Some people start their day with a cup of coffee and a cigarette but i have seen a video of students finding a way to combine the two into one time-saving act by smoking coffee.
The videos showing teenagers rolling coffee
beans or grounds into cigarette papers and
then lighting up and smoking it.
Obviously cheaper than tobacco but when i was at college back i the 80's we were breaking open tea bags to mix with our dwindling supplies of tobacco and smoking that.
While smoking a mix of Golden Virginia and PG Tips isn't the best tasting thing, it never did us any harm but i can't vouch for lighting up a Rizla full of Maxwell House but if you suffer problems breathing, dizziness, rapid heartbeat or vomiting then you should probably stop.
Monday, 31 March 2014
Was Jesus A Champagne Socialist?
Indiana Jones and the Monty Python team went looking but failed to find it but the Holy Grail has turned up in a Spanish Church.
Curators have now been were forced to remove the cup from display after crowds swarmed there after historians claimed it was the gold and onyx cup encrusted with precious stones was the real thing.
The only time i have ever reached out to the Bible was to squash a damsel fly but unless i am very much mistaken, Jesus was an out of work carpenter (no mention of him ever knocking up a dovetail joint) and had given up all his possessions as explained in rich men and the eye of the needle speech Why then would he or his friends have a cup made of gold and encrusted with jewels? Surely a chipped mug with 'Jesus's Tea, Hands Off' on it would be more in keeping with his station.
If Jesus and his chums did have a cup like this then they were obviously worth a bob or two. I'm beginning to have some serious doubts about the authenticity of this Bible you know.
Curators have now been were forced to remove the cup from display after crowds swarmed there after historians claimed it was the gold and onyx cup encrusted with precious stones was the real thing.
The only time i have ever reached out to the Bible was to squash a damsel fly but unless i am very much mistaken, Jesus was an out of work carpenter (no mention of him ever knocking up a dovetail joint) and had given up all his possessions as explained in rich men and the eye of the needle speech Why then would he or his friends have a cup made of gold and encrusted with jewels? Surely a chipped mug with 'Jesus's Tea, Hands Off' on it would be more in keeping with his station.
If Jesus and his chums did have a cup like this then they were obviously worth a bob or two. I'm beginning to have some serious doubts about the authenticity of this Bible you know.
Japan Told To Stop Whaling
Japan has been arguing that its annual slaughter of 850 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales was for scientific reasons to examine the age, health, feeding habits, exposure to toxins and other characteristics of whale populations.
The UN today say B*****ks and told them to stop it after requesting the scientific evidence that they had gleaned and Japan offering up two reports, one from 2005.
'The myth that this hunt was in any way scientific can now be dismissed once and for all' said Greenpeace who had been campaigning for the end of the Japanese whaling fleets along with the Australian government for the past four years.
It is just a shame that they have been getting away with the laughably pathetic scientific research excuse for so long, these wheels certainly did grind slow.
Now let's go after the other Whaling nations like Norway and Iceland.
The UN today say B*****ks and told them to stop it after requesting the scientific evidence that they had gleaned and Japan offering up two reports, one from 2005.
'The myth that this hunt was in any way scientific can now be dismissed once and for all' said Greenpeace who had been campaigning for the end of the Japanese whaling fleets along with the Australian government for the past four years.
It is just a shame that they have been getting away with the laughably pathetic scientific research excuse for so long, these wheels certainly did grind slow.
Now let's go after the other Whaling nations like Norway and Iceland.
Sunday, 30 March 2014
BAM POW WHAM Batman Sucks
This month sees the 75th anniversary of Batman or as i have gleaned from the episodes of Batman that i saw i the 70s, a man dressed as a bat who has gadgets with the word 'bat' in front of them.
Maybe its because i'm not geek enough to understand but isn't Batman about the worst superhero ever?
Firstly, he has no superpowers, he can't fly or shoot lasers from his eyes like Superman and bats are known for being blind and using radar to avoid flying into things which are not the first things i would request if i was to take on the bad guys of Gotham City.
Take away his utility belt full of 'bat gadgets' and he is just a perfectly helpless guy in a tight fitting blue suit and cape. Why the Joker didn't do this in the first ten minutes of the first Batman film i don't know but it would have spared us all the rest of the awful Dark Knight films.
He did have quite a cool car though but then so did the Dukes of Hazard and they beat the bad guys with Boss Hogg and Rosco P. Coltrane harassing them every week!
Maybe its because i'm not geek enough to understand but isn't Batman about the worst superhero ever?
Firstly, he has no superpowers, he can't fly or shoot lasers from his eyes like Superman and bats are known for being blind and using radar to avoid flying into things which are not the first things i would request if i was to take on the bad guys of Gotham City.
Take away his utility belt full of 'bat gadgets' and he is just a perfectly helpless guy in a tight fitting blue suit and cape. Why the Joker didn't do this in the first ten minutes of the first Batman film i don't know but it would have spared us all the rest of the awful Dark Knight films.
He did have quite a cool car though but then so did the Dukes of Hazard and they beat the bad guys with Boss Hogg and Rosco P. Coltrane harassing them every week!
Yellowstone Supervolcano
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake in Wyoming wouldn't generally make the news outside of Wyoming but when the quake is in Yellowstone National Park it does take on slightly more significance as Yellowstone is the home of a Supervolcano.
Although there were no immediate reports of damage, more importantly the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory have stated that the quake is not expected to trigger any volcanic activity but they will continue to closely monitor the rise of the Yellowstone Plateau which has been shifting upwards at a rate of 3 inches each year as the magma chamber fills with molten rock.
As some estimates put the damage caused by an eruption of the Supervolcano as widespread as a 500-mile radius, anything changing beneath Yellowstone is a big deal although the moving plateau and slowly filling magma chamber could just as easily deflate again.
The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory are on the case but you can also be kept up to date on the wonderfully informative Preppers World USA website where you can also find out about how Russian Soliders are being trained to control US Citizens and reports of yet another zombie attack in Florida.
Although there were no immediate reports of damage, more importantly the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory have stated that the quake is not expected to trigger any volcanic activity but they will continue to closely monitor the rise of the Yellowstone Plateau which has been shifting upwards at a rate of 3 inches each year as the magma chamber fills with molten rock.
As some estimates put the damage caused by an eruption of the Supervolcano as widespread as a 500-mile radius, anything changing beneath Yellowstone is a big deal although the moving plateau and slowly filling magma chamber could just as easily deflate again.
The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory are on the case but you can also be kept up to date on the wonderfully informative Preppers World USA website where you can also find out about how Russian Soliders are being trained to control US Citizens and reports of yet another zombie attack in Florida.
Saturday, 29 March 2014
Why Turkey Banned YouTube And Twitter
The Turkish Government shut down Twitter last week for 'spreading false information in the run-up to a significant election' and yesterday YouTube was banned.
The Youtube ban was prompted after a video was posted that was leaked of top Turkish officials discussing Syria.
The posting is in Turkish but International Business News has an English translation and the story is huge and should be making headlines everywhere, but it seems to be very quiet on something so sinister going on.
In the leaked video, the Head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, says: 'I'll send 4 men from Syria, if that's what it takes. I'll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey; we can also prepare an attack on Suleiman Shah Tomb if necessary'. Suleiman Shah was the grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. The tomb of Suleiman Shah is sovereign territory of Turkey.
The head of Turkish intelligence is saying that he will make up a false pretext to intervene militarily in Syria by arranging for 4 men to attack his own country, a plan that the Prime Minister is said to have described as: 'an opportunity for us'.
The Chief of Staff, Yasar Guler, follows up with the comment 'It's a direct cause of war. I mean, what're going to do is a direct cause of war'.
Known as a False Flag Operation, this should be reverberating around the World, that a country is discussing undertaking a military operation to make it appear as if it was carried out by someone else as a pretext for military intervention.
The False flag has been applied to many events and has been hijacked by many conspiracy theorists which could explain why almost all the media is shying away from promoting it.
Turkey's foreign ministry said the leaked recording of top officials discussing the Syria operation was a 'wretched attack' on national security.
That Turkey has been caught red handed planning a False Flag operation to start a war should be the top news story in every country around the World because what Russia have been doing and which continues to dominate headlines pails into insignificance with the ramifications of Turkey's abhorrent actions in such a tinderbox area.
