The Book of LFN

Front Row at the Freedom From Religion Foundation Conference!

2009-12-10T21:30:00.002-06:00

Me and me old friend Ron Reagan hanging out.

Finally Leaving for Seattle, WA - The Route!

2009-09-17T21:39:00.001-05:00

Friday 18th Sep 2009 Denver Colorado -> Billings Montana
Saturday 19th Sep 2009 Billings Montana -> Spokane Washington
Sunday 20th Sep 2009 Spokane Washington -> Seattle Washington

View Larger Map

Honeymoon in Jamaica

2009-06-24T00:36:00.000-05:00

Honeymoon in Jamaica :-)

20090617 Honeymoon in Jamaica

Why Gay Marriage is Wrong (Satirical)

2009-04-13T10:19:00.003-05:00

Sent to me from Hank Ruff at The Ruffington Post:

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans

100 Hours of Astronomy

2009-04-04T00:04:00.001-05:00

Free live streaming by Ustream

Notes on privilege and oppression from a privileged white male.

2009-02-15T22:39:00.001-06:00

Gene Conroy-Jones 15^th February 2009

My perception of racism in America has recently been transformed from a naïve feeling of "this problem has almost been eradicated," to "people of color are oppressed in a multitude of ways every day of their life." This paradigm shift is largely due to my wife's participation in a Masters of Social Work program at Washington University. It was after one of our numerous post-class discussions that I had to reluctantly accept that society is racist by design. The traditional white perspective views racism as a historical problem, fixed by the civil rights legislation of the sixties and modern day affirmative action programs. When we look at our political and media outlets we assume the problem is historical, usually justified by the successes of Barrack Obama and Oprah Winfrey. By doing this we miss the point. Although overt acts of racism are considered to be far less pervasive in society, an underlying racism by "design" still exists. As a white person, this is a difficult pill to swallow, as is the case in any consciousness raising activity, but as the reader I ask you to hear me out, because I believe the argument is compelling. Let me start by offering three examples to demonstrate privilege and oppression.

Example 1 – Oppression: Take a typical bus-stop in St. Louis, from my observations, and I freely admit this is not scientific but more of a gut feeling, you will rarely see a queue where all white people are waiting. The majority of stops in my experience contain a majority non-white population; which seems a little strange given that the majority of the general population is white. I am sure you can find individual refutations of this, and remember I am not asserting this as evidence but I believe if most people are being true to themselves they would probably agree that at the "average" bus stop, or on the average bus, the racial mix is significantly different to that of the general population. Why does that matter? Well I presume the people on the bus would love to drive to their destination, and I am sure their choice to take the bus is not for environmental reasons; therefore my only conclusion is that their decision to take the bus is a financial one. Society has not given their racial group an equal chance because the jobs they are deemed fit enough for, do not pay well enough for them to own and drive a car. Irrespective of the reason that they are using the bus, the sheer fact that the racial proportions of the bus stop are so out of kilter with the local racial proportions, is an indication of an oppressed racial group. Oppressed because they lack the privilege to own and drive a car.

Example 2 – Privilege: The bus-stop analysis can be applied to highlight instances of privilege; the lending hand that promotes people of the "correct" skin color, age, gender, sexuality and or religious persuasion to more lucrative avenues in life. Examining the distribution of CEOs, mayors, and politicians illustrates that to get on in life you have to be white and male. If our government is indeed to represent the people then surely the demographic of our nation's capitol should match that of the people which is supposed to represent. Ignoring for a moment the age bias of our politicians, all governments should contain at least 50% women, if they are not, they are inherently gender skewed. Take a look at Wall Street CEOs and you will see a similar privileged status. Whilst writing this it feels terribly like I am describing a cliché which is deemed acceptable and normal. Wake up people! Think for a moment! If we simply accept this then we end up living in a society which is guided by the thinking of old white males. Do not take this as a criticism of this group as they are part of the solution; but if they are the majority stakeholders in the decision making process then society is designed through their lens of acceptability. Other viewpoints more likely to be ignored because they are less represented.

Example 3 – Stereotypes: Our values are shaped by our experiences in television, magazines, radio, advertisements and conversations with our peers. Stereotypes in advertisements are often thought to confirm what we already "know" but the opposite is also true, that adverts also create the stereotypes. One spectacularly awful advert is the "Febreze Noticeable" product where a white lady gets on a "smelly" bus and plugs in a "Noticeable" to clean the air. The bus is intentionally made to look "awful", to presumably the white people it is selling the product too, by filling it with all the oppressed groups. The camera pans past the driver (African American), a lady (a large sweating African American lady), a guy (Dorky looking IT type), a dog; and she eventually has to sit next to a guy (who is large, sweating and asleep). Virtually everyone is oppressed here (apart from white males) by the sheer fact that only a clean skinny white woman can fix all the smell issues, and by the fact that only a woman has the ability to "clean" the area. The indication is that these poor people on the bus are too poor, too stupid or too ignorant to fix the filth issue on the bus. This advert makes me wretch, the bus is filled with the kind of stereotypes that are untrue and only confirm our inaccurate perceptions of these different groups. This then feeds back into our perception that it is perfectly acceptable for non-white people to catch the bus because the Febreeze advert has confirmed "what we already know". I believe Febreeze and other advertisers should attempt to introduce ethics into their advertisements; a call which will undoubtedly fall on deaf ears because it interferes with the profit making process, which at present has no conscience in the absence of regulation.

There is a conservative myth that de-regulation is the best way to control a free market. The idiotic neoconservative experiment of the last eight years and the financial problems of our current times should help put an end to that. However for the nature of argument let us examine it. A de-regulated free market economy has only one goal – to generate a profit. It does not care how it achieves it, nor does it care who is oppressed in the making of it. All decisions are ultimately based on whether the profit is increased or decreased. This is in sharp contrast to how we expected to live our lives where our actions are guided by societies' rules and our own internal knowledge of right and wrong. Given that the de-regulated market has no conscience and appears to have little in the way of regulation. Is it surprising that people are oppressed in order to make a buck? Since it has no conscience we have to provide it one, by imposing a fair regulatory framework composing of the current acceptable rules in which we want to run our society. The neoconservatives would paint this as a socialist propaganda exercise to illicit the fear response and prevent the downfall of a system where they are the ultimate benefactors - older, white, heterosexual and male. I suggest that regulation of the free market is our moral duty to give a conscience to a process which has very little. I also want to make it clear that I think the free market is a charming invention; it fosters an entrepreneurial environment; and creates wealth and opportunity. However the rewards should not be reaped at the excessive oppression of another racial or national group here at home or abroad.

