Sunday 25 January 2009

Atheist Bus Campaign

Entering the fray by way of starting a religious discussion can be hazardous, especially for those who may not have a strong faith in one of the worlds more established religions. I really like the Atheist Bus Campaign, the money raised and the exposure suggests quite a few other people also like this idea.

I love that fact that they decided to err on the side of caution and stick with "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" although I think prefer the American one, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake" and it is not because I live in America now or maybe it is because I do?

I also wonder why Australia is the only place without, is it a sign? But from whom and why?

I think atheists should try and avoid becoming dogmatic, trenched and inflexible. Tolerance is probably always the safe option. Which is another reason why I like this campaign, it gets its point across without being offensive, hateful or dogmatic it is I believe lighthearted and positive.

Friday 23 January 2009

a day off the booze?

this article in the Indy is quite interesting - i am not sure where I stand on the daily versus weekly limits, but I think that its so obvious that our bodies need a break from alcohol that anyone with common sense will try and incorporate a break into their week. But the truth is its not always so easy to do! thats why we should try to do it.

Sunday 11 January 2009

Yosemite National Park


Over the Thanksgiving holiday last year, (November 2008) we went to the Yosemite National Park in California , USA. We were awed by the scale of nature, the huge rock formations the massive sequoia trees. We enjoyed the benefits of accessible nature, which is a worry, the number of people tramping through nature, but the National Park Service fight the good fight and attempt to ensure that nature is somewhat preserved for future generations.

The National Park Service, (NPS) truly one of the great arguments for Government providing a force for good. The great parks of North America are often overlooked by many, but they are truly are a must see, the power of nature can often be overwhelmed by the ingenuity of humans, when bustling around the urban centers of the USA, but once you get out to a park you are awed into respect for nature that reminds you of the huge duty we have to our wonderful planet.

The below is a quote from
Wikipedia's article on the National Parks.

"The next (second) effort by any government to set aside such protected lands was, again, in the United States, when President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on June 30, 1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias (later becoming the Yosemite National Park) to the state of California:
"The said State shall accept this grant upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation; shall be inalienable for all time."

The "dean of western writers", American Pulitzer prize-winning author Wallace Stegner, has written that national parks are '
America's best idea,'—a departure from the royal preserves that Old World sovereigns enjoyed for themselves—inherently democratic, open to all, "they reflect us at our best, not our worst."

Even with the creation of Yellowstone, Yosemite, and nearly 37 other national parks and monuments, another 44 years passed before an agency was created in the United States to administer these units in a comprehensive way - the U.S. National Park Service (NPS)."

A great advocate of the National Parks, President Bartlett:
"I'm a National Parks buff. . . . I have been to all of them"


Give us a break nestle!

As all of our blog readers know, Roopa and I both live in Lewisham, South East London. Before christmas, Roops told me about a kitkat billboard at Lewisham that was complete sexist twaddle, advertising a chocolate bar to women - based on the fact it has fewer calories!! She also told me that some GENIUS had graffitied the billboard with 'sexist nonsense - give us a break' - brilliant!!

Many fellow bloggers have posted about this - see here, here and here for a few - but I still hadn't seen it....until a few weeks later, when I was in the car and we drove past this one in Ladywell:

Riot not Diet!

I am SO impressed with whoever is responsible for improving these ad's with so much humour! well done! and which complete twerp at nestel thought these ad's were a good idea anyway???

unite and boycott! and hip hip hooray for the person/people who have taken nestle to task in Lewisham - I hope people all over the country are doing the same!

Tuesday 6 January 2009

why 'A Suitable Boy' is great




I recently re-read Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy - its a novel I have read and recommended to so many people that i feel it merits a mention as one of the GREATEST novels ever.

At its heart its a love story - but its so much more then that. Seth is able to cleverly weave together in one novel the stories of so many individuals and families, so many lives, different social strata - a courtesan, a politician, a student, a zamindar, a communist student, a lovable rogue, a professor, a widowed mother, a cobbler, a socialite, a poet, a child genius, - and many more. A Suitable Boy takes the reader on a journey through post partition India, touching on diverse issues raging from politics, land acts and riots to family strife, a musician losing his trade, forbidden love and high society in Calcutta - and a whole plethora of issues in between.

It is a brilliant novel - captivating, interesting and above all beautifully written: I know I'll read it again and again in years to come. And thats why A Suitable Boy is great!