Do I actually have to say anything here?

This is quoted verbatim from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5016694.stm


"Da Vinci code nun 'not genuine'
By Ben Davies
BBC News reporter

Sister Mary Michael
The 'nun' is said to do good work with people on the fringes
A woman who led protests against the Da Vinci Code dressed in a habit is not a real nun, says the Catholic Church.

Sister Mary Michael appeared in the world's media denouncing the controversial book as "blasphemy".

The Catholic Church says Sister Mary is not "canonically recognised" even if she does do "good works".

She was connected to the Carmelites but left and is now a "maverick" and a "one-woman order", a spokesman told the BBC News website.

Sister Mary Michael hit the headlines in August 2005 after she mounted a prayer vigil outside Lincoln Cathedral while the Da Vinci Code was filmed there.

Though she had not read the book by Dan Brown at the time, she was pictured kneeling outside the Anglican Minster which was paid £100,000 to allow filming to take place.

'Binned'

The story revolves around the theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and their descendants survive today.


I am Our lady, sister of peace and mercy and I am attached to the Carmelites and you can just put it there and that's what I am
Sister Mary Michael

Meeting Sister Mary Michael

The blockbuster has caused outrage among many Christian organisations, including senior officials at the Vatican.

Having read the book and then "thrown it in the bin", Sister Mary Michael took her protest to Cannes earlier this month where the film was first shown.

Asked about her status as a nun, Sister Mary Michael said: "I am attached to the Carmelites and that's it."

But the spokesman for the Nottingham diocese in which she lives, Rev Philip McBrien, said: "Her connection with the Carmelites ended a long time ago. She has never been professed by our bishops and she doesn't belong to any recognised order.

"She has no official connection with any order or any of the parishes. She's a one-off, a maverick.

"She dresses more nun-like than any nuns I know."

'Personal vocation'

When these comments were put to Sister Mary Michael she acknowledged her life was "unusual" but insisted she is "still officially a nun".

"The bishop knows all about me, he knows why I wear my habit and so on. It is unusual, I can say no more. I can't even understand it myself but I've never done anything underhand - I can't with this personality.

"I am Our lady, sister of peace and mercy and I am attached to the Carmelites and you can just put it there and that's what I am."


It's very much a personal vocation as far as she's concerned - she's on her own
Monsignor Thomas McGovern

After three and a half years in a closed Carmelite order Sister Mary Michael left, but decided to continue wearing a habit similar to what she had worn when a nun - albeit modified according to her own design.

Nottingham diocese's Monsignor Thomas McGovern said: "It's very much a personal vocation as far as she's concerned. I would say even if not officially recognised she is doing a lot of good work."

Sister Mary Michael, 61, says all she has been doing with her Da Vinci Code protests is standing up for the truth.

"I am standing up for what every Catholic should believe in the true body, blood, soul and divinity of our lord.""

Even the church says she is not one of them! Can you say crazy?

Loss

I've written and rewritten this entry a bunch of times (something I never do, usually you just get the first thoughts I have typed up). This time I have rewritten as for once it's been hard to get what's in my head, out.

The situation isn't really relevant here. What's relevant is that I cannot help. A friend is going through hell and I can only stand by and watch. You make all of the offers of talking or sanctuary but in the end they will still have to go through it. All you can do is try to be there for that one moment when they do need someone.

As usual in this type of situation I end up reevaluating my own life (I can't decide if this is just a selfish response or a normal reaction to the situation). Totting up my scores as it were. I hope I come out favorably. I have done some stupid things (some that hurt people) most of which I feel bad about (apologies to all for what it's worth, it wont happen again!). I have also done some stuff that I am proud of. All in all I guess we all do what we can.

Anyway, I suppose introspection is the normal response and I hope that it brings something positive. For once I can't find the anger that gets me through, just sorrow.

Septics and Frogs

It has been suggested that I dislike Americans and the French.

Not true my friends, not true.

It's true I have disliked people who are American or French but how could I find the time or energy to hate everyone in both of these countries?

