Here we are on the 27th and it is all over bar the shouting and the singing of the fat lady. All that overindulgence will be replaced with a yearning for something other than turkey, and as the mail comes back to life tomorrow, the bills will trickle in along with the notifications of the January sales. The shops will soon be full again, with people trying to exchange things that are too small, the wrong colour or just in utter bad taste. Within a day or two though, some will be bracing themselves for the last night of the year - a chance to wear silly clothes and to drink to ridiculous excess before making resolutions that are repeats of the previous year's, and then 2010 will begin the teenies in an optimistic way, short lived though that might be.
It is a scary thought that I have seen (just), seven decades so far and next week it will be eight. I can't say that any of them was remarkable, though the changes that have taken place have been incredible. In my lifetime virtually everything has changed and not all of it for the worse. I have lived through most of the history of pop music for example. I was born at a good time for that, being an incipient teen when the Beatles and the rest of those bands raised pop music into a wonderfully creative and original art form. Since then, the likes of Simon Cowell has managed to transform it into mass produced plastic pap, an artistic equivalent to Christmas cracker contents made in China. Pretty soon the people's Republic will be exporting our entertainment along with everything else that is cheap and nasty.
I have seen the rise in Information Technology from the first hand held calculators to the amazing if frustrating broadband internet connections that we now take for granted. Photography, access to music, you name it, has all been transformed by easy access for everyone, and now most people have digital cameras, iPods and mobile phones, none of which was even conceivable when I was a child. Now of course it is hard to find something to strive for. When everyone has everything they want, where do we go from there?
I was dragged up to believe that if you wanted something, you saved for it and debt was seen as unacceptable. Such training has a way of sticking and even now I hate owing anyone anything. I guess that I am fortunate that I have no debts but I have always tried to live within my means. Now people are encouraged to take on debt by the banks and credit card companies, to the extent that they are taking on new debts in order to pay off the ones they already have. It is no wonder that our economy is in such a bad state. Capitalism seems to have reached it's logical conclusion. Infinite growth is neither possible nor desirable.
Well there - probably my last rant of the year. I have been less than regular lately and must endeavour to be more organised with my life. Gosh that sounds like a resolution of the kind that I never make.
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Bah Humbug
It has been a few days since I wrote and not much has gone on that is worth commenting on. Though having said that, the climate summit in Copenhagen came to a predictable end with no-one really giving anything away and with all vested interests well protected. The rich nations, as well as China, pulled up the ladder and declared that we are ok Jack! What did anyone expect them to do?
Abdul Dinnerjacket has assured us all that Iran has no intention of building a nuclear trigger, despite evidence to the contrary, and we are supposed to believe that this man who openly declared a desire to erase Israel from the map, has peaceful and honourable intentions. What is honourable to some is clearly not understood by others. For some it is honourable to murder their wives and daughters in the name of honour, simply because they have accepted and adopted the customs of the country in which they have found themselves. Only recently was a young Muslim girl killed by her father to protect the honour of the family. How can anyone with a civilised bone in their body see any sense or justification for that?
It is no surprise that the middle eastern problem has not gone away. Can it ever? The two worlds are so far apart in so many ways that there seems little middle ground. Perhaps the solution would be to build a wall around the middle east and fill it with the surplus water from the melting of the ice caps.
On the home front the final run down towards the most silly day of the year has begun. Money has been spent, fridges and freezers are stuffed and blood alcohol levels are reaching saturation point. The TV is bursting with pap and ready to deliver the usual dreary mass of crap to millions of dispeptic sleepers and bored children. Here we will be cut off from the mainland for a whole day and even the Curry houses will close, not out of respect for the Christian festival but because there will be no takers; and so the unregistered and nameless thousands of employees can take a break from their less than minimum waged jobs, and be seen in the streets, no-one will care.
If you are reading this then i hope that you have a good holiday and, in the words of the late great Dave Allen, May your god go with you.
Abdul Dinnerjacket has assured us all that Iran has no intention of building a nuclear trigger, despite evidence to the contrary, and we are supposed to believe that this man who openly declared a desire to erase Israel from the map, has peaceful and honourable intentions. What is honourable to some is clearly not understood by others. For some it is honourable to murder their wives and daughters in the name of honour, simply because they have accepted and adopted the customs of the country in which they have found themselves. Only recently was a young Muslim girl killed by her father to protect the honour of the family. How can anyone with a civilised bone in their body see any sense or justification for that?
It is no surprise that the middle eastern problem has not gone away. Can it ever? The two worlds are so far apart in so many ways that there seems little middle ground. Perhaps the solution would be to build a wall around the middle east and fill it with the surplus water from the melting of the ice caps.
On the home front the final run down towards the most silly day of the year has begun. Money has been spent, fridges and freezers are stuffed and blood alcohol levels are reaching saturation point. The TV is bursting with pap and ready to deliver the usual dreary mass of crap to millions of dispeptic sleepers and bored children. Here we will be cut off from the mainland for a whole day and even the Curry houses will close, not out of respect for the Christian festival but because there will be no takers; and so the unregistered and nameless thousands of employees can take a break from their less than minimum waged jobs, and be seen in the streets, no-one will care.
If you are reading this then i hope that you have a good holiday and, in the words of the late great Dave Allen, May your god go with you.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Time passes - listen, time passes.
Coming from a dysfunctional family has its advantages, and my peculiar childhood prepared me for most of life's dissapointments. I learned very early in life to be self contained, knowing that the vast majority of people can only be relied upon to let you down. People say that I am a pessimist but I disagree. I prefer to think of myself as being a pragmatist or a realist. However none of that matters to anyone but myself and is not what I intended to write about. I was thinking about growing up with my overbearing father who, would never allow us to waste any time. If we were sitting around doing nothing, we were committing a sin, though that is a word he'd never use. We had to be occupied all of the time. Only he was allowed to fall asleep in front of the TV because only he was in need of resting his eyes. We were expected to be up early and actively doing something all of the day until sent to bed. I suppose it was a clever way of getting us out of the house because it worked.
Wasting time is a strange idea and means different things to different people. Many have a very powerful work ethic and unless they are redecorating the house for the nth time, or cleaning or filling in their time in a practical manner they are very uncomfortable. It is believed by some that kids today waste time sitting in front of computer games or TV, but what choice do they have? Freedom of children has been much curtailed by health and safety regulations as well as the threat of a paedophile on every corner, and so thanks to the media and paranoid parents, kids are kept off the streets and have to find ways of filling their days
Each of us can expect to experience a finite stretch of time and it is up to us how we use that time. It could be said that much of what we do is a waste of time. Cleaning the house, raking leaves, washing, ironing etc are all pretty thankless tasks, all of which need repeating over and over again and yet we still do them. A walk around the block achieves nothing and yet it can be pleasant.
I read a lot and if anything can be costrued as a waste of time it has to be reading novels. Filling our imaginations with other peoples fantasies achieves nothing at all and yet millions of people do it. In the eyes of others the time could be better spent, and perhaps it could but I don't care.
