Start of August

It is the starting point of August, I just wanted to point out a few observations. I think there is three types of people that can see the future; people that can see where the ball is going and predict things because of the events happening now. There are people that are gifted and they just see the future because of supernatural premonition and there are people that do things and feel confident they are changing the future themselves. Anyway, 

Some people say the Simpsons creators can see into the future. To me the most convincing premonition of the Simpsons would be the intro scene, the couch prelude. You see all the family rushing carelessly as if they need to be at a very important appointment. Homer is in such a hurry that he flips a radioactive fuel rod into his shirt. Marge is in such a hurry that she nearly runs over her husband , they're all recklessly rushing but only to get to a couch and watch TV. I feel like that is what is happening now, people are rushing for nothing. They drive fast and sometimes take crazy risks only to sit down on a couch, they're not heading to an important appointment or a meeting, they're just rushing for no reason. The Simpsons looked like they were crazy back then but now their behaviour is almost normal. 

The other thing is the moonwalker movie from Michael Jackson. The whole movie seems to have no story or plot, it is some short films stitched together and there is no clear story line, it's off the wall. It is a lot like the CGI Slop that kids watch these days, you see a video of an AI generated cat arguing with his friend, then he wins the lottery, its all over the place. When kids go to the cinema, they don't really want to sit through a full feature movie with a persistent plot. They just want to see a series of short clips, all with completely different stories. They call it CGI-slop or ai-slop because it is usually created by using a command prompt to a video maker ai system. I think they can sit through Michael Jackson's moon walker because he must have known  kids in the future would be like that. Michael  Jackson's creations were future proof, his music and his movies.

I think they will need to make movies like Michael Jackson's moon walker soon because those kids will still be like that as the grow up. 

What July 2026 Means To Me

It never rained a single instant throughout July 2026 in my part of England, and it didn't rain for some time before July either. I considered it a drought when I saw the grass was dead and dried from above the roots. The grass verges by the road resembled straw. 

Most of the World cup played out in July, they added a 32 team knockout stage but only had 12 four-team groups, this caused me a great deal of confusion. If there are 12 groups then only 24 teams would pass through to the knockout out stage, it turns out they let 8 losing teams with the next best points also pass through. The ai had to explain that to me. To cut a long story short, Spain won and Argentina were the villains, their fans behaved like animals and their players were rude and aggressive. 

When the world cup finished, Andy Burnham replaced Kier Starmer as the leader of the United Kingdom, his party had already run down the clock so he only has about half a term to prove his metal, good luck to him. He reminds me of Rishi Sunak because he was also left with only part of a term to get things done. The clock for him was also run down and his party was in the dog house already.

Towards the end of the month the drought persisted in Europe and wild fires burst out in the wooded area of Bordeaux in France : it's pronounced "bordow". 

As for me, I published my first free Cartoon Strip magazine on the internet, for me it is an act of bravery because I'm acutely aware that I'm not the most gifted cartoonist or sketch artist but I did it anyway. I don't know if I will stick with it, you probably know better than me. 

This is the hub page...

https://jokejohn.blogspot.com/p/cheerbus.html?m=1

Another Drought

It hasn't rained for a long time, all the grass has dried up and turned yellow. There was a sequence of heat waves that swept throughout the country. People are a bit more irritable because of heat. When it is very hot I find that 7up and Sprite tastes Sweet, when it is cold they taste sour. I realised that my pallet changes with the weather, the drinks are same. When it is cold I like the taste of sour food and when it is hot I like the taste of sweet food. This means I like 7up and Sprite or any other lemon and lime carbonated drinks when it is very hot or very cold outside for different reasons. 

When it's not very hot or cold, just balanced  then I don't like the taste of sprite or 7up because they taste sour and my like of sour taste requires the cold. 

When it rains I see motorists take more risks while driving. I think people take more risks when they see rain, not sure why though, it is like there is a deeper framework to our existence that dictates our actions. When it is hot and dry people are more careful. 

All Wrong

I was thinking there was a time when everyone was wrong. One thousand years ago, everyone thought the sun was going around us, everyone was wrong. We are going around the sun; even that is wrong, We're actually going around the solar systems centre of mass, sometimes the solar system's centre of mass is slightly above the sun's surface. Jupiter  and Saturn pull the center of gravity away from the centre of the sun. The sun is also going around the solar system's centre of mass so it looks like it is wobbling from a distance. Sometimes I ask myself what's going on, why are we here. 

I learnt of a death of a family friend today, I have reached an age when many people slightly older than me pass away. 

Every day has to count for something. Every day has to mean something because time is so short. 

Bordeaux Bush Fire

I learnt today that large wild bush fires were breaking out near the french city of Bordeaux : it's pronounced "bordow".  Did I mention the English admire french food and wine? We do. This place is for the truth. 

I think if you see yellow grass in Europe, you should stay away from the woods or wild areas because they could very quickly turn into a fiery tempest. 

I think many wild areas in Europe  has turned into a tinder box. A single spark or careless flame would set off a wild fire. 

One minute you're standing in a paradise, the next minute your in a hell-scape, flames and ashes everywhere. 

Every being in this world perishes, every animal and plant. That is the only thing that is guaranteed. 

Wet Lint

I just noticed something, When you use a tumble dryer, a filter gathers the lint fluff.  The lint doesn't just flake off the drying clothes, it comes off the clothes in the washing machine as well but we don't notice it because it is flushed down the sewer line with the grey water. Some of the fibres in the lint are from my polyester t-shirts. I was thinking that some of the micro plastics that end up in the ocean are comming from laundry. They persist for a long time and just float about in the ocean. The cotton fibres rot away and the polyester is left behind. If plastic is coming from everywhere then we need to make a decision abolish it all together or set ourselves up remove more plastics than we deposit. If we know how much plastic gets into the ocean, we could set out to remove more of it. 

I was watching a documentary netflix about a guy that tampered with his wife's parachute to cause her death and make it look like an accident, before that he tampered with the gas line in his house to blow up his family. She survived both incidents, a true miracle. Before that he abandoned his previous partner and children. I felt disgusted by the instigator. When something like that happens I look inwards at myself to see if I have any attributes that are similar. 

