The Truth About Stonehenge?

There are thousands of speculative theories about the origin of Stonehenge, the ancient stone monument on Salisbury Plain in England. Some of them are interesting, some are downright stupid. Judge for yourself on this latest addition. But we know what we think about it!

I found this report very hard to believe. Do these people think we are really so credulous as to believe such twaddle? Where it's coming from I don't know, either it's in the reporting, or worse, in the research, but it is such an overblown speculation, I wonder they don't shrink in embarrassment from it.

Simply because people in the past may (or may not) have used a monument because they believed it to have healing qualities does not, most emphatically does not, mean that the monument was designed for that purpose.

You might just as well say that the Blarney Stone in Ireland was designed to give people the gift of the gab. Or the many statues of the Madonna, that people touch in the belief they will have good luck, but they certainly were not designed with that purpose in mind.

This theory for the origin of Stonehenge is quite simply preposterous - and deplorable. Sphere: Related Content

Change Is The Only Thing That Never Changes

Bonjour, mes amis!

I have a lot to tell you. Indeed, I may not be able to relate all the facts and events of the last few days before I run out of time, and have to spill this post over into another day. Ah, the suspense!

Well, to begin. You may (or possibly may not) know that there are, and have been for several weeks now, no less than TWO versions of this blog. No, no, I hear you say, isn't one enough, or even more than enough. I do sympathise, dear reader, but que voulez-vous as the French say. This is how it all started.

The original blog was entitled "How I Became A Zen Catholic" and those of a perceptive disposition will still be able to discern the abbreviated username style version "zencath" in all kinds of dodgy, and even occasionally not-so-dodgy, places on the web. That blog was inaugurated on a snowy day in early 2008. Later the name was changed, for reasons which I actually can't remember, to "That Reminds Me."

That blog was on Wordpress. Anyway, after a while I decided that it would be better to move the whole thing, lock, stock, and barrel, to Blogger. The main reason was, because in some ways Wordpress seems, you know, a little bit too serious? a bit earnest? or is it just me? Secondly, you can't use Java on Wordpress, and I had a deep yearning to paste on to my blog some of those jolly looking adverts that flash on and off. Also the ones that guess what your visitors would like to have, you know, AdSense? I love to see what they'll do next.

I should add that I didn't want the adverts in order to make any money from them. So if you see one on this blog, whatever you do, do NOT click on them, or else I will end up with far too much money that I will not have ANY idea what to do with it!

So anyway I decided to move to Blogger. After protracted negotiations with the Zencath International Fan Club (as it was then named before the change), working out of its World Headquarters in downtown Ulan Bator, the move was made, and I set up this blog where you now are, under the name Journal of an Ex-Philosopher. I put up a "WE HAVE MOVED" sign on the front door of the Wordpress version, and there I thought the matter would end.

However, I noticed that the people were still going to the old place to read my ancient articles from former times, notably it seems the article "Normandy - Some Interesting Facts" was still a consistent success. Considering it does not contain any interesting facts about Normandy or anywhere else, I found its popularity puzzling. The title was actually meant to be an ironic joke. Those who have followed my adventures will know that I occasionally sojourn in the fair land of Normandy, and that I have been inspired sometimes to write of my experiences there. These stories have included the strange antics of mon voisin francais and his girlfriend, that formidable woman, and his blasphemous budgerigar, Claude. There are one or two examples of them in THIS version of the blog. Anyway, "Normandy - Some Interesting Facts" was actually a rather insipid, vapid, and unspectacular episode in that long running saga. Why it continues to hog the popularity ratings is beyond me.

So the upshot is that I decided to re-open the Wordpress version, but I didn't have the heart to close up this one. So there are now, and probably ever shall be, not one but two versions of this blog. I hope you're keeping up with this. You know you really should pay attention; I shall be asking questions later!

Incidentally, I posted one of the Normandy experiences on the new Qassia website, which is a kind of social network/forum/search-engine/article-submission site. My post came in for some criticism from a couple of people who said that they hadn't a clue what it was trying to say, they couldn't make head nor tail of it, it was so coming out of left field, it should be given a complete overhaul etc etc. Fair comment. It was so rambling! It seemed, to start with, that it was to be about Spain, and my Spanish vacation, but really it was a rather lengthy account of the singularly dramatic events that followed the disappearance of Claude. Some of my other efforts that I contributed to Qassia have been a bit more successful at cracking the nut, cutting the mustard, putting the icing on the cake, and so on.