There comes a time in life when one has achieved everything that one is likely to. After that most of what we do is a pretty futile anyway and so whatever we do is self indulgent and of little value to anyone. Ironically, the less purpose one has the longer the days seem to be while the years seem to vanish like the last grain in the hourglass. Friends either pass away or pass on and we sit back on the timeline in anticipation of hitting the buffers.
My father spent his last years doing nothing. He'd sit in his chair, staring out of the window, read a book or vanish into his bedroom to drown himself is whisky and loud music probably ruing the life that he has misspent. He had never travelled of his own volition, never seen a live concert or visited an art gallery of the theatre. He's never driven a car or enjoyed the love and respect of his children or grandchildren. When I think that I am wasting time, and i do so a lot, I think of him and what he missed in his life, and as I approach the age when he died, and his father before him, I hope that at least some of my time has been well spent.
Wasting time is a strange idea and means different things to different people. Many have a very powerful work ethic and unless they are redecorating the house for the nth time, or cleaning or filling in their time in a practical manner they are very uncomfortable. It is believed by some that kids today waste time sitting in front of computer games or TV, but what choice do they have? Freedom of children has been much curtailed by health and safety regulations as well as the threat of a paedophile on every corner, and so thanks to the media and paranoid parents, kids are kept off the streets and have to find ways of filling their days
Each of us can expect to experience a finite stretch of time and it is up to us how we use that time. It could be said that much of what we do is a waste of time. Cleaning the house, raking leaves, washing, ironing etc are all pretty thankless tasks, all of which need repeating over and over again and yet we still do them. A walk around the block achieves nothing and yet it can be pleasant.
I read a lot and if anything can be costrued as a waste of time it has to be reading novels. Filling our imaginations with other peoples fantasies achieves nothing at all and yet millions of people do it. In the eyes of others the time could be better spent, and perhaps it could but I don't care.
There comes a time in life when one has achieved everything that one is likely to. After that most of what we do is a pretty futile anyway and so whatever we do is self indulgent and of little value to anyone. Ironically, the less purpose one has the longer the days seem to be while the years seem to vanish like the last grain in the hourglass. Friends either pass away or pass on and we sit back on the timeline in anticipation of hitting the buffers.
My father spent his last years doing nothing. He'd sit in his chair, staring out of the window, read a book or vanish into his bedroom to drown himself is whisky and loud music probably ruing the life that he has misspent. He had never travelled of his own volition, never seen a live concert or visited an art gallery of the theatre. He's never driven a car or enjoyed the love and respect of his children or grandchildren. When I think that I am wasting time, and i do so a lot, I think of him and what he missed in his life, and as I approach the age when he died, and his father before him, I hope that at least some of my time has been well spent.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
December days
Today is one of those days that never gets light. I loathe December more than any other month I think, though it does have one saving grace and that is the winter solstice - beyond that the days get longer again.
The lemmings are all out spending money that they haven't got on things that no-one needs, stocking larders to bursting point with food that will largely go to waste, and all of this for one day that has no meaning whatever for most of those that celebrate it.
There is an irony in that a very important conference of climate change is going on while houses, streets and shops are festooned with the tacky and tasteless light shows that have carbon footprints as big as a family car, while merely contributing light pollution to our already overlit streets. The same people that spend a whole year switching off lights wherever they go will be negating those actions with jolly fat santas in red suits flashing merry xmas to one and all.
Houses are already filling with paper and card as the christmas card barrage enters its final days. I suppose at least people who were thought dead put up their heads momentarily and get added once more to that inexorable list of those who we simply must send cards to.
Looking on the bright side - we have the coldest months yet to come and this year I got my cheque for heating allowance, so perhaps I can throw a few extra twigs onto the fire and wish you all a happy humbug!
The lemmings are all out spending money that they haven't got on things that no-one needs, stocking larders to bursting point with food that will largely go to waste, and all of this for one day that has no meaning whatever for most of those that celebrate it.
There is an irony in that a very important conference of climate change is going on while houses, streets and shops are festooned with the tacky and tasteless light shows that have carbon footprints as big as a family car, while merely contributing light pollution to our already overlit streets. The same people that spend a whole year switching off lights wherever they go will be negating those actions with jolly fat santas in red suits flashing merry xmas to one and all.
Houses are already filling with paper and card as the christmas card barrage enters its final days. I suppose at least people who were thought dead put up their heads momentarily and get added once more to that inexorable list of those who we simply must send cards to.
Looking on the bright side - we have the coldest months yet to come and this year I got my cheque for heating allowance, so perhaps I can throw a few extra twigs onto the fire and wish you all a happy humbug!
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Save the planet?
Well the Copenhagen summit is in progress and highly paid politicians and boffins will sit around in not very smoke filled rooms, pontification on the state of the environment. At the end of it I predict that there will be no concensus and the only step towards reducing greenhouse gases will be to increase the costs of energy.
There was a woman on TV last night saying that she had turned vegetarian in order to save the planet! Now while I am aware of the importance of flatulent cattle and their role in climate change, I cannot see how any of us can save the planet! It isn't the planet that is in danger, it is the human race that is, and not just through climate change.
One of the biggest producers of methane, possibly the greater of the greenhouse gases, are the termites and they have been around a lot longer than we have. Nobody talks about extermination of insects in order to save the planet.
It wouldn't surprise me if the whole global warming issue was merely a political tool. People are more easily led by the nose when they are scared. Oil and gas are dwindling resources and unless we cut down on their use there will be unprecedented crises in the future with the rich and powerful riding roughshod over the poorer nations in the fight for the last drops of the stuff. So scare people now, increase the prices to the consumers and people just might travel less and sit in cold houses through the winter. As always it will be the less well off that will suffer, the bankers and their like don't notice the prices of the energy that they use, while those at the base of the pecking order do. Even a small increase in prices makes a big difference to the less well off.
There can be no turning back. We are a world that runs on fuels that produce Carbon Dioxide. Efforts to utilize renewable energy are largely supressed by the oil industry, which in turn is governed by enormously wealthy individuals who wield the real power in the world today. If the fuel runs out then life as we know it Jim, will come to an end. If it doesn't then perhaps the planet will get warmer, maybe even considerably so. The worst that can happen to the planet is that it might just sterilise it's surface and start all over again.
There was a woman on TV last night saying that she had turned vegetarian in order to save the planet! Now while I am aware of the importance of flatulent cattle and their role in climate change, I cannot see how any of us can save the planet! It isn't the planet that is in danger, it is the human race that is, and not just through climate change.
One of the biggest producers of methane, possibly the greater of the greenhouse gases, are the termites and they have been around a lot longer than we have. Nobody talks about extermination of insects in order to save the planet.