Noah's Ark: Doing The Maths
With the new Russell Crowe film 'Noah' at our cinema's, it's about time we delved into the murky World of the Bible and do the maths on Noah's floating zoo.
As the story goes, God told Noah to build an enormous wooden boat and load a male and female of every unclean animal species (7 if they were clean) into it. Then God made it rain, flooding the entire earth with water to swallow up the wicked.
The Bible is quite clear on the make up and dimensions of the ark, it was made of gopher wood and was 300 cubits long (437ft), 50 cubits wide (72ft) and 30 cubits high (43ft) which makes approximately 95,832 square feet of floor space.
According to the Discovery website, there are 7.7 million species of animals on our Planet but as some are water based, we can leave out the fish and whales and squids and such-like which would halve the amount of loading Noah would have to do and the amount of space needed.
Professor Ian Plimer has worked out that the 3 million plus species, using the dimensions given, would have been allocated space of less than a coffee-cup per pair of animals, not counting their food and water requirements.
Then there is the no small matter of collecting and loading a year's supply of the correct kind of food for every single species and keeping the predators separated from each other and from the species they would ordinarily have eaten which must have proven a nightmare task.
To reduce the headache of having to visit different continents to round up the animals, God helpfully forced the animals to Noah but even once aboard, Noah still had the problem of feeding and cleaning up after the animals and as God was busy massacring everyone except Noah and the 7 members of his family, it only left 8 bodies to do the feeding, water and to shovel the poop over the side of the ark.
The Bible describes the rains as lasting 40 days and 40 nights and then the ark bobbed around for another year with Noah and his family avoiding being mauled by the vicious animals or trampled by one of the heavy ones until the floods subsided enough for him to land.
So how did Noah manage to fit all those animals and their food and water into an ark that allowed each pair of animals enough space to put down a coffee cup?
I haven't read the Bible but i assume there must be a mention of an incredible shrinking ray somewhere in it because if not the man who made the birds and the bees and the flowers and trees with such perfect dimensions was a lousy boat builder.
As the story goes, God told Noah to build an enormous wooden boat and load a male and female of every unclean animal species (7 if they were clean) into it. Then God made it rain, flooding the entire earth with water to swallow up the wicked.
The Bible is quite clear on the make up and dimensions of the ark, it was made of gopher wood and was 300 cubits long (437ft), 50 cubits wide (72ft) and 30 cubits high (43ft) which makes approximately 95,832 square feet of floor space.
According to the Discovery website, there are 7.7 million species of animals on our Planet but as some are water based, we can leave out the fish and whales and squids and such-like which would halve the amount of loading Noah would have to do and the amount of space needed.
Professor Ian Plimer has worked out that the 3 million plus species, using the dimensions given, would have been allocated space of less than a coffee-cup per pair of animals, not counting their food and water requirements.
Then there is the no small matter of collecting and loading a year's supply of the correct kind of food for every single species and keeping the predators separated from each other and from the species they would ordinarily have eaten which must have proven a nightmare task.
To reduce the headache of having to visit different continents to round up the animals, God helpfully forced the animals to Noah but even once aboard, Noah still had the problem of feeding and cleaning up after the animals and as God was busy massacring everyone except Noah and the 7 members of his family, it only left 8 bodies to do the feeding, water and to shovel the poop over the side of the ark.
The Bible describes the rains as lasting 40 days and 40 nights and then the ark bobbed around for another year with Noah and his family avoiding being mauled by the vicious animals or trampled by one of the heavy ones until the floods subsided enough for him to land.
So how did Noah manage to fit all those animals and their food and water into an ark that allowed each pair of animals enough space to put down a coffee cup?
I haven't read the Bible but i assume there must be a mention of an incredible shrinking ray somewhere in it because if not the man who made the birds and the bees and the flowers and trees with such perfect dimensions was a lousy boat builder.
No Time For Obama To Ask About Human Right Violations
After his speech on Friday criticising Russia for its anti-gay rights laws, Obama rolled onto Saudi Arabia.
Obviously, with the rights of homosexuals at the forefront of his mind, he must have also mentioned his new found admiration for the gay and lesbian community to such a vile regime where homosexuality is punished with imprisonment, corporal punishment, torture, capital punishment and chemical castration.
It was only a few years ago that human right groups found that the Saudi government was sending British mosques material urging the killing of gays and last year the Saudi's back plans by the Gulf Cooperative Countries to ban LGBT foreigners from entering Gulf countries.
So fresh from berating Russia for banning the promotion of homosexuality, he must have bought his concerns up that, as he told the Russian he believes in: 'human dignity, that every person is created equal no matter who you are or what you look like or who you love or where you come from'.
'With the other issues discussed, it left no time to raise human rights issues' said the White House spokesman when questioned by Human rights groups who had urged Obama to bring up the plethora of Human Right violations in the country during his visit.
He just didn't have the time, funny that.
Obviously, with the rights of homosexuals at the forefront of his mind, he must have also mentioned his new found admiration for the gay and lesbian community to such a vile regime where homosexuality is punished with imprisonment, corporal punishment, torture, capital punishment and chemical castration.
It was only a few years ago that human right groups found that the Saudi government was sending British mosques material urging the killing of gays and last year the Saudi's back plans by the Gulf Cooperative Countries to ban LGBT foreigners from entering Gulf countries.
So fresh from berating Russia for banning the promotion of homosexuality, he must have bought his concerns up that, as he told the Russian he believes in: 'human dignity, that every person is created equal no matter who you are or what you look like or who you love or where you come from'.
'With the other issues discussed, it left no time to raise human rights issues' said the White House spokesman when questioned by Human rights groups who had urged Obama to bring up the plethora of Human Right violations in the country during his visit.
He just didn't have the time, funny that.
Friday, 28 March 2014
Religious Homophobia
The church going population of the UK is around 4% and declining so with each generation, the Church gets drawn further and further into irrelevance so the downward slide means that people of faith will be practical gone in a century or so and listening to their views on gay marriage, you can only say that is a good thing.
With the same-sex marriage law coming into effect with the first ceremonies in England and Wales this Saturday, the only loudest voices of dissent are coming from the religious quarter with their well worn phrase of 'Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman'.
For some reason the Church and Church goers cannot see love and commitment between two people but just an unhealthy preoccupation of the couples sexuality and what goes on in the bedroom between them.
The Church and its followers need to make the leap into the 21st Century and move away from the dangerously outdated attitude that marriage is between only a man and a woman as it is now between two people who love each other regardless of gender.
To argue against it is only to usher in with increasing speed the decline of an outdated institution that is already creaking and wheezing on its last legs and the more i hear them try to justify their homophobia, the more i think the quicker it falls the better.
With the same-sex marriage law coming into effect with the first ceremonies in England and Wales this Saturday, the only loudest voices of dissent are coming from the religious quarter with their well worn phrase of 'Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman'.
For some reason the Church and Church goers cannot see love and commitment between two people but just an unhealthy preoccupation of the couples sexuality and what goes on in the bedroom between them.
The Church and its followers need to make the leap into the 21st Century and move away from the dangerously outdated attitude that marriage is between only a man and a woman as it is now between two people who love each other regardless of gender.
To argue against it is only to usher in with increasing speed the decline of an outdated institution that is already creaking and wheezing on its last legs and the more i hear them try to justify their homophobia, the more i think the quicker it falls the better.
Thursday, 27 March 2014
Sharp Spike In Executions
Days after Egypt sentenced 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to death, Amnesty International announce a 'sharp global spike' in the number of people put to death last year.
Almost 100 more people were executed in 2013 compared with the previous year, a rise of 15%, with 22 countries carrying out 778 executions.
Top of the list are Iran (369), Iraq (169), Saudi Arabia (79), the United States (39) and Somalia (34) which should raise a few eyebrows in Washington that they are in such esteemed company.
It won't but it should.
Almost 100 more people were executed in 2013 compared with the previous year, a rise of 15%, with 22 countries carrying out 778 executions.
Top of the list are Iran (369), Iraq (169), Saudi Arabia (79), the United States (39) and Somalia (34) which should raise a few eyebrows in Washington that they are in such esteemed company.
It won't but it should.
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Will It Stand Up In Court?
All Max has to do now is drop his pants in the dock and if the organ isn't freakishly small it's case closed and all back to Mrs Miggin's for coffee and a slice of pie.
If the judge has to ask for a telescope then it's a prison sentence and a life time of seeing his name changed to Min Clifford in all the newspapers.
