Ice: had a dodgy ride to work today. locking up the bike I noticed it feeling slimey. The hadnlebars and tubes were slippery feeling as if oily. Looking closer, I noticed crystals and realised it was ice. The bike’s metal parts were covered in slighthly crumbly ice and so was I . I had ice on my arms and reflective straps. At this point in time a 6th former feel on the tarmac I’d just ridden over. She was uninjured though. It’s appalling to think aout the conditions and by oblivious journey. If I’d known – then the journey would definitely have been made in the car.

Further to yesterday’s comments on the Cartoons row. I was going to put the heading "what’s wrong with Blasphemy" but I already said that yesterday. It’s interesting that it comes at a time that the UK government is chainging the law on "inciting releigous hatred".

I wonder if religous leaders could be charged with this new law if they were prompting terrorist acts in protest about some cartoons.

The BBC seems to have handled it calmly and very conservatively. A good analogy was drawn today with schoolkids. With badly behaved pupils, teachers are usually reluctant to provoke them, there’s no point setting them up to have a temper tantrum. Likewise…

I’m still struggling to find a reason why blasphemy could be a bad thing. It’s something to do with the nature of religion. Relgious leaders are power brokers, they are a kind of half hidden government. It seems that they use the language of spirituality to feed  their followers. Maybe religous beliefs are as fragile as I suggested yesterday. more thinks later…

"Officers have described the deaths as a "tragic accident"".

Daily Mail "Apocalyptic Scenes"

Daily Express "Hell on Earth"

Associated Press in Amsterdam
Wednesday November 16, 2005
The Guardian

A sparrow that knocked over 23,000 dominoes set up for a world record attempt was shot dead. The Dutch animal protection agency began investigating the claim yesterday.

The bird flew into an exhibition centre on Monday and, after disturbing the event, was chased into a corner and shot dead. It was a common house sparrow, an endangered species. The agency plans to submit the case to prosecutors.

Endemol, the TV firm which organised the event, defended the killing, saying more than 100 people had worked for more than a month setting up the dominoes.

It’s a true story apparently, just check ths link. Revenge is such an ugly thing, if the dominos were down, isn’t it a bit late? What further danger was the poor little bird posing? A sad story.

20°C; impertinant wind; intermittent sun; interludes of rain

The olympics are coming! 

Since the blogs (well…spaces anyway) are full of reference to chavs– here’s a definition.

It’s getting very windy outside, I’ve always wanted to animate a tree in wind; maybe one day when I have some time.

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Oil, wind, linseed- about 45% done

Trying to revive that pavement picture, it’s getting going now that the warm/cold balance is changed. That previous picture used ridiculous colours, they were just like symbols for colours rather than the way we see things. I suspect that there are 2 sessions done since the past time I posted a picture of this little canvas. Maybe the paving slabs should be much warmer in colour nearby; fading to cold further off. The puddles need some reflections too.

So Jackson is found not guilty

Is that just because the prosecution is of poor quality? I can’t help feeling that actually both parties are guilty, M.J. of the charges that he himself admitted to in that TV program, and the prosecution for pursuing him for his money. MJ has suffered physically, but are we supposed to be sympathetic? The US jury says it’s OK for a 46 year old man to sleep with young boys, but from this side of the atlantic- we here can be sacked for merely touching a child on the shoulder. Another and probably separate issue, arises when MJs fans offer fanatical unthinking support. Fine- so he makes pop music that appeals to large numbers, but what are we to think of in the debate about role models for young black males? Here is a man who has spent vast sums of money concealing and removing traces of his racial origins. Why is it that he still has black fans amongst the crowds at all? He clearly does not think it is good to be black, it’s to be avoided at all costs it would seem. I realise that he is hardly a "normal " person and is not representative, but that doesn’t explain the worship he receives from those fans.

read here: BBC