I have heard the French described as cheese eating surrender monkeys which while wildly amusing (I laughed for about 3 hours when I heard it the first time) doesn't really reflect reality. Yep they weren't keen on the invasion of Iraq but then neither was I. Difference was their top chap said no. Ours went along. I met a bunch in Thailand that were pretty cool (or at least didn't object to me butchering their language in an extremely drunken way).

I have heard Americans referred to as inbred, gung ho, gun toting, politically simple, religiously bigoted hicks (perhaps electing them to the presidency was a bit too much of the positive discrimination though). Again, I have met some top yanks, people who could see past the whole mom and apple pie crap. People you can have a pint with.

So whether you are from a country whose main pass time is garlic eating and making love with your face or a county whose main hobby is killing wildlife and bullying the middle east. Relax. You still have my love!

I shall ignore the stereo types and give you Guys and Monsieurs the benefit of the doubt. However your governments leave a lot to be desired, but then who are we to talk?

Whoops I spoke too soon

I assumed that the church as a whole would let the Davinci code thing go. Apparently there are "Christian groups from South Korea, Thailand, Greece and India planning boycotts, a hunger strike and other attempts to block or shorten screenings." (from CNN).

What will that do? Boycott it? Cool more space in the cinema to spread out without some uptight arse muttering. Hunger strike? Huh? How does you starving yourself to death do anything? If you are stupid enough to kill yourself that is not my responsibility. Why don't you try reasoned arguments and accept that people may have a different opinion? Do I starve myself to death because you believe in something I consider to be absurd?

The following is lifted directly from the CNN report

"Although the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, has not voiced an opinion either way on the novel or the film, many Catholic Church officials have.

"I'm mystified by the popularity of it," said Father Joseph DiNoia, a Vatican official during an interview with CNN's Alessio Vinci.

"It has to do with the harm it does to people's faith, not the harm that it does to the (Catholic Church's) public image. It's something a lot more important."

Monsignor Robert Sarno, also a Vatican official, told Vinci he did not see the storyline as an attack on the Church.

"I just think it has been given a lot more truth value and faith value than it has," he said. "It just read it as an entertaining novel.""

Well. Bit of a difference of opinion huh? The pope says nothing. Mr DiNoia suggests that it harms peoples faith.

How? I thought faith was faith. Surely those with real faith will just say, "oh it's a movie. Fiction. Perhaps there are bad people in the church or perhaps Jesus was married. Doesn't stop me believing in god".

If a film made from a fiction book is enough to shake your faith or your religion perhaps you are halfway there already. Maybe you need to reevaluate what you believe in. Maybe you are believing in something because it's what you were told as a child, maybe it's just habit. Blind faith doesn't learn.

Mr Sarno gives a sensible response. It is a novel. Don't get so worked up about it. I do hope it's a truthful response and not just clever PR.

Anyway people let it go. It's just a book and books are written by people.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/17/film.davinci.protests/index.html

Davinci can lick my bag

The Davinci code. No holds barred unleasher of shocking facts or good read that has been blown out of proportion?

I think you know which side I am going to come down on. I am not saying it couldn't be true, I am just saying that it's been written by someone who wanted to tell a story. Don't get me wrong I am chuffed for Dan Brown, he's rich as almighty arse now. If he wanted to chuck a couple of million my way I'd be even more chuffed (come on Dan share the wealth!).

I was impressed to hear in the news that the UK Catholics called it "fun and harmless in so far as it is treated as fiction". Finally learned huh? Finally worked out that the whole, 'we ban this as it is evil' approach just makes people go watch it? Well done guys. Only taken a few centuries for the church to work it out. Look and learn fundamentalists!

Tony Robinson (according to michael wheeler) said, "whatever people believe, they do respect the Gospel. To turn it upside down or deconstruct it is sexy."

Ok, I don't know about you guys but I have no more respect for the gospel than I do for the davinci code. The only difference in my mind is that the davinci code is a better read. All that "begat" shit in the bible is like watching paint dry.

Sexy? What part of the bible is sexy? The blood getting licked up by dogs part? The wife being turned to salt? Perhaps Noah and family being able to repoulate the earth with only a family and a few others (Unlikely or we would all look like hill billys)?

