Facebook life

Facebook thumbs-up
Counting the names on the list,
Of friends who virtually exist,
I find great worth
In noting the dearth
Of names I wouldn’t actually miss.

Refreshing the page of a post
I thought witty, refined, the most
Pleasure I get
Is to find it beset
By likes of which I can boast.

Threading through my timeline
All of these things combine
To bring me great joy
Yet it is but a ploy
To hide inside from sunshine.
 

Piano peaks

piano

I seem to have managed to learn playing 2 octaves with one hand whilst playing 3 octaves with the other on the piano! Probably doesn’t mean much if you don’t play the piano, but I’ve been trying to manage playing the 2 notes against against 3 rhythm for ages:-). Now to try for 4 against 3…

Happy Raksha Bandhan

Rakhi bracelet on a hand

Happy Raksha Bandhan everyone! I must admit I didn’t know of this Hindu festival before a kind friend gave me the Rakhi pictured. These sacred threads are given as a sign that you are considered a brother. We spent a lot of time together growing up and it’s wonderful to have friends we think of as family. Thank you, Lydia!

Morality, theft, and Netflix

Netflix logo

Theft is wrong. Most – although by no means all – of us can agree on that. We have an instinctive feel for what this means at the basic level; if someone owns something we shouldn’t take it from them if they don’t want us to. The law backs this up too; the most basic definition of theft under UK law tells us “A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.”[1] I doubt that the laws of most other countries significantly deviate from this.

So why do we hear so much of people “stealing” intellectual property on the internet; music, books, film, software, it seems that little that can be sent down a fibre optic cable is sacrosanct. If you know how, it is relatively easy to avoid paying for such items on the internet – certainly much easier than it would be to enter a shop and take the physical copy of these items. So has society lost its way? Has the spirit of morality died? I don’t think so. I believe that many people who might download a copy of their favourite movie for free if they came across it online would be shocked at the thought of going into a music shop and walking out with a DVD in hand unpaid for, so something else is clearly going on here.
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Sochi 2014, Russian anti-gay laws, and Stephen Fry’s letter

Russian OMOH policeman reflected showing HOMO

Since Stephen Fry’s open letter to David Cameron and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) I have seen many misapprehensions from people defending the hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games at Sochi, Russia (cough cough Daily Telegraph cough cough). The same arguments as to why the Games should go ahead despite Russia’s human rights violations go round and round so I thought I would list the principal ones I’ve seen and my suggested responses. I’m sure there are more around – please add your own in the comments!

There are lots of places which don’t respect human rights, why aren’t they complaining about Saudi Arabia and Uganda and just concentrating on Russia?” Well Saudi Arabia and Uganda aren’t hosting the Olympics! And if they were I would argue against that too.

We didn’t stop China having the Games and their human rights record is terrible!” True, and in my opinion the IOC shouldn’t have let them host the games. But two wrongs don’t make a right.
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