Crimes of Passion

Listening to 604 by Ladytron

It is hard to place this. While specific sounds and music seem unlike anything else, the whole picture is one of familiarity and brings on a deep nostalgia for the azimuth of the electro bands of the late seventies and early eighties. In deep contrast I am contemplating some Martin Codax which I heard on Radio 3 while driving home the other day.

What is happening in the world? We seem to have settled down into a sort of acceptance of bad things gone by. September 11th is a very distant event which leaves me feeling as if the smoke and dust has finally dispersed and we are back to the old complacency. Now there have been times within the memory of plenty of people known to us post-war babies when things were really bad with the chance of non-civilian-caused death being quite high. Even at the height of the mania created in part to justify the War on terror, there were not that many people dying. You may think I am being cynical and harsh but if automobile companies can be so calculating as to assign value to life when it comes down to the cost of fitting safety equipment then so can I. (Stay with me - there is a touch of irony here). How much money are we pouring into various countries? Are the conditions for this expense anything other than arbitrary? Are they maybe hereditary? How many of our precious people have we saved or cut short? I know this is all questions with no answers but I have nothing else. Who does?

I got another book for myself from the Kid's section of the library - Wicked Words which is another in the Horrible Histories series. (I must tell you that typing in 'Wicked Words' in to the Amazon search box gives you a lot of more adult stuff.) This is a very special one as its linking theme covers just about anything. These books are very easy reads but don't skimp the details - the Einstein one actually derives the Lorentz Transformation Equations;you never read them and feel that something is missing. It is easy to censor things we make for children and very difficult to make history truthful for them. These books keep a moral background while revealing the more unsavoury side of certain characters. I can't quite remember how honest the one that dealt with the Death of Edward II was but then again I am not sure that the Poker story is true anyway.

Nothing I write seems to have any substance any more. I have the time to do it but sometimes there is no desire. It feels today that the only reason I am carrying on is because I have nothing better to do. I should start bring a book in and reading over lunchtime. There is the whole internet out there but nothing draws you into reading like having all the text on pages between covers. Having said that, I like the idea of electronic books. I already have the Palm Pilot but it was out-of-date when I got it. I just finished The Wouldbegoods on it just to let you know. Be seeing you. Bye all.