When you get off the ferry at Le Harve in France, as you walk towards the town centre you are greeted by a huge statue of Napoleon on his horse.
It is not just Le Harve but all cities in France seem to have a statue dedicated to a megalomaniac who invaded and slaughtered his way across Europe and in whose footsteps Hitler trod a century later only with mechanised infantry rather than on horseback.
While Hitler is rightly reviled as evil, the equally vicious and repugnant Napoleon seems to have a
romanticised image and so statues of him are not treated the same as if statues of Adolf adorned the streets of Berlin.
That is the problem with statues, someone somewhere will be repulsed by them especially as in the UK we seem to have a penchant for erecting statues to military personnel, men such as the Dambusters of Bomber Command who have a memorial in London's Green Park.
The Dam's they busted resulted in almost 2000 civilian deaths so should we be building monuments to people like this which is behind the furore over the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University, a white supremist who wreaked havoc in Africa and represented Britain at it empirical worst.
In his time, when Britannia Ruled The Waves, anyone stomping around the globe and putting the natives down while they raped and pillaged the land for Blighty was a hero, in the cold light of the 21st Century we seem them for the hideous creatures that they were.
I imagine Napoleon was viewed the same way in France, today we may see a precursor of the great dictators of the 20th Century but in 19th Century France he was thought to be doing his part to turn France into a major European power.
What is wrong is when we can see how misguided our ancestors were but still keep the sculptures built in their honour and that is why i believe the Oxford University is wrong in their decision to not remove the Rhodes statue from the University.
What i would certainly avoid is building further remembrances to any more political or military personnel because who may seem perfectly worth celebrating today, may be seen in a very different light by future generations.
Saturday, 30 January 2016
Thursday, 28 January 2016
Is Trump A Fascist?
US presidential hopeful Donald Trump incites racism like fascist dictator Adolf Hitler according to Anne Frank’s stepsister and Auschwitz death camp survivor Eva Schloss.
Schloss warns that she sees similarities between the Nazi leader and the Republican who has been 'acting like another Hitler by inciting racism', referring to his comments regarding Mexicans as drug dealers, criminals and rapists and wanting to bar all Muslims from entering the United States.
As his former wife revealed during the divorce proceedings, the most thumbed book in the Trump library was the book of Hitler quotes, 'My New Order', and there was that infamous quote 'this guy Hitler had some good ideas' which doesn't do anything to dispel the myth that Trump is a wannabe fascist.
Holding extreme right wing views and blaming a specific group of immigrants for all the countries problems does not a fascist make but it is a great start.
Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Cameron's Dead Cat Manoeuvre
Not a good week so far for David Cameron and his Government and today he heaped even more brickbats to fall down on his head by dismissing refugees living in desperate conditions in French camps as a 'bunch of migrants'.
Not for the first time that the Prime Minister has used inflammatory language so you would have thought he would have learned by now but maybe he has which is exactly why he made such a comment.
While we are concentrating on that we are not discussing the uncomfortable things such as the Conservative Party flagship policy of the Bedroom Tax being declared 'discriminatory and unlawful' by the Court of Appeal or the the Google tax deal which saw the search engine pay a tenth of the amount tax it owed and the Chancellor describing it as a good thing.
Nor are we looking at how the Transparency International condemned the UK as 'extraordinarily inept' at tackling corruption and 'cosying up' unconditionally to states with appalling human rights records like Saudi Arabia and China.
The bunch of migrants speech also covers up the UN report that we have been implicit in Saudi Arabia targeting and killing civilians in Yemen and also selling spying equipment to repressive states such as Egypt.
Nor are we hearing much about how the government tried to redefine child poverty by changing how it is measured by measuring worklessness and children's performance at school rather than household income.
To use an Australian expression, Cameron is using the dead cat manoeuvre which involves throwing a defunct moggy into the room and everyone will shout about the dead cat you lobbed into the room but not about the issues that would otherwise cause him so much grief.
Sadly, it works every time.
Not for the first time that the Prime Minister has used inflammatory language so you would have thought he would have learned by now but maybe he has which is exactly why he made such a comment.
While we are concentrating on that we are not discussing the uncomfortable things such as the Conservative Party flagship policy of the Bedroom Tax being declared 'discriminatory and unlawful' by the Court of Appeal or the the Google tax deal which saw the search engine pay a tenth of the amount tax it owed and the Chancellor describing it as a good thing.
Nor are we looking at how the Transparency International condemned the UK as 'extraordinarily inept' at tackling corruption and 'cosying up' unconditionally to states with appalling human rights records like Saudi Arabia and China.
The bunch of migrants speech also covers up the UN report that we have been implicit in Saudi Arabia targeting and killing civilians in Yemen and also selling spying equipment to repressive states such as Egypt.
Nor are we hearing much about how the government tried to redefine child poverty by changing how it is measured by measuring worklessness and children's performance at school rather than household income.
To use an Australian expression, Cameron is using the dead cat manoeuvre which involves throwing a defunct moggy into the room and everyone will shout about the dead cat you lobbed into the room but not about the issues that would otherwise cause him so much grief.
Sadly, it works every time.
UK Role In Yemen
Britain’s role in exporting arms and providing military advisers for the Saudi Arabian-led bombing campaign in Yemen is under pressure today following a United Nations report which revealed widespread attacks on civilian targets, including refugee camps, civilian weddings, vehicles, medical facilities and schools in breach of International Law.
