[snow] it’s falling, it’s falling, it’s falling

The snow came this morning – myriad great flakes of it in the air, in the sky, over the earth. All the jangling, mangled bits of metal and dull concrete roads, the trees, the fences – all are covered in icecream white smoothness.

If it continues, great mounds will build up at the side of hard packed paths where the grader came through. The weak sun will shine down over all and this man will be at one with the world.

I don’t know why I need snow. All I know is that when it comes, all is well and even the atmosphere changes, a hush comes over all as couples walk along paths, arm in arm and children laugh and throw snowballs [admittedly with rocks inside].

This got me to thinking. The place I’d most wish to live in the world, if I could arrange it would have:

# the sea or some body of water somewhere within range to sail on in summer;
# proper snow – great mounds of it, constantly through winter;
# good downhill skiing within range;
# temperatures of +28, in summer, down to -12 in winter;
# very pretty women;
# reasonably cultured language and accents;
# a bit of an old worldly atmosphere;
# simple, scrumptious cuisine;
# care for their aged, which is where I’m inexorably headed [just getting in early, that’s all].

So, where should this blogger be living? Where should you be living?

[personal spirituality] hard to pinpoint

There’s an aspect to us to which most give scant regard – the spiritual. Lord Mancroft’s quote [1979] was amusing and yet contained a grain of truth when he wrote:

Cricket – a game which the English, not being a spiritual people, have invented in order to give themselves some conception of eternity.

We often come close to the spiritual. Ian, of Imagined Community, wrote:

[The] closest I have ever come to knowing G-d to exist was during a Russian Orthodox funeral mass sung in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on Hare Island in St Petersburg, burial place of many of the Tsars. You know I'm agnostic; if I did believe, I think the Russian Orthodox church would still be far too mediaeval for my taste.

But as I sat in that cathedral, and I listened to the unaccompanied male voice choir, and the harmonies flowed through me, and the impossibly low notes reverberated around me; as I heard the beauty which man could attain, and contemplated the devotion which inspired both composer and performers; well, I might not have known it for sure to be G-d, but I did know it to be sublime.

Every time your wife lies in your arms and you’re at one with the world, it seems that’s also close to it. As when we stand on the point of the cliff and gaze on the raging sea. As when we sail – the lonely sea and the sky.

Most aspects of the metaphysical I don’t purport to understand. I also don’t understand electricity but I know it turns lights on. There are clear ways to conduct oneself contained in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere. There are triumvirates of aspiration – hope, faith and charity.

I know one thing. When I cease to place myself at the centre and admit to my true place in the world, to relinquish my sovereignty, as it were, to submit, then things start to happen. They always have and they are doing so today.

Firstly, comfort comes and I can’t describe this – it’s like restfulness inside. Then things really do fall in place, in line, the physical elements of the daily grind and the ugly conjunction of unfortunate circumstances ceases to grate, like a jackhammer in a road and become more the strains of fine music.

Understanding comes too. It’s now easy to see I was wrong, that the falling out I may have recently had stemmed from my own wilfulness. And so on. It’s like an expansion of the intellect. And the health snaps into place too. Eat better, sleep better, the scales fall away.

Don’t forget strength. Moral strength gives strength of the will. A snivelling, gibbering weakling, such as I could easily have been, isn’t any more. Not so much ‘protected from harm’ – that was never promised – but certainly knowing how to meet adversity and that gives courage.

Douglas Adams had a nice way of describing people in this hyper-elevated state:

“The serene lot of bastards.”

That’s the point where it all starts to unravel and go wrong. People who’ve discovered this elixir now want to go out and spread it, to evangelize, to force all others to experience it. That’s why I’m diametrically opposed to compulsion, to evangelism, to religion. Yes, religion – the bane of civilization. I can’t imagine anyone I’d least like to be with than a religious nut. When they want to talk G-d, I go to the pub.

That’s why Marx was right about the opiate of the masses. That’s why the Muslims are right about submitting to the will of G-d and I don’t mean the evils of Sharia Law. That’s why the Buddhists have something there. They’re all skirting around different aspects of the one central truth. Plus blandishments like ‘we’re all children of the universe’. Well, we are. That’s why the Australian aborigines had it right before western values and alcohol destroyed their spirituality.