The Worpress version of this blog is now called Everything Is Radio for reasons which you will find out when you go there.

A bientot! Sphere: Related Content

Your Own Micro-Climate

news, extreme weather, normandy interesting facts, hurricanes, micro-climate, climate, english channel, people, life
As some of you may already know, I have two homes, separated from each other by only about a hundred miles or so. That hundred miles contains within it a rather wide and stormy stretch of water though, in fact it's the English Channel, or La Manche, as the people on the other side call it. This water, scene of rather more than its fair share of historic events over the years, takes a bit of negotiating, but I'm glad to say I have landed safely on dry land. Ah! it's great to back in the dear old country again.

However, I have to say that the ancient land where my forefathers tilled the soil is looking a trifle bedraggled and soggy these days. Where can all this rain be coming from, I wonder? I know that British weather is something of a standing joke, but this is getting ridiculous now. Mind you, the French have not been entirely free of awful weather this year, and I gather that it is currently none too pleasant for our esteemed cousins across the Big Water, that marvellous people with whom us Brits share so harmoniously a common language.

I will not digress. My intention today was to write a serious piece. I hoped this would in some small measure counter-balance the slightly frivolous tone that seems to have lately crept into the confines of this blog, entirely against my wishes, I assure you. This serious piece anyway was to have its inauguration today, but looking out of the window at the weather, I thought I just couldn't hack it. I mean, it's pouring down out there and I would be wrestling with serious concepts? Nah, I don't think so.

So I decided instead to say a little word about the weather and leave it at that. Anyway from all accounts there has been some pretty severe weather around - storms in most parts of England, accompanied by floods; and there have been hurricanes and tornados in America, I hear. But I'm glad to say that the place where I am staying is one example of those places that are rarely enough to be found on Earth - a micro-climate. Whatever is happening everywhere else, the weather in this town is always a milder version of it. Don't ask me why it is, perhaps it is the particular configuration of landscape features, or a powerful spell cast hundreds of years ago, but the chances of extreme weather in this town are about the same as for winning the lottery jackpot three weeks running. I'm serious.

I'm not saying we don't have some weather, of course we do, but it is never as bad here as it is elsewhere, even only ten miles away. Furthermore, when it rains the water drains away very quickly because the hills are composed of chalk. What's that you say? No I'm not going to tell you where it is. We have quite enough new people moving in as it is. I'm sorry but you'll just have to find your own micro-climate.

Do you live in a micro-climate? Or know someone else who does? Why not tell us all about it, in the comments section below. Sphere: Related Content

Addicted to Sex?

This news item caught my attention, because it gives an example of a common misconception about sex. The people who are being discussed in the news article are actually not addicted to sex as such. If a person were addicted to sex pure and simple, there is a pure and simple solution to their problem. Get married - have all the sex you want.

However, many of these people are married but, as the item shows, they do not find sex satisfying in their relationship. Their addiction is to the HIT that sex gives them, not the sex itself. This hit is the rush of chemicals in the body that is released when the seducer makes a conquest, when the hunter traps his prey. The sex itself is secondary to that. Some would say that it is an instinct, but this would be wrong, these are learned behaviors. The fault lies in the expectations of our society, which places too much emphasis on winners and losers, and too little on cooperation. In marital sex, there is no conquest, no pay off, no prize to be won.

The idea that people learn a stimulus-response behavior to associate sex with objects is very interesting. My own view here would be that it is not so much the learned behavior that is the cause of the problem, but the fact that certain modes of behavior, such as building relationships, are NOT learned. And once again, this is the fault of our society's thinking, with too much emphasis on the acquisition of, and pride in the ownership of, objects. Sphere: Related Content

Council Recruits Vigilantes aged 8

My attention was caught by this item of news today. I would love to know what my readers think about it, so please post a comment without delay.

Two thoughts spring to mind for me. The first is that although I deplore the indiscriminate scattering of litter, as does any right thinking citizen, the recruitment of very young informers seems a highly dubious and dangerous move. It is however no surprise and seems to me entirely typical of life in the nanny state that is the modern UK. One is reminded strongly (yet again) of a similar practice by the fictitious (but oh so near) government in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. And yes I know I keep mentioning that book, but it really is quite astonishing how prophetic it is turning out to be.

How long, one asks, before these pint-sized vigilantes start accusing us of crimespeak or crimethink?

