Up Coming TV

[Roger Stanyard]

A wee bit off topic but not unrelated to the original post.

TBN UK starts on Freeview channel 65 on the 5th January 2015.

Apart from Revelation TV on the internet channels (last time I checked it was no longer there) this is the first religious TV channel to broadcast terrestrially in the UK.

TBN broadcasts Carl Baugh's "creation in the 21st century".

Currently showing a continuous promo loop.

It intends to start regular transmissions on 5th Jan but, as far as I can make out, it only has transmission capacity to operate during the day (when most people don't watch TV). Nobody is going to watch it, Peter. The growth in viewing in the UK is through Internet.

[a_haworthroberts]

http://www.tbn.org/
I think they are probably not dominated by YEC-ism (when they consider science) though clearly YECs have a foothold (Billy Graham - flagged on the home page at present with reference to Christian salvation - is not a YEC).

Off-topic, but it is not a good time to be a Christian in northern Iraq. The 1st century local Muslim fanatics want them to 'convert' - or be stabbed or beheaded or crucified. Is that how some of them were 'converted'?

[a_haworthroberts]

http://www.channel4.com/news/they-made- ... n-posessed
(This after Ken Ham's ferocious attack - reported in the 'Rabble Rouser' thread - on two US Christian musicians who have confirmed (on their own blog page) that they aren't fundamentalists and question Genesis literalism because of modern scientific understandings.)

[Brian Jordan]

As a teenager the experience of being prayed over after she spoke about her sexuality left her feeling "fractured": "they made me feel like they thought I was demon-possessed", she recalls.

Ah, so that's what's behind the opposition to fracking. The demons come from the gasfield out.

[Roger Stanyard]

http://www.channel4.com/news/they-made-me-feel-like-they-thought-i-was-demon-posessed
(This after Ken Ham's ferocious attack - reported in the 'Rabble Rouser' thread - on two US Christian musicians who have confirmed (on their own blog page) that they aren't fundamentalists and question Genesis literalism because of modern scientific understandings.)

It would be interesting to know precisely where Scott Lively got his "PhD" from. given that he appears not to have a first degree.

Edit: it appears that Lively's "PhD" is, as I suspected, from an unaccredited diploma mill - the School of Bible Theology Seminary (now, apparently, called the School of Bible Theology Seminary and University) in San Jacinto, California. An "accrediting agency, Transworld, is claimed to accredited it but Transworld is not recognised as a bona fide accrediting agency. Lively appears to have finished his education when he was 16. It shows (glaringly).

Oh, and Lively claims to have both a PhD and a ThD.

Edit (again) It gets worse, Lively's law degree is from the Trinity Law School which is not accredited by the American Bar Association so he can't even pass the bar eximinations in most states and practise law.

[cathy]

Haven't had a chance to watch yet, and only on in midlands but looks interesting.

A programme about Trojan horse

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ay-special

[a_haworthroberts]

Coming up on Sunday 14 September:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the- ... et-history

[a_haworthroberts]

Sounds interesting:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/progin ... universe-1

[Roger Stanyard]

http://www.channel4.com/news/they-made-me-feel-like-they-thought-i-was-demon-posessed
(This after Ken Ham's ferocious attack - reported in the 'Rabble Rouser' thread - on two US Christian musicians who have confirmed (on their own blog page) that they aren't fundamentalists and question Genesis literalism because of modern scientific understandings.)

It would be interesting to know precisely where Scott Lively got his "PhD" from. given that he appears not to have a first degree.

Scott Lively continues to be amazed at what he is, now claiming that he is "sort of a Winston Churchill type of figure".

A least Churchill didn't deceive anyone about his lack of qualifications.

I do recall Homer Simpson once purchasing a theology qualification online from a diploma mill, though.

(see http://dailyfreepress.com/2014/10/02/in ... -governor/)

[cathy]

Anyone catch this new epic from Brian Cox?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0 ... n-spaceman

First episode was supposedly human evolution but apart from a few baboons, 3 hominid skulls and some climate instability stuff it was mainly Brian doing gazing in wonder and saying 'ain't brains great'. Plus lots of local folk from far away places gazing into the middle distance grr. Could have been so much better.