NO TONY. NOT SEXY. BAD. DOWN BOY. DOWN OR IT'S THE ROLLED UP NEWSPAPER FOR YOU.

The bible is a work of fiction just like the Davinci code. It may contain elements of truth (like the davinci code) but ultimately believing it all is like the nutters who thing the davinci code is a manual on how the pope lied to us.

Unclench people. Let it go.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4985812.stm

Pavement etiquette

A subject very dear to my heart.

I have been working on my patience for some years now and I have to say it's improving. I remain polite and calm even in the face of excessive provocation. I assume some of this is due to the fact that I work closely with a very large number of people and come into contact with a large number of customers over the course of a day. I guess people skills can be learned whatever the consultants say!

I like to think that a majority of my self control has come through conscious effort. I do have a lot of time for people who are genuinely bewildered but very little for fools. The distinction can become blurred very easily.

What was I talking about? Ah, yes. Pavement etiquette. The unwritten rules of the pavement. You know when you are trying to get to work or to an appointment? You are in a bit of a rush. All of a sudden in front of you on the pavement are the blockers. They are a certain type. Sometimes mothers with double buggys for their kids. Sometimes old ladies with nowhere in particular to go and no wish to get there quickly. Sometime a large crowd of irritating adolescents.

MOVE! MOVE NOW BEFORE I KILL YOU ALL! I have no problem with you meandering around aimlessly just do it to one side so people can get past!

I take control of myself and say, "excuse me, may i get past". I say this with my best smile and in as non threatening a way as possible. Sometimes this pays off. Sometimes they look at you as if you have just suggested they get on all fours while you introduce them to your monkey. If this is the case I try to be even more polite but what I really want to do is see if the old sweetheart can eat her tartan shopping trolly.

Please people for the sake of my sanity, please just be aware that someone may need to move quicker than a percentage of a mile an hour. For the love of god stand to one side. You aren't in a hurry anyway so what does it matter of you get delayed for a second?

The Pavement etiquette is as follows.

Thou shalt not take up the entire pavement with your childs double buggy.

Thou shalt not stop suddenly to go through your bag without first stepping to one side of the pavement. On pain of being knocked over and trampled.

Thou shalt not stand aimlessly on a busy pavement blocking others. On pain of see above.

Thou shalt not use the entrance to a shop to conduct inane conversations about one of your families hernia or other miscellanious rubbish.

Thou shalt not drag an umbrella through a busy pavement at eye height (I once had a four inch scratch put on my face about half an inch under my left eye) on pain of having it inserted into you and opened.

Thou shalt keep an eye on your kids. If they dash out of the crowd in front of me and I walk into them it's your fault not mine. You had them, you look after them.

I am sure there are more, possibly ten but I cannot be arsed with thinking of others.

The main commandment is just fucking stop it, ok?

I am not a number

Well. Seems my blog of self therapy has been getting way too serious. It has mutated from my original intention of being a place to air niggles in the hope I could get it all off my chest, to something a bit darker.

Fact is, once I started talking about stuff that annoyed me mildly it made room for me to air the stuff that makes almost incoherent with rage. I guess it's good to get it out but I do need to stand back every once in a while and take stock.

As Max Ehrmann says in Desiderata, "Something fucking profound. Blah blah" (My fave poem). Anyway, point is it's not all bad. Sometimes the arseholes get what's coming to them. Sometimes people act how they should and the world is a cool place. Sometimes we win. It's definitely a good idea to remember this as too much gloom can really get you down.

The result is this blog will go where it goes. If the content upsets me or anyone else that's too bad. Most of the stuff on it will be personal opinion. Anyone else reading it can read into it what they like, I take no responsibility for your thoughts or actions. If you are bright enough to get on the web I hope you are bright enough to be a grown up about stuff you read.

I will try to keep this light hearted but I can promise nothing. I get annoyed or angry about the things that bother me and then I will take a brain dump on this site.

