Nice one...

Just listening to a Radio 4 program about Dr Samuel Johnson. In Googling for a picture of him I came across a detail of his original dictionary and it made me smile:

OATS. n. f. [Saxon] A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.


(Oh, my wife is semi Scottish by the way and hence I hold the brave battling Scots in far higher esteem than did Dr Johnson, it would appear.)

Thanks for that...

I posted a parcel this morning. I asked the lady what my options were and she said that First Class would be five pounds and Parcel Force would be four pounds ninety five.

"What's the difference?", I asked.
"5p", she said.

Still chuckling...

The other day on Radio 4 I heard part of a comedy. One of the characters was bemoaning the dilution of the English language with French phrases and he said something like this:

"I don't know, it's precisely that sort of laissez faire attitude that's bringing into question the very raison d'etre of the English language."

Love it :-)

Curse of the Golden Flower

I just finished watching the above film and, WOW!! My eyes popped and my jaw dropped increasingly as this film unfolded - how do they make films like this?? "Visually stunning" is spot on here, I mean, it seemed that every scene was a work of art, really!

What struck me powerfully was the sheer grandeur in which the Emperor and the royals lived. Forget your Buckingham Palace, no, no , no, I saw no Tupperware here my friends, this was ridiculous. Clothes made entirely of gold, incredible carpets everywhere, walls covered in the finest work, servants instantly available to tend to the every need, thousands of soldiers ready and pleased to die at the snap of the fingers - and yet...

...and yet it made me think of Solomon "in all his glory". The Queen of Sheba pitched up with, what she must have thought, an impressive selection of gifts and demonstrations of wealth but even she was "overwhelmed". 1 Kings 10 tells the story and goes on to describe, in part, his incredible wealth. God prospered Solomon to such an extent because, when in a dream, God asked him what was the thing he most desired, he asked for wisdom, "That I may discern between good and bad". As long as Solomon kept the true faith he would be the wisest and the richest in all the world. We know it didn't last, of course, and Solomon turned away from God in the end.

What's my point? Well, these things are so impressive but don't mean much to God. God's economy is about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These are the fruit of the Spirit.

To quote a kids' song: "Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart."

Carbon-offsetting: the rich and the poor...

A website I visit quite regularly is Arts & Letters Daily. I found this on my path as a Homedad needing something to keep my brain ticking over - it's a fantastic site, have a look!

Yesterday before bed I checked it out and found an article on carbon-offsetting - go on, read it, it's veeeeery interesting.

The neat point it makes is that it can only work as long as the third world poor remain poor. Think about it. If they all become as "developed" as us, whom will we pay to make up for our rich lifestyles, eh? Yes, indeed.

Well, I have the answer. Calculate how much CO2 you're putting into the atmosphere (through doing the ironing, or whatever...), work out your "offsetting cost", give me the cash and I'll tell you it doesn't make any difference to climate change anyway. You will sleep better at night, your conscience clear.