Skip forward four years, and the next World Cup has begun in Germany. Excitement was building once again, memories of Japorea resurfacing. Now back home in Huyton, Liverpool, trips to ASDA were once again made to buy in the alcohol. During the first week of matches, many bottles have already been consumed.

I went to the pub on Friday to have a few drinks with my mate, and much fun was had by all. Then on Saturday I got a text from another friend who was back home from university for the weekend and wanted to go the pub. So, Saturday night I ended up at another pub. I decided to take it easy given the week previously, and I didn't drink. At all. Apart from maybe two. And you know what? It was still fun.

So that's when I learnt that you could go out and socialise without alcohol and still enjoy yourself, provided you are doing it with good mates. With this theory in mind I went to watch the England match on Tuesday in the pub, and limited myself to a couple of cokes. Again much fun was had by all, and the best thing is that due to my non alcoholic night I was able to drive there and back, saving £10 on taxi fare.

This has opened up a whole new world to me. I can go to more places now because I don't have to worry about how to get there - driving is possible (parking still tricky)! Where will this amazing epiphany lead to? Only time will tell...

New, cleaner design. New blog engine. Unleashed upon the world today! I couldn't keep up with all the spam the old site was attracting (mostly via trackbacks) so I have killed it off. It is gone, deleted, it is a dead parrot. Cunningly I have migrated the old entries over to this one so it looks like I have been very busy adding content.

The design isn't 100% finished as yet but it will become the design of the site as a whole to create a coherent, unified approach. I will also be adding new sections shortly, such as a BRAND NEW photoblog.

Watch this space...

Here's the dictionary.com definition of this word:

sa·to·ri ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sä-tôr, -tr, s-)
n. Buddhism
A spiritual awakening sought in Zen Buddhism, often coming suddenly.

I've come across this term many times as I read about Eastern philosophies. Though my core beliefs are more closely aligned to Daoism, I have a keen interest in Zen. The concept of satori is a curious one, and it's only recently I came to understand it. You can't go questing after enlightenment, it just happens. There's plenty of stories where something innocuous occurs to a person, and they become instantly enlightened. My favourite Zen story, however is this:

There is an Indian story of a marvelous medicine that could cure all ills. However, it only worked if you didn't think of a monkey when you swallowed it.

Always makes me smile, that.

I watched National Treasure the other day. My sister told me it was pap - somewhat enjoyable pap - but still pap. Undaunted, I went ahead and watched it anyway, because that's the sort of rebel I am. And you know, I really liked it! Sure, there were massive plot holes and cheesy dialogue, but it was so much fun! An adventure! I love adventures! Especially anything that mentions history and secrets and freemasons and Templar and the Illuminati! I'm no conspiracy buff, but I am genuinely interested in these groups from a historical perspective.

I also read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code yesterday. Yes, I finally took the plunge, despite resisting for a long time. As with National Treasure, which closely resembles this book, I really enjoyed it. Again, there were massive plot holes and it had a cheesy writing style, but it's fun and I do like adventures!

Most of us won't ever have an adventure like the characters in National Treasure or The Da Vinci Code, but we can still have our fun. Some time ago I stumbled across a wonderful little website called The Stone. It's a puzzle game where you have to interpret the images and clues to uncover the answer, utilising all the resources the internet offers you. Access to the site required the purchase of an eponymous stone, but there were a few free puzzles to try out. Imagine my surprise when I had a look here the other day to find it was now free for all to play! There are around 200 puzzles on there, some better than others, all interesting, and some will leave you stumped for a long time. It's worth it though, as when inspiration finally hits, you wonder how it took you so long to get in the first place.

Satori is a wonderful thing.

In keeping with the reading theme, I'm going to review a few of the books I have recently read, so that you (dear reader) may know whether they are worth getting hold of, or are more appropriate as a gift for a loved one you don't really like.

First up: Spartan by Valerio Massimo Manfredi

It has a rather bland cover. Seems to be mountainous terrain with a rather ominous red sky above it. In the middle is a giant floating helmet, slightly rusty. On the back is a smaller floating helmet, slightly rusty. Little to recommend so far.

