a very nice lady gave the family some chocolates, so the wrapper became my hat
distorted photo, I'm not that silly
M9 words
The Simpsons are modern ShakespeareOct 18, '10 5:35
AM
for everyone
The Simpsons are modern Shakespeare ©
By Michael Casey
I just read a piece in this morning’s DT it was
about the Vatican’s newpaper and the Simpsons.
The DT comment button did not work so I’ve written
this piece instead.
Shakespeare touches all of us, once we learn or are
taught how to understand it. It may mean a West Side story experience. It may
mean Shakespeare in Love or a modern
version with Leonardo di Caprio.
But it is all Shakespeare, yes I know the
literati will moan as the always do, but
underneath it is Shakespeare. It’s the universality of it,
www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com for my stuff, more like an Ealing Comedy. But
back to today the Vatican/Jesuit take on the Simpsons. My girls tease and say
I’m like the dad in the Simpsons, I tell them I’m much much slimmer. Comedy
pokes fun and draws us closer together as we laugh at what’s happening, and a
big part is laughing at others’ suffering, PC people will spin in their graves, and the sooner the better.
There was a
really good series on tv about Shakespeare and how he could have been a secret
Catholic amongst other things, not to mention his eclectic background, he could
touch bases with so many things because of his life experience. So the Simpsons
touch bases with us because it highlights the worst in us all, and then we
laugh at ourselves, there is no “I couldn’t possibly be like that” because we ARE like that. I
suppose in the New Testament the common touch in the language/life draws us
towards the Divine, The Simpsons could it be called the common man’s Bible? I
don’t know, you’ll have to read more of the Bible and watch more of the
Simpsons. And ask the Jesuits who write the Vatican newspaper, me I’m going to
find my deck of cards you may remember the song.
0 Comments
Mongolia
Mines and HeartsOct 17, '10 9:13 AM
for everyone
Mongolia Mines and Hearts ©
By Michael Casey
I was reading The Daily Telegraph today and there
was a good article in it about Mongolia and its mineral wealth. Basically China its buying up all the
mineral reserves.
Next door in Russia there are tons of reserves too.
Black Gold or oil is washing its way from Russia to China. I remember what
somebody once said to me, History is Geography, or maybe a History teacher said
it in a class. But it is so so true, History is Geography.
China has invested its time and money around the
world trying to secure its mineral resources as well as the oil that its
economy needs. It is not trying to export democracy or anything else. As Cuba
has learnt you can export doctors and you’ll gain brownie points, China builds
schools and infrastructure, it builds the things that will aid China. The Big
China is the key the way forward and nothing will get in the way. Having a
Shanghai wife I’ve seen directly and indirectly just how busy China is with its
development. Forward is the motto for Birmingham where I’m talking from, it is
also the motto for China.
Everybody wants to progress, see the photo below
that’s where my mum was born and lived till she was 12 years old, along with
her 6 siblings and her parents. My mum’s brother Tim died of rickets at age 7
So now the
wheel of History has turned, China wants to progress. In the 1870s we had the
scramble for Africa, it was literally a carve up look at the straight lines on
the map of Africa. Everybody wanted their place in the sun, now its 2010 and
it’s an economic place in the sun. Offering Democracy and baseball is a bit
naïve, or reminding people of Laurence Of Arabia is naïve too. What matters to
people is clean water and schools, if you start there then expand from there
perhaps you stand a better chance of winning hearts and minds.
Technology may have to be given away too, if you
want to save the planet then industrial
nuclear technology will have to be shared. I read recently about some
element that when used powered a nuclear plant without weapons grade leftovers.
I think it was in the Telegraph. It seemed to be a magic wonder pill.
Technology is the future for the traditional industrial powers, they need to
get over having their clothes stolen by China and other emerging powers. My dad
started as a blacksmith in County Kerry Eire and then spent his life in a
steelworks in Smethwick. None of his children worked in factories, we the next
generation move on. My novel is set in Old Forge and Singing Anvil as a tribute
to my blacksmith dad, it also evokes a time a period that no longer exists,
that’s the charm of it. In the real world though the sun has risen in the East.
0 Comments
Which
Way Do You Look?Oct 14, '10 3:06 PM
for everyone
Which Way Do You Look?
By
Michael Casey
Which way do you look? I’m thinking of this because
it’s an anniversary today, so it got me thinking. I also heard today about the funeral
arrangements for our old priest, he was
the priest who came to the house to confirm that our mum was indeed dead, when
my dad saw him enter the house with my brother and sister my dad started to cry.
So now we cry for that priest.
Events make you look this way and make you look that
way. Events touch us and pain us, events make us laugh and make us sigh. Today
in Chile the whole nation screams in celebration, to be honest the whole world
smiles too, we are the world.
When you look in a mirror which way do you look? If
you are a girl or a lady you look at your body and wonder is it as you want it
to be. Is your hair good this way or that way, do those clothes really suit you or should you take them back
to the shop to exchange them, you’ve tried 20 things to match them but they
just don’t work with your wardrobe. Yes you’ll take them back, I mean your
mirror is so much better than the one in the shop, and why don’t husbands
understand about clothes.
Men look in mirrors for 2 seconds as they drag the
comb through their hair, they never seem to notice the stubble on their chins,
or the paint on their jumpers, they shame their wives.
Do you look forward or do you look backward? It
depends on how your life is doing. If you’re on the dole
with no hope you may look backward to when you had a job and the money that
went with it. You’re afraid to look ahead it’s looking into the gloom, its like
the Titanic, all fog and mist. Some take
refuge in drink or worse, glass ½ full or glass ½ empty, or maybe the glass is
just not big enough. Your prospective influences how you cope with things.
