In 2007, I helped found the University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics. That student group that is still running today. A rare accomplishment as many student groups, particularly those for the non-religious, struggle to survive for more than a few years as the students who established the group graduate, move
Continue readingAuthor: Ian
Terahertz: Illegal botox seized in Vancouver
Last month, an undercover CBC investigation exposed that a number of spas and health clinicas around Metro Vancouver were offering botox injections illegally. Botox in Canada can only be administered by a physician and these clinics didn’t have any doctors on staff. Today, Health Canada announced that it has seized
Continue readingTerahertz: Republished: Religion poll is a waste of paper
My second (and last) editorial in The Gateway while at the University of Alberta, salvaged via the Web Archive. The paper had a policy where writers were forbidden from submitting letters or opinion pieces if they were the subject of the news due to perceived conflicts of interest. I called
Continue readingTerahertz: Republished: There’s no ‘God’ in graduation
This was the first article I wrote for a student newspaper and in a way it’s somewhat historic. In 2008, the University of Alberta Atheists & Agnostics started campaigning for a secular convocation charge. When our initial request was ignored, I raised the issue with the student newspaper, The Gateway,
Continue readingTerahertz: Republished: The Christians are coming!
Another old article, this one a review of Marci McDonald’s 2010 expose on the influence of the Christian Right in Canadian politics. Still relevant given that Harper has since gained his majority government and faces another election in October. The Christians are coming! Originally published in The Peak, 31st May
Continue readingTerahertz: Republished: Let’s bring reason back to politics
As part of my attempt to get back into writing this blog, I’ve been going back through my list of published articles and making sure they’re all still live. Many of the links have changed in the years since I wrote many of those articles, but luckily I copied most
Continue readingTerahertz: Humanists discuss political engagement
Last night, I attended a discussion hosted by the pan London Humanist group on what new opportunities there are for greater democratic engagement following the Scottish referendum on independence. It featured Ian Scott and Gary McLelland from the Humanist Society of Scotland (Ian is Acting Chief Executive and voted yes
Continue readingTerahertz: #NoMoreGames… but what instead?
I passed a billboard today advertising the British Medical Association (BMA)’s new media campaign. It calls for all political parties to stop playing games with the NHS. I’ll give them credit – it’s catchy and many people (myself included at times) think politicians too often use promises of reform to
Continue readingTerahertz: Rounded democracy
Many legislative debating chambers have been designed and built in the past 50 years. Living in the UK, I’ve been able to travel to and see a number of them. The National Assembly of Wales in Cardiff: The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh: The European Parliament in Brussels (and similarly in
Continue readingTerahertz: Arctic Apples highlight absurdity of GM regulations
Okanagan Specialty Fruits is a small biotech company from central BC. For the past twenty years they have been trying to get their main product to market, jumping regulatory hoop after hoop. All they have been trying to sell is an apple. But their apples are special. They don’t brown
Continue readingTerahertz: Rebooting… again
Every overly-long period of intermittent blogging should be followed by two things: A promise to blog more frequently A new theme. At least I can show you the new theme now. Yes, it’s just the WordPress default Twenty-Fifteen but it’s nice, clean, and responsive. Plus, I’ve removed the ads that weren’t making me
Continue readingTerahertz: Lib Dems call on PM to allow humanist marriages in the UK
Late in 2014, I wrote to my MP, Lynne Featherstone, following a call to action by the British Humanist Association. I’ve just received a response from my MP expressing her support for humanist marriages and a copy of a letter she wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron on our behalf.
Continue readingTerahertz: Diversity in the atheist/skeptic communities: An evidence-based approach
Richard Dawkins has lost it: ignorant sexism gives atheists a bad name – Guardian Atheism’s shocking women problem – Salon Why atheists have a serious problem with women – Mic.com Will misogyny bring down the atheist movement? – Buzzfeed The mainstream media has picked up that within the atheist community,
Continue readingTerahertz: Tell Christy Clark: Don’t rush through Societies Act reforms
Please write today to tell the BC government not to press through its reforms to the BC Societies Act. Email fcsp@gov.bc.ca before the end of 15 October 2014. Clark’s Liberal government is looking to overhaul the law that regulates over 27,000 non-profit societies, including almost every active freethought organisation in
Continue readingTerahertz: Happy birthday Canada
Canada, my home country, turns 147 today. This number elicits smirks from my British born coworkers. It still sounds better than the more accurate answer of 32 years since we patriated the constitution and divorced the country from the UK Parliament, making it truly independent though. Of course, that current
Continue readingTerahertz: Humanist Hustings–Europe Votes 2014
Moving to London (details eventually coming) has allowed me to attend more great events. Last night, I attended the British Humanist Association’s Humanist Hustings all-candidates forum for the upcoming European Parliamentary Elections. The event was held in Conway Hall, London’s freethought home. To my mind, no humanist group in Canada
Continue readingTerahertz: I get email – Human rights and Climate change
Recently, I wrote about a ruling against APEGA, Alberta’s professional association for engineers, by the province’s Human Rights Tribunal. Low and behold, the defendant in the case, Ladislav Mihaly, emailed me with a follow up request for help. My name is Ladislav Mihaly, and I am the Engineer who won
Continue readingTerahertz: Religion as a dirty word
Any headline in the form of a question can be dismissed with the simplest answer (which is also typically no). Case in point, a Victoria Times-Columnist blog asks “Has religion become a dirty word?“ It argues that Victoria, BC, with a non-religious population of 51% according to Statistics Canada’s 2011
Continue readingTerahertz: Canada, Ukraine, and Missing Internationalism
Stephen Harper and Canada’s Conservative government received rare praise from people in my social media circle for his quick decisions to recall Canada’s ambassador to Russia in condemnation for their occupation of The Crimea in Ukraine. Soon after, other G-8 countries agreed to similar extents and decided to revert to
Continue readingTerahertz: Nature blasts Swiss anti-immigration referendum
As part of Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, Swiss voters recently approved immigration caps by a narrow margin. This means that the country, which has remained independent of the European Union, will no longer be able to continue to allow the free movement of labour with its neighbours (a fundamental
Continue reading