The second thought is that it seems perfectly plain to me that, in allowing themselves to be recruited for the purpose of spotting people who are breaking the law, these children may well be putting themselves at risk. One assumes that their surveillance will be conducted in their local area, where it is entirely possible that they might be spying on wrong-doers who know them and who know where their homes are. It seems that reprisals would be a likely outcome. Children as young as 8 cannot be expected to be able to gauge when the situation is dangerous, nor to take appropriate measures to disguise their activity.

And anyway, what in heaven's name are these children doing out and about on the street without their parents?

This is a crackpot scheme, intrusive and dangerous. It should be shelved at once.

Or am I perhaps the only person who feels that way about it? Comments please? (By the way, if you're reading this in America, you are still entitled to have an opinion about it, so I would welcome your comments as well.) Sphere: Related Content

The Canoe Man Appeals

Whatever may be the rights or wrongs of the John Darwin canoe drowning case, and one tends to assume there is more of the latter than the former, there can be no doubt that the affair has piqued the interest of the UK population. It is noteworthy that, for several months after the news broke, sports and equipment shops in the UK were reporting record numbers of enquiries from prospective buyers of canoes.

While many of us would deplore the action of defrauding an insurance company of large amounts of their cash, at the same time, we cannot help but nurse a secret wish that we could get away with it. Most people, it seems, are deeply resentful of the amount of money the insurance companies take from us each year. So when an adventurer like Darwin comes along, it is hard not to feel a sneaking admiration for his audacity. And to make it even more interesting, we find that he was not caught by the police; he gave himself up.

A fascinating aspect of the case is that, as the prosecutor pointed out, the original crime was committed in order to avoid the "shame and embarrassment" of falling behind with debt and mortgage payments. Surely only an Englishman would commit a crime as serious as this for such a motive, merely to avoid embarrassment!

One is reminded of those marvellous episodes of "Fawlty Towers" in which Basil twists and turns, willing to do anything to avoid being embarrassed, only to find that all his efforts have only made the embarrassment worse. Sphere: Related Content

Ukraine To Join NATO?

So now we learn that Ukraine is about to become a member of NATO, along with Georgia perhaps, and that its admission will be supported by the Americans. Who would have dreamed, twenty years ago, that we would see this one day? A former state of the old Soviet Union, and a powerful one at that; a nuclear power, don't forget, and the site of the infamous Chernobyl power station.

Ukraine has been making energetic attempts to free itself from the shadow of its mighty neighbor, Russia, and is clearly succeeding gradually to establish itself on the world stage.

For me, the interesting points about Ukraine are the truly awful entries it puts in to the Eurovision Song Contest, and a splendid novel (in English) which I read last year, entitled "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian." Sphere: Related Content

Change All Around I See

Those readers who have been here before will probably have noticed the change of name for the title of this blog. This is no way intended to cause confusion, to reduce the search engine visibility of this blog, or anything of that technical nature. The purpose, if that is the word I want, is merely to change for the sake of change and also to enrich the reading experience of my visitors. As you know, the That Reminds Me World Official Fan Club, now with 29 members, working out of its headquarters office in downtown Ulan Bator, has, under the terms of its Charter, to approve by a straight majority vote any and all such changes. I am happy to announce that approval was granted by a unanimous decision taken at 01:16 GMT today.

Due to a technicality in the Club Constitution, the Fan Club was under obligation to dissolve itself and reform again under the new name Ex-Philosopher Fan Club (EPFC) and I am pleased to announce that this was achieved during class break, which took place at 10:30 local time.

Meanwhile here in Normandy, there was uproar when it was discovered that my neighbour's pet budgerigar, Claude, was missing. This has apparently never happened before since Claude is generally the most home-loving of birds. While my neighbour was out combing the streets and alleys of old Rouen for his errant feathered friend, I was given the somewhat irksome task of calming his girlfriend. She is a formidable woman, who entered into the tragic spirit of the occasion with a gusto of the intensity that can only be achieved by a Frenchwoman. I decided it would be safest to keep my own counsel in the matter.

My neighbour's girlfriend and I have indeed hardly been on speaking terms for the past six months. This is how it happened. The budgerigar had somehow, I don't know how, learnt some very choice English swear words, which it delighted in bringing forth at the most inopportune moments, such as when there was company. Since I am the only Englishman who comes into regular proximity with the animal, the finger of suspicion naturally pointed at me for teaching them to him. It was useless to protest that it was more likely the fault of the television, where every other word begins with F these days. My neighbour's girlfriend was most vehement and voluble in her denunciations of your correspondent, so I told her frankly that I did not care for her attitude and tone.