You can look forward by looking at the property
pages on www.rightmove.co.uk if only you get more money then you’ll move house,
even if it would really be a lottery win amount of money. You can look
forward more realistically by looking at
argos and currys and comet and do some window shopping for the things you
really need to replace once the money comes in again. A new cooker perhaps, a
new living room carpet, perhaps a fridge, or just upgrade the central heating
boiler. All these are looking forward.
I look back a fair bit, because I have lots of
memories and spent a lot of time with my
dad in his good years and his fading years in the old people’s home, you can
find out more by reading Padre Pio and Me on www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com I
have almost total recall for my family events. I’m the one who remembers all the family growing up things. When my
brother went to University he bought our little sister a tricycle, it was £5,
that was good use of student grant, over 40 years ago. Now my own daughter has
ambitions to go to that University. My younger daughter had a tricycle too, I
got it as a gift from a toy show that passed through a hotel where I was
working a few years ago.
I think having memories is good, it certainly means
I have material to write about, growing up with lodgers for example. I look
back with love and think just much love we got from our parents. “You are as
good as anybody” is what I can remember my mum saying, proud and defiant she
was, for her love was a nuclear weapon. Mothers know how to use nuclear
weapons, their love really is that powerful. I have an idea for Tears For A Butcher my 3rd book, if
ever I get to write it. A mother’s Nuclear Weapons will feature, I just hope I
get to share it with you, let’s look forward together.
Me and the
wife In Frankfurt Aug 2008
0 Comments
Steptoe
and SonOct 12, '10 5:01 PM
for everyone
Steptoe and Son
By
Michael Casey
I was watching the telly and Steptoe and Son was on
one of the Sky Channels, it took me back years, almost as many years as to when
I was as old as my kids are now. So a long time ago, 40 plus years ago.
It was the episode where the dad was sick in bed
with a bad back, I’ve hurt my back in the past so I could empathise. But it was
the humour where the dad was exploiting his son, Harold was at his dad’s beck
and call. “Harold” this and “Harold” that. Finally the son realised what was
going on, somebody had drunk his lager and he was sure it wasn’t the horse, so
it must be his dad upstairs. Harold got his revenge and gave his dad a blanket bath with surgical
spirits, which was like setting fire to his naughty bits. So he ended up
sitting in the kitchen sink to douse the pain.
Last week it was the famous episode where the old
dad and the son were playing scrabble, X certificate scrabble and the Vicar
came to visit. The vicar got Harold to write a history of Rag and Bone Men. The
dad sulked but did a cross word puzzle for the Vicar’s magazine. When the
magazine was published the Vicar was arrested because the cross word puzzle was
obscene.
This is classic
comedy and I’m glad Sky has it on one of their channels. It takes me
back to when I was young. It also reminds me just how well it was written, some
of modern comedy is just not funny. Personally I don’t find the Office funny at
all. I still dream that someday some of the comedy I write gets on tv. If
Steptoe still makes us laugh then it is
a testament to just how good it is. My kids saw a bit of tonight’s show they
laughed, so that’ll be 3 generations of Casey’s who like Steptoe, I can
remember my mum laughing like a banshee when it was on. If there are any
producers out there Shoplife would make great tv and be a cash cow at the
theatre www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com is where it can be found. Old iron, old iron…..
0 Comments
Dr
WhoOct 10, '10 6:48 AM
for everyone
Dr Who
I remember watching Dr Who when I was a child, where
have all those years gone?
It is more of a film now than TV. It is great family
entertainment too, but don’t say it’ll
make kids interested in science and change the world. Yes one or two may get an
interest in science because of it, but it is what it is, entertainment.
The scripts vary a lot, you can get rubbish
episodes, such as the fat monsters that went into space, those white little
bars of soap things. I think Steven Moffat’s
episodes were the best written as a whole, not unless he wrote the fat one.
Saturday’s wouldn’t be Saturdays without a bit of Dr
Who, I think his name is Sue, as in the Johnny Cash song.
The Dr Who confidential shows are interesting and do
show just how committed everybody is to the show, but they also display a flaw. When they rehearse and talk about the
episode their passion is far greater than when you see the final thing on a
Saturday night.
Perhaps they cannot see the wood for the trees, or
perhaps I’m just a little too old to be caught in the spiders web the story
spins. I know from my own tv viewing that a
film can never match an original book. I know when I write and think how
my stuff might appear on tv/film that the nuances die when transfered to film,
a book and a film are very different mediums.
Dr Who with Matt Smith is good and I loved how Amy’s
boyfriend waited 2000 years for her and punched Dr Who on the chin, she WAS
worth waiting for. The threesome does
work and I’d love to be in it as the fat guy sat on a bench slobbering over his
food as Dr Who or should I say Sue walks
by, I do look a bit like Alfred Hitchcock after all, and he was in all his own
films.
0 Comments
A
Winter's TaleOct 8, '10 3:29 PM
for everyone
A Winter’s Day
As I look from my window I see the blue blue sky.
Birds dive and soar better than any circus acrobat, they are painting a picture
with their wings. Tiny tiny whisps of white cloud remain, like left over candy
floss on a childs face, like white whiskers on a very old woman’s face.
Curtains are pulled open and windows are inched open
too, daylight and fresh air to bedrooms shuttered down against a cold winters
night. People stand and yarn and scratch too as they struggle to wake up fully.
Then one or two realise they don’t wear any pyjamas so they hurry away from
their windows, their wives, their husbands, their lovers laughing at their
stupidity. At least old Mrs Jones may have had a thrill.
