Two minutes silence

I know the 2 minute silence was widely observed. Our lot had sent various emails round informing us that they would also be observing it. However, they also managed to bugger it up.

They said that the fire alarm would be used to signal the start and finish of the silence, which would be held at 12.00 noon. Fair enough. At 11.58 an email appeared headed "2 MINUTE SILENCE IN 3 MINUTES TIME - YOU WILL HEAR FIRE ALARM TO ALERT YOU TO THIS SHORTLY". Then the fire alarm went off. Everyone was looking at each other as if to say "Is this the silence? It's too early" and then the place gradually went quiet as they realised it was. We observed a confused 2 minutes silence which finished at noon when everywhere else was starting theirs. Then I heard various people make calls to other offices and I thought "Oh no! They'll be holding the silence at the correct time, don't do that!"

How can a place with clocks on at least every PC etc manage to bugger up the timing so badly? I would have thought it would have been an easy thing for whoever was controlling the fire alarm to check on the TV or radio to get their timing right. It just confused us all.

Two minutes silence

I know the 2 minute silence was widely observed. Our lot had sent various emails round informing us that they would also be observing it. However, they also managed to bugger it up.

They said that the fire alarm would be used to signal the start and finish of the silence, which would be held at 12.00 noon. Fair enough. At 11.58 an email appeared headed "2 MINUTE SILENCE IN 3 MINUTES TIME - YOU WILL HEAR FIRE ALARM TO ALERT YOU TO THIS SHORTLY". Then the fire alarm went off. Everyone was looking at each other as if to say "Is this the silence? It's too early" and then the place gradually went quiet as they realised it was. We observed a confused 2 minutes silence which finished at noon when everywhere else was starting theirs. Then I heard various people make calls to other offices and I thought "Oh no! They'll be holding the silence at the correct time, don't do that!"

How can a place with clocks on at least every PC etc manage to bugger up the timing so badly? I would have thought it would have been an easy thing for whoever was controlling the fire alarm to check on the TV or radio to get their timing right. It just confused us all.

Harry Potter and the matter of evil

On the BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lincolnshire/4682519.stm

"the rector claimed he was seeking "to lead our children into areas of evil"."

Oh no not again! Why can't these stupid people try reading the damn books? Then they'll find out that they are just very enjoyable books for children with an appeal to adults as well? They're not an occult primer, they're not a Wicca instruction book, they're just a damn good read!

Also on the ITV website: http://www.itv.com/news/britain_305065.html

One of the parents makes a very good comment:

"My son is autistic and was really looking forward to the day. Where do we draw the line? Are we going to ban schools from putting on Shakespeare's Macbeth because it features witches?"

Or why not ask a real witch?
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/ourtown/j14harry1.htm

"But Oak Forest resident Morn Geiger, who says she's a real witch, doubts the books have convinced anyone to join the Wiccan religion.

"These books are not used to recruit anyone at all," Geiger said. "There are tons of books out there where kids have magical powers. A few years ago, my nieces wanted to become spies because of the 'Spy Kids' movies. If you ask most kids, they know that Harry Potter is a fantasy."

Why do these people have to see evil in all sorts of places? Why are they so scared? Why do they overeact?

If they want to see evil let them look at London on the 7th July. Let the children play.

Harry Potter and the matter of evil

On the BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lincolnshire/4682519.stm

"the rector claimed he was seeking "to lead our children into areas of evil"."

Oh no not again! Why can't these stupid people try reading the damn books? Then they'll find out that they are just very enjoyable books for children with an appeal to adults as well? They're not an occult primer, they're not a Wicca instruction book, they're just a damn good read!

Also on the ITV website: http://www.itv.com/news/britain_305065.html

One of the parents makes a very good comment:

"My son is autistic and was really looking forward to the day. Where do we draw the line? Are we going to ban schools from putting on Shakespeare's Macbeth because it features witches?"

Or why not ask a real witch?
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/ourtown/j14harry1.htm

"But Oak Forest resident Morn Geiger, who says she's a real witch, doubts the books have convinced anyone to join the Wiccan religion.

"These books are not used to recruit anyone at all," Geiger said. "There are tons of books out there where kids have magical powers. A few years ago, my nieces wanted to become spies because of the 'Spy Kids' movies. If you ask most kids, they know that Harry Potter is a fantasy."

Why do these people have to see evil in all sorts of places? Why are they so scared? Why do they overeact?

If they want to see evil let them look at London on the 7th July. Let the children play.