Look Forward / Look Back

You're sitting in Starbucks with your Mocca Chocca Grande Latte, staring out the window at the relentless grey tide of humanity streaming past in the pouring rain. Faced with such as scene, is it any wonder your mind ponders the greyer side of humanity and civilisation?

Well, consider that your Mocca Chocca Grande Latte is half full, and not half empty. If you're willing to do that, consider a random businessman outside the window.

Think about what he's wearing. Think about the materials, the weaving, the cut, the tools, the craftsmanship, the manufacturing technology, the design and the millions of people over the millenia who were necessary to bring clothing technology to the point where that random businessman can buy a wool suit off the peg for £300.

Consider the laptop he's carrying. Again, think about the science, the theory, the testing, the chemistry, the technology, the design, the technicians, the engineers and the trillions of pounds invested over only two decades to take the state of the art from the size of a small house to the size of a large book that costs £500.

Consider also that he is walking down the street with little concern for his safety or wellbeing or the fear of attack. Think about the centuries of law and order, history, social stability, war, diplomacy, courage and sacrifice that allow him to do that.

Think about his trip home. Think about the invention of the wheel, steam locomotion, the internal combustion engine, metalled roads, signalling, policing, aerodynamics and applied thermodynamics that lets him get home withn 24 hours from anywhere on the planet.

Think about when he gets home. Think about governments, the councils, mining, processing, building technology, hot and cold running water, santiation, garbage pickup and the home security that ensures he gets a good nights sleep and doesn't wake up dead.

When you've thought about that, look up. Think about going up and up, out of atmosphere, out of the solar system, out of the galaxy, out of the universe. That mind boggling scale is precisely the scale of human endeavour.

You and the things in the world are the result of all human activity in the millenia to this point. That's pretty amazing.

The Bible is Wrong

Not my words. Don't kill the prophet! Back, zealot!. This is from the horse's mouth. The Catholic Church has now stated that elements of The Bible are untrue.

The regular Reader (yes, THE reader) will know my thoughts on Organised Religion, Christianity in particular. I personally have always thought that The Bible is more akin to a compendium of short stories, rather than a blow by blow historical account told from various points of view. I should add that, being an atheist and having only read snippets of The Bible, my dissection of the contents thereof should not detract from the U-turn of centuries of Christian dogma.

Are they saying that, actually, we shouldn't have gone to South America and killed all those Incas and Aztecs, etc for sacrificing all those other people¹? It was a typo in our Big Book of Orders. It turns out you aren't allowed to kill people and cut out their hearts, and all that other stuff.

Are they saying that going to far off lands, giving them a Bible and saying "read this and do what it says, or we'll kill you" was wrong? Put simply like that, it is wrong, regardless of whether the Bible is "right" or "wrong".

Genesis is "conflicting"? So He didn't create the universe in six days? That always sounded far-fetched. That's like a government saying "We'll fix everything wrong with this country, for free!". Putting aside my atheism, creating a half-decent universe takes a month at the very least, even allowing for omnipotence.

Quote: "should not expect 'total accuracy' from the Bible". So, the only decent parts of the whole book are rubbish? Water into Wine? Walking on Water? Parting the Red Sea? Plagues of nastiness? All those cunning plot devices that make the Bible quite the page-turner aren't true? Well, what do we do now?

This does rather leave a couple of billion rather out in the cold, theologically² speaking. That's like saying to a Capitalist "You know all those bits of paper with pictures and numbers on them you crave so much? They're not worth anthing!"³.

So, like removing Saddam from Iraq, those who have suffered "deity decapitation" ⁴ now have a yawning power vacuum into which all sorts of nasties may get sucked. It's a dangerous universe out there. Keep your undying soul inside the vehicle at all times.

¹ Which is hypocritical at best.
² As supposed to 'meteorologically'.
³ Which of course they aren't. But don't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret.
⁴ Which I hereby Copyright, by the way.

Saddam's Trial - Day 1

Thought I'd just jot some comments on this as it progresses.

Showing just how momentous an event this is, BBC News' website has a FULL WIDTH headline! Must be serious...

Several of Saddam's cronies are in there with him. The Judge first asked Saddam to identify himself, at which point he started prevaricating with great aplomb. Maybe he watched the Clinton impeachment trial and was impressed. The judge then asked the other guys their names and, surprise surprise, they all gave waffly answers as well. I would have thought it would have been better to let the others go first, rather than give Saddam the chance to dictate their approach to questioning.

At this point, the judge gives up in the face of such high-powered, Clinton-esque flanneling, to which the interpreters whispered, but very audible, response is "circus, absolute circus".

Almost as much fun as the defendants response to questioning is the interpreters coverage of the trial. The audio and interpretation is patchy, and you can hear every breath, sigh, fart, slurp, keystroke and whispered comment them make. It reminds me of Terry Wogan's coverage of The Eurovision Song Contest; not as funny, but just as irreverent.

Ooh, Someone's phone just rang, playing the Nokia Tune. I half expected Dom Joly from Trigger Happy TV to stand up with his massive 'phone: "HELLO! WHAT! NO, I'm IN SADDAM'S TRIAL! NO, IT'S BORING".

The guy who must be The Prosecutor (dressed in legal garp) is reading out the charges, to which the Defence Lawyers (dressed in shabby suits) are shouting randomly. Apparently, there is some disagreement about the point of the trial and which crimes are the focus of the trial. It doesn't sound particularly like a courtroom; more like a pub after a football match in which one team was playing rugby.

The clothes are interesting. The Judge and Prosecutor are all done up in the usual stuff, trying to add some credence to the proceedings. No wigs though, which is a pity. The Defence Lawyers look like they've slept in their suits, hoping to gain some sympathy by appearing to be court-appointed through LegalAid. Saddam looks very snappy, although he apparently has a personal dresser (not his words - more like "They made me wear this suit").

Someone in the interpreters booth is typing either on or with what sounds like a pestle and mortar, and getting a decent words-per-minute out of it too. This is all happening while someone, probably someone else, is rhythmically putting a mic too close to a speaker, so we get some really nice feedback. If it wouldn't have led to critics decrying American involvement in the trial, it would have been nice to get the producers of Judge Judy in to get some decent coverage. Maybe get Judge Judy herself to run the show. She would've got Saddam to 'fess up his name at the very least.

Today's broadcast has come to a close. There's been a lot of shouting, some confusion as to who people really are and why they are there, and what they are there for, and the children do not know where lieth the thing belonging to their father that has a raffiawork base, and an attachment. It's all very Monty Python, except without the production values or Terry Gilliam's animations. Now that would be something. Instead of boring court artist renderings of the scene, get Terry to animate it. Ahh, the curse of the Ideas Man. No talent to carry them through!!

Oh, yeah, and he pleaded Not Guilty. Evidently, a bigger boy did it and ran away...or one of his doppelgangers.