The sounds of morning, of daylight rise. Slowly the
sound of the milk float, the sounds of milk bottles clinking together as the
milkman does his rounds, this way and that. The sound of of Mrs Murphy walking
her dog, the dog panting in the cold winters air. He doesn’t have a sheepskin
coat to keep him warm. He has his own fur coat but this winter is a cold one,
so Goldie the dog could do with an extra coat too.
People dance down their door steps to their car,
nagging children to hurry up as its cold. Children write their name in the
frost on their neighbours’ cars before being told off. John the neigbourhood
jogger rushes past, the kids stick their tongue out at him, he does the same,
they all laugh, only for John to miss his stride slip on an icy patch and fall
to the ground hurting his elbow as he does so. Still laughing the kids get
inthe car and are taken off to see grandpa, John is rubbing his elbow and his
bum as he gets ups gingerly.
The lads, we are so hard, appear from their homes to
noisily attack the day, Sunday is for shouting, but not too loud, as they have
headaches and hangovers, did they really chat up that ugly fat girl, but they
gave her his brother’s mobile number and not his own. They stride off to the
news agent for The News Of The World, just for the sports pages, their mums can
read the scandal section and the horoscopes.
One or two black people wearing their Sunday best
pass by on their way to church, a throwback to decades before when people still
went to church and when people still wore their Sunday best. People used to
dress up to go to the theatre too, but now, but now.
I reach for the kettle and have my first coffee of
the day, coffee with milk and no sugar, the way English people have coffee, not
the American way, just the soft English way. My kids want toast and peanut
butter, or cheese on toast, so my 3 slices of toast become one slice of toast
as I feed my girls. I nag them to put slippers and socks on, yes we have nice
carpet but in the winter’s weather they are always getting colds, so I nag
them, I nag them. My wife nags them in Chinese too, or Shanghai dialect. The
phone rings, its Germany calling, or rather my wife’s best friend who’s calling
from Germany, the cackle or hens, of chickens clucking is the noise these 2
Shanghai girls make, as they talk in Shanghai, when are we coming back to
Germany is the message. Cluck cluck cluck.
The sky has changed the blue has changed to grey,
will the snow return, its been a snowy winter over here in Birmingham, some
parts of the country have had the worse weather in 20years. The children have
quietened down, my wife has relented and put a nature program on the tv for
them. As for me I was going to try and write a poem but instead you see what’s
before you. I’m half listening to Mike and The Mechanics a cd I’ve loaded to
the computer, “give me the simple life” he sings, I suppose my life is a simple
life too. But if we can see the poetry in life then we enjoy the simple things
which make up all are lives. All our lives are poetry if only we take the time
to watch and listen, while we’re making toast for the kids.
0 Comments
Afternoon
AtheistOct 6, '10 2:06 PM
for everyone
I spent the afternoon with my friendly atheist he
was condemning God, he thought God existed but only as a bad and evil thing. He
assumed a lot about my faith, and was wrong about it and me. Now should I
bother to try and convert him? Should I point him in the direction of his local
church where he could find himself a nice wife. Do people go to church to finds wives, now
that's another question. Or should I let
him carry on until he stumbled over his
own direction. I did explain how I stood by my fridge and asked God to intervene
in my life, my 3 wishes so to speak, its in my essay Padre Pio and Me on my site. And then as if by magic I met my
Shanghai wife. However atheists put themselves in a box, a cold steel box and
throw away the key, and they are not Houdini's who can escape, they are like
collapsed dead stars deep in the cold of space.
Does family make us believe in God? Wishing for a
family was one of my 3 wishes. I got all my luck in one go is what my Kerry
cousins say. You ask for anything will do and you get the best, better than all
the rest as the song goes.
THe autumn leaves fall and Life will soon die,
winter will come and cold will desend, but in the spring there will be growth
as Chance the gardener. How to plant a seed where there is forever autumn as
another song goes. How do you plant a seed in an atheist's heart does he have
to suffer a dark night of the soul
before like a caterpillar he emerges as a beautiful butterfly? Its a difficult question especially when I
got my faith at the nipple. Others of many faiths learnt their faith when they
were toddlers, the trendy I'll wait till they grow up so they can decide for
themselves always strikes me as child neglect of the worst sort.
Christmas is
a happy time full of innocence and hope, perhaps I should drag my friend to
Midnight Mass and let him hear carols, silent night holy night. When we sing
and remember our family members who have gone ahead. Should I make him look up
at the stars overhead twinkling to eternity, for there is always hope. Hope
springs Eternal.
0 Comments
What
are words for ?Sep 27, '10 6:21 AM
for everyone
Words are for
what? ©
By Michael Casey
Words are for
what? Conversation, a chat,
gossip, juicy gossip, a quiet word, a stern word, a protest, a scream, a shout, a murmur, whispers, a buzz or just
plain old prattle.
Today the news is full of the Labour Party, much is
being said and not said, how will the future be, will they the brothers bury the hatchet, do they wish to bury the
hatchet in one another’s head. Are they both lying about everything? Or are
they both champions of truth. One thing is certain the Tories
just love this result.
Political reporters just love it too, those politic
al reporters are prettier nowadays too,
I remember when I was a child it was just Robin Day in his dickybow talking to other men about politics. I once
saw Robin Day in the street, he was a really fast walker. Now Robin Day was
great with words, he could and would call somebody a %%%$$%^&& to their
face but he used such elegant words, it
would be an honour to be dumped on by him. Robin Day’s most famous quote was
“Some here today gone tomorrow politician.” He said that to Sir John Knott when
the Falklands War kicked off, John Knott walked off set. At the time nobody
knew where the Falklands were, were they in extreme northern Scotland?
