Simon Orr
28
May 00:05
Simo(n) Update
Exams are over, 4 months (1/3 of a year don't ya know) free from academic restraints await me, which means more bloggage for the free world to enjoyMirage Update 26th May 2005
Harriet wins a Team Ho prize for least dressed female at mirage, quite a feat!
Neil dislocates his finger and I have to push it back into place, great fun!
It has been 2 years, 4 months, and 20 days since I pulled, a record I am proud of :p
14
May 00:05
My Confession
Ok, I just got home from my friend Tyler's birthday dinner at Outback (australian/american restaurant) in Birmingham and I feel awful. Not because of the food (pretty good) or drink (I drank only coke, a lot though!) but because I really offended someone who I only just met. She asked a couple of times during the meal why some people jokingly referred to me as a facist and she unfortunately bore the brunt of my tactless illiberalism herself that very night.I'm hoping that my writing down what happened, I'll be able to rationalise and deal with it better, and it will have a beneficial effect on my own mental state. Maybe I'll even get some comments on how bad I really was.
Ok here goes. Somehow we got onto the topic of modern art, and I stated how much I hated the Turner Prize as it seemed to always give the award to the piece which would create the most media hype (about how stupid the winner was) not the award with the most artistic merit. The following details of our conversation weren't particularly relevant but it ended up with her saying "Well shouldn't you be saying that in your opinion the prize is bad not just stating that the prize is bad". I then replied to the effect that "Well I believe that my opinion is right, if I believed all opinions are equally valid then I don't really hold an opinion at all do I?". I then continued to justify my reasoning but I think she took it very personally as she took the opposite 'opinion' to me on modern art and I assume she saw my comment as being personal to her. I can see how what I said could be taking to be very insulting to certain people (i assume she is one of them) and now I feel totally awful about it as I'm not sure I'm going to be able to see her again to apologise to her (which I now really want to do). I think I made it worse trying to justify what I said to her later when really I should have just apologised straight out.
Hmm, I think I do feel better after writing down. Anyone have any opinions on whether what I said was offensive/unreasonable?
Simo(n)
13
May 01:05
Coming soon...
I really should write on here more often, but thanks for all the positive feedback I get in person from readers.I promised Max a rant on my reasoning for why the marking down of science papers is illogical and immoral and this will be coming soon along with pieces on:
– What the Conservatives should do next
– How football should be financed
– Why single evangelical girls shouldn't panic too much
– How higher education should be financed
and finally
– Why all my opinions on the above should be listented to
Simo(n)
01:05
Awful, awful cell notes
Our Cell (for all you non charasmatic evangelicals out there, it's kind of like a bible study group on speed) has recently begun the Fusion notes entitled "Renewal of the mind", and this week the topic in question was love. The notes centred around two 'stories' that the group was supposed to analyse and compare to their own experience. I'll let you consider for yourself how useful they are:Story 1
Henry was walking in town one day when he spots a television crew filming what was obviously an advert for TV. He went to watch. In the scene were two beautifully dressed young women sitting having coffee. Off to one side were two very well dressed young men in suits. A man jumped out with his clapperboard and the first of the the two men walked past the two women. They looked extremely bored and carried on drinking their coffee. After a few moments the man walked in front of the two women. What a difference! Their mouths fell open and the coffee poured into the saucer: they were clearly being depicted as falling incredibly in love with this young man. Henry asked the filmaker what the film was about. "It's a wool advert' said the filmmaker. It took Henry a while to puzzle this through but then he realized the first of the young men was wearing a mixed polyester suit and the second was wearing an all wool suit. The picture here is 'wear the right clothes, get the right women'.
Now in the defence of the author of the above, the next line in the notes is: "A bit of a daft story, but...", a woeful understatement I feel. I could write an essay on the faults in that insult to the concept of communication, but I think I'll leave them for you to identify. And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...
Story 2
Henry was working one day in a Christian caring centre when a little boy came in and ran up to Henry to be loved and hugged. Henry had come from a very sheltered background and had never really come across people in pain and difficulty, and as this little boy came towards him, the smell of urine and excrement hit Henry hard. This little boy was stinking, his hair was alive with lice and excrement was smeared all over him. Henry took a step backwards and instead of being the brave Christian carer found himself a failure. That evening in deep despair he thought about the nature of Christian love and realised his feelings had let him down. He had no feelings for this little boy, no rush of emotiion but in prayer and meditation he realised that Chrisitan love is about choice and sacrifice. The next day Henry was again in the centre and the boy ran towards him, Henry scooped him up in his arms and held him close, even though he knew he might smell of the little boy for many days. He has realised that love is about sacrifice and action. This is the Jesus way.
I'm almost embaressed to write that twaddle. I hope it entertains you all, it certainly did us.