Taking a closer look at what we as individuals and the media deem acceptable in politics may offer another insight into White Privilege. An interesting experiment is playing before our eyes as we analyze our future presidents and their deputies. Tim Wise recently gave some excellent examples of White Privilege in the context of this election:

"White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay."
"White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug."
"White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action."
"White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist."
"White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America."

Tim Wise: This is Your Nation on White Privilege 13^th September 2008

The purpose of highlighting these points is to raise the consciousness of white people to the plight of other members of society. Typical responses include denial, disbelief, anger, and grief. One typical response when hearing these arguments is to utilize the "ad-hominen" attack where the messenger is identified as "left-wing" and therefore the reader should pay no attention to the content. I plead with you to ignore this often cited garbage and to pay close attention to the examples given above and just consider for a moment whether they could possibly be true. Another response is to dismiss these arguments as "angry" or "unhelpful" in not promoting social cohesion or discussion. However I think I would be angry if I was not given a privilege based on the color of my skin. Once beginning to take on board these arguments I can honestly say that I experienced a certain amount of grief, as my view of a "fair" society has been shattered. I now realize that I live in a society which has given me a privilege that I didn't know I had, and which contributes to the oppression of others. It is painful to be accused of something you didn't know you were partially responsible for. If you are still having problems taking these arguments on board try for a moment to understand that there are always more than one way of analyzing a situation and perhaps the lens through which you view society can also be viewed through a completely different lens by a different racial group. Try not to be arrogant that your perception of society's fairness is the only perception. Once we have accepted that there is evidence of a problem the next natural progression is to find a cause or someone to blame. This is highly frustrating as with any highly complex insurmountable problem a solution is not easily perceived or even available. There are so many facets to consider it almost feels like you should abandon the task because it is too difficult to solve. I would put those considerations aside for the moment as I believe this is a task society will ultimately solve, but the first stage to solving any problem is raising the consciousness of society's participants. If we are aware of a problem we can guide our actions as an individual and steer society to a less oppressive state of affairs.

I wrote this article to share my journey with the readers, raise this as a topic for discussion and to let the non-white community that they have an ally. My personal objective is to make society better and the first step towards this is to highlight the problem. I look forward to hearing the varied responses from your readers and even if you only accept some of the tenants of the article then it has achieved something. For additional excellent work in this area refer to Tim Wise's book "White Like Me".

Celebrating Darwin Day With A Collection Of Interesting Resources

2009-02-12T13:14:00.034-06:00

Recently met someone who has read almost all the same books as me on matters relating to science, atheism, religious credulity. Here is a collection of their resources. Thanks Hank!

Atheist, Science and Humanist Websites
EvolveFish -Great site for science, atheist, humanist goodies.
Hank Ruff's Blog - The Grasp Reality blog and supplier of these links.
Atheist & Agnostic Definition Summary - Great page and site for reading up on atheism and reality.
Scientific consensus on climate change - Wikipedia summary of scientific and political consensus for climate change.

Ironchariots.org - Wiki style site from The Atheist Experience in Austin, Texas. Great site and answers many questions posed by religious apologists.

TED.com - Amazing site with a great video podcast library. Brian Cox has a few vids on there along with Bill Gates and Al Gore.

Video Resources
Famou s Non Believers - Excellent collection with some surprising entries.
More of Hank's Videos Here

Thuderfoot 's You Tube Channel - another you tube channel
Cosmology and the Qur'an - "This debate is a refutation of Dr. Richard Carrier's article, "Cosmology and the Quran", in which he attempt to point out that Islam is incompatible with modern science.
Sam Harris makes a joke and a point - Tres amusing! An interesting illustration examining the notion that Elvis is still alive.

Blogs
Friendly Atheist - looks good!

Books
Top Ten Atheist Books - Gene's top ten atheist reads at livingsocial.com.
Top Ten Science Books - In my humble opinion here is my recommended top ten science reads.

Toastmastering it up

2008-11-13T22:56:00.000-06:00

Haven't posted for a while but something mildly interesting happened today. I went to a Toastmasters meeting! Very entertaining and I had the feeling I was at the house party in Cable Guy because the group was very and happily diverse. I really enjoyed going as the people were very friendly and I feel like I will learn something here. Thanks to Mark for the heads up on this one... ok ya.

Barack Obama Video in St. Louis

2008-10-19T22:19:00.001-05:00

Obama in St. Louis from Gene on Vimeo.

Who is Barack Obama? :-)

2008-10-10T19:27:00.001-05:00

The Almost Perfect Mojito

2008-09-21T20:01:00.000-05:00

Ingredients Per Drink (Collins Glass / Tumbler):

6-8 Mint Leaves
1 Key Lime (Half a regular lime)
0.5 Shot Glass of Simple Syrup (1:1 Sugar to Water Dissolved)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Ice
1.25 Shot Glass of Rum
Club Soda
(Berrys Optional)

Method:

Add to tumbler 6-8 mint leaves, 1 key lime quartered, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 0./5 Shot of Simple Syrup, Berrys
Muddle ingredients in the bottom of the glass.
Fill Glass with ice
Add 1.25 Shot of Rum
Top With Club Soda
Roll Drink: Pour contents into another glass then re-pour back into original glass.
Ready!

Every white person should read this.

2008-09-16T19:36:00.000-05:00

Original article can be viewed here - http://timwise.org/

This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Time Wise
9/13/08

"For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.” 

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals. 

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. 

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful. 

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist. 

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.” 

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt. 

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America. 

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced. 

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden. 

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain… 

White privilege is, in short, the problem."

My opinion- I didn't know White privilege existed for a long time. I simply saw oppression and racism, not the opposite of oppression and racism (White privilege). In order for this country to make strides to defeat oppression, White people must recognize their privilege. Only then can we make a difference. This hoopla about Palin is a perfect example. I know that the author of this piece sounds angry, and sometimes it is hard to hear an angry message. But you would do yourself (and the rest of America) a favor if you took the time to truly meditate on these words and on your privilege. It is time to make some changes, and that change doesn't start with Obama, it starts with you! Regardless of how this election turns out, I challenge you to start examining your privilege and how that privilege impacts the people around you.

Quantum of Solace Trailer 2

2008-09-10T08:12:00.001-05:00

Photosynth of the apartment.

2008-08-22T09:03:00.001-05:00

Christopher Hitchens - The Absurdity of Religious Belief

2008-08-15T23:12:00.001-05:00

Amusing

Re: PLAYER - BABY COME BACK-1977 - Swiffer Tribute

2008-08-15T22:05:00.001-05:00

The Jones Siblings

2008-06-10T15:16:00.001-05:00

Its that time of year again where I post a picture of myself and scream that I now look a couple more years older. Oh hum, seem to be ageing nicely though.

