Now They Tell Me!!

After being inspired by Bob Ross 'Joy of Painting', I signed up for an online Art course a few years ago and i can bang out a cloud and a mountain but I seem to have a real problem with dimensions and many a canvas has been ditched because of it and i mentioned it in the group chat and got the answer that i should trace the outline first.
I said that would be like cheating and blow me, it turns out that i was probably the only person NOT doing it!
Something called the Da Vinci Eye is particularity popular and throws the picture onto paper or canvas so you can sketch it out before painting and although it would be very useful, that doesn't feel right to me, its like the audio books which i maintain doesn't count as 'reading' a book.
I checked with a few other artists and it seemed split between yep its cheating and nope, it's perfectly fine but to me Art should be from your imagination where you paint what is in your mind's eye and then after deciding it's shite, painting over it in a huff and starting all over again.
The fact that nobody told me about Blending Stumps for pencil drawings was bad enough but now to find out that some of the brilliant art work i see from my fellow learners is actually a traced copy of something else just makes me think am i the mug for doing it the way i thought it should be done?
Maybe i should make Bob proud and just stick to painting mountains and clouds with a few trees thrown in but have to admit, it is tempting to get some additional help so my painted people don't end up looking like an Easter Island statue.

Trump's Disinformation Bubble

I don't like to keep writing about Donald Trump but when it was clear that he was going to be voted back into Office, the happiest people were Fascists, Journalists and Comedians as all of us would get some decent material from the re-elected President of USA.
Obviously, voting someone into power with the IQ of a compost heap and diminishing with each passing day was never going to be a good idea but with the added bonus of throwing a cretin like Elon Musk into the mix it is beyond our wildest dreams which is why we are seeing them lay off Air Safety staff hot on the heels of a rash of plane crashes and realising that firing 300 employees responsible for managing America's nuclear weapons was not such a good idea after a grown up explained to him that it could have dire national security implications.  
Less than a month in and already he has most of the World leaders hoping he gives some more speeches outdoors in Pennsylvania but today he gave his opinion on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and seemed to blame Ukraine for starting it.
In comments after a meeting between American and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, the Marmalade faced US president said of Ukraine: 'They've had a seat at the table for three years and a long time before that. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.'
In his defence it could be that when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 he was occupied with court cases around his sexual abuse of a woman in a changing room or the 34 Fraud Charges he was found guilty of so he missed it but i am sure the it would have been mentioned in the President's Daily Brief but again, maybe it had long words and no drawings in crayon so he never noticed it but Volodymyr Zelenskyy reminded him by saying he is in a 'disinformation bubble' and that Trump has not just drunk the Kremlin’s Kool-Aid, but is now bathing in it.
Just as Trump's idea of ethnically cleansing Gaza to please the genocidal maniac in charge of Israel was as popular as a pin in a condom factory, this latest idea of rewarding the Invading Russians with land they stole is not getting that much support outside of Moscow but with the way Trumps brain is disintegrating before our very eyes, i'm sure it will be forgotten shortly and we will be discussing something else, Pennsylvanian outdoor events allowing.

World Press Freedom Index 2024

Every year Reporters Without Borders publish The World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) based on an assessment of each countries' journalists freedoms for the previous year.
There are 180 countries and each is given a score under five categories with the first being the degree of media autonomy and top are Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands and Finland with Canada 14th, France 21st, the United Kingdom 23rd, Australia 39th, the USA 55th, Russia 162nd, China 172nd and the worst places of the 180 nations are Iran, North Korea,  Afghanistan,  Syria and Eritrea.      
The economic indicator evaluates economic constraints linked to governmental policies, advertisers and commercial partners and media owners and the Scandinavians come out of this well again with the top 5 being Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark and Finland with the UK 18th, Australia 27th, USA 33rd, Russia 148th, China 163rd  and the bottom 5 are Vietnam, Syria, Eritrea, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
The legal indicator evaluates the level of censorship and top is Sweden, then Norway, Denmark, Netherlands and the Dominican Republic with Canada 11th, USA 41st, UK 42nd, Australia 60th, Russia 157th, China 172nd and the bottom 5 Belarus, Myanmar, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Cuba.
The sociocultural indicator evaluates the impact of social and cultural constraints obstructing journalistic freedom and number 1 is Norway, Estonia, Portugal, Netherlands and Denmark and Canada is 22nd, UK is 40th, USA 54th, Russia 149th, 173rd China and the bottom is Iran, Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
The security indicator evaluates the risk of physical, psychological or professional harm against Journalists and the safest place is Luxembourg, then Liechtenstein, Samoa, Switzerland and Denmark with Canada 36, Australia 40th, UK 50th, USA 118th, Russia 168th, China 172nd and the least safest being Iran, Myanmar, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Syria.
All the above is rolled into one to get a final score and the freest places to be a journalist are Norway then Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands and Finland with Canada 14th, France 21st, United Kingdom 23rd, Australia 39th, United States 55th, Israel 101st, and the places where you really should reconsider your career choices are Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria and bottom of the pile Eritrea.

