Dim

Over on Pharyngula, PZ Myers still has no time for the coinage “bright”. And I’ve got to say, I’m still with him on this one. I think it is a daft term, for all the reasons brought up in the interminable comments to his post. I am an atheist. I may be a bright atheist -- that’s not for me to say -- but I am certainly not a bright. And just to show how bright I am, I’ve no intention of rehearsing any of the arguments against brights as a label. Let’s just say that even Richard Dawkins can have a a bad idea from time to time.

Ken Livingstone, London’s Mayor, is not too bright either, with his war on pigeons. The New York Times has a great op-ed by Andrew D. Blechman, author of the must-have “Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird.” His argument is simple; you cannot hope to eliminate pigeons by killing them. Nor can you starve them out. But if you supply reasonable quarters, and limit feeding to those neighbourhoods, the pigeons will leave the rest of the city alone. At least, that’s the plan. Sounds attractive.