It wouldn't surprise me if the whole global warming issue was merely a political tool. People are more easily led by the nose when they are scared. Oil and gas are dwindling resources and unless we cut down on their use there will be unprecedented crises in the future with the rich and powerful riding roughshod over the poorer nations in the fight for the last drops of the stuff. So scare people now, increase the prices to the consumers and people just might travel less and sit in cold houses through the winter. As always it will be the less well off that will suffer, the bankers and their like don't notice the prices of the energy that they use, while those at the base of the pecking order do. Even a small increase in prices makes a big difference to the less well off.
There can be no turning back. We are a world that runs on fuels that produce Carbon Dioxide. Efforts to utilize renewable energy are largely supressed by the oil industry, which in turn is governed by enormously wealthy individuals who wield the real power in the world today. If the fuel runs out then life as we know it Jim, will come to an end. If it doesn't then perhaps the planet will get warmer, maybe even considerably so. The worst that can happen to the planet is that it might just sterilise it's surface and start all over again.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a nonsense. It does not exist, even in the 21st century in the so called emancipated west where we pride ourselves on basic human rights. In these scribblings I think about what I say and am careful not to write things that might result in some religious headcase removing my genitals because I have offended his sensibilities.
Last night there was a football match between France and Ireland. The outcome of which was very meaningful in the world of football in all sorts ow ways, not least financially. France won the game through a deliberate foul that the referee and his linesmen failed to see or chose to ignore. The whole world saw the offence over and over again on action replays and now everyone knows that the offending player (note that I do not use his name) is a cheat.
Members of the Ireland team of course cannot call him a cheat or refer to the incompetence of the referee without risking huge fines or suspensions, the cheating side win through on the notion that you can do that as long as no-one notices. It would seem that calling someone a cheat is worse than cheating, and so the deliberate breaking of rules has become part of the game.
In Parliament one is not allowed to call someone who is economical with the truth, a liar. And so politicians lie their way through their careers unchallenged, protected by the lack of freedom of speech.
Of course there are some things that one can criticise freely without fear of retribution and some things that you cannot. Women are free to criticise men while the inverse is seen as sexism. You can discriminate in favour of women by for example limiting electoral candidacy to females only, but would it ever be conceivable to bar females from standing for a seat?
Worst of all though is the blanket protection given to certain religious groups, whose followers include terrorists and misogynistic leaders, routinely committing atrocities against their own people while openly condemning all those who disagree with them. To raise one's voice against these people has become very difficult without incurring the wrath of the law. We live in fear of the viper that lies within our bosom and are powerless to speak out.
France will go to the world cup finals and will take with them the knowledge that they got there unfairly. If that was me i would feel very guilty and probably withdraw. However i was brought up in a different world to the sorry one that we live in today.
Last night there was a football match between France and Ireland. The outcome of which was very meaningful in the world of football in all sorts ow ways, not least financially. France won the game through a deliberate foul that the referee and his linesmen failed to see or chose to ignore. The whole world saw the offence over and over again on action replays and now everyone knows that the offending player (note that I do not use his name) is a cheat.
Members of the Ireland team of course cannot call him a cheat or refer to the incompetence of the referee without risking huge fines or suspensions, the cheating side win through on the notion that you can do that as long as no-one notices. It would seem that calling someone a cheat is worse than cheating, and so the deliberate breaking of rules has become part of the game.
In Parliament one is not allowed to call someone who is economical with the truth, a liar. And so politicians lie their way through their careers unchallenged, protected by the lack of freedom of speech.
Of course there are some things that one can criticise freely without fear of retribution and some things that you cannot. Women are free to criticise men while the inverse is seen as sexism. You can discriminate in favour of women by for example limiting electoral candidacy to females only, but would it ever be conceivable to bar females from standing for a seat?
Worst of all though is the blanket protection given to certain religious groups, whose followers include terrorists and misogynistic leaders, routinely committing atrocities against their own people while openly condemning all those who disagree with them. To raise one's voice against these people has become very difficult without incurring the wrath of the law. We live in fear of the viper that lies within our bosom and are powerless to speak out.
France will go to the world cup finals and will take with them the knowledge that they got there unfairly. If that was me i would feel very guilty and probably withdraw. However i was brought up in a different world to the sorry one that we live in today.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Conspiracy theory
Almost daily we hear someone or other bleating about the death of the music industry thanks to illegal downloading and the copying of recorded material. Sales of recorded music have plummeted and a song can reach number one in the charts but selling a few thousand copies.
I have always been a music fan and love to attend live concerts whenever I can, and am currently anticipating the 4Oth anniversary tour of Steeleye Span, complete with Maddie Prior. Having said that, I rarely buy music anymore, neither do I download it. I am becoming seriously disenchanted with the whole Pop industry and I for one hope that it dies a quick and painless death.
There was a time when to become a pop star, you needed either huge talent and some luck, or you needed a new and quirky idea and a lot of balls. Nowadays it seems that in order to sell a lot of records, performers need an image, a manager and an ability to look plastic and to fit into preset moulds that make you attractive to pre-adolescent girls. Boy and Girl bands spring up like weeds and die off just as quickly, always dozens more waiting to take their places.
Th "ECKS" factor is a very popular TV "Talent" show that is generating much controversy here at the moment. I mention it because it really does encapsulate all that is wrong with the world of music at the present time. For those of you who haven't seen it, vast numbers of hopefuls gradually get whittled down by a panel of judges, until a small handful are put through a series of trials and humiliations, each week one more being voted off the list, theoretically by the public. The panel of judges is of course led by the multi-millionaire who owns the show and he is accompanied by three other representatives of the "industry", none of whom seems to have a brain cell let alone a mind of their own. The weeks go by and the victims are led through various Karaoke moulds and in the end one will remain and will be given the strait jacket that leads them to become Mr or Mrs Plastic 2009. This year there is a large fly in the custard. A young duo who have the talent and the personalities of a pair of young labradors are storming along and could well win the contest. Neither of them can sing at all, but they look the part with their silly spiky hair and their utter lack of talent.
Each week, hard working singers with huge potential have been sent home while the talentless and highly irritating continue to garner support from the teenagers that are doing the voting and generating the Judge's retirement fund. Part of me suspects that there is a conspiracy going on and that the public is saying that enough is enough, but my cynical side is screaming out that this is just what people want - to see Pop Stars that are just like them - banal, ordinary and utterly dull.
I hope that these lads win, and as they accept their million pound contract, that the first thing they buy is a hammer so that they can drive in the last nails of the coffin. Maybe then, once this business is laid to rest, musicians will learn their trades in public performance and make their money for being talented and original and we can hear some real music once again.
I have always been a music fan and love to attend live concerts whenever I can, and am currently anticipating the 4Oth anniversary tour of Steeleye Span, complete with Maddie Prior. Having said that, I rarely buy music anymore, neither do I download it. I am becoming seriously disenchanted with the whole Pop industry and I for one hope that it dies a quick and painless death.
There was a time when to become a pop star, you needed either huge talent and some luck, or you needed a new and quirky idea and a lot of balls. Nowadays it seems that in order to sell a lot of records, performers need an image, a manager and an ability to look plastic and to fit into preset moulds that make you attractive to pre-adolescent girls. Boy and Girl bands spring up like weeds and die off just as quickly, always dozens more waiting to take their places.
