Well, I’d find it handy. What I’d like my email client to do would be to automatically, when requested, recognise dates and times and add them to whatever calendar system I’m using. I’m always receiving emails with this sort of information. I know that there is a plugin thing for Outlook, but I use Thunderbird, and so far I have not found a system that can do this.
Such a system would save quite a bit of time for many people, I suspect.
Just what do you think the Web 2.0 profession is? Webmaster? Software engineer? Coder? Programmer?
Well, in my not so humble opinion, it’s none of the above, but I think that this profession is going to see a massive amount of growth in many diverse sectors over the next few decades, not just with regard to the world wide web, and it is a profession that some may find surprising.
I was going to waffle on about this for ages, but I won’t, unless someone is mad enough to encourage me, that is.
So, what is this profession? I’m sure sure are itching, well curious, to know.
Wow! This is a heavy week. I had a long, and quite complex, translation that needed doing asap. I did manage to finish it, but it ate up a lot of time. So much time, that I have neglected my blog, and its readers.
However, this little translating experience sort of restored my faith in the existence of a superior being. Why? Well, on Tuesday I had my usual appointment with my law firm. Now, it just so happens that this group of people cancel once in a while, and I have to admit that I was sort of praying that they would cancel Tuesday’s lesson, as that would have given me a little breathing space. No, I thought, that would be far too much to expect.
Well, as it happens, they did indeed cancel! I just could not believe it. Cancellations are usually a little annoying, but this time I was just about jumping for joy. Someone, or something looked upon me favourably that day.
I’m not great believer in superior beings, but I have to admit after Tuesday’s stroke of luck, I did start to wonder. And should my luck not have been luck as such, but more like some form of divine intervention, I have to say a big thanks!
This little event also got me thinking. I mean, although I am not exactly religious, I do find the argument ‘something or somebody must be responsible for the universe’ difficult to refute. Yes, there may be a scientific explanation, but what kicked everything off? This is extremely difficult to explain, and even science has a more than few problems with it. Big bangs, chemical reactions, and things bouncing around the galaxy for zillions of years may explain how we came to exist, but before that? There was nothing, you might retort. OK, fine, I shall reply, but, I will ask, “Who or what turned the nothing into something?”. Explain that if you can. Although nobody can. And even if the religious types out there say, “It was God.”, I may well ask, “But what or who created God?”. Answers on a postcard, please. Although, I won’t be getting any postcards because there is no answer.
Will we ever find out? Possibly, but not for a long time yet, I imagine. And by the time we do, I shall be long gone, of that I am sure.
In the meantime, I will continue to be surprised when I benefit from unexpectedly fortuitous good luck, and I shall hover somewhere between being an atheist and an agnostic, or visa verce. Then again, maybe I should really be an atheist, for I am not sure that whatever or whoever started everything off could or should, of even would want to be considered as a deity.
This is a question I have put to myself on the odd occasion. The odd occasion that provoked this question once again was that of V-day in Italy and what appears to be an attempt to introduce a new, freer form of democracy in Italy, maybe. Grillo has stirred up a considerable furore as a result of the use of mass communication – a form of mass communcation, perhaps the last, that cannot easily be stifled.
The positive and negative effects of mass communication are very much governed by those who control it. Maybe this is something Marx and Trotsky saw coming, and this was one of the reasons why they proposed alternative forms of democracy. Or, more possibly, they just did not like the fact that the few so often dictate to the many. They must have believed that the societies in which they lived were not really functioning, and simply not representing the wishes of the masses.
I believe that today we live in a society similar to, if not much worse, the society that provoked Marx and Trotsky into proposing alternatives. But, I have not heard of any present day equivalents of these two great thinkers. Why is this so? Is there nobody out there that can come up with a workable truely democratic model for world society? This is something I cannot believe. Someone, somewhere must have learnt something from the predominantly failed attempts to implement Marx and Trotsky’s alternatives, so why can’t anyone come up with a decent alternative?
I wish I knew. And if anyone can tell me, I’m all ears.
I seem to be hearing more and more about the conflict between the Darwin’s theory of evolution and how the Bible describes the way in which we were created. And it has to be admitted that Darwin’s ideas theoretically discredit the biblical version of how we came to be. Recently, for some reason that is not entirely clear to me, a newish bunch calling themselves intelligent-designers have come on to the scene, particularly in the US. This is very odd. Darwin wrote about his famous theory many years ago, but only relatively recently have the aforementioned and other similar American groups become all hot under the collar regarding his theories, which, I’ve discovered, are some of the least contested scientific theories in existence. Not a surprise – the theory of evolution seems to be eminently logical to this here non-scientist.