Far more interesting in evolutionary terms was cat watch 2014 (Horizon)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... n-your-lap
Didn't realise for example that felines were the only things that could only ear meat because of a mutation a long time ago. Plus lots of interesting difference between rural semi feral and urban domestic cats. Much more informative.

Nothing coming close to best programme this year - Young Vets. Nor to the utterly addictive Great a British Bake Off (Richard was unfairly robbed ), but at least on topic

[Roger Stanyard]

Anyone catch this new epic from Brian Cox?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0 ... n-spaceman

First episode was supposedly human evolution but apart from a few baboons, 3 hominid skulls and some climate instability stuff it was mainly Brian doing gazing in wonder and saying 'ain't brains great'. Plus lots of local folk from far away places gazing into the middle distance grr. Could have been so much better.

Far more interesting in evolutionary terms was cat watch 2014 (Horizon)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... n-your-lap
Didn't realise for example that felines were the only things that could only ear meat because of a mutation a long time ago. Plus lots of interesting difference between rural semi feral and urban domestic cats. Much more informative.

Nothing coming close to best programme this year - Young Vets. Nor to the utterly addictive Great a British Bake Off (Richard was unfairly robbed ), but at least on topic

I've got much the same thoughts as you on this, Cathy.

Brian Cox is brllliant at popular sciience when he sticks to his own area of expertise, physics. He's just out of his depth when it comes to biology.

Neverthekess, the BBC is world class when it comes to popular science and I suspect that its expertise ultimately goes back to David Attenborough who has been producing and present wildlife programmingg since (IIRC) 1952. He also understands the "business" of broadcasting - he basically established and ran BBC2 in the 1960s (and commissioned Monty Python, BTW).

Liz Bonin did a superb job on the three Horizon cat programmes (last year's Horizon programmes on the same subject were not aywhere as informative and she wasn't involved in them). Bonin is well qualified in biology (master's degree IIRC) and obviously loves cats. She really got into the complex issues of cat behaviour. Not easy as cats really are complex, strange, creatures (I've lived with a few of them).

The only part of the three programmes that appeared to be skimped was the genetic origins of domestic cats. My sister had a pet African Wild Cat and they seem to be remarkably similar in temprement to a domestic cat. However, it isn't entirely clear to me whether the domestic cat is a hybrid or a pure descendent of the wild cat. Moreover domestication seems to have had a big impact on them - much smaller brains, for example. Is that a form of evolution or a result of removal of evolutionary pressures?

Does anyone have some online references where I can find out more about the origins of the domestic cat?

Oh, yer, the other puzzle not addressed is precisely what a domestic cat thinks its "owner" is? Another giant cat? Its mother? A litter mate?

[Brian Jordan]

Oh, yer, the other puzzle not addressed is precisely what a domestic cat thinks its "owner" is? Another giant cat? Its mother? A litter mate?

I don't know what our old fellow thinks we are, but he seems to think he's at least part dog. He was taken from his mother, in a house full of dogs, rather too early and has never really got over it even after 19 years.

[cathy]

Didn't get much about their domestication from the programme either tho it did seem to be suggesting that greeted humans in same way as other cats, tail up, rubbing against etc. Also suggested they keep meowing just for us once past kitten hood. To communicate with us. Would have liked bit more on the evolution tho. African wild cat sounds like a cool pet!

Any way was suffering withdrawal symptoms after Young Vets and Bake Off finished but was delighted to see the imminent return of SuperVet yippee. Not relevant but brilliant all the same.
http://www.channel4.com/search/?q=SuperVet

[cathy]

From the last series
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SYRJ85MBNAs
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f8MIDkZs_4g

[Brian Jordan]

Anyone catch this new epic from Brian Cox?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0 ... n-spaceman

I only saw a little bit of this first time round but having watched much of the rest on the repeat I didn't think it was all that bad.
I was intrigued by his hypothesis that leaps in human evolution coincided with changes in the Earth's orbit, which in turn caused climate change. I can just see the warming deniers jumping on that with glee and proclaiming him their hero! Since his brief mention of causes of changes in the Earth's ellipse didn't mention the other planets, he might just be safe from adulation by astrologers too!
I think it was a mistake by the programme makers not to add a rider to the effect that climate scientists were, of course, well informed about orbit creep and took it into account in their simulatons and predictions.