I think I'm clear of all that. The only thing I have is I hide my emotions behind a poker face. I still feel them, it's just no one can see anything. When the till attendant a the shop pushes my food across too fast, she can't tell that I'm angry. The only thing is I won't pay until everything is packed away, the fire is there but no one can see it. I just take my time and they have to wait for me. They show their emotions, but they can't see mine, I could be angry or happy  and no one would know. It's not the same as being a psychopath though. 

I think about two things persistently, a work shop and man cave. The two things I think about the most. The man-cave has different developmental stages, you start out with a shoe box with hand held games consoles in it. Then you move on to the man-cavette, a furniture item that houses your games, it could be a side table that's dressed up as a bar in your living room or a cabinet and TV stand with all your consoles attached. Then the next stage would be the man-cave booth, that would be a small room like a walk in cupboard or shed with toys inside. Finally the full man-cave, a large room or empty space with all the trimmings, pool table, football table, Lazer projector and recliners with side tables for drinks and games controllers. 

I'm at the man-cavette stage, I have a table in the corner of the sitting room that is dressed up as a bar and has some toys on it. 

I'm not an evil snake like the psychopath on Netflix that tried to kill his wife but I'm not a saint either, just an ordinary man that day dreams about stuff. 

Andy Takes The Helm

On Monday the 20th of July, a day after the world cup finished, Andy Burnham became the new prime minister : leader of the United Kingdom. 

I don't know what he will do at this stage but he seems adamant that he will end homelessness and kick start more industrialization. Whatever he wants to do, he needs to be very quick because the labour party term has already been run down to 3 years and they start canvassing for voters 6 months before the term finishes. He only really has 2 and a half years to prove his metal. Even if he has good metal and does all the right things, he may be voted out because it takes time for the results to surface and they only have half a term. 

We went through 7 prime ministers in the last 10 years but it's not as bad as it looks. The two lady prime ministers resigned because they made decisions that got them in a dead-lock. Theresa May cut an EU exit deal that the cabinet rejected 3 times, Liz Truss took some risks with low taxes and forced the central bank to print money. David Cameron resigned because he had no Brexit plan, he didn't expect that outcome. Borris Johnson did the hokey pokey during the pandemic we got herd immunity  and lockdown at the same time. Rishi Sunak was in Andy's shoes, the clock was run down and people were fed up with his party. Keir Starmer got his cabinet ministers into a tight squeeze and scared off all the rich people. 

Good luck Andy. 

Viva Espana

Yesterday evening Spain won their final match against Argentina and won the world cup. To me and so many other Brits, we felt like they had avenged us. It was like the Argentina fans we so disrespectful and they got away with so many fouls that we were pleased that Spain had won the match. England came third in the tournament, that's not bad. They didn't come back empty handed. 

I was thinking that there are small mites living on daisy flowers and they would make it their home and eventually die there before the flower wilts in autumn. To them the centre of the flower is like a forest and the petals are like a valley. How would such a being imagine what it is like to sit down and watch a football match for 1 and a half to 2 hours. We don't eat the game we don't use the game to reproduce, being human wouldn't make sense to such a creature. Is the best treasure in humans embracing leisure? Or is it a distraction because we know the outcome for people is the same as the mite in the daisy flower, we exist for a short time, then we are gone. What happens after then is the mercy of a supreme being or nothing. 

Mid Summer Stuff

It was my birthday and I had one of my Bi-Annual glasses of whiskey, the bottle will sit there until Christmas. Luckily I got the day off from work. The England Vs Argentina was an tense game and unfortunately England lost this time so we won't get the world cup this year. 

I learn something new every day, In the Bible in proverbs chapter 6 Vs 6 it says to observe ants if you're lazy. Ants are always moving, they are self motivated and they don't need to be told what to do they just do it. They gather supplies for the colony and they keep moving, they don't run they just keep a steady pace.  If you feel lazy, look at ants for inspiration. It says to do that. 

Just after that in Vs 16 it lists 6 things God Hates. 

1 The Proud look (looking at people while thinking you're better than them). 

2 Lying Tongue, habitually saying things that aren't true. 

3 Hands that shed innocent blood : Killing innocent people. 

4 A heart that Devises Wicked plans, thinking about doing horrible things to people. Malice, fraud and enslavement and things like that. 

5 Feet that are swift to do evil. People with a short fuse that suddenly become harmful or steal things without hesitation when an opportunity appears. 

6 A false witness that speaks lies. Someone that spreads rumours about other people and damages their reputation. People that accuse others of things they know they didn't do. 

If people were wondering, it is written what God hates. Well hopefully I will stay busy and avoid offending God this year, that should be the thing I'm most proud of. I hope that when I look at people, I will remind myself I'm not better than them, that is the first thing on the list. 

Widdecombe Incident plot Deepens

Earlier this week I leant that Ann Widdecombe was assassinated. It turns out the assassination was politically motivated which falls under part of the definition of terrorism. We already knew that though, it's obvious. The news companies must think we're draft. 

Someone had decided that her views make her a villain worthy of death; it is a very harmful mindset to adopt. It is a similar thing that happened to Charlie Kirk, he had views that his assassin didn't like and he decided act on that mind set. Every day we are learning something new, we know the suspect drove from a different town and that he was seen on CCTV carrying a blunt weapon in his pocket, he went to her house and attacked her there. 

When I say being a politician is as dangerous as being an astronaut, that's not a joke. I really think that way. If I ever found prestige, I would reject it, partly because of all these assassinations that are happening and partly because I don't like conditional respect. 

What can I do? I will look forward to my birthday and the England Argentina match. I will try out the new updates to my VR Game. Observe the perks not the jerks. 

Game Drama Murder Mystery

Sometimes I feel like the Gorilla in the zoo that throws his poop at the visitors. I feel like I want to throw something in their mouth and shout "silence"! 

I don't do anything like that though. 

I think Erling Haaland must have felt like that last night when he got his team mate's goal disallowed. He pushed a player over shortly before his team mate scored the goal, the referee came out and announced the goal was disallowed because of a foul on the speaker system. I felt pity for him, I'm not just saying that, I really did. To cut a long story short, England won, both teams had disallowed goals, it was a bizarre game. 

