Friday 23 November 2007

A Thankyou to Violet

Its been a while since my last post for a variety of reasons. One has been a personal reflective period occasioned by a trip home and some subsequent unearthing of the past.

Consider a woman who after a decade of trying conceives a child. Consider that same woman on discovering that what she wants most will kill her. Consider the woman who regardless of peril to self takes the child to term and nurses him as her own mortality closes in. Consider that she was of an age that her only child is now approaching and consider that her grandson is now as old as her own son when she died. Consider the injustice. Consider the sacrifice.

Thank you mother. Thank you on behalf of your grandchildren and your son who never got to know you except by deed. Those deeds say it all really. Consider.

Tuesday 13 November 2007

Gods own language

There are times when the cupidity of humankind is beyond words. From belief in the holiness of images on toast, to the bastard philosophies of HandsomeLake and the Cargo Cults (and if you don’t know what these are I suggest you make quick with a search engine – which raises an interesting question. Are there religiously motivated search engines that will sanitize query results in order to espouse a particular moral view? Is this what Google did/does in China (elsewhere?). What is the consensus on pluralism and secularism? Answers on a postcard please).

Okay, I’m wandering off topic again. My point was the futility of much human endeavor – its simply wasted by the pious and self serving agendas purporting to be about the ONE TRUTH. Phah!! In the 21st century how can we succumb to such distortion and perversion of thought? Was the Enlightenment for nothing? Is scientific method so arcane and difficult that we need to resort to hide behind the skirts of tin gods and do millions die in ignorance for want of asking ‘Why?’. Surely a benevolent and caring God is hardly so egotistical (!) to demand unquestioning obedience (I seem to recall that that led to Nazism), or is the almighty so insecure that he (sexist so and so too!) needs to have mortals to bully?

Sorry. Dismount. Off hobby horse now, but I think what we need in this digital age is a new markup language:

The eXtensible Deity Markup Language (XDML).

Need a new saint? Mark it up in XDML. Have a particular sect your down on? Mark it up in XDML. What to swell the coffers of Jimmy Baker/Jimmy Swaggert? Mark it up brother.

XDML – your W3C compliant passport to heaven.

Thursday 1 November 2007

Cheap Shoes

One of the few things my late father ever instilled in me was the impression that the mark of a man is not just his clothes but additionally, his footwear and chronograph (sounds like a Traffic album title!). I would add to that music and literature but then I’m often perverse. What sent me down this route was sitting at Southampton airport in a vegetative state awaiting emplaning ( a nice adjective that if one that is somewhat slow paced when traveling FlyBE!!).

Anyway, back to the story and enough of the Ronnie Corbettesque diversions, I was struck by the preponderance of snazzily suited business men with incongruous footwear. Now, I’m not Gok Wang and I’m not in the fashion Gestapo, but for the love of decency is it really that hard to purchase a sensible, practical pair of shoes/boots that don’t contravene the UN Charter on Human Rights (specifically offensive articles of footwear leading to permanent visual impairment). Barratts remainder bin must get a lot of trade – nasty plastic faux Oxfords and Cambridges – or maybe that’s ‘in’ this season? Count me out though.