And God Created Controversy : the creationist movement is gaining a foothold in the hearts and minds of America's kids.

Sigh.

Talking about God (see image, right) in the U.S. shouldn't be a problem. The land of the free and the brave has the world's most jealously guarded freedom of speech laws. But what about talking about God in the classroom? An argument of biblical proportions has been raging between fans of Darwin's theory of natural selection and fundamentalists who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible.

In the beginning....

The dispute concerns the evolution of living organisms, the idea of common descent, the geological history of the Earth, the formation of the solar system and the origin of the universe. Creationism, an argument for the existence of God, centres around the theory that God created everything in its present form roughly ten thousand years ago. It is a fundamentalist, evangelical “pseudoscience” that was born as a challenge to evolution theory being taught in U.S. Schools. Proponents believe in a Young Earth of between 4,000 and 10,000 years old. Creation Science is the premise that this theory can be supported by scientific evidence, dinosaurs and all.

As recently as 1968 it was a crime to teach evolution theory in public schools in some U.S. states. Ever since evolution's triumphant return to the curriculum in the late sixties, “creationists” have been trying ever more cunning ways to edge it out of textbooks again. Back then, creationists insisted that if evolution theory was to be taught in schools, it was had to be “balanced out” by teaching creation theory alongside it. This was backed up in the 70s and 80s by new legislation in 23 states. More recently, creationists have begun to argue that because there is evidence against evolution, it is only fair that this evidence must also be taught. This may seem like a very fair argument, but it has one major flaw: teachers are not encouraged to teach evidence against creationism, (and let's face it, there is plenty).

If not A, then B

There currently exist only two options: if a christian fundamentalist teacher can plant doubt in the minds of students about evolution, the only alternative is creationism. Eugenie Scott is the Executive Director of the National Centre for Science Education, a non-profit organisation that supports teaching of evolution theory in U.S. schools. “It means you don't necessarily have to prove that Noah's great flood created the grand canyon. If you can eliminate evolution, creationism is the only thing that exists. You don't have to come up with scientific support or backup, you just have to eliminate evolution. If not A then B.” says Mrs. Scott. Creationists are making it a black and white argument in which creationism, by default, is becoming the accepted theory and no other alternative theories are offered in science class. About 44% of Americans believe the earth is thousands, not billions of years old and was created by God in its present form.

Mrs Scott also criticises recent national education legislation called “No Child Left Behind”, or “nickelbee” for short. It was signed into law by that other famous “young earth-er” George W. Bush. The legislation stipulates that in order to promote analytical thinking and to stimulate discussion in class, teachers are encouraged to “teach the controversy” surrounding the theory of evolution. The wording of the legislation, however, is ambiguous. Mrs Scott says this gives teachers the freedom to suggest that the controversy exists within the scientific community, as opposed to in society. This, she says, gives the impression that scientists themselves cannot agree as to whether or not evolution is feasible, and that it is a “theory in crisis.”

In September 2008, the battle for the United States presidency was in full swing. A lot of media speculation revolved around whether or not Sarah Palin, the republican candidate for vice-president was a “young earth-er”. In a television interview, Hollywood actor Matt Damon echoed the fears of many Americans when he said that he did not feel comfortable having a vice-president who “holds the nuclear codes, and yet believes that dinosaurs existed 4,000 years ago.”

Another Ghandi Tipped for the Top Spot... Surprise Surprise

Letter to the Economist that went unpublished, the bastards :

When the leaders of the Indian Independence movement ruled out a sectarian government in favour of a secular democracy, everyone braced themselves for polling stations and civil society. Yet they have never quite abandoned political nepotism. The knowledge and expertise of any trade in India is passed from father to son and so on down the line (a legacy of the caste system). Who else would be better equipped to make leather shoes than someone whose father's father's father also made leather shoes? And so it is in politics.

Indians believe that the Ghandi/Nehru dynasty is the best trained for the job because it's a family tradition. I once asked a shoe-cleaner on the streets of Amritsar why he chose that profession and he looked at me like I had paneer for brains. Is it any wonder Indians don't question Rahul Ghandi's trajectory towards congress-wallah, and possibly even PM-wallah?

Answers on a postcard.

Have conscience, will travel

The world is full of dogooders. But does "free" volunteering exist? Kind of...

In a world of uncountable good causes there is an equal number of good citizens to pursue them. Volunteering abroad is popular among young people with energy and a desire for social justice. But navigate far enough into a charity website and you'll find a hefty fee standing between you and your role as samaritan. At first this seems bizarre. Why can't you volunteer abroad without paying through the nose? Surely your willingness to toil for the benefit of others is enough?

