Articles written by Gavin Smith

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Parenting & Pregnancy > Babies (Other) Should people be allowed to choose their baby's sex?: 2 of 58
The stark and unpalatable truth of the matter is that gender selection has been going on for millennia, often in the most brutal fashion and for barely rational reasons. It still occurs regardless of rarefied debates on ethics.I subscribe to the secular, Western take on this issue. One gender or another should not be regarded... More..
Creative Writing > Memoirs Memoirs: Traveling: 10 of 204
I stepped off the dirty chrome Greyhound bus in Livingstone, Montana, several thousand metres above sea level, and wondered why the rain was so warm. Looking up, I saw a bone-dry, guano-caked bus shelter. Looking down, I saw that the change of altitude had made my body depressurise with an explosive nosebleed. A lurid delta f... More..
Style & Beauty > Body Care Tips for living with psoriasis: 1 of 6
Psoriasis is the reason I skulked through adolescence like an albino leopard. I was shy enough when I started secondary school; when my pale skin developed red, angry and often bleeding plaques of psoriasis, from my bony knees to my spotty brow, my desire to disappear forever into the treetops of introspection was complete.Fr... More..
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Culture & Community Video game addiction: Blame the player, not the game: 4 of 19
The blinking green button of bliss is never far from my person or my thoughts. Of all the drugs I've tried, from home-brew with a soupcon of mildew to the auto-administered opium attached to my hospital bed, the button is the purest. It can take you up and it can bring you down. It will leave no trace in your blood or urine, ... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Constitutional & Contract Law Should a woman have the right to choose abortion?: 119 of 428
A society in which a woman has no right to choose abortion would be a morally stunted one, fit to take its place with those patriarchal, medievalist theocracies where women remain the chattels of men and bigotry is law.As a devoutly secular Brit, I resent and reject the assumption that faith and morality are synonymous. I the... More..
Politics, News & Issues > US Leaders (Other) Assessing the legitimacy of conspiracy theories: 13 of 38
This conspiracy goes deeper than you thought. Fox Mulder, high priest of UFO conspiracy theory, was a triple agent all along. The faded poster always in shot during heated debates in Mulder's basement office proclaimed the fatal fallacy at the heart of the UFO creed: I Want To Believe'. If a belief is based on need, it is unl... More..
Travel > Travel Planning & Advice Ski vacation ideas: 3 of 5
Our aircraft's wingtips traced endless, snow-laden pine trees. It was early afternoon in February and the sun was dwindling. Unlike the carefully man-managed forests of Western Europe, there were no boundaries to hem in the vast spaces below. The trees stood jaggedly uneven in size and widely spaced: so fleeting is the summer... More..
Religion & Spirituality > Self-Awareness & Realization Is knowledge truly power?: 73 of 101
It is a perverse truth of our technological age that growing up with instant access to knowledge has made teenagers steadfast in their ignorance of anything outside their virtual communities.A recent poll in the UK uncovered some disturbing facts. A worrying 53% of British teenagers believe Richard the Lionheart was real. Is ... More..
Sports & Recreation > Soccer (Other) Facts about soccer: 10 of 12
Played well, football (or soccer for our American cousins) is simply gorgeous. From an unseemly fracas over the movement of a pig's bladder from one end of a patch of dirt to another, it has evolved into something sublime. Athletes as honed, pampered and highly strung as race horses use all their grace and grit to transport t... More..
Relationships & Family > Cheating Spouses & Affairs Should wives allow their men to watch porn movies?: 33 of 39
Tolerance lies at the heart of this question, and to ask whether the viewing of porn should be permitted is to miss the point altogether. In our emancipated age, women are no more entitled to govern their men's viewing habits than men are to shackle their women to the kitchen sink. Tangled as the ethics of pornography are, th... More..