NB Kudos to Blair for signing the petition to back animal testing. Whether he holds a heartfelt opinion on this or has just sniffed the political wind and gone for those votes it is a good thing he does. I do feel that we should look into alternatives to animal testing but Blair signing up adheres to the P1P method of finding the right in a debate. Always stand against the extremists. If the Animal rights guys who don't believe in this terrorism turned the crazies over to the police I'd be right on their side. The way things are going at the moment I am against them. I wish they'd do more of the hidden camera tricks. You know, exposing the mistreatment of animals. Bring me evidence not threats.

Anyway, back to sanity and not letting the rage take control. Unless I feel like it.

A new hope

Do you think there comes a point where people who consider themselves freedom fighters go, "shit, I'm a terrorist"? Do they suddenly realise that they have hurt people for something that although they may believe in it, the majority don't?

There always seems to be a small group trying to impose it's beliefs on everyone else. Whether it's religious, political or personal. They are never wrong, everyone else is. Therefore whatever they do is justified. Actually I agree with bits here. Just because it's a belief of a minority (in the numerical sense not racial, although this could be the case also)doesn't make it wrong. My problem is in the way you make yourself heard.

I guess we are back to extremists again. I understand, really I do, if you believe that much in something then can you sit by and let something else happen? Why sit back and let a group get away with it? Why let a subset of humanity get away with something you "know" is wrong. In fact Why not subugate them and invade Poland, right?

Some things are worth fighting for but as soon as you step over that line you pollute your cause. You are no longer a freedom fighter, you are a terrorist. You shit on the very thing that was good and honest about your cause.

I have seen a lot of crap, 11/9 (get used to it septics we put the day first), the london bombings, some events in Iraq and a lot of animal rights nutters. All this stuff seems to result in people getting away with shit that should set them apart from humanity. They have left behind part of the stuff that makes you a fully rounded human. It seemed that all the time people just got away with stuff that was plain wrong.

BUT...

There have been some glimmers. Remember Lindy? She went to jail for abusing prisoners of war (terrorists or not, deserve it or not, we have to play by the rules or we are just another terrorist organisation), ditto with that arsehole Moussaoui (personally I felt a death sentence would have been kinder than rotting in jail for the rest of his life) and now the guys that stole a corpse have been shit canned.

You must remember this? They robbed a grave and stole the corpse and used it "to blackmail the owners of a guinea pig breeding farm in Staffordshire, 150 miles north of London."

Can you imagine the pain this must have caused the family. Yes, they supplied guinea pigs for animal testing. Should this have been stopped? Maybe. Protest. Lobby parliament. Bite the bullet and work for it. Remember this is a democracy you will get what the majority wants if you don't like it you could head the fuck off to another country.

Anyway three guys got twelve years, one woman got four years. Nice to see that occasionally the law catches up with the terrorists and punishes them.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/11/activists.sentenced.ap/index.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/4762481.stm


PS Personally, nicking a body, even one of a relative isn't that upsetting. As an athiest I see a dead body as a lump of meat, nothing more.

Actually thinking about it you'd think everyone would feel that way. For the religious it's the home of the soul (or important bit) which leaves when the person dies. To me it's the seat of consciousness which is lost once the person dies. Either way the thing that made them the person you cared about is gone. It's one of the reasons why I believe in organ donation.

Actually why the hell do people not donate, while we are on the subject. If you are an athiest why would you care. If you are religious I bet you get extra brownie points for helping someone to live with something you certainly don't need anymore.

Who cares if it's rare

I think I am just going to have to admit that there is no way I can stay away from the news. Although there is enough stuff that annoys the hell out of me in day to day life I never cease to be amazed at the amount of new stuff that comes along.

"It's something we've all known was theoretically possible because their habitats overlap a little bit and their breeding seasons overlap a little bit," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton. "It's the first time it's known to have happened in the wild."

This is from a CNN story that I saw this morning. An unheard of hybrid between a grizzly bear and a polar bear. You heard the man, first time it's happened in the wild. Probably not unique but rare as you like.

"Idaho big-game hunter Jim Martell,"..."paid C$50,000 (US$45,500, or euro35,800), for a license to hunt polar bears."

Yep, he shot the rare bear. He said "It will be quite a trophy,".