Words though do have so much strength. Hitler knew
this, and look what happened. Other evil leaders did the same thing, pick your
own despot.
Sometimes all it takes is a word and things can be healed.
Sorry is the hardest word to say as the song goes. Kids play in the playground and harsh words are
said, kids are cruel is what any teacher will tell you. “Take it back” is
another catchphrase, then you have to say the magic formula of words and all is
healed. Or is it? With kids in the playground, or between brother and sister
yes, hopefully. But with international relations? Pick your own dispute.
Love songs have so much power, or certain words can tickle us and
make us smile, or make us angry. When I was in Shanghai in 2000 meeting the
family at one dinner a 13year old boy was proud to sing a song he knew in
English, Michael Row the boat ashore. He grew whiskers on his chinagin the wind
came out and blew them in again. The Chinese boy was so proud. It was the same
song that my brothers and sisters used to sing to me to make me cry. I think I
laughted in 2000. In 2007 at another dinner I met him again, he asked did I
remember him, he was now as big as myself. Of course I remembered him, how could
I forget that song and the association. I told the Chinese lad to keep up with
the English and do Law at Uni. I was
working at a law firm at the time.
A way a woman dresses has a lot of power over a man,
it leads to the power of love. The way a man dresses has power over a woman, a
fireman for example. The way a man
undresses has power over a woman too, the Chippendales or The Full Monty…..
But back to words, if they are not matched by action
then they are like steam coming off a coffee on a train, just evaporating into
nothingness. A few simple words with
action attached is better than a hurricane for blowing inaction away. My last
uncle died recently and after the funeral his son in law said “He didn’t say
much but when he did it was worth listening to.” He was a quiet man, but he was loved so much, and his words were worth their
weight in gold.
0 Comments
Cobwebs
of LoveSep 25, '10 10:55 AM
for everyone
Kids need good parents, friends we choose for
ourselves, your families you get anyway.
I'm lucky I had great parents. Faith does help, but
kids get bigger and decide for themselves if their parents were talking rubbish
or were worth listening too.
Kids travel and find their own way home to their
faith and their families. Elastic is very important in relationships and faith.
If you try to keep things set in stone then you will be in for a fall. Nothing
is set in stone, friendships change and alter and our own understandings change
and alter.
Have a bit of elastic in your life is my best advice.
You are not in an army and getting up at 5am and doing all the marching and so
forth. Yes have discipline and rules, but be aware IF you force somebody to do
something when they have the chance to rebel then they will. You
cannot chain anybody to you or your faith,
brainwashing is a bad idea, listen to the Genesis song Jesus we know him.......
So you bind your family and friends and faith to you
by cobwebs of love and nothing stronger than cobwebs of love. Love should be
like that its a cobweb of love, also be happy to have a Prodigal Son in your
life, happy because you will always welcome them back. If you're lucky you'll
never have any Prodigal sons
in your life but I already tell my kids I'll always
love them and they can always come home, leave your doors open with cobwebs of
love waiting there
0 Comments
Bicycle
Removals FirmSep 21, '10 6:19 PM
for everyone
The Bicycle Removals Firm ©
By
Michael Casey
Today's blog is inspired by what I saw through the window.
And what did I see? Well you may have all seen The
Quiet Man with
John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. In it a spare bike is
"carried" by somebody already riding one. It no doubt takes great
skill.
It wasn't that I saw but something much more
intriguing, I say a man on a bike carrying a mirror under his arm. Not the
newspaper, but a real mirror, a
3.5foot one under his right arm. He also
had it mirror side out, so no doubt several car drivers would have been
dazzled.
Later on as I sat here at the computer I saw him
again, this time he had an ironing board under his arm, at least the legs
weren't sticking out. He just pedalled
past. I was wondering what would happened next. I was thinking it was nearly
time to collect the girls from school when he came walking past carrying a
heavy bundle on his shoulder.
As we walked home I told my girls what I'd noticed,
I always try and teach them to be observant, such as seeing the new trendy sign
over the help the aged charity shop today. And as we walked home why the
policeman had got out of the panda car near the bank, to go to the cash point
and then
go to Subway for his sandwich.
I explained to my girls that the
man on the bike must be moving house,
but he didn't have a car so he
was DIY moving with the aid of a bike. My mother once put on all her clothes
and then walked home to Cromane Kerry because she had no suitcase so she wore
everything. Her mum had belted her for her stupidity, this would be in the
1930s. I encouraged my daughter to use the bike man as a story for her next English lesson, she said
it was not her style. Then as we closed the front door, who did we
see? The man on his bike with a mixing
desk under his arm, my daughter laughed, but her little sister had the last laugh, she'd found
the chocolate biscuits.
So what can I say, I hope that if ever we move
house, if ever I sell my 3 books then I hope we can at least have a van to
transport our things. Or perhaps I could self upgrade from a bicycle removal
service to a bus removal service, I do
have a bus pass after all.
www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com
0 Comments
Would
Cardinal John Henry Newman Agree with Me?Sep 18, '10 6:20 PM
for everyone
Here in Birmingham England the Pope will tomorrow
announce that John Henry Newman is Blessed, if you've watched the TV coverage
so far Catholics are very happy.
So that made me think of an old post which I'll
paste in below.
What is Prayer ? What is Love? ©
By
Michael Casey
What is Faith? We are told in one Bible passage that
if a man can do many things yet there is no Love then man has achieved nothing.