The UK sold over £1 billion worth of missiles, rockets and bombs to Saudi Arabia since last summer in a glorious bit of war profiteering as the Saudi military lurch into Yemen.
David Cameron has defended the arms sales to Saudi Arabia insisting the UK has the 'strictest arms controls of any country in the world' and that the UK 'carefully monitors how Saudis use British-made weapons in relation to Yemen'.
That's all okay then, none of that taking the matter to the UN Security Council on account of all the dead civilians at the hand of the Saudi military and call for sanctions or drumming up support to remove a a murderous regime.
Easier to just deny everything, carry on selling the weapons and counting just how much each dead Yemeni civilian is worth to the UK economy.
The UK sold over £1 billion worth of missiles, rockets and bombs to Saudi Arabia since last summer in a glorious bit of war profiteering as the Saudi military lurch into Yemen.
David Cameron has defended the arms sales to Saudi Arabia insisting the UK has the 'strictest arms controls of any country in the world' and that the UK 'carefully monitors how Saudis use British-made weapons in relation to Yemen'.
That's all okay then, none of that taking the matter to the UN Security Council on account of all the dead civilians at the hand of the Saudi military and call for sanctions or drumming up support to remove a a murderous regime.
Easier to just deny everything, carry on selling the weapons and counting just how much each dead Yemeni civilian is worth to the UK economy.
Zika Virus
There hasn't been a health scare story for a while in the newspapers so we were overdue one and on cue Zika Virus turns up to scare us all.
One person has tested positive in Denmark for the mosquito-borne virus along with Italy, Spain, UK and Switzerland registering several people infected with the disease.
U.S. public health officials have announced that the United States must prepare for the inevitable arrival of Zika virus that has spread to 21 countries in the Americas with 4,120 documented cases in Brazil alone.
In an effort to dampen any panic, the World Health Organisation have released a press release that advises the Zika virus is contracted through mosquito bites but cannot be spread by human contact.
Italy has reported several cases of the virus, saying that all the people infected had recently returned from Latin America and the Caribbean and the Danish tourist in today's case had recently visited South and Central America and suffered a high fever, headache and muscle pain.
Pregnant women are most at risk, as the virus has been linked to serious birth defects but i am sure that the press won't let a good health scare go to waste.
One person has tested positive in Denmark for the mosquito-borne virus along with Italy, Spain, UK and Switzerland registering several people infected with the disease.
U.S. public health officials have announced that the United States must prepare for the inevitable arrival of Zika virus that has spread to 21 countries in the Americas with 4,120 documented cases in Brazil alone.
In an effort to dampen any panic, the World Health Organisation have released a press release that advises the Zika virus is contracted through mosquito bites but cannot be spread by human contact.
Italy has reported several cases of the virus, saying that all the people infected had recently returned from Latin America and the Caribbean and the Danish tourist in today's case had recently visited South and Central America and suffered a high fever, headache and muscle pain.
Pregnant women are most at risk, as the virus has been linked to serious birth defects but i am sure that the press won't let a good health scare go to waste.
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
Mobile Phone Audio Quality
I have had far too many mobile phones to remember, from a brick sized monster back in the early 90s to a sleek Lumia Windows phone today and it is quite an amazing journey from a device that was purely used for the purpose that Alexander Graham Bell intended to one that are more like mini-computers.
What hasn't changed though is poor audio quality which is quite surprising when you consider the main purpose of telephones is to hold a conversation over them.
Trying to talk to someone on a smartphone can sometimes be like using two cans connected by a piece of string so while everything else about the mobile phone has got faster, and more powerful its primary function has stayed as spotty as it was when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were popular the first time around.
I am sure that some boffin could explain how the mobile signal works and how things like the weather can effect it's microwaves resulting in us having to walk around twisting to all points of the compass to hold a conversation but can play whatever Civilisation knockoff some big boobed model is selling us uninterrupted.
The mobile making companies seem to have gone down the profitable route of giving us shiny wonders which fit snugly in your hand or in the back pocket of your jeans but as regards to the original function, we are condemned to walking around in circles and from room to room listening to a muffled conversation from Virgin trying to get me to upgrade to a new mobile phone that has even more bells and whistles but will still be as difficult to listen to as a Best of Country & Western CD.
What hasn't changed though is poor audio quality which is quite surprising when you consider the main purpose of telephones is to hold a conversation over them.
Trying to talk to someone on a smartphone can sometimes be like using two cans connected by a piece of string so while everything else about the mobile phone has got faster, and more powerful its primary function has stayed as spotty as it was when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were popular the first time around.
I am sure that some boffin could explain how the mobile signal works and how things like the weather can effect it's microwaves resulting in us having to walk around twisting to all points of the compass to hold a conversation but can play whatever Civilisation knockoff some big boobed model is selling us uninterrupted.
The mobile making companies seem to have gone down the profitable route of giving us shiny wonders which fit snugly in your hand or in the back pocket of your jeans but as regards to the original function, we are condemned to walking around in circles and from room to room listening to a muffled conversation from Virgin trying to get me to upgrade to a new mobile phone that has even more bells and whistles but will still be as difficult to listen to as a Best of Country & Western CD.
Monday, 25 January 2016
Nothing Too See Here
You can always tell when it is a slow news day because you end up with headlines such as 'Dog Gets Head Stuck In Railings' or 'Squirrel Steals Knickers From Washing Line' because the rule is no matter what, no newspaper goes out with a blank page.