It is cold water on good intentions. Upon consideration, it is equally implausible to expect a foreign charity organisation to pay for your accommodation and living expenses, whether you're teaching them English and building schools for them or not. But the fee, in addition to the cost of flight tickets, can be up to two thousand dollars a month for doing your bit.

The reality is that charities need your cash more than they need your sweat.

Charity is changing. In the past, foreign donors donated regularly to a charity and received a regular brochure. This method is becoming less trendy. A more popular (and accountable) method is to sponsor an individual, such as an orphaned child or someone with a chronic illness. This way the samaritan receives regular news and personalised correspondence.

But to visit and spend time with those affected is something that appeals to a travel-happy and socially conscious generation. Find a company, pay the cash, and get picked up from the airport. Thus begins the volunteer experience. In the case of young people, parents feel assured by websites and photos that the organisation is legitimate, the volunteers are looked after, and the money well spent. For the volunteers, they experience another culture, have a holiday (some volunteer packages even include cultural activities) and help save the world all at the same time.

Still, it is difficult for some people to believe that “free” volunteering doesn't exist. Some try pounding the pavement. Arrive in a country and go knocking on doors. This way the volunteer can present themselves in person and offer their services.

But this can be risky; illegitimate charities find it easier to hide when they have no websites, phone numbers or testimonies. Marianne, a Canadian backpacker awoke to this grim reality after coming across an ad nailed to a tree in Goa, South India looking for volunteers. A “Christian” charity mission, a nun took her passport and told her to pay huge sums of money to get it back. Caroline from Argentina visited the same orphanage was offered a baby for a “good price” before her documents were taken, too.

Katmandu, the dusty, congested and terminally poor capital of Nepal, is full of charities, legitimate or otherwise. Tons of NGOs and charity middlemen make a tidy profit getting volunteers set up in the numerous orphanages and village projects in the valley. Most volunteers are Europeans who have borrowed lots of cash from Mammy and Daddy to be there.

Rajendra Subedi knows all about it. An experienced trekking guide in the Annapurna mountain range, Raj also runs a small house for Nepali orphans in the city. He set up his charity “Ocean Nepal” in 2005 with financial backing from western customers. A soft-spoken, smiling guy, Raj says “I just want to help a few children. And then a few more.”

He operates trekking tours to the beautiful peaks of Annapurna, and uses a percentage of the profits for the orphanage. Raj merged his knowledge of the mountain ranges with his sense of social obligation and came up with the latest trend in volunteering. Go trekking, marvel at the peaks, and when you make the steep descent back into Katmandu after your trek, hang out with the kids at the orphanage and help them with their ABC.

“Ocean Nepal” has no flashy website or fancy letterhead. It's a grassroots charity that involves little administrative work, just a phone and an email address. Raj says “I have no business training, so it is often hard to find trekkers and volunteers.” He is convinced that other “free” volunteering opportunities do exist “but with so many famous charities vying for your time and dollars, its difficult to know where to begin.”

Wear it again, Sam - Second-Hand clothes Shopping in Brussels

A lot can be discovered about a city from the clothes its citizens wear, and even more perhaps, by the clothes they throw out. From musty dark second-hand recycle bins to the more chic vintage boutiques, its all been worn before and I went to check it out.

It is said that Brussels is not as fashionable as its stylish cousins Paris, Milan or London, but what is its rating on a global style survey? It doesn't feature, unfortunately. Despite an abundance of creative designers, and a growing number of internationally known brands, Brussels can't be found on any top ten style lists, or top 50, for that matter. Brussels fashionista and style blogger Perrine Postic says “Style in Brussels is hidden, you have to look for it to find it, not like in Antwerp. It may be because the city is poorer than Antwerp, people use their money differently”. But even Mumbai and Dublin come higher on style surveys than Brussels. Are these people on drugs?

Fortunately, my personal style is not very tendence. I used to think Moschino was an insect repellant. But with so many festivals and parties happening this summer, its time to shuck off my overcoat and reassess my wardrobe, which after a brief once over turns out to be full of falling apart H&M garbage that you wouldn't give to a dog to sleep on. And being a freelance journalist during a financial crisis means means I'm not exactly dripping with cash. The sheer number of second hand and vintage shops in Brussels means I could do a bit of cheating, so I called up my editor and asked if he would mind “funding” my summer outfit challenge. He gave me fifty quid and a deadline. Thanks, Tony!