01:05
Word of the Day
Thermochristodynamics1. The study of "hot" Christians (preferably female)
Credit to Aaaron Trus who suggested I make it the subject of my Phd.
2
May 14:05
Conservative Super Computer not yet perfect
I recently recieved a letter from Michael Howard, I can only assume it was part of the Conservative operation to target likely voters with messages that matter to them, in order to swing key marginal seats.Overall they did pretty well, I am a likely conservative voter, the only one in my house of 6. However, I recieved the letter on my 21st birthday and which major national issue did they choose to target me with?
Pensions.
1
May 03:05
The lying liers...
I'm sure the blogosphere is full of election waffle right now, but I think the more said about this election the better, mainly because the politicians don't seem to be saying a whole lot.All I have to say is that the Labour party are a bunch of lying liers.
When I left my house this morning I noticed that the billboards at the crossroads outside my house had changed. There was one new Labour poster and one new campaign poster from the public service employees union that carried a familiar Labour message. The first claimed the Conservatives would introduce charges for hospital operations, which is just completely not true in any way shape or form. If Michael Howard claimed Tony Blair ate live babies it would be no more or no less a lie as the poster's claim. The second poster asked 'How will spending £36 billion LESS on public services improve them?'. This implies the Conservatives would cut public service spending by that amount but in fact they will just INCREASE spending less, but still increase it. A misleading half truth that the makers of the poster very much understand.
Now let me put my position clearly, I'm not offended by these posters because I love the tories with all my heart. I plan to vote for them, but I'm still a long way from collecting my membership card. No, the reason these posters offend me so much is because I hate people who try to win arguments by lying or by twisting the truth because they know the listener does not know any better. Now people say that politicians always lie, but in fact it used to be the case that they spent their whole public lives trying to avoid lying. They also tried to avoid saying something that made them look bad, which means often they had to say nothing at all and not answer a question. For example Michael Howards infamous interview with Paxman over the resignation of the chief prison officer when he was home office minister. Its quite likely Howard did threaten him to force him to resign, but he could have denied it flat out at first time of asking, but he didn't because he didn't want to lie.
This is why I can't believe that we let Tony Blair and his party get away with lying about everything, especially during this campaign. We know all the claims they make about the Conservatives aren't true, they know it too. So I don't see how any decent person can vote them, it just makes me feel sick.
19
April 23:04
Current Affairs: The Pope is dead! Short to medium live the Pope!
So it seems like the conservatives were victorious in the conclave and all the media hype about a Latin American or African pope was just wishful beebthink.Pope Benny XVI won't be changing much and in the end this appointment just feels to me like a delaying of the shift of power in Catholism to the 2nd and 3rd world.
I'm perfectly happy for them to elect a conservative, even if I do disagree with them on the role of women (a bit) and the celebacy of the clergy and contraception. When the changeover does happen I hope it retains the general conservative position and doesn't pick up the problems of the latin american church in particular.
Not a particularly interesting appointment I must say, any propa Catholics read these blogs?
23:04
Word of the Day
Ok my last word wasn't that original but this one is...Dephilistinification
Definition:
1. The process of becoming cultured and increasing in knowledge of the arts
2. Being less of a philistine
I came up with this one to describe my New Year's resolution to learn something about western high art, be it visual, musical or literature.
8
March 01:03
Things People Assume About Me
In the last few weeks I have become aware of several stereotypes applied to me which seem to be based on my appearance and general impressions of me. I will now run through them and indicate whether they are true or not and where I think they come from. If you are reading this and thinking the concept is self indulgent crap, then my answer would be that it is but thats what blogs are all about so :PStereotype 1: I am very right wing
Although I now lean towards the right on many issues I once voted Lib Dem and even used to consider myself a bit socialist. I have however seen the light and the error of my past ways. As the saying goes:
"If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart.
If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain."
So I guess this is a justified judgement which probably springs from rants and quips I make without thinking.
Stereotype 2: I own a lot of calculators
This can only come from the general aura of geekdom I apparently emit, and is unfortunately true. I have in my possession 8 calculators, however only two are mine - sorry to all those who I accidentally stole them from.
Stereotype 3: I know the names of all the Archbishops of Canterbury since the Twelfth Century
Not at all true, I can only name the last two, I'm sure my housemate Neil could name many more but apparently he doesn't look like the kind of chap who would. This statement is apparently based on my vast collection of useless knowledge and my Christian scholarliness (yeah yeah not a word shut up), so I hope it's not another reflection on the kind of person I come across as to strangers.
I'm sure there were a couple more and if I remember them I'll add them later. Stay tuned for more bloggage (Ah the fusion of a contemporary word with the latest in fasionable suffixes, how cool am I?) in the near future.
The nut is back in town.
– Simo(n) x
(See Emma's blog for the explanation of my new found appreciation of the electronic kiss)