What Sci Fi / Fantasy Character are you?

My quick gut-reaction answers say that I am John Sheridan from Babylon 5 who apparently is "an experienced survivor who has maneuvered around many obstacles, you are looked up to by those who rely on your good judgment".

Don't know about that :o) but if you fancy a giggle click below ...

Compact and Bijou

More fun with estate agents ...

We viewed a property this weekend and the guy showing us round reminded me of the chap on the BT Broadband advert.

"The living room benefits from a front and rear aspect."

Front and rear aspect?? I wonder why they are taught this unwieldy and sometimes downright bizarre vocabulary. Do they think that putting it in estate-agent-speak excuses the fact that it is a blatantly redundant statement?

We're standing in the room.
We can see it has two windows.
We can see what the windows over-look.

He continued to make obvious statements (the colour of the walls, the placement of furniture, etc) in a voice not unlike the chap in the aforementioned advert until we thanked him for his time and left.

I know I can't tar all estate agents with the same brush (and apologies to any competent estate agents reading this) but I've spoken to and met a number of them over the last few months and I've met one, maybe two, that showed any signs of ability and professionalism.

The mind boggles.

In the news today ...

There are three things that I just want to post a comment on today.

If human lives can be affected by the power of positive thoughts/prayers/wishes, then there is hope for Richard Hammond. He is such a likeable chap (a little mad, but hey, no-one's perfect!) and I, like countless others, hope that he makes a full recovery.

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is - Branson will 'commit all profits from his travel firms, such as airline Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains, over the next 10 years' for investing in the development of new renewable energy technologies. That is the princely sum of £1.6bn!

And finally a tale of re-birth. After approximately 3.3 million years, Lucy's 'daughter' has emerged from the sandstone rock which preserved her bones. The female Australopithecus afarensis will allow scientists to examine growth and development of this early hominid, our distant ancestor. It will also presumably be interesting to compare her characteristics with similarly aged chimpanzees, our closest relative.

Hmmm ...

Thought for the Day

I found a thought for the day on the British Humanist Association website that is definitely thought provoking.

You will need some sort of media player and your sound turned on for this secular alternative.

An Inconvenient Truth

The BBC has this article about the UK opening of Al Gore's film on climate change called An Inconvenient Truth.

I first heard about this on TED (his very interesting talk can be watched here) and I'm glad that it has made it over to the UK.

If you are at all interested in climate change, do try to see it.
If you believe climate change is a load of mumbo-jumbo, definitely go and see it (what have you got to loose?).

Willing suspension of disbelief is not required.

Whoops

I just want to make a few (hopefully balanced) points about the Pope's address:

This was an address to an academic institution and, as such, he quotes and refers to a number of sources. He does not say anywhere in the address that the Islamic world is violent and evil.

Having read the full text (I wonder how many of those protesting have read the full text?) I think this statement has been taken out of context. The address is discussing the issue of reason and faith.

Having said that, I think he could have chosen a different quote to illustrate his point as it doesn't take much intelligence to realise that religion is a mine field at present leading to diverse reactions.

My final thought, I respect everyone's right to have differences of opinion, to be offended by things and to object to things. We are all different with different ways of life, cultures, beliefs (or lack thereof). I just hope that all protests and objections are peaceful and non-violent.

I have been mostly reading ...

... a fascinating book by Richard Dawkins called The Ancestor's Tale.

I like reading what I call popular science books, i.e. covering serious science, not bogged down with heavy equations or reams of latin but requiring some thought and concentration when reading.

The Ancestor's Tale is structured similarly to the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. Chaucer had his characters tell tales to pass the time whilst they were on a pilgrimage. Dawkins takes us on a pilgrimage back through time to the emergence of life at the evolutionary Canterbury. The tale starts with Homo Sapiens (not because we're better than any other end point of the tree of life, just because we're understandably interested in our own evolutionary past). The pilgrimage is punctuated by tales "told" by successive concestors. The term concester refers to the common ancestor shared by related groups of life, the point at which one branch splits into two (or more).

There are a few places where it's hard work and sometimes ten or twenty pages were all I could manage in a reading. This is nothing to do with Dawkin's writing style, more to do with my limited biology knowledge. But perseverance is rewarded with fascinating insights *, beautiful illustrations and ultimately a discussion about the current theories of how life on earth actually began.

* Did you know that when oxygen was first released into the atmosphere through biochemical processes it was actually poisonous to life?

* Or that Hippos and Whales are closely related?

* Or that Lactose tolerance is only a relatively new evolutionary step in humans and those who are Lactose intolerant have an earlier non-mutated form of the particular gene(s)?

Definitely not light holiday reading but a very rewarding and enlightening book.

Grumpy Old Women

I was watching Grumpy Old Women on BBC2 the other evening.

Sadly, I think I'm a grumpy old woman before my time as I found myself nodding in agreement to many things on the programme!

This week it featured such delights as spitting in the street and the inane conversations that your hairdresser tries to hold with you whie you'd much rather just site and relax in silence.

Is it just me or are there other grumpy young women out there?

Don't Stop Me Now

I am a fan of Queen and to be honest I rarely think covers of their songs are any good. Freddie Mercury was a consummate Performer and Brian May is my contender for possibly the Most Talented Guitarist in the World ever (I told you I was a bit of a fan).

So I was pleasantly surprised when I heard McFly's cover of Don't Stop Me Now at the Sports Relief Mile in London (which was, I'm proud to say, completed by my Hubby). It was being blasted out of speakers at the starting line and I was happily tapping my toes and humming when I noticed Hubby looking cheekily happy, "You think that's Queen, don't you?" he asked.

I stopped and concentrated harder on the music. I realised that it wasn't Freddie's dulcet tones but I also realised that it was a damn good tune.

So, if you haven't done so already buy the single, do your bit and get toe-tapping.

Philosophy and Religion

I've discovered a fascinating new website - Technology Entertainment Design, known as TED.

So, what is TED? It is an annual conference showcasing the latest ideas in Technology, Entertainment, Design, Business, Science, the Arts 'in fact any subject area offering something fresh and important'. Each week one of the talks from the previous conference is posted on their website. They each last about twenty minutes and are quite fascinating.

One in particular I have enjoyed today is Dan Dennett, philosophy professor and cognitive scientist. His talk gets a little confusing part the way through but the second portion puts forward some very interesting ideas about religion. Specifically, the idea that the facts of all world religions (the core beliefs, holy book, rituals, history, etc) should be taught in all schools allowing young people to make rational informed choices about religion.

Go take a look but prepared to be there for a little while ;o)

Feel the love

Hubby and I have been to a wedding this weekend. I always love going to weddings, especially when I know the couple well. This weekend, something reminded me of our own wedding two years ago.

The Bride looked totally gorgeous in a beautiful dress. The Bride and Groom had made their vows without fault and we'd applauded the new Mr & Mrs. The wedding party then moved to sign the register.

I sat and looked round the church taking in the moment. Then I looked at the wedding party - the parents, the brother and sister-in-law of the groom (Best Man and Matron of Honour repectively), the bridesmaids, etc. I saw the Matron smile as she watched the Bride and Groom signing the register and then I noticed that they were all looking at the couple with such love and happiness.

Those looks took me back to our wedding day. During the day, I realised that everyone was there because they loved and cared about us. It was an amazing experience to feel that. I hope that our friends had similar feelings on their special day.

And that is why I love weddings - they are full of such positive feelings and hopes for the future.