This is not to say, in any way, that all religions are right. Religion is the bane of civilization and has caused more destruction than any other factor. It’s because the human factor enters into it, it becomes a system of oppression and the ones at the top are the worst.

There really is a spiritual aspect though; there are ways to act and they’re all written down. And when a society is at one with its code of conduct and when that code is non-destructive and is based on simple common sense values, then good things come of it.

But they can’t accrue unless we have our personal spirituality sorted out first.

[blogfocus saturday] on the efficacy of alcohol

Just who is this summer honey? Clue – she’s in this Blogfocus.

1] Work – the curse of the drinking classes. Drink – the elixir from heaven or the breaker of homes? Fourteen bloggers give you their take on the demon drop. Mr. Eugenides kicks off:

There is a binge-drinking culture in this country: there are too many people storing up long-term health problems for themselves. People need to take more responsibility for their actions. Beyond this incontrovertible bromide, though, I don't know what the answer is; but I know it's not treating us like children. Lumping those of us who often go out for a drink of a Friday night and sometimes wake up with a sore head on Saturday morning, in with the alcoholics, the all-day drinkers, the genuinely habitual, and heavy, consumers of alcohol, just seems to me to be daft.

2] From the Baron at Gates of Vienna, it appears it’s not only on this side of the pond either.

Dymphna and I can testify, through long association with Charlottesville and UVa, that it does indeed have a reputation as a hard-drinking “party” college. Virginia Tech may give it a run for its money, but the University of Virginia is definitely where the children of the upper middle class want to go for an alcohol-friendly environment. Local parents out here in the boonies know the University’s major attraction, and it makes them worry if they have a kid who gets good enough grades to be accepted there.

3] The Cityunslicker, as part of one meme, listed these, among others, including disclosures about his drinking propensity:

1. I don't actually work in the City, geographically speaking;
2. I have never owned any shares;
3. The animals that scare me most are mice and any other types of rodents;
4. As a drinking lightweight, I would easily lose to a small teenage Chinese girl in a drinking competition.

Eleven more bloggers plus the Mystery Blogger here.

[charming situation] can't comment on my own blog

1] Every single post, Blogger asks me to switch to Beta. I ignore it;

2] When I go to someone else's Beta, I have to use a Google Account to comment;

3] My own blog now asks me to comment in the Beta way, by asking for my Google Account;

4] When I fill it in, it says I have no Google Account, [which I have just used to comment on someone else's blog];

5] I can't comment on my own post.

Fine.

6] I decide I finally have to try this Beta out, create a new blog, then go to switch it to Beta;

7] Beta says that at this time, it can't switch me because they're only switching a limited number of blogs and I'm not one of them. They further say that one or more of my blogs is unswitchable and therefore the rest are also unswitchable;

8] I succumb, cross my fingers and go to switch ALL my blogs;

9] They say sorry but one or more of my blogs ... but one day I can 'join in the fun'. They ask me if the comment was helpful. I press: 'No.'

10] They say thank you for my comment and at that point I jump up and run around the room screaming and gibbering like an idiot, muttering obscenities and wanting to kick the screen in, which is counterproductive and besides, it's actually Blogger I want to kick in anyway, isn't it?

I calmly post to you that I can't comment on your comments at this moment, dear commenters. I'm really, very, very sorry. How long Blogger will play this practical joke I know not.

[children’s health] now, whom can we blame

Here’s one article which blames the school for children’s ills: Canadian schools report:

43 per cent of boards had air-quality complaints in the 12 months prior to the end of the last academic year — and 30 per cent of boards did not respond to that question;
41 per cent of boards had cases of mould in those 12 months; 26 per cent did not respond;
32 per cent of school boards have counsellors in all their schools;
50 per cent of the boards have individual schools which have contracts with Coca-Cola or Pepsi to provide soft drinks and snacks;
26 per cent of school boards say they have daily physical education this year.

And speaking of childhood obesity, which we weren’t, more and more of the darlings are looking more and more like rolly-pollies as time goes by. So whom to blame here? We could try the fast food companies. Or we could blame the parents, finally. And what to do about it? Put them on Atkins?

Or fund schools properly, train teachers properly, teach children properly, including physical training and appeal to parents to start taking responsibility for their children? And stop covering up?

