Foggy night

Jacob, my son. 

Today is the last day of 2019 and the last day of the tens decade. We are now entering your most important decade, the 20s, you will spend most of your youth in the 20s decade. It is very foggy at the moment. We have made it through the damp political Christmas of 2019 alive and wait to see what happens in 2020?

I often wonder what kind of person you will grow into in the 2030s and 2040s and beyond. What would be important to you as a person. Every day from now onwards will bring a clearer picture. 

Feeling sick

I think I have a cold virus or flu. I am spending the last part of the tens decade feeling a bit sick. Sneezing and coughing with a slight headache. It is amazing to think that some of my cells are being attacked by particles that are considered to be non living. 

You know there is a vast encyclopedia achieve on biological viruses and the way they work. 

It is funny to think that when my body makes antibodies it is actually giving the infection an infection. The disease is getting its own little disease. 

Last Saturday of the decade

It is the Last Saturday of the tens decade. We are heading for a new 20s decade. I'm still doing my role in society by filling media with a small stream of passive positive creations to dilute away some of a angry violent things that are present. A small stream working against an ocean. 

I am a boat heading for placid water. I am also an armchair philosopher and a creative person. At least one person will read this, it will be an older and wiser version of me. I will not feel offended if no one else reads this blog. It will be a bit more formal as we enter the 20s decade because it is a historical record for the people of the future so I will reduce my opinion slightly. 

The 20s decade will be the decade where my son spends most of his youth and he will be 11 years old at the end of it all. 

Hopes are high 

1000 days of tosh

There are 1095 days in 3 years and at least 1000 of them were full of Tosh. The news was repetitive, it was very boring after the second year really. Going on and on about the same thing every single day. I won't say what it was going on about. 

Some left wing radio presenters would talk about the same thing every day, so they were neglecting other interesting topics. Talk based radio is a big part of my life. 

The good thing is that I was inspired to seek other media. For instance, the last 3 years I have been reading e books about afterlife and paranormal stuff and Wikipedia articles more than ever before. The other day I was reading about Triton, the largest moon of the Planet Neptune. The moon is similar size to our own moon but it goes around the planet in the opposite direction to the planet's spin, this means it was originally an independent Dwarf planet that had an orbit the was too close to the gas giant and got trapped by the planet's huge gravity field. 

It is strange to think that our own moon is also actually a Dwarf planet. It is so big that it has crushed itself into a sphere shape and has enough gravity to harbour a small atmosphere, although the sun's solar wind has removed that atmosphere because it is outside Earth's magnetic field but that is another story. 

Reading in Reading

Earlier in the week I spent some time with my family in reading and had a little break from work. One of the best things in life is to sit on a comfortable chair and drink strong coffee while reading an interesting article. 

There is so much stuff out there to read. I have a free web encyclopedia at my fingertips so I can read about almost anything in this world and beyond. 

I will say no more 

Christmas Spirit

It is Christmas now, I wish all my friends and family a wonderful Christmas and New year. 

I was looking through Wikipedia last night because I wanted to know what the difference is between all the different spirit drinks. This is the verdict...

Brandy is wine that has been distilled to make it more concentrated. 

Whisky is wheat mash that has been distilled and aged in a barrel to add flavour. 

Rum is sugar cane or sugar based alcohol that has been distilled like the others to remove water content and make it more concentrated. 

Gin is made from berries and is also aged in barrels. 

Vodca is made from potato starch alcohol and is distilled for longer or multiple times to make the alcohol content more high. 

Fire down under

Throughout this month there has been bush fires in Australia over a very large area. The climate in Australia has been more hot and dry than normal. Here in the the UK it has been raining persistently almost every day and all the rivers in England were surging very hard and there was hardly any frost at all. 

It is not clear how or why but the Earth's climate is changing, the main theory is the CO2 emissions are trapping more heat from the sun light. Other theories suggest that the climate change is part of a cycle the repeats over and over again. 

