It certainly is a strange old world.

 I read a news item last night about a poor little nearly two year old who died in Lower Hutt. Very sad. The boy was named Ruthless-Empire.

Now please be assured that I have absolutely no intention of making light of this tragic situation. My question is how could a parent (or parents) inflict such a name on a child. Please don't tell me it is some sort of cultural thing.

One thing strikes me - this strange old world is not getting a lot right.

Look at the Israel / Hamas war. There are evidently one million Palestinians trapped in the war zone with food and water very hard to come by. Who will gain out of this conflict? Both sides worship a similar type of god. Obviously gods do not bring peace or try to help out.

We've also got the question, "Why did Russia need to invade Ukraine?"

Okay, okay, I know I'm treading a well worn path here. I could also mention our gang problems and the violence that seems to be happening in our own backyard.

Maybe I need to find something happy to write about.

* * *

Let's see what the (old) boys are writing about.

For anyone who is new around here, there are two bloggers who are regular readers of this great literary site we call Richard's Bass Bag.*

One writes under the name of The Curmudgeon, but his real name is Peter.

Peter likes nothing more than a good series. When he writes a series, he chooses a topic like one of these...

• Walking in the hills.
• Windows in my house.
• Planting my garden.
• Booze I have drunk.
• A revisit to windows in my house.
• Minor storms that have happened near my house.

The other blogger is called Robert, a guy who likes to dress up.

He also likes playing the violin and making videos.

Robert's last post was on Labour Day. From memory I think Robert is a Presbyterian and he posts a lot about god things. Okay, okay, he might actually be a Catholic.

Here are some examples of his topics...

• Abortion.
• Tent Horn.
• The Blessed Trinity (not to be confused with the movie 'They Call Me Trinity').
• Abortion.
• Parables.
• House cleaning.
• Cleaning a Presbyterian church and finding fault.
• Abortion.
• Mary, the mother of Jesus.
• Crazy lady saints.

Well, there you go. If you're silly enough to want to visit these sites, you'll find them on our LINKS service list.

Ciao tutti.

* the original bass bagging site