Let me recap here. this guy actually paid 35,800 euros to end the life of something. To stop something from living. Not because he'd starve if he didn't but because he wanted a trophy.

Don't misunderstand me I understand that species have to be controlled, maybe even culled but I found that his explanation that hunting is done sustainably smacked of an attempt at justification for something that can't be justified.

Even if the bears must be culled to protect other wildlife or humans what sort of a person actually enjoys it? Harming anything is a terrible thing. If it must be done then you do it but you don't enjoy it. It suggests someone lacking an essential part of their humanity. To want to kill something? I'd pity him if he wasn't already off on another hunt, this time for a grizzly.

Sometimes I just don't understand other people, sometimes I hope I never do.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/05/11/canada.hybrid.ap/index.html

Dumb and dumber

I can't stay away from the news at the moment. Each day seems to bring more stuff that irritates the arse off me. As this is a pretty emotive issue please try to read it all before flipping out. Yelling and shouting only to be told you have the wrong end of the stick is such an embarrasment. Ok, sitting comfortably? Here we go.

Apparently a "high profile debate" has decide that Bristol should apologise to "the slaves" for it's role in the slave trade. The fact that these slaves are dead and the slavers themselves are dead doesn't seem to matter.

The chair, Anthony Grayling pointed out what an empty gesture it is. He suggested we should take the lessons from the past and worry about the future and the problem of racism in the present. Go Ant! Finally something sensible from a public debate.

This is a very tricky subject to discuss as people never seem to think clearly. As I said earlier it's emotive. If you oppose this sort of waste of time (as I do) you leave yourself open to accusations of racism so I guess it's cards on the table time.

I don't care for racists. It's a nasty form of extremism (and we all know how I feel about the Phylum extremist) which should repel any right minded person instinctively. Hating people who aren't the same colour as us is as bad as hating people who hold different religious beliefs or hating people because of their sexual preference. You can find the right side in any debate by opposing extremists, if both sides are extreme then I guess you form your own side. You wont be alone, I believe the majority of people would oppose them if they only thought about it.

I don't get how people can hate all black people. The question I really want to ask is, have you met them all? Disliking or even hating individuals is fine by me if you have a reason and that reason shouldn't have to take into account what colour or religion they are. If someone is a wanker they are a wanker whether or not they are Buddist or Gay or Indian.

Ok. We all clear where I stand now? No? Then read the bit above again asshat.

So, we have Paul Stephenson who is a black rights campaigner fighting against racism. Fair enough, though I feel he has missed the point, it shouldn't be black rights just human rights. We should be working towards the same rights for all not keeping these divisions in our society but that's just my opinion.

With him at this panel is "Hilary Banks, a direct descendant of a slave family in Bristol" who said,

"My grandmother's grandmother was a slave. It's thanks to her and all the other slaves that Bristol is such a wealthy city.

"Don't you think they deserve an apology?""

Damn right. Those slaves do deserve an apology and reparations for the pain they have suffered. The people who took those slaves from their home and sold them should be punished as should the wealthy who bought them and condemned them to a life of servitude.

One problem.

They are dead Hil. As door knobs. Pushing up the daisies. They have ceased to be.

Both the victims and the culprits are dead. The apology needed to be given while they were around to accept it. What you are asking is for people who have never owned a slave to apologise to either people who are dead and so can't hear them or to people who have never been a slave.

Can you see why I think this is a waste of time? Should I start demanding apologies from Italy for the Roman invasion? They killed Boudicca and technically I guess I came from the region of the Iceni. Come on Italians break out the apologies. I will woad up for the ceremony.

"but P1P that was so long ago. Slavery was much more modern."

Ok, fair enough. World war two. The English and the Germans bombed the shit out of each other. Do I deserve an apology from the German people? Do I fuck. If Hitler (that little one balled meglomaniac) was still alive I'd happily have him apologise to the people who lived through the war but from Germans who weren't even alive or old enough to be involved, why should they have to apologise? The only people apologising should be the people involved on both sides and only those responsible (those bastards should apologise to their own side as well). You feel me?

What say we cut the shit and try to deal with todays problems hmmm? Let's try for once to get the apology to the right people while they are still in a position to hear it? Todays victims of hate crimes could use our help more than the dead, whatever colour they are.