The area around Halle St. Gery is famous for beautiful pre-loved vintage shops. My first stop was the Ramon & Valy Vintage shop on Rue des Teintures. Valy was a stylist for 15 years and she knows what she's talking about. Her shop is full of vintage pieces from the 20s and 30s, all in very good condition and smelling good. Though the clothes were to die for, the price tags were not: a classic second hand 1920s dress comes with a 75 euro burden, and though it was lots of fun being dressed by Valy and paraded around the shop, we air kissed goodbye and I went on to cheaper things.

I then tried the other end of the scale, less vintage and more hand-me-down. Rue Malibran in Flagey has a number of musty, pot luck second hand shops. The nameless no. 58 Rue Malibran is run by a Syrian family and features lots of discarded Zara and ETAM articles, sometimes featuring suspicious stains. The items are less lovingly displayed than in Valy's and the owners are less likely to administer style advice. It was difficult to find anything incredibly chic from the bins of balling, shapeless size 46 t-shirts piled up in every corner. What I did find however was a pair of almost brand new black and white kitten heels from Cinderella's of Boston. No stranger to bargaining, I got the owner down from 13 euro to 9 and left the shop with the shoes swinging in a plastic Delhaize bag. Nice.

Episode on Rue Violet is a big vintage shop right around the corner from the Grand Place. It is a hit with RUN DMC fans and the baggy pants brigade. You can find a nice 1980s shiny tracksuit for less than 30 quid. The question is why would you want to? It has original pieces and revamped oldies and is a popular spot around halloween. (Is it really okay to buy your clothes from a shop that's popular around halloween?). Their price range is well within budget and they have an array of really beautiful gear. A proper look through the rails would take hours so I handpicked a couple of nice pieces, asked a few shop assistants “Do I like fat in this?” and chose a very nice (even if in need of an iron) black dress with pink and purple stripes and hanging neckline. Very sexy, very feminine and a nicely priced 25 euro. I also picked up a chic 70s purse for 10 euro. Episode, we salute you.

Modes on Rue Blaes in an unassuming little shop full of one of a kind bric a brac. Like any vintage shop worth its salt, it would take hours to get through all of the leather jackets, velvet waistcoats and Chanel ballgowns that are crammed into the shop. So I went straight to the sunglasses section where I found, among piles of 1970s aviator Raybans, a pair of oval shaped black vintage shades for a decent 10 euro. Strong, sturdy and incredibly retro.

Dress : 25 euro Episode

Purse : 10 euro Episode

Shoes : 9 euro no. 58 Rue Malibran, Ixelles 1050

Shades : 10 euro Mode

Total : 54 euro

Wear it again, Sam

Second hand shops abroad are usually called charity shops or op-shops. Clothes are donated to charity and the profits from their resale are used for different causes. Not so in Brussels. The clothes you donate are generally sold for profit, apart from a few notable examples like British charity Oxfam which has shops in the city centre and around. Les Petits Rien is a charity organisation that fights poverty and social exclusion in Belgium by gathering, sorting and reselling second hand clothes, furniture, books, appliances etc. Their colossal warehouse can be found on Rue Americain.

Buying second hand shoes is slightly nasty if they have been worn a lot by their previous owner. Getting a decent pair is pot luck – they only come in one size. It would be disgusting to wear shoes whose original owner had a foot hygiene issue. On top of that, the original owner may have passed away - second hand shops often get their stock from the houses of the recently deceased. This doesn't bother me too much but walking around in dead people's shoes is a bit too creepy for some.

Tip: to get the old smell out of your “new” old clothes, the trick is not in the washing: you need to hang them in the wind for a day or two and then throw then in the wash.

Upmarket : Rue Dansaert, Rue de la Paix, Rue de Flandre

Slightly tattier: Rue Malibran, Flagey, around Avenue Jean Volders, St Gilles

Downright cheap: Place jeu de balle market, Les Petits Rien

Best place for second hand books : Nijinsky, Rue Page, Ixelles (near Chatelain market)

For bikes : second hand bike market every second Sunday at Gare du Midi

Computer says “No”

Are our collective lives and love stories becoming super duper digitised? Or is that just Sci-Fi nonsense? You can't beat a good old fashioned paper back, or a romantic encounter in a bricks and mortar venue...

In a chilling scene from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 classic “2001: A space odyssey”, the HAL 9000 super-computer changes from an even-toned, talkative, "thinking and feeling" robot into an evil murderer who tries to sabotage David Bowman's space mission to Jupiter.

