Wow, these last few weeks have been busy. But now I only have one lecture left before the holidays, it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Yesterday, I gave a presentation on my project to four or five staff and eight or nine students. To be honest, I didn’t really concentrate on the audience! However, I must have done quite well, having been given a provisional mark of 8.5/10. I am particularly pleased since being awarded a nine has been deemed "rare" and one of the two judges must have awarded it a 9. As long as it doesn’t change I guess!
So next week, I’m off to Kent! But not before dying my hair black… again… and this time… it’s permanent!
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With reference to this article on BBC News, it’s an interesting argument over how Christian the United Kingdom is. In the grand scheme of things though, it seems to be one of those arguments that is almost pointless and irrelevant — does it really matter?
There is no getting away from the fact that the modern United Kingdom was built upon a Christian-valued basis. There are churches in just about every village, town and city; and our more traditional laws draw reference from the tenets of the Bible. But our country is changing, undoubtedly, away from the strict devotion to the word of the Bible as more interpretations of the scriptures lead to conflicting opinions on how we should live our lives. The acceptance of other religions and communities has also changed many aspects of the United Kingdom.
Once upon a time, converting to Christianity was enough to be spared the death penalty; and indeed supporting the ‘wrong’ denomination condemned you to a public killing. In my opinion, this what makes our country a much better place to live now than it was then: tolerance and understanding. The bad aspects of the United Kingdom now as we stand are purely down to a lack of understanding and tolerance.
But Christmas is an interesting argument. Should it be a solely religious occasion? Suppose it wasn’t (and perhaps there are arguments to support that being the case). Then is that a bad thing? Each Christian is able to celebrate Christmas in his or her own way and that is up to them. Meanwhile, Christmas only teaches good things to those that aren’t necessarily Christian. The gift of giving (and indeed receiving, graciously); the coming together of family and friends; and the almost carpe diem nature of the season spreads happiness towards all those that choose to acknowledge the day. Whether we understand the background of the day, is that such a bad thing?
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Many computer users will have heard of the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death). They are a much less common phenomenon now, thanks to gratefully received improvements on a common operating system. But there is a new terror now lerking… the BROD (Bunny Rabbit Of Death).
On the way to Uni I pass a small area of woodland on the bus, and many rabbits live there. I know this because from time to time they wander onto a piece of open grassland visible from the bus. They also camp out by the Civic Centre. The problem is that whenever I see one, though enjoyable at the time it is, I know I am in for a bad day.
It doesn’t happen all that often — usually on exam days — but when they do the curse is pretty much a sure thing. I saw one yesterday: I had to run for Metro trains and the bus home; and I didn’t get any work done. I guess I am lucky that the BROD didn’t bring much worse…
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Yesterday was World AIDS Day. It probably escaped most people’s attention, and it annoys me.
I spent a large portion of that evening discussing the lack of promotion of this fact with a friend. We discussed to what lengths promotion techniques would have to go in order for people to take notice. Having someone contract HIV for the benefit of a reality show seems tasteless, sickening and altogether a very bad idea; which seems to be the basis of all reality shows.
But there belies the issue: no-one really takes notice until HIV touches their lives. My first encounter with HIV was becoming a fan of Queen and later finding out that the lead singer, of course Freddie Mercury, died of an AIDS-related infection. I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing for me — he’s given me so much joy through his music and he has prompted my awareness of the virus that would ultimately kill him and thus enable me to protect myself; but I would never know him as a living artist and I will never hear him perform live.
And millions across the world are still being subjected to a virus that is little more than thirty years in the making. And millions more have little idea on how to protect themselves, nor do they realise how much of a problem HIV/AIDS is. I’m angry.
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I stayed up quite late last night. I didn’t really have any reason to, I just didn’t feel tired. The usual cause of this phenomenon is hyperactive brain. Indeed, that was the cause of my brief encounter with insomnia. One thought that particularly caught my mind was how crap this decade is turning out.
What has happened since the year 2000? First consider music. The Sixties had The Beatles and The Shadows. The Seventies had Queen, The Who and Thin Lizzy. The Eighties had Duran Duran and Human League. The Nineties had Blur and Oasis. At the turn of this century, I believed that the music of Craig David and Sonique was going to become the sound of the decade. The music was defining a new genre. But this was short-lived. In its place came rap and hip-hop, nu-metal and emo, indie rock, manufactured pop and house, amongst countless others. It is impossible to define a genre that represents this decade – and we still aren’t finished! Furthermore, we’re going through a rehash of old bands and their music: the Spice Girls, Take That, The Police, etc. Queen are set to release a new album next year!