I don't know what to think. 

Genocide or Security

Earlier in the month I saw the Leader of Myanmar defend the actions of her country's army back in 2017 in the international court of justice in the Netherlands. 

Myanmar is a hilly country that is sandwiched between China and the Indian subcontinent bordering Bangladesh, it looks a bit like a peninsula on a peninsula in the southern Pacific ocean. 

Well you see the Rohingya people have been considered to be intruders from Bangladesh so the Myanmar government treats them like outsiders. Some of the Rohingya are considered to be terrorists so the the army attacked the entire district where the Rohingya reside and killed many of them. It is a very sad story and one that I'm not qualified to evaluate. 

December is about a leader on trial and another leader impeached and one elevated by a landslide snap election. It is very much a political Christmas period in this world. 

The Dot

Today the main thing I am thinking about is dots. I was thinking about easy ways to make a dot change appearance, if you could do that then you have created a pixel and with a grid of pixels you can create a screen, this is the ultimate hobby. Sitting in a workshop/room in your home trying to make a screen, for an ordinary man that would be like a small country sending a man into space without assistance from other nations, super difficult.

There are the obvious ways like using liquid crystal solution to change opacity when a current goes through it. Or just have a grid of L.E.D. Lights.

Perhaps there is a non conventional way like making a real dot float or sink. This sort of thing helps you get through a lot of dull repetitive work. If my eyes are glassed over slightly the next few days then at least you will know what is on my mind.

Santa Splatter

I had this thought in my head.

Santa claws accidentally flew his sleigh into a chemical vat like the one from the Movie robo cop.

Santa claws rolls out of the hole in the vat that he made and runs towards me with his tongue hanging out an one eye swollen shut and says "heeelllp meheeee" so I give him a card with details of a delivery company and say there you go just post the presents. How is that for a Christmas movie for all the family?

That is how Christmas feels right now, damp, political and dull. I will keep my chin up for better days. The magic of Christmas is just not there.

Trump impeached

President trump was Impeached yesterday. This means that he was charged with misconduct while in power and will be taken to court to be judged on whether he can remain in office at the start of 2020 I believe. 

I knew it was going to be a political Christmas this year because of the snap election here in the UK but I never saw the impeachment coming. Many experts think that the impeachment won't get through the senetor court because the evidence is insignificant. There is not much evidence that he abused his power and there is no evidence he took a bribe or anything like that. 

All I can say is Christmas 2019 is wet and political in the UK, especially if you watch the news. Lots of rain no snow and news full of politics. 

10 coolest things

Here is my list of 10 coolest things, they are things and not people or God. Just things and fiction.

1) Ice
Well... Ice cubes are cool and you need a starting position so I have placed ice on the start of the list. Water expands when it freezes so it floats in its own solution. Most materials in this world shrink when they solidify so they become more dense then their liquid form. Ice doesn't, it acts like a raft or land. For some reason I don't fully understand this is essential for the well being of this planet.

2) Le Forge.
In Star trek the next generation there was a brilliant engineer called Le Forge. He was always cool under pressure and saved the ship from being destroyed a few times without even breaking sweat.

3) Captain Picard.
In star trek the next generation on the starship called the  Enterprise there was a captain called captain Picard. He was very wise. I think he singlehandedly stopped a bunch of intergalactic wars. He was very wise and very calm. That is very very cool indeed.

4) Michael Jackson Juke box.
In one of Micheal Jackson's music videos, there is a scene where he throws a coin across a hall and it lands into the coin slot, then Micheal Jackson strikes a pose. Very cool.

5) Michael Jackson Robot starship.
Michel Jackson Turning into a 25 meter tall Robot and then into a star ship is very cool. In Micheal Jackson's movie titled Moonwalker he turns into a 25 meter tall robot to fight a well armed drugs cartel. It is an off the wall movie scene but I love it.