One paper in Canada decided to bend the rule slightly and went with the front page story that nothing was really happening.
'There isn’t really anything happening in the news this week' the Battlefords News-Optimist in Saskatchewan, Canada, told its readers, 'Not that it isn’t worth picking up the paper,” the lead
story continued, 'but, it’s January, the weather has taken a nasty turn and there just isn’t much happening'.
Very clever to make the lack of news a news story itself and the rule remains unbroken and everything in the Universe harmonises again but it’s not the first time an editor has made this decision.
On 18 April 1930, the BBC announced: 'There is no news today' and broadcasting ten minutes of piano music instead.
According to a computer algorithm the ultimate slow news day was 11 April 1954 which it has identified as the most boring day in history as there were absolutely no key news events or births and deaths of famous people.
Of course with all the social media and internet pages journalists have at our fingertips being unable to find a story is just lazy journalism because if you dig deep enough there's always a story out there and if not, just make something up about the weather and quote 'a source' but don't mention that your source was actually your Aunt Joan who said that it's going to be a wet summer because her budgie has been spending a lot of time at the bottom of it's cage recently.
One paper in Canada decided to bend the rule slightly and went with the front page story that nothing was really happening.
'There isn’t really anything happening in the news this week' the Battlefords News-Optimist in Saskatchewan, Canada, told its readers, 'Not that it isn’t worth picking up the paper,” the lead
story continued, 'but, it’s January, the weather has taken a nasty turn and there just isn’t much happening'.
Very clever to make the lack of news a news story itself and the rule remains unbroken and everything in the Universe harmonises again but it’s not the first time an editor has made this decision.
On 18 April 1930, the BBC announced: 'There is no news today' and broadcasting ten minutes of piano music instead.
According to a computer algorithm the ultimate slow news day was 11 April 1954 which it has identified as the most boring day in history as there were absolutely no key news events or births and deaths of famous people.
Of course with all the social media and internet pages journalists have at our fingertips being unable to find a story is just lazy journalism because if you dig deep enough there's always a story out there and if not, just make something up about the weather and quote 'a source' but don't mention that your source was actually your Aunt Joan who said that it's going to be a wet summer because her budgie has been spending a lot of time at the bottom of it's cage recently.
Sunday, 24 January 2016
Weather Systems Ramping Up
What some people do not understand in the climate change debate is that weather is not climate so to blame a bad spell of weather on climate change is as misleading as using a period of good weather to dispel the changes happening.
What climate change does do though is take what is already there and ramp it up so the rains are heavier, the winds stronger and the heatwaves hotter and longer and weather records tumble as we see in the eastern side of the United States where massive, unprecedented snowstorms have hit.
As America was for such a long time the Worlds premier polluter, fair enough you may say that they reap what they sowed for so long by devastating the atmosphere and you hope that it is the climate change deniers who are snowed in and sitting around a candle for warmth as the snowstorm knocks out their electricity.
It won't be though as the changing climate won't discriminate between those who are hard core environmentalists and those who refuse to accept what they see with their own eyes amongst the hundreds of thousands of homes without power.
The Met Centre are tracking the storm and predict that it will cross the Atlantic and hit Britain on Tuesday bringing bringing up to 8ins (20cm) of rain and prompting the issuing of severe flood warnings.
The weather system that has bought such devastation to America and is due to dump over half a foot of rain on the UK next week may well have happened anyway and we have been getting the tail end of Americas storms for centuries thanks to the Jet Stream but you would have to be wilfully blind or just plain ignorant to see that things on the weather front have shifted up a few levels.
What climate change does do though is take what is already there and ramp it up so the rains are heavier, the winds stronger and the heatwaves hotter and longer and weather records tumble as we see in the eastern side of the United States where massive, unprecedented snowstorms have hit.
As America was for such a long time the Worlds premier polluter, fair enough you may say that they reap what they sowed for so long by devastating the atmosphere and you hope that it is the climate change deniers who are snowed in and sitting around a candle for warmth as the snowstorm knocks out their electricity.
It won't be though as the changing climate won't discriminate between those who are hard core environmentalists and those who refuse to accept what they see with their own eyes amongst the hundreds of thousands of homes without power.
The Met Centre are tracking the storm and predict that it will cross the Atlantic and hit Britain on Tuesday bringing bringing up to 8ins (20cm) of rain and prompting the issuing of severe flood warnings.
The weather system that has bought such devastation to America and is due to dump over half a foot of rain on the UK next week may well have happened anyway and we have been getting the tail end of Americas storms for centuries thanks to the Jet Stream but you would have to be wilfully blind or just plain ignorant to see that things on the weather front have shifted up a few levels.
Saturday, 23 January 2016
Socialism Is The Devils Work
While some see left-wing ideology as a reflection of the teachings of Jesus, some right-wing Christians believe that socialism has its roots in Satan Worship, right wingers like the hard-right website Canada Free Press who tell it's readers that the foundations of socialism lie in the heresy of a fallen and bitter priest named Joachim of Flora who in the late 12th Century claimed that the church would wither away and leave a beautiful utopia.
The Christians see a link between the Joachim of Flora view and Karl Marx's who centuries later picked up the thread for his Communist Manifesto where the State would fade away and all people live in harmony, sharing everything and fighting over nothing, in a anti-religious, godless Communist paradise.
The loonies then state that Satan is a perfect symbol for socialism as it sets out to remake the world of
mankind without any reference to God.