Consequences For Cyber-Bullying
As my job brings me into daily contact with many teenagers, i have seen the effects of cyber-bullying and it isn't nice at all and in some cases can even lead to horrific mental problems for the recipient and in extreme cases, suicide.
Unfortunately, social media and mobile phones are perfect for some individuals to send anonymous threats and abuse and it is good news that the government is trying to do something to prevent this huge problem, i just have concerns over the plans to jail anyone convicted of cyber-bullying or text message abuse for up to two years.
The justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has backed an amendment to the criminal justice bill that would target new rules at combating cyber-bullies that sexually harass and verbally abuse people on the internet or via mobile phones in England and Wales under the Malicious Communications Act.
My concerns are where does bullying or being abusive start and legitimately criticising someone end?
Obviously the anti-social miscreants who sent death and rape threats to journalist Caroline Criado-Perez after she launched a campaign for more women to be represented on banknotes fully deserved the prison sentence they got but two years seems excessive.
If it acts as a deterrent to cyber-bullying then i will reluctantly back it, it is a real problem that needs to be tackled, but i would prefer that threats by text or online be treated the same as any verbal threat made by any other means and bullying be classed the same as harassment and stalking and the threat of a suspended six month sentence and up to a £5,000 fine to focus the mind of anyone before they press send.
Unfortunately, social media and mobile phones are perfect for some individuals to send anonymous threats and abuse and it is good news that the government is trying to do something to prevent this huge problem, i just have concerns over the plans to jail anyone convicted of cyber-bullying or text message abuse for up to two years.
The justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has backed an amendment to the criminal justice bill that would target new rules at combating cyber-bullies that sexually harass and verbally abuse people on the internet or via mobile phones in England and Wales under the Malicious Communications Act.
My concerns are where does bullying or being abusive start and legitimately criticising someone end?
Obviously the anti-social miscreants who sent death and rape threats to journalist Caroline Criado-Perez after she launched a campaign for more women to be represented on banknotes fully deserved the prison sentence they got but two years seems excessive.
If it acts as a deterrent to cyber-bullying then i will reluctantly back it, it is a real problem that needs to be tackled, but i would prefer that threats by text or online be treated the same as any verbal threat made by any other means and bullying be classed the same as harassment and stalking and the threat of a suspended six month sentence and up to a £5,000 fine to focus the mind of anyone before they press send.
Still Trying To Get Us To Accept Fracking
Struggling to get the country behind his vision for fracking wells lining the country, David Cameron has attempted to shoehorn fracking into the Ukraine crisis.
He has tried saying it would create jobs, then it would be good for the British economy and even that it lower gas and electric prices and now it is vitally important that we pollute our water system with dangerous chemicals and cause earthquakes in Britain as it would make us less dependent on the gas of the Wests latest bogeyman, Russia.
According to Department of Energy and Climate Change figures, the UK imports 55% of its gas from Norway, 27% from Qatar, 14.5% from the Netherlands and 3% from Belgium so very little from Russia.
Pöyry, energy consultants to the oil and gas industry, have gone even further to rubbish the Prime Ministers claims by explaining that what we get from fracking will not replace Russian gas but rather liquefied natural gas from Qatar, supplies that are deemed secure.
After losing the argument on lower energy bills and job creation, David Cameron is now exploiting the Ukraine crisis in the hope of deflecting criticism.
Still not happening Dave, the public mood seems to be still overwhelmingly against fracking so try again.
He has tried saying it would create jobs, then it would be good for the British economy and even that it lower gas and electric prices and now it is vitally important that we pollute our water system with dangerous chemicals and cause earthquakes in Britain as it would make us less dependent on the gas of the Wests latest bogeyman, Russia.
According to Department of Energy and Climate Change figures, the UK imports 55% of its gas from Norway, 27% from Qatar, 14.5% from the Netherlands and 3% from Belgium so very little from Russia.
Pöyry, energy consultants to the oil and gas industry, have gone even further to rubbish the Prime Ministers claims by explaining that what we get from fracking will not replace Russian gas but rather liquefied natural gas from Qatar, supplies that are deemed secure.
After losing the argument on lower energy bills and job creation, David Cameron is now exploiting the Ukraine crisis in the hope of deflecting criticism.
Still not happening Dave, the public mood seems to be still overwhelmingly against fracking so try again.
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Privatisation Sucks Example 7,989,572
Privatisation. Great isn't it?
SSE today announced that gas and electricity prices will be frozen at their current levels until 2016 and we are supposed to say what a good thing that is.
No mention that at current levels the UK is second only to Estonia among European countries for the number of people, over 5 million, in fuel poverty and struggling to pay their energy bills.
Rather than drop their prices or backtrack on the 8% rise at the end of last year, the second largest energy firm is pegging peoples bills at the current level.
At least it will reduce their obscene £1.5 bn profits is the cry but SSE have thought of that are 'streamlining' their business or in layman's terms, they are cutting jobs, 500 altogether, to cover the shortfall.
So you can have your gas and electric at the same price that many people already can't afford but to pay for it they are kicking 500 people out of a job so their profits are protected which ironically is what the uproar was all about in the first place.
When the SSE chief executive, Alistair Phillips-Davies, said: 'I hope that people will now start to recognise SSE is not part of the problem but part of the solution', we can ask how because from where i am sitting nothing has actually changed for the 9.5 million customers except 500 people are now unemployed.
SSE today announced that gas and electricity prices will be frozen at their current levels until 2016 and we are supposed to say what a good thing that is.
No mention that at current levels the UK is second only to Estonia among European countries for the number of people, over 5 million, in fuel poverty and struggling to pay their energy bills.
Rather than drop their prices or backtrack on the 8% rise at the end of last year, the second largest energy firm is pegging peoples bills at the current level.
At least it will reduce their obscene £1.5 bn profits is the cry but SSE have thought of that are 'streamlining' their business or in layman's terms, they are cutting jobs, 500 altogether, to cover the shortfall.
So you can have your gas and electric at the same price that many people already can't afford but to pay for it they are kicking 500 people out of a job so their profits are protected which ironically is what the uproar was all about in the first place.
When the SSE chief executive, Alistair Phillips-Davies, said: 'I hope that people will now start to recognise SSE is not part of the problem but part of the solution', we can ask how because from where i am sitting nothing has actually changed for the 9.5 million customers except 500 people are now unemployed.
Monday, 24 March 2014
The Kim Jong-Un Look
The state-sanctioned guidelines were introduced about two weeks ago and until now people were only allowed to choose from 18 styles for women and 10 for men.
North Korea's state TV launched a campaign against long hair, called 'Let us trim our hair in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle' which isn't the catchiest slogan that i have ever heard but i have always associated longer hair with the left wing and short, cropped hair with those awkward right wing types.
I do find myself wishing that Donald Trump was the North Korean leader though.
Sunday, 23 March 2014
2014 Warmest Summer On Record
Despite Mungo Jery's reckless disregard for road safety, the Earth is tilting towards Summer and the season of white legs and men in shorts that are far too tight is coming to the Northern Hemisphere and if recent headlines are to be believed, its going to be a scorcher.
The UK enjoyed blazing sunshine a few weeks ago when temperatures hit 20C and apparently that's just the first taste of the summer to come as experts at the Armin Bunde of Justus Liebig University in Giessen say there's a 75% chance that over the next few months Brits will be bathed in Mediterranean-style temperatures as we have the hottest summer on record.
As we are just moving out of the wettest winter on record, hot summer days and long, balmy evenings do sound enticing but as one of those rare people who dislikes summer, it did make my heart sink.
Where some people hear Summer and see barbeque's, flip flops, tans and sandy beaches, i think of biting insects, sunburn, sleepless nights and hot car seats.
A normal summer with regular summer temperatures is a test of endurance, a 3 month battle to keep cool and keep skin that turns an angry lobster colour covered but the British summer is usually reliably brief with only a few weeks in June to manoeuvre until the clouds return and the temperature lowers but if the experts are to be believed, this summer is going to be el scorchio before we get back to hot drinks and moisturiser instead of hot weather and suncream.
I do get accused of being a misery guts as i whine my way through the season but then i have to hear other people moaning all winter about how depressing the snow and rain is but in the winter you don't get idiots doing a ton down lanes while drunk and blasting out Mungo Jerry from their car stereos.
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Good Referendums And Bad Referendums
A country holding onto a piece of land at the southern tip of another country and using the justification of a referendum of the citizens who want to be with them instead of the country they happen to be in.