6) Retro sound effects
Computer games are a very big part of my life and the games of my time in the 90s had some very charming sound effects. I will never forget the sound effects from Golden axe, streets of rage, Zelda, Secret agent (dos), commander Keen (dos, without the music) and the old duke nukem games on dos.

7) Reading books
I love to read books and they open up my mind and allow me to explore other worlds and change my perspective. I read books that my favorite sci-fi movies are based on and get insight into the story that I never knew about. For instance the movie "the thing" from the 80s is based on the book called "who goes there", but in the book you get more science about how the creature lives and works. I like to read factual books and paranormal books as well. And experience books like memoirs of holocaust survivors. Reading books is totally cool.

8) Game Boy
The original Nintendo game boy is so cool because they pushed old technology as far as it would go and created a product that beat superior hand held games systems on the market.  The game boy had a very basic memory system that wasn't even strong enough to make a copy of the screen, so it used repeatable tiles and Sprite system. The screen was very basic so it would render very fast and appear to be double buffered and even have rapid side scrolling textures yet it was just building scenes with reusable memory tiles and rendering in real time so it used very little power yet you could play multi level side scrolling graphical games on it with giant maps. That is very cool and clever. People don't realize just how clever it was.

9) Goldilocks Zone
We are on Earth and Earth is moving through the Goldilocks Zone. The Goldilocks Zone is a sphear that surrounds the sun that would allow water to be it's liquid form. If the Earth was further away, all the water on the surface would freeze over. If we were closer then it would all evaporate into steam so being in the Goldilocks Zone is essential for life to exist. Compared to the solar system, the Goldilocks Zone is very small so it is very lucky that we are in it.

10) My Little world
The little world inside my head is an astonishing place. To give you a sense of how cool it is you would need a Jazz man to play a saxophone while walking out onto a pier in sea facing into a setting sun. It is that cool. Thousands of creations and thousands of questions, the fruit of a hungry mind. The Veranda house, better transport solutions, energy harvesting machines and even an airport exist in this place. My little world is a never ending river of Mystery that is cut off from the real world by mediocrity and transparency of my personality.

Think about it

When I drive my car I have 5 goals. 1 is to get to my destination, 2 is to press my accelerator pedal is little as possible. 3 is to press my breaks as little as possible. 4 is to follow the rules and 5 is turn learn a small amount of the Spanish language (from my CD).

I see cars accelerate towards a red light then brake hard when they are close to the stop line. Some cars even drive over the stop line and use the second stop line for bikes. To me they are daft because when you press the accelerator pedal, you are turning stored energy into kinetic energy, when you press the break pedal you turn the kinetic energy of the car into heat energy which is radiated away from your wheel wells into the open air, I call it wasting energy. When I am approaching a red light I take my foot off the accelerator pedal and let the car slow down on its own. The friction of the engine parts and the air resistance slow down.

Too many cars are driven like too fast,  at the time I wrote this blog entry most cars were powered by petroleum or diesel fuel which is more expensive then electricity.

Yellow Fever

This Christmas, my Christmas wish was to see less yellow on The political map. The United Kingdom of Great Britain had a snap Christmas election and in Scotland the SNP won more seats, they displaced Labour and lib-dem positions I think. The SNP are much bigger now.

Being English, my first reaction was to feel very angry because we bailed out RBS and we are the biggest customers of the Scottish manufacturing. Our Civil engineering millitary factories are placed in Scotland. My favourite snacks are Tannocks tea cakes (Scottish chocolates)  and we buy Scottish whiskey and Eat Scottish oats and drink Scottish water. I felt like they were writing us off for the EU.

When I thought about it I thought that it is the British government's fault  that the Scottish are thinking of leaving  the UK because they have a long history of neglecting the north side of the Island. For example, look at Cross rail. We are building a railway that goes half way across England yet we have loads of railways in South East England already. It is like the North side of the country doesn't exist in British parliament. No wonder they value the EU more than the UK.

Damp night

Jacob, my Son.