After a lot of waffling the website deduces that Socialism was invented by Satan in an attempt to seize control of the Earth and Socialists are doing the work of the Devil when they push their satanic views on to others.
Blimey, i must have missed that memo but it is always nice when right wing religious nutters bring me up to speed.
The Christians see a link between the Joachim of Flora view and Karl Marx's who centuries later picked up the thread for his Communist Manifesto where the State would fade away and all people live in harmony, sharing everything and fighting over nothing, in a anti-religious, godless Communist paradise.
The loonies then state that Satan is a perfect symbol for socialism as it sets out to remake the world of
mankind without any reference to God.
After a lot of waffling the website deduces that Socialism was invented by Satan in an attempt to seize control of the Earth and Socialists are doing the work of the Devil when they push their satanic views on to others.
Blimey, i must have missed that memo but it is always nice when right wing religious nutters bring me up to speed.
Google Tax
A smiling Chancellor announced today that the Government has reached an agreement with Google to pay the British taxman £130m in back taxes.
Mr Osborne told the BBC that the agreement was 'a real vindication of this government's approach to tax avoidance' which is interesting as we may have puffed up the coffers by £130million but the actual amount Google owed in tax was 7 to 10 times more.
Mr Osborne has welcomed the agreement and suggested that it could see other large firms reaching similar deals with the taxman which appears to mean that Google may owe far much more but we will take whatever amount in a 'deal'.
The tax agreement comes after years of criticism of Google and other multinational firms such as Facebook, Amazon and Starbucks over their tax arrangement in the UK.
In 2010 Vodaphone and HMRC agreed a bill of £1.2 billion when the actual amount the phone operator was due to pay was £8 billion.
As many of us are due to have submitted our Tax Returns by the end of this month i am sure that HMRC will be okay if we agree to only pay a tenth of what we owe in light of this new Government approach to taxation. Won't they?
Mr Osborne told the BBC that the agreement was 'a real vindication of this government's approach to tax avoidance' which is interesting as we may have puffed up the coffers by £130million but the actual amount Google owed in tax was 7 to 10 times more.
Mr Osborne has welcomed the agreement and suggested that it could see other large firms reaching similar deals with the taxman which appears to mean that Google may owe far much more but we will take whatever amount in a 'deal'.
The tax agreement comes after years of criticism of Google and other multinational firms such as Facebook, Amazon and Starbucks over their tax arrangement in the UK.
In 2010 Vodaphone and HMRC agreed a bill of £1.2 billion when the actual amount the phone operator was due to pay was £8 billion.
As many of us are due to have submitted our Tax Returns by the end of this month i am sure that HMRC will be okay if we agree to only pay a tenth of what we owe in light of this new Government approach to taxation. Won't they?
Wednesday, 20 January 2016
No Economic Crisis Here This Time
Another day, another warning that the whole financial system is going to come crashing down around our ears in a repeat of the 2008 crash.
From where i am sitting it seems that this is just a continuation of 2008 as we are still suffering cuts and austerity to get us out of the hole 2008 left in our finances so hardly anything new.
On the stock markets today in London, New York, Shanghai and Frankfurt shares were dumped and the oil price crashed to its lowest level since 2003 on fears that China is heading into a recession that will drag the rest of the world economy down with it.
I can't honestly say that i understand any of it but it appears that those screaming that the wheels are about to come off are a bit previous but the ingredients for another plunge are there.
I don't think there is anything to worry about for us Brits. The Tories have made good use of all the years since the last crash, the painful austerity measures they have been continually introducing since 2010 and cuts to funding must place us in an excellent financial position and the massive reduction in our deficit according to George Osborne means that they have sufficient funds in place along with rigorous regulation of the finance houses along with prudent safeguards in place to prevent another meltdown.
Haven't they?
From where i am sitting it seems that this is just a continuation of 2008 as we are still suffering cuts and austerity to get us out of the hole 2008 left in our finances so hardly anything new.
On the stock markets today in London, New York, Shanghai and Frankfurt shares were dumped and the oil price crashed to its lowest level since 2003 on fears that China is heading into a recession that will drag the rest of the world economy down with it.
I can't honestly say that i understand any of it but it appears that those screaming that the wheels are about to come off are a bit previous but the ingredients for another plunge are there.
I don't think there is anything to worry about for us Brits. The Tories have made good use of all the years since the last crash, the painful austerity measures they have been continually introducing since 2010 and cuts to funding must place us in an excellent financial position and the massive reduction in our deficit according to George Osborne means that they have sufficient funds in place along with rigorous regulation of the finance houses along with prudent safeguards in place to prevent another meltdown.
Haven't they?
2015 Hottest Year On Record
2015 was the planet's hottest year by the widest margin in 136 years of record keeping, US government scientists have said with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) saying 2015's average temperature was 58.62F (14.79C), 1.62F above the 20th century average and 0.29F above 2014.
Scientists put the blame on blame man-made global warming and El Nino as the report marks the fourth time in 11 years that a global temperature record was set.
World powers agreed at the Paris climate talks in December to a goal of capping temperature rises at 2C above pre-industrial levels but many scientists say the planet is already about halfway to that milestone, with no sign of slowing down with ice sheets melting and rising seas as a result.
It is no good tinkering with the edges as everything else will be insignificant if Mother Nature unleashes her wrath so we need to act now and ignore the idiots like Donald Trump who refuse to see the evidence before their own eyes.
The problem won't go away and it is going to get a whole lot worse unless our Governments act now.
