I'm sure I must be losing my mind... I found these marbles on eBay Australia, I wonder if they'll work as a replacement?
MaFt
Monday, February 27, 2006
Dammit
Don't you just hate it when you were about to say something great, wonderful and world-changing and then forget what it was? Kind of like when you rush upstairs 3 steps at a time to get... oh... what did I rush upstairs for? Usually to solve the latter I can go back downstairs and carry in with what I was doing before I'd rushed upstairs and after a while it'll come back to me; I can then walk carefully up all 13 steps (don't ask why we have 13, I know most only have 12 but our house is cleary special) nice and slowly in case my memory gets left behind again. Problem solved, nice and simple. However, I can't even try that approach this time cos I can't even remember what I was doing when I thought of this wonderful thing to write about!
I'm sure I must be losing my mind... I found these marbles on eBay Australia, I wonder if they'll work as a replacement?
MaFt
I'm sure I must be losing my mind... I found these marbles on eBay Australia, I wonder if they'll work as a replacement?
MaFt
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
This Old Chestnut
Am I a man or a monkey? Was I made like this or did i evolve from nothing? I believe I was created and that mankind is seperate from the animal kingdom. You may say that I am a creationist, however, I simply believe what the Bible tells me.
Two articles have caught my eye today, the first being in The Register and titled 'Creationists Want Your Children'. Basically the Royal Society are getting fed up of the fact that more and more people are denouncing evolution and believing in either biblical creation (i.e. Genesis 1, God created the earth in 6 days and had a break on the 7th) or intelligent design (a mostly American idea that essentially takes the religion out of creation in order to get it taught in American schools - legally nothing to do with religion can have any say in anything to do with the state ['separation of church and state']). If evolution is such a fool-proof theory, as the Royal Society claims it is, then why get in a little hissy fit over something so 'pointless' as creation or intelligent design? Or is it more along the lines that they've realised this 'theory' of evolution isn't all it cracked up to be and people want a bit more explanation. Such as, how did the first organisms actually come into existance from nothing? OK, so, with creationism there is an obvious element of faith that God created everything, from scratch, but the biblicl account also mentions a global flood - something that has been mentioned throughout many cultures even those that do not acknowledge the Bible. Little facts like this help to show the accuracy of the biblical record. So "creationism requires faith therefore it's not real science" - I've been told that before. However, belief in evolution requires even more faith: faith that the first organisms mytically appeared with no explanation, faith that the right kinds of genetic defects actually were beneficial to the organism and not harmful, faith that those mutations could actually be passed to the next generation... I actually think it's easier to believe that everything was created* as opposed to just randomly appearing by chance. Maybe that's the easy way out, but it makes sense to me.
* actually, more like every type was created - I'm not discounting the fact that species change over time - they just don't change into another species...
The second was on the BBC news site claiming that churches should back evolution. Ha! As if! I really can't see the church turning round and saying "actually, the bible is all wrong, evolution really did happen and Jesus was a monkey in a blue sash and a beard". Not likely. Apparently intelligent design is a threat to 'real scientific teaching' - well, I'm sorry but real scientific teaching should involve teaching all possible theories not just saying 'our theory is right, yours is wrong'; especially when the so-called 'theories' can't actually be proved (time travel hasn't been invented yet).
Like I said before, do the evolutionists see creation as a more powerful 'threat' to their precious little group than they initially thought? Seems to me like they're beginning to realise that we don't always take their word for it. When I was at uni many lecturers would often come out with unprovable and, frankly random, sayings like 'this of course proves evolution' when talking about the massively complex blood clotting factors - to me though it just proved that the whole lot was designed and created, I mean could all the inbetween states actually function correctly as a working system if it evolved gradually? Probably not...
Well, that was quite a long post for me! If you want to know more then take a look at Answers In Genesis or, for the biochemically minded, get a read of Michael Behe's book "Darwin's Black Box"
See ya
MaFt
Two articles have caught my eye today, the first being in The Register and titled 'Creationists Want Your Children'. Basically the Royal Society are getting fed up of the fact that more and more people are denouncing evolution and believing in either biblical creation (i.e. Genesis 1, God created the earth in 6 days and had a break on the 7th) or intelligent design (a mostly American idea that essentially takes the religion out of creation in order to get it taught in American schools - legally nothing to do with religion can have any say in anything to do with the state ['separation of church and state']). If evolution is such a fool-proof theory, as the Royal Society claims it is, then why get in a little hissy fit over something so 'pointless' as creation or intelligent design? Or is it more along the lines that they've realised this 'theory' of evolution isn't all it cracked up to be and people want a bit more explanation. Such as, how did the first organisms actually come into existance from nothing? OK, so, with creationism there is an obvious element of faith that God created everything, from scratch, but the biblicl account also mentions a global flood - something that has been mentioned throughout many cultures even those that do not acknowledge the Bible. Little facts like this help to show the accuracy of the biblical record. So "creationism requires faith therefore it's not real science" - I've been told that before. However, belief in evolution requires even more faith: faith that the first organisms mytically appeared with no explanation, faith that the right kinds of genetic defects actually were beneficial to the organism and not harmful, faith that those mutations could actually be passed to the next generation... I actually think it's easier to believe that everything was created* as opposed to just randomly appearing by chance. Maybe that's the easy way out, but it makes sense to me.
