700 - 300

I was listening to the radio in the car yesterday, and a Vancouver man was talking about how he had organised a party and invited everyone on his Facebook - 700 in all. You can organise events through Facebook and people can say whether they are coming, not coming, or if they are a definite maybe. The chap himself pointed out that when you get a physical invitation, there isn't usually a 'maybe' option.
About sixty people said they would come.
One turned up.
This taught him something about the nature of 'friendships' on Facebook. I thought it was quite brave of him to talk about it on the radio.

It also made me think about the nature of friendship in general on the internet. I have friends that I have known in real life for a long time who write blogs and I love having the access to their lives that blogs give. Like having permission to read their diaries. And then there are people I know just from reading their blogs, and sometimes, those blogs disappear, like a twinkle in the night sky you're used to, just blinking out. But I still feel as though I've lost a contact that I enjoyed.

But the man on the radio - well, I was glad of the distraction. Since (finally) watching 'La Vie en Rose' - oddly, the English translation of the French 'La Môme', the story of Edith Piaf's life, I have had 'Non, je ne regrette rien,' stuck in my head. Not too bad, but like songs that stick in your head, I only know the first eight lines, so it's a short loop, the short loop to madness.

I can't remember where I was reading this, probably some local rag, but, writing about the Hamas leader who had been killed during a retaliatory strike by Israel, the 'short stocky man' who would swagger around the city wearing a utility belt of grenades as he trained suicide bombers, was described as 'darkly bearded'.
Right.
Now far be it from me to stereotype....oh, ok then, in a heartbeat I would do that, but seriously, although you do meet fair-haired Israelis, not so much chez les Arabes. And I thought that beardy-weirdiness was what stopped you getting abused (in the case of women) and / or killed (in the case of beardless men). So the description seems somewhat unnecessary. I mean, 'the clean-shaven blonde man,' now THAT would have been worth mentioning.

Another film we have now (finally) watched, is 300. I loved this film, utterly, utterly loved it. I always admired the Spartans and the art of this film was inspiring too.
But how much I had forgotten from history. Not that Persia came into our field of study at primary school on a very detailed level, but all of the early civilisations at least got a mention, and the Persian empire was extensive, not just Iran in those days.
I do clearly remember learning a song about Leonidas combing his hair - something that the King of Persia was warned to fear. I didn't notice any hair combing however.

Guess what the weather's doing right now? Yeppers. Snowing.
The shelter at the church has been home to up to thirty, including one young woman who is preganant. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like being homeless and pregnant.

We're not so snowy that polar bears have come down from the Arctic, that's just a totally gratuitous bear.