Scientists put the blame on blame man-made global warming and El Nino as the report marks the fourth time in 11 years that a global temperature record was set.
World powers agreed at the Paris climate talks in December to a goal of capping temperature rises at 2C above pre-industrial levels but many scientists say the planet is already about halfway to that milestone, with no sign of slowing down with ice sheets melting and rising seas as a result.
It is no good tinkering with the edges as everything else will be insignificant if Mother Nature unleashes her wrath so we need to act now and ignore the idiots like Donald Trump who refuse to see the evidence before their own eyes.
The problem won't go away and it is going to get a whole lot worse unless our Governments act now.
American Gun Laws Should Be Obama's Legacy
A three-year-old boy has died after a gun under his grandmother's pillow apparently went off as they slept.
The bullet struck the toddler in the chest at his grandmother's home in New Orleans authorities said.
The boy's grandmother has been arrested on charges of negligent homicide, second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and child desertion.
Makes a mockery of the guns for self-defence justification as yet another death attributed to a gun law that allows people to keep such dangerous weapons in their homes.
Beyond me why you would want a weapon designed and built to kill in your home and bewildering to think that anyone would keep it in the bed.
It isn't even an isolated incident, we keep hearing of accidental deaths where children grab guns that adults have left within their grasp, the mother accidentally shot and killed by her child in a supermarket after he took her gun from her purse and another who killed his mother after finding her gun in the family car.
Madness but it appears many people in America feel it is a price worth paying to uphold the sainted second amendment and if the violent gun death of 23 children in a school isn't enough to shake things up to change the law then the occasional accidental death of a toddler will be tolerated.
While it may be the fault of the parents and grandparents for not keeping their guns out of the reach of small hands, it is the fault of the manic American gun laws that let's them have them around them in the first place.
If Obama is after a legacy, there are worse things he could do then sort out the chilling relationship of American's with their firearms.
The bullet struck the toddler in the chest at his grandmother's home in New Orleans authorities said.
The boy's grandmother has been arrested on charges of negligent homicide, second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and child desertion.
Makes a mockery of the guns for self-defence justification as yet another death attributed to a gun law that allows people to keep such dangerous weapons in their homes.
Beyond me why you would want a weapon designed and built to kill in your home and bewildering to think that anyone would keep it in the bed.
It isn't even an isolated incident, we keep hearing of accidental deaths where children grab guns that adults have left within their grasp, the mother accidentally shot and killed by her child in a supermarket after he took her gun from her purse and another who killed his mother after finding her gun in the family car.
Madness but it appears many people in America feel it is a price worth paying to uphold the sainted second amendment and if the violent gun death of 23 children in a school isn't enough to shake things up to change the law then the occasional accidental death of a toddler will be tolerated.
While it may be the fault of the parents and grandparents for not keeping their guns out of the reach of small hands, it is the fault of the manic American gun laws that let's them have them around them in the first place.
If Obama is after a legacy, there are worse things he could do then sort out the chilling relationship of American's with their firearms.
Another One Bites The Dust
The start of 2016 hasn't been especially kind to the famous with John Bradbury, Scott Weiland, Lemmy, David Bowie, Ed Stewart, Alan Rickman, Dale Griffin and Glenn Frey all cashing in their chips before the first month of the new year is out.
The silver lining is that we get a rare outing on the radio and television of songs from The Specials, Stone Temple Pilots, Motorhead, Mott the Hoople, Bowie and The Eagles and films starring Alan Rickman.
I do admit to not being a particular fan of either of the bands or singers but i did have a soft spot for Alan Rickman, and have rewatched Truly, Madly Deeply and Die Hard recently.
As for Bowie who seems to be the most mourned, it does seem the tunes played come from from the Ziggy Stardust era which to be kind was his career highlight for me, everything from that time onwards i quite easily brushed off.
Mott the Hoople had one good song, Lemmy had two, The Specials about the same and if it wasn't for the song 'Plush', you would be hard pushed to find another Stone Temple Pilots song to play.
The Eagles recently had a greatest hits album with the by-line of 'Americas Greatest Band' which seemed a bit of a stretch considering some of the bands that particular country has produced but over the past two days the song i have heard in homage to Frey (who by all accounts wasn't a particularly nice person) has been Hotel California, an excellent song i agree, and the one that most people associate with the band and on a personal note probably the only Eagles song that i would go out of my way to listen to.
All their deaths should be treated with dignity because they were all human beings and all had an appreciative audience and obviously touched the lives of millions but i do dislike the over the top outpouring of grief and plaudits for people who may have been talented musicians but as we didn't know them, i can't understand why people would mourn them with quite so much vigour as they have been lately.
That said, you could make a great CD with the greatest hits from each of the recently deceased:
Born To Raise Hell, Ace Of Spades (Lemmy), All the Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople), Hotel California (Eagles), Ghost Town, Rudy (Specials), Plush (STP), Life On Mars, Ashes to Ashes and Starman (Bowie).
The silver lining is that we get a rare outing on the radio and television of songs from The Specials, Stone Temple Pilots, Motorhead, Mott the Hoople, Bowie and The Eagles and films starring Alan Rickman.
I do admit to not being a particular fan of either of the bands or singers but i did have a soft spot for Alan Rickman, and have rewatched Truly, Madly Deeply and Die Hard recently.
As for Bowie who seems to be the most mourned, it does seem the tunes played come from from the Ziggy Stardust era which to be kind was his career highlight for me, everything from that time onwards i quite easily brushed off.