Wedding: Gene and Audrey Dance

2008-06-06T02:19:00.000-05:00

Gene Audrey and Parents Dance at wedding. from Gene Conroy-Jones on Vimeo.

Funniest video seen in ages on immigration issues

2008-01-20T17:43:00.001-06:00

How cute is this picture!

2008-01-17T16:24:00.000-06:00

Married - The Official Pictures

2008-01-17T16:22:00.000-06:00

Borth on the 24th!!

2008-01-17T16:21:00.000-06:00

Seperated at birth co-joined twins Bryn and Marvyn Jones are here celebrating their joint birthday's sperated by a mere 18 years.

Married!

2007-12-29T17:00:00.000-06:00

The 29th December was a fantastic day, as Audrey and I celebrated our marriage with family and friends. Getting married is quite a unique experience and our day turned out brilliantly with our family, friends and day antics. Special thanks go to Mark for being the Master of Ceremonies at the Sandy Carson Gallery; Richard for performing excellent logistical support and tres amusing speech; the Bridesmaids for looking beautiful and supporting Audrey on the day; Audrey parents for helping out in all areas, we couldn't have done it without them; to all my family for traveling so far for the event; to everyone else for making the day great.

The Day After Thanksgiving.

2007-11-23T09:54:00.000-06:00

We enjoyed Thanksgiving around at Audrey's parents' friend's house. Lots of turkey, sprouts, and many other dishes I am not sure what they consisted of, but still very good.

Presently I am going through the immigration process to get a residency card, commonly known as the "Green Card". One of the "rules" of this process is that I am not allowed to leave the country whilst it is being processed, which means I haven't seen my family for almost a year now. Luckily I am getting married next month, the main bonus being that I will be marrying the lovely Audrey Allison, but as an additional bonus my family are coming over to visit.

Whilst they are over we are planning on trying some of these activities:
1) Go to a movie.
2) Go to a shooting range.
3) Go to the zoo lights.
4) Go to a ski resort.
5) Go tubing.
6) Go snowmobiling.
7) Enjoy each other company.

I now have four little nephews and haven't seen them in a while so i am soooooooooooo looking forward to seeing the little animals.

Snake News Just In - "Indianna Jones Protects Girls from Snakes"

2007-10-15T21:56:00.000-05:00

Quietly walking through a wood in Springlfield, Missouri, I heard a rustling from the leaves. Recognising the sound, from a Ray Mears-esque adventure in the Peruvian jungle, I immediately recognised the noise to be a snake. Alerting the girls to step back, I zoned in on the animal which wanted to cross the path we were walking down. Jessi - our resident snake expert - calmed all our fears when she pointed out it had a square rather than triangualar head which meant it was probably not poisenous. However we let the snake cross before continuing.

The Dragon In My Garage

2007-10-03T11:17:00.000-05:00

The Dragon In My Garage

by Carl Sagan

"A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage"

Suppose (I'm following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you'd want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity!

"Show me," you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle -- but no dragon.

"Where's the dragon?" you ask.

"Oh, she's right here," I reply, waving vaguely. "I neglected to mention that she's an invisible dragon."

You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon's footprints.

"Good idea," I say, "but this dragon floats in the air."

Then you'll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.

"Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless."

You'll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.

"Good idea, but she's an incorporeal dragon and the paint won't stick." And so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won't work.

Now, what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there's no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true. Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What I'm asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence of evidence, on my say-so. The only thing you've really learned from my insistence that there's a dragon in my garage is that something funny is going on inside my head. You'd wonder, if no physical tests apply, what convinced me. The possibility that it was a dream or a hallucination would certainly enter your mind. But then, why am I taking it so seriously? Maybe I need help. At the least, maybe I've seriously underestimated human fallibility. Imagine that, despite none of the tests being successful, you wish to be scrupulously open-minded. So you don't outright reject the notion that there's a fire-breathing dragon in my garage. You merely put it on hold. Present evidence is strongly against it, but if a new body of data emerge you're prepared to examine it and see if it convinces you. Surely it's unfair of me to be offended at not being believed; or to criticize you for being stodgy and unimaginative -- merely because you rendered the Scottish verdict of "not proved."

Imagine that things had gone otherwise. The dragon is invisible, all right, but footprints are being made in the flour as you watch. Your infrared detector reads off-scale. The spray paint reveals a jagged crest bobbing in the air before you. No matter how skeptical you might have been about the existence of dragons -- to say nothing about invisible ones -- you must now acknowledge that there's something here, and that in a preliminary way it's consistent with an invisible, fire-breathing dragon.

Now another scenario: Suppose it's not just me. Suppose that several people of your acquaintance, including people who you're pretty sure don't know each other, all tell you that they have dragons in their garages -- but in every case the evidence is maddeningly elusive. All of us admit we're disturbed at being gripped by so odd a conviction so ill-supported by the physical evidence. None of us is a lunatic. We speculate about what it would mean if invisible dragons were really hiding out in garages all over the world, with us humans just catching on. I'd rather it not be true, I tell you. But maybe all those ancient European and Chinese myths about dragons weren't myths at all.

Gratifyingly, some dragon-size footprints in the flour are now reported. But they're never made when a skeptic is looking. An alternative explanation presents itself. On close examination it seems clear that the footprints could have been faked. Another dragon enthusiast shows up with a burnt finger and attributes it to a rare physical manifestation of the dragon's fiery breath. But again, other possibilities exist. We understand that there are other ways to burn fingers besides the breath of invisible dragons. Such "evidence" -- no matter how important the dragon advocates consider it -- is far from compelling. Once again, the only sensible approach is tentatively to reject the dragon hypothesis, to be open to future physical data, and to wonder what the cause might be that so many apparently sane and sober people share the same strange delusion.

Expedia Booked All The Hotels I Browsed [SECURITY]

2007-09-04T13:56:00.001-05:00

I was recently passing through Lawrence, Kansas, on a road trip and needed overnight accomodation. After browsing Expedia for various hotels, I booked 1 and only received confirmation for one hotel. I proceeded with the booking only to find out that Expedia had booked all the hotels I had browsed, without every informing me. Full Story here.

Customer Service Sucks

Here is an email audit trail from Expedia, they just don't bother responding anymore:

IS ANYONE GOING TO GET BACK TO ME?????????

- Hide quoted text -

On 9/2/07, Gene> wrote:

IS ANYONE GOING TO GET BACK TO ME?????????

http://digg.com/tech_news/Expedia_error_in_booking_system_sends_your_credit_card_details_to_all

http://thinkjones.blogspot.com/2007/09/expedia-sends-credit-card-details-to.html

Gene

On 8/30/07, Gene > wrote:
IS ANYONE GOING TO GET BACK TO ME?????????

