Ciaran’s Omnipurpose Blog

A few weeks ago, I was approached by the New Statesman Online team after they found my blog and decided they wanted me to write a few articles for them about atheism for their Faith Column. Of course, it's a little ironic to be asked to write about a lack of Faith in a "Faith Column", but it's been a real pleasure to write again on this topic. I've just gotten on with my life, really, and haven't really been thinking actively about my atheism recently. Off I went and dusted off some of my old books and got on with writing the posts. It's been refreshing! The first post went up today, called: I believe in one less god than monotheists…. They'll be serialising another three, and all four will be available here. I'll also archive them on my own site, here.

Saw this at Nev's tonight and thought it worth posting up here. We got talking about a column I'm trying to write for the online edition of a UK publication; I've dusted off my old atheism books to bone up on what I want to say, so it was inspiring to see this short video:

I found this today, quite by chance and thought it was clever - a nice diagrammatical representation of observation versus revelation. Please click on the image to enlarge it:

I found out about Kasabian when listening to the Jo Whiley Show in the car a little while ago. I noticed that they were playing at the Royal Albert Hall on a benefit gig for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

So I went online this morning to book tickets, which went on sale at 0900. At that time, the site was down. Once I finally got through at 0918, the cheaper seats were gone and the pricier ones were left.

All OK so far.

It seems that the tradition is now to charge a booking fee, including online bookings where the sales process is self-service. Even cinema tickets booked online take a booking fee!

As if this wasn’t cheeky enough in itself when tickets are expensive as they are, it appears that online booking has discovered a new wheeze: the transaction fee! No mention of anything to do with credit card charges - it seemed to apply to all payment types.

I don’t mind contributing to charitable causes. I don’t mind paying for a service. But I do mind paying for self-service on a broadband connection that I pay for.

So I’d like to know what they think they’re playing at. I’m almost too miffed to buy the tickets on principle now, not merely because they’re stupidly expensive.

Got a webcam from a friend recently - more on that in another post. Tried it for the first time with my friend Myles, who runs a gym in East Molesey called Riverside Gym.

His cuddly rhino is called George!

My friend Joe at work sent me this. Made my morning!!

Do you like crisps?

I do.

I like crisps, peanuts, popcorn, honey-roast cashews, rice cakes, pretzels, mignons morceaux, poppadoms, puffy wheat puff matter snacks etc.

When I was little, I used to stop at the newsagent on the way home and buy four packs of tomato cheetos and 4 packs of pickled onion Space Raiders. I might also have bought myself a Wham bar as well for pudding. I’d then scoff the lot in front of Neighbours and Home and Away (shown back to back).

I barely remember any adverts for crisps and suchlike on TV. It was just something that people did. But let’s assume for a moment that this is an issue of advertising versus public information for a minute.

Who do you think is throwing more resources at the issue of reaching out for the minds of kids when it comes to what they eat? The government or the food manufacturers? I suspect the government is farting against thunder here.

The other thunder the government faces is the attitude of parents and kids. This food is bad for you but it tastes great and is fairly cheap. So kids shut up whilst they stuff themselves full with 25p chicken kievs from the frozen food shop and parents are happy because their household budgets balance. Parents also don’t like being told what to do with their kids, it seems and some are deliberately feeding their kids rubbish in an attempt to exercise “Choice”.

Obesity is a health issue. But it is also a class issue. Cheap, affordable and available food is the stuff that makes us fat. Families on low incomes buy in bulk and buy frozen. Wealthier families consume more fresh fruit and vegetables and better quality food.

So that’s why, whilst I’m impressed by the design of the poster and the message the government is promoting, I fear that the real story has become about the government advertising campaign, rather than the health risks people are exposing themselves to: the posters are doomed to rot on bus-shelters and fade away like people’s concerns over the crap they (as do I) shovel into their bodies.

Today be talk like a pirate day! Shiver me timbers and Yo-ho-ho!

If yer be wantin’ t’ talk like a pirate, but need a helpin’ hand, try this translator. Gar.

Aye, and if you want t’ know more about Talk Like a Pirate Day, try this site, gar!

On Friday, we heard the news that Lucy Braham, the daughter of a Harrow schoolteacher had been murdered. We have a few friends who teach at the school and we live about half a mile from the house in which Lucy died. 

The atmosphere on the Hill has been sombre. The news really does appear to have affected people here quite deeply. It is also very strange to see police in the streets on the Hill as the area is pretty crime-free.

We’re both really upset about this tragic and senseless death. Our thoughts are with both families and their friends and colleagues.

My parents sent me this link today about a man in Derby called Richard Butler, whose home is threatened by a proposed new Ring Road.

The proposed scheme has been under review for a long time. In 2004, Derby Council successfully prosecuted Richard Butler under the Town and Country Planning Act after he displayed a protest banner against the scheme. Because his banner contained the logo, website address and telephone number for the protest group Derby Heart, it was unauthorised advertising, claimed the Council. That’s the same council that turns a blind eye to all of the other unauthorised advertising that isn’t politically opposing it.

So Derby Council tried to squash a bug with a Bureaucratic Sledgehammer. it seems that Richard Butler hit them back in the Paperwork Nuts with a counterpunch.

How?

Well, when a council wants to flatten your house for a road, it will usually carry out a compulsory purchase of your land. It has to serve you with paperwork and follow a bureaucatic procedure to do so. Richard Butler has sold portions of his land to several people around the world, including Spain and Shanghai, who will now have to be found by Derby Council and served with paperwork. This will take a very long time.

Now, I don’t know the ins and outs of the case. Perhaps he’s being selfish. What I love to see, though, is the fact that he’s turned the bureaucratic process on itself. He’s beating them at their own game!