I remember this being read at grammar school at the morning assembly. . Sorry
if I cannot quote it verbatim. I'd come home from work and my dad would be
sitting down in the living room his dinner on a chair so he could watch the
news,he'd have the first bite raised to his mouth. I'm not hungry he'd say and
offer me his dinner. This is love. Another time, another shift pattern. I'd
come home at 11p. Dad would wait up to see me before he'd go to bed, he'd be up
at 5am for his work the next morning. This is the standard I'm used to, I'll do
the same for my own children. Its normal, it’s obvious. To me anyway.
My mother used to watch Dallas on tv after she'd fed
all her children, one hand in her apron as she watched tv. Only the hand always
jumped in her pocket, she was saying the rosary while she watched tv. Very
Irish,very motherly. Very normal, the standard I got used to. Countless mothers
the world over do the same. They may be Christians, they may be of a multitude
of different Faiths, yet one thing in common. Love, love of God, love of
family, love of children . And do we thank our parents for this love? If we
didn't and now our parents our gone, then do we live with regret all our lives
. No, this would be folly. We can thank our parents and our God by being good
parents, by trying to copy the good example shown to us . I met my wife in the
retirement home where my dad lived after his near fatal heart attack, which
happened 8 bare weeks after my mother died in her sleep. My dad lived long
enough for me to meet/marry and have a granddaughter. As I gaze on my
daughter's face I often say "thank you". Thank You to God for
allowing me a wife and for having a daughter. An extremely beautiful
daughter,healthy and funny. I have to show the moon to my daughter because she thinks
its so pretty, she loves stars too , not yet 22months old and she knows the
wonder of creation . As I look upwards and see the cold beauty of space I know
how lucky I am. I know how lucky I am. Lucky enough to cry, which I do on
occasions. My tears are my humble thanks and praise of God. I have a family.
July 96, mom was gone 2 months, and dad was
now given 1 week to live. So after 3years of constant visits to the
seniors home I met my wife, my Shanghai China. So yes I cry in the dark of the
night as I look up at the stars . I am a lucky man, because I had good parents,
I know I did . I hope everybody could be as lucky as me .....
well I hope this reads ok , I couldn't think of any
poetry , I just hope telling it plain catches the spirit , the spirit of love .
One word, one look, one sigh, one flicker of the eyes, each of these is a
prayer, a deep prayer . A prayer of hope, pray, hope and don't worry is a motto
I try to live by that’s all the advice I can give
michael
www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com
0 Comments
My
New Computer Part 2Sep 17, '10 12:53 PM
for everyone
A new home computer is an event. You think how quick
it will be. You prepare by backing up your files, but you have so many of them.
Then you have email accounts and
favourite sites and so forth. You think you've thought of everything but you haven't. BUT you do have a
safety net, you've emailed your important files to yourself, in fact you have a
couple of email accounts so your stuff can be safe. Only you forget the
passwords.
I'm sure we've all done it. Luckily the nice folks
at Google can help. But then there is GMX can they fix it too?
Then you get 60 day trial of software from Norton which features an online backup,
so your files are safe on a server in the USA.
So I had loaded our family photos to the new PC and then deleted them from the memory stick thing.
So that was ok, only I then lost them from the new
PC. So I have to rely on Norton, only there's a glitch, I can see my files on
their Server but I cannot restore them
to my PC. It may just be I need to click somewhere I cannot see. So I send an
email to Norton, thats a couple of hours ago,
but I'm sure those guys are just
as nice as Google.
Have I learnt my lesson. Yes, buy 2 memory sticks
and don't delete anything.
Footnote I first used a computer back in 1978, DEC
PDP 1170s but then computers were as big as washing machines and dealt in
megabites and tape decks were as big as wardrobes.
Tags: 1st ten chapters
0 Comments
How
to Teach a Nine Year Old Long DivisionSep 13, '10 12:54 PM
for everyone
How to Teach a Nine Year Old Long Division ©
By
Michael Casey
Well my daughter only has 2 more years in primary
school, year 5 is what they call it. So my Shanghai wife is pushing her to learn
maths, 11plus beckons next year.
I remember I was called the “Ready Reconner” by the lady in the butcher’s shop, Marsh and
Baxters. The shop had a variety of changes over the past 45 years but now it is
once more a butchers, a halal one. I was 8 or younger at the time me and my mum
would go to the butchers and buy the meat for the 8 of us, sawdust was on the
floor in those days. The lady in the shop would write down all the separate
items on a piece of paper using her pencil. Then she’d try to add them up,
remember it was pounds shillings and pence in those days. 12 pence to a
shilling, and 20 shilling to the pound, 240 pence in one pound. If you did not
know your 12 times tables then you’d be
lost. Mr Gallagher my old school teacher
threatened us for months with a times table test. He sprung it on us and
the result was 4 of the best, a pump on my bum. The next time he tested us I
was perfect. So with a stinging bum as a
reminder I was red hot as far at times tables
and sums were concerned. Hence I was the ready reconner
We always paid
the right price for our meat, the tills were huge monsters in those days with
big symbols appearing in a glass window, watch Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours
and you’ll see one.
Now how do you teach division to a 9 year old. Well
my wife starts in Shanghai dialect, then I interrupt in English giving a
metaphor or two, upside down stair is how I explain. Then we jump on Utube and
you get lessons galore, 360 maths lessons is what I hear. Though its American
so is Math lessons, I was boasting as they explained long division that I had shown our daughter the correct way, but
Utube had another set in the upside down steps, by basically I was right. I
then reassured our daughter if she did 100 examples then she’d get it. If you
know how to multiply then you know how to divide. More encouragement is given
in Shanghai dialect. As for our daughter she heads for her room and Galaxy on
her DAB radio, perhaps if she counts the stars in the
Galaxy then she’ll have her head
in the stars.