If i was Spain i'd be asking about now if i could have Gibralter back because while the UK are spitting feathers at the Crimeans voting to become part of Russia, the UK are more than happy to go with the 2002 referendum in Gibralter that voted 98% to stay as part of the UK rather then share sovereignty with Spain.
Same with the Falklands, where the islands are full of Brits voted to be British rather than Argentinian.
Either a referendum is legal or not, we can't pick and choose which ones we can abide with and which are 'an affront to democracy' as our Foriegn Minister put it.
Spain should be pushing the UN for clarification of whether the Gibralter referendum was an affront and can they have their big rock back please or referendums are legally binding in which case why are they sanctioning Russia for abiding by the result of 95% of Crimeans who want to become part of Russia?
Might make for some very awkward squirming by the diplomat sat in the UK seat.
As they are there, it might also be a good time for Palestinains to raise the question of why Russia are being accussed of an illegal land grab and being heavilly vilified for it but Israel can freely knock down their houses and build on their land and nobody so much as bleats.
If i was Spain i'd be asking about now if i could have Gibralter back because while the UK are spitting feathers at the Crimeans voting to become part of Russia, the UK are more than happy to go with the 2002 referendum in Gibralter that voted 98% to stay as part of the UK rather then share sovereignty with Spain.
Same with the Falklands, where the islands are full of Brits voted to be British rather than Argentinian.
Either a referendum is legal or not, we can't pick and choose which ones we can abide with and which are 'an affront to democracy' as our Foriegn Minister put it.
Spain should be pushing the UN for clarification of whether the Gibralter referendum was an affront and can they have their big rock back please or referendums are legally binding in which case why are they sanctioning Russia for abiding by the result of 95% of Crimeans who want to become part of Russia?
Might make for some very awkward squirming by the diplomat sat in the UK seat.
As they are there, it might also be a good time for Palestinains to raise the question of why Russia are being accussed of an illegal land grab and being heavilly vilified for it but Israel can freely knock down their houses and build on their land and nobody so much as bleats.
Friday, 21 March 2014
Happy 1393 Iran
It's the New Year in Iran so to anyone Iranian, Happy Nowruz and all the best for 1393!
As Iran follows the Solar Hirji calendar, the Persians are waking up in 1393 today but as we in the West follow the Gregorian calendar, it is 2014 for us so we have already done 1393 so we can pass on some advice.
That war that been rolling on between England and France still has some way to go, we call it the Hundred Years' War now and we are only just over halfway through.
The Mongols are going to be around your neck of the woods for a few years yet and that black stuff that keeps seeping out of the ground is going to be important in a few hundreds years so don't waste it.
As we are 727 years in the future it is only fair that we share upcoming events with you unlike those Buddhists who are in 2558 and haven't told us anything and even worse are the Hebrews who are in 5774 and haven't even told us how to make those flying skateboards from the Back to the Future films.
Of course it will be another 600 odd years before you get cinema but you will like it but you might want to give '300' a miss when it comes out, the Persians don't come out of that very well.
As Iran follows the Solar Hirji calendar, the Persians are waking up in 1393 today but as we in the West follow the Gregorian calendar, it is 2014 for us so we have already done 1393 so we can pass on some advice.
That war that been rolling on between England and France still has some way to go, we call it the Hundred Years' War now and we are only just over halfway through.
The Mongols are going to be around your neck of the woods for a few years yet and that black stuff that keeps seeping out of the ground is going to be important in a few hundreds years so don't waste it.
As we are 727 years in the future it is only fair that we share upcoming events with you unlike those Buddhists who are in 2558 and haven't told us anything and even worse are the Hebrews who are in 5774 and haven't even told us how to make those flying skateboards from the Back to the Future films.
Of course it will be another 600 odd years before you get cinema but you will like it but you might want to give '300' a miss when it comes out, the Persians don't come out of that very well.
Science Finds Secret Of Writing A Bestseller
I have a folder on my desktop titled 'story ideas' and inside it is a notepad file that contains paragraphs of story ideas that i plan to get around to writing one day but find the idea of actually writing them too daunting to begin.
What i need is to hand the ideas to someone and they do the months of writing and editing and proof reading but i still get the royalty cheques and get to turn up at the Man Booker award ceremony to thank my agent and give no thanks whatsoever to God who wouldn't have helped me in any way.
As i have yet to receive any offers from aspiring novelists to write my story for me, what would be nice is for some software genius to write a program where you fill in a few prompts and it that writes the story for you but as yet that hasn't hit the shelves of PC World but science has found the secrets of how to write a best selling novel.
Scientists have developed an algorithm called statistical stylometry which can analyse a book and predict with 84% accuracy whether or not it will be a success.
A group of computer scientists from Stony Brook University in New York said that a range of factors determine whether or not a book will enjoy success, including interestingness, novelty, style of writing, and how engaging the storyline is.
They analysed over 800 classic books and found that several trends were often found in the most successful books, including heavy use of conjunctions such as 'and' and 'but' and a large numbers of nouns and adjectives.
Less successful work tended to include more verbs and adverbs and made heavy use of words such as 'wanted', 'took' and 'promised'.
Sounds easy but if you have a potential novel with a storyline concerning a person who wants to take peoples promises you may want to rethink it.
What i need is to hand the ideas to someone and they do the months of writing and editing and proof reading but i still get the royalty cheques and get to turn up at the Man Booker award ceremony to thank my agent and give no thanks whatsoever to God who wouldn't have helped me in any way.
As i have yet to receive any offers from aspiring novelists to write my story for me, what would be nice is for some software genius to write a program where you fill in a few prompts and it that writes the story for you but as yet that hasn't hit the shelves of PC World but science has found the secrets of how to write a best selling novel.
Scientists have developed an algorithm called statistical stylometry which can analyse a book and predict with 84% accuracy whether or not it will be a success.
A group of computer scientists from Stony Brook University in New York said that a range of factors determine whether or not a book will enjoy success, including interestingness, novelty, style of writing, and how engaging the storyline is.
They analysed over 800 classic books and found that several trends were often found in the most successful books, including heavy use of conjunctions such as 'and' and 'but' and a large numbers of nouns and adjectives.
Less successful work tended to include more verbs and adverbs and made heavy use of words such as 'wanted', 'took' and 'promised'.
Sounds easy but if you have a potential novel with a storyline concerning a person who wants to take peoples promises you may want to rethink it.
Arsene Wenger 1000 Games
Independence Day was at the cinema and a bespectacled Frenchman turned up at Highbury to a chorus of 'Who's he?'
Just over 17 years later and Arsene Wenger is set to take charge of his 1000th Arsenal game against Chelsea tomorrow trying for win number 574.
It is undeniable that Arsene Wenger has been good for Arsenal even if all his 7 trophy wins came in the first 497 games and since 2006 Arsenal fans have been watching other teams hoovering up the prizes although that has much to do with the financial restrictions Arsene faced as the Emirate Stadium move became more of an albatross for Arsenal than they've let on just as Man City and Chelsea found themselves mega-rich backers.
One of Arsene Wengers finest qualities honed over the years in the Arsenal dugout is his special ability to see the throw in that went against Arsenal 100 yards away down by the corner flag but completely miss any offence by an Arsenal player feet away from him.
He does seem to have had a bit of a running feud with Jose Mourinho, once saying of the miserable faced Chelsea manager after he called Arsene a voyeur: 'When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid'.
The trophies may have dried up of late and Arsenal fans may get frustrated at having the world's 34th richest person on the board but Arsene Wenger refusing to sign big names but the last 17 years have been entertaining and with Arsenal having never finished less than 4th during his tenure and after the heady early years of doubles and invincibles, as Arsene himself once said, 'Once you have eaten caviar, it's difficult to return to sausages'.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Ancient Aeroplanes
I wonder how the Incan's came up with the design 1500 years ago? Could be based on a bird or a flying insect or even a fish i guess.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Apple Logo
George Osborne has announced in his Budget speech that the Government will provide £42m to found the 'Alan Turing Institute' which will focus on the use of big data and algorithm research.Nice to see Alan Turing getting a mention, especially how atrociously he was treated by his own Government during his lifetime.
I had always assumed that the Apple logo was a nod towards computer pioneer Alan Turing who faced jail for homosexual acts, took his own life by biting into an apple he had laced with cyanide.
