Notes on Religion

Now I'm something of an atheist, and I have no real experience of religion. I have an innate distrust of all authoritarian organisations, be it governments, corporations, charities even, much less the various churches, so what you are going to read may be something of a surprise. There are some positive aspects to religion which are often underrated. Specifically, religion teaches people to learn to live with disappointment.

We have certain expectations in life. We want to be loved. We want to be happy. We want to have a spouse and a family. We want to be beautiful. We want to be intelligent. We want success. We want to be important, either at work, amongst our friends or family, or even in society. We get these expectations from our parents, our peers, from stories we are told when we are children (Cinderella springs to mind) and from the media. A kind of brain washing or programming.

What happens when we don't get these things?

We lose self esteem. We start to think that we are losers in the game of life because, if you're not a winner, you must be a loser. This is where religion comes in. It says, "OK, so you lost. Remember that, ultimately, we all lose and if you're a good, kind person you will be rewarded in the next life". Now this all sounds like a big lie, and it is, but the lie has a purpose. Not everyone can win. You can't get everything you want, no one can. Sometimes, when you do get what you want, you screw your life up (and everyone elses'), so badly you're more unhappy than when you didn't have it. In fact, you should feel lucky to have what you do. You can breathe, walk, feel the sun on the back of your neck, have all five senses, talk, watch a sunset on a beach. You have a roof over your head and food in your belly. Maybe a cold drink on a hot day or a hot drink on a cold day. A cup of coffee, a quiet smoke and a read of the paper. Religion teaches you not to be selfish. That what you want is not the be-all and end-all of your existence. That you're part of something that's bigger than you ("God's plan", or whatever). This is partially correct: you are part of the human race. Maybe not a big part, certainly not as important as you thought, but still a human being and not a half-bad one at that. And you made it this far.

Now this doesn't mean that you should not try to improve your lot in life, nor the lot of others, but it does mean that when you win, others lose, even if you are not aware of it. What should be of concern is that when others lose, they do not lose something that's important. Plus maybe we lose something important when we win: a little of our humanity.

Religion is not as important as it was, especially Christianity, and I'm certainly not advocating it, but that ability to deal with our disappointment is important. It's all part of growing up, being an adult.

"Meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same".

Manchester Mini Maker Faire, 2012

I regularly buy Make magazine, an electronics and hobby DIY magazine for the 21st century. There are official Maker Faires organised every year, but there are also several Mini Faires, mostly organised by museums and local societies that are unofficial but associated. They are used to demonstrate new technologies and ideas, mostly by startups, but also students.

Today, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester to see one.

There was lots of ideas, but, as always, I was interested in 3D printing:

And this is the kind of stuff that people are making now:

We also had a look around the museum, which has a working replica steam locomotive and other steam engines:

Cambridge Folk Festival, 2012

I haven't been to a festival proper for a while (I don't count ROTW as I'm a volunteer), so I was looking forward to Cambridge as I'd never been before.

It was all very well organised, but relaxed. I managed  to get to the site fairly easy and parked up in a huge field dedicated to the purpose. Walking in, I noticed that Crabbies were a major sponsor and had brought their own bus:

I had one of their alcoholic ginger beers later on and it went down very well. It's the ideal festival drink!
 
I got myself a drink of lemonade flavoured with mint:

I think it was meant to be strained, but the mint tasted OK.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich

I missed the first act, but the second was a singer/songwriter who wasn't bad.

He sights his influences as being Bob Dylan and Eliot Smith, but he's not derivative of either. He's a good musician and the songs were engaging, plus he's a good singer.

Dry The River

I confess, I didn't have much time for this band.

Maybe it was the sound system, but they jarred on me. They got the crowd going, though.

Billy Bragg

I saw him walking around the field earlier, looking for a bite to eat, so a man of the people.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie, so Billy is touring with a set of his songs. He was as good as ever, bantering with the audience. Small gigs like this are his meat and drink.

Overall, I really enjoyed the festival. It still has a local and folky feel to it which make it relaxed, with just a little commercialisation (inevitable in order to pay for the acts) but not too much to spoil it. Whether I could have enjoyed it for a full weekend, I don't know, but I'd certainly recommend it for the day.

On Holiday

I'm on holiday until next week. The plan is to see Billy Bragg at the Cambridge Folk Festival tonight and then to travel into the bosom of my family to take my father and uncle to the Manchester Mini-Maker Faire at the Museum of Science and Industry on Saturday.

Also, the actress Mary Tamm has died recently. She played Romana, a Time Lord companion in Doctor Who back in the 1970's. Men of a certain age can be defined by which Romana they fancied: Mary Tamm or Lalla Ward. I'm the former, so I felt an odd moment of poignancy at the news. A Memento Mori.

Shoeburyness Shore

Yesterday I went to Shoeburyness for some exercise and quiet contemplation. Unfortunately, it was the first week of the school holidays and also the first bit of summer weather we've had, well, all summer, so the shore was crowded:

I settled for just the exercise and took a few photo's of the shore and wildlife:

Sad Stories of the Death of Kings: Richard II

Currently, on the BBC, a set of Shakespeare's history plays are being broadcast under the title of The Hollow Crown, which I've just started watching and recommend.

As a person brought up in the Anglo-Welsh education system of the 1970's, Shakespeare fills me with less than fond memories. I did Julius Caesar for mock O Level and Richard II for the real thing: no comedies in Wales in the 1970's. Probably just as well.

