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Beautiful quote from Catherine Deveny about religion and National Youth Day (Link, via Pharyngula):

I question some of my progressive, believing mates about if they believe in Noah's ark, the Immaculate Conception, Adam and Eve, the Resurrection, even heaven, and they squirm a little and try to change the subject. They get vague, defensive and then start muttering something about faith and mystery and a power of love that unites us all.

Sure, it would be easy to torture them, but they're adults and it's their life. I just can't see why it's so difficult to have a rigorous discussion about it. I feel no need to convert them. I just want them to know that if you are brave enough to place your hand through the invisible electric fence there's a bigger world beyond.

The whole thing's well worth a read.

One of my photography idols, Rebekka Gudleifsdottir , has passed 5 million views on her Flickr stream.

That's insane.

Congratulations Rebekka!

I'm posting this to remind all you good people about FreakAngels, a weekly web comic written by King Ellis and drawn by Paul Duffield. It's updated every Friday at noon UK time (UTC +1, if you need to know). This week's episode is #15.

That'll be all. Go back to your existences.

Another link to another petition for you, this time via BoingBoing (link) and the Open Rights Group:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to abandon plans to create the Information Sharing Index, a national database of all children aged between birth and eighteen.

You can find the petion at petitions.pm.gov.uk as usual.

Right, that's it for petitions and political statements this week. Promise.

[Edited to add]

By the way, I'm largely cynical about these petitions. I don't honestly believe that a government, particularly our government, particularly at the moment, is going to give any of these results more than a passing glance without dismissing the petitioners as uninformed.

Nevertheless, I'm also of the opinion that not putting my name to these things, whether or not I believe they're going to have any notice taken of them, would be tantamount to giving my consent to the very things against which the petitions stand. It's the same reason that I turn out and vote: I may be all but certain that my chosen candidate isn't going to get in but not voting is just another way of saying that I don't really care, when in fact I care very much. To put it another way, as the old saying goes, "Them as don't ask don't get." 

A friend just posted a link on Facebewk to a petion to the Prime Minister's Office to:

... cease the creation of more faith schools, take existing public-funded faith schools from the control of religious bodies and convert them to unbiased schools for all.

A worthy cause, I think. Go and sign it, if that is your wont.