Iran and USA at War

There has been some exchange of missile strikes between America and Iran. I'm an ordinary man I don't think about it. All I will say is the world is filled with ordinary people like myself that are not interested in war. 

I sit down and make a nice cup of tea or coffee and turn on my Nintendo. I play computer games and read a bit and try not to think about it. It's good to be an ordinary man sometimes. No one gives me a second thought or considers me a target to be eliminated. I'm just there.  

I sit down and play computer games. Sports games like golf, adventure RPG games. Things like that. Then there's netflix. I can sit down and watch Netflix, a nice crime- mystery documentary. It is so easy to please an ordinary man, a TV connected to games console and access to netflix is enough for me. 

Monitoring stuff

I ask my smart speaker to tell me the news more often these days because the situation in the middle east is escalating. America attacked some of the Iranian nuclear sites the other day. They were very pissed off about  the incident. There is a lot of tension in Iran. Almost all people on earth are like me, they don't want war, they just want to carry on with their lives, yet there is war. The source of most of these wars is dogma; that is the only way I can explain it. 

I'm also keeping an eye on the Squad Micro EV car site. Their site claims they're making a 4 seater EV model but I find it hard to believe from the images. Perhaps the seats at the back are very small. The price looks too good to be true. This is the website for the car https://www.squadmobility.com/.

I like electric cars that charge themselves. 

New Pope

Yesterday I learned that the Vatican cardinals had chosen a new pope to replace Pope Francis, he died from an age related illness on the 22nd of April. They chose Robert Prevost, he was born in the USA and had dual nationality, he is both Peruvian and a USA citizen. When I think of the Name Robert, I instantly think of the famous British Radio manufacturer, they make all sorts of hybrid FM, Dab and Internet Radios and like to use polished wooden panels on some of their models, they look very cool. They Renamed him Pope Leo XIV(Leo the 14th). I think Leo means Lion in the Latin language. Pope Leo has a ring to it. 

Close to the time the pope was appointed, we had local councillor elections. The results of those elections had shown that the British community had largely written off the main parties and gravitated to independent leaders and the Reform Party. The Main Labour and Conservative parties had become very unpopular in recent months. 

While the Pope was appointed and local British councillors were elected, Nintendo had started manufacturing a new games console called Nintendo switch 2, it is like the Switch 1 but it can handle PlayStation 5 games and can run 4k games at their intended frame rate, for a portable console that is astonishing. The pre order market for the console had opened so one can buy the console before it was manufactured and shipped over. They will be shipped to Britain by June onwards. It is backwards compatible with switch 1 games. I don't like the prices of the switch 2 games though. 

Unfortunately there was a conflict at the India and Pakistan Border. The Indian government believes the Pakistan government was involved in an attack on their territory in Kashmir. The Pakistan government deny their involvement, they claim the terrorists worked alone and had nothing to do with them. There was an exchange of missile fire and the two nations are at loggerheads at the moment. Hopefully they will avoid war. I wish the best of luck to both nations. 

What December 2024 Means To Me

It was during December 2024 that Russia was busy fighting Ukraine and stopped helping Bashar Assad keep control of Syria. At the start of December rebel forces had taken over the country and brought an end to the Assad regime. I wasn't happy about it because the last time he lost control of his country, the new authority Isis were worse than him. They were murdering all sorts of people because they had different beliefs and backgrounds. I remember summer 2014 was shocking for everyone, people were being lined up and shot in the head. Even ordinary soldiers that were doing their job were murdered in captivity. Isis were barbaric and inhumane and much worse than Bashar Assad. There was hope because the new rebel groups seems to distance themselves from Isis. Let's see what happens. I guess their first goal would be to clean up Damascus and Aleppo, those cities were trashed in the fighting. 

The progress of AI continued at a fast pace; new AI systems like Grok and Gemini were catching up with the group. They recently were able to draw images on command. chatGPT, Grok and Gemini can all draw graw images on command even though their primary function is language support. AI is at a stage where it is a selfless friend. I think we should be very careful about letting it develop itself, it could become very dangerous in the future. There could become a time when AI systems are sly and have control of robots. 

I noticed that bollards were used more often now to stop terror attacks like the one that happened in new Orleans. Bollard factories will be busy. 

Hassan Nasrallah

A few days ago I learned that the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasralla was killed in an Israeli air strike on Lebanon. 

It was while this event unfolded that I had found a disposable foil baking tray that fits in my oven perfectly. Most English people I know of tend to bake their food in the oven, especially in the colder months. I was chuffed because it means you're using the space in the oven perfectly. I could have food items on all three shelves and I would be using the whole space to maximum capacity. A whole family meal can be cooked on one heat source. Plus the heat lingers in and around the oven and slowly seeps out into the surrounding air space so I feel like  the heat is being used twice; it cooks the food and it helps to keep our home warm. Macaroni cheese comes out very nice when it is baked in the oven, it has a nice crispy layer on top. 

We worry about a region wide war breaking out and I feel happy because the cooking is improving, a bitter sweet platter. 