* actually, more like every type was created - I'm not discounting the fact that species change over time - they just don't change into another species...
The second was on the BBC news site claiming that churches should back evolution. Ha! As if! I really can't see the church turning round and saying "actually, the bible is all wrong, evolution really did happen and Jesus was a monkey in a blue sash and a beard". Not likely. Apparently intelligent design is a threat to 'real scientific teaching' - well, I'm sorry but real scientific teaching should involve teaching all possible theories not just saying 'our theory is right, yours is wrong'; especially when the so-called 'theories' can't actually be proved (time travel hasn't been invented yet).
Like I said before, do the evolutionists see creation as a more powerful 'threat' to their precious little group than they initially thought? Seems to me like they're beginning to realise that we don't always take their word for it. When I was at uni many lecturers would often come out with unprovable and, frankly random, sayings like 'this of course proves evolution' when talking about the massively complex blood clotting factors - to me though it just proved that the whole lot was designed and created, I mean could all the inbetween states actually function correctly as a working system if it evolved gradually? Probably not...
Well, that was quite a long post for me! If you want to know more then take a look at Answers In Genesis or, for the biochemically minded, get a read of Michael Behe's book "Darwin's Black Box"
See ya
MaFt
Friday, February 17, 2006
The Smoking Ban
Seeing as no one has asked for my opinions on this matter I thought I'd share them with you anyway. If you've been living under a rock or in a tree for the last few days (or don't live in the UK) then you should have heard that the government have passed a bil stating you can't smoke in enclosed public places (unles you're an MP cos the Houses of Parliament are classed as a Royal Palace so are not covered by the ban). The definition of an enclosed public space is pretty wishy-washy and will need some work but other than that it's fairly straight forward: It will be illegal to smoke in a pub, club, restaraunt, hire-car, company car, bus, taxi, ice rink, bus shelter, portaloo etc etc etc.
Initially I thought 'huzzah' cos people will be healthier as they'll all obviously stop smoking and join the gym and Britain will be a lot less smelly. However, thinking a bit more about it, are the people that smoke really going to stop just cos they're more limited in where they can smoke? MaFt thinks not! Why? Cos it's an addiction that's hard to break; especially if you don't want to in the first place.
I think it'll lead to worse health for most smokers in the UK. Instead of going t'local and spending a tenner on 4 pints and having a few fags they're more likely to nip t'co-op and spend a tenner on 12 cans (about 10 pints) and drink themselves to a stupour in the comfort of their own home. You may say "well MaFt, that's their own health they're ruining so nothing has changed" but I say what about smokers with kids? If they're in the house more often smoking more for fear of persecution and/or prosecution hwo will that affect the health of the children and others in the house? It can't be better for them... surely?
Still, it's probably too late to change and remember kids, the government knows best.
MaFt
Initially I thought 'huzzah' cos people will be healthier as they'll all obviously stop smoking and join the gym and Britain will be a lot less smelly. However, thinking a bit more about it, are the people that smoke really going to stop just cos they're more limited in where they can smoke? MaFt thinks not! Why? Cos it's an addiction that's hard to break; especially if you don't want to in the first place.
I think it'll lead to worse health for most smokers in the UK. Instead of going t'local and spending a tenner on 4 pints and having a few fags they're more likely to nip t'co-op and spend a tenner on 12 cans (about 10 pints) and drink themselves to a stupour in the comfort of their own home. You may say "well MaFt, that's their own health they're ruining so nothing has changed" but I say what about smokers with kids? If they're in the house more often smoking more for fear of persecution and/or prosecution hwo will that affect the health of the children and others in the house? It can't be better for them... surely?
Still, it's probably too late to change and remember kids, the government knows best.
MaFt
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Animations
If you like random, weird or surreal animations then have a look at Bli's animations (http://www.blimation.com/htm/animation.htm) - particularly the Bystanders ones.
Check it out, innit!
MaFt
Check it out, innit!
MaFt
Here It Is (Brace Yourself, It's A Big Bugger!)
Here's my tooth. Or rather my ex-tooth as it is no longer providing any tooth-like functions. However, it does look nice sitting by my computer monitir...