One interesting thing about this debate was that although the "meeting voted overwhelmingly in favour of a formal apology over slavery. (ie people who had to vote in public)

However, in a telephone poll conducted by BBC Points West, 91.7% of nearly 10,000 viewers voted against an apology with 8.3% voting in favour."

I don't doubt that some of those viewers voting against just don't like black people but surely it can't be the whole 10,000. I think a goodly proportion are just fed up of all the political holier than thou bullshit and think we should deal with the real issues.

I guess when you can vote anonymously you don't have the pressure to make sure every one knows you are not a racist and can actually say what you feel. I guess it's a bit like being unable to criticise Israel (and I think that Israel and palestine is big case of pot and kettle although you would think that given Jewish history they would be a little more reluctant to harm innocents whatever the provocation) without being called anti semitic!

I am proud of you anonymous viewers (at least the ones who voted against it as it's crap rather than just the racists).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4760803.stm

Vince or Howard?

you know what bugs me about you? You are constantly happy. You know who you are you smug bastard.

Oh yeah, there you go, swanning about with your incredibly trendy haircut and your silk cowboy suit. I'm pissed off with you because I know how that feels to be the Vince then to have to have a Howard day.

Girls talk about dog days? Try being Howard Moon for a day! When you are Vince Noir you stroll through your day with the confidence of a catwalk model and the sexual force of a charged rhino on acid. Men want to be you and woman want to be with you. You cannot lose.

Normally I am not given to the full on bursts of confidence that attach themselves to the Vince but on a Vince day I find myself with a cheeky grin. I have on occasion turned this grin on the ladies and even essayed a wink.

That's why the constant Vinces bug me. Mind you if I didn't go Howard occasionally would I enjoy the cheekiness being of Vince as much? I guess man wasn't meant to live at those dizzying heights. Maybe it should be enough to visit occasionally? I can still hate those smug buggers that manage to be 100% Vince though!

They bend you over

Right. Back to they way things should be.

Adverts in cinemas.

Bastards.

I can live with trailers. Fair enough, I don't particularly want to watch them but stick them on while we wait for the fat retards who are out buying mountains of greasy crap to find their seats. Adverts though? I am not happy about paying as much as we have to pay for a seat, turning up on time then having to wait 20 minutes while we are bombarded with adverts for crap I don't want.

I stopped going to the cinema for a while as I was fed up. Fed up with the noisy eater of crisps, the chavvy kid on their mobile, the adverts wasting my time and the fool who can't follow a plot and must keep asking the long suffering person next to them who that guy is.

There are better places. I found a cinema that doesn't treat people like cattle. It still has ushers. They even have table service. Best of all it doesn't seem to have the annoying waste of space customers you find in some cinemas (see above).

You pay more, of course you do, but it's worth it.

I will happily pay a couple of quid extra to just be able to sit down and watch a film without all the irritating distractions.

Big corporations forget or never learned what customer service means. So they bend you over and give you the shaft.

Don't accept it people. Don't be a corporate whore. Boycott the rubbish cinemas, seek out the cool ones. The only time companies change is when they feel the financial pinch caused by consumers saying enough is enough.

Another real bitch, while we are on the subject! Adverts on DVDs? What in the name of holy shit are they doing? They rip us off with DVD prices then stick adverts on? They then have the nerve to whine about piracy, which this blog can not condone (understand maybe but not condone).

The world would be a better place without advertising and marketing.... and lawyers!

Damn!

I know I promised but.....

Ok I know I said I'd stay away from serious stuff and just stick to the stuff that pissed me off. Well this does, ok? I guess I could lump all of these things under the title of extremist wankers(football hooligans, terrorists, fundmentalist christians) but I don't like that idea. I prefer to give marks out of ten for the individual and not hold the whole class back after school until someone tells me who threw the bit of paper (I know that I don't always live up to this ideal but it's my blog so you can bite my ass).

Anyway my pet hate today is the animal rights extremists. Don't get me wrong, I support some of the organisations and I agree with some of the goals. I have been vegetarian for over twelve years, I try to buy stuff that hasn't been animal tested and the only animal skin clothing I have is over twelve years old.