A computer firm with a logo of a apple with a bite taken out of always made perfect sense to me but it turned out that the Apple logo was in tribute to someone famous, just not the obvious one.
The first Apple logo was of Isaac Newton sitting under a tree with an apple dangling above him and over time they simplified it to just the Apple logo with a bite taken out of it so it wasn't mistaken for a cherry.
The Apple name rather boringly came from Steve Jobs visiting an Apple farm in the early days when he was just starting up the company.
While not wishing to relegate Isaac Newtons achievements, the Turing idea was much more poetic and fitting for a computer company. I will file it in 'things i wished i hadn't found out' along with raspberry flavouring comes from beavers backsides, the red smarties are made from crushed beetles and Hotel California is just a rip off of a Jethro Tull song.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Missing Plane Theories
There are now 26 countries searching for the missing Malaysian plane which has been missing for 11 days and there are a few theories as to what may have happened to it.
What we do know is that the two communications systems were disabled, deliberately or otherwise, and investigators have looked at the mobile phone records of the passengers but found no evidence of any attempted calls or texts.
Then there is the 'ping' sent by the plane six hours after it disappeared from Malaysian radar screens which showed the plane was still operational.
One theory is that the plane has landed somewhere with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands mentioned as the islands are in the direction that the plane was last seen to be heading although the only four landing strips among the 570 islands are monitored by Indian military radar and a jumbo jet would have been noticed.
Kazakhstan has also mentioned as a possible landing site for a stolen plane, especially as making a landing in the vast desert spaces would negate the need for a runway although the Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee said it would have not only been picked up by their radar but it would have to have flown across Indian, Pakistan and Afghanistan airspace to reach Kazakhstan.
China's Taklamakan Desert is another possible destination but again would require a run through the radar systems of several countries as would another landing site in Pakistan although making it through the radars is tricky, but not impossible according to another theory which has the plane hiding in the shadow of another airliner.
The theory is that as MH370 was flying without its transponder, another plane wouldn't know it was there and as it entered other countries airspace it would have shown up as one single blip on the radar with only the transponder information of one plane lighting up the radar screens."
A darker theory is that the plane was taken by terrorists and is being stored somewhere and will take off again to be used in a 9/11 style terror attack and there is a possibility that one of the many countries it flew over with its communication devices switched off would have led to scrambled fighter jets and the plane being shot down and nobody wants to put there hands up to shooting down an airliner full of passengers.
With most of the theories, the plane has landed somewhere which offers some hope that the 239 passengers and crew on board may still be alive.
Unfortunately, i do fear that there will not be a happy ending to this and when it is finally discovered it will be in several pieces strewn across a wide area.
What we do know is that the two communications systems were disabled, deliberately or otherwise, and investigators have looked at the mobile phone records of the passengers but found no evidence of any attempted calls or texts.
Then there is the 'ping' sent by the plane six hours after it disappeared from Malaysian radar screens which showed the plane was still operational.
One theory is that the plane has landed somewhere with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands mentioned as the islands are in the direction that the plane was last seen to be heading although the only four landing strips among the 570 islands are monitored by Indian military radar and a jumbo jet would have been noticed.
Kazakhstan has also mentioned as a possible landing site for a stolen plane, especially as making a landing in the vast desert spaces would negate the need for a runway although the Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee said it would have not only been picked up by their radar but it would have to have flown across Indian, Pakistan and Afghanistan airspace to reach Kazakhstan.
China's Taklamakan Desert is another possible destination but again would require a run through the radar systems of several countries as would another landing site in Pakistan although making it through the radars is tricky, but not impossible according to another theory which has the plane hiding in the shadow of another airliner.
The theory is that as MH370 was flying without its transponder, another plane wouldn't know it was there and as it entered other countries airspace it would have shown up as one single blip on the radar with only the transponder information of one plane lighting up the radar screens."
A darker theory is that the plane was taken by terrorists and is being stored somewhere and will take off again to be used in a 9/11 style terror attack and there is a possibility that one of the many countries it flew over with its communication devices switched off would have led to scrambled fighter jets and the plane being shot down and nobody wants to put there hands up to shooting down an airliner full of passengers.
With most of the theories, the plane has landed somewhere which offers some hope that the 239 passengers and crew on board may still be alive.
Unfortunately, i do fear that there will not be a happy ending to this and when it is finally discovered it will be in several pieces strewn across a wide area.
Monday, 17 March 2014
PLATO
Seems a bit cheap that we are spending £50bn on making a train track that will get you somewhere 20 minutes quicker but we have only chucked £50m into the European Space Agency plot in its ET finding mission.
Nevermind, as this is a Conservative Government so i'm sure they will find some benefit they can cut from disabled kids to pay for it but the ESA's Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) is set to go on it's mission to to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no Telescope Optical Unit has gone before.
Astronomers have so far found over 1,000 planets beyond our Solar System, but none as yet has been shown to be Earth-like in terms of being in a habitable zone with the right size to maintain its atmosphere but PLATO is looking to kick that up a few gears by searching for rocky planets orbiting over a million stars 'Plato will be our first attempt to find nearby habitable planets around Sun-like stars that we can actually examine in sufficient detail to look for life' said Dr Don Pollacco who leads the Plato Science Consortium.
Finally we may find some intelligent life in outer space, now if only we can find some in the Conservative Party.
Nevermind, as this is a Conservative Government so i'm sure they will find some benefit they can cut from disabled kids to pay for it but the ESA's Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) is set to go on it's mission to to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no Telescope Optical Unit has gone before.
Astronomers have so far found over 1,000 planets beyond our Solar System, but none as yet has been shown to be Earth-like in terms of being in a habitable zone with the right size to maintain its atmosphere but PLATO is looking to kick that up a few gears by searching for rocky planets orbiting over a million stars 'Plato will be our first attempt to find nearby habitable planets around Sun-like stars that we can actually examine in sufficient detail to look for life' said Dr Don Pollacco who leads the Plato Science Consortium.
Finally we may find some intelligent life in outer space, now if only we can find some in the Conservative Party.
Sunday, 16 March 2014
How The British Ruined The World
In any list labelling the worst things Britain is responsible for
inflicting upon the World you would expect the Spice Girls and Hugh
Grant to figure quite highly but the people at Listverse overlook our
offering to popular culture and go for the jugular in the list of 'ten ways the British Empire ruined the world'.
No bushes were beat around here as it says 'The British Empire sowed the seeds for some of the worst disasters that have afflicted humanity. Although the British were not responsible for all of the events directly, their interference in others’ problems was often just as destructive. Here are ten ways the British Empire ruined the world:
10 Apartheid
9. Irish Potato Famine
8. Invention of the Machine Gun
7. Atlantic Slave Trade
6. Opium Wars
5. Scramble for Africa
4. Appeasement
3. The Industrial Revolution
2. Palestine
1. Partition of India
The author of the list, Phil Moore, is a history major according to his profile at the bottom of the piece but he hasn't got a profile link so we can't play the 'hold on, lets see what YOUR country has got up to' game so all i can do is say sorry for my British ancestors ruining the World and give an extra apology for the Spice Girls.
No bushes were beat around here as it says 'The British Empire sowed the seeds for some of the worst disasters that have afflicted humanity. Although the British were not responsible for all of the events directly, their interference in others’ problems was often just as destructive. Here are ten ways the British Empire ruined the world:
10 Apartheid
9. Irish Potato Famine
8. Invention of the Machine Gun
7. Atlantic Slave Trade
6. Opium Wars
5. Scramble for Africa
4. Appeasement
3. The Industrial Revolution
2. Palestine
1. Partition of India
The author of the list, Phil Moore, is a history major according to his profile at the bottom of the piece but he hasn't got a profile link so we can't play the 'hold on, lets see what YOUR country has got up to' game so all i can do is say sorry for my British ancestors ruining the World and give an extra apology for the Spice Girls.
Tesla Free Electricity Patent
Nikola Tesla really was one of the guys that history should be kinder to, but unfortunately he is the genius that got stomped on by bigger guys and squeezed out of history until recently.
I'm not sure why but he has began to receive some recognition recently and it was during a conversation months ago about the shockingly exploitative utility companies that it was mentioned that Tesla had found a way to generate free energy from thin air.
After tucking it away somewhere in my mind for future internet searching, i forgot all about it until i read about the 400 million people in India with no access to electricity.
