Letter to Obama

Dear Obama.

I am a fan of yours, now your presidency has come to an end I would like to congratulate you for doing a good job. When you came to office, America was in financial trouble, You took the helm and handled the situation very well. You avoided many conflicts and  prevented wars that a lesser president would engage in.

I wish you a good retirement from the American leadership. I hope that the next president it like you and avoids wars and inspires people to take up science skills.  I know that you were not free to do everything you wanted because you wanted to better place to live and some of the military spending wastage to be invested to technology and infrastructure.This is not your fault  because it takes a long time to change a super power county into a super producer, I'd say 50 years would be needed to slowly move spending away from military and into science and infrastructure. Perhaps 1% per year would need to be moved.  

I also wish the best for the future president that replaces you whether it is Donald or Hillary my message to them would be to strive for peace and growth just like you have. I also hope that Obama care becomes a giant free health service that would match the British NHS.

All the best from Alan

Reading for peace

A life changing event is weeks away and I am feeling tension. I feel it is unwise to broadcast personal things in my life before they happen but lets just say it is a big thing.

As the weeks draw close I feel more tense and more pressure to get things done. But there is one time when there is nothing I can do, when I am lying down in my bed to sleep. That is the one time when the tension is not needed the most . I learned as I was growing up that reading is one of the best ways to release stress and tension from your life.

I have an e-book I was reading called "who goes there?", It is the base story for the 1982 and 2011 movie titled "the thing". It is about a shape shifting alien creature that kills other organisms then imitates their body and tissues precisely. This book is interesting on a number of levels. Firstly the science of the story is left in the book, In the movie most of the science is cut out to focus on the action and drama.

Secondly the story is interesting and when you read it you recreate  the story in your head and it appears the way you think it should.

and also you can read the book and watch the movie and almost have a reservoir of deleted scenes in your mind and you can compare the movie with the book and think about the reasons for the changes.

So today my gratitude is for being able to read and also  having something to read, The best gift that was given to me is the ability to read and write and it can  do more for your state of mind then any drink or drug.

World War 3

Do I think there will be a world war 3? Yes I do, because I think mankind is stupid. The question is will world war 3 be a nuclear war? I hope not. People are so stupid because they fight for power and control and waste their energy and creativity on destruction.

The thing that concerns me is the last few months because Nato and Russia both have different agendas for Syria. Russia wants Assad to keep the helm but Nato wants to topple Assad's Regime and ISIS together.

The middle east has been on fire for decades. Well, let's just see what happens.

e golf

Of all the computer games in the world I prefer to play golf. This mocks the graphics of consoles because they are under used. What is the point having a play station if you are going to play a golf game that would work on a mobile phone?

To me in my adult hood it is a fun game because you are managing the itinerary, the club and how the ball is hit. It is a bit like candy crush and games like that.

I am grateful for all the games in the world in this short life.

commander keen

When I was young there was one computer game that I really liked. I loved to play commander keen because it was very well made and fun. The game was Keen 4 to be exact/It was a 2D side scrolling game. The character was a young boy with a sports helmet on, he had a stun gun and a Pogo stick. He would interact with the levels in different ways by turning on switches and picking things up.

The sounds in the game were also wonderful, the enemies were well animated. To me it was one of the greatest games of all time.

The game  also had a top down level lobby and when he completed a level he would throw a flag marked K onto a flag pole next to the level.

I often wonder if ID software the company that made keen would make keen 3d or a new commander keen game. Well we will see.

Losing my training wheels

When I was a young boy my Dad bought me a bike. I think I was about seven years old. It had an orange colour and training wheels, I didn't know how to balance my bike on 2 wheels so the two training wheels stopped the bike from falling over. The training wheels were raised slightly from the ground so it was possible to balance on 2 wheels and be aware of it with the training wheels on but if the bike tilted slightly then a training wheel would make contact with the ground and stop the bike from falling.

I wanted to be able to ride my bike on 2 wheels but 3 things are needed that I had to learn. Firstly, I had to balance my bike and secondly I had to sustain the balance long enough to gain momentum and thirdly I had to shift my weight slightly when I steered left or right. All these things could not be taught to me verbally, I had to figure it out for myself, just like when I learnt to walk. I will never forget the day I lost my training wheels.

One day I was riding my bike and I noticed that the training wheels were not touching the ground, I felt euphoria at that moment because I knew at that point that I was one with my small vehicle. It was a small thing but to me it was awesome. I was filled with joy. I remember taking my bike to the park one day and riding up and down, I think the park was called Montrose park, there was a train line on a dyke that ran parallel to the park and I remember racing a train on my bike.

Diseases get sick

There is one thing that amazes me in this world, diseases can get diseases. This works on more than one level, let me explain.

The microbe that causes malaria can itself be infected by a virus called a phage. The virus will kill the microbe just like a virus kills cells but this virus is not interested in your cells.

When you catch the cold virus your body makes antibodies, these are proteins that attach to the virus and block the viruses ability to infect cells. This is like catching a disease because the proteins interfere with the virus functions. 

all I can say is wow