Th "ECKS" factor is a very popular TV "Talent" show that is generating much controversy here at the moment. I mention it because it really does encapsulate all that is wrong with the world of music at the present time. For those of you who haven't seen it, vast numbers of hopefuls gradually get whittled down by a panel of judges, until a small handful are put through a series of trials and humiliations, each week one more being voted off the list, theoretically by the public. The panel of judges is of course led by the multi-millionaire who owns the show and he is accompanied by three other representatives of the "industry", none of whom seems to have a brain cell let alone a mind of their own. The weeks go by and the victims are led through various Karaoke moulds and in the end one will remain and will be given the strait jacket that leads them to become Mr or Mrs Plastic 2009. This year there is a large fly in the custard. A young duo who have the talent and the personalities of a pair of young labradors are storming along and could well win the contest. Neither of them can sing at all, but they look the part with their silly spiky hair and their utter lack of talent.
Each week, hard working singers with huge potential have been sent home while the talentless and highly irritating continue to garner support from the teenagers that are doing the voting and generating the Judge's retirement fund. Part of me suspects that there is a conspiracy going on and that the public is saying that enough is enough, but my cynical side is screaming out that this is just what people want - to see Pop Stars that are just like them - banal, ordinary and utterly dull.
I hope that these lads win, and as they accept their million pound contract, that the first thing they buy is a hammer so that they can drive in the last nails of the coffin. Maybe then, once this business is laid to rest, musicians will learn their trades in public performance and make their money for being talented and original and we can hear some real music once again.
Monday, 16 November 2009
A new week
It has been a while since I felt even remotely like writing and i know that if I don't push myself to do so that I will stop doing it altogether. I blame it on having a cold of course; one of the fringe benefits of having people to stay for a weekend. I think that my extended isolation tends to lower the efficacy of my immune system and so whenever i am exposed to viruses they see me as virgin territory and move in with relish. I should have the flu jab and the one for swine flu but I probably won't. That would mean going to the medical centre and queueing up with lots of sick people and having someone stick a needle into me. I confess that i am scared of injections - a real hangup from my childhood and one of so many.
It would seem that the government is keen to make nursing an all graduate profession, as they did with teachers a number of years back. The aim is to ensure that the quality of nursing increases and that patients will receive a better deal when they go to hospitals. I am not sure that it will help. What it might help them to do is to fill in paperwork more accurately and free up time for them to generate more.
A spell in hospital was never much fun but it has become a challenge to anyone these days. Speaking from the point of view of a fairly frequent user, I have to say that the quality of nursing care has declined massively in recent years. Side wards mean that patients can lie unattended for long periods of time without being checked on by anyone, and we frequently hear of patients who have quietly bled to death in a hospital bed. I experienced copious bleeding after my last operation and when i struggled out of bed to report it to the two nurses sitting behind a desk, all they did was to change my pillow while i was in the toilet. Nobody even looked to see where the blood was coming from - the paperwork was more important.
I am sure that there are plenty of good nurses who know how to care for patients and many who are not good at paperwork. We should be employing more of the former and allowing them to get on with the job that their profession was meant to do. Government targets are a hindrance to us all and there are walks of life where they really should be ignored. Education and medicine are not businesses and should not be treated as such.
On a different note I did promise to post the hairy thing under my nose as it develops so here we go.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Excuses
I have just been reading about the student in Yorkshire who is facing a jail sentence for urinating onto a war memorial. As is usually the case he has claimed to have no memory of the event because he was too drunk.
Alcohol abuse has been going on since alcohol was discovered, and I have in my time drunk myself into almost oblivion and probably done shameful things that are best not spoken of. I may have even, in my youth, set out to get drunk, but I don't think that it happened on a regular basis. Nowadays it seems that there are elements of society that do this almost daily, and that many of these are young girls.
Women it would seem have adopted all that they can of male behaviour and frankly it doesn't suit them. Drunken females look even more ridiculous than drunken males and are of course incredibly vulnerable. It is so sad to watch and hear hordes of adolescent females behaving so badly and urging their male counterparts to do worse. There seems to be a lack of shame in what they do, and when they get arrested for antisocial behaviour or indecency the plea is always the same - "I didn't know what I was doing" or "i can't remember". Now i don't believe either of these statements. I admit to having been too drunk to stand up on rare occasions and yet always knew what I was doing and always remembered most of what I did the next day. Not being able to remember is a myth. Sometimes we like to think that it is the case but it is a convenient lie and besides it is meaningless in the eyes of the law.
I hope that the young man in question does go to jail and that he is named and shamed. Let's face it, if we were under Sharia law he would probably have the offending part cut off publicly.
Alcohol abuse has been going on since alcohol was discovered, and I have in my time drunk myself into almost oblivion and probably done shameful things that are best not spoken of. I may have even, in my youth, set out to get drunk, but I don't think that it happened on a regular basis. Nowadays it seems that there are elements of society that do this almost daily, and that many of these are young girls.
Women it would seem have adopted all that they can of male behaviour and frankly it doesn't suit them. Drunken females look even more ridiculous than drunken males and are of course incredibly vulnerable. It is so sad to watch and hear hordes of adolescent females behaving so badly and urging their male counterparts to do worse. There seems to be a lack of shame in what they do, and when they get arrested for antisocial behaviour or indecency the plea is always the same - "I didn't know what I was doing" or "i can't remember". Now i don't believe either of these statements. I admit to having been too drunk to stand up on rare occasions and yet always knew what I was doing and always remembered most of what I did the next day. Not being able to remember is a myth. Sometimes we like to think that it is the case but it is a convenient lie and besides it is meaningless in the eyes of the law.
I hope that the young man in question does go to jail and that he is named and shamed. Let's face it, if we were under Sharia law he would probably have the offending part cut off publicly.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Facial hair
November, or should I say Movember is fast approaching and I will be cultivating a new friend for 30 days. I had facial hair as a young man and my moustache was a big one. It wasn't until my kids were teenagers that they first saw me without one. Facial hair is a strange business altogether. Shaving in itself is a most unnatural procedure and not one that I am altogether fond of, though i do keep my growth down to a fairly acceptable level. Copious bushy growths may look interesting but they also pose certain health risks. Anything passing into or out of, and maybe even close to the mouth, run the risk of getting trapped and withouth careful grooming, a face can become a repository for all sorts of delicacies. Fortunately I am not allowed, according to the rules to grow a beard. That would be too easy - just not shaving is a bit of a luxury. A moustache has be be nurtured and encouraged, shaving around the area and trimming strays with sharp scissors.
My major concerns here are one - that I will end up with a pure white monstrosity under my nose, and that two - I will end up getting attached to it. The last one stayed with me for 20 years but I doubt that i have anywhere near that long to mature this one.