The matter was left there, but since then there has been some tension in our dealings. For example, there was the incident with the onions, which I consider to be trivial and petty beyond description. But we pass over that.

Anyway, in the manner of a true English gentleman (which I should say that I am most certainly not a gentleman) I attempted to console the poor woman in her hour of distress and tribulation. All's well that ends well though, as some time later my neighbour, smiling broadly, reappeared with the prodigal parrot. He had been discovered perched on the topmost pinnacle of the local pub, whence he had been retrieved with some minor assistance from the Fire Brigade. Sphere: Related Content

My Visit To Salisbury Cathedral

If you enjoy visiting cathedrals, as I do, and you have not been to Salisbury yet, then you really should try to get there as soon as you can. It is a truly magnificent example of English church-building.

In this article I am not going to give you a guide book version (you can get that in the - er - guide book) but this will be a purely personal view.

When I first saw Salisbury cathedral, it was at night. My girlfriend at the time, whose name was Susan, and myself had made a bit of a mess of our travel arrangements, and also there had been a minor domestic dispute. I won't go into all the details - in fact, I cannot remember exactly what they were, but suffice to say that it involved a lot of drama of the kind that will be all too familiar to anyone who has had any dealings with people of an "artistic temperament."

Anyway the upshot was that we arrived in the charming little city of Salisbury at about 7 pm, and we still had to find a hotel. This took up some time, but at last we were ensconced in a delightful little guest house, at a very reasonable price. (Incidentally, this in my view is the best way to get a hotel. Just arrive and then find one. You may think it is risky, but there is always a hotel to be found, and because it is probably not in the major guide books, it will almost certainly be nice and cosy, and incredibly good value for money.)

But I digress. Once we had secured our accomodation, we went off to explore the city. By the way, I should say that in England, the word city is not an indicator of the size or population of a place. Any town that contains a cathedral is properly designated as a city, so there can be some very small cities, and on the other hand, some quite large towns that are not cities.

Anyway, we arrived at the cathedral about 9 o'clock. It was a dry, clear, dark and bitterly cold evening in February. The cathedral building was bathed in light from floodlights all around it. It looked like it had just landed, like an enormous mother ship, which I suppose in a way is exactly what it is.

The building was closed of course but we were able to stroll around the grounds. This was marvellous though freezing. We also had a bit of a shock. In the grounds is a famous piece of modern art, called I think, the Walking Madonna, which we didn't notice until we were almost on top of it. Quite a fright. It's not exactly beautiful, and the overall impression is rather more ghostly than was perhaps intended.

Anyway, next day we were able to get inside the cathedral and look around. As I said, I won't give you a guide book tour, but if you like church art and architecture, you won't be disappointed, I assure you. I was amazed by the spire which soars high, very very high above the surrounding countryside. This enormous weight of solid stone is made to look wonderfully light and graceful - an incredible achievement. When you stand inside under the spire and you look up, you can see that the main pillars of the transept arch have been twisted into a long snake-like helix shape by the huge mass they are supporting.

Another notable thing about Salisbury is that it is one of the few cathedrals, or indeed churches of any kind, in which the architecture is all in the same style. Anyway if you have some free time, it's well worth seeing.

This article was first published by me on Qassia Sphere: Related Content

A Film Called "Tyger"

When I first saw this film a couple of days ago I was amazed by it. I had no idea people were making movies like this. I do recommend you to watch it, it's quite a short film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LsMoUtBlDk Sphere: Related Content

How To Cook Perfect Rice

Here's how to cook rice perfectly every time.

1. Wash the rice in cold water.

2. Put the rice in a saucepan and add water so that the water surface is about 1cm above the level of the rice.

3. Put the lid on the saucepan, and do NOT remove during the following process. This is very important.

4. Place the saucepan on the stove and set the heat to medium for about two minutes until you hear the water begin to bubble. Now turn the heat down to the lowest possible setting for exactly 10 minutes. Do NOT remove the lid for any reason.

5. At the end of the 10 minutes, turn the heat off, and leave the rice to cook in its own heat for exactly another 10 minutes. Again, do NOT remove the lid.

6. NOW you can remove the lid! If you have followed these instructions carefully, you will now have perfect rice, ready to serve, or to fry, or whatever you want.

This article was first published by the author on Qassia Sphere: Related Content