Books I won’t be buying my children

Not good at accents

A bag 'O Sh**te

An acquaintance of mine, who's proud of his degree from the University of Life, thinks this art, spirituality and expression stuff is bollox. "Let's sort out global warming, war and famine first" he says.

I say "Hear, Hear. Damned right we should. But tell me then, why are you working for Tescos and not Unseco?"

Do your bit, and pay your taxes to support those that have the ability and genius to make a big difference. We should play our little parts, and contribute in what small way we can, to improving our human condition. Let's not all do the same thing. It'll get a bit crowded.

This clip came to mind;

The Power of Others

First, a bit of light relief;


The power of others

Typically, it provoked me into thinking. Thinking about the absolute power of groups. After I stopped pissing myself of course.

I really admire the old man in the first scene. I love that as he ambles down the back lane he steps aside to let the flash mob by. Keeping his laundry bag safely from the unwashed masses, he quietly lets them pass. Notice the kids at the front looking back, surprised at his non-reaction. Once they've gone he continues on his own, singular path.

I want to be him.

But I know that in my heart, I'd revert to my innate programming, turn and run with the crowd.

If enough people tell you something is true you will most probably believe it. Perhaps even if they tell you that their God exists.

I can hear all you empirical atheists baying right now; Surely we don't rely on others to tell us what to believe? We rely on evidence to inform our lives don't we? Real, tested, randomised controlled information.

Of course we do.

The truth, if there is one, is that we all rely on belief. All of the time.

The world is warming. Kindness is good. MRSA is bad. Five veg and two litres of water per day...

Unfortunately I'm not a meteorological expert. Neither am I a bio-chemist. Nonetheless, I believe the above to be true. Though the water thing may be bullshit.

We cannot test every 'fact' before we use them to inform our actions. We rely on best guess estimations. Using sources that we trust. Sorry, using sources that we believe that we should trust.

So before we get too cocky, us atheists, let's remember that we're all floating along together in the belief boat that we call life...

Top 58 lists of 2006

Lists are important. Lists are good. People seem to like them. We need more of them on the internet. Until this happens, here's my list of the top 58 lists posted on the internet in 2006. Ordered in a strict hierarchy of randomness.

Perhaps this'll start a trend, then we will have more lists of the lists of the top lists created.... Now we're cooking.

So, here we have it;

1. Best and worse places to live
2. Worst album covers, ever
3. Beauty Salon- 12 Tips They Don't Want You To Know
4. Bands that broke up in 2006
5. 100 most annoying things in 2006
6. The Top 35 Torrent Sites of 2006
7. The 80 rules of boozing
8. A list of Fallacious Arguments
9. Neowin's Freeware Alternative List
10. The Oops List
11. Freeware list
12. The Global Rich List
13. The Universal Packing List
14. Free academic podcasts
15. Building a smarter to do list
16. List of cognitive biases
17. Lists of Lists! Wehey!!!
18. List of tips for linux
19. List of free cartoons
20. Get rich slowly - a list of personal development sites
21. Ten Notable Open-Source Legal Battles
22. "Superfoods" that Everyone Needs to Stay Alive and Healthy
23. 15 tips to choose a good text type
24. The Top Ten Lamest Superheroes Of All Time
25. 7 High-Tech Watches You Can’t Buy
26. Top 10 Independent Games of the Year [2006]
27. Linux incompatibility list
28. 11 Tips to boost your metabolism
29. The 10 most outrageous civil liberties violations of 2006
30. List of Threatened Species in 2006
31. The Times Rich List 2006
32. NME: The Cool List 2006
33. The Death List
34. Time: 50 Coolest web sites
35. 2006 LifeHack Review: Best 50 hacks for your Life
36. Top 100 Network Security Tools
37. Guardian: 100 most useful sites
38. NYT: 100 Notable books of the year
39. Top 10 games of the year:
40. Time; Best inventions 2006
41. Yahoo! Top searches of 2006
42. The best apps of 2006
43. 10 things that will make of break your website
44. Urgo's 2006 list of April Fool's Jokes
45. The 29 Healthiest foods on the planet
46. 10 web trends that should die in 2006
47. Fortune: 100 best companies to work for
48. Pitchfork: Top 50 albums of 2006
49. Top 10 films of 2006
50. PCWorld: The 100 Best Products of the year
51. Foreign Policy: The top ten stories you missed in 2006
52. PC Mag; Top 99 Undiscovered Web sites
53. Ask Men: Top 99 Women 2006
54. Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in America
55. Most popular words 2006
56. Time: The best photos of the year 2006
57. Hacking Knowledge: 77 Ways to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Better
58. Pitchfork: Top 25 Music Videos of 2006

And my list of reasons not to use lists;

Learn to think for yourself - you are really quite interesting.

Whatever....

Finding out what lifts our spirits in a godless world doesn't alway have to be esoteric and philosophical.

This made me laugh my pants off.



A fake of course, but still funny.

A glimpse into hades

"As part of a series on housing and ways of life in the UK, Morris and Myra Jeffers talk about living in a park home..."

Welcome to the lives of Morris and Myra Jeffers. Let all ye who enter abandon hope. Look at them. Look them in the eyes and you'll experience the true horror of their existence. They're the purveyors of a particularly vile brand of lifestyle; mediocrity, dogmatic conformity and bigotry.

I know I'm being harsh and judgemental, so read the article and make your own mind up. It's a piece of photo journalism primarily, with short written passages. You'll probably be horrified, amused and puzzled all at the same time. I'm still not convinced it's not a spoof. I can't stop looking at them. It's like a painful scab that you can't stop picking. I want to laugh at them, but slap them at the same time.

Here's some of my favourite quotes from the article:

• "Myra says the growing multi-racial nature of their former home town was one factor in their decision to move. "I don't believe in all this mixing," she says."

• "The 10mph speed limit is not always observed though, says Morris: "I heard that at the liaison committee the other day."

• "A couple of years ago we went on one of those Saga tours – Myra had a mini-stroke on the last day. It was all the excitement and probably too much wine."

• "I wouldn’t want to live in a brick house now. They are so heavy whereas these are light and easy to clean."

It lifts my spirits that small minded pedantic bigots like Morris and Myra seem to want to coalesce together in park homes, gated communities and social clubs. We should celebrate the fact that they want to build barriers to keep the rest of us anarchists out.

Lets supply them with the Daily Mail and keep them scared of the real world with its vagaries and uncertainties,unfairness and crueleness. At least it keeps them off our backs.