in the forthcoming thing, mind you.) I know punctuation rules well, derive a lamentably high percentage of my self-esteem from that knowledge and feel, again with my heart not my brain, that I'm a higher form of life than people who have either forgotten those rules or never been taught them."

- David Mitchell