How Many Roman Catholic Priests Are Married?
Most people, myself included, would have answered none to this question. But now after this case reported here and in several papers like The Times, the question is how many other priests are leading a hypocritical double life?
I think the Catholic church should take serious action to stop priests from doing things their vows of chastity explicitly forbid them. I’m told that there are fiendish devices available on the Internet, which have their origins in those, that mediaeval knights locked around their ladies interesting bits.
Alternatively, they could change the vows and make them more in line with the real world.
The Restaurant Would Have Loved This Revue
a couple of weeks ago, I was so impressed by what Giles Coren said about a restaurant, that I just had to visit The Quality Chop House and duly did, as I reported here.
I doubt, I’ll be going to Balthazar, as Giles has given the place, one of the worst reviews I’ve ever seen, with the same exquisite use of a hatchet, that would have done justice to the late Michael Winner. You can read it here in The Times. It is one of those reads, that are worth a visit to the dentist in a couple of months time.
Giles scores the restaurant 0 for food out of 10, but gives it 9 for the room and service. His last paragraph is a classic.
I had hoped that London was too sophisticated now to fall for this sort of thing, but the critics seem to be going wild for it. And I am in no way saying that you should not go. Just go prepared. For the best restaurant in London, and the worst food in Europe.
I shall see what Giles recommends in the next few weeks.
Holy Toast
With the election of a new Pope, my slice of toast this morning was appropriate.
Holy Toast
Unfortunately, it is gluten-free toast, and as coeliacs these days, can’t be Catholic priests, I doubt the Pope would appreciate the subtle flavours and merits of this toast.
Sad really, as one of the most influemtial Catholic priests of recent years; Derek Warlock, was a coeliac.
Cardinal Says Paedophilia Not Criminal
This astounding statement was made by Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier and is reported here on the BBC. Here’s the first few paragraphs.
The Catholic Archbishop of Durban, Wilfrid Fox Napier, has described paedophilia as a psychological “illness, not a criminal condition”.
The South African cardinal told the BBC that people who were themselves abused as children and then abused others needed to be examined by doctors.
Do these guys live in the real world?
A scandal sheet has pointed out that hailed Pope is actually an anagram of paedophile. Search for the phrase in Google and you find a lot of matches.
My father who was a stickler for spelling would probably be arguing that paedophile is properly spelled with a diphthong. As I said in this post, diphthongs in letterpress type have a really solid feel.
The Joke’s On The Recession
We may be in the depth of a recession, but you wouldn’t suss this from the magnificent response of the public to Comic Relief, as reported here on the BBC.
A Very Good Marketing Idea
The Guardian describes them in this article as a St. Patrick’s day novelty, but surely shamrock-flavoured crisps are a superb marketing idea.
I wish Tom Keogh the best of luck with the crisps. But I suspect he won’t need it, as nothing succeeds like an idea that tickles everybody’s fancy.
I can’t find out if the crisps are suitable for coeliacs.
Unbreakable Passwords
Passwords are one of the things that the Internet and computer systems often get wrong.
How many times, does your chosen password, which is of a type that has been acceptable on Site A, been unacceptable on Site B?
There are two things, I really hate.
The first is sites that generate your initial password as a string of characters, which need to be cut and pasted into the logon. I’ve even found sites, that don’t let you change the password. Is there a better way to piss off your clients? There are several shopping sites, I’ve used in the past that think they are being clever and secure. In fact, they’re being stupid and I’ve never used their sites a second time.
The other is passwords that insist you use the shift key for at least one character. As I have trouble with shift and generally span my right hand to type upper case characters, which is not a reliable process, any site that insists on that type of password is out. So I never use a credit card with Verified by Visa on-line. This would be helped if all sites were like Zopa and allowed you to show the password, as you type it in.
So could we come up with better passwords, we’d always remember, that are totally unbreakable?
Here’s a few ideas!
My first car was a 1946 Austin 8. I still remember the registration, which was three letters followed by three numbers. Not long enough for some sites and rightly so, but this would be totally unbreakable, as how many criminals, would know the registration of the first car you owned. If you were someone like me, getting towards the last few decades of your life, it could be a good password. You could even have the simple password hint of “First Car” If I wanted a secure password, who could break it, if I used the registration number of the first Porsche I owned! I doubt that even my son, would know that registration.
And then there are memorable phone numbers and addresses from childhood. I doubt, there are few people, who don’t know these from where they grew up. Certainly, I was told to memorise them, so that if I got lost, I could find my way home.
I can also remember the address and phone number of my father’s print works as 38-44 Station Road and Bowes Park 2165.
The great things about passwords like these, is that you can write them down or put them in something like Outlook as say First Car or First Married Address and nobody will know them, except perhaps your partner or child.
There is a password strength checker here on Microsoft’s web site. It rated bowespark2165 as a strong password. It’s also easy to type.
In my view passwords must be easily memorable, as suppose you want access to say your credit card account in an emergency and you have to do it by using the memorable data, you don’t want it to be something you can’t recall.
You Can’t Take The Competition Away From The Sportsman
I’m just listening to the pre-qualifying chat on Radio 5 for the Australian Grand Prix and they’ve just talked to Sir Chris Hoy. He was talking about competing in the celebrity race tomorrow and sounded very enthusiastic. As they finished the chat, someone said the title of this post, about Sir Chris.
It’s very true, even when they’re doing something for fun.
I bet David Beckham, Bradley Wiggins or Sally Gunnell never lose to their children at tiddlywinks!
Maryland Abolishes The Death Penalty
It was on the cards and it is reported here in the Guardian.
All it needs now is for the Governor to sign it into law.
An Unusual Advantage Of Professional Cleaners
For the last few months, I’ve had a professional company clean my house, as opposed to a lady who comes round.
One advantage I hadn’t thought of, was that as the company, bring all their own equipment and materials, I no longer have to buy them and carry them back from the shops.
I’d never thought of that! But it’s a great advantage and offsets the extra cost of the professional company.
The Anonymous Widower 