Mott the Hoople had one good song, Lemmy had two, The Specials about the same and if it wasn't for the song 'Plush', you would be hard pushed to find another Stone Temple Pilots song to play.
The Eagles recently had a greatest hits album with the by-line of 'Americas Greatest Band' which seemed a bit of a stretch considering some of the bands that particular country has produced but over the past two days the song i have heard in homage to Frey (who by all accounts wasn't a particularly nice person) has been Hotel California, an excellent song i agree, and the one that most people associate with the band and on a personal note probably the only Eagles song that i would go out of my way to listen to.
All their deaths should be treated with dignity because they were all human beings and all had an appreciative audience and obviously touched the lives of millions but i do dislike the over the top outpouring of grief and plaudits for people who may have been talented musicians but as we didn't know them, i can't understand why people would mourn them with quite so much vigour as they have been lately.
That said, you could make a great CD with the greatest hits from each of the recently deceased:
Born To Raise Hell, Ace Of Spades (Lemmy), All the Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople), Hotel California (Eagles), Ghost Town, Rudy (Specials), Plush (STP), Life On Mars, Ashes to Ashes and Starman (Bowie).
Monday, 4 January 2016
A Medical Miracle
I have been feeling a bit dizzy recently so reached out to the Internet and found a few medical websites to read what i wanted to read and then idly clicked a link and began to read about Typhoid Fever. Before i had even finished the list of symptoms i realised that i had got it.
I sat for a while, frozen with horror and then, in the listlessness of despair, i clicked the next link
which was St Vitus Dance, again read the symptoms and discovered that I had that also and must have had it for months without knowing it.
Wondering what else I was suffering from, i found the index and starting alphabetically, read up on Ague, and learned that I was sickening for it, and was in the early stages of Bright’s disease although i was relieved to find i only had it in a mild form.
Cholera I had and also Diphtheria while Epidermolysis Bullosa i seemed to have been born with. I plodded conscientiously through the twenty-six letters, learning i had everything from Acute Valley Fever to Zymosis and as there were no more diseases after Zymosis, i concluded there was nothing else the matter with me.
I felt my pulse and after not finding it after several minutes concluded that it had obviously stopped beating at some point during the day.
I stuck out my tongue as far as it would go and looked in the bathroom mirror and all i could gain from that was to feel more certain than before that I had Scarlet Fever.
With so many problems i feel the only reason i am still going is due to all the diseases keeping each other in balance so as a semi-living medical miracle i have donated myself to medical science for a while so the blogging may slow down until medical science finds a cure for my plethora of ailments.
I sat for a while, frozen with horror and then, in the listlessness of despair, i clicked the next link
which was St Vitus Dance, again read the symptoms and discovered that I had that also and must have had it for months without knowing it.
Wondering what else I was suffering from, i found the index and starting alphabetically, read up on Ague, and learned that I was sickening for it, and was in the early stages of Bright’s disease although i was relieved to find i only had it in a mild form.
Cholera I had and also Diphtheria while Epidermolysis Bullosa i seemed to have been born with. I plodded conscientiously through the twenty-six letters, learning i had everything from Acute Valley Fever to Zymosis and as there were no more diseases after Zymosis, i concluded there was nothing else the matter with me.
I felt my pulse and after not finding it after several minutes concluded that it had obviously stopped beating at some point during the day.
I stuck out my tongue as far as it would go and looked in the bathroom mirror and all i could gain from that was to feel more certain than before that I had Scarlet Fever.
With so many problems i feel the only reason i am still going is due to all the diseases keeping each other in balance so as a semi-living medical miracle i have donated myself to medical science for a while so the blogging may slow down until medical science finds a cure for my plethora of ailments.
Sunday, 3 January 2016
What's That Sign Say?
It appears that since Chaucer put quill to parchment and wrote about a poor student who 'let fly a fart as loud as it had been a thunder-clap', we have gained the letters J, W, U and V (previously the same letter) and which he never had access to.
We may have 15% more alphabet than Chaucer had 600 years ago but consider the Egyptians who 4000 years ago had no letters and used hieroglyphics and you need to be an expert in Ancient Egyptian to understand what Owl, Foot, Squiggly line meant.
To make sure that future generations would not go disturbing the Kings in the Pyramids, the Ancient Egyptians put up stark warning of all kinds of horrid things that would happen if we did enter the tombs of the pharaohs but we couldn't understand them and so smashed them open anyway.
What this meanderingly brings us to is the spent nuclear fuel dumps that we are currently planning for not just the UK but all over the World as we build new nuclear power plants.
As the radioactive material will remain dangerous for at least 100,000 years, a 'Keep Out' sign is the absolute minimum but it is extremely unlikely that our descendants will speak any of our languages in 100,000 years and 'Keep Out' will mean as much as Owl, Foot, Squiggly line does to us today or even Chaucer and his 'ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes'.
We could use the international signs like our symbol for radiation but the Egyptians probably thought that stamping the Eye of Horus on the Pyramid entrance would be enough to warn us thousands of years later that it would be bad news to enter.
Of course if our leaders were not such a bunch Nuclear loving bespawling fopdoodles with farts like thunder-claps it wouldn't be a problem, as Chaucer may have said.
Saturday, 2 January 2016
Big Decisions For Future Martians
At some point, hopefully in my lifetime, we will have a permanent base on the Moon and then a permanent base on Mars and after the initial euphoria we will face a massive problem of who is in charge and who gets to make the decisions?
