Jamie123

Sorry to disappoint you but the 123 doesn't mean anything at all. When I made the account, I quickly found that "Jamie" was already taken, so I just added 123 to make it unique. As for Jamie, it's the diminutive form of James, which is my middle name. It is also an androgynous name, and when I started posting on forums (and later IRC) back in the mid/late 1990s, I wanted a nick which didn't give anything away, including my gender. I don't care anymore: everyone knows I'm Jamie as in "Vardy" and "Oliver" not "Lee Curtis" or "Summers"*. but the name has stuck. *Although she was spelled "Jaime".

That wasn't quite the advice I got, but similar. The gist of what the curate told me was that no, I couldn't trust myself not to sin anymore, but if at the moment I took communion I had a genuine desire and intention not to sin, then it was OK for me to take it*. Communion - taking in the body and blood of Christ (whether you believe this literally or symbolically) - strengthens our resistance to sin and makes us more like Christ. Coming the altar rail to receive (or sitting waiting for it to come to you, if it's that sort of church) you're not saying... "OK God! I haven't committed any sins! I'm worthy! Now giz'!"** ...but (to quote the liturgy itself)... "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed." It's also worth quoting this hymn by Charlotte Elliot: *Yes, I know: "Good intentions". Someone will probably have a pointed retort about "road to hell...blah blah blah", but firstly that phrase is not even from the Bible, and secondly I wouldn't read it as "mind you don't have any good intentions". It's more "good intentions aren't enough unless you act on them". And I think that having taken holy communion, you're more likely to act on your intentions than if you hadn't. **Midland for "give us"/"give me". My Leicestonian showing through there!

Speaking for myself I've always been very conscious of 1 Corinthians 11:29, and when I'm in a certain mindset I don't dare touch the sacraments. (My curate tells me this is not the right attitude to take.)

It depends very much who you talk to. Different traditions within Anglicanism are almost like different churches. The "highest" Anglicans, though technically Protestants, are almost indistinguishable from Roman Catholics. We sometimes call them Anglo-Catholics. However I don't think nowadays many people (even Catholics) take transubstantiation quite literally.

We don't even have an organist anymore. Our last one (who was also head of Physics at Imperial College) retired and moved away. Luckily we have the sweetest, loveliest Chinese girl who plays the piano, but she cannot play an organ, and she's not even there every week. So now much of our music comes off CDs.

Ok sorry I need to explain better than that. When the elements are blessed - and thus become the body and blood of Christ - a bell is traditionally rung in the steeple so people all around will know what has happened. Sometimes also one of the servers will also ring a bell - or a lot of jingly bells - at the altar at the same time. Sometimes it sounds a bit like someone shaking a tambourine. But the bell I miss most is the one ringing high up in the Tower. They had that in the church where I took my confirmation classes long ago. Our vicar was called Father Michael. He went over to the Catholics after they allowed women to become priests. He didn't like that one little bit!

It's an alien concept to all but Catholics and High-Church Protestants. Not quite - jabbing the bone in my upper leg with my knuckle to simulate the clapper of the bell. (I'm a strange person I know!)

Yup! Not every hill is worth dying on. One of my dislikes is that in our church we have no consecration bell. Whenever the priest gets to... "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this whenever you eat it in remembrance of me.” I always whisper "bong bong bong" under my breath, while dead-legging myself three times. And when we get to... "This is my blood of the new covenant. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." I whisper "bong bong bong" again with further dead-legging. After years of not having a consecration bell it still doesn't seem right not having one. I even considered bringing my own, but I don't think certain people in the congregation would be very pleased.

Hmmmm... we'll have to try to think what might liven things up again. What about....(and I'm just tossing this up in the air here)....a competition to draw what we think each other look like? And the best drawing of each has to become their avatar? (It's probably been thought of already!)

Haha - some hymns need to be belted out with gusto. Especially ones like Onward Christian Soldiers!

I always thought your picture was something to do with the pen being "mightier than the sword" - though I wondered why the pen should be holding the sword - and I thought maybe it was the pen and the sword united. I like fountain pens too - though I don't like the way in cheaper ones the ink oozes up from the nib and gets all over your fingers. Once a pen starts doing that there's no stopping it - even if you soak it in water to get all the ink out, the moment you refill it it starts doing the same nonsense. It's funny to think how new the fountain pen is, considering we hardly ever use it now. When I went to school*, all the desks had ink-well holes in them. Ink wells were never actually put into them, but the desks must have been made in the pre-fountain-pen era. *Maybe this isn't so much about how new fountain pens are as how old I am. *Sigh*

Quite batty! Battier than Batman, Batgirl and Batty Bat (from Captain Beaky and his Men) combined!

I was just watching a YouTube video of a Latter-day Saint sacrament meeting, and I noticed something weird which I did think weird back in the day. No one stands up to sing! How do you expand your lungs properly sitting down? I know I couldn't belt out He Who Would Valiant Be! loud enough to annoy everyone in the row in front, if I was sitting down! And you can't tell me this is a specifically LDS thing: the Mor.. er Tabernacle Choir don't sit down to sing! They stand up same as we do! At least they look to me like they're standing up! So what gives? You've gotta love the Tabernacle Choir. And Onward Christian Soldiers. Never mind all this wishy-washy "Onward Christian Pilgrims" malarcky. It's "soldiers" - OK? Sol-diers! Soldiers going out into the World to fight against the Devil! The Church of England is plagued with so much of this nonsense these days. If things carry on like this, I'll be tempted to join GAFCON*. *GAFCON - "Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans" (more-or-less). Anglicans who don't recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury. I suppose somewhat like the Latter-day Saint splinter groups except none of them (as far as I know) have multiple wives**. **I've just spent most of the afternoon having a long, bitter and exhausting texting-argument with the woman who is technically my wife. Imagine wanting to have more than one!