The hotel have got back in contact with me and are refusing to refund the credit card transaction.
Please rectify this situation! I use Expedia a lot and do not want to have to swith my business to another travel provider.
Can someone get in contact with me using a less generic email address so I have one point of contact in rectifying this situation.
If this is not resoved by the end of this week I will be contacting the BBC's Watchdog program, and posting my story to www.digg.com.

On 8/29/07, Gene > wrote:
Hi,

Can someone get back to me on this?

I asked for an update 7 days ago.

Regards
Gene

On 8/23/07, Gene > wrote:
Hi,

Can someone get back to me by the end of Friday on this please.

Regards
Dr Gene

On 8/22/07, Gene > wrote:
Alannah,

The hotel have got back in contact with me and are refusing to refund the credit card transaction.
Please rectify this situation! I use Expedia a lot and do not want to have to swith my business to another travel provider.
Can someone get in contact with me using a less generic email address so I have one point of contact in rectifying this situation.
If this is not resoved by the end of this week I will be contacting the BBC's Watchdog program, and posting my story to www.digg.com.

Thanks
Dr Gene

On 8/20/07, Gene > wrote:
Alannah,

Please can you give me an update on this transaction, the item has still not been refunded!

Thanks
Gene

On 8/16/07, Gene > wrote:
Alannah,

Thanks for the reply.

I presume this is an admittance of a mistake on Expedia's part, given that my credit card details were supplied to the hotel in the first place, without ever a booking being made. It is quite worrying that I can view various hotels online, and when I come to choose the hotel I want, my credit card, if this mistake happens again, would be charged for the all the hotels I had been viewing. It was only through my vigilance that this mistake was spotted.

As an active member of one of the largest user submitted news websites in the USA (www.digg.com), what can Expedia do to show that this mistake will not happen again; and to compensate me for the time I have wasted chasing this matter up.

Thanks
Gene

On 8/16/07, travel@support.expedia.co.uk < travel@support.expedia.co.uk> wrote:
Dear Ms

Thank you for contacting Expedia.co.uk with a copy of your statement.

We have contacted the hotel in regards to your query.

We have requested a refund for the amount deducted on your statement.

We will be in contact with any further information.

We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience in this matter

Thank you for using Expedia.co.uk

Yours sincerely

Alannah
Expedia.co.uk

Expedia sends credit card details to all hotels browsed

2007-09-02T16:47:00.001-05:00

Incorrect Booking

I was recently passing through Lawrence, Kansas, on a road trip and needed overnight accomodation. After browsing Expedia for two different hotels, The Eldrige Hotel, and The Hallmark Inn, I decided on the Hallmark Inn as it was within budget. I proceeded with the booking only to find out that Expedia had booked all the hotels I had browsed.

Booking Info

Expedia sends me a confirmation of my booking for the Hallmark Inn only.
See a print of my itinerary from the My trips page in Expedia.

The correct booking (Hallmark) was the second entry in "Completed Trips" called Lawrence KS (3) 1149724XXXXX.

The Eldridge Hotel, which is listed twice as Lawrence KS, and Lawrence (KS) 2, probably because I viewed it on two separate occasions; is listed in the section called "Non-active trips: Do not contain reserved or purchased items". I must reiterate here the Eldridge hotel is in the section stated as not containing reserved or purchase items, because I didn't book it only browsed it.

Expedia booked all the hotels and rooms I had browsed

A month later when I am reviewing my credit card bill I see an item for The Eldridge Hotel for $448. How can this be?
I contact the hotel and they tell me that they received two bookings, together with my credit card details. I ask for a refund, and they refuse because as far as they are concerned it was a genuine booking.

Hello Dr. Conroy-Jones,

We did indeed charge your credit card for $448.08 on 8/2/07. There was a reservation made, on 8/1/07, for two rooms on Expedia. com for the night of 8/1/07. Our policy is to charge for all no-show rooms unless we receive at least 48 hours notice of cancellation. Please let me know if you have any further questions about this charge. You may want to contact Expedia if you feel there was an error here.

Thank you,

Michelle Crowell
Finance Director
The Eldridge

So I contact Expedia and their response is:

Dear Ms Conroy-Jones

Thank you for contacting Expedia.co.uk with a copy of your statement.
We have contacted the hotel in regards to your query.
We have requested a refund for the amount deducted on your statement.
We will be in contact with any further information.
We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience in this matter

Thank you for using Expedia.co.uk

Yours sincerely
Alannah

Firsts I am a Mr (Well Dr actually). Secondly as far as Expedia is concerned this is the end of the issue. I have contacted them every 5 days since this last email was receieved over a month ago and have yet to receive a response.

Current Situation

The current situation is that I have a hotel that won't refund the booking because as far as they are concerned it is legitamte, and Expedia who have washed their hands of it because they have asked the hotel to refund the money. This leaves me in the situation where no-one is taking ownership of the erroneous transaction that has illegally removed funds from my bank account.

Be warned, if you are browsing hotels in Expedia there is a chance they will send your credit card details to all the hotels you browsed, not just the ones you booked, and by the way, you don't get an email confirmation from the incorrect bookings, so you will only notice if you audit your bank statements.

All I want is my refund, and a contribution for the hours of investigation I have has to pursue to track and follow up this problem.

Thanks Expedia for this mistake you have admitted to but not rectified.

Rochester NY - Pics from the Weekend.

2007-08-20T02:26:00.001-05:00

20070819_Rochester_NY_StaciasWedding

New Office, New Book

2007-08-16T20:54:00.000-05:00

Relaxing in the new office, reading a superbly titled book.

St Louis Cardinals Game Against LA Dodgers.

2007-08-12T17:23:00.001-05:00

20070812_StLouis_Cardinals

Moved into apartment in the worlds hottest city!

2007-08-12T17:22:00.001-05:00

20070810_MovedIn_InStLouis

St Louis, Almost as hot as the Sun.

2007-08-10T19:18:00.000-05:00

Moved in to St Louis now, kinay kinay, and one more kinay. Here are the pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/drgenejones/20070810_MovedIn_InStLouis?authkey=OcvZWKsniEI

Moving to Missouri

2007-07-31T11:20:00.000-05:00

We have (almost!) moved out of our apartment in Denver, CO., moving to St. Louis, Missouri, some time this week. Audrey is going to college at Washington University in St Louis, to study for a Masters of Social Work. Her first assignment will be to solve all the problems in my family, ;-). Just kidding.

It will be sad to leave Denver as we have had a brilliant time here, but hopefully Missouri, the mid west and Mississippi will be just as much fun. Although I hear St. Louis, is just as hot as Denver, but with the added enjoyment of humidity. So an excellent air conditioning system will be top of my priorities when looking for a new apartment. Ahh yes, we are driving out there, and do not have anywhere to live as yet. Which is all part of the fun L.F.N.

