Live from Austin!

It’s raining. It has been raining all afternoon. I’m not complaining that it’s raining, we need it.

I only started driving about 2½ years ago. As a result, I still find it genuinely pleasurable to be in a car when it’s raining, even if I’m sitting in traffic.

Slow moving traffic? Luxury. Try not moving, spending 45 minutes standing in the wind and rain waiting for a bus that’s supposed to run every 20 minutes. Poor visibility? Try cycling in a downpour, blinking from the rain in your eyes and squinting through the droplets on your glasses.

Driving in the rain leads to much the same pleasure I get from sitting looking out the window at the rain. It’s the pleasure of knowing that I’m not out there in it. A simple pleasure, but a good one.

Guardian:

More people in Britain think religion causes harm than believe it does good, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today. It shows that an overwhelming majority see religion as a cause of division and tension — greatly outnumbering the smaller majority who also believe that it can be a force for good.

Well, that’ll give Richard Dawkins a merry Christmas.