I've not read any other Manfredi novels, so I thought I'd try this standalone one before venturing into the Alexander trilogy. Good job too. It starts off well enough. A cripple born to a Spartan family is left to die and found by a Helot who raises him as one of his own. Then it goes into some mumbo-jumbo about him being the Chosen One or some such, destined to free the Helots (despite him being a Spartan). Some nonsense about his Spartan brother teasing him, calling him a big girl. Then it gets better, the Battle of Thermopylae! 300 Spartans versus A Big Load of Persians! Then some other nonsense involving that brother again.

I've only got halfway through this and I'm not thinking of carrying on. Perhaps it was better in the original Italian; certainly, the language feels clumsy at times. However, there's a deep seated nagging feeling that simply, the writing is poor. The plot isn't in any way interesting. It's bland, floaty, and slightly rusty.

I rate it 2 hoplites out of 5.

Next up we have Rubicon by Tom Holland

The cover is an orangey red affair, with a nice embossed gold coin and a frieze along the bottom of the altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus. Marvellous stuff. On the back there is a small photo of the author, looking stern. A nice touch. Lets you know who is telling this tale. Clearly he is a man of knowledge. Perhaps he was once a Roman himself. Perhaps.

The tale of the Roman Republic, from the end of the line of Kings (well, call yourself Tarquin? What nation wants to be ruled by a Tarquin?) up to the end of the Republic itself in AD 14. Everyone knows of Julius Caesar, but just as important are the Brothers Gracchi and their reforms; Marius and Sulla and the civil war that lead to the city-state's first dictatorship; Cicero, the outspoken orator; Pompey the Great, first man of Rome and Caesar's great ally then rival; Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome and wielder of immense power and influence. Their story is told in a wonderful narrative, as Holland leads us through time whilst relating every event to the nature of the Republic itself.

At the start of the book Holland compares the world's first superpower the world's latest superpower, but ever afterwards it is left to the reader to draw the similarities between the final tumultuous years before the Empire, and the world we live in today.

If you're less historically minded, you could just compare it to Star Wars, if you like. I know the thought of educating yourself may be a foreign and scary one to some people.

I rate Rubicon as 5 gladiators out of 5. Highly recommended!

“The problem with people today is apathy,” I say, when someone asks me to explain why voter turnout is so low. I’m the same myself; in 2001, I voted for no-one, despite it being my first general election. In council/by-elections, I’ve not voted. What would be the point? I never knew anything about politics, nor anything about the people standing. They didn’t do much to get their point across to me, either. A poster saying “Vote Joe Bloggs!” doesn’t really provide much information, does it?

Of course it’s different with the general election. We know about Labour, and the Tories, and the Lib Dems, and possibly even some of the fringe parties. Except, you’re not really voting for them, are you? Your vote goes to the person you want to represent you in your local constituency. You should select the person you think will do the best job. I don’t know of anyone who actually votes this way though; they base their decision on the party manifestoes. I say manifestoes, I really mean the media. Opinions are formed by the newspapers and TV shows for a lot of people.

So in the end, it comes down to a choice between the parties, not the people. What’s the difference between them though? Party A says they’ll improve this, that and the other, whilst reducing taxes. Party B says Party A won’t improve this, that and the other, and their spending plan will reduce the country’s economy to ruin. Party B say they’d do a much better job, whilst Party A say the exact opposite. Party C sits there and says both Party A and Party B are wrong, but A & B just ignore C because he gate-crashed the party, and if they ignore him he might just go away.

The Liberal Democrats are doing their best to present themselves as the Real Alternative™. Good luck to them – at least they’re honest. “We want to spend more on the NHS, police, and schools. This will cost money of course, so we’ll raise taxes, but only on rich people, since they can afford it.” Oh dear, fatal error. Increase taxes? Tsk, don’t you know you’re supposed to lie about that part, and instead introduce stealth taxes! God forbid we elect a Government that tells us the truth.

So it comes down to a choice between A, B or C. If there’s one thing we all know, however, it’s that no matter who is in power, we’ll all continue much the same, we’ll be paying out more and more of our earnings, and we’ll all complain about this, that and the other.

“Apathy is on the rise!” I cry, but they just shrug their shoulders. Nobody cares.