At some point between your birth in mid Spring of this year and the political Christmas, I realized what life was all about.

Being alive is all about giving. Everything about you is what you give. Right now I am giving a gift of my written thoughts and insight into what it means to be an ordinary man living at the turn of the millennium. If I print this blog, it may become a good source of history for future generations. I also give my care to your well being as an infant, to understand what that is like you would need to be a father yourself.

However I would advise you not to give openly as you age because many people set out in life to exploit others frivolously and take advantage of their good nature unfairly. Give in a way that makes it hard to attract bad company. How this is done is for you to work out.

Good luck.

The Brits have spoken

The outcome of the new election is very revealing because it shows what the Brits are thinking.

The message I got from this new referendum is that the English don't want a second referendum. They just want an end to Brexit. The Scots have shown that they prefer the EU to the UK. The United Kingdom isn't important to many of them but staying in the EU is. The SNP have increased seats. Northern Ireland is heading the same way. They want the EU more than the UK and they feel betrayed by British Parliament.

What happens in the 2020s and beyond is only known by the gift of hindsight. No one can guess what the near future will be like.

Less yellow and orange

I think that all the political parties have one thing in common, they have made promises they can't keep. Either they are over ambitious or they will be blocked by the shadow cabinet or the house of Lords. I don't really care who gets elected now because this election is all about Brexit and I don't really know what brexit polarity is best anymore.

The only thing I would like on the weekend is to see a political map of Britain with less yellow and orange. If there was no yellow or orange at all then that would be even better. The Lib-dems and SNP have been telling us what to think and don't really listen to ordinary people. They have their own ambitions and work against the will of the majority.  I don't care what colour my district lights up on the weekend as long as it is not orange or yellow. It could stay blue or turn red and that is fine, it could even turn green and I would be happy.

This weekend will be very revealing indeed. We will have a better picture of what the Brits actually think and what the start of the 2020s will be like.

Volcano

A volcano exploded the other day on a small island in New Zealand. It killed some people but it didn't mean to. The volcanoes spew out material and that is what they do.

I feel pity for the families of the people that were killed.

The Irony is that volcanoes are one of the things that give life in this world. They are a part of the carbon cycle and help keep the cycle going by freeing co2 from rocks below, they also create land from the ocean which is needed for terrestrial life.

Teaching madness

One thing I worry about is what my son will be taught when he goes to school. I was taught sex education when I went to school so you would have Mr Shakespeare saying it is ok to shake your spear. You would have Mr Williams saying what a willy is, then you would have Mr Dickens explaining where the Dick goes in. At least they teach me enough to know if I was being molested by an adult, that is fair enough. But now it is different because you also have Mr Confucius teaching them that there is a gender spectrum. ????

The way I understand it is if you have a y chromosome, you are a boy. If both your chromosomes are x then you are a girl. One or the other. No need for complications. Wouldn't it be better if they just taught grammar and logic with maths. Let kids learn to love reading and learning and not be filled by with all this confusion.

Gigolo Frenchie

There is a man out there, I won't name him, l'll just call him, Gigolo Frenchie.

Gigs, Why are you concerned about Turkey, your own people are unhappy they want to keep their pensions the way they are? Being a leader is about managing resources and helping people. You have lost the plot my friend, lost it completely.

Take care of your own people and stop speaking out against other countries. Mind your own business.

Madam Yellow

Madam Yellow was on the radio yesterday? She must be the most annoying person I have ever heard with my ears. She supported Austerity in the past and she is openly against the majority of the British voting community, one of those people that don't listen to ordinary people like me.

The voters didn't make a mistake. They were not led by lies, some were but most were not. They were not making a mistake.

She hardly ever answered questions directly. Madam Yellow, you are not democratic or liberal. You're not a leader, not one I want at the helm of Britain. You stink. Madam Yellow, I won't use your name but you know who you are, you are self important and arrogant and not my leader. 

