from www.breakingnews.ie

9pm*
TG4 Paisean Faisean **: One girl looking for love must choose between three guys, whose challenge it is to woo her by picking her an outfit.

BBC2 The Elephant’s guide to sex: Getting elephants in the mood for love is just one of Dr Hilebrandts jobs. the Doc is just one of a growing number [really! There's more than one?] of pioneers using a hands-on approach to animal reproduction…

C4 Ulrika – Am I a sex addict?: Ulrika Jonsson presents a revealing and personal documentary exploring sex addiction.

RTE2 and Channel 5: CSI Miami. Both are probably repeats.

It’s funny and sad how ‘sex’ is treated in both countries while the BBC2 elephant documentary is just plain odd.

But, but, what’s that buried near midnight on BBC1? Hmmm. There’s a show on Peter Singer. Peter Singer (wiki) is an Australian philosopher whose writings made me become a vegetarian way back when. I’m trying to remember stuff from a long time ago but, to use the jargon, he takes an extreme utilitarian viewpoint (wiki). At first blush, his views are quite radical and even outrageous. I’ve never jumped completely on his bandwagon but he has an interesting mind. Religious groups hate him and think he’s immoral. So he can’t be all bad, then. It’s past my bedtime so I’ll be taping it and I’d encourage you do the same.

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m a bit grumpy because, last Tuesday, Sky showed the last episode ever of Stargate SG1. I’ve now got nothing to watch (sob, sob) so I’ll have to read a book or something. Maybe I could volunteer to help the elephants at Dublin Zoo??

*Programme descriptions are from saturday’s Irish Times TV listings.
** I’m told it means ‘Passion Fashion”.

Well done, cyberscribe, for flushing the lunatics out of the long grass. Hang on a minute, I’ve posted comments on his site. Oops!

*The poster may or may not be ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know‘ but (s)he is anonymous and very, very long (oh wait, have I said that already).

Recent Human Evolution Detected
A surprisingly recent instance of human evolution has been detected among the peoples of East Africa. It is the ability to digest milk in adulthood, conferred by genetic changes that occurred as recently as 3,000 years ago, a team of geneticists has found.

The finding is a striking example of a cultural practice — the raising of dairy cattle — feeding back into the human genome. It also seems to be one of the first instances of convergent human evolution to be documented at the genetic level. Convergent evolution refers to two or more populations acquiring the same trait independently.

He found the story in The New York Times.

I’m don’t think the discussions went well this year because the lights were turned off at 6pm! I wonder if it was a power glitch or will they stay turned off all night?

Priceless! Only in holy Catholic Ireland could people mix money and religion and fight over Christmas!

7. We do not believe in the big bang except, for the saying which goes “God said it and bang it happend.”

I’m too lazy to find the link right now but the Kansas people who started all this evolution not evolution debate got unelected thrown out in the past few months. Oh well, what a shame!

Oh wait, I’m not that lazy.

Another sin committed today was greed. I bought a couple of new CDs from CD-Wow and they were:

Once Again is John Legend’s second album. His first was really good so hopefully his form continues in this latest opus. The critics invariably seem to describe Joanna Newsom as uncatagorisable but, since they have to fill their column inches, they try anyway. Her voice is supposed to be enchanting and the music otherworldy. Or maybe it’s the other way around? Anyway, hope it’s more Brigid Boden than Enya.

I’m not a big fan of ‘rock’ rock music so I’ve never had reason to buy a Queen album (I just borrowed them from a friend). But €18 for a 3CD best of platinum collection is a bargain and therefore unresistable. Tom Waits’ CD was a bit pricey at €32 but again it’s a 3CD ‘best of‘ collection and he’s maybe the prescription for those melancholy Irish wintery evenings that are sure to descend on us soon.

This is a photo of the Matt Talbot statute I took early in the morning when the sunlight was weak. ‘The Venerable Matt Talbot (d. 1925) (wiki) was ‘an Irish Ascetic who is revered by many Catholics for his piety, charity and Mortification of the flesh‘.

He was an unskilled labourer who lived alone and his life would have gone unnoticed were it not for the cords and chains discovered on his body when he died suddenly on a Dublin street in 1925. He spent his life living a life of quiet prayer and poverty. He gave away most of his wages to those who were just as poor as he was.

It is perhaps unfortunate then, that behind the statue, is the International Financial Services Centre where billions of Euro are traded daily. Worse, he is facing a (now closed) arts centre that was also a nerve centre during the HIV crisis in that it dispensed advice and needles to HIV-positive people and drug addicts during the ’80′s.

Having said that, the bridge (out of picture) is named after him.

I don’t know if schadenfreude is the right word but, if they’d put the statue on the other side of the bridge, he would have been facing the Ulster Bank’s HQ and the historic Customs House would have been behind him.

Here’s a photo of the Customs House I took at the same time…

It is also said you get a shiver down your back when someone walks over your grave. Maybe someone is planning evil things against me and this is my early warning system! It has to be more than malicious talking behind my back because, if that was the case, my ears would be burning!

Or, maybe, considering it’s Guy Fawkes night in the UK, his ghost is trying to contact me? Maybe he was beheaded so cue dubious link to another photo I took yesterday. I didn’t spot it right away but the bird I was photographing flew right in front of another bird at the exact moment I clicked the camera. Two bodies, one head and, therefore, perfect for Halloween week. Shame it was so unseasonably sunny and warm yesterday. Here’s the link to the larger photo.

How Christians react to death and murder is the article’s title and I’ve included the first few paragraphs. Enjoy.

On Monday the 2nd of October, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts lined up 11 Amish girls and shot them at point blank range before committing suicide. He was reportedly angry at God for taking his daughter, who had died at just 20 minutes old. 5 of the Amish girls have died so far. 2 of the girls are reported to have asked to be shot first, to buy the others some time. How did the Amish react to this atrocity?

That evening they gathered together and organised a horse and buggy to visit the family of Charles Carl Roberts with food and sympathy. They invited the killer’s widow to the family funerals. They bought a lock for their schoolroom door. Now they aim to establish two funds, one for the families of the dead girls, one to provide for the killers family.

Out of a horrific incident, the Amish showed what faith in God really was, turning even that horror into a demonstration of the highest principles of their faith. I must confess, I find their actions deeply moving.

And so do I.