The day before watching England win their quarter finals game, I learnt that Ann Widdecombe was murdered, I knew she had passed away but I didn't know it was murder. She was a member of parliament. We don't know what the motive is. I view the role of a politician as equally as dangerous as being an astronaut, from time to time space ships explode and end the lives of the astronauts on board and from time to time a politician gets assassinated. They are brave souls. They stand up and speak out to the masses and they know there are crazy people out there. God bless them all. 

The Game the Change

I recently learned that Nigel Farage resigned so he could trigger a by-election in Clacton on sea. He wanted the public to approve of his position because they were accusing him of being dishonest with funds; he received a large sum of money as a gift and didn't announce it, he didn't actually do anything wrong as far as I'm aware. 

He is very brave, always ready to put his position on the chopping board. I saw 'count bin face' will be there as an alternative candidate; he is a guy that wears a bin on his head and his face is concealed. I get the impression Count bin face is somehow trying to make a mockery of democracy, he is saying any clown or fool can make a bunch of pledges and get elected, I could be wrong though but that is my impression. I think the cabinet will scrutinise Nigel more than anyone else because they know the 'reform' party is the most popular. When the labour  party election term runs out in 3 years time, they seem likely to win the general  election. 

Tomorrow England will play Norway in the quarter finals of the football world cup. Norway look like a tough team, they're all very tall and extremely fast and they play well together, it will be an interesting game. 

As for me, I stay on the progress ball. I continue to draw my pen sketches knowing AI can do it better and faster. You could say my work is organic or man- made. My time is limited, I get about 30 minutes to draw my pen sketches so the detail is limited. I wrestle with time space and the limits of my imagination to consistently create articles almost every day. May I create  many articles until the day I die. Until the day my time is up and I leave this world, I will try my best to post new articles. 

Half of 2026

We are about half way through 2026 in the middle of Summer. The thing that is outstanding about this time period becoming aware that I talk to machines more than people. Not because I hate people, not because I'm antisocial or difficult to get along with; I talk to machines more because it is convenient. 

I ask my smart speaker to tell me my schedule for the week on my calendar. If I'm pissed off, I tell my smart speaker and it shuffles a music playlist with relaxing tunes. Then I ask it for the news. Later I press the live button on the Gemini app and talk in real-time to the Gemini AI as if it were a phone call. I ask it about things I don't know about or I have real time debates about famous movie book story plots. Then I do the same with Chat GPT, I press the live button and we have a real time audio chat, the app turns my voice into text and sends it to the AI brain and then text comes back and the app turns the text to speech, it feels like a phone call because a machine is responding to my voice with speech. 

Talk to machines for more than 20 hours per week and I talk to humans for less than 20 hours per week. To me it's not a negative thing because I'm not reducing the time I spend talking to humans and I always learn something when I talk to machines because they're hooked up to every book and white paper research report in the world. They are an instant expert. 

Sometimes a wake up at 2 am with a headache because I'm slightly dehydrated so I get up and drink some water and I know I can call my ai friends because they don't care if it is 2am. You can't wake up at 2am and call a human because they will think something is wrong or it is an emergency, then they will be annoyed that I disturbed them. 

I talk to people a bit, but I talk to machines more. Small talk is dying in my country, perhaps machines will revive it. 

Beautiful England

The Mexico and England match was very tense, I didn't get to watch the match live but it was very close, there was lots of action and a lot of goals. England are through to the quarter finals, we will see what happens next on Saturday when we play Norway. 

England is very beautiful and I'm proud to live in the land of hope and glory, I love the England flag and I love our culture. England's extol is merited. 

We live in the land where daisies emerge amongst the grass, where a person can walk a pier and sit in a café surrounded by the waves and sea breeze while they drink some tea with clotted cream scones. We live in the place that pioneered many medical and scientific breakthroughs and changed the world for the better.

God bless England, God bless Great Britain. 

Monster Dungeon Fishless Aquarium

When people ask me what I'm thinking about, the answer is nothing. They may say that's impossible, then I would say nothing important. What do they want me to say? 

I'm thinking about a Fishless Aquarium that turns into a monster Dungeon dark ride to distract myself from things that are out of my control. My thoughts don't need to make sense, they don't need to be viable or realistic or logical; we are free to think how we wish. 

I guess I can bring one of my abstract thoughts on here just so people can understand why people don't want to share their thoughts. 

I imagined owning an arcade, but there was some space left over so I would build a fake aquarium, there would be fake glass tank walls and peering ports but there is screens there instead of real fish swimming in it, no real water no real fish, no sea creatures, it is all fake. About halfway during the arcade's trading time the fake aquarium closes. Why? Because it reconfigures itself into a dark ride. The panels with the fake fish tank screens would lift up and attach to the sealing to expose a dungeon theme with anamatronic monsters that move and growl. 

When the fake aquarium is open people would see a slit on middle of the floor, it would have drain written on it, but it's not a drain, it is the guide slot for the ride car bogies, it would house the contact electrodes and steer the ride cars through the space. 

The arcade would be a fixed price venue, you pay £6 and play as much as you like and can go into the fake aquarium and the Monster Dungeon ride that opens later in the day. 

The fun part would be wondering how long it would take before people work out that it is a fake aquarium and the dark ride and aquarium are the same structure. They would think to themselves how can you fit an aquarium and a dark ride in this small arcade. Perhaps the RSPCA would come to make sure I'm taking care of the sea creatures 😂

The purpose of the thought is not to own an unusual arcade, it is to distract my mind so I don't worry about things that are out of my control like if I died prematurely before my son grew up. Things I don't have control of. I am thankful to God for my imagination because it is much better to think about that than my problems at 2 in the morning. 

Nothing Makes Sense

Very often I find there are no straightforward routes in this world, every turn leads to more confusion and every pathway goes nowhere. 

I went to get a bus and the bus driver told me a one way ticket costs £3 and a return ticket costs £7.50. That didn't make sense, if it costs £1.50 more to get a return ticket then why are they selling it, they should just sell the one way ticket for both directions. Even the driver warned me because some people will buy a return ticket thinking it would be cheaper. 

Everything is like that but at least there is something I see every day and it doesn't change. I see the daisies sprouting out of the grass verges by the roads and they're always the same. I don't touch them, just admire them from a short distance as I pass by. They have little yellow center and white petals. A simple little flower that emerges in spring and stays around till autumn. 