I said I'd write something about this, so here it is... And in case you don't know what I'm talking about... I first saw this movie when I was about 7 and loved it. These were my impressions of it as a kid (though I wouldn't have used quite these words then) and having seen it again recently: "Point" of course has a double meaning: point meaning "purpose", and a physical point. The main conceit of the story is people who lack the latter are assumed to lack the former too. (Most young kids would get that quite quickly, and it's nice that they get the chance to work it out for themselves - without having the joke ruined by "explanation".) The pointed people are an easy-going lot. They have no malice against Oblio, despite his having "no point". But they are passive and easily swayed by the Count's arguments. (How like reality!) Even when he is being banished, they give him a cheerful sending off. Although he is sad to begin with, Oblio soon becomes excited about what might lay ahead. It's always good to have an eye to the future, rather than to dwell endlessly on what you have lost. (Or think you have lost.) To be honest, the middle of the story - Oblio's adventures in the forest - didn't do anything for as a kid, and don't do a lot for me now. It is enjoyable enough - nice accompaniment for Harry Nilsson's music - but none of these sequences stayed in my mind particularly after my first viewing. Certainly lot of the references went over my head - for example much of what the "tree-man" says would be meaningless to a child. Oblio comes full-circle and returns to the pointed village. Why this happens is never explained, but as a kid it seemed natural. It's the classic heroic cycle - the hero leaves and returns - stronger than before because of his experiences. It's what we are pre-programmed to expect. (Maybe Jung would make something of that!) The people come out in cheering crowds to greet him, but again their change of heart is barely hinted at. Oblio is now (for some reason) a hero. If I'd written the story I'd have added some justification for this, but perhaps it has an intentional point (har! har!) which I'm missing. The Count is angry, but no one listens to him now, and the king tells him to be quiet. Oblio explains that everything in the forest had a point, so therefore he must have one too. (Does this logic hold up?) The Count snatches Oblio's cap and discovers he now does have a point on his head. (As a kid, I'd assumed that he had worn the pointed cap so long that his head had worn itself into that shape. Watching it now, I don't think that's the case. Either way, it's a metaphor for the fact that Oblio now knows he has a purpose.) Everyone else loses their point, but none of them care anymore. They understand now that everyone has a purpose, whether they have a "point" or not. Oblio puts his cap back on. I puzzled much as a kid why he did this. Why did he not want to show everyone that he does now have a point? I suppose the cap is just a part of who he is, and it's the way we've grown used to seeing him. We want to leave him that way. Just a couple of other "points": Ringo Starr does the narration, but originally it was Dustin Hoffman. I found a version with Dustin Hoffman's narration here: Much as I like Dustin Hoffman, Ringo is WAY better, don't you think? Hoffman doesn't get the emphasis right. I read somewhere that the reason Ringo's version was recorded at all is because Hoffman stipulated that his recording could only be used for ONE SHOWING ONLY. I mean, what is the "point" of that?? Now before some comedian asks me what the "point" of this post is, let me tell you. As a 7-year old, I couldn't believe the kid in the frame story had a TV in his bedroom!!! Lucky swine!!!

I'd like to be able to invite you here too, but my living conditions at the moment are...well let's just say it's not a worthy home to invite guests to. But maybe some day...

Really? That means the world to me! I don't know when I could make it, but I'll hope to some day!

That in turn makes me think of Meat Loaf Heaven can Wait (He's found love in mortality, and doesn't need heaven. It can wait!

Total class! The kids had come a long way from "Doh, Ray, Mi" by that time!

Ah - these are only "a few" of my favourite things. I think Julie Andrews makes the cut as well! And Linda Lewis singing "The Moon and I"... ...from the movie Dick Deadeye. (Yes, yes...I know it's originally based on The Mikado...but I find Linda Lewis' lyrics much more uplifting than W.S. Gilbert's. Except the words "I do not want a saint" are a bit troubling: I think what she's really saying is she's not looking for perfection, but to be loved.)

Another one is Graham Kendrick: "And I know it is the eye, of his favourite mince pie." ("And I know it is the hour of his favour and his power")

The Book of Mormon Tallking with you guys about the Book of Mormon Talking with you guys about other things Writing e-mails about the Book of Mormon to a missionary who insisted on giving me her address a few months ago and I suspect has since regretted it. I sent her Zil's cockatrice (I hope you don't mind, Zil). I don't think she was very interested. I don't know why not. It was a nice cockatrice. ALF Microwaveable ready cooked meals from Sainsbury's - especially sweet and sour chicken The fact that the garage wall hasn't collapsed. (Yet.) Physics World Katherine (my friendly counsellor) Sleep The way the sun shines brightly in the clear blue sky on fall mornings. How the birch leaves turn slowly from green to yellow. The horse chestnuts and the spinning sycamore keys. (You'd call them "maple": acer pseudoplatanus. Not related to your sycamore, the platanus occidentalis - the American sycamore - though we have a similar tree, the platanus londonensis - the London Plane. I like them too. Especially the beautiful bark. So colourful. Zil's Cockatrice (inserted for the benefit of anyone who's not seen it yet):

I believe you're right. And wasn't there a Suzannah too?

What strikes me about Alma 1 (and the end of Mosiah) is the kind of religious freedom we have today, at least in the West. The people who were practicing priestcraft were at least pretending to believe what they were teaching, and thus under the law they could not be punished. Alma 2 made me think of Trump protesting against the election result - and the storming of the Capitol! Much more extreme of course, but you can't tell me there isn't some parallel there! (I've a feeling I'm about to be scorched for comparing Trump with Amlici!)

So we're half a scientist each Now I'm flattered