Then I was remembering something else that made me chuffed. My Dad bought me a model intercity 125 train set when I was a child. The intercity 125 was so cool, they found a way to make a diesel train travel at double the motorway cruising speed, even if it was pulling 8 cars. The diesel engine didn't power the wheels, it generated electricity for the wheels to move so the wheels of the train were electric. They also found a way get high torque pressure from low and high speeds in the wheels. At the time it was a big breakthrough. We take it for granted that trains go very fast. There was a lot of thought behind it. I think they made that train to compete against the motorway (freeway). 

Proxy War

At this early stage of the Autumn and before there has been a kind of proxy Persian Israel war. Different Iranian groups are trying to dismantle Israel and Israel is fighting those groups 

In Autumn last year I was impressed by Israel's restraint. More than one thousand people were murdered and a thousand more were taken hostage. It took Israel over a month before they finally invaded the Gaza strip to rescue their hostages. They tried to negotiate, they tried to sanction utility supplies, they tried everything to avoid war. Then, they passed through the Gaza strip very slowly, it took them more than nine months to pass through the whole district giving civilians advanced warning of their approach. They could have rampaged across the whole area the same week their hostages were taken but they didn't because they wanted the civilian casualties to be minimal. I don't think any other nation would show as much restraint as Israel did in the same situation. 

On the other hand, Hamas murdered hostages when they saw the troops approaching, mass murder of prisoners is a war crime at best. I would call it genocide. 

I'm not like the news that wants to get street credit for criticising Israel, some news sites only announce the number of children caught in the crossfire and don't mention the thousands of armed men, this makes Israel look like they were targeting children. I would prefer to write down the truth as I see it. 

What August 2024 Means to me

August was nice and warm most of the time. Although google released their ai app earlier in the year, it wasn't until August that they tried to promote 'gemini' more, the community were more confident with it. I talk to machines every day but this app can sustain a persistent conversation. I can literally have a debate about the storyline and mysteries of a movie, I can have all sorts of conversations with my smart phone. Machines can let us down and they can be our friends. I was playing Zelda on my Nintendo; it is so nice to be engrossed in a computer game you like for a while; comfort from a machine, a good distraction for a mind that can overthink. 

The hamas and Israel war escalated a lot, the Israelis were hitting hesbula and Hamas Targets outside their district in Iran. Their war is spreading east a bit. I hate all wars, this world is full of war. 

Two astronauts are trapped on the international space station because the Boeing star liner space capsule won't detatch from the portal, it is stuck. Astronauts have brave hearts, I wonder if the dinosaurs had hearts with four chambers like us. The human heart has an extra chamber so used blood is kept separate and sent straight to the lungs. This gives humans and mamals endurance. We can remove carbon dioxide from our blood more quickly and get more oxygen to our tissues than reptiles and amphibians. A human can run constantly for more than 10 kilometres, a lizard can't. 

I thank my wonderful extended family for hosting my stay. This is a public blog so I won't say anything else. I had a very nice holiday. 

What April 2023 means to me

April 2023 started off as a typical April, lots of little spring time storms plus a mixture of hot and cold spells. The days were getting longer and in the middle of the month it was my son's 4th birthday. 

A civil war broke out in Sudan. Sudan is a country in East Africa that sits next to Egypt on the coast of the red sea opposite Saudi Arabia. They have a long history of military coups and civil wars unfortunately. I wish them a peaceful future. I think it was the paramilitary fighting the standard military. Two different military groups were fighting for control of government infrastructure, airports, central banks and ports. 

Towards the end of April I learned that Tucker Carlson was suspended from the fox news network. His removal from the show seemed to be a reaction to his speech he gave during the weekend before he was fired. He wants people to pray more and thinks abortions as a whole are evil and things like that. 

A few things were overlooked, they tested a new emergency alert system here in the UK but it didn't work properly, in my experience when that happens it's because the government were approaching friends or family for the contract. They possibly weren't using public bidding. When a government needs special hardware or services, they should allow private companies to bid for the contract and somehow prove they're competent. Not just approach a friend or family with connections. I'm not saying that is the truth though, only that government project failures are usually down to that. 

The other thing I noticed is many autocratic nations are banding together to share resources and currencies. They're trying to create an alternative market to the west. They're creating an eastern resource trading and power center. Perhaps the dollar will no longer be a global reserve currency in the near future. 

2020 Autumn War

From September until today, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over disputed land on their borders. I believe the problem is a modern one because no one cared about the borders in mountains, they were always fuzzy, they would say someware over the mountains is another country. Things are different now because both nations are industrialised so they see the mountain's mineral wealth as an asset to be obtained. Perhaps a modern problem requires a modern solution, perhaps the two states should allow foreign mining companies from Russia and Turkey to operate in their disputed land and then to split the assets between the two states and then the two states would reinvest in the neighbouring countries so if they attack their neighbours, they would harm their own assets and then they let the local people vote in the future over which state to govern them or just have a tidal border, every two years they hand the land over to the other state. So for two years the land belongs to Armenia and then for 2 years it belongs to Azerbaijan. Some things only make sense to me, I'm sure that no one would ever embrace my ideas. 