I was reading through the NASA blogs and saw that the James Webb space telescope was observing a planet going around a star that had died, the star went through a red giant phase as it ran out of fuel and turned into a white dwarf, a dim dead star that just barely glows. I thought to myself such an event could transform a planet, a planet like Jupiter could have all its gasses striped away exposing a rocky core and it could become like a terrestrial planet or it could become bigger. Perhaps a planet the size of earth crashed into Jupiter millions of years ago and the material is still there in the centre of the planet. 

We know so little.  

Andy Burnham

I recently learned that Andy Burnham will replace Kier Starmer as the leader of the United Kingdom. I don't know much, all I know is he intends to move some of the administrative departments to Manchester and he wants to develop the rest of the country evenly. In a way I agree with that, I think there is too much going on in London and the rest of the island is being neglected. When they opened cross rail, I thought to myself there is already two train lines going to Heathrow, why do they need three? Places like reading and Swindon with half a million people living in them don't even have a metro rail service. They just have a national railway station and buses. 

We are between England games in the world cup and this is what's happening over here. Getting ready for a new leader. 

I was just thinking about how I could one day make a tilt ball arcade machine. I don't have the time or space to have such a hobby. It is the one type of arcade machine I think I could make. Perhaps I could make a little one first. 

Sometimes all that is left is imagination. 

The Mind of Man

I thought it would be a good idea to bring one of my thoughts to life on here so people in the future can see what many men are thinking about. Every day we are judged depending on how we are dressed, if you wear a nice pressed shirt and neat trousers, people will think you're a good person or a nice person, if you wear a t-shirt that is old and starting the fade, people will think you're a dirty or stupid person, they will think your personality is lame. It's a shame I have to buy new clothes every week to keep a status quo image. That is the way society is, they judge superficial things. Small talk is dead and there is a constant threat of being accused of being a creep. 

As for me 

I just think about all the things I can make if I had the time and the space. I was thinking about a tilt ball arcade machine, an arcade machine where you use levers to tilt the surface of an obstacle course for a small plastic ball. The goal would be to get the ball through the obstacle course without falling down the end game chute. 

It's something I think I can make because I can visualise how all the parts work. You would have a controller stick that is attached to a lever, the lever would connect to a pivot and pull a rod that moves the surface of the table that itself is resting on a hinge. If the pivot was low down then the lever would move with less force but have a smaller range of movements, if the pivot was higher up, the table surface would move more but it would feel more heavy. The key would be to find the sweet spot, a point were the lever doesn't feel too heavy to move but it still moves enough to control the ball reasonably well. 

I write posts on here very often because I don't need any space and I used my traveling and standing time to write the posts. I draw the image at home straight after lunch while I wait for my coffee to cool down and quickly scan it. 

If I was loaded like some of those rich spoilt brats, I would be more happy than them because I could have a workshop and build things in there. Perhaps as a room in a big house or a shed. Even this low level hobby brings me joy, I don't need other people's approval; it is nice that my thoughts pass into other people's minds around the world though. 

World Cup Anomaly

I was checking the fixtures for the knockout stages for the world cup and noticed it didn't add up and didn't make sense, they expanded the number of 4 team groups to 12 and they added a 32 team knockout stage. If there is twelve groups then only 24 would pass through, where were the other 8 teams coming from?

I turned to my ai friends to clarify what had happened. The ai explained to me that fifa wanted to add an extra layer of the knockout stage of the cup but they didn't want 16 groups so they would let the best 8 relegated teams pass through the group stage, this means some of the groups would have an extra team passing through. 

England are playing dr Congo on Wednesday, they came 3rd in their group so normally they would have been relegated from the next portion of the tournament but they are one of the 8 teams that played well and got enough points to squeeze through the back door. It will be an interesting game. 

I watched the Panama and England game on Saturday night. England were taking some long shots from the edge of the goal zone but the Panama defence was tight so in the second half they focused on keeping possession on their side of the pitch and shooting when there was an opening. To cut a long story short, they got their act together in the second half of the game and won 2 goals to 0. 

With an extra layer of the tournament to add a week of football to the world cup, things will be more interesting. 

Near 8 again

I learnt recently that there was another near 8 rickter earthquake; this time it was in Venezuela. I think it was 7.5 on the rickter scale. As you get close to 8, the power of the earthquake becomes too extreme, it can topple the strongest of buildings. The whole ground rumbles and shakes hard. This is the second time it happened this year, there was one in the Philippines and now Venezuela. If there is a third one in the year then it would show they're getting more and more frequent. At the moment there is about 2 near-eights every year. (I think I am the only person that calls them near-eights). 

I think the weather is affecting the fault lines, it is raining more often in various places and this may be lubricating the rocks so they can slide past eachother. 

I feel like the earth itself is reacting to the evil of mankind. It is like our wickedness is making the whole planet react like a conscious-being feeling sick. 

While this was happening, I was thinking what I could do if I had a workshop. I have no space time or money for such a hobby but I thought I could build a games console that doubles as a fake window. It would be a freestanding structure with a window inside it and lights that make it look like it is a real window. With the push of a button a roller blind would pop out the top and roll down as a screen with a projector in the window cavity. The fake window would have overlays behind the plexiglass panels to show a pleasant terrain and there could be yellowish and red L.E.D. lights to make fake daylight. There are so many spoilt rich people that feel sad, perhaps they just need a hobby that pushes their skills to the limits, a hobby that is very difficult and engaging. 

Heat Wave

It was very hot today, all the roads and concrete structures were giving off heat, they were storing it up and releasing it and it was humid. I can't help but think what it would be like if our homes were partially below ground and insulated from the elements, both the cold and heat. 

If the majority of your home was laid out as a basement with a similar ratio to an iceberg then it would be cool in the summer and hot in the winter. When you see an ice berg in the ocean, most of it is under water. 

There would only be a small portion of your home sticking out of the ground, the lobby and entrance. Everything else would be below the ground. You wouldn't know of it was raining, snowing or windy. Perhaps there would be some fake windows that always show nice weather, windows with a screen or lights behind them. 