My thanks to anyone who has taken the trouble to donate to the charity, or even to acknowledge that it exists. I hope that Anne has little success with her attempts; testosterone may have other more unpleasant side effects! :-)
My major concerns here are one - that I will end up with a pure white monstrosity under my nose, and that two - I will end up getting attached to it. The last one stayed with me for 20 years but I doubt that i have anywhere near that long to mature this one.
My thanks to anyone who has taken the trouble to donate to the charity, or even to acknowledge that it exists. I hope that Anne has little success with her attempts; testosterone may have other more unpleasant side effects! :-)
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
a plea
Hi,
I am growing a moustache this year for Movember. I have decided to put down my razor for one month (November) and help raise awareness and funds for men’s health – specifically prostate cancer.
What many people don’t appreciate is that one man dies every hour of prostate cancer in the UK, more than 35,000 men will be diagnosed this year and that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. Facts like these have convinced me I should get involved and I am hoping that you will support me.
To donate to my Mo, you can either:
• Click this link http://uk.movember.com/mospace/117557/ and donate online using your credit card, debit card or PayPal account
• Write a cheque payable to ‘The Prostate Cancer Charity - Movember’, referencing my Registration Number 117557 and mailing it to: Movember - The Prostate Cancer Charity, First Floor, Cambridge House, Cambridge Grove, London, W6 0LE.
Movember is now in its third year here in the UK and, to date, has achieved some pretty amazing results by working alongside The Prostate Cancer Charity. Check out further details at:http://uk.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs.
If you are interested in following the progress of my Mo, click herehttp://uk.movember.com/mospace/117557/. Also, http://uk.movember.com has heaps of useful information.
Thank you
Paul
ps Those who can might think about joining in and growing a nice bushy one too!
I am growing a moustache this year for Movember. I have decided to put down my razor for one month (November) and help raise awareness and funds for men’s health – specifically prostate cancer.
What many people don’t appreciate is that one man dies every hour of prostate cancer in the UK, more than 35,000 men will be diagnosed this year and that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. Facts like these have convinced me I should get involved and I am hoping that you will support me.
To donate to my Mo, you can either:
• Click this link http://uk.movember.com/mospace/117557/ and donate online using your credit card, debit card or PayPal account
• Write a cheque payable to ‘The Prostate Cancer Charity - Movember’, referencing my Registration Number 117557 and mailing it to: Movember - The Prostate Cancer Charity, First Floor, Cambridge House, Cambridge Grove, London, W6 0LE.
Movember is now in its third year here in the UK and, to date, has achieved some pretty amazing results by working alongside The Prostate Cancer Charity. Check out further details at:http://uk.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs.
If you are interested in following the progress of my Mo, click herehttp://uk.movember.com/mospace/117557/. Also, http://uk.movember.com has heaps of useful information.
Thank you
Paul
ps Those who can might think about joining in and growing a nice bushy one too!
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Values
I enjoy quizzes. I like to participate in them and enjoy writing and delivering them. In a moment of pure folly I have offered to run the quiznight at a local pub, and that is a huge commitment in terms of work and time. However i do tend to see things through and have been working on the first one which is due in a couple of weeks.
As I was compiling a round or two this morning I got to thinking about the quality of the questions and whether or not they were accessible to the punters. i remember setting a quiz for students at school some years back; this was a bright group of kids and I was taken aback when one lad complained that I wasn't asking questions that he knew the answers to. This is an important issue, and one thing that I wouldn't want to do is make anyone feel stupid. It is important to strike a balance and find questions that people can answer, but on the other hand they should not be too easy. People like to feel that they have accomplished something, whether they win or not.
I like to think that the people that go to quiz nights are those that actually value knowledge and for its own sake too. As a society we seem not to value such things anymore. We value money above everything else and unless you are wealthy or have the capacity to make money you are seen as irrelevant. Young people are being indoctrinated into an awful system, where they are not taught to recognise what is truly of value. It seems that unless you are a rock star ( I hesitate to use the word musician there), a football player, or something big in the city, then you are just run of the mill. We have lost touch with what is really important, and it is time that we reminded ourselves that some things are of more value than money.
Kids are forced through an archaic system of education that has lost its way and lost a sense of real purpose. What is the point of everyone going to university and gaining a degree? A degree these days has no market value anymore so why delude youngsters into building huge debts in order to become unemployable? Children should be taught or given the opportunity to think and to realise what they are good at, not to be thrust into a system that does no-one any favours. We need all sorts of talents, and those talents should be valued equally. Yes we need everyone to be literate and numerate for their own sakes, but equally important is that kids should grow up with self belief and self respect with a choice as to which direction they choose to take.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
As I was compiling a round or two this morning I got to thinking about the quality of the questions and whether or not they were accessible to the punters. i remember setting a quiz for students at school some years back; this was a bright group of kids and I was taken aback when one lad complained that I wasn't asking questions that he knew the answers to. This is an important issue, and one thing that I wouldn't want to do is make anyone feel stupid. It is important to strike a balance and find questions that people can answer, but on the other hand they should not be too easy. People like to feel that they have accomplished something, whether they win or not.
I like to think that the people that go to quiz nights are those that actually value knowledge and for its own sake too. As a society we seem not to value such things anymore. We value money above everything else and unless you are wealthy or have the capacity to make money you are seen as irrelevant. Young people are being indoctrinated into an awful system, where they are not taught to recognise what is truly of value. It seems that unless you are a rock star ( I hesitate to use the word musician there), a football player, or something big in the city, then you are just run of the mill. We have lost touch with what is really important, and it is time that we reminded ourselves that some things are of more value than money.
Kids are forced through an archaic system of education that has lost its way and lost a sense of real purpose. What is the point of everyone going to university and gaining a degree? A degree these days has no market value anymore so why delude youngsters into building huge debts in order to become unemployable? Children should be taught or given the opportunity to think and to realise what they are good at, not to be thrust into a system that does no-one any favours. We need all sorts of talents, and those talents should be valued equally. Yes we need everyone to be literate and numerate for their own sakes, but equally important is that kids should grow up with self belief and self respect with a choice as to which direction they choose to take.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
Monday, 19 October 2009
A dull monday
For me, the worst part of this time of year is the darkness of days. This morning the sky is thick and grey and there is also a thin wind blowing that compounds the dismal nature of our weather at this time of year. I can appreciate that autumn has its plusses and that the colours of the dying leaves is wonderful when the sun shines but today is looking like one of those days when nothing seems to smile.
I just got back from a lovely weekend away, having visited my daughter and her husband in their new home. They have upsized quite considerably and although the house is very nice, there are also a plethora of jobs that need to be done and lots of niggling problems that need to be sorted. Some of those fell upon me of course and I was happy to help out with as many as I could. Unfortunately my continued problem with hives broke out again and took the edge off the weekend but that is something that I have to earn to live with.
Moving house is always stressful and i remember very well making a similar upsizing movement when I was about the same age as they are now. The difference being that buy that time we had young kids and the house we moved into was almost derelict, and so i was taking on a monumental task and at the time wondered if i was capable of completing it.