[whales] drawn north by melting ice

Two decades ago, hunters, scientists and other northern travellers usually reported about six killer whales a year in the waters of western Hudson Bay. By 2000, the number of sightings in that one area had ballooned to more than 30 annually.

The reason for the increase in killer whale numbers is unclear. But Federal researcher Jeff Higdon, who works with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Winnipeg, said his research shows a strong correlation between increased sightings and the decline of sea ice.

Apart from ignoring the journo-cringeworthy term ‘ballooning’ and admitting the reason is unclear, nevertheless, NASA studies suggest that for more than 25 years, winter sea ice diminished by about 1.5 per cent per decade. But in the last two years, melting has occurred at rates 10 to 15 times faster.

So what? It puts the Inuit hunters under pressure to survive for a start. So what, you ask again? Don’t know. Just thought I’d mention it.

[connex] can only locate 10% of its trains

Everybody loves Connex … according to Connex.

Many Brits have a sneaking admiration for the go-ahead perspicacity of Australia, particularly in cricket. I wonder what they’ll think after this story. Have you ever heard of Connex? Of the Brit disaster? Of how the company lost its contracts?

Australia obviously hadn’t heard about it because they were then allowed downunder to wreak their particular brand of havoc:

Melbourne’s rail operator, Connex, can pinpoint the location of trains on as little as 10 per cent of its network, The Sunday Age has found. More than three years after a damning report found the lack of a "real-time" display of train positions was a factor in a crash between a suburban train and a V/Line country train, Connex has admitted there has been no upgrade of Melbourne's old train-monitoring system.

My questions are 1] who approved the giving of the contract to this inept company in Britain; 2] why didn’t Australia learn from the lesson and 3] why aren’t the directors behind bars?

[creaking earth] everything normal, all ok

There’ve been no strange storms in Europe, no wild storms in Canada and the drought and flooding in Australia isn’t happening.

I've just come in from outside, wet through, where there is usually minus 10 and heaps of snow at this point in January and I'm lying if I tell you there's plus 2, light rain and a gale. It's not happening at all.

There’s no climate change and the Chinese haven't fired anything into space.

Everything’s normal, all’s ok. Bloggers, journos and pollies know far more than scientists about such matters, after all.

So, one last time, it's not happening, all right? Trust me on this.

[al gore] speculation is the name of the game

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both have strikes against them. As this Age article states:

Although Clinton has proved herself a highly capable senator, worries abound about her electability. And then there's the recurring query that worried Democrats whisper to each another: Is Bill behaving? Obama certainly qualifies as the next new thing, and … yet, in the age of terrorism, it will be a tall test for a first-term senator with no real Washington accomplishments to persuade the country that he's ready to be commander in chief.

That dynamic of doubt is sparking renewed interested in Al Gore.

"More and more people are asking, 'What about Al Gore?' " says Steve Grossman, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "If Al Gore were to announce for president, he would be a first-tier candidate on day one. Instead of it being Hillary and Obama on the covers of the national magazines, you would have three faces there."

Of course, this is the season of all sorts of speculation but the more I read of this, the more one looks at historic US presidential run ups such as this and this and the likelihood that the Democrats might struggle for the presidency with the current candidates, it might be worth a second glance at this Al Gore factor.

[apologies] higham's guide to doing it right

This blog is fed up to the back teeth with all this apologizing. Here are two of the more recent ones:

# ABC rebuked "Grey's Anatomy" co-star Isaiah Washington on Thursday for using an anti-gay comment this week and Washington issued a lengthy apology.

# Redford Says Bush Owes An Apology

As a service to readers, here is a link to an apology-help-write site and below is my blank which you’re welcome to copy and use:

I, [insert name here], formally and unreservedly apologize to [insert name here] for any offence or damage I may have caused [insert time frame] and wish to add, even though it in no way mitigates the deep humiliation and injury caused by my remarks, that I was not myself at the time and in no sense either believe or support the said remarks and further state that by calling [insert name again] a [terrorist, prat, chav – fill in your own], I was well out of order and wish him [or her] the very best for the future.

Always have this at hand, should you ever need to apologize, following a mouth-off-first-think-later type situation. Thank you and sorry.