Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Can't Stop Progress

It goes without saying that my parents only have to arrive for the heavens to open promising a week's worth of downpours for the duration of their stay. Today they were shower-hopping buying bread, and were denied watching my youngest play footie as it was too wet.

So much for languidly reclining on the sunbed a book in one hand, a freshly squeezed orange juice in the other, their only worry whether the suntan lotion needs topping up. The height of today's excitement was not finding limon cello in Intermarche, and buying a Norma plastic bag. Living on the edge!

Meanwhile the art auction preparations by Promo'Arts continue unabated, except for the May 1 bank holiday, general April 30 pont and weekend apathy by 99.9% of the population. May is not a good month for being dynamic. You are likely to be the only one at it if you are. However, it's best not to rock the boat as the status quo is a very important element of French life. It'll be interesting to see who gets to be president on Sunday, and whether whoever is chosen actually gets to upset the status quo.

The Creationist status quo is likely to be upset in the coming months with the experiments being carried out by the Large Hadron Collider which being built in Geneva at the moment. It hopes to recreate the conditions right after the big bang and solve the mystery of the Higgs Boson particle which explains how fundamental particles acquire mass. The Horizon programme on BBC2 last night did a fantastic job presenting the research and some of the historical lead-up. I would be most interested to hear how crazy Creationists could explain the discoveries that have been made over the last 40 years and are continuing to help scientists understand the realities of the Big Bang; discoveries that go beyond Creationist thinking of 'oh, it's far too complicated for us to understand so God must have dunnit'.

The status quo is a very cosy place to inhabit, but it's anti-progress. France is on the edge of an opportunity to right the problems that will not go away if the voters choose the status quo. Voting is a first step; the second, more important is not to sabotage the efforts made by those who have been voted in by taking to the streets and refusing change.

Creationists will soon be confronted by possible proof of the making of stuff. Will they go with progress or ignore it?

Me? I'm just hoping it stops raining and that we find some limon cello for my dad. I can't vote and I'm not a crazy Creationist, but I love progress!

1 comment:

  1. We could certainly use some of that rain here at the moment.

    Much of the country was dry for all of April. It's very unusual to see a whole month go by without a drop of rain, but that didn't actually apply in Guildford, where a single heavy burst of unforecast rain struck me on a long cycle ride to Christ's Hospital near Horsham.

    We were forced to spend an unplanned hour in the pub there, and it worked out rather well, now I think of it.

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