After a solid Turkish breakfast of yoghurt, muesli, jam, olives, beyaz peynir cheese, eggs, sucuk sausage, cucumber and tomato at the fishing town of Eğirdir I set off to climb Sivri Dağı. The peak towers over Lake Eğirdir, which is crossed by St Pauls trail running from Perge to Yalvaç in Turkey. The trail is a glimpse of the land Saint Paul travelled on his first journey through Anatolia with Barnabas, preaching in synagogues and defending Gentile converts against a faction promoting Gentile circumcision in the lead up to the Council of Jerusalem.

Saint Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is one of the most influential early Christian missionaries. On the road to Syrian Damascus from Jerusalem, with the intent to persecute and arrest followers of Jesus, he experienced blinding light from a divine revelation and afterwards lost vision for three days (sun-stroke?!). The message: Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God. He took this message to the Jewish diaspora, the pagans, who were worshipping Greek and Roman gods, and burned the books of magicians at Ephesus. In the process he changed the religion of Christianity (as documented in the Epistles attributed to him), partly by adding many instructions about forms of worship, partly by changing the message.

Leo Tolstoy, a fervent Christian anarchist, weighed in on Paul’s contribution to Christianity in Church and State by labelling him a lover of authoritarian teaching. He holds Paul partly responsible for the departure of early gospel doctrine which condemns idolatry and authoritarianism.

Why are [God-ordained pastors] so anxious to teach their faith to other people? If they had the true faith, they would know that faith is the meaning of life, the relation to God established by every man, and that, therefore, it is impossible to teach a faith, but only the deception of faith. But they want to teach. For what? The simplest answer would be that the pope needs cakes and eggs, and the bishop needs a palace, fish pie, and silk vestments.

The masculinist deep within me shuddered at the prospect of my very own man-cave at Göreme. I didn’t have any tools to sharpen, a jet-ski to polish, a wifey to moan about, a television to watch cricket or a broken bottleneck to slide the blues. I just had the mentality of any ordinary alienated and socially retarded being who believes it’s pitiful that the only way some castrated males achieve a feeling of power is through pwning their own cave. I now understand why the Islamic Ottomans despised the caves of Cappadocia. The Ottomans, a culture founded on male dominance, believed that only animals, Christians and, harem-ically speaking, women should live in caves.

The spectacularly eroded volcanic tuff plateau of the Göreme valley has some exciting trails for exploring troglodyte culture. Within the pillar and spire rock formations people, mainly Byzantine Christians, excavated a network of caves which served as refuges, residences, storage and places of worship dating from the 4th century.

Istanbul was Constantinople.

Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople.

So take me back to Constantinople.

No, you can’t go back to Constantinople.

Now it’s Turkish delight on a moonlit night.

Why did Constantinople get the works? That’s nobody’s business but the Turks.

Every gal in Constantinople lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople. So if you’ve a date in Constantinople, she’ll be waiting in Istanbul.

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it I can’t say. People just liked it better that way.

Been a long time gone, Constantinople.

I allow for most of my uploaded material to be shared/used for non-commercial purposes. I don’t allow for commercial use of my work because I’m not setup to be remunerated. This is what I conveyed to the Marketing & Communications Manager of Supersprint . I was contacted not to see whether I would allow the use of my photograph to market the 2XU Great Ocean & Otway Classic Ride 2012, but to what name it could be credited:

Subject: Great Ocean Road Image for Website
Date: 30th September, 2011

Hi Mate,

Was just wondering if I were to attribute an image to you what name do I need to use ?

My reply (with the implication that if I was to allow for an image to be used, it would come at a cost):

Re: Great Ocean Road Image for Website

Hello ——,

I’m guessing this is a commercial application? I don’t allow for commercial use of my work because I’m not setup to be remunerated.

And his reply:

Subject: Re: Great Ocean Road Image for Website
Date: 3rd October, 2011

Hi —-,

We specifically use the best images on the web ONLY and not in PRINT only the highlight the beauty of the area for the shire. If it is really an issue let me know and I will not use on the web.

Well it is an issue and I’m vexed that it has been published despite my refusal. Before you try to find a muppet who’d be willing to hand over their Otway Shire eye-candy for sweet fuck all, please take a read of this: Reasons Why Professional Photographers Cannot Work for Free.

With a fading post-war dream of lifetime employment as a corporate samurai, millions of twenty-something grass-eating Japanese men are remaining at home as parasitic singles. After working some of the longest hours in the developed world, all that’s able to be done on the weekends is sleep. The innate desire to find a partner has been subdued by high-speed internet and the accessibility of porn, sex toys and virtual sex from bedroom computers. Even those who opt for conventional marriage find that their old role of a macho and sexist breadwinner is no longer acceptable. The loss in masculine identity means that more men are sitting down to pee and freeing their hands to adjust the straps of their WishRoom manziers. It has even reached the point where frustrated parents have been taking the intitiative to evict their herbivorous children through secret matchmaking conventions. But what is the merit in marrying off a grass-eater who inherently fears commitment? What do they evolve into once the foundation from the marriage ceremony is removed from their supple cheeks? Further Reading