Having a large house and garden is wonderful when you are young an energetic, and fabulous for bringing up children, but as we get older and less energetic, the benefits seem fewer and the problems greater. Now I am happy to live in a relatively small place, in which my study is a few cubic metres of isolation. It is here that I spend most of my time, emerging to eat and to socialise. My needs are simple and as I get older they get simpler still. We do regress towards childhood in so many ways and i don't suppose it will be too long before the only needs that I have will be the very basic ones.
I just got back from a lovely weekend away, having visited my daughter and her husband in their new home. They have upsized quite considerably and although the house is very nice, there are also a plethora of jobs that need to be done and lots of niggling problems that need to be sorted. Some of those fell upon me of course and I was happy to help out with as many as I could. Unfortunately my continued problem with hives broke out again and took the edge off the weekend but that is something that I have to earn to live with.
Moving house is always stressful and i remember very well making a similar upsizing movement when I was about the same age as they are now. The difference being that buy that time we had young kids and the house we moved into was almost derelict, and so i was taking on a monumental task and at the time wondered if i was capable of completing it.
Having a large house and garden is wonderful when you are young an energetic, and fabulous for bringing up children, but as we get older and less energetic, the benefits seem fewer and the problems greater. Now I am happy to live in a relatively small place, in which my study is a few cubic metres of isolation. It is here that I spend most of my time, emerging to eat and to socialise. My needs are simple and as I get older they get simpler still. We do regress towards childhood in so many ways and i don't suppose it will be too long before the only needs that I have will be the very basic ones.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Strange happening
I often think of my life as being on a level, neither unhappy nor happy. I don't get excited or angry or even upset anymore, and I suppose that has been the result of the way that I was brought up and the things that have happened to me over the years. Mainly i find that it is a comfortable way to go about things and maybe it is prolonging my existence.
It came as a surprise then, when last night i found my eyes brimming with tears as i watched a TV programme. Normally a well paid up member of the cynics society, as well as a qualified pessimist, the TV is just there and much passes me by unnoticed. Last night however I watched the Anthony Minghella production of Madame Butterfly from the New York Met, and it was wonderful. Butterfly is always a tear jerker I know, though I have sat through many live performances amongst a sea of sniffs and hankies, without batting an eyelid, but last night was different. The music is evocative enough and the performances were stunning, but what set me off was Butterfly's son, played by a puppet and controlled by two men in black. I have never seen such emotion produced by something inanimate before. In most productions a small child is used and they stand bewildered on stage until they are ushered off. The puppet stole the scenes in which it was used and for me was the making of the show. I pretended otherwise, but by the end of the performance my eyes were filled with tears and I could barely speak. No production has ever had that effect on me before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bror-r0Wfw&NR=1
It came as a surprise then, when last night i found my eyes brimming with tears as i watched a TV programme. Normally a well paid up member of the cynics society, as well as a qualified pessimist, the TV is just there and much passes me by unnoticed. Last night however I watched the Anthony Minghella production of Madame Butterfly from the New York Met, and it was wonderful. Butterfly is always a tear jerker I know, though I have sat through many live performances amongst a sea of sniffs and hankies, without batting an eyelid, but last night was different. The music is evocative enough and the performances were stunning, but what set me off was Butterfly's son, played by a puppet and controlled by two men in black. I have never seen such emotion produced by something inanimate before. In most productions a small child is used and they stand bewildered on stage until they are ushered off. The puppet stole the scenes in which it was used and for me was the making of the show. I pretended otherwise, but by the end of the performance my eyes were filled with tears and I could barely speak. No production has ever had that effect on me before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bror-r0Wfw&NR=1
Monday, 12 October 2009
A rant - just for a change
I find that as time goes by, I am becoming more and more apathetic about the world in general and people in particular. I know that I can do nothing to change either and so therefore what is the point in getting worked up about it? I have become an observer and not a very interested one at that.
I do like to think that part of my brain still functions though, and that I do take time to think about things before rushing to conclusions. I leave that to the tabloid press and those who allow the newspapers to do their thinking for them.
I was sent a movie the other day- a campaign to petition President Obama in order to stop NASA from "Bombing" the moon. Now the author of the message clearly didn't understand the nature of the mission which was to collide a small projectile into the lunar surface in order to analyse the debris and to hopefully confirm the presence of usable quantities of water. The video gave the impression that the moon was about to be nuked, blown out of existence with all the obvious consequences. Protesters would like to see the new Hadron collider to be closed in case they create a black hole that swallows the world, and there are those who see genetic engineering of food crops as evil, despite the fact that farmers have been doing it since prehistory.
There are many people out there who see any attempt to drive forwards the quest for knowledge as a threat, and many more who love to jump onto ill conceived bandwagons carrying conspiracy after conspiracy. It seems that it is fashionable to be paranoid as well as stupid. To be a free thinker is becoming harder and harder with education systems driving all through the same machine, the media forever dumbing down to the lowest common denominator and an ever increasing dependence on electronic media for communication.
In March, all being well, I will become a grandfather, and though delighted, I do worry about the sort of world he/she will be coming into. I fear that they will be absorbed into a culture that lacks excellence, where to be average is good enough and to be stupid is even better, where the quest for knowledge is seen as antisocial and where scientists are burned at the stake. There is little that keeps me awake at night but having another generation in the world makes me fear for their future.
I do like to think that part of my brain still functions though, and that I do take time to think about things before rushing to conclusions. I leave that to the tabloid press and those who allow the newspapers to do their thinking for them.
I was sent a movie the other day- a campaign to petition President Obama in order to stop NASA from "Bombing" the moon. Now the author of the message clearly didn't understand the nature of the mission which was to collide a small projectile into the lunar surface in order to analyse the debris and to hopefully confirm the presence of usable quantities of water. The video gave the impression that the moon was about to be nuked, blown out of existence with all the obvious consequences. Protesters would like to see the new Hadron collider to be closed in case they create a black hole that swallows the world, and there are those who see genetic engineering of food crops as evil, despite the fact that farmers have been doing it since prehistory.
There are many people out there who see any attempt to drive forwards the quest for knowledge as a threat, and many more who love to jump onto ill conceived bandwagons carrying conspiracy after conspiracy. It seems that it is fashionable to be paranoid as well as stupid. To be a free thinker is becoming harder and harder with education systems driving all through the same machine, the media forever dumbing down to the lowest common denominator and an ever increasing dependence on electronic media for communication.
In March, all being well, I will become a grandfather, and though delighted, I do worry about the sort of world he/she will be coming into. I fear that they will be absorbed into a culture that lacks excellence, where to be average is good enough and to be stupid is even better, where the quest for knowledge is seen as antisocial and where scientists are burned at the stake. There is little that keeps me awake at night but having another generation in the world makes me fear for their future.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Talking of which
It is at least six months away and i am already both tired and fearful of the next general election. Already the knives are out and politicians of various parties are beginning to hack pieces from one another with accusations of this that and definitely the other. The hopeful are assembling the dungpiles that they call manifestos, each trying to produce the biggest and most attractive heap that will coerce the unthinking and those with very short memories into voting for them. No doubt the tory party will win. They thrive in such conditions and are already talking about reducing state benefits and state control, easing more of the country's wealth back into the pockets of the tory supporting ruling class.