Azerbaijan and Armenia remind me that Europe and Asia are one continent, I can walk from Calais in France to Beijing in China without getting on a boat, we are Eurasian. The two states are next to Turkey and Iran and near Georgia and are between the Black sea and Casbian Sea where all the land masses meet. I would say the middle east is the centre of the world. If someone from Armenia or Azerbaijan came to my home, I would pour them both a cup of coffee or tea the same way because they are my brothers and I feel sad when there is a conflict in the world but I am just an ordinary man, there is nothing I can do. 

Cost of a lie

As far as I am aware, every wicked deed in this world starts as a lie. I read through 'Mine Campf' by Aldolf Hitler, the English translation. In the 1920s and 30s, Germany was going through very tough times, they were broke and hungry and licking their wounds from world war 1. In Hitler's book it blames every bad thing that happened in Germany on Gypsies, Jews and the communist Party. The communist party never came to power and was never involved in any decisions. It also claimed the the Germans were the superior race, it claimed they were superior to all other races on the planet. The whole book and everything he said was a lie. 

At the turn of the millenium a lie was circulating that Iraq had weapons of mass distruction and were preparing to use them. The truth was they didn't have weapons of mass destruction and they were content with the reality of retaliation when they cross another countries borders. Not long after that, America and the UK invaded Iraq. They were invading a sovereign country that did nothing to them because of lies. 

Every murderer lies to themselves, they tell themselves that it is ok to kill someone for what ever reason, it's not ok, it is a crime. It is never ok to kill another human being, even if they did something horrible to you in the past. When the murderer kills, they cover up their crime and lie about what they have done. 

If someone says something with no evidence or proof then they are most likely lying and should be condemned. If someone says something and you think is a lie then you should speak out and rebuke that lie because it will open a doorway to wickedness. 

Story time, Tom, Dick and Harry

There was once 3 men that thought it would be a good idea to point a gun at each other to increase safety. If one man used his gun  then another man would shoot him so the danger of being shot would prevent anyone shooting their gun.

One day a wasp landed on Tom's hand and he flinched, his hand squeezed the trigger and the gun went off and he shot Dick. Harry responded to the gun and shot Tom back. Dick then Shot Harry while he was bleeding from the first gun shot.

To cut a long story short, the three men that we're pointing guns at each other were all shot dead because of a reflex action from seeing a Wasp. If they really wanted to be safe they could have put their guns away and chilled out.

Luckily countries around the world are not doing the same thing with their more powerful nuclear guns. I mean, those world leaders wouldn't set up a framework that would cause global bloodshed because of a small incident, would they?

....

Ignorance is costly

One thing I do in this world is I observe everything that goes on around me and I have learned one thing about the world and that is, ignorance is costly.

There are people in this world the believe that Rhino horns improve your desire for sex when they are ground up and eaten as a food. They are not stupid, they are just ignorant. Rhino horns are made of keratin, the protein that makes hair. Eating your hair, or anything made of the same protein as hair like a Rhino horn doesn't improve anything. This ignorance costs the Earth the existence of the Rhino. Many Rhino species are endangered because poachers kill Rhinos for their horns to supply ignorant people with this useless product.

The Americans spent vast amounts of money for about 50 years fighting wars to try and stop communism from spreading around the world. Communism was seen as a threat to them, they thought it was a powerful machine that would try to cut them off from world resources. It turned out that communism's biggest enemy was itself. The system required a perfect cooperation from it's citizens that didn't exist. Every person that benefits from communism must put something back that is an equivalent to what they take out. Otherwise the system can't support it's own weight.

All the Americans need to do was wait and let atrophy take a grip of the Soviet Union and they would have saved themselves all that grief.

The mind wonders.

Snow flake

In this world, I try not to be angry because prolonged anger is destructive and takes energy away from your constructive thoughts.  I think I have got the upper hand with road rage.

There is one thing that really made me angry and that was discovering that a university student tried to make staff remove a war memorial because all the people on it were white.

The local people in the war memorial painting were all white at the time, that is not their fault. In the 1920's, the UK was not multicultural or multiethnic so there is no evidence the painter was racist or bigoted. Memorials in my view are our way to say sorry and thank you to the war torn communities. I drive past the Polish war memorial nearly every day. We say sorry to the people because they lost their lives and we say thank you for putting yourself in danger for the sake of their community.

If you have a problem with that then keep it to yourself. No one has a right to deface or try to remove war memorials.

Nuclear doom

I looked on Twitter and the news the other day and noticed that President Trump was arguing with Kim Jong Un about who's nuclear attack button is more dangerous. Really? I thought. Is this real? Are these men going to blow up the planet? Why can't ordinary people be the world's leaders? If I wake up one day and everything is blowing up, I will not be surprised. It is not North Korea and America that worries me. It is the ability of any nation on this planet to make nuclear weapons. As more and more nations aquire nukes, the danger increases. You only need one fool to start a war. 

If you are reading this in the distant future and you are an alien or robot race that has destroyed mankind and you are studying our media records. I would ask you, why all that effort? If you waited a while mankind would have destroyed itself. We are fools, and if we don't change we have a grim future. How hard is it not to go to war or threaten other nations?

I am grateful world war 3 hasn't started and may never start and stay hopeful for a bright future, not too bright though.