And what about fashion? Since 2000 we seem to have gone through a Sixties stage with flowers and ponchos; a Seventies stage with flares and frilly shirts; and to add insult to injury, we’re going through an Eighties stage, with waistcoats, cardigans, skinny ties and tight trousers: I can only imagine it will be a matter of simply time before we are back to wearing leg-warmers. This decade hasn’t had its own real identity in terms of fashion.
There have, however, been quite major changes in other forms of design. Interior design, for example, will seem strikingly from this decade when viewed from the future, I expect. And the buildings of this era will be easily recognisable as monuments of these times. Everything that’s considered pretty in architecture and technology has a lot of glass and silvery things and shiny glossy materials. But is that all we will have to remember from this decade?
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I would very much like to have a read of Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto. I would love to have a massive rant about how communism could work, but point its flaws. My biggest gripe with communism is the paradox of how there can be a supreme leader in a land of equals.
I would also like to point out some problems with democracy. Although democracy seems a fair way of representing the people, it does not necessarily mean that the best person for a particular job will get it. For example, it is my suspicion that the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not require a degree in Economics, or some other financial qualification. And what makes a good premier? From recent events, it seems that someone who is cool in front of a grilling from unrelenting opposition is more desirable than someone who makes good decisions.
Another alternative is absolute monarchy. Now, most will dismiss this out of hand, but a sole occupier of supreme power over a state has its advantages. For a start, there are no pretences about fairness – it is almost unashamedly unfair. That way, everyone knows their place. However, one could argue that this is in existence within religion, and no-one can deny that the rules decreed within a religion are very much open to interpretation. I guess the difference is that the king can sort a deviant out now, whilst the god would sort it out later.
So what political system is best? My personal favourite is the Dingle clan (aside from the incestuous characteristic of the family, of course…).
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This would be a very interesting match. Over the past week, I have witnessed (endured, despaired, …) England’s dismal performance followed by Newcastle’s dismal performance. To be honest, there wasn’t much different between the performances.
My opinion of the Football Association was greatly improved this week. It’s not the fact that they sacked Steve McClaren, but more the fact that they apologised for their team’s performance, which was absolutely the right thing to do. I noticed how none of the players from the England squad have apologised for their part in the dreadful display that night. Steve Gerrard simply said "life goes on", and his utterly abject contribution — as captain — during the game was made somewhat worse by his decidedly miraculous recovery for Liverpool against Newcastle.
The difference between Newcastle’s players and England’s players over the two games is that we noticed that Alan Smith — who played terribly and somehow managed to pick up the Man of the Match award — and James Milner made a point of staying behind after the match to applaud the fans for their contribution to the atmosphere.
The Gallowgate could only applaud some of Liverpool’s play. The third goal in particular was greeted by applause across the stadium; and the banter between the rival fans was surprisingly heartening, despite how smug they might have been, and how bitter we might have been.
It’s peculiar being a Newcastle United supporter; you only enjoy it when you are three goals down. When we’re winning, we’re nervous we’ll lose our lead; when we’re drawing, we’re nervous we lose; and when we’re losing, we’re anxious of trying to get back into the game. At 3-0 down, we were beaten and no real good reason to be enthusiastic, but our tongue-in-cheek, almost sarcastic chanting and singing is really quite enjoyable. We started Oléing the few passes we managed to string together by the end…
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You might be wondering what has gone on in my life over the last week. Chances are you haven’t, but nonetheless I shall tell you. Perhaps the biggest change is the fact that I dyed my hair black over the last weekend. The results are rather peculiar.
And I’m not talking about my hair colour — it’s black. (Actually, it’s not as black as it was: I went for semi-permanent and it’s beginning to wash out.) It’s more how people have interacted with me since going from blond to black.
I didn’t have much to do with the rest of those doing the Masters degree. There just didn’t seem much point any more, sadly. The extent of our socialising was to acknowledge passing them with a mumbled greeting. However, this changed on Monday. While no-one made a mention of my change in follicle apparel, simple conversations began.
It wasn’t all good though. Coming home Tuesday afternoon, the bus was particularly busy (or is that ‘bussy’?) and just about every seat was taken. In fact they all were: apart from the seat next to me. I am fairly sure that I didn’t smell too bad, so the only explanation I could understand was my change in hair colour. It was never a problem while I was blond. It’s just peculiar.
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What shall we do next summer?
Furthermore, what will the England players do next summer? According to The Sun (via BBC’s Gossip Column), England’s players will receive £150,000 for not reaching the finals. That’s performance related pay for you. I suspect many will be spending their holidays as far away from the British tourists as possible.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a paid holiday for being a failure? And isn’t it great that it doesn’t mean thing to be a failure, to let millions down across the country? As a certain Mr Gerrard stated after the game to Sky Sports, "well life goes on".
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