SkeptiCamp Winnipeg 2011: The Videos, Part 2

SkeptiCamp Winnipeg 2011: The Videos, Part 1
SkeptiCamp Winnipeg 2011: The Videos, Part 3

SkeptiCamp is an open conference celebrating science and critical thinking. For more information please visit SkeptiCamp.org.

Polyamory and Mononormative Assumptions



Anlina Sheng is a freelance graphic and web designer, a feminist, and a polyamory activist. For more information about polyamory in Winnipeg, visit PolyWinnipeg.org.

Perpetual Motion and Free Energy... Science or Pseudoscience?



Javier Hernandez-Melgar is a student at the University of Manitoba, pursuing a joint honours degree in math and physics.

Evaluating Rational and Emotional Arguments



Brendan Curran-Johnson is a software developer, unrepentant geek, and incorrigible satirist.

You're Paying for This Bigotry

So apparently many religious, publicly-funded schools in Manitoba are horrendous, bigoted institutions that attempt to indoctrinate children into a hateful, narrow-minded, anti-science philosophy. So, there's that.

Hat tip to Eric Legault.

Thoughts on Steve Jobs

So, as you may have heard, Steve Jobs is dead. I was slightly disappointed to hear that, because I did see him as somewhat innovative. I wasn't surprised, however; we knew it was coming. I was annoyed when the kooks started crowing that he was another casualty of science-based medicine (further discussion here), but this, too, was not unexpected.

I have a MacBook Air running OSX Lion, and I love it. But I also have a desktop that dual boots to Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7. And that giant, glowing Apple logo on the back on my MacBook annoys the hell out of me, because of the way it seems to be taken as a status symbol and a fashion statement.

I own an iPhone 3G, and I got up at 05:00 yesterday to preorder the new iPhone 4S. But I jailbreak my iPhones, because although I like the hardware and the OS I'm not willing to let Apple dictate how I use my own property. And I don't intend to stop jailbreaking, even when Bill C-32 makes it illegal to do so this winter.

So that's where I'm coming from when it comes to Apple: I like many Apple products, but I don't much care for Apple as a company. That's probably why I was so intrigued by Adam Cadre's comments about Apple and about Steve Jobs. They differed widely from the run-of-the-mill eulogising that I've seen on the Internet for the last few days.

People always used to complain about Microsoft's monopolistic practices, but Apple, I discovered, was far worse. I use a Microsoft operating system on a Dell computer which is hooked up to a Unicomp keyboard and a Logitech trackball and from which I use a Mozilla browser to go to Amazon and buy music which I transfer to a Shenzhen Zhanyue MP3 player. Apple wants me to use an Apple operating system on an Apple computer which is hooked up to an Apple keyboard and an Apple mouse in order to use an Apple browser to go to an Apple store and buy music to transfer to an Apple MP3 player. And it will use any of those entry points to try to strongarm people into signing up for the whole package. Now, you might say, what's wrong with that? That's capitalism! To which I would reply, exactly. Apple exemplifies the fact that underlying capitalism is the philosophy of the cancer cell.

The second thing that turned me against Apple was its dealing with Apple Corps, the media company founded by the Beatles in 1968 — eight years and three months before Apple Computer. In 1978, Apple Corps filed a trademark infringement suit against Apple Computer, which settled up by paying Apple Corps $80,000 and promising not to enter the music business. Apple Computer then went right ahead and entered the music business — became the world's leading music company, in fact. And, yes, further settlements were reached that made this retroactively agreed to. But, well, you've heard the saying that "it's better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission"? You know who says that? Assholes say that. If you've made a promise not to enter the music business, and you then plunge into the music business on the theory that with the money you generate you can pay off the people you've wronged, you're acting like an asshole. And you can say, hey, that's capitalism... to which I would reply, exactly. Apple exemplifies the fact that capitalism rewards those with the fewest scruples.

Seriously, read the whole thing. It's worth it.

It seems that Ben Cochran is a terrible person.

Source.

I hope that the outcry teaches him something. Given his response to the criticism, however, I'm inclined to doubt it.

Skeptical News Roundup!

Some quick hits, cross-posted from the Winnipeg Skeptics blog!

Steve Thoms from Skeptic North has posted an excellent summary of the WiFi scare, detailing why you shouldn't worry too much about EMF.

This wonderful Pharyngula post was recently nominated for the 2011 edition of The Open Laboratory. This provides me with an excuse to link to it, which I've been meaning to do for months. Give it a read. Seriously, it's excellent.

Diana Goods of the Humanist Association of Manitoba wrote a nice letter to the editor explaining why Steinbach's newest megachurch isn't anything to get excited about. Hat tip to Jeff Olsson.

Also from Pharyngula comes the tale of this new lunacy from Orson Scott Card. Apparently Card's 2008 rewrite of Hamlet depicts the ghostly king as an evil paedophile who turns everyone gay. I'm not making this up.

And finally, on a lighter note, Felicia Day linked to this on Google+:

Also, these watches are awesomely geeky. That is all.