0 Comments
Dr
Who at The PromsSep 10, '10 4:46 PM
for everyone
Well the girls were out at Choir practice so I
thought I'd have a quiet evening. I stumbled over BBC3's Dr Who at the Proms.
It really was a great show, I recorded the 1/2 I saw and I hope I'll cat the
repeat. If the BBC sells this show it should do really well.
THey have Dr Who in the USA now so I hope they get
to see the show there soon. Classical Music is an acquired taste, you have to
learn it. I know lots of Classical buffs will contradict me immediately, I can
only speak from my own experience. I was chasing a girl a long time ago and she
introduced me to Classical Music. The Dr WHO show at the Royal Albert Hall
tonight on TV married together Science Fiction and Classical Music. For the
girl I was chasing she'd never marry me, it would be like Science Fiction.
Music really does touch the soul, the composer said
he loved Dr Who and AMY so it was easy to write music with them in mind. When I
wrote The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker (www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com)
I had Julie Walters in mind for the part of Mrs Murphy, now 22years on she is
the right age for the part, I can also reveal that she used to live just up the
road from where I am sitting right now. Its a small world.
As for Dr Who he's been brought back to life these
past few years, and its our hearts which have been touched and we cry tears on
occasion. In the audience tonight on TV I did see a lady crying, that is the
highest compliment anybody can give to a performer.
Sometimes words are not enough, sometimes a hug says
more, sometimes silence has to be broken. I'll finish tonight with this:-
Let There Be Light ©
By Michael Casey
Let my tears be my words
Let the candle light be my eyes
Let the flowers in bloom be my lips
Let their scent be my blood
Let the wind be my breath
Let clouds be my mood
Let children’s laughter be my hope
Let widows’ sighs be my conscience
Let a stranger’s prayers be my delight
Let the bees be my wisdom
Let the trees be my strength
Let my patience reach to the stars
Let me be always remembered in your prayers
0 Comments
My
Mouse is DrunkSep 3, '10 9:05 AM
for everyone
My Mouse is drunk ©
By
Michael Casey
Well my mouse is drunk, I did see the warning signs
and I hoped and prayed that it would get back to the straight and narrow, but
it did not. The mouse is a drunkard and that’s all there is to it, its not that
I live in a windmill with the sails producing electricity for our home our
windmill home. It would have been just fine if the mouse wore cloggs and did a
bit of break dancing. Living in a windmill would be fun too.
I am of course talking about a computer mouse, not
any Nick Park creation. Our computer was waving goodbye as you can see by my
previous post, but now the mouse was joining the strike in sympathy, all for
one and one for all.
Can you remember the last time you were on a double
decker bus up stairs and drunk?
I can remember being on the Metro in Paris Feb 1998
drunk and very happy, but that’s another story. So picture that in your mind
and that’s just how my mouse is behaving. Scrolling an
d jumping and highlighting galore, could be like a scene from an old
film, Easy Rider perhaps, and yes I remember seeing that at the cinema, 2pound
a week pocket money so I could go to the cinema at the Grove.
You think you can master a silly little mouse but
you cannot, its like a jockey verses a giant, the jockey is wiry and nimble so
its very hard to catch him and lay a punch on him. Exactly how it is between me
and my mouse. I was to do a few things before the new needed replacement
computer arrived, but it was a battle of wills and the mouse, the computer mouse was winning. I need to
renew my house insurance so I thought I could do this online. I had rung up my
existing insurance company and they immediately offered a 40% discount! But it
was still cheaper to change so I had been looking online, but with the mouse
playing up it was like being in an Irish Pub on Saint Patrick’s day, one giant
jelly mass of people, me and the mouse were just like that. Finally I had to
give up I was getting seasick. 4 of us use this computer and the mouse has been
battered for years, so now it was time to put it out of its misery, the only
decision was whether to bury the mouse in
an old shoe box or just cut off its tale and give it to the with. kids
to play
0 Comments
We're
having a babyAug 30, '10 11:35 AM
for everyone
We are having a baby ©
By
Michael Casey
We are having a baby, after much though and
heartache we have decided to have a baby, it will be our 3rd. Now in Google
search that’ll be condensed so everybody will be mislead until they click and
read the full version. Yes we are having a baby, and yes it will be our 3rd,
but not a baby baby, which would indeed be our 3rd. No we are not trying for a
boy after having two girls, we are just having a 3rd baby, I mentioned it to my
eldest daughter on my way back with a coffee in my hand, she said it wouldn’t
be a 3rd baby, it would be a 4th baby, or even a 5th baby. You see we had a new
Tv after ours gave up the ghost after 16 years, so the new Toshiba was a baby,
and our new noisy whistling kettle was a baby too. What I’m really saying is
that our computer has reached the age when it should be replaced. The baby I’m
on about is a new Emachine computer, a baby computer because it should be so
much smaller than the original one from over 7 years ago. Best of all it was on
offer, 200 off. If it wasn’t on offer it would have stayed in the shop, but we
really need our computer so thankfully a cheap one has popped up to save the
day.
As for our current Emachine that’ll find a new home
with somebody who had our last old baby, a tradition is forming, he has our old
cache which saves him cash. Its nice if you can recycle things, and I’m sure
our friend will spruce it up to make it better than we had it. I know somebody
who has a computer who has never done a disc cleanup, but that’s another story.
As for us I now have to backup our old files, can you imagine how many 1000
photos you take when you have a young children; you have to send them to
grandma in Shanghai and friends in Toyko and Taiwan and Singapore, and the most
exotic Stourbridge and Reading and Frankfurt. You do have some on the family
website but now as change is in the air you must backup everything, you cannot
lose your children’s childhood snaps.