That sparked the bit of my brain where i tuck things away until they are jolted later and after a quick search of Tesla free electricity, it appears Tesla did make such a machine and in 1901 patented it and called it the: 'Apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy' and 'Method of Utilizing Radiant Energy'.
I can't even pretend to begin to understand what Tesla's invention was or how it would be used but it involved: 'condensing the energy trapped between the earth and its upper atmosphere and to transform it into an electric current'.
The story goes that Tesla built and tested the free electricity machine but his financial backer, JP Morgan, pulled the plug so to speak when he found out that Tesla planned to use the invention to generate free electricity as 'free electricity cannot be metered' and without further funding the Tesla plan withered and died.
I'm not sure how long a patent lasts but if Tesla DID make this discovery, why isn't someone else who understand these things building it and receiving instant hero worship, especially among 400 million Indians.
I'm not sure why but he has began to receive some recognition recently and it was during a conversation months ago about the shockingly exploitative utility companies that it was mentioned that Tesla had found a way to generate free energy from thin air.
After tucking it away somewhere in my mind for future internet searching, i forgot all about it until i read about the 400 million people in India with no access to electricity.
That sparked the bit of my brain where i tuck things away until they are jolted later and after a quick search of Tesla free electricity, it appears Tesla did make such a machine and in 1901 patented it and called it the: 'Apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy' and 'Method of Utilizing Radiant Energy'.
I can't even pretend to begin to understand what Tesla's invention was or how it would be used but it involved: 'condensing the energy trapped between the earth and its upper atmosphere and to transform it into an electric current'.
The story goes that Tesla built and tested the free electricity machine but his financial backer, JP Morgan, pulled the plug so to speak when he found out that Tesla planned to use the invention to generate free electricity as 'free electricity cannot be metered' and without further funding the Tesla plan withered and died.
I'm not sure how long a patent lasts but if Tesla DID make this discovery, why isn't someone else who understand these things building it and receiving instant hero worship, especially among 400 million Indians.
Saturday, 15 March 2014
The Crimea Referendum Result
John Kerry had his most serious face on when he discussed tomorrows referendum in the Crimea and warned that: 'there is the danger of a complete re-set of Russia’s relationship with the rest of the world'.
In reality, they could just as well announce the results of the referendum today because anything other than an overwhelming majority in favour of returning the Crimea to Russian rule will be shocking.
What isn't shocking is that America has once again embroiled itself in a situation that it had no need to and is making threats of isolation and sanctions against Russia like the head of the gang only this time when it looks around and asks 'whose behind me', everyone else has left.
It appears that apart from the Ukrainians and America, everyone else is happy to let Russia and Ukraine get on with it, whatever it is.
After some initial huffing and puffing from the EU, it appears that after a timely reminder of who supplies a good wedge of their gas and oil, it has suddenly reigned in its rhetoric. As one European Official explained: 'Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Nigeria, the Maghreb. These are bigger problems. Crimea is simply not that far up the real agenda'.
While America may talk of sanctions, and there may be some meaningless restrictions slapped down and then quickly removed when nobody is looking but it is expected Crimea will become a region of Russia and John Kerry will once again be made to look a sucker by Putin and the Europeans have left the Americans flapping in the wind on this one.
In reality, they could just as well announce the results of the referendum today because anything other than an overwhelming majority in favour of returning the Crimea to Russian rule will be shocking.
What isn't shocking is that America has once again embroiled itself in a situation that it had no need to and is making threats of isolation and sanctions against Russia like the head of the gang only this time when it looks around and asks 'whose behind me', everyone else has left.
It appears that apart from the Ukrainians and America, everyone else is happy to let Russia and Ukraine get on with it, whatever it is.
After some initial huffing and puffing from the EU, it appears that after a timely reminder of who supplies a good wedge of their gas and oil, it has suddenly reigned in its rhetoric. As one European Official explained: 'Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Nigeria, the Maghreb. These are bigger problems. Crimea is simply not that far up the real agenda'.
While America may talk of sanctions, and there may be some meaningless restrictions slapped down and then quickly removed when nobody is looking but it is expected Crimea will become a region of Russia and John Kerry will once again be made to look a sucker by Putin and the Europeans have left the Americans flapping in the wind on this one.
Thursday, 13 March 2014
Public Service Pay Announcement Day
After awarding themselves an 11% pay rise this year, i guess it would be impossible for the Government to hand out the insulting 1% pay rise to the public service workers this year. I mean, it would not only be insensitive but would make themselves look selfish, ignorant and out of touch with the people they are supposed to be representing.
The Treasury: 'As part of our long-term economic plan, we need to take difficult decisions to reduce the deficit while protecting the jobs of people who work hard in our public services. That’s why we have limited pay rises to one per cent'.
That's awkward. It seems that public sector workers are still paying for the misdeeds of the private sector with below inflation wage increases.
The Treasury: 'As part of our long-term economic plan, we need to take difficult decisions to reduce the deficit while protecting the jobs of people who work hard in our public services. That’s why we have limited pay rises to one per cent'.
That's awkward. It seems that public sector workers are still paying for the misdeeds of the private sector with below inflation wage increases.
Monday, 10 March 2014
Bad News Keeps Coming From Fukushima
The problem with nuclear energy is when it goes wrong, it goes horrifically wrong and three years on from the Fukushima nuclear accident, the news is still not good.
Thyroid cancer normally affects one to two people per million among under 18s in Japan. Last month the number of confirmed and suspected cases of thyroid cancer among people aged 18 and below in Fukushima at the time of the accident stood at 75 of the 254,000 children and adolescents tested.
Following the 1986 disaster in Chernobyl the UN Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation reported more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer among exposed children and adolescents living in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
In the case of Chernobyl, it took five years before cancers started showing up in the general population but with Fukushima, cancers started showing up after only two years which means either the inhabitants of Fukishima received a much higher dose of radiation or the amounts of cancers discovered is going to soar in the coming years.
Understandably, nuclear power stations have gone a bit of a rethink since the accident, Germany are planning to close all their nuclear establishments by 2022 while the UK are planning on building more.
As i said at the top of the post, when nuclear power goes wrong, it goes horrifically wrong and leaving aside the threat of leaks and meltdowns, we have a system for generating power that creates tonnes of toxic waste that we don't know how to dispose of and which remains a danger to humans for hundreds of thousands of years.
And the most amazing thing is that we keep producing more and more of it and store it in concrete containers while we look for an answer.
It does make you wonder just why, when the consequences are so disastrous, we don't make a massive push for renewables because to my knowledge, nobody has got cancer from a wind turbine and nowhere has been declared contaminated for a thousand years by a solar panel.
Thyroid cancer normally affects one to two people per million among under 18s in Japan. Last month the number of confirmed and suspected cases of thyroid cancer among people aged 18 and below in Fukushima at the time of the accident stood at 75 of the 254,000 children and adolescents tested.
Following the 1986 disaster in Chernobyl the UN Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation reported more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer among exposed children and adolescents living in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
In the case of Chernobyl, it took five years before cancers started showing up in the general population but with Fukushima, cancers started showing up after only two years which means either the inhabitants of Fukishima received a much higher dose of radiation or the amounts of cancers discovered is going to soar in the coming years.
Understandably, nuclear power stations have gone a bit of a rethink since the accident, Germany are planning to close all their nuclear establishments by 2022 while the UK are planning on building more.
As i said at the top of the post, when nuclear power goes wrong, it goes horrifically wrong and leaving aside the threat of leaks and meltdowns, we have a system for generating power that creates tonnes of toxic waste that we don't know how to dispose of and which remains a danger to humans for hundreds of thousands of years.
And the most amazing thing is that we keep producing more and more of it and store it in concrete containers while we look for an answer.
It does make you wonder just why, when the consequences are so disastrous, we don't make a massive push for renewables because to my knowledge, nobody has got cancer from a wind turbine and nowhere has been declared contaminated for a thousand years by a solar panel.
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Celebrating Yuri
There has been a spate of Space related programmes this weekend to mark the 80 years since the birth of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.There have been plenty of interviews with astronauts, and almost all mentioned the wonder of gazing down on the Earth in all its majestic beauty and just seeing our World with no borders, a sight that had a profound effect on them.
There was one interview, with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who mentioned something that struck him profoundly and something that i never really considered before, the complete silence.
In our World, there is never complete silence. Even in the dead of night there is the tick of a clock, the distant sound of a car, your partners breathing or even the wind outside, never is there absolute silence.
