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 Charlie Knox26, m, resident of spa, northern ireland, a thinker, who tries to be real, enjoys the company of nala(left), indebted to jesus for his grace and instruction in life and whose, amongst other things, studying sports science at UUJ. enjoy rugby a whole lot! |
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Friday, November 28, 2003 Hmmmmm....... DUP - 30 UUP - 27 SINN FEIN - 24 SDLP - 18 ALLIANCE - 5 PUP - 1 IND - 1 (one seat still to be filled) Well the votes have been cast by the electorate (or at least half ot it - pretty poor turnout!) and it appears we have an interesting few months ahead. I reckon the turnout effected the result a little bit. The hardliners came out in force cos thats the way they do it. Those not so hardline didn't come out in force cos thats also the way they tend to do it, but shouldn't do it! It's my opinion that if you're not that fussed, ironically, you've got to register that!! Anyway, maybe I'm looking for excuses, maybe I'm in denial, but surely you can understand that when the DUP top the polls! Paisley hailed these as great days. I honestly found it strange that he and his party were so excited about their result because right alongside their sucess came the sucess and gain of Sinn Fein. As much as the DUP would like to ignore it, these two polarised results must go hand in hand with each other - both must be equally recognised and understood in the light of the other. For many of us these days haven't been as great as Paisley suggested they were. For many of us these results represent a step backwards in Northern Ireland. Either that or maybe its just some of us were hopeful that we had come a little further than we actually had. Whatever the case it seems Northern Ireland still has some sad days of polarised, tribal politics left in her. Well anyway we're here now, no point in crying over spilt milk. It will be interesting to see how things move on. Let's pray this apparent blow to the process so far won't turnout as bad as it appears. posted by charlie | 8:27 PM | Tuesday, November 25, 2003 Surely not via Jordon Cooper posted by charlie | 10:33 PM | Polling day upon us The time to vote has arrived and i'm just not 100% who i'll be voting for - i think a 2p coin may come in handy!! Seriously though - trying to decide has been complicated. It's really been a process of elimination. So that leaves me with two left - the two main agreement parties - the UUP and the SDLP. UUP - They are split in down -Nesbitt who is with Trimble - pro agreement and Donaldson (father of Jeffrey) who is anti agreement - that eliminates him! I still definitely sway a little towards the union, how strongly is under discussion - probably not alot. However the UUP do contain several people who share a 'fairly' similar view on things that matter to me -ethical issues etc. I am pro agreement - i do think it has flaws, some fairly major and it's progress has been deathly slow however i do think it represents a way forward and it's inclusive. The reality is peace requires understanding and that don't come unless all sides are on board - this approach will require risk and trust at times - something i admire Trimble for. Anyway with all that on board i'm left with Nesbitt. Do i give Donaldson my second vote for the sake of the party - still thinking about that. SDLP - Pro- agreement - i like that. I have been impressed with Durkan in the panels and debates - he strikes me as a good mediator. Whilst I'm probably not nationalist at heart i don't feel voting SDLP ushers in Dublin rule - in fact the SDLP are pushing for a referendum on such issues - that sounds like a good idea to me. On a local level Eamon O'Neill does a fair bit for the community. So SDLP will probably get my remaining votes. So that's that pretty much - still a few little things to think about over night but thats the general thinking pattern - of course my thoughts are probably riddled with contradictions but with the info i have that i have and the brain i have the thoughts above are where i've arrived. posted by charlie | 9:58 PM | Conversation about Metals and their uses (specifically lead) Teacher: Lead used to be used for fishing weights but it's banned now because it's poisonous and swans etc were scooping it up. There's lead in fuel too - that's why theres a big push for more unleaded fuel - same idea - lead is poisonous. One other example is paint - you used to be able to get lead paint, but they stopped making that too Pupil (in full seriousness): Was that incase people licked walls??? posted by charlie | 9:39 PM | Pin Cushion Trials I got Acupuncture needles stuck into my knee tonight. It was the first time i've ever had that treatment. I always fancied it, thinking it release pressure. In reality it was a bit of a let down - you hardly even feel the needles going in. I asked the physio what they actually do - she didn't seem to know, other than being a pain relief. She did mention something about energy flows but that bit went over my head, and by her explanation it sounded like it went over her head too...... posted by charlie | 9:31 PM | Wednesday, November 19, 2003 Do you like Optical Illusions? Is so click here. (nb. cancel the download request) posted by charlie | 9:56 PM | Monday, November 17, 2003 After a few plans were cancelled on Saturday night i thought rather than sit around the house all night on my own and get depressed i would go exploring. I ended up at Nendrum Monastery near Comber. Although it was pretty much pitch dark, what i bearly saw was cool (including an impressive Sun dial that wasn't working cause it was dark!) and inspired me to go back someday in the light. It's way out on and Island after winding up a long skinny road and crossing several causeways. I finished the night at the Chip-in, Crossgar where i had a lovely Donor Kebab. posted by charlie | 11:13 PM | After spending a few moments on the web i feel like the world's biggest procrastinator. Here's a just few things all beginning with 'R' i feel i should be doing more of.......... - reading - alot of books appeal however i so often find myself reading the first half real fast and then setting them down. - recycling - the plastic bottle campaign has slowed