...for a good book...

call me shallow (no, actually please don't!), but i was going through a list of '100 books to read before you die' and became quite ashamed as i realised how few of them i've actually read.

examples:

in search of lost time by marcel proust - no

tristram shandy by laurence sterne - nein

suite francaise by irène némirovsky - non

the glass bead game by herman hesse - seriously?

but then i looked at someone else's list, far less high-brow,

 and discovered i have (pretty much) read them all.

i feel much better about myself now.

forget the books, i shall instead be more selective about

 which lists i read in future.

...for a reason to be bothered... (again)

idiots.

...for another splash of genuine snake-oil...

...or even 'anointing' water (for the salvation of my soul).

spiritual beliefs are all very well, 

until innocent people start dying.

at least three people in london with HIV have died after they stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their

 evangelical christian pastors.

HIV prevention charity african health policy network (ahpn) says a growing number of london churches have been telling people the power of prayer will "cure" their infections.

"this is happening through a number of churches. we're hearing about more cases of this," ahpn chief francis kaikumba said.

ahpn said it believed the synagogue church of all nations (scoan), which has uk headquarters in southwark, south london, may be involved in such practices.

the church is headed by pastor t b joshua, nigeria's third richest clergyman, according to a recent forbes richlist.

(are alarm bells ringing in your head too?)

'hiv-aids healing' is listed on the church's website among 'miracles' it says it can perform.

'cancer healing' and 'baby miracles' are also advertised.

all this, in 21st century london.

and apparently it can't be stopped.

m u r d e r  o f  t h e  i n n o c e n t s

...for a better way to describe blackberry's business model...

...down the pan.

...for an ultra-orthodox jew that i couldn't love...

i love ultra-orthodox jews...

because there's always a story.

having only just finished their chicken swirling escapades during yom kippur last weekend, these cheeky chappies are now picketing a new school for girls in beit shemesh outside jerusalem.

the reason? they are offended by the sight of the girls and their families passing their homes.

the lunacy? the girls are themselves from an orthodox community.

it is, as the bbc reporter kevin connolly says,

"intimidating and disturbing stuff"

you can, and indeed must, listen here:

bbc radio - ultra-orthodox jews picket girls'school

they bring shame not only on their faith, but on humanity itself.

...for a cure for naivety...

occupy wall street. i'm completely in support of the protest.

there has been far too large a degree of insouciance inferred on the inequities, ineptitudes and injustices that undoubtedly continue to lay at the root of the current financial crisis.

but no amount of 'prayer' to any god or pseudo-r*ligion is going

 to solve it. nor is sitting in the middle of occupied wall street and publicly displaying one's own personal naivety.

in this case - naivety is close to idiocy.

you can find more about the faces and signs of 'occupy wall

 street' on the excellent flavorwire by simply targeting your digital device here where you can see more like this:

does she have any idea what tahrir square was about, and how far removed this is from the reasons for 'occupy wall street' ?

n a i v e

...for a fun-loving scientologist...

whilst religions regularly set themselves up as an
 easy source of hilarity, cults surely serve no other
 purpose than merely to be ridiculed.

following my wednesday post ...for the freedom to disbelieve... 
a sharp-eyed reader sent me the link to this story -

stupid scientology revisited on the blog 'jack of kent'.

it's a lesson in abuse, tweeting, the law, and idiocy. 
and for that, i love it.

...for my own green gold... (part two)

there runs joy unbounded in my life this morning. pleasantly surprised to discover i have been left $5.2million by ms. selma khat from lebanon who died in a car crash in chad in 2009. it seems all I have to do is pass my bank details to a gentleman in lagos for immediate transfer of the funds. which is nice. 

...for rip van winklokovich...

i had cause to visit the russian embassy yesterday.

i learned that it was in the diplomatic zone, 

alongside many other embassies.

good. shouldn't be difficult to find.

just look for their flag.

after two circuits, on both occasions stopping outside

 the turkish embassy to squint really hard at their 

fluttering red flag, i remembered glasnost and perestroika and stopped looking for the soviet flag, 

i started looking for the russian flag...

...and finally found the right place.

lovely people, the russians.

what else have i missed?

oh, yes...