Yesterday I looked at USB sticks they can be pretty
expensive, finally I worked out how much stuff we just had to backup and move.
Play.com turned out to have the best offer for 16gig flash security. Lets hope
it’s a simple as I think it is to back things up, I have 14gig of stuff to
backup. As you can imagine I have to keep my other babies safe, my stories my
writing, which are dreams in themselves. I had them on floppy discs scattered
all around my house. I do have my site
www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com so
my “masterpieces” will survive fire and floor and even nuclear war as the are
on a server on a different continent. However I still need them on my new baby
computer my new Emachine, so my 16gig flash storage will have a mission. There
is one thing to remember though I remember somebody saying if you don’t
dismount/unload you media properly then you lose what’s on the flash media.
Well I’ll find out about that soon enough, Wednesday will be my security day.
Then once everything is safely loaded I can breath a
sigh of relief. But what else do you have to do once you have your new baby,
your new computer. Get connected to the Internet, without being swamped by
viruses because you forgot to get an anti virus program. Set up accounts on the
computer, I have my side and my wife has her side. With a Shanghai wife though
I get stray Chinese characters appearing on our current computer, and strange
things have happened. So I need to keep a clear head while I get things as I
want them to be, however give it a fortnight and China will have invaded my
side of the computer and stolen all the duvet. I still dream of having my books in Waterstones and sold as
Ebooks for all these new devices, but most of all I want a computer just for me!
0 Comments
From
A to B From Sat Nav to Blocked SinkAug 23, '10 7:14 AM
for everyone
Well I hope you are all fine this morning. For us
the Sat Nav debate continues.
In the old days a Black Taxi would not be seen using
an AtoZ, it was beneath his dignity. He'd done the Knowledge and it was all up
there in his head. Jack Rozenthal wrote a great play about it, was it 30years
ago? Maureen Lipman was his real wife.
Delivery drivers have and egg and bacon butty in one
hand dripping egg on to the AtoZ in their other hand while they try and deliver
a chest of drawers, with 5 days growth of beard for good measure.
Bus drivers know their route, so once they've done
it a while its automatic, they know what they
are doing. All they have to do is put up with kids trying to use a 3 day
old ticket, and not get too high from all the cannabis on the bus. Or remember
when they have switched routes because that can lead to strange directions.
Door to door salesmen all those years ago, with the
rap at tat tat on the back door had their route carrying the suitcase with
samples in. I can vaguely remember one at our back door did my mum buy a
clothes brush? But that must be 45 years ago.
So basically we all know what we want and where we
are going. Going further back they say
people only knew a six block radius around their home. Going to War changed all
that as did radio and then more
importantly tv. Tv being our eyes on the world, previous to that only Merchant
Seaman knew of the world. My own granddad was a merchant seaman, I sometimes
wonder did he ever get to Shanghai
Or was it me, his grandson who got there first. Had
he visited at the turn of the 19th/20th Century 100years and more ago.
Which brings us back to Sat Nav. Me I use a bus
which is fine apart from the pot heads who sit next to you on the bus and all I
want to do is puke. My wife is a car driver, so she and our girls love the car.
But my wife has borrowed a Sat Nav and likes the ease of it so now she wants
one of her own. The result is that I’m being nagged to provide one. You pay, me
pay, yes you pay, why me pay, because you are the husband so you pay, no way me
pay, you pay you pay yourself, I say. And on the ding dong, sing song goes.
Which is the fun part. Me I no pay, use computer I say. You can get perfect
directions off the computer all you then have to do is print them off, if our
printer was still working we’d be doing that. So really all the wife has to do
is copy them down, in English.
She’s busy
with the wok as I talk to you, she’s compromised now, she only wants me to pay
half. So I say I’ll be doubly generous and double the share I won’t pay, I’ll
pay zero and she can pay 100%. That’s the true spirit of negotiation, now I
have another thing to resolve, she’s blocked the sink, so pardon me now as I
take the plunge, or rather take the plunger to the sink, no need to use a Sat
Nav to get there, its over my shoulder in the next room, just turn left at the
tv and go straight on to the sound of bubbles. Love is everywhere don’t you
know it, just find it, no Sat Nav required.
0 Comments
Read
My MindAug 22, '10 4:50 AM
for everyone
Read My Mind ©
By
Michael Casey
I just read in the Sunday paper that soon they’ll be
able to read my mind, everybody’s mind. A computer firm is scanning brains so
that in future you can control your computer with just a thought.
“Where
do you do to my lovely when you’re alone and in your bed, tell me the thoughts
that surround you” as Peter Sarstead sung in the old and very good song.*
Now the song was a great song, perhaps they’ll play
it on Magic again soon.
But our thoughts are private like the sunglasses of
our mind. They ring fence our brain and keep strangers out, they hide our
boredom when at Company events, the same speech and the same director laughing
at his own jokes while as one we all think “what a plonker”. A whole hall
wishing he’d stop so we could get on with the entertainment, free bar and
circus.
Politicians lie, we all think they do, and if we
could read their minds we’d all throw cabbages at them, or eggs or just
manifestos. We heard what Gordon really though of that lady and it helped lose
the Election for him. Then the apology shambles, you cann’t take back something
like that. If somebody could read Gordon’s mind they would have dived in to
save him before he even said it. Politicians need to be clear but they never
are. Why have clarity when you can have deniability. Let’s just wish Gordon a
good relaxing next 5 years.