I’ve decided, therefore, to shift focus somewhat, and write more general pieces. Not everything will be about an issue. I shall, from time to time, simply write about anything at all. Perhaps about how much I would like to return to New Zealand, or the problems with working in Solihull for a month. Actually, I lied up there. I won’t write about simply anything. I don’t think anyone is particularly interested in the ins and outs of my daily life, so I won’t treat this as a diary (I’m still not sure how people can be comfortable putting absolutely everything about themselves online, nor why people actually read these – though I suspect it’s the same reason Big Brother was, amazingly, not a complete failure even after a few series…). Hopefully everything will be somewhat interesting, occasionally entertaining and thought provoking, and on special occasions, such as the fourth Saturday after a full moon blocks out the Sun and causes a rain of fish and caterpillars, even amusing. Well, it can’t hurt to try.

Sometime last year, I attended a few meetings/lectures from the Christian Union at university. This might surprise some people, since I had outright rejected Catholicism many years ago, and settled on a far more Eastern outlook on spirituality (in particular Taoism, with smatterings of Zen). However, I was very much interested in how Christians thought, particularly those that found God themselves rather than being brought up that way, as I was. Two of my close friends were amongst this group, and I had many metaphysical arguments with them – one of the advantages of discussing theology with physics students.

This particular lecture was on the subject of relativism. As I understand it, this is the term used by Christians to describe the idea that everyone can coexist, that all religions and creeds are acceptable together. They believe, of course, that their religion is right (as do most religions, to be fair) and so that other beliefs are not only incorrect, but intolerable. This leads to a form of persecution by conversion – everyone needs to be ‘saved’ and shown the way of the ‘true’ God.

OK, so not everyone is this way, and there are many, many arguments against what I have just said. It’s a somewhat twisted view, but it’s not entirely untrue. It’s just one of those things that just doesn’t sit right with me, with regards to the rest of the Christian teaching. There are too many contradictions, and I don’t mean the usual nit-picking that most people come up with from the bible, more broad principles. Be kind and respectful to everyone – except for their beliefs if they differ from yours…

Still, a 78 year old Pope? He’s not going to have an overly long innings, and that will send Nostradamus followers crazy with songs of Armageddon…

* Incidentally, I find this term very interesting from a historical point of view. The term ‘pontiff’ derives from the Roman office of ‘pontifex maximus’, the high priest of Rome. This was more a political office then a religious one, a job for life, and one held by one of the most famous Roman, Julius Caesar. We all know what happened there…

Justice for the 96. You'll Never Walk Alone.

Petition

The evil shadowy organisation known as "Jamster" have corrupted our youth through our very own television screens! We do not yet have extensive details of their organisation, nor the evil mastermind behind their wicked plan, though we do know some of their operatives. One, known only as "Crazy Frog", is using years-old resources from the internet to warp our minds. Who knows what nefarious propaganda is being fed to us via subliminal messenging?

More recently, operative #0002321 "Crazy Frog" has been joined by #0002322, "Sweety Chick" in a strange perversion of an already deviant 'reality' show. "Jamster" are conning our citizens out of millions of pounds to 'vote' for their favourite 'ring tone idol'.

This madness must be stopped at all cost! Sign the petition, and help rid our country of this evil menace! Our foreign brothers and sisters, join us and make your voices heard before this scourge spreads to your fine lands!

By far the biggest gripe about sharing a stadium is the sense of pride a home instils in its supporters, staff and players. Would it mean anything to a Liverpudlian to touch the fabled "This Is Anfield" sign if Everton ran out under it every other week?

"It turns out that the majority of those nations affected were Muslim nations," Powell said. "We'd be doing it regardless of religion, but I think ... [U.S. aid] does give the Muslim world and the rest of the world ... an opportunity to see American generosity, American values in action."

This is just typical of the Bush administration. The tsunami is perhaps the worst natural disaster in recent memory and we should all do what we can to help in the aftermath of such a cataclysm. To politicise such an act is abhorrent enough, but to bring in race, religion and the incredibly stupid "War on Terror" into it, is even worse. 50% of Americans have a lot to answer for.

