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 It's a good thing that I'll be back posting soon.

The blogging community is in quite a bit of disarray with my being out of action. Robert deleted all of his posts which, to be fair, isn't a bad thing but then he returned with the 'same-old'.

Spurred on by this Richard deleted all of his posts as well. This is the third time that he's done this. I think the poor old guy is going doolally. It'll be interesting to see if the latest incarnation (yes, he's back) will be an improvement on the earlier ones. To date this doesn't appear to be the case as his current theme is 'nothing'. 

Nihilism is OK I guess:

Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.

- but can be dangerous and destructive.

Friedrich Nietzsche was said to be a nihilist and he's the guy who claimed that God was dead so maybe he wasn't such a tosser although I'd dispute that God ever existed in the beginning.

Some other supposed nihilists were King Solomon, Buddha, Niccolo Machiavelli, Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, Samuel Beckett and Luis Buñuel. That's a good bunch of jokers there who despite being nihilists produced some good things - definitely not NOTHING.

Maybe Richard will come out of his funk and write about SOMETHING.

I'M BACK.

 

I've been out of action for a while - sciatica. I've completed the course of drugs (muscle relaxant and pain killers) and feel a lot better but I think that it will take a while to come fully right.

I haven't been able to do much - no tennis, golf, walking or even blogging as sitting for a period of time aggravates the pain and limits my mobility.

The blogging community hasn't been up to much in my absence. Richard wrote a post and then spent the next several days congratulating himself over it. This display of hubris led Robert and his sidekick Kylie to come over all high-handed and say that he doesn't deserve to  have any commenters and in fact would be better off in hell. So, things are really just normal then.

Robert deleted all of his posts which was as momentous as  being stuck in traffic, only to return again with more of the same old shit. No breakthroughs there.

The run of horrendously bad weather has ended so the builder is back on site, this time with an assistant so I won't have to risk damaging my back again. I've been helping out with painting things though. I'll take some photographs so that I can post an update which I know you've been waiting for.

TTFN.

SHAKY

 

SHAKEY JAKE

I hurt my back while I was doing my stint as builder's apprentice a couple of weeks ago. It's been so bad I needed to get my sister to write a prescription for me for muscle relaxants and pain killers. I've been on these for 11 days now (just finished) and they seem to have made a difference although I still have some nagging pain in my lower back and thighs. It's sciatica I think.

While taking the tablets I haven't consumed any alcohol - nil, nada, nothing. As I've finished the course now I'm looking forward to some wine tonight as The Old Girl put a bottle of Champagne (Roederer) in the fridge to have while we play pool.

In addition to the back pain and difficulty in walking and even sitting I've had the shakes. Normally my hands are 'as steady as a rock' but over the last couple of weeks I've had noticeable tremors. I don't know if this is due to the tablets or attributable to withdrawal symptoms from not having any wine for a while. It'll be interesting to see how I am going forward.

US AND THEM

 US AND THEM - PINK FLOYD

We don't seem to be getting any better and there is a definite polarising of beliefs in this country with regard to Covid-19 measures.

I live in Northland which, like some other rural areas like Nelson. West Coast and Poverty Bay has a depressingly low percentage of fully vaccinated people.

It looks like even if we, and the country reach 90%, the remaining 10% will be impossible to convince to get vaccinated and even to take sensible precautions like mask wearing, app scanning and restricted social gatherings. I'm pleased that the government will make proof of vaccination a requirement for travel, work and any social gathering and I don't give a fuck about those who complain about 'losing freedom'. It's about time that the majority are not held to ransom by a minority.

I guess it's like 1981 and the Springbok tour that polarised the nation.

IS ROBERT A LITTLE BIT IN LOVE WITH JESUS?

 On Robert's blog - The Unempathetic Sinner he has an image of 'Jesus' on the home page.

This is a typical image of an Aryanised Jesus that I remember from my catholic primary school days.

The Jesuses always looked handsome, sweet and with a bit of a Mona Lisa-type knowing look. Many of them had an exposed heart which was definitely creepy.

What was that about?

I notice that Robert never uses images of Jesus that might be closer to his actual race.

Maybe he doesn't fancy those ones.

 

This is worth reading: THE ARYAN JESUS

A PARALLEL UNIVERSE

 I discovered this book from a post by the author on Neighbourly recently and bought it on-line from Amazon Australia.

It's quite a good read about growing up in Christchurch in the late 1950s and 1960s. Many of the memories that Cheryl Nicol writes about are similar to mine:

• Her father's shed that contained just about everything you might need.
• Family holidays in a packed car and caravan.
• School milk.
• Family visitors.
• Single channel television.
• etc.

I was born in Wellington but had relatives in Christchurch and generally in mid and south Canterbury so can easily picture some of the places she mentions.


Nicol was born in 1955 only 3 years later than me and Richard so her experiences are not that much different to ours.


It's a view of New Zealand that is long gone. Times were tough but there was more community spirit in those days and people just got on with life - the No. 8 wire mentality.

RUGBY'S THE WINNER BOYO!

 I woke early this morning to watch the live broadcast of the All Blacks vs Wales game which was great. Even Robert The Unempathetic Sinner would have enjoyed it.