But what of you and what of me. You see a girl, you
see a boy, you’ve got your shades on, you take a good hard look, the object of
your attention cannot see your eyes, you try and look cool and not move your
head an inch. But you lust after him, you lust after her. Choose your own words
as to what you are thinking, or are you lusting. Well they’ll never know
because they cannot read your mind. But
if they could, they’d be a few slapped faces that’s for sure. Or they’d be a few sudden snogs in doorways and in bus shelters or on
the top decks of buses. And all because we can read each other’s minds. Perhaps
in the future the gismo to read minds would be attached to your shades, so
you’d look cool while they drool.
What about your mum if she could read your mind?
She’d be sending you to bed without supper, she’d scream and shout “get out of
my house.”
What about old gran and granddad, they’d know what
you really think of them. Do you love them or are you just playing along to get
their money when they die.
Reading Minds is a dangerous thing, we need
protection from ourselves, a stray
spoken word can hurt, but luckily our words are locked up in our minds
and they can be chosen and picked and used with caution. But if they were there
all naked in front of us, no nuances, no clarification then we’d all be in big
trouble. I believe we think
4 times
faster than we speak, but speech is our filter so that we DO pick the right
words, we don’t say the wrong thing. Reading Minds can be dangerous, yes it
would be great if you could walk down the road and have all the girls dreaming
of you, but what if you were walking down the road and you could heard
everybody’s inner voice saying I hate
you. What You Don’t Know Cann’t Hurt You, so as far as I’m concerned I’ll
Fortune Telling to Gypsies.
*Peter Sarstead Copyright.
0 Comments
Good
Will Hunting AgainAug 14, '10 7:05 PM
for everyone
I just watched Good Will Hunting on tv, I'd seen it
before. I do in fact have a few cousins in Boston, one is a cop.
Anyways this time it got me thinking about my
grammar school days back in 1970. WE had one lad who was just like the star of
Good Will Hunting, his name was RP he had brains to burn as they say in
Ireland. Unfortunately he had a deformed back, Esmerelda and the bells were no
doubt said by us, though I never actually remember hearing it. RP was
especially great at Maths and Sciences, years later at a school reunion, thanks
to physio he was alright. He was writing computer games somewhere. God Bless
him I say now and I said then.
All this brings to mind just how great God and genetics
really is. As I've mentioned in other blogs things can run in families, maths
or music or painting or writing, good looks or lack of them. Then every now and
then Nature can play a binder. Look at the Mozarts of the world. Remember the
film Amedeus, I can remember looking back and seeing 2 people crying in the
audience at the old Futurist cinema in Birmingham. So why are these geniuses
thrown up. Is it God saying, just when
you lot thought you knew everything I throw a googlie or a curve ball, or whatever
sporting metaphor you care to choose, or does God bend it like Beckham.
I think it is for a reason. Perhaps to make us
Mankind humble, to make us realise we don't really know much after all, we may
have jumped of the 3rd rock from the sun and had a day trip to the moon, but
really we are all still chimps banging two rocks together to make a fire.
Great Art, such as the Cistine Chapel the very
sparks of Creation and of Intelligence now this
does show us many things. A cow grazing
on green green grass, giving us milk which really is a great
invention,now that's something we all overlook.
Life really is a great invention, junkies think they
see great things when they shoot up, but I'm sure God can take their hand and
lead them to a beautiful garden and from there they can see the movement of the
spheres, see planets form and reform, see erupting super novas. All of God's
creation, then finally we are all shown a mirror and we see ourselves, our so
small selves. It is only be having Mozarts that we can aspire to be better than
being chimps on a rock hurdling though space and time. Can you hear the music?
1 Comment
My
Daddy's like Google he knows everythingAug 11, '10 7:06 PM
for everyone
My Daddy’s like Google he knows everything ©
By Michael Casey
My kids were in London today for a day out with my wife and one of her friends. Me I
stayed home I’d picked up some bug last night , so I nursed my bug.
The girls were all excited when they came home and
my smallest one was telling a story. It began with a box fell from the sky, but
it was no ordinary box, it was a magic box.
So I told her to keep the idea in her head and she could write it out in
the morning, it was late now. Her bigger sister observed that when she wrote
she wrote all posh, but when she talked she did not. I then tried to explain
the difference between :- speaking, writing, presenting, teaching. Some people
may be able to do one but this does not prove/equate to being able to do
another. Then my smallest let loose with the line that I was Google and should
be a teacher and that I should write kids books. I’ll do anything IF somebody
sponsors me, or becomes my patron, though in my case it would be Saint Rita or
Saint Jude themselves who’d help. Thinking back to 1969 I did win a Junior Free
Handwriting Competition, I have the certificate somewhere, Brook Bond sponsored
it, I’d forgotten about it till just now.
Daddy, any daddy has to try and be an encyclopaedia
to give his kids some information, in some SciFi film or it may have been in Dr Who I saw a
battered Robot became the teacher, with holograms too. If only I could be some
sort of magician, then that would be swell as the Americans say, card tricks
with lessons on, slight of hand passing messages of learning. I am award that I
have to try hard and give good information out, otherwise 1984 becomes a
reality, rubbish becomes fact, and facts become rubbish. There are more
questions than answers, luckily I’m very eclectic so I can give a base camp
answer, then watch as their minds click and you can see from their expression,
from the look in their eyes that they understand and they can begin to work
things out for themselves or just have a look online. The main thing though is that Daddy, this
daddy, me, encourages his girls to use their brains.
The cobwebs may grow IF I didn’t have children
asking this and asking that. In a couple of years time my biggest daughter can
read my book, it’s a 12 certificate so although she’s seen it she’ll just have
to wait for the dubious honour of reading daddy’s The Butcher The Baker and The
Undertaker.
