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.  

Litmus Paper Test

During the turbulent years when we were at war with Germany, the Brits created the Balfour Declaration. A document that acknowledges the Jews bought most of the land in the Palestine province and wanted to self govern. Zionism means to self govern. Later Britain Split the Palestine Province in half and gave the land east of the river Jordan to the Arabs and they renamed it Jordan after the river. Then we signed the Balfour Declaration and handed the Jews the west partition of the British mandate of the Palestine province and they instantly and lawfully became a nation in one day. They renamed the land Israel after the Southern Jewish kingdom that existed in the 1st century BC. 

I get why people think the west partition of  the Palestine mandate province is actually an ancient country and nation because they're ignorant. It's ok to be ignorant but, when I do the litmus Paper Test I get a different verdict. 

When I listen to protesters carefully, they start bringing up anti Jewish conspiracy theories like the Rothschild event and things like that. and they criticise democracy and capitalism. They hate our society, they hate Jews, democracy and capitalism. Everything that keeps us in order and with reasonable prosperity, they hate it. 

That explains why they never have outrage for other conflicts, they have selective outrage because its not about the war, its about hating democratic capitalist societies and wanting to overthrow the government. 

Golders Green Attack

A few days ago, I learnt that a guy was running through 'Golders Green' looking for people that were outwardly Jewish and stabbing them. The police caught up with him and fired a taser at him and then they kicked his head several times because he wouldn't let go of the knife. To me that made sense because he may have had a bomb detonator strapped to his torso, they had a sense of urgency because they needed to make sure there was no bomb. If you're brazenly stabbing people like that in daylight hours then it probably means you're ready to die as well so they should assume he has a bomb strapped to his body to cause more casualties. I think the police did the right thing, I would have just shot him in the head with a bullet as soon as he brandished the knife at me. It's probably a good thing I'm not a police man.

At the time this happened, I was daydreaming about an alternate reality where you can ride on an overnight sleeper raft. The raft has a small cabin with a bed to sleep inside and moves through a 2.5 meter wide tube with water flowing through it. The raft moves through the water very slowly but it doesn't matter because you spend the whole night sleeping inside the cabin on the raft. You could also watch TV and sit on the couch inside the raft.  

There would be tea set inside the cabin but the hot water would come from a flask instead of a kettle. There would be a cabin battery that powers the TV lights and usb sockets in the cabin. There would also be a flask tank to supply a small shower with water.  

The aquaduct would be a delivery system for moving goods around the country where water is pumped in through one side of the duct and exits the other end carrying rafts full of goods during the day and rafts with small cabins on them during the night. You would get in the cabin, sleep during the night in the cabin on the raft and wake up in a different city after a having the smoothest trip ever. The aquaduct would also be a flood defense system taking water away from rivers that have too much water in them. 

Cavern in the Deluge

My brain is under water because it is suspended in a biological bag of water (meninges Membrane) in a bony container, the skull. It's strange to look at us that way but it is true. My thoughts are in water behind bone and as distant as another world. 

These days it can be very difficult to think clearly because there are so many hard feelings. I have a lot to say and no one wants to listen. Every week a regular guy would hear a lie told about him or an opinion that isn't true. I live in a society where small talk is shunned and greetings are treated like babble.

Hostile emotions can swirl around a person for days but somewhere in the middle of it all is a small cavern where it is unaffected by all the disrespect and hate, a little place where there is peace. A place where creativity counts more than anything. A place that shrinks and grows. 

My first freestanding page on this blog is a playlist for fixing hostile thoughts and hard feelings : Playlist for Wellness . I will quote it when I think it is relevant in future posts.