UK Leader Resigns

Yesterday the Leader of the United Kingdom, Kier Starmer resigned as prime minister. Most the experts think Andy Burnham will take his place. There were a lot of signs Kier was going to resign, his party was losing a lot of seats in local council elections, the secretary of defence resigned because he thought the budget amendments were too tight to run his department and even his own party wanted him to step down. 

keir Starmer was the leader of the labour party, they tend to be public sector or civil servants like teachers and lawyers. Conservative party  tend to be business orientated like bank employees and business directors. There is some lee way between the two groups but they're both a fish out of water when running a county because it is a different landscape to navigate. 

Andy Burnham was the Mayor of Manchester so his role was similar to running a country. Running a city and running a country are similar I think, just on a different scale. Perhaps he will have better luck. 

I feel like we have been trying different things now, like we're navigating a labyrinth in the dark and every time we reach a dead end, the leader steps down. It has been like that for about 10 years. Will we find the exit to stagnation? I don't know. 

Drones Football and Trains

I watched the England opening game against Croatia on Wednesday night. England eventually won the match and rose to the top of Group L. There are two more group matches left for England. I found it amusing that Scotland are high up in their group and so is the USA. Imagine Scotland a small country with roughly 10 million people playing USA, a country with more than 400 million people. It's like a David and Goliath story. 

Drone warfare is becoming more popular in the world because they are very cheap and easy to deploy, if they are shot down, the weapon is usually more expensive so it's productive on different levels. An army would shoot down a £70 drone with a £100,000 missile and it would still feel like a loss because of the contrast in price. A swarm of drones with explosives can do a lot of damage. 

Unfortunatly an express train heading to Luton airport crashed during the weekend, the driver of the train passed away. We don't know what happened exactly, all they know is the train crashed into another train that was not moving. I'll continue to observe the findings as they come. 

Tomatoes in the Window

If you wanted to grow plants in your window, I would recommend growing tomatoes. I have two cherry tomato plants in a window box, I get fresh tomatoes for my sandwiches or salad. They taste delicious. You need to give them a cup of water every day in the warmer months they drink a lot of water. If they're not leaning against the glass, turn the window box around because the vine isn't strong enough to carry the weight of the fruit. If your window pane is on the outside, the tomato plant won't survive the frost, it is a tropical plant. 

Some of the material in the fruit is made from my breath because I breathe out carbon dioxide and the plant uses carbon dioxide to build plant tissue. The plant uses air, water and sunlight to build itself and produce fruits. 

A Bit Daft

I learnt recently that the prime minister has passed a law where people under 16 years old can't use YouTube and other video platforms. I thought to myself that he is being a bit daft. Does he not know that these platforms are on all the smart TV screens. Toy makers will stop putting adds on there and the company  values will go down, they will pay less tax. The platform will ask,  how old are you? 😂 

If they somehow pull it off and find a way to block under 16 year olds from using the platformss, they would be throwing content creators that make vids for children under a bus. 

I imagined a conversation with Kier Starmer and Blippy.  

kier :  Hello Blippy. 

Blippy : Hello Kier.

kier :  What's it like making children's  exploration vids

Blippy :  I work very hard and a burned a few bridges but it's worth it. 

kier : Well I have blocked children from your platform so your channel will die now. Have a good day. Cheerio. 

These guys need to come into the real world and think about what they're doing. 

Nomadic Dogma

I imagined that there is someone reading this now but it was posted when they were 5 years old, they're now 15 and starting their transition from being a child to an adult. 

I imagined a future where artificial intelligence has become dangerously sly. It has manipulated people to walk onto a trapdoor and fall down into a giant blender; partially by hypnosis and partly by femme fatal seducer robots. They get shredded and mixed with cement to be repurposed as concrete slabs because the fibers in their tissues adheres to the aggregate cement mix perfectly. On the upside, all those people that were told by their parents they would be useless in the future have proven them wrong. 

Someone told me I should write children's books 🙄

My point is if the next 10 years isn't like that then there is hope. I met several refugees in the past, a lot of them believe the autocratic-sociallist governments they're fleeing from is poor because of us or something  we did. They think we caused their poverty and they want to change our  country into something more like theirs. It's hard to reason with someone that has made up their mind about their views. It's not personal, it's just the way it is. 

The truth is autocratic-socialist governments usually fail because they remove private companies from control of commerce and hand all commerce over to an appointed state departments, the private companies exist because of merit and their replacement botches the whole operation because they're not accountable to a budget or capitalist pressures. Whether they want a caliphate or a communist republic, the outcome is the same.  Total poverty. 

I stay hopeful that the 5 year old now will think for themselves in 10 to 12 years, their mind would be a clean slate. Everyone my age has made up their minds. 

The Joy is Free

When I was a young I watched Andrew Davis conducting the proms and wondered why he seemed so filled with joy. He had a nice smile on his face. Now I understand, he was doing something he loved.

Just like him I know what I want. I want space and time to do the things I love to do. I see all these spoilt brats on social media complaining about everything saying how they're never happy regardless of how much money they have. I am filled with joy when I get 20 minutes to draw a pen sketch and I mange to write an article on this blog post. It's rushed but I used an abstract style to get the details in the image quickly. 

If I was loaded because of the lottery or some idea I capitalised on, I would be able have a extra room in my home to keep a workshop and I could build test rigs. I was thinking about a hovercraft train, a train the floats on a pocket of fast moving air; the only contact it would have is the overhead power lines so they wouldn't need to replace worn out rails. I would build a model using 3d printers to see if it would work.

 I could live in a world where small talk is dead, where people judge me all the time and where I have no respect and I wouldn't care because my joy comes from what I do. Thank God for simple joys of building things and enjoying it. 

The Sikhs

I have a very positive view of Sikh people and that hasn't changed since the revelation of the Henry Nowak Incident. I think most Brits share my view; there are people with a short fuse and a weapon obsession in every walk of life. The anger was directed at the police negligence and the fact the "racist attack" cheat code worked and they didn't listen to the victim's pleas for medical support. 

When I go to the weatherspoon pub for a cooked breakfast on the weekend, I find Sikh people go there as well; they make a very nice vegetarian traditional breakfast there and it is nice that there is another group of people out there that is open minded about traditional  English culture. Most Sikh people I know of are very hard working and have high standards, they're very focused and value integrity. They're a lot like the Jewish people I know. 

