This is just a space for my thoughts, rants and meanderings. Whether on the meaning of life, or how toast should be made, this is a glimpse of my opinion, and quotes or appropriations from others which I see more or less eye to eye with.
Toast must be done under a gas grill. No electric. No toasters. The grill must be preheated for at least five minutes, preferably ten. Then the bread must be toasted, on one side until just starting to go golden, before repeating on the other side. Once done, it must be buttered generously as quickly as possible, and must be eaten within about two minutes of coming off the grill, otherwise it will be too cold.
The best kind of bread to use is Thick-Cut White bread, preferably Hovis. Real butter is fantastic, but only if at the right temperature to spread, which is usually far too much hassle, so I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is a surprisingly good substitute. Extras such as Jam or Dairylea can add variety once in a while, but Peanut Butter is right out, and anyone who puts Marmite anywhere near toast needs to be badly maimed.
I have no idea whether or not God exists. The way I figure it is this: I am a six foot tall life form with a brain that weighs two pounds, living on a small planet in a backwater solar system in the western spiral arm of one galaxy in billions. How do I stand the remotest chance of ever figuring out whether or not there's a God, and more particularly, what he expects or wants of me?
Don't get me wrong, everyone's entitled to their opinion or theory, and at the end of the day you have to make some assumptions and base the way you live your life on those assumptions (eg. Killing people is bad, Making people laugh is good, Etc.). My view, though, is that those assumptions are better off being based on your view of how things are, your experiences and interpretations of the world around you, than on some dusty old book (or even some newly published book).
Censorship is an issue which always ties me up in knots. The crux of my dilemma is that i don't believe in censorship. However, I don't believe that people should say or do certain things, either. I abhor Christian Right censorship on music, TV, film, etc., and I detest Mary Whitehouse. However, if you asked me whether I thought that a programme should be screened which glorified Nazism, Child Pornography or Domestic Violence, I would instantly say no. That might be pretty obvious, but these are extreme examples. The difficulty comes when we are looking a greyer areas.
For example, I don't believe that every program which mentions Hitler should stress that he was thoroughly evil, that he did no good in his life, and that everything he ever believed in or thought about was immoral. But if I say that, you're going to inevitably get some films, speeches, books, etc. which are basically a judgement call. Where is the line, and which side of it does X, Y or Z fall? And who decides that? I think my standards of what is acceptable and what isn't are reasonable, but so does the next guy. The obvious answer might seem to be to go with the will of the majority, but in practice it's not as simple as that.
If you have any thoughts or comments, please
email me
.
(If I get a decent amount of response, I might set up a bulletin board)