MaFt
MaFt
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
The Tooth, The Whole Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth
Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! The numbing was standard to begin with (2 big needles intoo the gum) but then he said "this one will hurt" - not "this MIGHT hurt" but "WILL hurt"... I'd like to be able to show my manliness and high pain threshold, but it hurt like buggery when he stuck that needle into the roof of my mouth!
Ten minutes later I was back in his chair, shaking like a small child surrounded by bears, tigers and closet monsters, and then the fun began. My tooth wouldn't budge. Stubborn little thing it was, so he had to pull out the next set of pliers. I swear they were about seven inches long ('all the better to sever you with, my dear' and then he told the assistant (the big burly manly one, not the attractive slim one) to grab my head while he twists. So, I had this big brute of a lady grabbing my head, and a skinny, sarcastic little dentist with some seven inch pliers shoved in the back of my mouth trying to yank a tooth out. Eventually it came out and I then had to bite down on some cotton wool* to soak up the blood for twenty minutes.
* This was the worst part to be honest! I have this weird fear of cotton wool... it's weird, but it squeeks! Eugh, horrible stuff!!
I'm so hungry it's unbelievable! I sucked on a Milky Bar last night and had a bit of bread but if I put any effort into chewing then it makes my hole bleed. Today I'm going to eat soup and bread :) I'll try post a picture of the offending tooth tonight - I tried emailing one from my phone but it's not working for some reason...
MaFt
Ten minutes later I was back in his chair, shaking like a small child surrounded by bears, tigers and closet monsters, and then the fun began. My tooth wouldn't budge. Stubborn little thing it was, so he had to pull out the next set of pliers. I swear they were about seven inches long ('all the better to sever you with, my dear' and then he told the assistant (the big burly manly one, not the attractive slim one) to grab my head while he twists. So, I had this big brute of a lady grabbing my head, and a skinny, sarcastic little dentist with some seven inch pliers shoved in the back of my mouth trying to yank a tooth out. Eventually it came out and I then had to bite down on some cotton wool* to soak up the blood for twenty minutes.
* This was the worst part to be honest! I have this weird fear of cotton wool... it's weird, but it squeeks! Eugh, horrible stuff!!
I'm so hungry it's unbelievable! I sucked on a Milky Bar last night and had a bit of bread but if I put any effort into chewing then it makes my hole bleed. Today I'm going to eat soup and bread :) I'll try post a picture of the offending tooth tonight - I tried emailing one from my phone but it's not working for some reason...
MaFt
Monday, February 13, 2006
This Week I'll Post More! (and have less teeth)
Well, I'm going to blame the lack of posts last week on the fact that it's been a crap week. I'm not usually one for getting all personal on the blog, hence the lack of posts rather than the abundance of 'oh I feel so low' and 'everything is crap, help me' posts :)
So, with any luck this week is going to be much better! I have decided! And, to celebrate what a wonderful week this is going to be, I am getting my wisdom tooth yanked out this afternoon... Maybe this week will start tomorrow!
Well, back to the tooth. Around May last year I was driving up Thornton Road and while my tongue was roaming around my mouth (as it does) it suddenly came across a big lump of enamel... It also realised that there was a big lump of enamel/tooth missing from my wisdom tooth, right at the very back. Nothing hurt, which I was eternally grateful for, and on my next visit to the dentist he said that as it's not causing me any problems that he would leave it there. Fine by me; Makes things cheaper!
Jump forward to the next dentist visit in November and he says "ooh, look at that, I'll have to remove that ASAP!". I reminded him of his previous comment and all I got back was "yeah, my patients have a habit of reminding me what I said...". So, this afternoon I have to say goodbye to my wise old wisdom tooth. No more will I have a strange tooth for my tongue to probe and play with; and no more will i have to try and get bits of chicken out of the hole.
I might keep it and put it on a keyring - well, the hole's already there!
MaFt
So, with any luck this week is going to be much better! I have decided! And, to celebrate what a wonderful week this is going to be, I am getting my wisdom tooth yanked out this afternoon... Maybe this week will start tomorrow!
Well, back to the tooth. Around May last year I was driving up Thornton Road and while my tongue was roaming around my mouth (as it does) it suddenly came across a big lump of enamel... It also realised that there was a big lump of enamel/tooth missing from my wisdom tooth, right at the very back. Nothing hurt, which I was eternally grateful for, and on my next visit to the dentist he said that as it's not causing me any problems that he would leave it there. Fine by me; Makes things cheaper!
Jump forward to the next dentist visit in November and he says "ooh, look at that, I'll have to remove that ASAP!". I reminded him of his previous comment and all I got back was "yeah, my patients have a habit of reminding me what I said...". So, this afternoon I have to say goodbye to my wise old wisdom tooth. No more will I have a strange tooth for my tongue to probe and play with; and no more will i have to try and get bits of chicken out of the hole.
I might keep it and put it on a keyring - well, the hole's already there!