As always the Liberal democrats, they who were once the centre ground of the labour party, claim that they have a hope of winning the election. They can say whatever they like in the next half year, they can promise us new schools and motorways on Mars, because in their hearts they know that in the current system they have no chance of forming a government. As for the rest, well the minority parties will remain that and i predict that Mr Brown's party will be ousted and that we are in for another miserable period of tory rule. We probably deserve it as we did when Thatcher was elected, and my oh my was the punishment severe. The scars of her years in power are deep and long lasting, the fragmentation and divisions of society have never healed, and it looks as if the same basic ideology will be in charge of the country once again.
Of course the boat is leaking and the steering seems damaged, but come the election it will be sold to the highest bidder, and that is likely to be someone from the Middle East, who is ore interested in scrap value than in restoration or repair. I can alredy hear the creaking lifeboats being lowered by those in first class; those in steerage prepare for a long cold swim.
As always the Liberal democrats, they who were once the centre ground of the labour party, claim that they have a hope of winning the election. They can say whatever they like in the next half year, they can promise us new schools and motorways on Mars, because in their hearts they know that in the current system they have no chance of forming a government. As for the rest, well the minority parties will remain that and i predict that Mr Brown's party will be ousted and that we are in for another miserable period of tory rule. We probably deserve it as we did when Thatcher was elected, and my oh my was the punishment severe. The scars of her years in power are deep and long lasting, the fragmentation and divisions of society have never healed, and it looks as if the same basic ideology will be in charge of the country once again.
Of course the boat is leaking and the steering seems damaged, but come the election it will be sold to the highest bidder, and that is likely to be someone from the Middle East, who is ore interested in scrap value than in restoration or repair. I can alredy hear the creaking lifeboats being lowered by those in first class; those in steerage prepare for a long cold swim.
Monday, 5 October 2009
Lies
When I was a child, I was taught to believe in fairies, ghosts, father christmas and God. I guess there was time when I did believe in all of those things and i understand the reasons why parents propagate those lies. I think i even participated myself with one exception. Lies are so often justified that all lies today seem justifiable and that makes me very uncomfortable. I like to think that I am a truthful person and rarely will I lie to anyone, but it seems that the normal way to behave in the 21st century is to lie as long as you can get away with it. I am not talking about telling someone that they look nice in order to make them feel good about themselves, though I am guilty of that quite frequently, I am talking about the big lies that many people today see as perfectly ok. Insurance companies tell us that we should never admit to guilt in the case of an accident, in turn so many people lie about insurance claims, and so it goes on. Politicians lie all the time, but then it is called bending the truth.
As an ex teacher, I am so familiar with kids who you see committing an offence, blatantly denying that they did it, or that they were even there, knowing that without any proof their word against mine negated any guilt. Sadly, a long exposure to lies makes for cynicism, and so these days i take most things with a large pinch of salt even though most people that i know are honest and truthful. There are still some who like to say things that you want to hear, and although done for the best reasons, they are lies.
I was also brought up to believe that telling the truth was a good thing, and I still believe that to be the case. Surely a measure of society lies in the ability of its people to recognise the value of the truth, and that it is nothing to do with religion.
As an ex teacher, I am so familiar with kids who you see committing an offence, blatantly denying that they did it, or that they were even there, knowing that without any proof their word against mine negated any guilt. Sadly, a long exposure to lies makes for cynicism, and so these days i take most things with a large pinch of salt even though most people that i know are honest and truthful. There are still some who like to say things that you want to hear, and although done for the best reasons, they are lies.
I was also brought up to believe that telling the truth was a good thing, and I still believe that to be the case. Surely a measure of society lies in the ability of its people to recognise the value of the truth, and that it is nothing to do with religion.
Monday, 28 September 2009
An article by Margaret Attwood - my favourite writer
Time capsule found on the dead planet by Margaret Atwood
In December world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to try to reach a global deal to tackle climate change. To support the launch of the 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon emissions, the Review asked some of our greatest artists, authors and poets to produce new work in response to the crisis
* Margaret Atwood
* The Guardian, Saturday 26 September 2009
* Article history
1. In the first age, we created gods. We carved them out of wood; there was still such a thing as wood, then. We forged them from shining metals and painted them on temple walls. They were gods of many kinds, and goddesses as well. Sometimes they were cruel and drank our blood, but also they gave us rain and sunshine, favourable winds, good harvests, fertile animals, many children. A million birds flew over us then, a million fish swam in our seas.
Our gods had horns on their heads, or moons, or sealy fins, or the beaks of eagles. We called them All-Knowing, we called them Shining One. We knew we were not orphans. We smelled the earth and rolled in it; its juices ran down our chins.
2. In the second age we created money. This money was also made of shining metals. It had two faces: on one side was a severed head, that of a king or some other noteworthy person, on the other face was something else, something that would give us comfort: a bird, a fish, a fur-bearing animal. This was all that remained of our former gods. The money was small in size, and each of us would carry some of it with him every day, as close to the skin as possible. We could not eat this money, wear it or burn it for warmth; but as if by magic it could be changed into such things. The money was mysterious, and we were in awe of it. If you had enough of it, it was said, you would be able to fly.
3. In the third age, money became a god. It was all-powerful, and out of control. It began to talk. It began to create on its own. It created feasts and famines, songs of joy, lamentations. It created greed and hunger, which were its two faces. Towers of glass rose at its name, were destroyed and rose again. It began to eat things. It ate whole forests, croplands and the lives of children. It ate armies, ships and cities. No one could stop it. To have it was a sign of grace.
4. In the fourth age we created deserts. Our deserts were of several kinds, but they had one thing in common: nothing grew there. Some were made of cement, some were made of various poisons, some of baked earth. We made these deserts from the desire for more money and from despair at the lack of it. Wars, plagues and famines visited us, but we did not stop in our industrious creation of deserts. At last all wells were poisoned, all rivers ran with filth, all seas were dead; there was no land left to grow food.
Some of our wise men turned to the contemplation of deserts. A stone in the sand in the setting sun could be very beautiful, they said. Deserts were tidy, because there were no weeds in them, nothing that crawled. Stay in the desert long enough, and you could apprehend the absolute. The number zero was holy.
5. You who have come here from some distant world, to this dry lakeshore and this cairn, and to this cylinder of brass, in which on the last day of all our recorded days I place our final words:
Pray for us, who once, too, thought we could fly.