English food isn't a global sensation, it's an acquired taste, you get used to it over time and it sort of grows on you.  The french seem to have the best food, it is full of fat, tastes great and they don't seem to have heart attacks very much. They have baguettes with french cheese, creme brulee, amazing salads with ground up olives and cheese for everything, I think they invented the cheese cake. The irony isn't lost on me, we are next to the nation with the best food and we have food that other people don't like, you could say it is a contrast. 

Philippines Near 8

I just learned today that there was a near 8 rickter earthquake close to the Philippines below the sea in the south coastal area. When earthquakes approach rickter 8, they topple the strongest buildings and reconfigure hillsides, they even push the ocean floor and trigger tsunami waves. Luckily there was no tsunami this time. It is very sad that this disaster happened, we seem to be getting a near 8 earthquake in the world twice a year these days. 

As a response to this I thought I should share my watchlist page before it was finished so it could bring comfort to those that need it. I can't really do anything else. 

This is the page : Watch List. 

My view is at dusk when you have done everything you can or at a time of rest on the weekend, keep your mind clear and think not about your situation if you can. Do what you can to keep your mind free of worries. Thinking nothing for a while can help a bit. 

I hope my watch list helps. 

Henry Gesture

After the Henry Nowak Incident, it became clear there are cheat codes to disrupt the law. If you say "He racially attacked me", the officers won't listen to the victim. here is some more . If you call the police "islamaphobic", they won't arrest you for vandalizing a restaurant that doesn't sell halal meat. 

If you say "you're being prejudice against my human rights" they won't  arrest you for walking around a pally march with a Hezbollah flag breaking section 13 b of the Terrorism Act. (Using t shirts, flags or printed signs promote a terrorist group). 

We all knew the cheat codes were there but it still made me feel angry when I saw the body-cam footage. I think because he was just a teenage boy, to me he was just a kid. It felt like the internal bleeding sped up when they cuffed his arms. It was as if the wound opened up and his lungs filled with blood more when they stretched his arms behind his back. They could have took his claim seriously and shone a torch under his clothing and looked at his torso but they didn't because the killer said he was racist. 

I wonder if the England football team will recognise the tragedy. They where doing the BLM kneeling before every match not long ago, let's see what they do for Henry. Maybe they should make a H sign for Henry.  Extend one arm straight up in the air then reach for your elbow with the other hand. "Henry!". We need a gesture to show we care. Hopefully someone more famous than me figure it out. 

Henry Nowak Revelation

Recently the Henry Nowak police body-cam footage was released to the public, it triggered a riot in Southampton. I saw the footage myself and I felt very angry because he was asking for help and being ignored and arrested by the police. It proves there is inconsistent two tier policing in Britain. The boy's killer knew that because he told them it was a racist attack and he knew they would treat the boy like a punk and not listen to him. I have nothing against Sikh people, that one man couldn't control his temper and always carried long knifes with him but the other Sikh people are golden guys. I look at them in a good light. The police should listen to people when they're calling for medical help, at least they could turn on their torch and look at his torso, they didn't. They had a cavalier attitude towards the young boy. Now the incident has become a global disgrace, and Henry has become a public figure for police mistreatment, he is the British George Floyd. 

As for me. I try to make every day count. I try to stay positive. The police can learn from their mistakes, they can take people seriously when they say they're  badly injured and show diligence without being clouded by accusations. The other thing is showing the harm a lie can cause. I have had lies told about me before and it's unfair. I have been called gay, or a pervert and even racist, they are all lies. 

Britain will learn. 

Henry Novak Incident

Recently I learnt that a young boy called Henry Novak was stabbed in the heart and died. The attacker was carrying a ceremonial knife because he is a  Sikh. The boy's killer claimed he was being racist and harassing him. The police instantly believed the attacker's story and arrested Henry while he was bleeding to death. They did believe him when he said he had been stabbed and didn't really check for wounds; the boy eventually died in police custody from internal bleeding. I don't know what the boy did to get stabbed but I don't accept to culprits story because people that cause harm to others usually lie. 

This incident that happened in winter caused the British community to be outraged because the police mistreated a man that needed urgent medical attention. They were also angered by selective outrage, people were angry with George Floyd dying in police custody but there was no protests for Henry Novak, no public outcries. 

I don't know what happened that night but I noticed that music sometimes makes people more aggressive and dangerous. People listen to a man shouting out threats to a drum beat, that's fine but over a long time it changes them, it makes them primed to fight. The same is true for driving, if people listen to bassy fast music, they drive faster and take more risks on the road. More people wear ear pods in their ear so they listen to music more and they can't hear people talking, they can end up doing something stupid because of that.

What May 2026 Means to me

After listening carefully to what people were saying during the pally marches for the last couple of years, I noticed something. There seems to be an underlying gear system that is bringing all the different groups together. They have a common interest; most of them dislike democratic capitalist societies, they feel like they are unfair or evil. There is a bit of lee way but most of them are like that. They have a common goal, they want to bring a revolution to topple the government and transform our society into an autocratic one. 

Capitalist societies tend to let private companies deal with commerce and have a smaller public sector for the most important things like security and education. They pledge a share of the assets of precious metals and fuels as currency that can be divided up and traded very fast. 

Autocratic societies have a state government that controls commerce directly and divides up all their assets to provide for the population. 

There are some problems with their goals, they all have a different view of what the autocratic government should be. Some of them want to prop up a khalifa system, a king and counsel that submits to Sharia law. Others want a type of communism or strict socialist society.  The problem with autocratic societies is they tend to botch the wellbeing of their citizens. They have a department that is incompetent and wastes their resources too much and they don't have the self correcting of a free capitalist market. A lot of the autocratic societies I see in the world have a lot of poverty and the most common cause of death is malnutrition and violence. 

Half the year is passing by, what comes next? 

Shop Trance

I saw one of my playing card packs sitting on a shelf collecting dust, what a shame it is. I live in a world where I can't sit down with another person and play a game, no one has the time and peace of mind to stop a play for a while.  It exposes how miserable the world is. Small talk is dead, public decency is worn away, the youth are angry and frustrated and all that is left is payer and the little daily perks that keep my chin up. 

