Longrider

I’ve been aware of the Baptist Pastor Fred Phelps for some time. This man sums up all that is awful about religious extremists in the USA in much the same way as Abu Hamza does in the UK. Different religions, but the same nasty hate mongering. However, Fred’s activities reached a peak of nastiness even for him this week with this little gem. The tragedy in the Indian Ocean has seen a mass of goodwill from humanity worldwide - but not from Fred. Oh, no, this is God’s punishment for Sweden’s conviction and imprisonment of another right wing Christian cleric, Åke Green - allegedly for preaching homophobic hate speech. So, according to the Phelps’ logic, a chunk of Asia (approximately 150,000 people killed) was punished by God just to kill 20,000 Swedes. Yeah, beats me, too. I mean, even if I believed, I’d have difficulty with that one. The incompetence implied is staggering beyond belief.

It would be a natural reaction to want the Phelps’ of this world censored. This is after all blatant hate speech - despite Christianity being built on a platform of tolerance (love thy neighbour) and forgiveness (do unto others…), Phelps turns the whole thing on its head - God seems to hate everyone according to his website. Even Canada gets in on the act. I wonder just how it is possible to harbour so much hatred. It is beyond my comprehension.

It is at times like this I try to think of the words attributed to Voltaire:

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

After all, if we couldn’t see the world through Fred Phelps’ own words, we would not be able to see him as he really is - and judge accordingly. If there is a God, surely he, too, will judge accordingly.

Every few years the issue of blasphemy in the media raises its ugly head. A decade ago, it was Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. Following publication and loud protests, the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him for the crime of blasphemy against Islam (and I bought and read a copy as a result). At the time I recall a question being asked on the BBC’s Question Time programme along the lines that the UK’s blasphemy laws should include Islam. Quite rightly, the panel rejected this idea as blasphemy laws are outdated in concept and should be repealed. A truly free society includes the right to criticize and ridicule religious belief as well as protecting the rights of practitioners. Criticism, even that deemed offensive by believers should be allowed a free voice in a free, liberal society.

So here we are, ten years or so on (and the dreadful blasphemy laws are still with us) and the BBC faces similar outrage over its decision to screen Jerry Springer - The Opera. Now, I’ve not seen the show. I probably won’t bother; it isn’t my type of thing. However, under no circumstances should the BBC cave into demands from the Christian community protesting at its transmission. If it offends them, they have a choice; don’t watch. What they don’t have the right to do is use their loud, outspoken extremist voice to censor what others watch. They do not have the right to impose their worldview on the rest of us. We had enough of that with Mary Whitehouse busybodying about in what she thought we should not be allowed to watch based upon her Christian values.

Indeed, thinking about it, I might just watch it anyway…

PS - just noticed that Red Baron has commented over at his blog, too.

Those who do not suffer migraines rarely understand the debilitation involved. A headache can usually be pushed to the back of the consciousness and daily life will continue - if a little uncomfortably. A migraine is a different animal entirely. I’ve suffered them for most of my life. Usually I get the classic migraine; a severe headache down one side of the head accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The cure is to lie down and sleep it off. Certainly there’s medication available and I carry it with me constantly in case of an impending attack, as taking it quickly may stave off an attack or stop it completely. Unfortunately, when an attack is in full swing, the stasis of the stomach means that medication becomes academic.

I’ve learned a lot from the Migraine Action Association. Indeed, it is through them that I discovered Buccastem - a drug taken to inhibit nausea that is taken by placing between the upper lip and gum, thereby overcoming the stomach stasis problem.

This week I was running an IOSH Managing Safely course in Manchester. This being the first time I’ve run the course, I was naturally anxious. Consequently, I slept little the night before and the first day (Monday) was predictably tiring. Tiredness is one of my migraine triggers. I woke at about 04:00 on Tuesday with a splitting headache. The attack was by this time well underway, so I took my tablets and looked in my pouch of medicines for my Buccastem. Unfortunately, I’d left it behind. The consequence of this was several vomiting attacks between then and around 08:30. The second day of the course was due to start at 09:00 and at 08:00 I was still feeling like death. My head was aching (although manageable) but every few minutes I felt like dashing for the toilets as my stomach experienced waves of severe nausea. I missed breakfast and we set out for the training centre. Had I been employed, I’d have just called in sick. As I am self employed, the situation is very different. If I pulled out, not only would I not get paid, but the delegates would have been badly let down. I knew that sooner or later the symptoms would stop. So, it was a matter of getting through it until they did at around 11:00, when like a light switching on I went from nauseous to ravenously hungry.

