The death of UK monotheism in a century?

Found via Disinfo.com:

Laura Clout writes in the Telegraph:

“Research by the Orthodox Jewish organisation Aish found that just over a third of people thought religions like Christianity and Judaism would still be practiced in Britain in 100 years’ time.

Although four in 10 people said they would choose to be a member of the Christian religion, almost the same number said they would rather practice no religion at all.

Buddhism however, proved more attractive than both Islam and Judaism, and was chosen by nine per cent of those questioned”

At last! A good reason to pursue longevity!

…aaand we’re back! Meanwhile, people keep telling fibs

Fully broadbanded again, thankfully.

While I was out, there was an interesting little flap about an undiscovered’ Amazonian tribe, with photos and everything.

Shame it was all bollocks

They are the amazing pictures that were beamed around the globe: a handful of warriors from an ‘undiscovered tribe’ in the rainforest on the Brazilian-Peruvian border brandishing bows and arrows at the aircraft that photographed them.

Or so the story was told and sold. But it has now emerged that, far from being unknown, the tribe’s existence has been noted since 1910 and the mission to photograph them was undertaken in order to prove that ‘uncontacted’ tribes still existed in an area endangered by the menace of the logging industry...”

Well at least it was bollocks for a worthy cause. That makes it alright, doesn’t it?

Well, no. It fucking does not.

Due to the spectacular stupidity of BE* (an ISP so incompetent that not only are they unable to maintain as simple a service as reliable email, they also can’t handle me swapping to a new ISP without fucking up) I am without full internet access until Monday 9th June at the earliest.

(I can just about read email and – obviously! – send emergency entries like this one via Palm-plus-phone.)

See you later…

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]

Because Warren asked nicely…

…a quick pimp of Ellis’s excellent webcomic Freakangels, drawn by Paul Duffield. Six free pages of flooded-London-telepathic-apocalypse goodness every Friday. This one is in for the long haul and it’s well worth a look. (Not quite as amazing as Doktor Sleepless, but it’s up there.)

Also take a look at the associated discussion board Whitechapel, which has a whole lot more going on than just discussing the comic… it’s become one of my favourite online hangouts.

Introit

My first post here at WordPress…

There’s plenty of my other ranty goodnesses on my old Livejournal and Insanejournal sites, some of which I may adapt here.

Why the change?

Frankly, because LJ sucked badly after the successive takeovers by Six Apart and the Russian Mob firm SUP and IJ just doesn’t have as many readers and felt like a backward step. So it’s time to go wider. I hope.

Why be here blogging at all?

Here’s my old intro piece from LJ, which covers some of that.

“…so I ended up with a short but ever-increasing list of folk I was sending all the odd and scary news items I find in my net wanderings and realised I would not only save time by putting them on a blog but I could rant a bit while I was at it. And here I am.
The news that catches my eye normally is either Fortean (weird, bizarre, occult) in nature or related to the insane political structures of modern times – and in a world where the most outrageous conspiracy theories are far more believable than the official ‘facts’ our governments proffer, there is a good deal of crossover.
But, some might ask, what’s my stance on all this?
What do I believe In?
I believe that there is no single religious, political or philosophical system that explains everything and is always right – including my own.
I believe fanaticism is a major cause of harm in the world, regardless of what the fanatic believes.
I believe most if not all of those who seek and gain power are not to be trusted.

I *know* very little, other than that assholes come from all races, colours and creeds, and that in a crowded world it’s a good idea to find ways to accommodate our differences rather than war over them.

So that’s what you can expect here. A large dollop of cynicism, a touch of optimism and a lot of wonder at a world that never fails to surprise me. And a warning that some of those surprises can bite.”

I will also be looking closely at the sort of stuff that affects me as a professional combat magician in the twenty-first century. (Though I will not be discussing any of my past or present cases in any detail, due to client confidentiality.)

So… welcome. Hope you enjoy at least some of what you see here.