Introducing New Zealand batsman Daniel Flynn. The spitting may be excused as he has just been hit on the head by England paceman James Anderson. Despite wearing a helmet, he was abruptly seperated from one of his front teeth (which was apparently retrieved by the New Zealand physio - what happened to the tooth next remains obscure). Ouch! Remember the ball is very hard and will be making acquaintance with his face at 85-90mph. Rough old game, cricket. Former England captain Mike Gatting left a part of the bridge of his nose embedded in the ball after being hit by West Indies legend Malcolm Marshall in the mid 1980s. Evidently Marshall picked up the ball, looked at it and, feeling distinctly queasy , threw the ball as far away as he could. The worst that ever happened to me playing cricket was copping a ball travelling at some speed right on the ball of my ankle. That hurt like hell.
On a happier note, the boy threatened with prosecution for holding a placard describing Scientology as a 'cult' (blog 21 May) is not to be prosecuted after all. Quite right too but why was it ever an issue in the first place? Marina Hyde in todays Guardian summarises the core beliefs of Scientology...
'Seventy-five billion years ago, the intergalactic alien tyrant Xenu exiled manifold individuals to Earth in special craft - which looked exactly like DC-8s. Hubbard provides sketches. These beings were then imprisoned in mountains, before being blown up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashed with a huge 3D film. Their traumatised spirits - "Body Thetans" - then clustered around human bodies and continue to do so to this very day, and can only be removed using advanced Scientology. Xenu? Currently held captive in a mountain by a forcefield'.
Ermm...
Righty.
That clears that one up then.
5 comments:
Sounds more like a science-fiction novel than a religion.
Hey....wait a minute. Wasn't Hubbard a science-fiction writer? Hmmm.
Earl - this is not coincidental. Sounds like a very bad science fiction novel.
What everyone seems to have forgotten is something I read about in a SF encyclopedia many years ago. For all I know, history has been revised and all of the evidence hidden away.
Hubbard stated his belief that the way to make money was not to write SF but to start a religion. Then, to everyone's surprise, that is precisely what he did.
Is it, perhaps, too cynical of me to link the two?
sounds even more like a religion than a sci-fi novel to me.
they'll be making up some nonsense about the dead coming back to life next. honestly! do they think we're stupid?
The story I like - which is almost undoubtedly untrue, unfortunately - is that Bradbury bet Hubbard he couldn't start a religion. Hence, Scientology.
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