A team of scientists, philosophers, and lawyers have set out a template constitution for the inhabitant of the Moon and Mars which sets out principles like a 'right to oxygen' and the 'right to leave' but at some point after the human race has spread and become a permanent fixture the question would have be asked, who does the Moon or Mars dwellers answer to?
History shows that colonies tend to start resenting their owners pretty quickly (think US and UK) and revolutions happen and humans being humans there is every reason to suspect that the inhabitants of the Moon and Mars would revolt at some point.
The Blue Marble Space Institute of Science has suggested that Mars should be independent from day one and colonists would cease to be 'Earthlings' the moment they land on Mars or the Moon and would be left to their own devices until their society has built up to the point that they can establish a trading relationship with Earth.
Seems a bit harsh to just leave them alone and it is hard to believe that we could, we have never just left alone and the countries that spent billions getting them up there in the first place wouldn't want to.
It is a problem for the future but something that should be considered because if us on Earth interfere then we could cause resentment and foster chilly relations with our newest neighbours.
We haven't even mentioned the political and economic model that would be followed, would the supply of oxygen be run under a Capitalist system where it could be denied if payment is not forthcoming or a Socialist system where it is subsidised and the Government provides it to everyone?
Would there be an unelected monarchy, a President making the decisions, a Government where the decisions are made by cabinet, a Corporatocracy with the missions financial backers choosing when and what is required or even a Technocracy with experts making the big decisions?
Starting up a whole new World sounds great until you think about it and it is a minefield.
A team of scientists, philosophers, and lawyers have set out a template constitution for the inhabitant of the Moon and Mars which sets out principles like a 'right to oxygen' and the 'right to leave' but at some point after the human race has spread and become a permanent fixture the question would have be asked, who does the Moon or Mars dwellers answer to?
History shows that colonies tend to start resenting their owners pretty quickly (think US and UK) and revolutions happen and humans being humans there is every reason to suspect that the inhabitants of the Moon and Mars would revolt at some point.
The Blue Marble Space Institute of Science has suggested that Mars should be independent from day one and colonists would cease to be 'Earthlings' the moment they land on Mars or the Moon and would be left to their own devices until their society has built up to the point that they can establish a trading relationship with Earth.
Seems a bit harsh to just leave them alone and it is hard to believe that we could, we have never just left alone and the countries that spent billions getting them up there in the first place wouldn't want to.
It is a problem for the future but something that should be considered because if us on Earth interfere then we could cause resentment and foster chilly relations with our newest neighbours.
We haven't even mentioned the political and economic model that would be followed, would the supply of oxygen be run under a Capitalist system where it could be denied if payment is not forthcoming or a Socialist system where it is subsidised and the Government provides it to everyone?
Would there be an unelected monarchy, a President making the decisions, a Government where the decisions are made by cabinet, a Corporatocracy with the missions financial backers choosing when and what is required or even a Technocracy with experts making the big decisions?
Starting up a whole new World sounds great until you think about it and it is a minefield.
Friday, 1 January 2016
One Yanks View Of Britain
Scott Waters visited our country from Florida, staying with family and friends around the country for a few weeks and on his return to America he posted a list of the things that struck him most about the British and Britain on Facebook.
I was in England again a few weeks ago, mostly in small towns, but here's some of what I learned:
* Almost everyone is very polite
* The food is generally outstanding
* There are no guns
* There are too many narrow stairs
* Everything is just a little bit different
* The pubs close too early
* You'd better like peas, potatoes and sausage
* Refrigerators and washing machines are very small
* Everything is generally older, smaller and shorter
* People don't seem to be afraid of their neighbors or the government
* Their paper money makes sense, the coins don't
* Everyone has a washing machine but driers are rare
* Hot and cold water faucets. Remember them?
* Pants are called "trousers", underwear are "pants" and sweaters are "jumpers"
* The bathroom light is a string hanging from the ceiling
* "Fanny" is a naughty word, as is "shag"
* All the signs are well designed with beautiful typography and written in full sentences with proper grammar.
* There's no dress code
* Doors close by themselves, but they don't always open
* They eat with their forks upside down
* There are hardly any cops or police cars
* Everything comes with chips, which are French fries. You put vinegar on them
* Cookies are "biscuits" and potato chips are "crisps"
* Obama is considered a hero, Bush is considered an idiot.
* The water controls in showers need detailed instructions
* Nearly everyone is better educated then we are
* If someone buys you a drink you must do the same
* There are no guns
* Avoid British wine and French beer
* Many of the roads are the size of our sidewalks
* There's no AC
* Instead of turning the heat up, you put on a jumper
* You don't have to tip, really!
* You pay the price marked on products because the taxes (VAT) are built in
* They took the street signs down during WWII, but haven't put them all back up yet
* Everyone enjoys a good joke
* There are no guns
* You can get on a bus and end up in Paris
* Everyone knows more about our history then we do
* Radio is still a big deal. The BBC is quite good
* The newspapers can be awful
* Butter and eggs aren't refrigerated
* The money is easy to understand. There are no quarters.
