So I read this blog posting and wondered if the super dramatic picture of a heron taking flight from a telegraph pole is a 6000 picture, of if he just stole it from somewhere.  So I looked in his flickr collection (which I recommend a good browse through), and there it was.  Which made sense, because there was no link to anywhere else.

The bird on the right is a sugarbird, which flies through the air, or so it would appear, not by flapping its wings, but simply by having a very long tail.  Presumably its wing is pointing directly at us, and is consequently hard to make out.

Here.  One of these.

Did the lion steal it because it wanted its battery?

Incoming from 6000:

Spotted this while out for an autumnal walk with the family in Constantia, Cape Town and instantly, as is the way with these things, thought of you.

The three languages are English (obviously), Afrikaans and isiXhosa - the local “African” language.

To get around any linguistic issues, they have used the ubiquitous blue circles. Except that neither I, nor Google Goggles has any idea what that one on the top left means. I’m sure it’s obvious, but it’s not to me.

Anyone?

Incidentally, the guy in the background is an equally ubiquitous car guard, who will check that no-one breaks into your car while you’re away for some small change.

By happy coincidence, I too have spotted a couple of multilingual signs in London recently, and was going to blog about them anyway

I saw this near Brick Lane in the East End:

The place already felt very different from my own dear Millbank.  That did not make me feel any safer.

And I saw this on the outside of the psychiatric hospital or drop-in centre or whatever it is, on the Vauxhall Bridge Road side of Vincent Square:

I make that sixteen different languages.

Is it the patients or the staff who are responsible for all this linguistic diversity?  Or do they just put that sign up in all such places, regardless of who speaks what in any particular one?

Other incoming multilingual signs would be most welcome, but if they do materialise please make them signs you have personally snapped, not just something plucked from the internet, which is of course already awash with such signs.

Indeed:

Of the one on the left, Antoine tells me that “be relax” (click to see this) is Frenglish for “be cool”.  But as you can see, the other sign forbids, by day and by night.  So, being cool is forbidden, all the time.  Someone tell the French.

The one on the right was snapped in Fes Medina, Morocco, the day before yesterday by Michael J, who says Danger de Mort sounds better than Danger of Death.  Both sound pretty scary to me.  Again, click to see the bigger picture.

Messieurs, je vous remercie.

You think you can send me funnier or more interesting signs?  You know what to do.

6000:

The next week and a bit is looking rather busy. If I were a young surfer dude who works in advertising, I’d probably say that it was looking “hectic” or “insane”, but I’m not that sort of person, so I’ll settle for “rather busy”.

So here, have a quota photo. Quite an arty one, I think, too.

It is indeed.  It’s shoes and a doll on a stony beech, for those who can’t be bothered to look.  If this was an arty movie, it would mean that a family had drowned, because Art usually means bad news of some kind.  I expect all that really happened was they had a picnic near the sea.

I am also having an insane week, because I have fixed to do something, on Friday, and have only two days left during which to do the hour or so of preparation that is still required.

Not content with being 6000 miles from civilisation, 6000 and family are getting a place that is even further Out of it, with views like this:

Follow the link above to see what’s above and below that horizon.  There are no big dramas, which is exactly the point.  The sky is so blue it’s nearly black.

There is electricity and water, but there’s no phone line and certainly no cellphone signal. It’s a far cry from busy city life and it really is going to be the perfect place to get away from it all.

What could be more civilised?  Seriously, nothing says advanced technological civilisation like being able to get away from (almost) all of it, but not for (anywhere near) all of the time.

6000, Mrs 6000, 6000let: enjoy.

Just to say where I come from, in case strangers are passing by (welcome, by the way): I’m an atheist, for most of the usual atheist reasons, and an atheist who prefers Christianity to Islam, for most of the usual human reasons.

Were a time traveller/historian from the future to reveal to me that Islam had indeed been defeated (setting aside for the time being just what “defeated” might mean), I would expect him/her to add, at some point in our (I hope) quite prolonged discussions, that Christianity had played a big part in this excellent outcome.

Religion seems to me to be a part of human nature, which is not to say that all humans seem to need it like we all need air, food or drink.  It’s just that a lot of us seem to.  As an atheist I am resigned to this.  All the arguments that convince me of the non-existence of God are not so much wrong, to a religionist, as beside the point.  The point being that they really need their religion, and that’s the truth that matters to them, not people like me explaining the factual implausibility of spaghetti monsters or orbiting teapots (two favourite atheist inventions).

So the question for many is simply: which religion shall it be?  And just now, it seems, although I don’t know the numbers, that when it comes to people converting from one religion to another, the big story in the world in recent decades is of people converting from Islam to Christianity, particularly (so I am told) in Africa, but even more particularly in the rich societies of Europe and the USA.  See, for instance, this posting, which I dug up on the www, and in particular the comments, where “Kepha” says:

My guess is that the time is not far off when the number of conversions from Islam in the West will be so large that it will be noticed; and the most that the jihadis will be able to do is splutter with helpless rage ...

But, say other commenters in the same thread, Muslims are more than replacing themselves, by having a higher birthrate.

Many things could be said about this.  I will confine myself to one (or maybe it’s two followed by a deduction), which is that whereas the flow of Muslims out of Islam and into Christianity can be expected to continue pretty much indefinitely, very possibly becoming a stampede once converts to Christianity are able to be more public about the process, the current high birthrates of many Muslim countries can be expected, in due course, to moderate.  All modernising countries experience a big bulge in their birthrates, but this never lasts, or such is my understanding.

If the above is right, that’s very good news for Christianity and very bad news for Islam.  And people like me, who would merely like to see Islam defeated, can just relax and be patient and let history take its course.

Okay, pessimistic cup-half-empty commenters, off you go.  Tell me this is all wishful thinking.

If you feel like it.  These Islam postings here are really just me thinking aloud.  If others join in fine, but if not, fine too.

Rotated a little, and flattened.  Original here:

They’re photoing Spain v Portugal.  See comments here.