I watched it in the small lounge at the end of the house because it was early (5:14 AM) and I didn't want to wake The Old Girl. I get carried away sometimes when watching rugby and yell out when a good try is scored. It used to make our dog Rosie jump and once I scared hell out of The Old Girl's godson who was watching with me.

****SPOILER ALERT ****

The outcome was predictable with the All Blacks scoring seven tries to Wales' one with a score of 54:16 but it was still an exciting match to watch. Here:s an outtake from the commentary:

"The ball bounces short of touch and is scooped up by Beauden Barrett. He runs and passes to Jordie Barrett who evades a tackle then another and makes 20 metres up field. Jordie Barrett passes to Beauden Barrett who passes out to some other player. The other player sends a pass to Jordie Barrett but this is intercepted by Hugh Williams. Williams passes to James Williams who in turn passes to Steve Williams. Williams sees a gap and deftly chips the ball ahead but Jordie Barrett races across and intercepts the kick, quickly passing to Beauden Barrett ..... "

Anyway, I'm happy and celebrated with a 'fry up' for breakfast which is way out of the norm for me.

My back is still sore (sciatica probably) and I'm still taking the muscle relaxant and painkiller tablets. I can't drink alcohol while taking these and, I guess after 10 days I'll feel better because of that.

Rugby was the winner again.

LIGHT READING

 I've been planning to read all of Shakespeare's plays for a while now. Whenever I watch quiz shows like Eggheads or The Chase  I often get the answers wrong when the question is about characters in the plays, especially the more obscure ones.

Yesterday I took out the  'The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare' tome

This thing is massive - 22 cmx 30cm and 12 cm thick. It's going to take a lot of reading to get through it.

While digging it out of the bookcase I noticed this:

It's hard to miss it really but it's been hiding amongst the big old books on the bottom shelf - hey, there's an idea for a new series - 'Books in our 'library'. This is fairly substantial being 32 cm x 26 cm and 6 cm thick. It is a first edition, published in 1921.

Treasury of Catolic  (sic) Doctrine with Biographies of Illustrious Saints Containing Teachings of the Holy Catholic Church as Interpreted By the One True Church Founded By Our Divine Saviour

          - Biblio.com.au 

It's a bit battered, having been referenced a lot over the years. The front 'Presentation' page has my dad's name in it.

I don't know when it was given to dad. His family was mainly Methodist. Maybe when he married mum (Catholic family) he was told by the priest to brush up on the Catechism before he was allowed to wed. Anyway, this book was our 'family bible'. It will be quite useful for looking for quotes to lambast educate Robert with.

The second page in has a kind of statement about what the tome is about:

I particularly like this bit which is written in capitals.:

"CATHOLICITY THE SAFETY OF THE COMMONWEALTH," "SOME ALLEGED DANGERS CONSIDERED," AND "WHY CATHOLICS INSIST ON CATHOLIC SCHOOLS," 

Yes, definitely presented to dad before being allowed to marry mum in the late 1940s.

The next page  carries a kind of special offer or discount voucher:

"To fathers and mothers. Every time that thou shall instruct their children in the Christian Doctrine an indulgence of one hundred days."

It's not good grammar I know but, when the content is nonsense does it matter?

It's a kind of bribe or inducement with the reward being a discount of 100 days off hell.  Richard certainly should have instructed his children in christian doctrine because we all know where he's going.

There are nearly 700 pages of drivel but fortunately there are black and white and colour images to break up the monotony of nonsense like this:

"But we may apprehend what we cannot comprehend, as, in eternity we shall see God as He is, but not wholly, for the Beatific Vision is finite. but the Object and Source of bliss is infinite."

Well, to me that sounds like the psychedelic ravings of William Burroughs or Hunter S Thompson.

 I do like this image though which is at the front of the book:

I can't help imagining a caption under Jesus saying "Oh God, another 690 pages to go."

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

O

IRENA SENDLER - HERO

 

Robert often talks about saints, miracles and the catechism of the Catholic church.

Here's something that he might be interested in. I saw this on Neighbourly today. On reading this notice and looking deeper into the story on Wikipedia and other sources I was on the one hand in despair of how cruel some people are and, on the other i awe of the bravery and  decency of others.

Look at this woman - Let us never forget!
The world hasn't just become wicked...it's always been wicked.
The prize doesn't always go to the most deserving.
Her name is Irena Sendler
She Died 12 May 2008 (aged 98) in Warsaw, Poland
During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist.
She had an 'ulterior motive'.
She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews (being German).
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger children).
She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.
The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the infants' noises.
During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 children/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family.
Most had been gassed. Those children she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.
Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.
She was not selected.
President Obama won one year before becoming President for his work as a community organizer for ACORN
Al Gore won also --- for a slide show on Global Warming.
In MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER
We're doing our small part by posting this message.
I hope you'll consider doing the same...
It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended.
This posting stands as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated!
Now, more than ever, with Iran, and others, claiming the HOLOCAUST to be 'a myth'.
It's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again.
Share this posting and be a link in the memorial chain and help us distribute it around the world.
It will only take you a minute to pass this along...

Here's a link to the Wikipedia page:  IRENA SENDLER