Belief

I made a comment on looby's blog yesterday, where I expressed surprise that he went to a reading of Slovenian Poetry.  I did use some language which was mildly (for me) derogatory about how anyone could actually enjoy such an event.

Sometimes I Wonder

It's been a quite week on the blogging front. Almost everyone is too busy socialising with friends and family to bother doing much about their blogging, so when I sat down for an hour to catch upon everyone's posts, I was finished in about 10 minutes.

I've Got A Problem (Part the second)

Jason, my pet Amoeba (He's got more spine than me some days)

In my last post I alluded to the fact that I had a problem at Christmas.

Why are we here?

Hestia of that excellent blog, Hestia's Larder recently had on operation.  Even worse. An operation on the National Health Service.

Rhinovirus sucks

I've got a cold.  I've had the cold for the whole bloody week.

Did I take a day off work?

No.

We Scottish blokes don't wimp out so easily (unlike some of the kiwi girls and boys who depart at the slightest sign of a sniffle.  Although I must admit that Richard [of RBB] has struggled gamely on, nose dripping bravely)

Life, The Universe and Sausage Rolls

Richard [of RBB] has been delving into the depths of philosophy and religion, using Buddhism as an example.  I applaud his mental stamina, because after about an hour of talking on such subjects with friends, my brain tends to freeze up.  Too many questions, not enough factual answers.

I mentioned before that I cleaned up our decks with bleach and scrubbing, and it worked quite well, although some areas will probably need re-treatment.  However to spray such a large expanse uses about 20 litres of bleach, so I used a backpack sprayer.  I must have twisted my back when I had the backpack on, because I can barely move now.  If I remain in one posture for longer than 5 minutes, my back locks up.  Typical, the one time I have a real excuse to get of work and I'm on holiday.  The Universe is not fair sometimes.

The steamboat lunch went really well, large amounts of food and wine was consumed, and everyone had a good time.  My beloved had spent a lot of time and effort in making the raw food portions to go into the boiling stock of the steamboat, pork and water chestnut stuffed mushrooms, stuffed capsicums and zucchini, fish balls, chicken strips, prawns and Bok Choy.  She also made a variety of dipping sauces, chili, hot chili, garlic and ginger and the usual soy sauce.  It was delicious, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it, but as I was helping our friends out to their cars, I heard one elderly lady say to her friend, "That was really nice, but I think I would have preferred sausage rolls"  It wasn't said out of malice, and the lady concerned is a really nice person, but she's used to mostly European NZ food.  Take people out of their comfort zone and mostly they want to get back inside it.

Ah well, we can but try.

Same sort of thing in teaching.  We push the kids to try something new, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Something Old and Something New

We all want to see something new

Friday night thoughts

I've been reading many blogs tonight, not just the usual circle, but much further afield. Quite educational, so many viewpoints, many expressed clearly, but I'm a little saddened how little wit and humour is out there.
Too many people really take themselves too seriously. My minor philosophy on life is always strive to have fun, to see the funny side of any incident if possible.
Some of life's bumps and thumps are too sad to have any funny side. The death of a child for instance.

I cam across this:
"
"A Happy Atheist"

How fortunate I am to be atheist indeed,
I don't have to pray to any god with heed,
Nor do I follow a religion with irrationality,
Living secularly, I enjoy the world in true reality,
Without religion I am not morally corrupt,
My freethinking and logic do not disrupt,
My fellow infidels may agree with my psychology,
That the ultimate oppressor of freedom is theology

By Brandon Seger"


As an agnostic since I was 14 years old, I cannot take any religion too seriously. I looked at all the evidence in 1964, decided that there was really no way to decide on any faith using simple observed rationality, therefore I decided there and then to forget all about it unless someone discovered new evidence.
I am not an aggressive atheist, and I am usually harmless. Unless someone (normally a Christian fanatic)tells me I am going to burn in hell.
I usually laugh it off, but aggressive Christianity, or any other proselytising religion makes me angry and a bit sad.
How can they be so certain.
I said earlier that I am not an aggressive atheist, so if someone discovered a 5000 metre monolith on the back side of the Moon, or on Cydonia on Mars,

saying in letters 10 metres wide and 100 metres deep, incised with micron level accuracy, the words, GOD WAS HERE, then I would be relieved. Proof was present. The problem of which set of rules to then follow would become really problematic.
Maybe I could set up my own little religion, taking bits of other beliefs to fit my own preferences.(If Ron Hubbard could do it, so could I)

My new church site

Perhaps sacramental wine from the Catholics (The Wine Guy could advise on vintages), but not the little dinky glasses in use at present. I would propose a bottle each, with half bottles of Malt(Laphroig)


on Holy Days (every other Friday).
Add in 3 wives per man as per Islam and/or The Church of the Latter Day Saints.
The penultimate section of the service would be a nice thank you to the now-proven God for Sunsets, flowers, little girls singing and dancing on a late summer meadow, yeast,self-repair mechanisms in DNA replication, and then as a finale, a thoughtful request that a little intervention in wars, disease, floods and storms, cancer and ageing would be nice, if that was OK.

Wouldn't it be nice to know.