Dawkins to Die Out: Official

Great news for theists and, grudgingly, agnostics! Atheists are (and I love this!) dying out because of evolution. So my favourite hate figure and his breed of godless heathens will be wiped out by the very "god" they trumpet so loud and long: genetics.

It works like this...

On average, believers have 2.7 children per couple*. The atheists have only 1.7, which is nowhere near enough to last more than a few generations. If Dawkins is right (God forbid) and we are merely genetic material with horribly selfish tendencies then there must be a "Believe in God Gene" being passed down the generations. If this - as it appears to be - is tied to the "Have quite a few Kids Gene" then believers will increasingly outstrip the non-believers and their "We don't believe in God and don't have many Kids Gene". Excellent.

Me?

I really don't know. Sometimes I think I do but that just turns out to be the effects of Guinness. Sometimes I think I don't but that comes to all Middlesbrough FC supporters. I think believing might be the better path. It gives you someone to talk to in Church and when you are saying your nightly prayers.

* Technically it needs to be only 2.7 per woman but - from what I remember - the male of the species has something to do with this. Either way, it is a lot more than the 2.2 (-ish) needed to keep the human race going.

The Folk Club

I love folk clubs. I spend most of my late teens and early 20's in folk clubs. Rather hoping to regenerate that interest, I went to one such last night. A quick caricature would be "three Aran sweaters siging The Wild Rover". Indeed, nearly every song sung contained the word "rover" in the lyrics and - I listened carefully - at no time was "rover" preceded by "land" or "my dog".
Don't get me wrong; I have no problem with traditional folk but this was a bit OTT.
Kate Rusby, where were you when I needed you?

ITV

Good film on ITV tonight

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix"

Honest.

X-Factor

I got it all wrong!

Only one (Tesco Mary) got binned!

The real sadness was that Tesco Mary was infinitely better than Cher Lllllloyd who - as per bloody usual - dissolved into tears. Not one of the judges came out with the line "I have to base my decision on what I've just heard..." because Mary was sooooooooooo much better. Hypocrites.

Still, Rebecca and Matt are through. Cher will be binned first up. One Direction will go next. Then Matt to give Rebecca the crown.

Obviously.

X-Factor

Isn't it getting exciting?

The only real talent (Rebecca) is still there. Matt struggled through tonight. Tesco Mary was her usual clubland self. One Direction were, as ever, one-dimensional and Cher Lloyd again demonstrated that she was a one-trick pony. Two go out tomorrow.

Please, God, let four be kicked out to cut short the misery.

Qatar

I have nothing against the people of Qatar. I teach several Qatari students, sponsored by Qatar Oil. They are, without exception, lovely people and good students.

But why Qatar for the FIFA World Cup?

No stadium worth its salt, temperatures totally unsuitable for football (even at night), no history of the game there, no fan base, no football infrastructure at all. Nothing. Rien.

My guess is that the nation of Qatar is quite a bit poorer this weekend and certain gentlemen belonging to various levels in FIFA might be a fair bit richer.

Only a guess.

British Summer Time

I firmly believe in Greenwich Mean Time. That we tinker on with "our" time every Spring and Autumn is, I feel, abominable. I hold dear to my heart the idea that the day should be divided by noon and there should be as much daylight before noon as after. That we have the situation that, in "Summer Time" days, the afternoon/evening is much longer than the dawn/morning is, I believe, spiritually wrong.

A colleague was rejoicing in the extra hour in bed that we "gained" by putting our clocks back to GMT last weekend. I have spent hours this week finding and putting back clocks. There are clocks, it seems, in everything we have. Not just the fake carriage clock on the bookcase but computers, microwave, video, TV, DVD, oven, toaster, kettle...... Everything has clocks.

I have gained nothing. Clock-changing takes time. Lots of time. I remember that I wasted the same length of time around the Vernal Equinox putting my clocks forward (and thereby losing an hour into the bargain). This horological time-wasting must be costing the country millions of pounds.

The Anglo-Saxons (as per usual) had it right. The Sun rose at 6, crossed the southern meridian at noon, set at 6 and was as far "set" as it was going to be at midnight. In summer the daylight "hours" were longer than the night-time hours. In winter the positions were reversed. Only at the equinoxes (equi=equal nox=night) were day and night the same. Good old Anglo-Saxons.

How I wish it was still the Dark Ages.