* Cars don't have bumper stickers
* Many doorknobs, buildings and tools are older than America
* By law, there are no crappy, old cars
* When the sign says something was built in 456, they didn't lose the "1"
* Cake is pudding, ice cream is pudding, anything served for dessert is pudding, even pudding
* Soccer is a religion, religion is a sport
* Europeans dress better then the British, we dress worse
* Drinks don't come with ice
* They don't use Bose anything anywhere
* Displaying your political or religious affiliation is considered very bad taste
* Their healthcare works, but they still bitch about it
* Their coffee is mediocre but their tea is wonderful
* There are still no guns
I was in England again a few weeks ago, mostly in small towns, but here's some of what I learned:
* Almost everyone is very polite
* The food is generally outstanding
* There are no guns
* There are too many narrow stairs
* Everything is just a little bit different
* The pubs close too early
* You'd better like peas, potatoes and sausage
* Refrigerators and washing machines are very small
* Everything is generally older, smaller and shorter
* People don't seem to be afraid of their neighbors or the government
* Their paper money makes sense, the coins don't
* Everyone has a washing machine but driers are rare
* Hot and cold water faucets. Remember them?
* Pants are called "trousers", underwear are "pants" and sweaters are "jumpers"
* The bathroom light is a string hanging from the ceiling
* "Fanny" is a naughty word, as is "shag"
* All the signs are well designed with beautiful typography and written in full sentences with proper grammar.
* There's no dress code
* Doors close by themselves, but they don't always open
* They eat with their forks upside down
* There are hardly any cops or police cars
* Everything comes with chips, which are French fries. You put vinegar on them
* Cookies are "biscuits" and potato chips are "crisps"
* Obama is considered a hero, Bush is considered an idiot.
* The water controls in showers need detailed instructions
* Nearly everyone is better educated then we are
* If someone buys you a drink you must do the same
* There are no guns
* Avoid British wine and French beer
* Many of the roads are the size of our sidewalks
* There's no AC
* Instead of turning the heat up, you put on a jumper
* You don't have to tip, really!
* You pay the price marked on products because the taxes (VAT) are built in
* They took the street signs down during WWII, but haven't put them all back up yet
* Everyone enjoys a good joke
* There are no guns
* You can get on a bus and end up in Paris
* Everyone knows more about our history then we do
* Radio is still a big deal. The BBC is quite good
* The newspapers can be awful
* Butter and eggs aren't refrigerated
* The money is easy to understand. There are no quarters.
* Cars don't have bumper stickers
* Many doorknobs, buildings and tools are older than America
* By law, there are no crappy, old cars
* When the sign says something was built in 456, they didn't lose the "1"
* Cake is pudding, ice cream is pudding, anything served for dessert is pudding, even pudding
* Soccer is a religion, religion is a sport
* Europeans dress better then the British, we dress worse
* Drinks don't come with ice
* They don't use Bose anything anywhere
* Displaying your political or religious affiliation is considered very bad taste
* Their healthcare works, but they still bitch about it
* Their coffee is mediocre but their tea is wonderful
* There are still no guns
Psychic Predictions For 2016
Canadian Psychic Nikki doesn't have to have a last name but when you are the 'psychic to the stars' you don't need one and if she is good enough for the stars of Canada she is good enough for me.
On her website she has given a shedload of predictions for us to peruse by using her 'power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses'.
So what does Nikki's senses see for 2016?
A huge crash at a Formula One race, killing many.
Nile River overflows into Egypt.
Massive earthquake in Egypt, damaging or destroying part of the pyramids.
A city will turn sideways after earthquake activity.
Boat sinking in the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary.
A past President will pass away in a plane crash.
A helicopter will crash into the Empire State Building.
Treasure will be found in a castle wall in England, going back to King Henry VIII.
A new breed mixture of dog and cat.
A new President's head at Mount Rushmore.
A change in the British Monarchy.
A plane goes into Eiffel Tower in Paris.
North Korea attacking South Korea.
Prince Charles will become King for a short time; he could abdicate due to illness.
Hillary Clinton will become the next President of the United States.
The United States will take over Cuba when Fidel Castro passes.
David Beckham, will split from his wife, Victoria.
Justin Bieber will portray Elvis Presley in a film.
A pet parrot will kill a movie star.
Change in the British Monarchy.
Out of the 370 predictions for the year 2016, these are the 20 that will be most easiest to check if they happen so we can look back next January to see how many she has right. I'm especially keen to see which cities citizens go to bed facing North and wakes up facing East and also which movie star owns a killer parrot.
On her website she has given a shedload of predictions for us to peruse by using her 'power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses'.
So what does Nikki's senses see for 2016?
A huge crash at a Formula One race, killing many.
Nile River overflows into Egypt.
Massive earthquake in Egypt, damaging or destroying part of the pyramids.
A city will turn sideways after earthquake activity.
Boat sinking in the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary.
A past President will pass away in a plane crash.
A helicopter will crash into the Empire State Building.
Treasure will be found in a castle wall in England, going back to King Henry VIII.
A new breed mixture of dog and cat.
A new President's head at Mount Rushmore.
A change in the British Monarchy.
A plane goes into Eiffel Tower in Paris.
North Korea attacking South Korea.
Prince Charles will become King for a short time; he could abdicate due to illness.
Hillary Clinton will become the next President of the United States.
The United States will take over Cuba when Fidel Castro passes.
David Beckham, will split from his wife, Victoria.
Justin Bieber will portray Elvis Presley in a film.
A pet parrot will kill a movie star.
Change in the British Monarchy.
Out of the 370 predictions for the year 2016, these are the 20 that will be most easiest to check if they happen so we can look back next January to see how many she has right. I'm especially keen to see which cities citizens go to bed facing North and wakes up facing East and also which movie star owns a killer parrot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)