Ricky Gervais—of all people—writes about responses to ‘Why don’t you believe in God?’.

… historians have cataloged over 3700 supernatural beings, of which 2870 can be considered deities.

So next time someone tells me they believe in God, I’ll say “Oh which one? Zeus? Hades? Jupiter? Mars? Odin? Thor? Krishna? Vishnu? Ra?…” If they say “Just God. I only believe in the one God,” I’ll point out that they are nearly as atheistic as me. I don’t believe in 2,870 gods, and they don’t believe in 2,869.

Read the full article at A Holiday Message From Ricky Gervais: Why I’m an Atheist.

Thanks to John C. for the link.

Sometimes, just sometimes, governments get it right.

Australia is prone to the odd bushfire and flood. The Australian Passport office will replace, free of charge, a passport lost in serious floods, storms, bushfires and the like.

Impressive.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has released its final report into an incident in 2008 in which a Qantas 747 lost its main power unit in flight and landed in Bangkok on backup battery power.

This reporting does not meet the general standards of reporting of aviation incidents, on two counts:

1. It does not include the word plunge as in “The plane plunged 300 feet…..”
2. It does not describe the flight crew as heroes.

What kind of outrage is this? As we know, all planes in any kind of incident “plunge” and all crew are “heroes”. The SMH seems to follow standards of reporting somewhat different from other aviation writers in Australia.

Note to self: remove tongue from cheek when ready.

Melbourne’s Herald Sun reports that Ian Botham and Ian Chappell had a fist fight in Adelaide recently.

The Herald Sun reports:

Botham, who hasn’t spoken to former Australia captain Chappell since 1980 …

and

Since then [March 1977] the pair … have only traded insults.

Which ‘fact’ is correct?

Or is there some way of trading insults without speaking?

From Annabelle Crabb’s WikiLeaks and the ‘Handy Heel’ manoeuvre at ABC’s The Drum:

[Talking about Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi:]

One hopes they also share clothes; an advantageous arrangement, seeing as Mr Putin is frequently shirtless, and Mr Berlusconi rarely in need of trousers.