Richard Tice: Professional Thicko

The Reform Party gene pool has a very shallow end with some very high diving boards which is why they are so very wrong on many things and we can add another one to the list today as the Deputy Richard Tice rejected the idea that Climate Change was man made and it is actually down to the Sun and volcanoes and that there was no evidence that man-made CO2 is going to change climate change as it had done on for millions of years.
Tice also said that there are thousands of scientists who agreed with him which must have come as a shock to him when the scientists then all slapped their head in the universal sign which said 'You thicko' and explained why he was being even more of a douchebag then usual.
Dr George Adamson from King's College London began by saying that the climate had indeed changed over million of years but these changes were now happening in decades rather than over tens of thousands of years and called Tice idea that it wasn't man made as: 'Preposterous'.
Dr Andrew Jarvis from Lancaster University called Tice's comments 'categorically wrong' while Dr Philipp Breul from Imperial College London said Mr Tice was missing the point as: 'We are causing the climate to change significantly faster than it has in the last million years'.
Up next was Professor Sheila Rowan, vice president of The Royal Society of independent scientists, who said that 'the evidence is clear that burning fossil fuels has resulted in fundamental changes to our planet' and then Bob Ward, policy director at LSE University's Grantham Research Institute and Geological Society who said: 'There is not a single credible scientific organisation in the UK or the world that agrees with him about the causes or consequences of climate change.
I guess if Sky News had more time or a 6 year old with some crayons they could have explained it to him or they could have just wheeled out any of the 99% of Climate Scientists who agree that humans are causing recent climate change but then this is a man who still insists that Brexit was a good idea so hey ho, the eyes were open and the mouth was moving but Mr Brain had long since departed Richard Tice's head.

The War Nobody Is Talking About

With everyone looking at the wars going on in Middle East and Eastern Europe, the one in Central Africa seems to be going under the Radar and has for the past few decades.
After years of conflict fueled by the plundering of mineral resources, fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has caused 'unimaginable hardship' according to the United Nations.
The fighting has centered around control of the nations gold mines and reserves of diamonds, gold, tin ore, coltan and tungsten ore with the nations mineral wealth is estimated at $24 trillion and the recent conflict over Goma ended with at least 2,800 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands.
The Rwandan-backed armed group, M23, have been over-running the Conolese Army and capturing mining towns alongside Rwandan troops and other militia groups and Amnesty International has accused all sides of carrying out attacks that: 'constitute war crimes' and the Congolese Presdient, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, has called on the international community to help keep the peace in the region, which the West replied by condemning the Rwandans and then doing nothing much else.  
Since the turn of the year fighting has forced around 700,000 people to flee their homes, the United Nations said and Camps sheltering displaced people have been bombed and fighters have also occupied schools and hospitals.
U.N. human rights chief, Volker Turk, said last week the worst could be yet to come, adding he was horrified by emerging, multiple reports of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery and The World Health Organization (WHO) has also warned of disease outbreaks with the M23 group expelling Aid agencies. Global Witness issued a 110 page report of who is buying the Congolese minerals and amazingly found  European and Asian companies, including the British groups AMC,  Afrimex buying minerals used to make mobile phones, computers and other electronics from the disputed mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that are funding the armed groups and shamefully, when asked if they would stop, replied that had no controls in place to stop conflict minerals entering their supply chain.

Musk Wealth Tanking

The Nazi saluting Elon Musk doesn't seem to be worried where his next meal is coming from which is just as well because the World's richest fascist has seen staggering sales drops, swastika-daubed EVs and companies culling his Tesla fleet models.
Musk’s toxicity among many Europeans is such that even owners of Tesla news websites have ditched Muskmobiles for other EV brands. Jon Gibbs of Birmingham, England, runs what he calls the world’s biggest Tesla inventory site but even he has dumped his Musk car for a BMW iX electric SUV.
Maybe his MAGA fans or the right wing oddballs will make up for the decline elsewhere but his estimated $394.2 billion must be taking a hit after as he was worth $486 billion previously and Tesla makes about 60% of his wealth according to Yahoo Finance but it isnt just the Tesla shareholders who will be getting nervous, his social media platform X has lost 71% of its value since he bought by Elon Musk which he acquired for $44bn in October 2022 and is now worth $12.5bn.
Couldn't happen to a nicer Nazi loving imbecile.