P-Day Pic 2

2007-07-05T12:44:00.001-05:00

Trying very hard to look humble and casual, however any smugness in the picture, I assure you, is not intentional.

P-Day Has Arrived

2007-07-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

Check out that gorgeous chick magnet, no not me, our new vehicular in the background. Here is a clue its blue.

Sneak Peak @ the Creation Museum

2007-05-29T15:08:00.001-05:00

Has it really come to this: You can now take a photographic tour of the exhibits at the brand new Creation Museum. Check out $10 million of dollars worth of exhibits that were purpose-built to debunk evolution.

read more | digg story

Gene's News and Views Podcast

2007-04-14T10:14:00.000-05:00

Partly as an attempt to try the technology out and as an exciting forray into the world of publishing, I have created a podcast called Gene Conroy-Jones's News and Views. It is an interesting perspective on the important scientific issues of the day and yesteryear. This podcast is available in itunes at the following link:

Gene Conroy-Jones's News and Views Podcast

Wifi Ipod Available 3rd Quarter 2007

2007-04-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

It looks as if the 6G ipod will be available during the 3rd quarter of 2007. Full story here: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/31609/97/

Engaging New York

2007-03-13T13:16:00.000-05:00

Engaging New York (20070312)

Just had a fantasitc time in New York, New York. Went to see Spamalot the Monty Python Holy Grail musical. Has to be the funniest piece of entertainment I have ever seen, well in the top 5 anyway. Was so funny that I became anxious that I was laughing to much and hard.

Birthday month is over :-(

2007-02-07T15:29:00.000-06:00

Alas birthday month has come to an end. Here is a picture of the cake Audrey made.

Huge Clean Up Operation in Denver.

2007-01-28T18:10:00.000-06:00

Christmas in Coventry Photo Album

2007-01-05T10:44:00.000-06:00

Christmas in Coventry

MIT Open Courseware

2006-12-27T21:15:00.000-06:00

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has a wide array of free lecture materials on a wide variety of university materials. This open project has been in operation for several years now and I would just like to add it here to promote its use.

About MIT - OpenCourseWare

MIT OCW is a large-scale, Web-based electronic publishing initiative funded jointly by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation , MIT, and generous support of the Ab Initio software company.

MIT OCW's goals are to:

Provide free, searchable, access to MIT's course materials for educators, students, and self-learners around the world.
Extend the reach and impact of MIT OCW and the "opencourseware" concept.

MIT OCW would not be possible without the support and generosity of the MIT faculty who choose to share their research, pedagogy, and knowledge to benefit others. We expect MIT OCW to reach a steady - though never static - state by 2008. Between now and then, we will publish the materials from virtually all of MIT's undergraduate and graduate courses.

We will be continually evaluating the Access, Use, and Impact of MIT OCW. With 1,400 courses published as of May 1, 2006, we are still in a learning stage of this MIT initiative and we will benefit enormously from your feedback, as we strive to make MIT OCW as rich and useful as possible for our users.

Anson Jones is born!

2006-12-22T19:33:00.000-06:00

New addition to the family here, Anson Jones, err, I mean Anson Baker is born. So cute!!

Keystone Snowboarding

2006-12-12T22:48:00.001-06:00

Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion

2006-12-08T01:31:00.000-06:00

If you never read another book, you have to read this amazing piece of intellectual reasoning. Only read it if you are an atheist, or enjoy listening to a well researched theory, because as this book points out, and what most genuinely intellectual people know, there is unlikely to be a god. Very few writers have his eloquence of writing, this work is truly a joy to read. Here is the link to it at Amazon.

For a taster listen to the author's book reading, and QnA session, at Lynchburg. Click Here.

To see what reasoned argument is up against, watch this Christian training video, teaching god-believers how to deal with atheists. The reasoned arguments in this video are illogical, inaccurate and hilarious. However it does indicate that there is little point in trying to have a discussion with a "believer" as their minds are likely to be closed to free thought. Click Here

Finally for an additional comedy moment, here is an amusing review of the book from another closed-mind believer. Check out the English accent impression. Click Here

2006-11-30T11:36:00.000-06:00

Here is another amusing picture from my graphic design artist sister, Brynecca Jones. Here I am depicted training on some Monkey bars in the desert. This is a recreation of how I was inspired by Karate Kid 1 and attempted to do some atheltic training and the local park.

National Richard Month

2006-11-28T11:16:00.000-06:00

National Richard month came to pass in November. This historic time of achievement, is celebrated with the wearing of the ceremonial toupe. Fortunately this year I was bestowed this great honor, and here you can see me sporting this fantastic accessory at the local shopping mall.

Wild West Road Trip To Southern Colorado

2006-11-27T14:56:00.000-06:00

20061124_RoadTrip

Earl, Daphne and The Motets

2006-11-01T12:22:00.000-06:00

Earl, Daphne et al out on Halloween in Fancy Dress.

My Name is Earl and Daphne Leaving For Fancy Dress

2006-10-27T21:31:00.000-05:00

Hi I am Tom Kruze - Hoveround

2006-10-27T15:28:00.000-05:00

The latest amusing Hoveround commercial.

Gene And Audrey does Rodrigo Y Gabriela

2006-10-22T12:57:00.000-05:00


Gene and Audrey do Tamcun by Rodrigo y Gabriela. Amusing video of us and flat. Great Spanish Guitar.

Funniest Hoveraround commercial

2006-10-13T22:52:00.000-05:00

Check out the guy towing a truck.

Caption Competition

2006-10-01T23:02:00.000-05:00

Please supply comments to the caption competition below.

Season Pass Purchased.

2006-09-30T19:13:00.000-05:00

Winter is on its way and the resorts open in a month!!! Season pass purchased to Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, Vail and Beaver Creek. All for the price of $399. Snowboarding in a month!!!!

Breckenridge - http://breckenridge.snow.com/winterhome.asp

Keystone - http://keystone.snow.com/

Arapahoe Basin - http://www.arapahoebasin.com/

Vail - http://vail.snow.com/winter/

Beaver Creek - http://beavercreek.snow.com/

Ingredients which should not be in the top 5 items in your food contents.