severely but more than that i'd like to be recycling paper, cardboard, cans etc. I just need to get organised - riting - i feel like i should be writing more - to the media - letters of encouragment or of concern. i would also like to write more emails to friends afar. - releasing resources - i've been blessed with a job and with it some money - i'd like to take a slightly more considered approach to what i do with that money - in short i'd like to budget more effectively... posted by charlie | 11:02 PM | Gone with the typing!! I discovered tonight that i have speech recognition on my computer after having the computer for over a year. It's great fun and potentially could save me alot of time. Basically you speak into the microphone and the computer writes what you say. You can also call up menus, change the appearance of the text and other little things without touching a button. If you have Microsoft Office XP there's a real good chance you have it on your computer!! posted by charlie | 10:27 PM | Don't forget Les bloggin out in Sierra Leone. Always a good read! posted by charlie | 10:22 PM | Another win!! We managed to get another one under the belt at the weekend, away to Portadown - this one being much more convincing than the last two wins (32-9). Addding to the moment, the guys inside worked hard to let me in for two tries which is always pleasurable!! posted by charlie | 10:21 PM | Friday, November 14, 2003 Some things said about Johnny Cash at a recent tribute..... U2's Bono raised a pint of Guinness in honor of "Saint John." Bono said, "He was an oak tree in a garden of weeds. He is not in the garden of weeds now; he is in heaven with June, where all the saints are. To everybody here, he was all the more saintly because he kept telling us just how human he was." ......................... Johnny's daughter Rosanne Cash said...... "His heart was so expansive and his mind so finely tuned that he could contain both darkness and light, love and trouble, fear and faith, wholeness and shatteredness, addiction and enlightenment, old school and post-modern, Baptist and Jew, the sacred and the silly," she said. "But always and relentlessly with the backbeat and rhythm driving the paradoxes." ................ 'Mr. Cash's song "The Man in Black," was a manifesto of sympathy for the the downtrodden and unfortunate' ............... And Kid Rock revived "What Is Truth," which defended Vietnam War protesters, hippies and other 1960's idealists against conservatism. (Cash was against the Vietnam War but went to perform for the troops.) <------ like this last bit! It's pro active/positive - not all negative. posted by charlie | 2:48 PM | Tuesday, November 11, 2003 Funny!!! (conversation in bar after training with the guy that give me the statistic in the post below) The subject was wet wipes. You know the ones that you use on the toilet when things aren't just as cohesive as you might like. Well Bomber was telling us tonight about a time when he reached over for a wet wipe after he had done the necessary in a house he was visiting. Initially the moist fibre did it's job. That was until he looked at the label of the pack he had withdrawn it from! It was with shock and horror that instead of seeing a Kleenex or Andrex label representing an efficient toilet tissue he was actually staring at a Mr. Muscle cleaning wipe. The results as I'm sure you can well imagine weren't so pleasant to say the least. Enough to say temperatures rose in the dark regions and his northern irish pale white skin turned to a slightly redder colour - as one would expect after someone had just applied some toxic cleaning liquids to one of their most sensitive pieces of tissue!! He said walking was little painful for a few days that followed. The moral folks is always check the label!! posted by charlie | 10:28 PM | Got the necessary flow?? One of the boys at training tonight spent all day today at a 'Health and Nutrition' Course for his personal trainer qualification. Here's something he learned..... 'If you are passing less than 10-12 inches of faeces per day, you aren't eating enough fibre' So folks, get the measuring tapes out and rectify(that word sounds particuarly appropriate in this case!) any problems!!!! posted by charlie | 10:14 PM | Dave Dunlop is 'on the ball' and a few years younger by the look of it!!! posted by charlie | 10:06 PM | Monday, November 10, 2003 We're getting carried away!! Finally won two matches in a row. We managed to beat Queens 2's on Saturday(29-11), although they were down to 13 men. Johnny Crutchley - their hooker just couldn't take the pace of the game - i think it was the fry in Brennan's that morning that got to him.........The other fella got his ankle in between my swinging foot and the ball and got it broke in the process. So i suppose you could say I single handedly managed to take out two of the opposition thus ensuring the win!! posted by charlie | 7:21 PM | Lovely lads... Here's a little insight into some of the guys i work with in school. The scenario is GCSE english class. Teacher asks one pupil if he ever jokes around with his little sister (who is now 8!). Here is how he replied.... Pupil: Aye, I like to joke about with her. I remember last Christmas my little sister was going on and on about Santa, Santa this, Santa that. I was getting fed up with all this so i told her that i had shot Santa and that he wasn't coming this year Teacher: Did she not get upset? Pupil: Aye well she cried alot. Nice young fella eh??? posted by charlie | 7:15 PM | Friday, November 07, 2003 Elections coming up soon. Not feeling terribly enthusiastic about voting but i really do think it's something we must be doing. Therefore i'm going to try and think this one through a bit and make an informed decision on November 26. Over the next few weeks i'll probably post some thoughts. Do join in the dicussion..... In the meantime can i recomend a website i came across today - www.vote2003.net - it's been published by CARE, Evangelical Alliance and ECONI. Check it out. posted by charlie | 2:52 PM | Tuesday, November 04, 2003 Won rugby at last!! posted by charlie | 10:48 PM | Some cool photos @ NASA Earth Observatory posted by charlie | 10:45 PM | |
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