Winning (and losing) when you’ve already lost 1 March, 2009
Posted by fraggle in Mormonism so-called.add a comment
Been thinking about a scripture recently (Alma 32):
13 And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh arepentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and bendureth to the end the same shall be saved.
14 And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be ahumble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?
15 Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty.
16 Therefore, blessed are they who ahumble themselves without being bcompelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without cstubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.
That very last phrase is an intriguing one but that’s for another post. Today I’ve been mulling over the humility bit. (more…)
The trouble with growing up 16 February, 2009
Posted by fraggle in Psychosomatic, Travelogue.2 comments
Seems everytime I go to post here, the layout of the text editor has changed. I never know from one post to the next how to do anything. I must be getting old…
So – to those people who check this blog once a quarter or more – Hi! How’s things?
The big scoop of the century is that I have made it to 30. I say made it, like it’s the pinnacle of my existence, but to be honest I was kind of hoping to never be here. Not that I was hoping to die or anything psycho-depresso like that, but I’m officially old, and… well… I still live with my parents with pretty much no hope of escape. I’m also now pretty much whoever it is I’m going to be for the rest of my life (’cause lets face it – old folks don’t get reputations for being stuck in their ways for nothin’!), and I have to say I’m not particularly impressed.
I’m also discovering extreme grumpiness, especially when exposed to politicans and the utter nonsense they spout on an hourly basis. I will forbear from ripping them to shreds for now, but I make no promises…
So yeah – I’m not overly thrilled or excited; just gettings to grips with the mundane.
Greed is good? Part 2 23 October, 2008
Posted by fraggle in The Age of Spin.2 comments
The problem isn’t what they say, it’s the way they say it.
What possible justification do they have for invoking ‘commercial realities’? Those being the very things the banks have been desparately asking the government to save them from!
When the wicked rule….
Sunshine 18 October, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Jukebox Jury.add a comment
One of the ways to get me really excited is to tell me that Copeland are releasing a new album. I honestly think Copeland are ridiculously underrated; they’re one of the few groups who can actually deliver a sonic landscape that you can explore at will. My sanity has been saved on more than one occasion by popping on some Copeland and just having a lie down! 
(more…)
Greed is good? 6 October, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Travelogue.1 comment so far
Shock horror…..never saw it coming….etc…etc….
At some point, Mr. Fuld and people like him are going to realise that it’s not everyone else’s fault that there are people who think Communism is a fundamentally good idea…
Sometimes you just have to chuckle 6 October, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Hopeless Romanticism, Mormonism so-called.1 comment so far
Signed up for the new Familysearch not so long ago. Seems like it might work, although I have yet to try it in anger.
I soon noticed this however…
Not-so-subliminal message? Heartless computer literalism? Unadvertised secret Familysearch feature?
YOU decide!!
Copyright stifles creativity by making it blinkin’ impossible to know when you’re infringing 20 September, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Jukebox Jury, The Age of Spin, Travelogue.2 comments
Last night (well, tonight – I haven’t got to bed yet!) was the first rehearsal for this year’s Christmas Concert for our Stake Choir. While there I heard about an extremely bizarre anecdote. Last year, we performed ‘O Holy Night’. The version we have music for only as the first 2 verses for some reason. During rehearsals the director decided that after the second chorus, we’d repeat the first to finish. So that’s what we did in the concerts. After one of them, a former director of the choir (incidentally the previous Stake President) was approached by a gentleman who asked who had given us permission to change the song. The man (who is supposedly in the music business) then claimed that by repeating the chorus we had rearranged the piece and thus infringed copyright. The sum result of this conversation is that the choir director now refuses to do the same this year in order to not cause trouble.
All of which I find quite incredible. My question is: whose copyright is being infringed and how? (more…)
Must….control….urge……to destroy!! 8 February, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Jukebox Jury, Travelogue.3 comments
One of my dad’s childhood friends, along with her husband, has come to visit from Dubai and is staying at my house for the next few days. They’ve been here a total of 3 hours, and I already want to kill the husband.
Dad’s been rabbitting on about how he plays guitar so we’ll enjoy playing together. I knew full well that’ll never happen. We’d play very different styles and not really appreciate each other’s (it turns out he’s into country/rockabilly – no surprises, but that’s fine, it’s his life). But then he started lecturing me on note theory and double-stopping (this is after being told that I learned classical instruments as a child and therefore actually know something about music). I put up with that though, for the sake of international relations. The icing on the cake though was the following exchange:
Him: So play me a full song.
My dad: <Chuckles> He doesn’t know any! [I'm not entirely sure what that was for, but anyway]
Me: <frantically thinking of something to play> erm…erm…okay
The first thing that popped into my head was Stone by Unbelievable Truth, cause it’s nice and simple, but I realise it’s not the most attention-grabbing song ever. That does not excuse what happens next however. I’ve barely started (about 10-15 seconds in), when all of a sudden he asks my dad about the how the heating is controlled, and then they both get up and examine the thermostat!
THE THERMOSTAT!!!
They don’t even want to alter it or anything. Just to explain how it works….
I knew there was a reason I didn’t like performing….
A new Vista, Part 3 8 January, 2008
Posted by fraggle in Geekish Tendencies.2 comments
To be honest, I started this post so long ago, I needed to check what I told you before.
I finally fixed 99.999999% of all graphical/other crashes/hangs/general instabilities. The remaining trace problems I put down to the fact that I now overclock my machine and I have a minor (as in crash to desktop or random unexplained event) every once in….actually, I can’t remember when the last one was. It’s pretty much fixed. I’ve even been able to reinstate stuff like the Catalyst Control Panel (so I can overclock). The key change that solved everything was… (more…)
How to know when your bank is lying to you 7 January, 2008
Posted by fraggle in The Age of Spin.1 comment so far
Found this amusing little snippet today. As funny as it is that Clarkson got exactly what he asked for, he at least had the decency to a) put his money (quite literally) where his mouth was in the first place, which is more than you’ll see any government minister doing, and b) admit he was wrong. (more…)
