peeping tom

This appealed to me a lot, especially as l didn't notice him at first, which made the revelation and joke all that much better.

toodle pip

the rich get richer

Don't get me started ......

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me vs pope francis and the whole charlie hebdo / freedom of speech debate

Pope Francis, speaking about the attacks on Charlie Hebdo stated :

"The attacks were an "aberration", and such horrific violence in God's name could not be justified.

He staunchly defended freedom of expression, but then he said there were limits, especially when people mocked religion.
"If my good friend Doctor Gasparri [who organises the Pope's trips] speaks badly of my mother, he can expect to get punched," he said, throwing a pretend punch at the doctor, who was standing beside him.

"You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit."

Now of course l am not going to state that l am better than The Pope, or my opinion means more, but, due to the rather marvelous freedom of free speech, l am allowed to state this.....

If a friend of mine mocked my mother (who is dead), there is no way l would resort to violence against him / her. I would have no problem with friends (or others) mocking her in a piss taking way, even if they did push boundaries that may upset other people if their mothers were being spoken about in the same way, but l would not resort to violence.

Black humour is often the funniest, and can also be used as a relief from day to day hurt, or numerous family issues. If the person was being deliberately offensive, aggressive and antagonistic, l would tell them so, and remove myself from the situation. If not, l would involve the law, as l (and everyone else in the UK) am already protected under the current legislation.

As for making fun of the faith of others, l believe whole wholeheartedly in the freedom of speech and by definition, print. l would have no hesitation at all with making merriment against faiths myself (and have often done so), as long as it is not provoking any kind of violence, threats or aggressive (or even passive aggressive) actions or statements against the faith or person / organisation in question.  Please don't get me started on the amount of issues that offend me, but people have the right to be idiots (and wrong in so, so many ways)

If hard line members of a faith wish to take umbrage against mockery, using blasphemy issues as a reason for doing so, they should boycott magazines and businesses, use it as a marketing tool for their own faith, and get their viewpoint across in the media. It wasn't that long ago in the UK when we had issues around 'The Life Of Brian' with Mary Whitehouse on the prowl, trying to stop the kids (maaaaan) enjoying Dr Who, or me (an adult) savouring the delights of  'The Romans in Britain' or James Kirkup's poems, by dragging up archaic blasphemy laws. However, to injure or kill others in the name of religion is abhorrent to whichever maker you believe in.

Most religious people l have encountered or read about have been steadfast in their beliefs that they were right, and everyone else's beliefs are wrong, but (maybe) because of their beliefs, are kind and tolerant to others, and would in no way, shape or form, advocate violence.

Every religion has it's extremists that in my eyes, give the religions a bad name, but they are still in the minority, and we should not be cowered by terrorism acts. They want us to be terrified, and always thinking of the consequences of their future actions, but l say fuck them - carry on with life as usual.

I've stated before that l don't want to be delayed unduly at an airport check ins because of security threats. What about large shops? The Underground? Football matches? The water supply? Large pubs or nightclubs full of soldiers?

I happen to live on the largest army garrison in Europe, but to live your life in fear is giving in (to the little people). Anything may happen in the future, and l have no problem with random checks when entering potential target areas, or a police presence in aforementioned places, but don't let our freedoms erode, and don't worry - be happy, otherwise that is letting the extremists win.

And if you are interested - here's the cover of the latest Charlie Hebdo, which will no doubt sell many, many more issues than any in the past, due to the recent unexpected publicity, and people wishing to show solidarity with free speech issues.

Possibly to mass swathes of the population, the magazine may be crap, not funny, and cause a lot of offence, but no-one deserves to die because of it.

toodle pip

the michael collins photograph from space

Another space picture to put things into perspective. Michael Collins took this from the command module, as the Eagle occupants (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin) were returning from the moon, before heading back to Earth.
He was therefore looking out at everyone that has ever lived, or was living, apart from himself.
What an experience that must have been, although l would still have rather stepped on the moon itself.

toodle pip

je ne suis pas charlie hebdo - the other side

Further to my earlier post about Charlie Hebdo, here's a viewpoint that is most definitely not mine, but l can see where they are coming from.
If you are going to argue and disagree about stuff, it's good to have as much information to hand as possible, rather than just spouting off ill informed platitudes as a blinkered hate monger. However, l can't envisage either side changing their viewpoints and stances, so rather discouragingly, l think that the situation is only going to get worse, with a lot more violent attacks on the horizon (and l'm still against over zealous searches at airports!).