Having said that if I ever get seriously ill I would prefer if the medicine has been fully tested. I understand that this is going to mean animal trials. I am pragmatic about it. I have been vegetarian for a long time but if I am ever shipwrecked on an island and the only food is a little piggy that got shipwrecked at the same time then it's bacon for dinner (of course if it's me and an animal rights extremist and a piggy then I guess I could eat the extremist if it makes him feel better).

I understand the arguments (a few years of philosophy will do that to you) and I have decided I believe it's ok to test on animals for necessary reasons. Ok, If animal rights protesters feel the need to step in and take the place of those animals , fine. Drug tests on humans would be more accurate anyway. Of course I expect that all animal rights protesters refuse medical treatment anyway as the majority of things in medicine have been tested on animals. After all if they are threatening other people I assume they have the courage of their convictions. "Sorry son you can't have the medicine it's been tested on animals". Right?

Anyway apart from all the blah, the point is I feel one way, protesters may feel another. We both have a right to our point of view and I insist that they have the right of protest. It's what freedom is all about right? We can hold whatever opinion we want, we should be able to say whatever we want. If people hold opinions that are crazy (and believe me a lot do) I don't think they should be censored (don't get me started on censorship), the sane should laugh at them. It's our right to mercilessly mock the loonies. I promise I wont be upset if someone laughs at me for not believing in god or for believing in freedom of speech (after all that's kind of the point).

On to the thing that pisses me off. Digging up corpses to threaten people who work in or alongside animal testing. Threatening people who work in labs. Threatening to give home addresses and names of people who are shareholders in a company that uses animal testing! This doesn't get me on your side. This makes me lump you in with the other terrorists. Using threats or fear to attain your ends is terrorism and should be treated as such.

Whoops getting a bit serious here again. Good for building up the old rage muscles but not so good for my karma. After all this blog was never intended as a soapbox, more as on line therapy for yours truly.

After all that there is a lighter note. Some guy in Norfolk has been jailed for 28 days for sending pictures of aborted foetuses to hospital staff. He was asked to stop and continued so off he goes to do some porridge. Now he needs hip op and the hospital has refused him treatment as they have a zero tolerance policy to threatening behaviour on staff. They have agreed to treat him if he has any life threatening illnesses but for stuff like hip ops he can whistle.

The really peculiar thing was..

"James Dowson, national co-ordinator of the UK Life League, said: "It is ridiculous. I think it is completely unfair. They are refusing to treat him. Would they refuse a murderer or a paedophile?""

Not sure of your point there James. Are you saying that he's on a par with a paedophile or a murderer? Or you asking for equal rights? You see, he already has equal rights, if a paedophile or murderer threatened staff after being asked to stop they wouldn't receive treatment either! I say fuck him! Fuck him right in the ear!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4750647.stm

Rub the butter in firmly

People who write recipe books write them for people who know what they are doing.

Now I can cook. I also do what the majority of people call cooking, you know, Something out of the freezer, with some form of potato and some form of veg. Everyday stay alive cooking. The thing is when I get the time I like to really cook.

I love to cook stuff that my mother would call "fancy". I also like to bake, you know make my own bread, cakes etc. All this cooking stuff is very relaxing and good for my karma. ok. I'll come clean. It's the cooking or alcoholism, what do you want from me? Blood?

Anyway, I can follow a recipe. I'm not bad at deciding on herbs and spices for a dish. I know my ingredients pretty well. However, when it comes to some recipes they contain sentences like " Rub the butter into the flour to create small crumbs". Simple huh?

No. No it isn't.

In this case you are meant to rub the butter and flour with finger tips. Lifting them out of the bowl to do it. If you dont know this you end up with a big football (yes it is a football not a soccer ball. SHUT UP!) of butter flour and sugar. Luckily a friend helped me out and explained what I needed to do so we could fix it.

Recipe books are reminders of recipes for people who already know what they are doing! Not really sure who I am mad at here but I AM.

Now I just need to know the difference between beating and whisking!