2006-09-15T17:43:00.000-05:00

Things to avoid
1. Sugar
2. Enriched Flour (Flour with all the good things taken out) - look for Wholewheat flour instead.
3. CornSyrup - main ingredient in Coke.
4. No Hydronated Fat, Trans Fat, Or Saturated fat

Things to eat
1. Garlic - Salad dresssing (oil, garlic and lemon)
2. Tomotoes with olive oil
3. Olive oil (Dark bottle and in fridge), Use Grapeseed oil for food, don't damage oil with food.
4. Spinach (better than carrots for eyes). Saute' with oil and garlic.
5. Almond (don't roast)
6. Pomme Grannit - Great antioxidant as a drink

Chocostix

2006-09-13T16:56:00.000-05:00


My favourite commercial at the moment. Especially after I intially thought it started with "Its confident chocolate", but is actually, "Its covered in chocolate".

Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard's Great-Grandson against Scientology

2006-09-12T02:16:00.000-05:00

Interesting speech here from Ron Hobbard's grandson against the unusual Scientology cult. Given from Clearwater (Scientology headquarters) in Florida.

Jamie Kennedy is a slam poet who also is the great-grandson of Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. In 2000, Jamie Kennedy traveled to Clearwater, Florida to host a benefit concert for a group which was helping people who were defrauded or abused by Scientology.

Jamie's grandfather was L. Ron Hubbard Jr. who worked alongside his dad during the formative years of Scientology. Hubbard Jr. later testified in court against his dad.

Las Vegas and Los Angeles

2006-09-10T23:39:00.000-05:00

Tuesday the 29th August we flew from Denver, Colorado to Las Vegas Nevada. The trip started off well with the air-hostess becoming very interested in what Mark and I were to get up to on out trip. Even mentioning us on the intercom as we landed as "the two rugby players from Eng-er-land" and giving us each a complimentary bottle of whisky. The only problem being that the hostess was a man. After that the only was was up, which only took about 10 minutes after which we picked up the Red Ford Mustang Convertible.

Pulling out of the rental car parking lot we had a short drive to Luxor, the pyramid type hotel and the bottom of the strip. We walked quite far that evening exploring the strip and well Las Vegas is a bit of a sensory overload and you could really do with a local to show you all the "best" places to go. After a long walk we got changed and headed out to Hooters for some food, followed by partying until 4am at the Hard Rock Cafe. Highlight of the evening was listending to Cory Harts "I wear my sunglasses at night" and actually having our sunglasses with us to wear.

The following day was painful, I haven't been this ill since my 21st birthday party where I had alcohol poisoning. The whole day until 4pm was spent in bed. That eveing we drove to the Hoover Dam on a concrete / civil engineering expedition. Had the dam had 2 engineering qualified doctoral students in its presence before, i doubt it, so there was a first for the dam. There is proabably a statue there now to commerate the experience. A little tired that evenig we retired at midnight as tomorrow we had a longish journey ahead.

August 31st we drive from vegas to LA. The drive into L.A. was amazing, the traffic is so manic. Luckily our hotel was easy to find being on Sunset Boulevard, The Standard. What an amazing place, easily the coolest person that has ever stayed in the hotel. The lobby was decorated with furniture by Ligne Roset and behind the desk was a fish tank / gold fish bowl which occasionally housed a scantily clad lady.

Los Angeles is a strange place, although at first amazingly superficial, it has some good qualities, great nightlife, and daylife, there is plenty to do. Main observations were the fact that I never saw anybody that looked old, they may have been old, but they did not look it. Almost all the girls has plastic surgery of one form of another, and everyone dressed as if they were at, going to, or had just been to an Oscar's party. The weekend hardly differed from the week in terms of the amount of people that were out on a night, and that is part of its charm. If you have lots of money and want to party 24 / 7 then head out to L.A. but make sure you stay somewhere cool.

We sat next to quite a few famous faces. Anjelica Hustan sat next to us in the restaurant in Barney's of New York. The presenter of Fear Factor Joe Rogan sat next to us in the hotel diner. We saw Colin Farell driving about in his beat up Ford Explorer (I think) jeep.

All the photos from the trip can be seen here.

Newsflash - John Sofroniou Located

2006-09-08T12:55:00.000-05:00

After months of investigation our private detective team in Singapore has located the residence of a Mr John Sofroniou-Kung-Poh. The pictures show the the house, styled in the unmistakeable New-Classical-Sonfroniou-Renaissance stylee. It is good to know that his art has lived on even though his telephone has not. ;-). Only kidding Johnno saw this house in LA and thought of you.

1964 - The Tribute - Beatles

2006-08-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

On saturday we went to a Beatles tribute concert at Red Rocks. This venus is awesome and I hope to see many more bands here. the band was superb, as voted by Rolling Stone as the best Beatle's tribute band.

The Conroy-Jones Clan

2006-08-20T18:55:00.000-05:00

A family gathering provided an opportunity for this great photograph.

The most beautiful park in the world?

2006-08-17T19:54:00.000-05:00

Shadow Parade

2006-08-17T15:48:00.000-05:00

If you like The Doors, The Beatles, Radiohead or Pink Floyd then you will be desperate for this band's music. Shadow Parade have a unique in sound, giving a performance that is real, motivated by the music, not by the profit.

Myspace website: listen to music here

http://www.shadowparade.com/

From the archive: At the top of the Gherkin, London (6th June 2005)

2006-08-17T13:28:00.000-05:00

In a new feature entitled "From the archive" Gene reminises about LFN times past. The first picture from this interesting feature is from a meal I had with fellow London friends at the top of the Sir Norman Fostter's Gherkin.

Audrey's thoughts

2006-06-23T16:08:00.000-05:00

Just asked Audrey what she thought of me, not sure what her response is, probably good though.

Not posted for a while

2006-06-17T17:02:00.000-05:00

Well I have been in Denver for about 6 weeks now and the routine of life has settled into a nice pace. My life loop at the moment involves getting up around 8am, for some reason I find that really easy to do here, going to the local coffee shop (St Marks) to work for a few hours, back to the apartment to work, lunch, afternoon of work interspursed with Jerry Springer and Dr Phil, followed by an evening in or out. I have rented a piano for 6 months so I can annoy our neighbours with my "excellent" piano playing, currently learning the Brandenburg (I think thats how it is spelt) concerto No 1 and 5. This fad (Andy) has lasted quite a while, and I have just remembered Andy's fad, the remote control car petrol thing. The weather here is unreal ever since I got here it has been non stop sun, 100+, the weather is so hot and consistent,

On July 5th, we are going to Mexico for a week, to Puerto Vallartra, on an all inclusive, first beach holiday for, well I can't remember. Yes I am a poor tortured sole who never gets a holiday. Late August early september Mark is coming over and we are going on a road trip to LA, via Las Vegas. Should be fun, hopefully Mark won't forget to bring his LFN ;-).

I am back in the UK from July 26th untl the 21st August.

Coffe Table Finished

2006-05-25T17:43:00.000-05:00

Great team effort for this amazing coffee table, complete with felt pads, and shag rug - now what i am sayin....

