Opinions
Well, I’m against this ridiculous war. Personally couldn’t care less about UN legality or whatever. Taking life is wrong, the deeper teachings say one should give up one’s own life rather than take another’s (it’s more subtle than this, but it’ll do here). What is needed in these situations is wisdom and I don’t see a lot of it.
Just think:
If I hit you then it’s OK for you to hit me, it legitimises it. The war “proves” all of the allegations of bias and mayhem that the Arab nations have been making against the west for all these years. It insults the dead and recruits more extremists. Education and attacking poverty are the only answers to terror. One life is too many, and no, before you start on that worn-out rubbish, I’m not defending Saddam, get a grip. Two wrongs do not make a right, never have, never will. I lack the vision to see where the ultimate good may lie, I’m only a simple human being and won’t pretend otherwise.
If it’s OK for “us” to effect regime change using violence then it’s OK for “them” to do the same to us. So watch out Tony, George, and co. you’re making terror legitimate. Have you thought about that?
Music
Listening to Fishbone, Truth and Soul is pretty accessible, The Reality of My Surroundings quite hard – I found Junkie’s Prayer very sad. If you believe the web guide to the band they haven’t got the success they deserve. I can half see it because they are so eclectic, still interesting.
23 Mar : Buddha season on BBC2
Not bad, I liked what Richard Gere said but noticed that he still has ego to call his foundation that helps displaced Tibetans the Gere Foundation. I suppose that the celeb name helps raise money. I can’t fault the motivation though and I’m glad someone with the power has helped others. I have heard that the foundation also helps the diaspora’s neighbours so that there isn’t any resentment. I wonder if the politicians in the UK and elsewhere have the sense to learn from this example?
23 Mar : Llangollen : Mile end mill
Borrowed a Perception Amp to try. Not what I’m looking for, a little more interesting than the Big EZ but not enough of a difference. Borrowed a Transformer and fell in love with it. Would like to try it with the medium end caps. Got talking to an owner who said the long end caps are like clown’s feet and very tippy. Fran, the manager, recons that it might be a bit long with the caps on for the famous summer rivers in England. Nose wouldn’t bury without the caps unless there was a lot of current.
22 Mar : Thornberry’s Movie
Took the kids to this. Very good, very moral, lots of jokes and of course the bad guys lose. Gentle entertainment.
16th March Outdoors show : NEC
First time to one of these events. It was interesting if very tiring. They had a pool with a waterfall so that the play boaters could compete. It looked good except that they kept being driven to the sides and running out of space. I wonder if we could put something like this at Merseysport in the Albert dock in Liverpool to add some interesting paddling. I may have a think about this.
I sat in various boats, still looking at Liquid Logic, but I really liked the Wavesport Transformer. It has different length end fittings depending upon what you want to do in the water. They guys from Pirahna wanted me to get their Sub 6 200 and dissed the Transformer.
15th March : Diary of an Action Man : Unity Theatre, Liverpool
Took Jon and a friend to this play. Very well done, some of the actors had disabilities and there was signing throughout but they did it so well that it worked and wasn’t a problem. The plot revolves around a small boy who wants his dad to come back home, his dad was a soldier and he has fantasies about him being action man. Well acted and put together without being worthy. I didn’t realise (but it’s obvious) that deaf people use mobile phones to communicate over distance using texts. One of the irritating blights of modern life actually has some kind of upside.