Concrete Achievements

Month: September 2005

  • Take the red communion wafer

    Catholic Online (via MeFi) reports on a recruiting poster for the Catholic priesthood based on … the Matrix movies.

  • People power

    Demos Greenhouse links to the New Economics Foundation’s new Index of Democratic Power, showing how influential your vote is in deciding the government of the country.

  • Crunchy and Soggy

    Nico Colchester’s old article is just as valid today.

  • Flying: still bad

    A new environmental report bashes air travel as a huge greenhouse gas generator. That’s why I take the train.

  • Holy fools

    The BBC is reporting that a group of CofE bishops are suggesting a meeting of Christian and Muslim religious leaders to apologise for the Iraq war.

    Whatever your view of the rights and wrongs of the war, this is surely really stupid. I’m never convinced by the ‘Bishops shouldn’t involve themselves in politics’ line that the Tories trotted out from time to time, but on this particular issue, they’re miles off.

    First, the war was not – to my knowledge – started by the Church of England, so it’s not for them to apologise, except in a rather pathetic hand-wringing ‘It’s not my fault, honest’ sort of way.

    More importantly, though, the war was not about Christians vs. Muslims. It was a war of nominally Christian western states against a secular state inhabited mainly by Muslims. To start going on about apologies from one faith to another plays right into the terrorists’ claims that this is a ‘Crusade’ against Muslims which – for all its faults – it most certainly is not.

  • London to Brighton run

    Southern Railways’ new Electrostar trains – the last one of which was delivered the other day – have broken the London – Brighton rail speed record, setting a new time of 36’56”.

  • London & Brighton Democracy meetup

    The first meeting of the London and Brighton Democracy meetup has been arranged, for 5 October at 1930, at the Mitre, off Hatton Garden.

  • Burma Shave Slogans

    Burma Shave signs were iconic American advertising from the fifties. Witty billboards posted along a stretch of highway so they read as a little snatch of doggerel, either advertising the benefits of shaving, or with a little safety message. Fiftiesweb has a collection of the old slogans, and more on their history.

    Example:
    If your peach
    Keeps out
    Of reach
    Better practice
    What we preach
    Burma-Shave

    and

    On curves ahead
    Remember, sonny
    That rabbit’s foot
    Didn’t save
    The bunny
    Burma-Shave

  • When not in Rome

    MetaFilter links to a great site full of 360° panoramas of Rome. Personal favourite – the view of the Pantheon. I sat in exactly that spot over thirteen years ago, just before I started university.

  • German elections

    Confused (or more likely apathetic) about the German elections? Don’t be! They’re important, quite interesting, and now Der Spiegel’s English language edition gives you a handy primer to the issues and people. Link via A Fistful of Euros.