Here Comes May

It is may tomorrow; I think the time stamp in this blog is set to an American time zone. Here in Britain we're preparing for general elections. I like my local MP because he works as a cabinet minister but he still makes time to respond to his constituents. I know this because I reached out to contact him before. I thought it would be a good idea to make some of the back roads one way so the lane lost could be used for parking and bike lanes; he passed the information over to the council and followed up and contacted me later to inform me what they thought, then he offered  to meet me in person. To me that merits another term. The political party he is in now is in power but they're unpopular at the moment. If my local MP is replaced, I could try to contact the new MP with the same message and see if he is equally diligent. 

I think all politicians are forced to lie. Every policy they make can be vetoed by the house of lords and opposition; even the reality of funding can cause them to go back on their words but they act like they're certain their plans will succeed. If they didn't, no one would vote for them. Humans judge superficial things like confidence and dress-code. 

I was playing Red Dead redemption throughout April. It's definitely not a game for kids, you witness violent cruelty too often. It's an interesting game, the story unfolds bit by bit. Now I'm left with questions like why did Edgar Ross kill John at the end of the game after he helped him get all the gang members. I'm guessing he knew too much and the people at the top wanted him dead. I like the way you can continue playing the game after you finished the main missions as the son of John Marsden, Jack Marsden and they look alike. You can even complete the less important stranger missions that John Marsden didn't finish. A true open world game. 

Special Stations

The Nearest part of London to my town is Uxbridge. If London was a clock face, Uxbridge would be the number 10. It is also the location of what I call a special station because you can get a train from two different train lines going in the same direction from the same platform. 

Uxbridge is a special station because you can get a Piccadilly train or a metropolitan line train from the same place. 

Finchley road is a special station because the Jubilee and Metropolitan trains going in the same direction stop at the same platform island, the eastbound metropolitan and jubilee trains share and platform and so do the west bound ones; you can change lines without walking much. 

The same is true of Ealing common, you can step off a Piccadilly train and stay on the same platform and catch a district line train from the same platform. Changing lines without walking. The district line goes to Barking, Woof. Barking station has commuter trains to Southend-on-sea. 

kings Cross is a very special station, you can get three different lines from the same platform, plus down the escalators are platforms to several other lines, plus you can get commuter trains upstairs or take a train to France if you walk across to St Pancras next door. 

Mile end is also useful, you can get to the central line or Hammersmith or District and they're side by side. 

Birth Day

Jacob, my son.  

It was around the time of your birthday that I learned Iran fired missiles at Israel because they hit the Iranian embassy in Seria. Shortly after, Israel fired missiles back at Iran. I hope the two nations can stop fighting and be at peace in the near future.

I don't think about it much, I just think about life and death and my own issues. I only think about it when it pops up on the news. 

Got To Be There

It was my son's birthday the other day and some friends and family came over that had not seen my bar. They said Alan, is that a Bar in your sitting room. I said yes it is. They didn't ask why; it's because I want to create a man cave, a little world where I close the door and for a short time the rest of the world doesn't exist. It is a place where I can be a big kid and play games and not think very much. 

The only part of my man cave that exists is the bar with a 100 litre fish tank and comfy stools. 

One day I could buy recliners, 4 of them and bring people there to play computer games. 

At the moment you can sit at the bar, have a tea or coffee and look at the fish swimming around not thinking very much, just existing, breathing. T

Thinking less helps, overthinking makes you sad. 

Iran shoots at Israel

During April, Israel bombed several targets in Syria, they hit the Iranian embassy during the raid. On the 13th of April Iran retaliated and fired missiles at the Israeli base that launched the attack. This changes everything because now leaders will think like ordinary people, they will ask themselves is it worth it when they want to attack another nation. Iran has demonstrated they can shoot missiles through defence systems. Their missiles do lots of interesting tricks, they fragment into several missiles and have mini bombs and things like that. 

This changes everything, suppose they fired 30 missiles at an aircraft carrier ship. The ship shot down 29 missiles but one got through, the one missile that got through destroys the whole ship and all the aircraft parked on it and the crew. The outcome would be the same as if they let all the 30 missiles through; the ship is destroyed and all the hardware and staff. Billions of dollars worth of military hardware destroyed and all the crew are dead.  

I think many nations are going to be very careful what they say and do. They need to think about what they're doing. 

I'm an ordinary man, from the beginning I never wanted war. No one wants war, especially ordinary people like myself that doesn't have a large ego. 

Middle of April

It is the middle of April and the end of a political term here in Britain. Every 5 years during the first week of May we have a general election. 

I don't think about it much. I just make sure the person I'm voting for is ready to listen and sees my point of view a bit, I think it is ok if they have a different view to me sometimes. I think all politicians have to lie, they're not really sure their policies will be successful but they have to pretend to be confident about it, otherwise no one would vote for them. 

I have my coffee in the morning, then in the middle of the day I have my tea. Later when the work is done, I settle down, I watch a documentary or play computer games. I recall my teachers telling me I would be through with computer games by the time I was in my mid 30s. They're wrong. I still like to play computer games like a big kid. I still like to play card games on my phone and open world quest games on the TV. 