Having read a little more about the ‘intelligent-design’ movement, I’ve come to understand that while Darwin’s work is a major target, this movement blames scientists in general for making the world such a materialistic place. A curious idea. Personally, I think if I were one of these itel-des fellows, and I wanted to identify the source of materialism, I’d take a good look at marketing men, well before having a go at poor scientists.
In any event, Darwin or not, there still remains that great unanswered question, which is ‘Who set the big bang off?’ (Ok, sorry then you would ask ‘Who created the being that set off the big bang? etc etc, ad infinitum. For the moment scientists cannot answer this, so everyone can continue to believe in a supreme being. There, religion is safe, and will be for a long time yet, I imagine. And it may be a good idea to remember that the bible was written by human beings, who are fallible and that this fallibility could be used to explain away a few aspects of the great book that do not agree with scientific points of view.
On the subject of imagination, I have this rather nutty idea that we form one of those huge self-developing empire-building type computer games. You may know what I’m on about. These game have little cities that grow almost automatically and all the little inhabitants do almost everything that ‘real’ people do. That we could form part of such a game is a frightening thought in some respects because it could mean that our supreme being is not much more than a spotty fourteen year old kid who does not get out much. This could, however, explain the mess that this world manages to get itself into. Not sure how the intelligent design bunch would deal with this scenario, though.
Just what is religion? Why does it exist and why are some of the main religions having problems these days with a loss in the number faithful? Recent world problems and personal problems have found me trying to develop a perspective on these questions.
In answer to my questions, I think that religion started as a means of explaining the inexplicable and then developed into a means of keeping members of society walking along a path that made them easier to control, and, to an extent, operated in the same way as all the laws, rules and regulations which keep us in order today. Whatever the reason, one thing seems to be true, the rules which go to make up the main religions of today were created many moons ago, when life was considerably different. Those who wrote all the fundamental texts lived in times remote from our own and now, or so it would seem, many of the standards and philosophies laid down would seem to be considered irrelevant by the majority in today’s world. This is, in many ways, sad, but I believe it is inevitable. However, it is difficult to up date something which owes its origins to times so distant from our own. The Catholic church is finding conflicts with historical theological principles everywhere, from that bane of the Roman Catholic church, birth control, to Harry Potter. The Islamic faith is finding that its followers are having a hard time fitting the requirements of this religion with the pressures and temptations of today. However, as with the Christian faiths, there is no real leeway (for historical reasons) which could allow them to bring religious principles in line with today’s society.
Attempts at creating new religions have been and are being made, but with relatively little overall effect and instead of embracing one of these new religions, many are abandoning religion completely, quite possibly in favour of other more interesting, for them, pastimes, such as watching TV or blogging, for instance. This is a shame, because some kind of faith, more closely related to our modern society, could well get us through the difficult period which we are facing.
What is needed is some world shaking event involving someone who exists today. Something which could either breathe new life into old gospels or which could lead to the creation of newer religious doctrines. In many ways we need a miracle – something that many can witness, due to the power of technology, but something so inexplicable that it would restore our faith in the distinctly high probability that incomprehensible forces do really exist and that respecting (popular word at the moment ‘respect’, although it seems to be misused) them or it, really would make the world and our lives better. The problem is that such an event would contend with a level of scientific knowledge which never existed when the those who wrote the bible, Koran or whatever, were around.
So, come on Great Being (or Beings) rattle our cages and restore our faith, and maybe a little fear that doing bad things here will lead to problems in any afterlife, should such a thing exist. Too many are now saying ‘to hell with hell’, let’s live for the moment, or at least, pave the way for our offspring.
End of sermon.
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To get Italy flavour news and updates via Twitter, follow: @newsfromitaly 2300+ followers and counting.For those who did not know, Francesco Cossiga, who died the other day, was an Italian politician and one time President of Italy. Cossiga hailed from Sardinia, was a fan of John Le Carre and had earned himself the nickname “the pickaxe” owing to his no holds barred criticism of other Italian politicians.
As you may be aware, the generally tumultus world of Italian politics is in turmoil. The Berlusconi government is teetering on the brink of collapse, but what is really surprising, is that this collapse was sparked from the inside.
From spat to full-blown split. Silvio Berlusconi’s marriage of political convenience to Gianfranco Fini has ended in tears. Scorned lover Berlusconi even rejected Fini’s last minute attempts to kiss and make up and remain part of Berlusconi’s party of love. End of love in. Period.
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