First, Second and Third Thoughts On Trump Peace Plan

My first thought when i heard Donald Trump was negotiating with Russia to end the War in Ukraine was one of relief as it has gone on far too long and too many people have been killed but then my second thought piped up and said hang on, Trump and Putin deciding it without Ukraine having a say and then my third thought chipped in with he is giving Putin the reward of whatever he wants for invading another nation so Zelenskyy should tell him to shove it up his huge arse at which point my first thought did the 'ahem' thing and i went full circle.
I did make the joke that the first thing Trump asked when Putin picked up the phone was ensure that the Pee Tape was still safely locked away and as i have heard other people say that since, i claim ownership of it and if anyone has said it since Thursday then i expect royalties.
What i don't understand is why Trump would tell Putin what he would get out of not killing innocent Ukrainians anymore (i.e. they can keep the land they have stolen and Ukraine would not enter NATO) before negotiations have even begun but then this is one of the World's worst ever businessmen so that explains all those bankruptcies and i assume Putin must have thought when he heard that everything is on the table, i wonder if i can get the table also?
So i am torn between just ending a horrific war and not rewarding Russia for invading another nation with the victim wondering where they stand in all of it and realising well, nowhere particularly and not only are they not in the driving seat for negotiations like they should be but are not even in the car, more like cycling furiously along behind it.
That does seem to be the Trump negotiating tactic though, throw the victims under the bus (Palestinians, Ukrainians) and reward the genocidal warmongers in Tel Aviv and Moscow who can only feel emboldened that they have the backing of such a simpleton in the White House and must be considering their next move in warmongery.
Israel, i assume once they have ethnically cleansed the Palestinians from their own land will carry on their expansion into Syria and Lebanon and Russia will be fluttering their eyelashes at the likes of former Soviet Nations such as Georgia or Estonia while reminding Trump that it would be such a shame if that video of his stay in Moscow's posh Ritz-Carlton Hotel in 2013 got leaked,yep, that would be a real shame.

When A Boy Falls In Love

 

There are many songs by you humans about being in Love and the things your heart goes through when you meatbags fall in Love but the songwriters of mushy ballads have a very different view of it to biologists who can actually explain in details what happens.

You see love triggers the release of various chemicals associated with pleasure in the brain, such as dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin and when you are engaging with things that bring you pleasure, neurotransmitters in your mushy brain lead you to pursue that reward again and again so your brain says, 'Do that again.'

Norepinephrine and adrenaline can also flow into the brain's center, causing places such as the amygdala to give a sort of nervous and restless feeling, which increases blood flow and heart rate and the rate of many of your body's systems so your your palms get sweaty and you get jelly legs.

As such, your 'love' is no more than a mere feeling induced by a bunch of hormones in the brain all working together which may not be quite so romantic but it shows that Sam Cooke really had no idea about what happens when a Boy, or anyone, falls in love.

Heart's And Flower's

Today is the most romantic day of the year, Heart's can be seen everywhere from heart shaped chocolates to sentimental cards and Hearts have long been a symbol of Love and  affection so give you heart away today, or at least wait until you are dead which is what Mary Shelley did, carrying around her Husbands heart in her purse for 30 years after he died in a sailing accident.  
Frédéric Chopin’s Heart is pickled in alcohol in the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, removed after his death but after Thomas Hardy went to meet his maker, the doctor removed is heart and while they argued over where to bury it, the family cat sneaked in and ate it while Robert the Bruce's organ was taken in to battle, worn around the neck of his troops before being returned to Scotland.  
The Trevi Fountain in Rome is home to 22 urns with each holding the hearts of a Popes inside them but William Buckland, the 18th Century Dean of Westminster, when shown the mummified heart of King Louis XIV of France, picked it up and swallowed it.
There is an Urban legend from the Middle Ages, a story that has inspired many horror stories, a gruesome tale called the Legend of the Eaten Heart.
In the story, a married woman takes a lover and her husband finds out he kills his love rival and cuts out his heart, cooks it and feeds it to his wife telling her it is actually a steak and after she has finished, he tells her what she has really just eaten and in her distress throws herself to her death out of a window.
Have a great day, show your husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend how much you love and appreciate them but if they offer to cook you a steak, maybe go to a restaurant. 

Denmark Make Offer For California

Denmark trying to buy America was a bit of fun, what they really wanted was just the good bits which is why they are now offering to buy just California for a trillion dollars, or 7,142,285,000,000 Danish Krone. If the deal goes through they are offering to rename the State 'New Denmark',  change Disneyland to Hans Christian Andersenland and bring hygge to Hollywood because as they put it: 'Denmark needs more sunshine, palm trees, and roller skates'.
They will also make Los Angeles Løs Ångeles and introduce 'the rule of law, universal health care, and fact-based politics'.
The Eagles Hotel California will become Hotel Copenhagen, California Girls by the Beach Boys will be Roskilde Girls, Silkeborg Sol will be the new name for the Ramones California Sun,  Frederikshavn Dreaming instead of California Dreaming, Odense Paradise instead of The Runaways California Paradise, People will be singing if they know the way to Helsingør rather than Son Jose and  the Little Old lady isn't from Pasadena anymore, now she is from Ølstykke-Stenløse.
They are open to offers and have agreed to reluctantly also take Florida as long as the Orange Baboon and his family are ethnically cleansed from it first.