[disturbing music] and the nature of coincidence

Shows we have to be careful what we say on our blogs and need to do a bit of checking. I dropped in a throwaway line:

Still, I was glad I didn't come last.

... about the 2007 Weblog Awards, thinking, in the back of my mind, that it was some girl blogger who was in there. Oops - it was a long time blog colleague Steve, the Pub Philosopher and I have to say he was pretty good about it but I'm still kicking myself for having written it.

Which brings me to the point I made at his place about "coincidences" which might not be coincidences at all. You see, I was playing a mournful ditty called "Indifference":

Boomp3.com

... a French accordion thing possibly played in an out of the way French cafe during the last war. It sounds to me like an attempt to be cheerful at a stressful time one evening in a place quite foreign to my eyes and yet reeking of exotic despair at the same time, a la Piaf.

A haunting, unimportant little piece which gives me the shudders and I don't know why.

With these thoughts in mind, it struck me that it might be an idea to do a post on, say, "Music which can move you to tears but it sometimes has the opposite effect too." Then I noticed that the post on awards had a comment and ... of course, it was Steve. So I followed the link back and there was his musical post.

Why does some music move us and some just unnerves us? "Indifference" is a depressing ditty for me, something foreign, rendolent of an empty late-night bar, as cold as the coming new dark age , a song about the pointlessness of it all. It makes me restless, wanting to go over there again and immerse myself in that despair. Yes ... well ... anyway.

Bet it affects you [or not] completely differently. Maybe you'd care to mention some ditties which have a profound effect on you.

[friday chinwagging] setting the world to rights

We were just having a laugh about the "poor" Japanese whose standard of living is so low that they've just cut their rate from 0.5% [for seven years] to 0.3%. Oh, the life they must have been leading.

Back home, we see that it's possible to gain your PhD in Motorways Services. WTF? Do we have universities of Hamburgerology yet? Have you noticed that whatever you do to try to get a job, you need a CCSA or GTB/3 or CLAIT or whatever.

"Uh, I'd like to sweep the streets like."

"Fine, email your CV, send proof of your ADSS and by the way, are you a member of the GSPSS?"

'You wot?"

The discussion then got onto Broony and why the Tories haven't latched on to a little winner in Broony's stategy to borrow big, save the country by plunging us all into massive debt, then exit at the next election, laying it all on Dave or whoever the Tory leader will be. Why haven't the Tories pushed this angle yet?


H/T My mate

[james bond] no solace, it seems

The Telegraph has a nice review today. Looking good, James. Can't wait.

[rearguard action] not enough on ross

This is not good enough. He has to go. or else bring the others back, dock them a proportional amount of their pay and give them a final warning too. This stinks.

[roman catholic church] meets the pc world

Don't you think he looks super-cool here?

This Sex Drive Test for the Catholic clergy - well, it was predictable PCishness but if a bishop or monsignor or whatever they're termed in the RC church can't make a decision on a newcomer, then I'd suggest he is not right for the job.

A senior churchman said a series of sex scandals had contributed to the rewriting of the guidelines. The authors said screening would help avoid "tragic situations" caused by what they termed psychological defects.

The guidance says the voluntary tests should also aim to vet for those with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies". Among other traits that might make a candidate unsuitable for the priesthood, the advice lists "uncertain sexual identity," "excessive rigidity of character" and "strong affective dependencies".

The document also makes reference to heterosexual urges. Seminarians should be barred if testing makes it "evident the candidate has difficulty living in celibacy: That is, if celibacy for him is lived as a burden so heavy that it compromises his affective and relational equilibrium", it says.

Any organization requires people as section managers who are able to process incomers without an HR department. HR is fine for a confirmation or nay but the whole reason the section manager is in place is because he/she has vast experience in this area. They should back this experience and if found wanting, then they're either moved sidewards or out.

The Church, with its financial underpinning, is an organization, a corporation [just ask P2 about that]. This blog is against that but as it is a fact of life, then it might as well act professionally.

Why can't the Catholic Church run a system like the Anglicans anyway, where marriage is allowed [real marriage, I mean]?

[bloggers choice awards 09] if you're that way inclined

It appears someone has nominated me for the Bloggers Choice Awards '09.

These things fill me with dread - as was shown in the Weblog Awards where someone nominated me, I made the finals, then got nowhere. Iain Dale was in those awards too and also got nowhere and I think most people would agree that the one who won it was a travesty. Still, I was glad I didn't come last.



In the Weblogs, I made no attempt to promote this blog and for that I was castigated by email, on the grounds of "if someone goes to the trouble of nominating you, at least you could mention it". Three of the BPers were a bit annoyed too, when I dropped out of the BP awards, in 2007, one of them writing to me: "Hey, I voted for you and now you're not there."



So I'm going to put these badges in the sidebar and if you're that way inclined, you might mosey on over and give this blog a click but I don't think they're actually taking votes on this yet. Seems to me that they've just closed the 2008 awards.

I'm in the categories Best Political Blog [wouldn't mind this one], Best Blog of All Time [mind boggles at that one, have to laugh] and Best Blogging Host [which I don't fully understand, to be honest].

Anyway, there they are.

By the way, Bloghounds are soon to run an internal awards, pontificating on the blogosphere in a number of "fun categories" so we'll keep you informed on those.