Sometimes, when something’s really bothering me I’ll get up in the night and write a letter, to whomsoever it may concern. This usually means a series of versions being written out in neater and neater script, maybe in a more tactful way each time, and eventually I will feel better and even, on occasion, I’ll go back to bed for a few more hours kip. Continue reading “New Year’s Eve Present”
Month: January 2011
Lies, damned lies, and statistics?
Muslim population ‘rising 10 times faster than rest of society’
David Coleman, Professor of Demography at Oxford University, said:
“The implications are very substantial. Some of the Muslim population, by no means all of them, are the least socially and economically integrated of any in the United Kingdom … and the one most associated with political dissatisfaction. You can’t assume that just because the numbers are increasing that all will increase, but it will be one of several reasonable suppositions that might arise.”
I found this in an article from The Times. Alarming headline, certainly and it seems to be endorsed by David Coleman. It has been widely quoted on the internet, as one might imagine. Continue reading “Lies, damned lies, and statistics?”
TV for the Blind
I used to be a fan of BBC documentaries, but not any more. My enthusiasm waned some time ago when they began to focus on the presenter, rather than the nominal topic. I became fed-up with needless shots of the presenter(s) walking towards camera, or away from it when female, as cameramen targetted the woman’s swaying rear end. However, I continued to tune in when the topic interested me, but of late I find them unwatchable, and last night I switched off in irritation. Not only is the focus on the presenter these days, but we are treated to a voice-over describing what is visually evident. Such banal statements as ‘John is now walking slowly up some ancient steps’ or ‘Ruth stoops and picks up a strangely shaped stone’ add nothing to one’s understanding. Are these documentaries now intended for the blind ‘viewer’, or has the BBC decided that only idiots are watching?
How true!
“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other.” Unknown
Goodnight everyone, sleep well.
Through the ages
Queen – Father to son
Woodperker Street
Source of pictures redirected to the Chariot gallery, hopefully all can now view them 😉
It is said that a picture paints a thousand words, I’ll let these two describe the competency of the morons in charge at one of our municipal departments.
I’m actually at a loss to explain this next one Continue reading “Woodperker Street”
Undoubtedly
The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
B. F. Skinner
Keeping Tabs
In the light of the Government’s apparent enthusiasm for greater democracy, allow me to recommend a couple of websites that will enable you to keep close tabs on what your MP is up to on your behalf. Checking MP’s voting records can be interesting, and could perhaps provide you with some questions to fire at him/her during the next election campaign.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mps
http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/index.php
Bookmark them for 2011, and keep tabs on your ‘representatives’.
Reading the Bible
So the Archbishop of Canterbury would like everyone to read the King James Bible “in order to get the Big Picture”.
If he were encouraging everyone to read the Bible (version not specified), I would be in wholehearted agreement. But why the King James Bible? It’s true that the translation commissioned by James I of England 400 years ago has been enormously influential over British culture. And any book that is still being read 400 years after its first publication must have something going for it. The problem is that it is, well, 400 years old. And although it still has a vociferous fan club in the higher strata of the Church of England, the rest of the church (not to mention the other denominations) has moved on – and for good reason. For one thing, although the translation was the best that could be done at the time, many more (and older) New Testament manuscripts have been discovered since – so the modern Bible versions are much closer to what was originally written. (Admittedly, there haven’t been very many changes; and the vast majority are trivial)
More importantly, Continue reading “Reading the Bible”
Growin’ Up
The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for a first mate, she couldn’t sail but she sure could sing
I pushed B-52 and bombed them with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, “Come down,” I threw up
Ooh… Growin’ up
Lyrics by Bruce Springsteen
At festive and New Year time it is customary to visit relations with the odd neighbour thrown in for good measure. In our family from one day to the next you can find yourself antipodean/Question of Sportian either home or away. It’s never bothered me one way or another as we’re all one big happy family. Playing host or guest doesn’t matter as the venue may change, the friendliness stays the same. Continue reading “Growin’ Up”
Boadicea's Chariot 
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