Julius Caesar is all about ambition, pride and treachery; Richard II about tyranny, mental instability and paranoia. And treachery, again. However, the best thing about the plays is that they are quotable:

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of Majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise;
This fortress built by Nature for herself,
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England

Stirring stuff from John of Gaunt.  ("Star spangled banner" is not really in the same league; we're English, we do this thing for a living. Mind you, they did have Richard Nixon, a Shakespearean villain if ever there was one).

How about this from Hamlet, which seems to have the most quotes:

one may smile, and smile, and be a villain

How many politicians would fit that description?

Appropriately, it's also my birthday today, a whole 48 years. How hard can it be?

On the Subject of Gay Marriage

OK, so why is a middle aged bachelor commenting on marriage at all, much less gay marriage. Normally, I'd agree and say "what's this to do with me?"

Let's examine marriage from a functional angle, removing the emotional, historical and religious aspects: what is marriage for? From a legal perspective, it allows the secure transfer of wealth, property, estate etc. from one generation to the next, especially if the family has only daughters. From a health perspective, in a time before advanced medicine, it prevents (in theory at least) the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases: most societies frown upon infidelity and it's even punishable by death in some. It creates a stable social unit in a society which has grown beyond the extended family, clan or tribe.

What is now being discussed is extending this social and legal structure to encompass a social phenomenon which, although has been around for as long as we have, has only been public for the last fifty or so. Non-mixed marriage, anybody?

What bothers me is this: why is it such a big deal? If we have so many problems doing this simple thing, what are we going to be like dealing with real issues which affect everybody? Stem cell research, cloning, anti-ageing drugs and longevity, sentient and semi-sentient AI, genetic modification, physical and mental augmentation, smart drugs, consciousness uploading, nanotechnology. These are not trans-gender issues, these are trans-human issues. The next fifty years, much less the next one hundred, are going to see a revolution in what it means to be human, and I don't think we are even ready if we are bickering about whether two people who love each other can get married or not.

Back at the Shop

As part of my post work therapy, I've started back at the Oxfam book shop in Chelmsford. It was a most welcome return, after a bit of a shaky start, and I'm now doing Friday afternoons on the top deck, looking after the music and DVD's. Surprisingly little has changed in eighteen months and there were a few familiar faces. Michelle and Michael were still bickering over shelf space (she does sci-fi and general fiction and he does literature), and Mark has now been proper (paid) manager for some time and runs a tight ship. I had a few hours serving on the till, lightened by a conversation with a young Spanish woman who wanted Heavy Metal. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of my kind of music, except for a Goldfrapp album, Black Cherry, and an old Groove Armada album, back when they were actually good, but there was also a so-so James Brown Greatest Hits (aaaaaaooooooowwww!!!! git down! funky! Tell me if there's a better tune that Papa's Got a Brand New Bag. Not likely). I then did a few hours labelling things and price research on some AD&D books which weren't worth as much as I thought. I'm not much of an expert on Fantasy RPG, mostly sci-fi.

It's a Wrap

While on a weekly trip to Southend, I spotted a couple of Tesco employees shrink-wrapping a colleagues car. "Payback", said one. I know it's been done loads of times, but it's the first time I'd seen it. I gave them a hand and took some photos.

Rhythms of the World Part 2

Yes, folks, it did indeed rain and it was muddy.

I did my four hours picking up litter and then went for a meal afterwards, as usual. There were a lot more volunteers than last year and, rather than seeing one or two people throughout the shift, we were bumping into them all the time. Plus people seemed to be a lot more cautious about littering (perhaps because of the mud?), so the job seemed a little more aimless than before. Maybe I ought to volunteer for gate duty or programme selling, at least for a few hours to break it up a little.

Here's young John after the shift:

He's going through a CHiPs phase, I think.

One of the Lovettes posed for me back stage, replete with wellies:

Very charming.

Rhythms of the World 2012 Part 1

On Thursday evening, I went with my mate John to the get it for ROTW. This is usually a walk-around, but I was really late due to all the nonsense on the M25 (some things never change) and we missed it. It hammered down all the way through Hitchin and all the way back, so I was cold, wet and miserable, plus the site was pretty muddy as you can see:

So what it's going to be like on the day... Bring your wellies: I will.

Rezzed 2012

On Friday, for a trip out, I went to Rezzed, a computer games show in Brighton.

Despite being billed as an "Indie" games show, the vast majority of the PC's were for big name publishers, SEGA for example. Amongst the new games being shown were Borderlands 2, Aliens: Colonial Marines, and lots of other FPS's too boring to mention (I'm a 3rd person RPG man, myself). I played a strategy game called Prison Architect where my first task was to build Death Row (seriously, this is a game). I also had a go at a game called Krater, a proper RPG I have now bought, but seem unable to run on my PC properly.

I attended a demo of Total War: Rome 2, developed by local game subsidiary of SEGA, The Creative Assembly. It's pretty astounding stuff, technically, but I think they are in something of a rut creatively (what are the odds that the next game will be Medieval Total War 3?).

It lashed it down most of the day, so I was glad to be inside, but I got a free T-Shirt, loads of flyers. Brighton seems to be something of a centre for game development, not so much a silicon roundabout as a silicon seafront. But you know what Britain is like: we don't really do industry, we just pretend to and try to rip people off.