In December world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to try to reach a global deal to tackle climate change. To support the launch of the 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon emissions, the Review asked some of our greatest artists, authors and poets to produce new work in response to the crisis
* Margaret Atwood
* The Guardian, Saturday 26 September 2009
* Article history
1. In the first age, we created gods. We carved them out of wood; there was still such a thing as wood, then. We forged them from shining metals and painted them on temple walls. They were gods of many kinds, and goddesses as well. Sometimes they were cruel and drank our blood, but also they gave us rain and sunshine, favourable winds, good harvests, fertile animals, many children. A million birds flew over us then, a million fish swam in our seas.
Our gods had horns on their heads, or moons, or sealy fins, or the beaks of eagles. We called them All-Knowing, we called them Shining One. We knew we were not orphans. We smelled the earth and rolled in it; its juices ran down our chins.
2. In the second age we created money. This money was also made of shining metals. It had two faces: on one side was a severed head, that of a king or some other noteworthy person, on the other face was something else, something that would give us comfort: a bird, a fish, a fur-bearing animal. This was all that remained of our former gods. The money was small in size, and each of us would carry some of it with him every day, as close to the skin as possible. We could not eat this money, wear it or burn it for warmth; but as if by magic it could be changed into such things. The money was mysterious, and we were in awe of it. If you had enough of it, it was said, you would be able to fly.
3. In the third age, money became a god. It was all-powerful, and out of control. It began to talk. It began to create on its own. It created feasts and famines, songs of joy, lamentations. It created greed and hunger, which were its two faces. Towers of glass rose at its name, were destroyed and rose again. It began to eat things. It ate whole forests, croplands and the lives of children. It ate armies, ships and cities. No one could stop it. To have it was a sign of grace.
4. In the fourth age we created deserts. Our deserts were of several kinds, but they had one thing in common: nothing grew there. Some were made of cement, some were made of various poisons, some of baked earth. We made these deserts from the desire for more money and from despair at the lack of it. Wars, plagues and famines visited us, but we did not stop in our industrious creation of deserts. At last all wells were poisoned, all rivers ran with filth, all seas were dead; there was no land left to grow food.
Some of our wise men turned to the contemplation of deserts. A stone in the sand in the setting sun could be very beautiful, they said. Deserts were tidy, because there were no weeds in them, nothing that crawled. Stay in the desert long enough, and you could apprehend the absolute. The number zero was holy.
5. You who have come here from some distant world, to this dry lakeshore and this cairn, and to this cylinder of brass, in which on the last day of all our recorded days I place our final words:
Pray for us, who once, too, thought we could fly.
Plastic men with plastic hats and coats
I confess that I have been following the X Factor on TV. It is a warped sort of occupation as I loathe virtually everything about it. The "judges", with one exception, are plastic and mindless and the contestants all seem to be utterly desperate to become celebrities, having no ideas what else they can do with their lives. Part of the morbid fascination comes from those who have even less talent than i do, and yet they stand up on a stage and produce performances that would humiliate most of us, while seeming surprised that they are rejected. Many of these no hopers have sponsors who must have put them up there just for a bet; I can think of no other reason. There are some who seem to have a modicum of talent but what people seem to forget is that this is not a talent show, it is a selection process for a wealthy entrepreneur who is looking for someone to fill a very precise mould, and inevitably increase his wealth further. It matters not a jot how good the contestant may be unless they can tick the boxes that are essential for a commercial success. The modern Pop industry is primarily aimed at teenage girls, and has been for decades. Hence the surge in boy bands and girl bands who may have presence and adequate voices but little else to offer. We are in an era of session musicians, invisible talents who provide background music for the hothouse reared mayflies of the industry, the one hit wonders who will be forgotten within a few years.
As an antidote I have been digging out some of my old vinyl albums. I had a thing about sampler albums and these albums contained tracks from many bands who never really made it bigtime, and yet the quality of the music and the musical ability of the performers was first rate. Most of these bands learn their trade from the ground upwards and only made records when the industry deemed them good enough. Bands became famous by playing live gigs and for very little money compared to today. I saw the Beatles for 50p and Cream for even less. Status Quo played a college dance for 40 pounds, and yet now that 40 pounds wouldn't get you a ticket.
I know there is still talent out there, there are some good bands and some wonderful singers including my friend Holly, but it would seem that it is necessary to play a particular set of games if you wish to become successful. For now though, but I hope not for long, the inane, the plastic and the clones are in the driving seat.
As an antidote I have been digging out some of my old vinyl albums. I had a thing about sampler albums and these albums contained tracks from many bands who never really made it bigtime, and yet the quality of the music and the musical ability of the performers was first rate. Most of these bands learn their trade from the ground upwards and only made records when the industry deemed them good enough. Bands became famous by playing live gigs and for very little money compared to today. I saw the Beatles for 50p and Cream for even less. Status Quo played a college dance for 40 pounds, and yet now that 40 pounds wouldn't get you a ticket.
I know there is still talent out there, there are some good bands and some wonderful singers including my friend Holly, but it would seem that it is necessary to play a particular set of games if you wish to become successful. For now though, but I hope not for long, the inane, the plastic and the clones are in the driving seat.
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Breakout
As I write this, I can barely see out of one eye, my head, face and upper torso are all covered in hives yet again. It is only a week since the last outbreak and frankly I am sick of it. I have seen all the specialists and they say that it is ideopathic, and that is really helpful. I take double doses or more of the antihistamines as soon as it appears and yet nothing seems to make any difference. It is a strange ailment and always makes me feel very ill in an undefined way; and I live in hope that it will be short lived.
Fortunately I am in a position where I don't have to go out at all. In fact I go for days without seeing people, and that sometimes suits me. I have a propensity towards a hermit's life style and that is something that I have no wish to adopt. I can see how it can creep up on one though and must remain on my guard.
On a positive note, yesterday I received and installed the latest Mac Operating system. I did hedge a little as mostly, new OS often means bugs and troubles, but the reviews have been good so i bit the bullet and am so glad that I did. For months now I have been unable to use Adobe Illustrator, one of my favourite programs; it clashed with an upgrade and there seemed no solution. I was on the cusp of spending out a lot of money to replace it with a new version, but now I find that it works again - deep joy.
I now have a faster and leaner computer to play with and that should help me through until the inevitable subsidence, but in the meantime I'll continue to scratch and silently scream to myself.
Fortunately I am in a position where I don't have to go out at all. In fact I go for days without seeing people, and that sometimes suits me. I have a propensity towards a hermit's life style and that is something that I have no wish to adopt. I can see how it can creep up on one though and must remain on my guard.
On a positive note, yesterday I received and installed the latest Mac Operating system. I did hedge a little as mostly, new OS often means bugs and troubles, but the reviews have been good so i bit the bullet and am so glad that I did. For months now I have been unable to use Adobe Illustrator, one of my favourite programs; it clashed with an upgrade and there seemed no solution. I was on the cusp of spending out a lot of money to replace it with a new version, but now I find that it works again - deep joy.
I now have a faster and leaner computer to play with and that should help me through until the inevitable subsidence, but in the meantime I'll continue to scratch and silently scream to myself.
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