Atheist Tuesday

Fantasy Book Critic: Some Highly Anticipated 2012 Books: Aug-Dec/Presumed (by Liviu Suciu)

2011-10-22T11:09:00.001+01:00

Check out this website I found at fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com

500px / Photo "foggyDay" by roby bon

2011-10-22T11:08:00.001+01:00

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Hungry No More | ONE

2011-10-13T12:48:00.000+01:00

Hungry No More | ONE

The Westboro Baptist take on the death of Steve Jobs

2011-10-11T22:40:00.001+01:00

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Loons

Act of god?

2011-08-21T00:57:00.001+01:00

Gale buffets Pope at Madrid vigil

Chest Pains

2011-03-31T11:30:00.000+01:00

Last week I had chest pains. Pains that made me stop and take note. It was worrying, although I guessed it was nothing major... the pains were on my right side, and I had no other issues. I went to the doctors, most likely muscle strain in my chest.

Still, makes you think.

Two years tomorrow...

2010-07-15T16:48:00.002+01:00

It seems like only yesterday I was visting my Mum in hospital, it was two years ago. I didn't want to go that night, I was tired from work and I'd see her the next day.

My wife said I should go and see her, I knew my wife was right. So I headed out of the door to visit my Mum.

Later that night, after midnight, I was coming home from the hospital. It was raining, and I was alone... "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol played on the cd. I sat for a very long ten minutes, watching the rain.

It was the last time I saw my Mum. She had passed away around 9pm, she was alone!

Later we found out she was riddled with cancer. Her CLL had transformed into an aggressive form of cancer, nobody knew. Or at least we didn't know. I think she knew, it was the way she had looked at me when I was visting her earlier that evening.

I didn't know it had been so long...

2010-03-19T09:12:00.002Z

I haven't been here in ages... I need to blog a bit more!

Been busy at work, and continuing my mid-life crisis. Directional break-down and recovery, plus an urge to relive my youth....

More later.

Blogging from my iPhone

2009-12-16T19:08:00.001Z

So I got myself an iPhone. I've used smart phones for years, generally HTC. I liked the user interface and apps on the iPhone, so I thought I'd give it ago.

However, having given up my Touch diamond. I'm not sure I've made the right decision. The apps are great and the touch interface is good. But the phone isn't that great, the gps is a bit hit and miss. And it can only talk to a computer through iTunes, which is wank!

Camera is poor, very poor! You have to download apps to do anything, including use PDFs or office documents. All of which came as standard on pretty all of the smartphones I've had before right back to the MPX 200!

Now if the HTC Hero is any good I will know I've made a mistake!!!

And yes I've blogged from phone before as well...

Jason O'Flaherty is fundraising for Wishing Well - JustGiving

2009-09-07T23:02:00.001+01:00

Jason O'Flaherty is fundraising for Wishing Well - JustGiving

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Ullswater Photos

2009-09-07T19:13:00.003+01:00

My eldest practicing his support strokes.

I think its a Hillman Imp, and yes it is in the lake. We were just minding our own business when a parade of road vehicles floated across the lake.

Sunset over Ullswater, quite like this one. Spare of the moment shot the sun was setting and I was just sitting by the lake.

Ullswater...

Breakdown

2009-09-04T22:01:00.004+01:00

So in April I fell apart.

I had some time off over easter, a bit of holiday. It wasn't a good holiday, I was pre-occupied with work. There were a few a full on jobs coming up, a few full on clients. With hindsight they were not a problem, well not a real problem. Something much deeper was going on inside my head.

Anyway, when I came back into work I was faced with prepping the smallest job in the world, for the nicest client in the world. I just couldn't do it. I just sat down in the warehouse and brokedown. I was convinced that I couldn't do anything, I knew nothing and would never be able to get my head round the technical side of my job - for a technical manager that's pretty significant!

However, it wasn't just the technicals, I knew that deep down. Afterall, technical stuff you can just learn... but the baggage that you carry around with you, or other people carry around, just becomes a huge weight dragging you down... that's how I felt!

The technicals were just the easiest way to express my failure, my collapse.

I went home, I went to the doctor. I was signed off with stress... it was too earlier to say depression.

As soon as I was not in work it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I wasn't better... and I am still not 100%. But when you remove a huge pressure you just feel that little bit better off. I was able to think again, if only to deal with what I was feeling at the time. It didn't really afford me real thinking time, time to plan what I needed to do in the future.

After two weeks I went back to the doctors and I was feeling much less stressed, so I went back to work. To do something positive, be busy. I didn't want going back to become a huge chore, I wanted to slip back into things. And to be fair my bosses and colleagues made it very easy and offered alot of support. But I wasn't 100%, and I had a couple of moments to say the least.