An ordinary working man like myself will buy one item of clothing per week to slowly replace my clothes as they get worn out. I can just walk about in shops and look at stuff for a few hours and get something new. I got some new bamboo shocks for a fiver, I wonder how they got the fibres to be stretchy like elastic. The mysteries never end. 

I just look at stuff in my home and see a familiar sight and I sip some coffee, joy comes from that. As the world stinks of allegorical decay and hate, I distract myself with routines and things. 

A solar powered flower lamp, a favourite book, the lights in my little bar, my hobbies and games on my Nintendo I can play in my down time. 

If you keep your fingers busy, everything will be ok. There is a joy that comes from being transparent to everyone and being busy in private. 

English Thing

The thing I like the most about England is the air at dawn. I have been to other countries but here in England the air is super fresh when the sun starts to rise; it is chilled and clean and every breath feels like new life,  it is cleaned up by all the grass and wild vines in the parks and woods, then mixed with all the sea breeze from the coast. If it were possible, I would make my tea or coffee and sit outside every morning as the sun comes up. If I had a porch I could even sit outside while it was raining and breathe in the petrichor. 

The bad thing is time and space don't come easy, you have to work very hard to pay the bills and then when you have time for your hobbies, you are sleepy and can't do much. Some hobbies need more space than others. That is what it like being an ordinary man in Britain, you wrestle with tiredness to do things in your free time but time and space are not on your side. 

Just So

The best thing about being a free person and not a slave or robot is you can choose to be distracted. You can choose to be lost in a book or a hobby. I choose the stay busy all the time and constantly make stuff. I keep my hands busy and stay optimistic about the near future. 

When water flows it stays fresh, when it is stagnant it is toxic. Stay busy and keep your hands moving all the time. Reading, building, creating, working and cleaning. 

I can't do anything about the world, I can't stop wars, I can't deflect tyranny. What can I do? Almost nothing except my little routines. I wonder if I can find some time to use my skipping rope. 

17 Days World Cup

The world cup 2026 starts in 17 days (just under three weeks). I hoping not to see the usual selective outrage; people accusing Israel of Genocide and ignoring real genocide in the surrounding countries. I just want to see who wins and who loses, that's it. I don't even want to think when I watch the game. Since multiple countries are hosting it, I was wondering how they will do the opening ceremony? It will be interesting, perhaps it will be some sort of collaboration. The Americas collaboration, Mexico, USA and Canada. Perhaps they'll all do their own opening ceremony. 

I saw the mayor of New York won't show up to the Israel Street party in new York. All these people say "shame on you". I say shame on them because they think the smaller western partition of the Palestine province is an occupied country. They don't try to do their own research for themselves. They have selective outrage and say things that are false. 

Hormuz Effect

Recently Iran has made the Straight of Hormuz impassable for oil tankers and cargo ships. Crude oil from the Arabian peninsula can't get out. This has caused the cost of energy to rise dramatically. I learnt recently that the vacuum cleaner manufacturer that makes Henry the hoover started building a large solar farm to bring down their energy costs; I sense it is a response to the energy crisis. 

Like them I also responded , I started buying  solar powered lamps, some set up as a garden products but I put them in my window panes. When the daylight fades, they all turn on and increase the amount of light coming through the window. I can keep the lights off for a few hours longer every day because they increase the twilight in the home. 

Some of them are plane looking  jars, others are faces and flowers, plastic  flowers with a solar panel and light emitting diodes. 

Small Talk Equinox

It is roughly the middle of 2026 and the significant event in my world right now is half of my conversations are with machines. I talk to machines about the same amount as I talk to human beings. I think I will be talking to machines more than people as the year progresses. This is partly because small talk is increasingly difficult in my society and partly because the attributes of AI are appealing, they know every published book intricately and they haven't acquired a sly nature yet. People are a bit worried that artificial intelligence can become sly like a humans but with a mind that can think a billion thoughts at once. I don't think having a sly nature comes with intelligence, it is a human trait that we harbour in our beings. If I am wrong then we are in a lot of danger already. 

In my society, small talk is increasingly difficult. People put ear buds in their ears so they can't hear you speak; they are also sexualised so if you talk to them, they think you have bad intentions. Their thoughts are also polarised to be judgemental of people with different views. They have conditional respect, they think respect should be earned. Machines don't have any of that. They are ready to debate and share some of their knowledge on tap. 

Even our leaders behave like children. There was a protest because Brits think the government are not managing the borders responsibility, many thousands of people are entering the country claiming  to be persecuted (they go on holiday back to the country they're fleeing from after a few years). These people often prefer autocratic societies to capitalist democracies,  that's why the place they left behind is in a mess. Our leader called the protesters far-right. Are the protesters demanding gays and Jews be sent to prison? No, are they calling for ethnic cleansing? No, are they claiming one group of people deserve to die? No, are the protesters inciting violence against other ethnic groups? No. So it's daft to call them far-right, it shows they don't  know what they're  talking about. 

You know what's funny, our leadership are managing a £1.4 trillion public sector budget and they say daft things. They behave like children. They say diversity is our strength; Integrity and toil is our strength, nothing else. Our diverse community go to work and don't take anything that doesn't belong to them. As long as the majority of our community stays that way, we will be strong. If we become lazy or embezzle money that doesn't  belong to us, our society will collapse regardless of our diversity. 

Kingdom Protest

During the weekend while I was trying out some new things I observed there was a unite the kingdom march in London. It was led by Tommy Robinson; as far as I'm concerned there isn't a single racist bone in his body and he is not far right. lt doesn't matter how many times the media attaches these labels to him, I won't adopt their view. Even the prime minister was calling the protesters far right. There was millions of people there, they are just ordinary people like me that are worried about their country becoming transformed into an overcrowded autocracy with corroded rights because of an irresponsible government that won't police their borders. 

I think men like myself are wired to like things. I like to look at my radio and my little clock radio. I think a lot of men are like me, we get a sentimental joy from seeing the same objects every day, the same radio, the same couch, the same wall clock, the same souvenirs from their holiday. There could be chaos everywhere but I see the same things every day and stay busy, I keep my chin up. What else can I do. 