Here's a photograph to put it all into perspective - The Milky Way at night, taken at Yosomite National Park (by Justin Kern)

Give it a few thousand years, and it will all be so irrelevant. The bright star at the bottom is Jupiter.  Looking like it's watching over us, and if it could, tutting and sighing at our madness, self importance, and self destructiveness.

toodle pip

deep purple - fireball session

My love for early 1970's Deep Purple can be matched by no one, but, much as l also love the Fireball album, the out-takes from the photographic sessions for the cover leave a lot to be desired.
However, the music was great.
Sadly it was a long, long time ago.





toodle pip

david james' records

The former England goalkeeper, David James, was recently made bankrupt, and his possessions sold. Even me, as a Manchester United fan feels sorry for him, so where are his friends when in his hour of need?. Among the many items on offer were his records, some of which are above, and if they meant half as much to him as my records mean to me, l'd like to think that, even though he is an ex Liverpool player, one of his rich ex footballer spice boys mates may have bought them back for him, but sadly, l don't hold up much hope. But you never know.

toodle pip

charlie hebdo

L’indépendance de la presse, c’est Charlie hebdo! Pourquoi ?

I know who's side l am on concerning the freedom of the press and the killings at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, and Albert Uderzo, the illustrator of Asterix agrees with me.

 toodle pip

the bhutan postage sevice

When Burt Todd took control of the Bhutan postal service, who would have guessed that they would be the forerunners in innovative stamp designs?
I collected some foreign stamps when l was a kid, but Mr Todd has whetted my appetite again, making me hanker for a collection of these little beauties.
What's so special about them? Well, where do l start?
They are only issued in formats that where well ahead of their time.  Scented, silk, 3D, lenticular, metallic, and even little records that play the Bhutan national anthem, folk songs, and a recording of Burt Todd himself. Recent ones are even CD Rom.
Pure genius, and if l wore a hat, l would take it off to them.
There's a lot more information about the stamps, the country, and Burt Todd on this highly recommended site.

toodle pip

mr c and the h bomb

Christmas 2014 at The Robinsons.

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a very strange looking tattoo

Now that is what l call a tattoo!!
I still can't get my head around it.

toodle pip

two photographs of chicago

Two stunning photographs of Chicago.  One of the skyscrapers rising above the clouds (by Brandon), and one with the city reflected in Lake Michigan (by Mark Hersch).
I prefer the bottom one myself, as it looks so unreal, and almost Heavenly (if there was such a place).

toodle pip

the a1 closed in both directions

                           

High drama in Catterick Village!!!!!
It's not very often that the A1 is closed in both directions, but here's the evidence from a couple of weeks ago, when the police and army were investigating a mysterious explosion. Cue mayhem on the slip and surrounding roads.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown, but my guess would be a left over firework, set off drunkenly, late at night.

toodle pip

the colburn fire brigade

The fire crew from our local fire station at Colburn, Catterick.
A fine upstanding crew who inspire much confidence in times of crisis, and are all fully booked for calendars, modelling, strip shows and hen nights.
The stuff that women's dreams are made of.

toodle pip 

the thing (1982) - john carpenter's storyboards

John Carpenter's movie 'The Thing', freaked me out years ago (and still does to a degree), when the (spoiler alert!!!) exploded head turns into a spider like creature.
Above are some of the storyboards from that sequence, and the complete set can be found at my comic blog (here), or at the main site of The Thing, along with many other of the movie's storyboards.

toodle pip

sunny torremolinos

While l recover from the last few days, here's a few more photographs of recent trips.  This one to sunny Torremolinos (in Spain) with work at the start of October.
It was a lot quieter than l expected, and also pleasanter, yet still very warm and sunny, but it all seems so far away now.

toodle pip.