The making of a coffee table

2006-05-20T16:00:00.000-05:00

Tonight we started to make a coffee table (my idea inspired by Audrey). After purchasing necessary tools from Home Depot (pronounced Home Deepowe) for $63, we now almost have a table worthy of a $300 price tag. We were getting frustrated looking around furniture stores for tables that looked like s**t, with $200 price tags, so why not build your own. Here you can see us sanding down the wood, priming it and painting the first coat.

May 2006 - Moving to Denver

2006-05-20T15:45:00.000-05:00

I have now moved to Denver, Colorado, to try out the mid-west American lifestyle. Everyone kept asking whether I was worried to move here, I wasn't as all is required is a plane ticket and a case full of clothes. Denver is a cosmopolitan town in the middle of the USA. It has some of the best snow conditions on the planet, and a great long lasting summer. It is known as the mile-high state because the state is a mile above sea level. Soon after moving here Audrey and I found an apartment on City Park, see the pic below of our first moving in meal. Our move was sponsored by the Rainer Fruit company.

Evening meal

2006-04-29T15:42:00.000-05:00

The evening meal was in a castle hotel on the Loch Lomand shores.

More Cruising and Highland Games Pictures

2006-04-29T15:40:00.000-05:00

A day of cruising and highland games

2006-04-29T15:33:00.000-05:00

Today we went for a cruise on Loch Lomand, to a nearby island, where we partook in some highland games. We played the bagpipes, tug-o-war, toss the wood, throw the haggis and riddicule-the-rich (in here to see if he reads posts). Never been to Scotland before and throughly enjoyed the day, great weather, great people, great cruise, and a great evening to follow.

Exter Airport 2 hours after wedding

2006-04-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

Two hours after wedding we arrive at the airport ready to fly to Glasgow for a weekend of celtic antics.

Ian & Laura Martin Get Married

2006-04-28T15:28:00.000-05:00

A few pictures from a great day in Lynton, Devon. Best mate Ian (onlyjoking Rich) gets married to Laura Clarke. This was just the start ofthe weekend, with a quick flight to Glasgow after the wedding meal.LFN.

Auburn Nut Visits Coventry

2006-04-23T14:50:00.000-05:00

23rd April and the Auburn nut - Audrey - is over for a visit. She is

in sunny Coventry for a week before my imminent departure to Denver
Colorado, USA.

Rossland First Video - Mean Gene

2006-04-20T05:45:00.000-05:00

Here is the "Mean Gene" section of James Downing's excellent snowboarder compilation for the Non-Stop Red Mountain course.

Rebecca draws amusing caricature

2006-04-07T12:26:00.000-05:00

My lovely sister drew this amusing caricature of me today, thought I would share it with the world.

Memories...of Johnno

2006-03-31T13:34:00.000-06:00

Karl and Jo's wedding

2006-03-30T17:47:00.000-06:00

Karl and Jo, what a fantastic wedding. I really enjoyed it even
though I was bunged up with an American cold, Man Flu, Fake Flu, or
whatever you want to call it.

rich makes a cup of tea

2006-03-28T17:38:00.000-06:00

Yes it is unbelieveably true rich actually made a cup of tea today!

Eating at Zorbas

2006-03-22T22:00:00.000-06:00

Audrey suggested eating in Greek town in Denver, as soon as she suggested it I knew it was a good idea, given my background knowledge in all things Greek. At the rather originally titled Chef Zorbas, we ate Domades, Pita with SatSiki (this is here to see if Johnno is reading the blog), then Lamb Kababos (their spelling). Very enjoyable although not quite as good as Lemonia in Primrose Hill. All in all a good night out for my last in Denver - until next time that is.

Afterwards we enjoyed cheescake at The Cheesecake Factory, and as part of my "Angel" face routine with the parents, took the Allison family a lime cheescake home as thanks for their hospitality.

Country Music at The Grizzly Rose

2006-03-19T12:06:00.000-06:00

I am back in Denver for the week before my return trip home. Last night Audrey and I went to a hot country music venue in Denver called the grizzly rose. Full of proper cowboys, country dancing, live music, a mechanical bull and a shop that sold real Stetson hats.

Great Aunt in Boulder

2006-03-15T22:45:00.000-06:00

By sheer coincidence my Great Aunty Josie was in Colorado, Boulder at the same time I was there. A great night was enjoyed by everyone in my company and we drank / ate at some fine establishements in Boulder; namely the St Julien's Hotel, and The Brasserie. I could throughly reccomend them both.

What is Gene like?

2006-03-13T22:00:00.000-06:00

Here is Paul's encomium for myself.

Last day in Rossland

2006-03-13T12:11:00.000-06:00

Well this is my last day in Rossland / Red mountain. Audrey is over to visit, and is shown below under instruction from the expert snowboard instructor (that's me by the way). Don't let the sunny day and blue sky fool you it was still -12oC.

Conran at 6 months old - so cute!

2006-02-23T17:01:00.000-06:00

Here is Kim's beautiful child at 6 months old. So cute.

Terrain park

2006-02-20T19:30:00.000-06:00

Hit the terrain park today, jibbing rails, jumps and the wall. Lots of fun and cannot wait to do it again. Lfn!

Saturday 18th February : CASI Qualified Snowboard Instructor

2006-02-18T17:26:00.000-06:00

After 7 weeks of training, a broken wrist, and a week of exams - trying to make it sound difficult - I have passed my Level 1 - Snowboard instructors exams. It is only really in the past week that I can feel my riding has come on to new levels, and that the things I am concentrating on in my riding, are starting to flow more easily. The pictures below show my instructor badge and me wearing my new hat - a present to myself for doing so well. My riding was rated as meeting the CASI standard, whilst the teaching rated above standard. It is doubly pleasing because I was completing the course with a broken, sorry fractured, wrist; which after I had broken it thought that the course was over, I am just so pleased, because of money, time and personal advancement, this turned out not to be the case.

Friday 15th February : Snowboard instructors exam

2006-02-17T03:02:00.000-06:00

Today is the snowboarder instructors exam. By 1pm Canadian time I should now whether I am a fully fledged CASI qualified expert. After which I will hopefully celebrating, in the only bar in town.

Tuesday 7th Feb 2006: Back in Rossland

2006-02-07T19:04:00.000-06:00

After two weeks off because of injury (yet to be reported, hurt pride and other male emotions), here is a quick post, hopefully to be expanded later, of my activities.

Monday Jan 23rd: Broken Wrist
My worst fears came true today when I fell over, slow moving not jumping, and fell forward on the stump of my wrist, hand bent backwards into arm. Broke, stop exaggerating, I mean fractured two bones. My initial worry was that my money spent on this course, would be wasted, however after two weeks in Denver, I am ready to ride with the cast on. Ohh yes geekily the hospital had a digital x-ray display, wow!