I've been a simmering pot ever since, most days I'm fine. But on occassion I just not. I can't concentrate and I just want to scream or curl up and hope "it" all goes away. I don't know really what I can do to straighten myself out. I could try and get a new job, but I'm not sure how that is going help, a new job might just have the same or worse stresses. So that may not be the best thing, but I do know that I can not carry on doing what I am doing...

Ullswater. Camping & Canoeing

2009-08-12T23:01:00.003+01:00

Just returned from the Lakes and a weekend of camping & canoeing with family and friends. We had great weather, which is always good when you're camping. Sunshine.

I haven't canoed for a long time, but thought I'd give it a go. My boys both love it, so it seems only fair to see if I still had the knack. And yes, I do need more practice, but it was huge fun. I stayed in the big open canoe, while the boys played around in Kayaks. It was so chilled, no pressure, no need to rush or do anything, just play in boats!

Followed by BBQ and beers, just enough chatter and laughing... it was great! And boy did I need it.
Really blew the cobwebs away, I wish every weekend could be like that... maybe it can?

I also got plenty of time to take photos, which I am slowly working through...

Boys on Bikes

2009-07-28T20:37:00.004+01:00

So we got my eldest a new bike for his birthday. His birthday isn't until November, but he needed a new bike, and we felt it would be better for him to get it while the sun was shining. He should understand that he will not actually get anything on his birthday...

So far he's been out on his bike nearly everyday, the days he isn't on his bike is only because we've had to go somewhere else!

Of course when Iget my new bike we will not have anywhere else to go...

One year

2009-07-16T21:56:00.003+01:00

I blog infrequently, certainly not enough.

What have I done since my last post... worked. Been on holiday, had a breakdown, ripped the top of my finger off, bought my eldest son a new bike. All of which I need to expand upon, and if I had blogged some more, got my head empty into the ether, maybe I'd have a bit happier. Which brings me to my Mum.

As I type this, twelve months ago I recieved a phonecall, my sister saying we had to get to the hospital. My Mum was gone before we arrived, my Dad was there, alone.

So its been one year since my Mum died, I still don't really understand. But that's bereavement. We all go through it and it affects us all differently, I just don't know how it has really affected me.

The Intelligent Dust Bunny

2009-03-06T17:34:00.002Z

On occassion I watch the odd Edward Current video. At first I wasn't sure what he was saying, I mean was he nuts or just very funny... I think this video says which side of the debate he's on.

Fools...

2009-02-20T19:53:00.003Z

A video which is on the Atheist Bus - Official Website. Which gives me the excuse to show my son how to embed a video on blogger.

Gazza Crisis: Protect the Human

2009-02-16T22:43:00.000Z

Don't cross the beams...

2009-02-10T18:58:00.002Z

So a friend of mine sent me this today. No doubt it's been around for ages, but I like it so I thought I'd share...

It appears that I've been outted..

2009-02-08T17:01:00.002Z

Here I was minding my own, blogging to no one really apart from myself. Just spilling my rants onto the net... I mean I'm not sure the little a blog actually makes any consistent sense from one day or month to the next. But I've got a mention on his well written and excellent blog.

OK... I'm a fan of Stephen Law!

Philosophy, prog rock, outdoor mountain type antics... all things I enjoy to a lesser or greater agree. Plus Stephen Law makes sense.

Ok.... I did email Stephen directly thanking him for his book "The Philosophy Files". But in this world most people wouldn't think to write to thank someone for something. Write to complain, yes they would. Even if they haven't really got anything complain about. From my experience of dealing with customers, people complain probably thirty times as much as someone would actually write to say thanks.

I'm sure some market research company will have real statistics for this.

Anyway, I thought I'd do something and actually thank Stephen for a great book.

Kinda nice to get a mention though.... back to obscurity now!

My son the radical atheist

2009-02-05T17:14:00.005Z

My eldest son is, perhaps, a radical. Or at least more outspoken about his beliefs than I am.

He is eight and goes to a roman catholic primary school. You might ask "but why?", and I'd say the post code lottery means the only other school available wasn't as good academicaly speaking.

Anyway, I brought my son up to be a freethinker, not always a good idea as he has a tendancy to question a lot of what I try to tell him. It's a 24/7 Q&A, which is great most of the time. Yes I have my views about god and religion, and yes I talk to my son about them. BUT I allow my son his beliefs.

That is to say, I have encouraged the skills required that mean he can make his own judgements about a wide range of subjects. I have also told him that he can not always take my views on face value, he has to assess things for himself. For example, just because I think Pokemon is rubbish doesn't mean he has to think it's rubbish.

Plus, I have never criticised religion in front of him as I have Pokemon. Some parents would say he's too young to make that decision for himself. And maybe he is. But if he is too young that does not automatically give me the right to make HIS decision for him. It just means he should make these decisions when he can.

Can I assure you I do make some decisions for him. You could call these welfare or Health & Safety issues which there is no time for an eight year old (no matter how clever he is) to digest and consider his options. Although I think religion is an inherently bad thing, it's not a immediate life and death thing for him at the moment, one day he will realise that it is for some people.