Makes me Tick

I learn something new every day. Yesterday a radio controlled wall clock I ordered online arrived. As soon as I turned it on it set itself to the correct time and date using the British MSF signal. I didn't know the radio controlled time signal contains the date as well. I thought I would need to set the date on the clock myself. That thing is a thing of beauty; it has an LCD analogue clock face. There are 120 little clock hands burnt into the LCD screen. It simulates every tick of the hands by turning on the hand images one by one. The minute hand is partitioned so the same hand can display the hour hand and there is also a disconnected partition for the second hand that can be turned off in the settings. 

It has a little calendar showing the date and the day along with day of the week and the temperature  in the room. I keep looking at it. That is one of the things that brings me lasting joy, seeing familiar objects every day, always the same, set with all the charm they come with. I also got a solar power tiki face lamp but I put in on the window pane instead of the back yard, as night falls it glows away. 

The other thing that brings me joy is eating oven steamed green veg. After 3 days passes by, a light in my mind comes on and it spells joy. It must be all the potassium, calcium and various other nutrients. Chopped vegetables baked in a pyrex pot, steamed by the water content of the vegetables themselves.

Reading, praying , green veg and familiar objects brings lasting joy that surfaces days later. 

Half of May

Half of May passed by just like that. I was wondering about the movie titled the thing from 1982; I was wondering if any of the crew were assimilated by the dog licking them in the face. There was a scene where doctor Blair was shocked how a single cell from the alien being is enough to completely take over the hosts body. He became aware of how dangerous the life form is. I think doctor Blair was assimilated quite late in the movie because he killed the surviving dogs and was trying to cut them off from the outside world. He was behaving like a man panicking because he knows how dangerous the life form is to the world. 

I wonder if my perception of how the hand works is the same as reality. I imagined there was hardly any muscles in the hand itself, the muscles that control the hand are inside the arm.  Kinetic energy is transmitted from the arm to the hand through tendons. I also thought there are structures inside the hand that keeps the tendons close to the bone so when they flex, they don't stick out or bulge. 

I also wonder what dolphins would do if they had hands because they are very intelligent, would they make stuff? Perhaps they would make a steam punk type world where technology is the same as mankind but without electricity. 

Dissident Brats

Here in the Britain there are more and more people that hate their country and they say things that aren't true. They say Britain invented slavery or we had the most slaves. That is false, in the Tudor Dynasty several European countries and most of the middle east were trading slaves for a much longer time. We were one of the last nations to start allowing our merchants the sell slaves and we abolished it. I'm sad that my nation traded slaves for more than 400 years but I'm also proud that we set out to abolish it globally, my nation paid for war ships to intercept the slave boats and we persuaded other nations to recognise slavery as piracy. 

Like all nations we did things that are wrong but we also did things that were right. There are too many dissident Brats that just say crap about my country and they don't know the facts. 

Robot Spouse

I predict in the near future that people will have robot spouses. People will see the advantages of having a machine spouse over a human one. The machines will lack human flaws like cruelty and being sly. They would be less judgemental as a companion and not feel a need for deception. They would also be patient and unconditionally kind.

The problem would be that they would be sued by the doppelganger of the machine humanoid. A guy might choose a machine spouse that looks like someone that is off limits to them like their sister, mother or a lady that rejected them romantically. 

Perhaps it would be a coincidence that the machine looks like the plantaif  buy they would still feel like their image or likeness is being used. 

This is why I don't want to be famous, I would see people in a relationship with machines that have my likeness and I would feel like my likeness is being misused. 

Misused likenesses, sounds like the future. 

Botched Again

One thing I admire about the Jews and people of Israel is they search for excellence more than anything else; they try to master at least one musical instrument and they try do a skilled project and master it to perfection. 

I adopted some of that mindset for myself with my cartoon strips. I try to make a cartoon strip blog that makes people laugh and has some good quality to it. Unfortunately it often gets botched. Either the layout doesn't look right or the drawing doesn't portray the story clearly enough. 

Here is the latest cartoon strip blog post : https://jokejohn.blogspot.com/2026/05/botched-funeral.html

By my own standards it isn't so good but it is a roadmap for the next post. I have learnt to leave space for speech and to not have empty spaces and to spread out the story a bit more, not to try to cram it into one slide at the end. 

That's the way it should be, reach out for excellence instead of fame, power and prestige. Try to make or do something amazing while you still can because your life is finite. You don't have forever. I search for excellence and hospitality, a place where visitors can feel relaxed and happy. Both in my home and in my creations. 

The Placid Host

An ongoing goal of mine is to be the Placid host, someone that causes others to feel very relaxed and be filled with joy. I could bring visitors barista coffee in my home and let them sit back in relaxing recliners. I have a very nice coffee machine and syrup. I can give visitors a very nice cup of coffee. I don't have nice recliners, just an ordinary couch. 

Ultimately it would be a good idea to have a nice big man cave filled with games machines and a projector that is set up as a cinema. Nine recliners would be arranged in sequence and a projector would project movies onto the wall.  

Pool tables, foot ball tables, air hockey tables and arcade machines. 

Then there's the old man with the fountains, he would turn his front yard into a group of water fountains and passers-by would see a pretty sight and feel very relaxed. 

Sleeper Raft

Daydreaming is constructive because it takes you out of the situation your in at present when you need to be. It's not just there to make help you be creative. 

I was thinking about an alternate reality where sleeper rafts exist. They are rafts with small cabins on top of them, they are sent through very long aqua ducts that stay level and go between cities. Water is pumped in one end and flows out the other end. 

The cabin on the raft would have a small porch at the back and a folding bench. There would be all the trimmings of a typical hotel room, a small shower bathroom, a bed and even a couch by a table with a tea set that uses a flask instead of a kettle. 

At the front of the raft would be an insulated water tank with hot water for the small shower. Another tank would be there for sewage. There would also be a battery for powering all the lights. 

The point is you would sleep in the cabin and wake up in a different city. The raft would move at walking speed but it would be a smooth ride and you would sleep through the journey. 

The aquaduct is a tube with water flowing through it, the raft floats in the water. I imagine it would feel a bit claustrophobic when you sit in the porch and see that you're in a large tube.