Da Vinci Lode

I eventually gave in and read The Da Vinci Code. I don't like the way Dan Brown writes, and as far as I can tell he's only written one book, because a quick look at the other one - something about bones or blood? I forget - soon told me that it was DVC all over again, but with Illuminati instead of Opus Dei, a professor instead of a curator, a niece instead of......need I go on?

(A friend said he wrote the Illuminati one first, and DVC is actually an improved rehash. Two sets of royalties for one book - not bad. Something for those who buy one handbag in three different colours?)

What interested me, being female and having been brought up Catholic, was all the stuff about the suppression of 'the feminine'. I already knew that St. Paul and one of the St. Augustines had a lot to answer for. So I did a bit of research. Nothing. Nada. Nyet. Or at least, nothing to support Dan Brown's so-called truth. Opus Dei exists. Not secret. The Priory of Sion does not, having been invented by a French charlatan, Pierre Plantard. Quite disappointing really, as I was working up a nice head of steam about the sexism, if not mysogyny, built into the operations and directions of the Roman Catholic Church. Ah well.

So all this hoohaa from Christian groups regarding first the book and then the film strikes me as bloody stupid mob rule. Honestly! All that superiority about Muslim outrage about cartoons that most had not seen, and then this! Islam prohibits the depiction of the Prophet (pbuh) even (especially) in reverence. The 'west' has no such dictate, and in fact celebrates freedom of speech and freedom of the press (including all the media). For Christians to insist that we should not be permitted the opportunity to read a book or watch a film, when all the counter-arguments are out there too, for those who care enough to check their facts, is arrogant, hypocritical and downright self-indulgent.

There was the same fuss about The Life of Brian about a million years ago. (If God made us, and in his image and likeness (not in our bodies, but in our souls) does it not indicate a divine sense of humour? Er... not about making us.... unless all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players, and we're coming to the climax of a century-long black comedy?)

The Roman Catholic Church abolished The Index (a list of banned books) a long time ago (I think! Good grief! Could it possibly still exist?) in support, I believe of the principles of Free Will and personal responsiblity. Anyone who would ban books is very suspect in my view.

Children must be protected.

Adults have the responsibility to make choices, and do their homework about those choices.

Hmph. I will now get down off this soap-box before I hyperventilate.

In case you were wondering, this started when a colleague sent me an email, 20 Big Lies in the Da Vinci Code. I found it on-line in a Christian magazine. If you're still interested.

(P.S. I preferred the film to the book.)

Knit One P*rn One

A couple of weeks back, I was reading Show & Tell, and GirlPrinter directed me to some 'lovely' babyknit patterns. Now I have no babies to knit for, but the little blue booties she'd knitted were so cute that I followed the link to A BIG RED BOX WHICH SAID:

We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked

due to its content being inconsistent with

the religious, cultural, political and moral values of

the United Arab Emirates.

If you think this site should not be blocked,

please visit the Feedback Form available on our website.

Wow. What are they putting on their babies' tootsies in the land of Oz?

Tonight I've been getting my colour fix at A. L. de Sauveterre's glorious Two Pointy Sticks. She directed me to some baby knits, and lo! A B.R.B. which said:

We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked
due to its content being inconsistent with
the religious, cultural, political and moral values of

the United Arab Emirates.
If you think this site should not be blocked,
please visit the Feedback Form available on our website.

Wow again. It appears that Uncle Sam is also corrupting minors with subversive knitwear.

What is happening beyond the lifeboat that is the UAE? Is the world full evil - evil - EVIL - HA! Ha-ha-ha-haaaaa! people masquerading as grannies and favourite aunties, all cackling over gasp! POINTY STICKS?!?!? Oh noooooooo!!!!! nefariously knitting Aran horns and four-ply fins in a vile conspiracy to pervert the next generation? Gasp!

O Woe to the World! To think that Habibibaba is out there somewhere in the Outer Darkness, the Boundless Chaos, unaware of the cunning predators lurking in living rooms, market stalls and Townswomen's Guilds, waiting to snare him in sigils of sin!

Habibibaba, if you are reading this, my darling, listen to your Mother! If a stranger offers you a cable jumper - just say "No!"

How fortunate we are to have Etisalat to protect us from such things.

OK. I suppose I could just fill in the Feedback Form, but for heaven's sake, they block translation sites, cutting us off from foreign-language research and culture, and they block photographic links on the assumption that if someone's taken a photograph of it, it must be baaaaaaad.

I wouldn't mind, but I have stumbled across adult material online before now, so it's ironic - ok, irritating - that I'm barred from a pattern for baby bootees!

Incidentally, I posted this then pulled it to replace an o with an *. (Anyone seen my blog? I know it was there when I went to bed last night, but now there's just a BIG RED BOX!)

No point in cutting off nose to spite face..........