He does religious education lessons, the school calls them "Here I am". Which suggests to me that they haven't the courage of their convictions. But hey! Yesterday we went to a parents evening. We had access to his work, including his "Here I am" book. The first thing they did this year was make a list of ten interesting facts about yourself.

Pretty much what you might expect, but his facts also included. Thinking Charles Darwin was a very clever scientist and inspiration. That evolution explains life on earth, and he knows the earth is extemely old and that means more than 5000 years. Of course he did mention that he likes Pokemon, can't win them all!

This year he is meant to do his first holy communion. Apparently, he has expressed a wish that he doesn't want to do his first holy communion. And not only that he has apparently explained his reasons quite clearly. He hasn't just said "because I don't want to" or "its boring" or even "because my Dad said god doesn't exist", he has given some thoughtful answers to the questions put to him by the teacher. So while the teacher thinks that he should keep it under his hat as other children / parents and teachers may not understand (afterall he's only eight!). She also thinks its great that he is mature enough to make this kind of decision and gives perfectly rational reasons and arguements as to why he shouldn't take his first communion.

And who can I thank for this, for providing good explanations about this subject and many others, that a child can understand. Who has helped provide the tools that allow my son to construct real arguements.

Stephen Law!

I gave my son a copy of Stephen Laws "The Philosophy Files". He read it, particularly enjoying the chapter about virtual reality. But also using the chapter about the existence of god quite effectively.

So I have a big thanks to Stephen Law, he gave my son the information and keeps me in the clear of "he's only saying that because his dad says it" brigade.

And what is more. My son, in fact both my sons, were given glowing praise by their teachers and both are very bright! I am grinning like the proverbial cheshire cat, I'm a proud Dad!

Now if Stephen Law could write a book explaining why Pokemon is rubbish...

The Mail strikes again...

2009-02-03T19:22:00.003Z

Melanie Phillips thinks that the nurse in the previous post is being hard done by, amongst other stupidity!

" This Orwellian response has now been followed up by the draconian action of suspending her with the possibility of outright dismissal from her job simply because she offered to pray for another patient."

However, as described in the column

" Apparently, Mrs Petrie previously received a warning about promoting her faith at work after she offered to give a prayer card to an elderly male patient."

The rights or wrongs of offering a prayer is beside the point, the Nurse has deliberately ignored a warning from her employer. A reasonable request by any standard. That is enough for a suspension pending further investigation, and possible dismissal. And I would imagine that is exactly how Melanie Phillips bosses would react if she did something they had told her, no warned her, not do.

Do I sense that Melanie Phillips thinks that faith trumps all and as such T&Cs of employment don't matter if you evoke faith or God. I don't think so, because the tone of the rest of her column suggests that if nurse was a muslim she'd be getting all that she deserve

Prayers for the sick

2009-02-02T19:05:00.003Z

A nurse in Somerset has been suspended for offering to pray for a patient. Apparently, the patients wasn't offended and didn't mind being offered a prayer.

A couple of things spring to mind. Although the patient was polite, this doesn't mean the patient was okay with being offered a prayer. I must admit I haven't seen what the patients actual thoughts on the matter were. But as it was a home visit, the patient obviously felt something because she reported it to the local PCT.

And from my experience, people only start praying for you if you are really sick... like terminal. That might be a little distressing, I mean what subtle message was the nurse actually conveying to the patient.

Clearly, by the suspension and investigation into the incident offering people prayers isn't part of the T&Cs of the nurse, or part of the nurses working practice.

I'm sure I could list conclusive evidence that praying for the sick has no more benefit than chatting about football with a sick football fan, but I won't.

Not least it is the job of a nurse to provide medical care and support. If the nurse wanted to provide spiritual or faith support she should of become a nun or joined the clergy. You see aspirin clears a headache, religion just makes it worse.

I don't think she should be sacked, but she may think twice about peddling her faith on the sick and vunerable. Especially, as an agency nurse she may find herself at the bottom of the pile when the PCT is looking for nursing cover in future.

Sometimes its in the pictures...

2009-01-31T20:35:00.004Z

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
- Douglas Adams

Carol singing

2008-12-22T19:09:00.002Z

So the local baptists have been round on their annual caroling night. Each year they go around the local streets and sing carols. They do not knock on doors and do not ask for donations or anything really.

Okay, so they do tend to give you a pamphlet or as is the case this year a DVD. Which to be fair isn't much to ask given that they are wandering around in the cold singing for people. And, frankly, there is something quite nice about a group of people sharing something of themselves with the local community... even if it is songs about the birth of Jesus. I'd quite like to hear something a little less religious, but I don't suppose a group of baptists would be doing then.

Maybe, I should organise some "caroling" which is more secular. Everyone likes a good sing song...

Besides my DVD player is bust!