Returning Renault Bears to a worthwhile life of daytime telly, eating jammy toast and surfing the internet.
If you would like to become a registered Friend of The Bears then please email us at: friends[@]renaultbears[.]com and we will email you a username and password to enable you to log in and create your own profile. Please leave the square brackets out of the email address.
Did God Create The Universe?
Fri 3rd Sep 2010
No, he did not, says Professor Stephen Hawking.
A few years ago, Professor Stephen Hawking published his book A Brief History of Time and had all The Bears transfixed. In the book, he described how everything in space, time and the universe worked. The book was subtitled From the Big Bang to Black Holes and that is exactly what it covered. It started by explaining how the whole universe as we know it, started from a huge explosion millions of years ago. There is nothing special about that, there are many books attempting the same thing, but Stephen Hawking wrote his not for scientists and physicists but for normal people and Bears to understand.
The book suggested that the start of the universe needed something to start the whole process – someone to light the touch-paper to ignite the big bang. This pleased the church because it left room for the thought that God was that divine being who started the world.
Now, twelve years later, Mr Hawking says the universe was created by itself and not God. In his new book, The Grand Design, he insists that there is no reason to attribute the beginning of everything to a supreme being. He writes, “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist… because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. It is not necessary to invoke God.”
Oh yes he did, says Lewis Ayres, Professor of Theology at Durham University.
Professor Ayres says that most scientists believe that God creates what they cannot understand. As soon as they find laws to explain things, then that does away with the need of a God.
Stephen Hawking is a modern atheist. He thinks that suddenly science comes along and provides us with the answers and explanations and that in itself proves there is no God. What smart Christians do is to believe in the beauty, structure and order of the world. We believe that God sustains all of that.
Professor Hawking’s book is out later this month, so I bet this is not the last we hear of this argument.
Long Live The Stig
Thu 2nd Sep 2010
The Stig
The Bears love watching Top Gear, the motoring programme that pokes fun at just about every aspect of sensible driving. It is a bit of fun on a Sunday evening when stars come and race in rubbish cars and the presenters get to play with very expensive cars that most people can only dream of one day driving. Then the highlight of the show is to let The Stig loose on the best cars and see how fast he can get them around their racetrack.
The Stig of course is a tame racing driver presumably captured by the show to race their cars to the limit. To push the cars as far as they will go and see how they react. The true identity of The Stig is kept secret and many attempts have been made to unmask him so we can all know the ugly truth.
We have ignored such rumours and speculation by the press and just enjoyed the programme for what it is: a bit of fun! We do not wish The Stig to be revealed because as soon as you realise who he is then he stops having the mythical element that makes the whole “Stig” thing work.
The guessing game with the press has continued for seven years. There have been stories that he was really Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and even the BBC themselves joined in the joke by unveiling Michael Schumacher as The Stig.
Luckily, the fun has continued without him being unmasked.
Now that fun is over. Greed has reared its ugly head and the man who has played The Stig for the last seven years wants to publish a book about his time on the programme. The BBC claimed that The Stig had signed a confidentiality clause and tried to block publication of the book. In a statement they said, “We brought this action as we believe it is vital to protect the character of The Stig.”
The BBC lost their court action yesterday and now the man’s book will be published in September. The Bears will not be buying it and we feel it is just a sad case of greed winning over a promise made by him not to reveal his identity.
We hope the book does not sell a single copy and we would like to wish the new Stig all the best for the next series. No doubt, Jeremy Clarkson and the boys will have some fun at the expense of the old Stig.
The old Stig is dead long live the new Stig!
Friends Of The Bears Bank Holiday Weekend
Wed 1st Sep 2010
Following on from our invitation yesterday, we have had quite a few people sending us photographs of what they got up to over the Bank Holiday Weekend. It looks like our Bear Friends had a fantastic time and many of you even went to events together with other Bear Friends.
So here, for your enjoyment, we present The Friends of The Bears Bank Holiday Weekend…
Andrea at The Matthew Street Festival
Chelsea manages to get herself an £80 Fixed Penalty Ticket!
Friends Emily, Louise and Rachel went to Matthew Street
Hannah spent the weekend down in Bristol and visited the Zoo
Jennie and her Mate spent the weekend at the Leeds Festival
Laura & Sister went to Creamfields
Lauren spent the weekend with her Mates at Matthew Street
Megan, Chloe, Shan & Amy also at Matthew Street
Megan, Elle and Leah also went to the Matthew Street Festival
Melissa and her Friend went to Matthew Street too
Friends Days: An Invitation
Tue 31st Aug 2010
Yesterday we featured Lianne’s day at the zoo over the Bank Holiday weekend and it appears we have caused a little consternation amongst the Bear Friends. Last night everyone wanted to know why he or she could not be featured on the Blog and the answer is you can. We started Friend Days back in January this year and only Jessikah sent anything in for us to feature.
Previously, we have featured articles on the Blog from Andrea, Linzi, Amie along with the one Jessikah sent in. If you would also like to be featured then just drop us a line. You can just send us photographs of what you have been up to or send us a story for us to feature. All we ask is that it is something that everyone else will find interesting or fun.
Do not worry if you think you cannot write like Shakespeare or take photographs like David Bailey just send it in and we will find a Bear to work his or her expertise to make it look good. Remember it does not have to be anything serious as here at the Bear Blog we love random and anything that is fun, fun, fun.
To get the ball rolling, if you would like to tell us or show us what you did over the Bank Holiday Weekend we will feature it tomorrow on the blog. So please no more complaints or accusations of favouritism, get off your bum and send us something for us to post tomorrow.
Just erm… make sure it is legal!