Wednesday Jan 25th: Fly to Denver
Luckily I had originally planned to spend 5 days in Denver, with Audrey, but now I extended my stay for an extra week. I arrived there at 5.00pm, greeted by an eagerly waiting Audrey.

Saturday Jan 28th: Boulder
There is a little town 25 miles north of Denver called Boulder, apparently Mork & Mindy's house is there, thanks Mark, but we didn't see it. But by chance when I phoned Taylor that evening before he told me such fact I was saying on Skype "Mork calling Orson, come in Orson", how freaky was that, or simply my sub-conscious working in mysterious ways. Boulder was a great place, very hippified, granola-girl type place. I could see myself living there, nice smallish town with a good vibe.

Friday Feb 3rd: Estes Park
We rented a log cabin in Estes Park at the edge of the Rocky Mountain National Park. A very beautiful place, with wild Elk roaming the roads. The log cabin was great and we got upgraded to the Honeymoon Cabin, at great amusement to everyone I have told, the only honeymoon thing I could see in the cabin were three hearts, basket weaved above the bed. Estes Park is home to the Stanley Hotel, which is the one that is either featured or based on the book The Shining. On Saturday night we went for a meal at Mary's lake lodge, had to go there because it was recommended by Audrey's dad, and also it is called Mary named after my mother.

Monday 6th Feb: Spokane, Washington state for a night.

2006-02-06T20:11:00.000-06:00

Whist waiting for bus back to Rossland, I had the fortunate benefit of staying Spokane for a night.

Friday 20th Jan: Steering, pivoting and a night of alcohol

2006-01-22T12:18:00.000-06:00

The end of the week was spent concentrating on steering and pivoting. Steering the use of the legs to steer the board; pivoting moving your centre of mass to pivot the board of different parts of its length. Unfortunately on Friday there was another fresh 10cm so we spent all day playing, well jumping actually. At the beginning of the course, one of my objectives was to complete 180 off a jump. Well that objective was met, albeit not very prettily, on Friday, well several times on Friday. In the afternoon we did three runs of the Short Squaw, which involves a steep descent through trees which then opens onto an unused run with lots of natural jumps, the feeling of pulling off the 180 was fantastic, and I guess the next progression should be a 360. Kinay Kinay Kinay!!!

Alcohol
Since Saturday was to be my first day off in a while I had decided to go out on the Friday night. After dinner Shane, Alan and I went to play pool. The pool table was broken, well the incorrect cue ball was being used so that every time the white was potted, we had to get the staff to open the table to get the ball out. To try and restrict the white going down a rule was decided that everytime the white went down we had to get a round of Sambukas (sp?). At 2.30 am I eventually got home after playing and winning pool against everyone in the only bar in town, a recipe you may think for a punch up, but I think the alcohol immunized me against any negative local town thoughts. A good night was had by all, but I can't remember getting home, although I did phone Audrey at 2.30 am and spoke to her for an hour. I think I heard her yawning (at 4.30 am her time) and said "your not trying to go are you". Very funny!

Wednesday 18th Jan: First Aid Course - Avalanche Transmitters

2006-01-18T22:14:00.000-06:00

Part of the course and I guess an important part of becoming an instructor is to learn basic first aid. This Wednesday we completed an 8 hour introduction to wilderness first aid, have the certificate to prove it! I really enjoyed the course, once I had managed to dynamite myself out of bed. The main crux of first aid was the ABCDs:

A - Airway - Check it isn't blocked.
B - Breathing - Check for breathing.
C - circulation - Check for circulation.
D - Deadly bleeding - Check for Deadly bleeding.

I really do feel prepared to help in any first aid scenario.

We were also given (not in first aid course) Recco avalanche transmitters, which we should install in out boots, or helmets. These are rather like the store protection sticky labels you find on the back of CDs. Not that we do any dangerous stuff anyway, err I mean we are always in the backcountry hiking on cornices, and 72 degree slopes; but it is comforting to know that I have these with me.

Tuesday 17th Jan: Level 2 in the pyramid pivoting and steering.

2006-01-18T22:04:00.000-06:00

Building on last weeks stance and balance, this weeks topic is pivoting and steering. Pivoting correctly will only happen if you are standing aligned on your board, hence level 1 stance and balance from last week. Pivoting should occur around the centre of the board, for normal riding, and leads to you performing a professional carved turn, where the whole edge of your board is used. In the majority of cases learner and intermediate riders lean back with an open stance on their board, but are still able to turn, by using there back foot as a sort of rudder, fishtailing I believe it is called. The correct way for perfect carved turns is to be balanced correctly (centered and perpendicular to the slope), and to use the whole edge of the snowboard, so that it bites into the slope and produces a perfect 'C' in the slope.

Steering is the correct movement of your legs and knees whilst riding your board. One drill we tried was riding our board with out hands on knees, using them to steer around the bends. The upper body should always be relatively still (for normal turns) and I believe this technique is a component of performing the professional carved turns. My analysis of this technique has not been fully comprehended yet, so I will wait until Thursday and Friday to complete the Steering definition.

Sunday 15th Jan: Recreational Avalanche Course Day 2

2006-01-16T18:47:00.000-06:00

Today involved hiking up an untracked mountain, and performing some tests in snow to establish whether the conditions were safe. After hiking for two hours, and digging pits to establish slope stability and layers, we rode down the untracked terrain. The view and initial ride was awesome dude! However we then hit the trees and the wood was quite dense, so after falling into my 1000th tree well, I was pretty knackered by the time I reahed the bottom. I have noticed my legs getting stronger, yeah don't laugh, so I think the days are getting easier. Establishing progress is always good! The course finished about 1pm, at which point we all had a good meal and a drink, the food was probably just ok but it was very welcome.

Saturday 14th Jan: Recreational Avalanche Course Day 1

2006-01-16T18:41:00.000-06:00

After a busy week training I was pretty knackered by Friday night. Over the weekend we had a two day avalanche course, which involved trekking far, using transceivers, and digging pits. I quite enjoyed the science bits of the course, and knowing how to use a transceiver was pretty cool dude! One test involved the instructor hiding five beacons, and one body without a beacon, then as a team we had to dig out the bodies, and using a probing rod find the other body. I was surprise that after 10 minutes we had found all the bodies, good news if we ever have to search for anyone; given that there is 50% survival rate after 30 minutes (due to suffocation, if the trauma didn't kill you). By the end of the day I was knackered and wet, had something to eat and hit the sack early on, so I could ready myself for the hike tomorrow.

Saturday 14th Jan: Avalanche course

2006-01-15T01:33:00.000-06:00

Avalanche course