Send an Atheist to his local church!

This was the somewhat intriguing title of a recent ebay auction. Hemant Mehta, a 22 year old student from Chicago, proposed to visit his local church (or any other, of any flavour or religion) with an open mind for $10 a time.

The auction closed at $504.

Much to my relief, it was won by a guy called Jim Henderson – not the creator of The Muppets, but the executive director of an organisation who often describe their mission statement as “trying to help Christians learn how to not be jerks”.

I sometimes think we have a lot to learn.

To his great credit Jim is genuinely attempting to learn from Hemant, and not trying to ‘convert’ him. And to Hemant’s credit, he is being very fair and open minded, and extremely gracious in light of a few arrogant and unhelpful commenters.

You can follow the action from both parties’ perspectives – on Hemant's blog and the Off The Map website. Let’s hope the Christians are listening.

Brussel Sprouts - what they don't want you to know

Some sociologists argue that Brussel sprouts have long played a central role in the British psyche. No one likes them, yet almost without fail we honour them by embracing them into the culinary bosom of our Christmas dinner.

Some people even eat them.

Yesterday, thanks to an industry whistleblower, I got hold of documentary evidence sensationally revealing what was once a closely guarded secret.

What they don’t want you to know is that brussel sprouts are grown on long green sticks. These sticks, complete with blemished camouflage markings, are used by scientists to pump water and other nutrients to each sprout ‘node’. Once fully formed, they are removed and replaced by a new sprout seedlet.

No one from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs was available for comment.

Meanwhile in related news, many holiday makers appeared visibly shaken on their return from a half-term winter sun getaway, having learnt that bananas grow upside-down.

Get it off your chest

Have you ever had a secret buried somewhere deep inside?

Part of you wanted to tell someone, so that it wouldn’t hold you captive anymore. And part of you could think of nothing more terrifying than anyone finding it out.

I’m sure we all carry these things around with us at some point or other. A few people have decided that telling a trusted friend is not for them. They’ve decided instead to tell everyone. Take a look at PostSecret.

New posts are put up every Sunday. Some are heart warming and will make you smile. Others will stop you in your tracks as you choke up.

And now would it surprise you if I told you that it was the third most popular blog in the world?

And we're off!!

It gives me great pleasure to announce the arrival of one of the most eagerly anticipated websites of 2006. And coincidentally, today also sees the launch of my blog, which has been eagerly anticipated by at least three of my friends, if not more.

I’m proud to say that, by allowing the geek in me to come to the fore, I coded a lot of it myself – aren’t I clever? Many thanks to my friend Andy for his help in getting it up and running. He has his very own rather interesting blog – check it out by following the link on the right.

Anyway, we must press on. Check back regularly to find a whole host of interesting bits and pieces, and some rubbish.

Pretty soon you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it.


p.s. Anyone wanting to link to individual posts – the permalink is in the timestamp