Friends Day #2
Mon 30th Aug 2010
A Friends Day is when we hand over control of the blog to you, our subscribers. Any Registered Friend of the Bears is eligible and all you have to do is send us an article or photograph of anything you think will be entertaining to all our other Friends. Today we hand control over to…
Our friend Lianne was telling us the other day that she was planning to visit the zoo this weekend. She has often told us about her love of giraffes and for those of you who do not know her, she goes raving most weekends and takes along her little toy giraffe. We thought this would be an opportunity for her to get her face on the blog so we promised that if she got a photograph of her with one of her favourite animals then we would publish it on the blog so she could have her fifteen minutes of fame.
However, we actually meant a “real” giraffe…
Lianne with her Giraffe Friend
Then just to rub my nose in it, she had to get a picture of the one animal (ok mammal) that actually scares the life out of me. I know I probably should not admit this on the blog, because we will start getting hundreds of pictures of bats sent in, but I hate the little critters.
Thanks for this one, Lianne…
Lianne and a not so friendly Bat!
Hope you are all having a great Bank Holiday Weekend!
Don’t forget, if you would like to have an article or photograph published on the blog then drop us a line. We cannot promise to feature it but we will try our best to include anything we think others will find interesting or funny.
Musical Sundays #82
Sun 29th Aug 2010
Because Sundays are always boring, we decided, a while back, to turn them into Musical Fun Days. Each Sunday we will post a music video from an artist or genre that we think will be enjoyable to our subscribers. This weekend…
…we are featuring the Grandfathers of Electronic Music, Kraftwerk. They were formed in 1970 as an experimental band that used mainly electronic versions of instruments. They were amongst the first to use electronic percussion instead of a drummer and invented many of their instruments themselves. They have been a huge influence on many popular artists such as Gary Numan, Ultravox, OMD, Human League, Depeche Mode, Visage, Soft Cell and they are regarded as the creators of the whole electro genre. They are that influential that without them there may well never have been whole genres of music without their influence.
Despite the fact, they are fast approaching their 70th birthdays there is just something very cool about Kraftwerk. Where else could you see electro-music being performed by what looks like a bunch of chartered accountants dressed in suits?
What is amazing is that I first heard Autobahn in 1974, and yet it still sounds modern today. Kraftwerk are and will always be, years ahead of their time.
Kraftwerk – Autobahn
Do not forget, if you have any music videos you would like us to feature on a future Sunday then drop us a line. We are always happy to listen to requests from others, we cannot promise to feature any but we will try our best to find the videos if we think others will enjoy.
Rumpole Of The Bailey
Sat 28th Aug 2010
Horace Rumpole
As you all know, the Bears love their television and there is nothing they like more than watching a series from years ago. They believe in the old adage that they “don’t make ‘em like they used to”. So every so often, an old television series is repeated on one of the oldies channels and I get the chance to introduce the Bears to it for the first time.
Last weekend I was looking online at some of the DVD box sets available, when I happened upon Rumpole of The Bailey – The Complete Series. I used to watch the programme back in the 1970s when I was young and the Bears had never seen him. I could not resist the temptation to buy it so the Bears could watch Rumpole and enjoy it just the way I used to.
Many of you may not have heard of Rumpole but he was a London barrister who would never prosecute but preferred to defend every villain and scoundrel at the Old Bailey Law Courts.
Horace Rumpole loved being in court. Despite his friends and family trying to get him to move on to a more respectable position for his age, Rumpole only ever enjoys the simple pleasure of defending his legal aid clients at The Old Bailey. He sees nothing but honour in being an “Old Bailey Hack” and has no desire to retire or become a judge despite his age and experience. He often quotes Wordsworth and occasionally Shakespeare and refers to his wife Hilda as “She Who Must Be Obeyed”.
His skills at defending his clients are legendary among the criminal classes. The Timson clan of minor villains regularly rely on Rumpole to get them out of their latest bit of trouble with the law. Rumpole is proud of his successful handling of the Penge Bungalow Murders “alone and without a leader” early in his career and of his extensive knowledge of bloodstains and typewriters. Cross-examination is one of his favourite activities, and he disdains barristers who lack either the skill or courage to ask the right questions. His courtroom zeal gets him into trouble from time to time. More than once, his investigations reveal more than his client wants him to know. Rumpole’s most dubious encounters stem from arguing with judges, particularly those who seem to believe that being on trial implies guilt or that the police are infallible.
Every day he visits Pommeroy’s Wine Bar, located on Fleet Street and within easy walking distance of both the Old Bailey and his law office at Equity Court. He jokingly refers to the wine he drinks there as “Cooking Claret”, “Pommeroy’s Plonk”, “Pommeroy’s Very Ordinary”, “Chateau Thames Embankment”, or “Chateau Fleet Street”. His cigar smoking is often the subject of debate within his chambers. His peers sometimes criticise his attire, in particular his old hat, imperfectly aligned clothes, cigar ash trailing down his waistcoat and faded barrister’s wig, “bought second hand from a former Chief Justice of Tonga”.
Despite his affection for the criminal classes, Rumpole’s character is ruled by a firm set of ethics. He is a staunch believer in the presumption of innocence, the “Golden Thread of British Justice”. Accordingly, Rumpole believes that you should never plead guilty, although he has qualified that principle by stating on several occasions that he is morally bound to enter a guilty plea if he knows that the defendant is actually guilty.
Although we have only watched two series and a Christmas Special so far, it has reminded me of how much fun the series used to be but also made fans of a whole new generation – albeit of Bears.
All we have to do now is make sure Granny does not hear Razzi calling her “She Who Must Be Obeyed”.