Gagarin is arguably one of the most famous Russians that ever lived, less arguably he left one of the greatest human legacies, the giant whose shoulders fellow astronauts have stood on ever since.
What had me thinking as i listened to the astronauts from all different countries living and working aboard the International Space Station is that when we cooperate, we can achieve so much more. Neil Armstrong's famous words 'One giant leap for mankind' says it all, it isn't for America or Russia, it's for all of us together.
If we can take the approach and work together in Space to such great effect, why is it so hard to do it down here?
Clegg's Pro-EU Message Being Lost
I am very much a Pro-European. To my mind to even consider further detaching ourselves from the EU is beyond folly and if anything, we should be integrating ourselves further.
Being in the EU, we will be part of the Worlds largest trading block and a 'nation' of 500 million people with only China having a larger population.
What the likes of UKIP and some on the Conservative benches are advocating is to take us away from that and become a nation of 60 million, a tiny insignificant voice on the fringes of a globe dominated by the economic and political powerhouses of America, China and the EU.
The case for not only being in Europe but throwing ourselves lock, stock and barrel into the project is frustratingly not being made and as the man who is being wheeled out to put across the point is Nick Clegg, i can't see my fellow Brits changing their minds anytime soon.
The message is being lost because of the messenger as Clegg has so little credibility left after his appalling behaviour in Government that his appearance in the Pro-EU debates with Nigel Farage is sure to further split opinion.
The bottom line is that despite the recent upheavals, the United States of Europe is going to happen and we can become part of the process and have a strong voice in shaping the future EU or we can stay outside and be swept along with what others decide.
We are kidding ourselves if we believe the anti-EU supporters that we can go it alone and remain a global influence because we won't and that is the message we have to get across. I just fear that Nick Clegg is just too much damaged goods to be of any benefit to such an important decision.
Being in the EU, we will be part of the Worlds largest trading block and a 'nation' of 500 million people with only China having a larger population.
What the likes of UKIP and some on the Conservative benches are advocating is to take us away from that and become a nation of 60 million, a tiny insignificant voice on the fringes of a globe dominated by the economic and political powerhouses of America, China and the EU.
The case for not only being in Europe but throwing ourselves lock, stock and barrel into the project is frustratingly not being made and as the man who is being wheeled out to put across the point is Nick Clegg, i can't see my fellow Brits changing their minds anytime soon.
The message is being lost because of the messenger as Clegg has so little credibility left after his appalling behaviour in Government that his appearance in the Pro-EU debates with Nigel Farage is sure to further split opinion.
The bottom line is that despite the recent upheavals, the United States of Europe is going to happen and we can become part of the process and have a strong voice in shaping the future EU or we can stay outside and be swept along with what others decide.
We are kidding ourselves if we believe the anti-EU supporters that we can go it alone and remain a global influence because we won't and that is the message we have to get across. I just fear that Nick Clegg is just too much damaged goods to be of any benefit to such an important decision.
Can I Call You Hery?
After his success at the Oscars with the mangled introduction of singer Idina Menzel, a new career beckons for John Travolta as the person who introduces heads of state at banquets.
Obama should hire him and invite a select group of countries as i'm sure Travolta would have no problems with introducing the Indonesian head of state, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or even Qatar's Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Than.
The Bhutan representative, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, would be invited as would Turkmenistan's Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Samoa's Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi but pride of place and sure to induce a meltdown in the Travolta brain is the new president of Madagascar, Hery Martial Rajaonarimampianina Rakotoarimanana.
Obama should hire him and invite a select group of countries as i'm sure Travolta would have no problems with introducing the Indonesian head of state, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or even Qatar's Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Than.
The Bhutan representative, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, would be invited as would Turkmenistan's Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Samoa's Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi but pride of place and sure to induce a meltdown in the Travolta brain is the new president of Madagascar, Hery Martial Rajaonarimampianina Rakotoarimanana.
Conclusive Evidence The Earth Is 6000 years old
The Earth is only 6,000 years old and the whole Universe being created by the Big Bang is nonsense. Creation.com has provided a handbook called Refuting Evolution, a guide for students, parents, and teachers to counter the arguments made by those silly people for
evolution.
- Red blood cells and hemoglobin have been found in some (unfossilized!) dinosaur bone. But these could not last more than a few thousand years—certainly not the 65 million years from when evolutionists think the last dinosaur lived.
- The earth’s magnetic field has been decaying so fast that it couldn’t be more than about 10,000 years old. Rapid reversals during the flood year and fluctuations shortly after just caused the field energy to drop even faster.
- Helium is pouring into the atmosphere from radioactive decay, but not much is escaping. But the total amount in the atmosphere is only 1/2000 of that expected if the atmosphere were really billions of years old. This helium originally escaped from rocks. This happens quite fast, yet so much helium is still in some rocks that it couldn’t have had time to escape—certainly not billions of years.
- A supernova is an explosion of a massive star—the explosion is so bright that it briefly outshines the rest of the galaxy. The supernova remnants (SNRs) should keep expanding for hundreds of thousands of years, according to the physical equations. Yet there are no very old, widely expanded (Stage 3) SNRs, and few moderately old (Stage 2) ones in our galaxy, the Milky Way, or in its satellite galaxies, the Magellanic clouds. This is just what we would expect if these galaxies had not existed long enough for wide expansion.
- The moon is slowly receding from earth at about 1½ inches (4 cm) per year, and the rate would have been greater in the past. But even if the moon had started receding from being in contact with the earth, it would have taken only 1.37 billion years to reach its present distance. This gives a maximum possible age of the moon—not the actual age. This is far too young for evolution (and much younger than the radiometric ‘dates’ assigned to moon rocks).
- Salt is pouring into the sea much faster than it is escaping. The sea is not nearly salty enough for this to have been happening for billions of years. Even granting generous assumptions to evolutionists, the seas could not be more than 62 million years old—far younger than the billions of years believed by evolutionists. Again, this indicates a maximum age, not the actual age.
Friday, 7 March 2014
West As Much To Blame For Debacle In Ukraine
The last few days have been interesting with regards to Russia, Ukraine and the West, mostly because Russia is considered to be the bad guy who should have sanctions against it and be ostracised from everything from the G8 to the Olympics committee, but nobody is sure exactly why.
With some gentle probing the case against Russia quickly falls away and it is the West and the EU who end up looking like the bad guys so might be better to not look too hard if we can help it.
It does all very much remind me of the late 80s when the Cold War was in full swing when Russia was the enemy and we were expected to hate everything it said and did and accept unquestioningly that everything we did was great.
Seems that view is still being upheld today and it boo at Moscow, cheers for Brussels, Washington and London and let's hide behind the curtain the Wests role in the Ukraine's breakup, this is little Ukraine being bullied by the big bad Russia who has all but declared war on Ukraine.
The West say that Viktor Yanukovich who is the man deposed by crowds of protesters in Ukraine was a dictator imposed on Ukraine by Moscow. Rather, he was elected in 2010 by 49% of the electorate which is more than David Cameron (36%), Angela Merkel (33%) and only slightly less than Obama (53%). What we have in the Ukraine is a situation where the West is cheering the ousting of a democratically elected leader.
As we found out in Kosovo, Egypt, Syria and Libya, the protesters we are backing to become the next Government are not all nice, democratic, Western-leaning individuals. Among the new Government wannabe's in Kiev are more than a few far-right parties such as Svoboda, who controls three ministries in the new interim government a little more than a year after the European Parliament expressed concern regarding Svoboda's growing support, warning that: 'the racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views go against the EU's fundamental values and principles' and appealed to 'pro-democratic parties not to associate with, endorse or form coalitions with Svobod'. A year later we are endorsing the same party as democratic.
Far from storming into Ukraine to prop up Yanukovich, Moscow kept away while conflict brewed there over the past three months. It was Western politicians who were stirring up the tensions in Ukraine, Senator John McCain, EU Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Catherine Ashton and US Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria 'Fuck the EU' Nuland and John Kerry all pitched up in Kiev to support the protest camps and telling their inhabitants that theirs was a ‘just cause’ and meet with opposition leaders like Vitali Klitschko and advising them on how and when to form a new interim government to replace Yanukovich’s. It wasn't Russia meddling but the West.
Russia has sent 30,000 troops to the Crimea but apart from a few shots in the air on the 4th March, not a shot has been fired so while Russia should be rightly condemned for marching into another country, it is not only them being the bad guy here and the West has some rather awkward questions about its role in all this and it is doing its best to avoid them by upping the rhetoric against Russia.
