A wonderful feast of sport on the telly this weekend, my Son and I spent a lovely day yesterday watching the cricket world cup final and were, along with the rest of the country, hyped up into a frenzy of anxiety and delight as the run-chase came to it's ultimate climax. We also had one eye on the tennis and the Grand-Prix but to be honest the cricket won out, we all learned about "super-overs" and bylaws on resolving draws via boundaries in an utterly compelling match the likes of which will almost certainly not occur again in my lifetime.
Classic state religion, what's mine is mine but the rest of you buggers have to pay for it anyway because, er.. we used to be popular and powerful and charity and stuff...
The latest British Social Attitudes Survey showing some interesting results. Religious people in this country are now a minority and in particular the state-religion (Anglicanism) can only muster 12% of the population as followers, this is particularly true of the 18-24 age group where only 1% are church-going. Whilst these statistics could be viewed by many as fairly innocuous, those of us in favor of a properly secular constitution in the UK (i.e. where religion and state are separate and no particular religion or none is given special privileges) see it as further grist to the mill that change in this area is well overdue.
Tried a new wine (for me) last Friday evening, we decided to crack open this little beauty from South Africa. Called "Anwilka" (2012 vintage). Anwilka started life as a collaboration between famous Bordeaux producers Bruno Prats and Hubert de Bouard and local boy Lowell Jooste, but has since been merged with a larger SA producer (Klein Constantia). It's from the Stellenbosch area (near Cape Town) and is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot and it's delicious, you can really taste the French influence on this, a classy drop, deep, layered, rich dark fruits displaying great balance. Quite pricey compared to supermarket plonk but dirt cheap compared to even a low-end classed growth from Bordeaux, normally around £25 for a bottle but I picked this one up in the BBR (Berry Bros & Rudd) bin-end sale for less than £20, one to look out for.
At least Thanos had a coherent reason for killing everyone, i.e. over-population. Yahweh on the other hand seemed to do it just because he was pissed off that people didn't suck up to him with sufficient goat sacrifices...
Years ago traditional (large) brewers created a couple of recipes and spent their entire time and energy attempting to replicate those beers over and over and over again, seldom selling or making anything different, this was seen as a positive thing. The argument was consistency and building a following for your particular beer, but as with many other things (such as religions, politics or food) the "spooky" thing was that people's "preference" was simply the beer that was available to them in their local pub, they seldom ventured far from home, i.e. not really an informed "preference" at all.
These days things have changed, many people have a preference for variety over consistency, and exhibit a low tolerance for the same old beer week in and week out. My local craft brewer (Siren) for example has been producing a series of beers over the last couple of years called their "suspended in" series (see picture above). The idea was to showcase different hops and ingredients on top of the same base beer and "suspended in X" was born, where X is different varieties of hops and other adjuncts (yeasts/ingredients), pretty much a new one every month. A wonderful idea and a huge success, this kind of initiative is illustrative of the revolution that's happened in brewing over the last 10 years, for those of us interested in understanding and experiencing different flavours and tastes, vive la difference!
Our local brewery (Siren) were showcasing the new artwork for the upcoming release of their beer in cans. Here are four examples on show at the brewery bar, very impressive they look too. I guess these days with so many craft beers turning up on supermarket shelves etc. that you need to ensure that your stuff stands out for those people not necessarily familiar with the name/product/brand etc. Wine labels have been going this way for years, most non-wine-geeks I know buy most of their wine based on the label rather than the wine/producer per se, it makes sense that beer tracks the same way.
What if a Government official speaking from the inner circle of the Prime Minister called for "Muslims to be hunted down", do you think there might be some kind of public reaction? Of course there would, and rightly so, it would represent the worst kind of authoritarian intolerance imaginable, but.. In Malaysia a government official (Shahidan Kassim) seem quite happy saying the exact same thing about Atheists, this is what happens when evolved primates become delusional enough to believe that they have their "god" on their side. Sadly another country on a downward fundamentalist/populist trajectory and struck off my to-visit list until the people there wake up to reality (not that politicians in the UK are much better on the topic of "hunting").
In more enlightened news, how about a machine that plays perfect 10 pin bowling, impossible you say? How about this... wow!
Then to cap off a perfect week we have the hair-piece in chief making a complete balls-up of an independence day speech, apparently the continental army took control of the airports during the war of independence in 1775... Looks like Hollywood will be quick to celebrate this momentous historical discovery...
Such displays of political, historical and intellectual failure isn't restricted to our trans-Atlantic cousins, like our Women's football team on the pitch, here in the UK we have very credible competition for our American friends in the ignorance league! Witness Ann Widdecombe in this incredible display of ahistorical shite and a complete lack of self-awareness, she claims that membership of the EU is like "slavery". I didn't realise the slaves of the triangular trade could vote, had freedom of speech and movement or standardized industrial safety legislation - this changes everything! (she is an embarrassment to the entire nation!)
Suitably depressed now? Don't be, just smile, this is the stuff Fridays are made for, just need a beer now!
