The things that you're liable to read in the Bible...

Friday's post reminded me of another "fascinating fact" about the Garden of Eden story.  Did you know that, according to some versions of the Book of Genesis, Eve was Adam's second wife?  This version of the story has God originally creating man and woman simultaneously out of the dust and the woman's name was Lilith.  But Adam and Lilith didn't get on and were continually rowing - not least about having sex.  Lilith objected to Adam's contention that the only "proper" way to do it was in the missionary position, which she felt smacked of subservience (the original feminist?).  Eventually she got fed up and left, and this is the point at which Adam asked God for "an help meet" and God created Eve out of one of Adam's ribs.  I'm sure there's a moral there somewhere!

Doing the wrong thing for the right reason?

Last October I expressed my agreement with our government's decision to stop supporting the rescue operations in the Med - the theory being that if they knew there was less chance of rescue if they got into trouble, the would-be migrants wouldn't be so keen to set off.  Well, we got that wrong, didn't we?  So what do we do now?  It's been suggested that we destroy the smugglers' boats - but I think that may be simply repeating our mistake.  If these people are so desperate to leave Africa and get to Europe then they're going to use whatever means they can - so maybe this would simply mean forcing them onto even less seaworthy craft with an even greater probability of dying at sea.  The problem of course lies with the conditions from which they are seeking to escape in their native countries, but whether we can do anything about that is doubtful - certainly not in the short term.  It's a real mess!

Naughty Eve!

Did you know that nowhere in the Bible does it say that the "forbidden fruit" which Adam and Eve ate, and which resulted in them being expelled from the Garden of Eden, was an apple? Indeed at one point in the Genesis story God tells Adam that he can eat the fruit of any tree which has seeds in it, and apples of course have seeds. So how did it become an apple in common mythology?  Well, probably a translator's error.  The tree is described as being The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and in Latin, evil is malum and apple is (you've guessed it) also malum.  And there you have it.

A rare bit?

Whilst on holiday we went for a pub lunch, and on the menu was Welsh Rarebit, and that got me thinking,  Firstly, when I was a lad it was called Welsh Rabbit - where did rarebit come from? And of course it's just a variant of cheese on toast so why rabbit? There don't seem to be any definitive answers, although it seems that it was indeed originally rabbit and rarebit is a sort of "gentrification" of the name.  The suggestion is that at one time "Welsh" was used to mean inferior, second-class and so Welsh Rabbit was something you could eat when the real thing - rabbit - wasn't available.  And then the Welsh have always had a thing for cheese, it seems. There's a story that Heaven was becoming overcrowded, so St Peter went outside and shouted "caws pobi" (welsh for toasted cheese) whereupon all the Welsh dashed outside and St Peter locked the gates shutting them outside. Anyway. Welsh Rabbit or rarebit is made with a thick sauce of cheese, butter, mustard, flour and beer which is poured over slices of toast and grilled, and is delicious.

Tick tock - more info.

Back in January I mentioned the idea of a game clock for football matches - a clock which measures actual play time, so there would be no point in dilly-dallying about taking that goal kick or throw-in because the clock wouldn't start running again until you did put the ball back in to play.  The question I left in the air was - how long should a match governed by a game clock last?  Well I came across an American site recently which has done some research on this and found that in football (soccer) you get about 33 minutes actual play for every hour that passes.   So that would suggest a game clock match should last about 25 minutes each way.  It is of course an American site but I can't imagine their matches differ much from ours.  The statistic on that site which really did surprise me is that in tennis according to them you only get about 10 minutes actual action per hour!

Music Man

At the beginning of every year Classic FM ask their listeners to choose their three favourite pieces of music and send them in.  They then count and collate what they have been sent, and produce their "Hall Of Fame" which is broadcast around the Easter weekend.  And this year, as last year, the Number One slot has gone to "The Lark Ascending" by Vaughan Williams.  And this year, as last year, I have to confess to being somewhat baffled at the choice.  I'm not knocking the piece or the composer - although as I think I've mentioned before, I find it difficult to warm to Vaughan Williams - but other than as "music to iron by" I just can't see why this piece is so popular.  As I once heard someone down London way say "That lark don't 'arf take a bleedin' long time to ascend!"  And that's it really - the music doesn't seem to go anywhere.  Nice enough, but nothing to stir the blood.  

Damned clever, these Scots!

You have to bear in mind that the main objective of the SNP - their raison d'être - is an independent Scotland.  Having failed to achieve that by means of a referendum of the Scottish people, their clear plan it seems to me is now to so irritate and provoke the English (and perhaps to a lesser extent the Welsh) that we decide to cast them adrift - so attaining their goal by the back door as it were. And if that's how it works out, it will at least have been our decision.

I can say yes, but not no?

In Cardiff, it seems, posters have started to appear saying "Don't vote".  They are aimed at Muslims, and their premise is that "none have the right to legislate except Allah" and that therefore voting offends against the tenets of  Islam.  The council have said they will remove them - why??  The fact that I - and I imagine most people - do not agree with the sentiments being expressed is really neither here nor there.  If I can put up a poster saying "Vote for Joe Bloggs", then why not a poster saying "Don't vote at all"?  Unless there is something in election law that I am unaware of, I can't see the distinction.  Just because I - or you - disapprove of something, doesn't mean it shouldn't be allowed to happen.

Cheryl's birthday (see 15th April)

OK - here we go.  Remember, Albert knows what month it is and Bernard knows what date it is. Albert's first statement is that he doesn't know her birthday, but he knows that Bernard doesn't know either.  This tells Bernard that the month cannot be May or June - because as far as Albert knows, Bernard may have been given the 18th or 19th as the date.  It therefore follows that the month is July or August. So Bernard (who knows the date) now declares he knows her birthday.  Albert (who knows the month) can now work out that the date can't be the 14th (because if it was, Bernard wouldn't know if it was July 14th or August 14th) so her birthday must be July 16th. Easy when you know how, isn't it - or is it??

Ha ha.

A photon walks into a hotel and books a room.  The receptionist gives him his room-key and says "Can we help you with your luggage?"  "No, thank you" says the photon "I'm travelling light".