On reflection, I am reminded that with sufficient motivation, we will push ourselves to the limits of our endurance. If you don’t get migraines, you may not appreciate that statement. If you do get migraines, you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

Some of you with eagle eyes may have noticed the BlogHop voting button has gone missing. There’s a reason for this and a perfectly logical one. I shall explain. The BlogHop system allows Blog visitors to vote according to their preference. Votes are graded from Love it to Hate it and several grades between - i.e. Good, Okay, Sucks. During the few weeks that I had the buttons on the blog, I received 10 votes as follows:

So what did this tell me? And therein lies the problem. It told me that three people do not like my Blog. And? So? What did they not like? The colour scheme? Or, more probably, they disagreed with my comments. Fine, when I publish my thoughts, I must expect that some people will disagree and I certainly don’t have a problem with it. Indeed, if people have something to say, then they are actively encouraged to comment and we can have a discussion. I might even change my opinion in the face of reasoned argument that opens up a line of thought I had not previously followed. Generally though, if I knew what exactly those three people thought, would I make any changes? No. So why bother?

Exactly.

My BMW R1150RT is an excellent machine. I bought it new nearly three years ago and have found it to be reliable, efficient, comfortable and good value for money. At that time, I figured on replacing it at three years old. However circumstances often take an unexpected turn. For me, self employment and building up new business means that a new bike at this time is just not on the cards - no money!

Give it a year or so and it will (hopefully) be a different story.

In the meantime, BMW have released details of the new R1200RT, the R1150’s replacement. Oh my, that is one mean looking motorcycle. What amazes me is that it consistently offers greater value for money than its Japanese competitors. At UK£9,910 it’s almost disgustingly cheap. Certainly it comes in cheaper than Honda’s ST1300 Pan European at UK£10,799 and is better specifed than Yamaha’s FJR1300 which retails at UK£9,899 - although it is being heavily discounted at the moment. The interesting thing though is that both machines are lower specified than the BMW as neither comes with electrically operated screen, adjustable seats and full luggage all as standard equipment. Fitting these options to bring them to the same specification as the BMW will cost the best part of a couple of grand.

I WANT ONE!

I see that Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik is calling for motorcycles to be allowed to use bus lanes as part of the government’s approach to congestion and pollution. That should upset some of the more extreme members of the cycling lobby who oppose anything driven by an internal combustion engine as being little more than the spawn of the devil.

Well, in some ways, they have a point - any petrol or diesel powered vehicle contributes to pollution in our cites. However it is all a matter of degrees. Given that no manufacturer offers a practical alternative (there is not a hybrid bike on the market so far as I am aware) and hybrids are not yet in popular usage, a motorcycle offers less pollution per mile simply because it is moving when other vehicles are stationary. Time was, when a motorcycle was more fuel efficient too but modern motorcycles have followed the same trend as some of the more extreme SUVs and have appalling fuel consumption figures.

That aside, in Bristol we’ve been using bus lanes for years. It works - a trip into the centre means riding past long queues of stationary commuters in their tin boxes. A positive pleasure, almost.

Now, if only they could stop buses using them….
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There’s an interesting article over at SpyBlog discussing the suggestion posed in the wake of the Asian tsunami disaster for SMS based early warning systems.

I hadn’t given this one much thought until I picked up on this article. I guess they make a valid point when they ask would you act on an unauthenticated text message telling you to evacuate your home or business? After all, we get so many SPAM messages these days, it would be difficult to differentiate. There are other dangers posed by such a system - it would be difficult for the operator of such a system to identify relevant handsets within the impending disaster area. The option posed by one operator involved publishing personal details on the web. One of the fallouts of these tragedies is the human scavenging that goes on - a list of details of potential victims who will probably not be returning home provides a feast for burglars. Then there’s the ready made mailing list for SPAMmers and phishers.

All in all, it sounds like one of those nice sounding ideas that hasn’t been thought through properly.

This article on the BBC website strikes a chord. When I was promoted into the management grades in the rail industry, my new contract of employment required me to work as many hours as necessary to get the job done. Having an on-call commitment meant that I could be called out after a full day’s work and work through the night without rest - something that I was forbidden to require my staff to do. Protest merely brought the response that it was part of my contract.

Being me, I did protest. As I gained confidence in my abilities, I also learned how to say no without actually saying "no."

I recall on one occasion the supervisor in the signalbox calling me in the early hours of the morning. Naked and half asleep, I staggered into the other room so as not to disturb my wife and took the call.

"The contractor has failed to send a handsignaller out to Chipping Sodbury and we can’t get things moving."
"And what would you like me to do?"
"Can you get out there and flag the signal?"
"I see. So what exactly are we paying the contractor millions of pounds a year to do?"
"Well…"
"We have paid for this service, haven’t we?"
"Well, yes."
"So what you are really asking me to do is contact the contractor’s on-call manager?"
"Er, well, I guess I could do that."
"Excellent idea. Let me know if you have any difficulty."

Eventually, people got the message that there were things they could call me out for - management issues relating to the running of my signalboxes, where it was an imperative. For trivial stuff, they learned not to call me.

Back on track, though, the problem with the use of unpaid overtime - whether voluntary or whether subtle coercion is used, is that it creates a culture where excessive hours of work eventually damage both the employee’s health and welfare as well as their efficiency. So, ultimately, it damages the business using the pressure in the first place.