On a related note, the nanny state rears its head once more. The BBC have postponed a docu-drama about a supervolcano erupting in London. Consider that in the past week or so, Bruce Almighty has been shown without complaint on Sky Movies, in which there is one scene where the eponymous neo-deity pulls the moon closer to Earth, causing a tsunami in South East Asia. Rather than rescheduling, Sky simply issued a warning before each screening that, in light of recent events, some scenes may cause distress. Perhaps the BBC should take note.

The Lake District is something everyone should see, and fully explore. Indeed, volunteer rangers give free guided walks around the park, enabling everyone to sample the delights of the natural world. Yet these, along with a magazine, informative talks and slide shows are to be axed by the National Park. Why? Because they attract too many white people.

Apparently, not enough people from ethnic minorities or inner city slums are going on these walks. How incredibly assinine this is! It's yet another example of political wrongdoings - sorry, I mean 'correctness' - gone too far.

There's this argument that PC types have, called 'Positive Discrimination'. They favour the minorities over the majority to make sure they're well represented. For an example of this, I cite the ratification process for societies at the university I attended. The committee needed to include at least one woman and often one other minority - LBG, black, whatever. The same sort of thing occurs in the job sector too, with companies needing to show they have a good quota of minorities amongst their staff.

This isn't positive. It's discrimination against the white male. It's every bit as bad as discrimination against black people, against women, against asians. A job should go to the best person for that role, regardless of their skin colour or background. Positive discrimination makes their skin colour or background the issue.

We should do what we can to encourage all people to see the beauty of the world we live in, not discourage those that do.

I like Christmas. I really do. It's a nice time of year. Having said that, there are two major criticisms I have of it.

There's the old cliché - it's too commercialised these days. I'm not so sure about "these days" ; I think it's been like that for a long, long time. I liked a line from the latest episode of South Park - "People stood in long lines, sometimes waiting hours or more, because Christmas needs to be bought from a store."

I won't dwell on the commercial aspect because it's something that everyone is aware of, it's merely a matter of how much this affects you, and that's extremely subjective. However, the other criticism I have of Christmas is a lot more fundamental. I don't believe in Christ.

I was brought up to be a Catholic, but I'm certainly not that way now. Why then do I celebrate the time of year that is, along with Easter, central to the Christian faith? I'm not knocking Christianity - though I certainly could - but it's just not for me.

Around 12 hours ago an event happened that is far more suitable for celebrations. It's not something arbitrary like New Year - which I also like, but have misgivings about - nor is it religion based like Christmas. The Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year (apologies to any southern hemisphere readers, please feel free to substitute any instances of 'winter' with 'summer').

A lot of people will tell you that the Winter Solstice is a pagan festival, and that's why the date for Christmas was chosen as the 25th of December, since people were partying anyway. Whilst it is true that pagans did celebrate it, you can't get away from the fact that is a scientific, astronomical FACT. Why didn't we choose this date as the start of the year? Why did we choose to wait 10 more days?

On a more spiritual level, the solstice is yet one more reminder of the cyclicity of nature. Just as night follows day, over the course of the year night and day battle for supremacy, neither one reigning for long. The Winter Solstice is the moment of greatest yin, but the seed of yang has been planted and the days start growing longer once more.

Surely this is cause for celebration.

As an aside, a nice clear sky last night, post midnight, gave amazing views of the stars, with Saturn readily visible below Gemini. Saturn should be visible for a couple more months, and it's well worth looking out for.

The cutoff period for study of embryonic stem cells is 14 days, because apparently after this the embryo starts to develop sentience. This cut off is extremely arbitrary, especially considering abortions are legal in this country up to 24 weeks after conception...

The main point of issue was the morality of using embryos for therapeutic stem cells - i.e. treating a patient. Reproductive stem cell research - cloning a whole human - is, in my opinion, something that should be completely outlawed.

I believe it is right for therapeutic stem cell research to take place, as the potential benefits are enormous. We have this developing technology, and we should fully explore the opportunities open to us.

The result of the viewer vote was 81% say Not Guilty. Strangely enough, the show ended with the Dr being completely acquitted by the court, and promptly arrested by and FBI agent and extrudited to the US. I'm not too sure what point the BBC were trying to make there.