With some gentle probing the case against Russia quickly falls away and it is the West and the EU who end up looking like the bad guys so might be better to not look too hard if we can help it.
It does all very much remind me of the late 80s when the Cold War was in full swing when Russia was the enemy and we were expected to hate everything it said and did and accept unquestioningly that everything we did was great.
Seems that view is still being upheld today and it boo at Moscow, cheers for Brussels, Washington and London and let's hide behind the curtain the Wests role in the Ukraine's breakup, this is little Ukraine being bullied by the big bad Russia who has all but declared war on Ukraine.
The West say that Viktor Yanukovich who is the man deposed by crowds of protesters in Ukraine was a dictator imposed on Ukraine by Moscow. Rather, he was elected in 2010 by 49% of the electorate which is more than David Cameron (36%), Angela Merkel (33%) and only slightly less than Obama (53%). What we have in the Ukraine is a situation where the West is cheering the ousting of a democratically elected leader.
As we found out in Kosovo, Egypt, Syria and Libya, the protesters we are backing to become the next Government are not all nice, democratic, Western-leaning individuals. Among the new Government wannabe's in Kiev are more than a few far-right parties such as Svoboda, who controls three ministries in the new interim government a little more than a year after the European Parliament expressed concern regarding Svoboda's growing support, warning that: 'the racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views go against the EU's fundamental values and principles' and appealed to 'pro-democratic parties not to associate with, endorse or form coalitions with Svobod'. A year later we are endorsing the same party as democratic.
Far from storming into Ukraine to prop up Yanukovich, Moscow kept away while conflict brewed there over the past three months. It was Western politicians who were stirring up the tensions in Ukraine, Senator John McCain, EU Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Catherine Ashton and US Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria 'Fuck the EU' Nuland and John Kerry all pitched up in Kiev to support the protest camps and telling their inhabitants that theirs was a ‘just cause’ and meet with opposition leaders like Vitali Klitschko and advising them on how and when to form a new interim government to replace Yanukovich’s. It wasn't Russia meddling but the West.
Russia has sent 30,000 troops to the Crimea but apart from a few shots in the air on the 4th March, not a shot has been fired so while Russia should be rightly condemned for marching into another country, it is not only them being the bad guy here and the West has some rather awkward questions about its role in all this and it is doing its best to avoid them by upping the rhetoric against Russia.
Monday, 3 March 2014
Please God, Don't Let Them Draft Me
Ultra-orthodox Jews have turned out in there thousands in Jerusalem to protest against a parliamentary Bill that is set for the first time to draft some of them into the Israeli military.
Not that they are against joining the military on ethical or moral grounds but because they argue that spending all day praying defends Israel as much as the army.
The biggest shock is that they have been able to get away with this obvious blag since 1948.
Join the army or wear a silly hat and talk to an imaginary man in the sky and ask him to keep the country safe. Hmmm, let me think about that one.
Not that they are against joining the military on ethical or moral grounds but because they argue that spending all day praying defends Israel as much as the army.
The biggest shock is that they have been able to get away with this obvious blag since 1948.
Join the army or wear a silly hat and talk to an imaginary man in the sky and ask him to keep the country safe. Hmmm, let me think about that one.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Gravity Is Best Of British
Some people are asking how can a film with a Mexican director, two American A-listers and the backing of a major U.S. studio and wasn't even set in Britain (or any country for that matter) possibly be British?
It is all down to the British Film Institute who can claim a film for Britain if there is 'significant British creative involvement'.
A film must score 16 points out of a possible 31 to pass. Gravity passes if you count its Mexican director, Alfonso Cuaron as British because he lives in London and it was produced by Brit David Heyman and was shot at Shepperton Studios hiring British artists and technicians and used a British company, Framestore, for its visual effects.
If that isn't enough British creative involvement' to claim it for Queen and country, Cuaron explained that: 'There's a series of rules that make a film eligible for a British film or not. And 'Gravity' definitely has all the requirements'.
Basically, it's a British film because we said so (and because we counted the Mexican as a Brit) so here's hoping that Gravity, which is actually an amazing film if a little slow paced in places, sweeps the boards and we can make comments about how we remember when America made films like this.
As a strange quirk of twisting the criteria to claim things as ours, George Clooney is now officially English and therefore qualifies to be Prime Minister and is officially allowed to start using the letter 'U' in words.
You snooze you lose America, now ya'll have a nice day and all that.
China's 9/11
It is depressing watching the news most days and although the agenda is dominated by events in the Ukraine, news of horrific events unfolding in China where 10 Xinjiang separatists hacked to death at least 33 people and injured 130 in a train station.
'I saw two attackers, both men, one with a watermelon knife and the other with a fruit knife. They were running and chopping whoever they could' described one eye witness.
Shocking to hear and can only assume how horrific it must have been to witness.
The Xinjiang separatists are the same group who killed two tourists when they ploughed a car into a crowd in Tiananmen Square in October and left six people dead in 2008 when they exploded two buses.
The extremists are from the north-western region of Xinjiang and are trying to seek independence from China.
As with most act of terror, it is always the innocent men, women and children targeted by these kinds of maniacs and not the Government who they have the grievance with.
As with all terror attacks, there is no justification for the killing of innocent civilians no matter how much of a cause you may feel you have and we can only hope that those responsible are caught and dealt with by the Chinese Government to deter any further terrorist acts.
As for those people who are saying that China bought it upon itself, as many people said about America when the Twin Towers were hit or when Israel attack Lebanon or Palestine for firing rockets into Israel, if someone has a grievance with a Government, take it to the Government and not to the innocent people going about there everyday lives because that just makes you an evil bastard.
'I saw two attackers, both men, one with a watermelon knife and the other with a fruit knife. They were running and chopping whoever they could' described one eye witness.
Shocking to hear and can only assume how horrific it must have been to witness.
The Xinjiang separatists are the same group who killed two tourists when they ploughed a car into a crowd in Tiananmen Square in October and left six people dead in 2008 when they exploded two buses.
The extremists are from the north-western region of Xinjiang and are trying to seek independence from China.
As with most act of terror, it is always the innocent men, women and children targeted by these kinds of maniacs and not the Government who they have the grievance with.
As with all terror attacks, there is no justification for the killing of innocent civilians no matter how much of a cause you may feel you have and we can only hope that those responsible are caught and dealt with by the Chinese Government to deter any further terrorist acts.
As for those people who are saying that China bought it upon itself, as many people said about America when the Twin Towers were hit or when Israel attack Lebanon or Palestine for firing rockets into Israel, if someone has a grievance with a Government, take it to the Government and not to the innocent people going about there everyday lives because that just makes you an evil bastard.
John Kerry Uses Humour To Ease Tensions
Since his foul up which accidentally saved tens of thousands of Syrian lives, John Kerry has become the man to listen to on international dealings. Not because he is particularly good but because of his humorous ability to put both feet in his mouth in a way that any contortionist would be proud of.
His latest guffaw inducing comment came in an interview on CBS’s 'Face the Nation' where he accused the Russian leader of: 'acting in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext'.
I didn't see it myself but i assume he kept a straight face when he said it although with all that botox in his face he probably had no choice.
A light hearted moment to make us chuckle in an otherwise terrible situation and William '14 pints' Hague who is the UK version of John 'It's the way i tell 'em' Kerry is on the television looking suitably sombre as he talks about his 'concern over the escalation of tensions in Ukraine' and how he is due to fly to Kiev with Ukraine's new leaders.
Never fear, the Chuckle Brothers Kerry and Hague are on the case and with two such dangerously stupid people involved it can only be a roaring success.
His latest guffaw inducing comment came in an interview on CBS’s 'Face the Nation' where he accused the Russian leader of: 'acting in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext'.
I didn't see it myself but i assume he kept a straight face when he said it although with all that botox in his face he probably had no choice.
A light hearted moment to make us chuckle in an otherwise terrible situation and William '14 pints' Hague who is the UK version of John 'It's the way i tell 'em' Kerry is on the television looking suitably sombre as he talks about his 'concern over the escalation of tensions in Ukraine' and how he is due to fly to Kiev with Ukraine's new leaders.
Never fear, the Chuckle Brothers Kerry and Hague are on the case and with two such dangerously stupid people involved it can only be a roaring success.
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