MaFt
Monday, February 06, 2006
An Open Letter To The Atari's
Dear The Atari's,
What happened? You used to be great! One of my big influences in fact. "Blue Skies..." was such an amazing album, as was "End Is Forever" and "So Long, Astoria". Great, passionate, energetic punk rock. There was the occasional slower, indie-like song that I could cope with. In fact, they were often the highlight of the album - something different to break it up. But, a whole album of that crap?! Sorry guys but you've gone down in my estimation. Enjoy your fame with the NME...
MaFt
What happened? You used to be great! One of my big influences in fact. "Blue Skies..." was such an amazing album, as was "End Is Forever" and "So Long, Astoria". Great, passionate, energetic punk rock. There was the occasional slower, indie-like song that I could cope with. In fact, they were often the highlight of the album - something different to break it up. But, a whole album of that crap?! Sorry guys but you've gone down in my estimation. Enjoy your fame with the NME...
MaFt
Hurty
My back hurts. I could hardly bend over to get my shoes on this morning. Please leave sympathy in the form of a comment :)
MaFt
MaFt
Friday, February 03, 2006
3 O'clock, 2 Posts, 1 Day, 0 Monkeys...
A post I made back in December about Landmark Communications has been quite useful to some people it would seem. 14 people have left comments about it and I guess quite a lot have read it but not commented. I know at least one who has. Mr-D from work (who provides me with lifts most days) emailed me to tell me he had been getting calls from the same number at the same time every day for a week so he googled it and got to my site! How cool is that? I never thought I'd be providing a public service when I started this blog!
Glad to have been of service :)
MaFt
PS - in January there were 650 people found this site by searching for "01554754901 " - that's 46.4% of my traffic!
Glad to have been of service :)
MaFt
PS - in January there were 650 people found this site by searching for "01554754901 " - that's 46.4% of my traffic!
Open Office 2.0
I've started using Open Office 2.0 as a free alternative to Microsoft Office. It's open source, free and actually very very good! It's similar in most ways to MS Office but some of the more advanced options like styles and conditional formatting are different but easy to get the hang of. I used OO before on version 1 and found it pretty unusable but version 2 has improved massivley!
So there, check it out and try a new piece of software for once! While we're talking about open source why not try Mozilla Firefox (web browser) and Mozilla Thunderbird (email client) too - links to both on the left!
See ya
MaFt
So there, check it out and try a new piece of software for once! While we're talking about open source why not try Mozilla Firefox (web browser) and Mozilla Thunderbird (email client) too - links to both on the left!
See ya
MaFt
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
War! Huh! What Is It Good For?
Well, I feel I may be slated for this post but it's not going to stop me.
Yesterday it was announced that the 100th Brit has been killed in Iraq since we invaded in 2003 - 31 year old Corporal Gordon Alexander Pritchard. Why is it such a surprise? He was a soldier in the army during a time of war - people are going to get killed. We can't win all the time. He chose to join the army seeing as, thankfully, we no longer have forced subscription so he must have known what to expect. In my opinion it's pretty selfish to join the army without considering the effect on your family and friends should anything untoward happen to you in service. It's also pretty naïve to assume that "nothing will happen to me 'cos I'm British". You join the army to fight, not to sit around drinking and getting paid. Because of that you should expect to fight if you're in the army - why else would they spend hundreds of thousands of pounds training all the soldiers up?
This is not to say that I don't feel sorry for the families of all those who were killed, but before we start mouthing off at the government for sending troops out or asking why he was there at that particular time let's just stop and think for one moment: The soldiers were there because they wanted to be there; they wanted to join the army; they should expect to go to war at some point; they should know that war is not a game - the weapons are real, the blood is real and the pain caused to familes is real too.
Take care
MaFt
Yesterday it was announced that the 100th Brit has been killed in Iraq since we invaded in 2003 - 31 year old Corporal Gordon Alexander Pritchard. Why is it such a surprise? He was a soldier in the army during a time of war - people are going to get killed. We can't win all the time. He chose to join the army seeing as, thankfully, we no longer have forced subscription so he must have known what to expect. In my opinion it's pretty selfish to join the army without considering the effect on your family and friends should anything untoward happen to you in service. It's also pretty naïve to assume that "nothing will happen to me 'cos I'm British". You join the army to fight, not to sit around drinking and getting paid. Because of that you should expect to fight if you're in the army - why else would they spend hundreds of thousands of pounds training all the soldiers up?
This is not to say that I don't feel sorry for the families of all those who were killed, but before we start mouthing off at the government for sending troops out or asking why he was there at that particular time let's just stop and think for one moment: The soldiers were there because they wanted to be there; they wanted to join the army; they should expect to go to war at some point; they should know that war is not a game - the weapons are real, the blood is real and the pain caused to familes is real too.
Take care
MaFt
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