People are the same

Today there was riots and strike action in France over pension reforms. It is certainly true that people elect leaders that they don't like. They elect them because they hate the other guy more. They are voting for a leader they hate the least but they still hate them. This pattern is repeated around the world.

The leaders make decisions that cost ordinary people more money so ordinary people get very angry because they feel like no one is listening to them. The talk and talk and talk but no one responds.

Butane and Cheese

When you live in a small flat in the UK, you need a very efficient way to heat the place in winter. Electricity is relatively expensive in the UK at the moment but I look forward to the time when it would be cheaper to heat your home with electricity than with burning gas. 

The best way to heat a small flat is to run a butane fire. The main gas supplier company on the UK is Calor and they supply small 15 killogram gas tanks. Butane gas is like propane but it boils at a higher temperature so it is no good for outside because it could become too cold for the gas to come out of the tank but it is safer than propane inside because it puts less pressure on the walls of the tank at room temperature. 

In this decade I went though a phase where I liked to eat spicy cheese, I would get home in the winter after work feeling very tired and would turn on the Butane gas fire. I would press a lever and press the ignition button and it would make a banging sound then the gas would ignite and if the gas tank was fresh the gass would come out slowly and spluter slightly. Then I would make some nice spicy cheese sandwiches, then I would  turn on the TV and watch true crime mystery shows like FBI files on netflix and I would stare at the Butane gas fire while I eat my spicy cheese sandwiches. The ceramic grill would glow bright red and there would be dark smears where it wasn't quite uniform with the rest of the grill. Sometimes I would put my feet near the fire and that was bliss. Then I would curl up on the couch like a little cat and be grateful I have a home to go to. I will always remember these times and look back with happy thoughts. 

Cold Morning

Jacob, My Son.

If I raise my voice at you or punish you when you are a child, don't hold a grudge against me because I would just be keeping you in order. I am a very gentle man in reality so everything I do now is just to stop you from taking a destructive path. Remember that I gave you your middle name and it means to be polite. It is very important to me that you don't grow into a rude person with no integrity. I am sitting next to you right now while you are sleeping as a baby. Obviously, I don't punish you now but as you get older I will need to step in and steer you the right way just like all fathers in this world.

Think of me as gravity, gravity puts gentle pressure on you all the time and can be seen as a nuisance but it is essential for your life. Without gravity, your bones would waste away and your muscles would deteriorate and even your heart would become weak.

I am very proud of you and think you have a very bright future.

Psycho door

If I went to the cage of a Bear and unlocked the gate leaving the gate to the cage wide open, then the Bear left the cage and killed two people, who is responsible for their deaths? me or the Bear?

The Bear is being what it is. The nature of the  Bear was known by the keeper yet the keeper turned him loose.

Again I ask...

If a civil servant releases a dangerous psychopath into the community and he kills 2 people, who is responsible for the deaths of the 2 people? If they put the key down and leave them in there then the people would still be alive.

I say put the key down and keep the dangerous people in place and don't turn them loose.

What November 2019 means to me

It is December now and we have reached the political Christmas/winter of 2019. I don't know if we will go back to having elections in May every five years or if we will continue to have elections in December every five years. I sense it was a one off to get brexit done and break the 3 year deadlock in parliament. We are now left with just 30 days until the end of the year.

November was the preceding media and debates for British elections and all news in the UK was focused on that topic. I don't like any of the parties so I am going to vote like most people and try to choose a party I dislike the least..

If my infant son could see what is happening through the eyes of an adult on his island home, I wonder what he would make of it all.

Everything else in the world was the same as the previous month. The people of Hong kong dislike Chinese rule. I think the Chinese are cool though. There is unrest in the middle East. And the Brits are stuck in a brexit deadlock.

My infant son, Jacob changed a bit. He was moving and talking more but not clearly but he is an infant and you can't expect too much from them. As they say.. baby steps.

Nothing else to say, November came and went.
With some hope, the political winter of 2019 will pass by and happy memories will be made in the 20s decade.