ID advocate keeps quiet

Time to come clean - I'm a regular reader of Uncommon Descent, and sometimes contribute. UD is the Intelligent Design blog for Bill Dembski, who's one of the better known ID advocates, and about whom much could has been written.

UD has a new post up, announcing the 2007 IDURC Casey Luskin Graduate Award. This is noteworthy for a couple of points. Firstly, IDURC is the Intelligent Design Undergraduate Research Center, but the award is for "excellence in student advocacy of intelligent design". Why is a research centre (sorry, center) supporting advocacy? Of course, this is just another symptom of one of the problems with ID: it spends its time and effort advocating a "scientific" that
hasn't been researched yet.

The second point is just beautiful. The winner of the prize is to remain anonymous. So the announcement is that they have decided to award a prize to a person. The reason given for anonymity is that they are worried that the student will be discriminated against for their views. So, we don't know who this student is who "...has demonstrated excellence and courage in research and promotion of intelligent design".

Spotted the punchline yet? The award is for advocacy of ID, and the student is being rewarded for promoting ID. If they've been any good at this, then it seems a bit late to keep their identity quiet. Read more!

In Spain, and bulls

Well, I arrived in Spain OK, via various queues. The wireless in the hotel is working, sort of. Hopefully the university will be better tomorrow.

I flicked through the channels on the TV in the hotel, and came across some bull fighting. Now, being English, and therefore Fond of Animals, this is not something I've ever been greatly enamoured of. But I thought it was worth watching, just so that I knew what was going on. Overall, I can't see it taking off in Britain, although there would be some amusement to be had from them trying it at Headingley, as anyone who's sat in the Western Terrace could appreciate.

I think part of the problem (apart from the sock-down-the-trousers posturing) is that the poor bull reminded me of Jack, the cat. One way of keeping Jack entertained is to wave things around at him, and let him pounce on them, bat them away, chew them etc. The various bull-fighters do something similar to the bull - the main difference being that I have absolutely no intention of sticking any sharp objects into Jack (alas, he doesn't always reciprocate in this). By the end, I felt like I wanted to go up to the bull, put my arms round its neck and give it a big hug. Poor thing. Poor me if I ever try it. The social embarrassment alone would be enough for the bull.

The rest of Spain is better, though. Good food and wine already. I just have to work for it for the rest of the week. I'll try and post some photos of Asturians pouring cider later in the week. Read more!