Titan Coastline

I mentioned earlier in this blog that there is a giant moon going around Saturn called Titan, it is very unusual because it has a thick atmosphere and terrain similar to Earth. It has mountains, valleys, dunes, coastlines, oceans and lakes. It even rains. 

I imagined standing on a beach on titan with a special space suit that stops me freezing to death. It would look like a beach on earth but everything would have a yellow tint to it because the atmosphere is yellowish. The sea isn't water, it is liquid methane, there is no oxygen to make it burn so it is a stable liquid on that moon. I think it would also be quite dark there, the daytime would look like early dawn. 

Just a thought. 

Flooding

In recent days the river where I live had overflowed and caused parts of the nearby park to be flooded slightly. Things are starting to settle down a bit now. The skies are clearing up and the days are getting a bit longer. 

My thoughts now are to get a steady rythm and make some progress. To find ways make life simpler. Clarity and progress are on the horizon. I would do my best then try to think about nothing. To think about something that has nothing to do with me when I'm not busy. 

The best way to do that is be preoccupied with reading, browsing and playing computer games. If it is the end of the day and there is nothing to do, play computer games. 

The event that is approaching now is the may  general elections. I have a feeling Labour are going to win the elections this year. I like my local MP though, I try not to vote for parties, I just make sure the local guy sees my point of view. If you do that then your job is done. 

Solar Eclipse

There was a solar eclipse yesterday above USA and parts of Mexico, I didn't think much of it. The eclipse is just the shadow of the moon moving across the Earth's surface and happens quite often somewhere on Earth. I don't think it is sending a message from God or anything like that. 

When I think of the eclipse I think of Titan, the second Largest moon in the Solar system. It has a thick atmosphere and appears to be twice the size of the moon but it not quite twice the mass though.

It is quite interesting because it isn't the biggest moon in the solar system but it has an atmosphere that is thicker than earth's. It also has liquid methane oceans and coastlines and mountains. I often wonder why Ganymede is much bigger than Titan but it has a thin atmosphere. 

Wikipedia: Titan

  

New Scottish Law

I saw on the news that the Scottish parliament passed a new hate crime law. I don't think it will make much difference to Scottish society though; most of the offences listed in the new law were already illegal anyway. 

It wasn't brought about by the current prime minister, they published the law about 3 years ago but they left time for the whole nation to come to terms with the changes I think. 

Where would I fit into this? I don't like being called white because my skin is beige like a cashew nut. I am white but I don't like being called white because my personality is more important to me than my ethnicity. If someone walked up to me and said "hello white man", I would wonder why they need to mention that I'm white, then I would think actually, I'm beige, not white. Then I would think my whiteness is irrelevant to my character anyway. You can call me al I. Would say. 

I think age comes under that law, you can mistreat people because of their age and also their gender. 

Searching for stuff

In Space, NASA is searching for ways to stop people from getting bad health because of space travel. Apparently being in space is very unhealthy. The lack of gravity causes bones and muscles to waste away and every part of the body is weakened by microgravity. Fluids are forced up to the head because we're designed to resist gravity. 

I think that is the main reason the International Space Station exists. The ISS is trying to find ways to keep astronauts healthy for long periods in space. I remember reading of some other experiments they were trying, they wanted to see how certain crystals grow in the absence of gravity. 

The pictures of crews always seem awkward like they're trying to keep themselves steady. It's not just NASA that is searching for something. Down here on earth, ordinary people like myself are always searching for deals. I search for short break deals, deals on used electric cars and deals on ordinary items. 

I look through all the places we can go and the hotel tariffs and see if they change for different dates and places. Then I remember places I have already been. 

I think if you had an electric car you would want to change your energy tariff so there is a time window when the electricity is cheaper so you can charge up your car without spending too much money. Perhaps there would be a 5 hour time window when your electricity is only 10 p per kilowatt-hour and it would be cheaper to heat your house with electric heaters during that time. 

I'm just amazed how quickly electric cars devalue over a short time, car gaint was selling fairly new cars for about one third of their original price. I was just looking at them the other day. 

I-hab Artemis

It's quite possible in the near future Artemis will become as familiar to households as the Apollo missions were in the '70s. I recently learned that part of the Artemis missions will involve building a moon space station that orbits the moon permanently. As far as I know the first habitation module will be sent by Artemis 4 and it will be called I-hab. Space X will be involved in the construction of the space station as well. 

The question I still have is how will they cope with deep space radiation? The moon is outside of the Earth's powerful magnetic field so it will have no protection from high speed particles shooting out of the sun and other stars. I was reading the NASA blogs and noticed they didn't mention much about it at all. A solar flare from the sun could cause the death of the whole crew in a matter of hours. The current space station is inside earth's powerful magnetic field so it is already shielded from deep space radiation. 

What will they do? I sense it won't end well. I hope I'm wrong.