Far-fetched? Once upon a time, people thought that 2001 sounded incredibly distant and futuristic. Lots of our grannies and grandads watched with horror the amazing advances of technology and imagined that computers would take over the world. There was a palpable fear (and a movie industry happy to play on that fear) that computers, or rather, robots, would become capable of human emotion and render us helpless, just like David Bowman floating in space. The year 2001 has come and gone and Arthur C. Clarke's apocalyptic vision has thankfully not come true. At least not in the same way he predicted.

Technology indeed, seems to be taking over the world; everything is becoming computerised and digitised. Consider our use of computers and the internet, as well as digital TV, DVD players, MP3 players, mobile phones and a whole host of other blinking, beeping and sometimes malfunctioning gadgets that are designed to make our life easier.

But the technology industry is massive and mostly based on hype. Tech companies dub every new release “the next big thing”. Predictions of “lifestyle revolutions” often don't come true. We are constantly bombarded with the latest and greatest “apps” that we simply cannot live without. Weary, anyone?

According to Shaun Hobbs, Home Server Manager for Hewlett Packard UK and Ireland “In this technologically driven age it is easy to get carried away and think that everybody is embracing digital and leaving physical behind,” HP conducted a survey and found that 86% of the population of Britain has access to some form of digital media. However, 68% still prefer photographs to be physical rather than digital, 64% for music, 75% for films and a massive 95% for books.

“Our survey shows that this (digital takeover) isn’t the case. Britons are on an evolutionary journey with media still being bought on multiple formats and enjoyed using a variety of devices.”

Maybe these survey results are pure nostalgia and don't reflect our truly digital world. After all, you would be hard pressed to find a household that doesn't have all of the devices mentioned above, and many more besides.

Digital Love – “...Serendipity is the hallmark of inefficient markets...”

Have you ever looked around a packed bus or tram during rush hour? They are full of people who refuse to look at each other. Everyone stares at their shoes and avoids eye contact for fear of being forced into an awkward conversation with a complete stranger. But if you believe statistics, 31% of these people will rush home and log onto one of thousands of internet dating or friendship sites to do exactly that: chat with complete strangers.

In 2002, American technology magazine “Wired” predicted that, "Twenty years from now, the idea that someone looking for love without looking for it online will be silly... Serendipity is the hallmark of inefficient markets, and the marketplace of love, like it or not, is becoming more efficient.”.

For shy people, creating an alter ego to find love or friendship online is a massive breath of fresh air. They can take those tentative first steps without worrying about “going red”, or ultimately making a bad impression and going home alone. Skinny, balding, gap-toothed wallflowers become handsome, well-built Matt damon lookalikes in their cyber persona. And it's not just for perverts and socially challenged people. Increasingly, “normal” people with busy schedules are finding online dating ideal.

These people eventually have to meet each other in real life. Or do they? Some people spend their whole romantic life online, never opting to meet their “cyber partner”. Virtual Dating goes one step further. It combines online dating with online gaming and involves the use of “avatars” who interact in a virtual venue that resembles a real life dating environment. Lonelyhearts can meet and chat in a romantic “virtual café” in Paris on a virtual date without leaving their homes. In 2007 Scientific American said that virtual dating is the “next big thing” (there's that term again). Weird? Maybe. Popular? You betcha.

Digital Death – Digital Life's country cousin

Digital assets can have monetary value (domain names, online gambling accounts etc.) “Digital death” refers to what happens to your online information and assets when you die. The first “Digital Death Day” conference took place in London in May where tech nerds got together to discuss what to do about the critical mass of information we leave behind on overstuffed servers when we die. The value of unclaimed digital assets floating around in cyberspace is estimated to be worth millions.

Even more sinister is the site mydeathspace.com, a play on the popular myspace social networking site. It is designed to give dead myspace users a “digital afterlife”, an online communal bereavement platform that's very sweet but a little bit creepy.

Every industry has been affected by technological advances, not least journalism (the internet has made this job ridiculously easy). There is a growing trend of using the internet to find information about murderers or their victims in order to give a profile of the person in a news report. In May this year, a deranged internet addict murdered three prostitutes in Bradford. Newspaper reporters were able to present a very complete profile of the murderer from information gleaned from his social networking site, personal website, internet traffic, and even what books he ordered from amazon.com (recent purchase: “Women and the Noose – A History of Female Crime & Execution”). This information enabled the journalist to give a very clear picture of the man. But was it really his life, or just his digital life?