Yesterday

It's properly Autumn now, the trees around here are dropping their leaves like there's no tomorrow, although having heard the news this afternoon about the impending nation-wide lock-down it looks like tomorrow will probably be significantly more boring than today!

 

Classic Verdant

My usual Friday night tipple was a hazy number from Cornish maestros Verdant called "Even Sharks Need Water", I'm not sure what the reference is about and I've tried this one before (see review here) but the beer was still a corker (no water required!). Murky, lots of citrus and stone fruits, slight bitterness and a really soft mouth feel, classic Verdant.

 

Older = Wiser?

It's strange isn't it, many people you encounter in life love nothing better than to view the past through rose tinted spectacles. Even modern marketing is often aimed squarely at convincing people that some shiny new product is based on "ancient wisdom". New-age entrepreneurs often make fortunes from convincing people that their products and services are based on a centuries old "Native Indian" recipe and most religions sit upon a foundation of perceived authority based on nothing more than longevity (and perhaps dead languages and elaborate hats). 

Why is it that some people automatically feel that the past was better? Perhaps it's because the past is safe, it's past after all and because of that is free to be interpreted any way you like at no cost. The future on the other hand is scary, no one knows what will happen, you only need to look how 2020 has panned out to see that, the past is safe and the future is scary, the only real toehold we have on anything is the present moment. So, the next time you hear someone banging on about how great things were in the past remind them of a few vital statistics (i.e. facts) about the present which put the skids under their thesis..

- The likelihood of a violet death has never been lower that now

- Child mortality is at its lowest level ever now.

- Ten years ago half the people in developing countries lived below the poverty line, today it's 12%

- Sharing ideas has never been easier, the World's information is available to anyone with a phone

- Life expectancy is at it's highest levels ever

Of course, there is no law of physics that says in terms of wellbeing, we can't go back as well as forward! Global pandemics are a blip on that trajectory and climate change may well prove to be somewhat more of a cliff! However, it's probably safe to say that it's very difficult to unlearn things and regardless of a few steps back, on the scale of civilizations we can well afford a bit more optimism about the present now and again.

 

Friday Smirk

Excellent J&M today (as usual) echoing some of my thoughts on this issue earlier in the week.

 

Asylum Britain

Here's an interesting map, it's interesting not because of what's there but because of what's missing. This country (UK but especially England) is set to become totally and utterly isolated, commercially, culturally and institutionally! There's even a real possibility that the UK will split up into three or four different countries because of it, something that hasn't seemed likely since the 1700s! But, the real kicker about this story is that we chose to do this to ourselves! Welcome to lunatic asylum Britain!..

 

I hope they can swim..

 

It's quite unbelievable to me that people would stage violent (anti-mask/lockdown) protests about Biological facts that stand contrary to their personal wishes (King Canute anyone?). People gathering in large (tightly packed) numbers during a world-wide pandemic of a potentially lethal virus would superficially seem like ideal candidates for the Darwin Awards and this would be funny if it weren't always other (innocent) people that bear the brunt of this kind of criminal indifference. Still, whatever hardships some people think having to finish drinking by 10pm and wearing a paper mask in shops may imply, I suspect that we haven't seen the half of it yet! Wait until we pile a no-deal Brexit on top of it all, when we see certain drug supplies running out, food prices going through the roof and half of Kent tarmacked over and turned into a giant lorry park while they wait for IT systems that don't work properly. Then, as the whole sorry mess drags on through Winter and we layer on top of all that, record rain fall, extreme flooding (I hope those Canute wannabe's can swim!), ultra-violent storms and the wrong kind of snow.. 

Ah well, not to worry, Christmas soon.

Solution oriented

It's alarming how little rationality there is in the world, it's amazing we ever made it this far when you think about it! The inquisitiveness of a few supporting the ignorance of the many.

 

Money talks

A lot of people are getting hot under the collar over France defending (robustly) it's citizen's right to freedom of speech. It's ironic that in a situation where a dogma-soaked lunatic murders a junior school teacher for blasphemy against Islam, that these countries feel the problem here are the cartoons! It's even more ironic that there are plenty of "real" injustices and atrocities happening to Muslims all over the world but these apparently don't even register on the radar of places like Turkey, Bangladesh and Pakistan! I suppose it speaks to their sincerity on such issues as well as the fragility of the regimes in those places. They seem to be intent on picking the lowest hanging fruit in terms of things to take "offence" at, and it seems totally transparent to the rest of us that this is completely intended to distract their largely impoverished and indoctrinated populations from the fact that their freedoms, prospects and opportunities are comparatively crap compared to ours.

I'm fully behind what France is doing, it's a fundamental principal of their culture that people have the right to freedom of expression and conscience. I fear that our own Government, although supposedly supportive of the same fundamental rights, would never be so robust. Theocratic bullies and the money men that sit in power behind them have always existed, and still exist in many states. They are bullies like any other and employ the same tactics, but, as we all learn in the school playground bullies can be defeated by standing up to them. So, project the cartoons onto buildings and print them in every newspaper! To those people who argue that they deserve "respect" for their religious beliefs then I say that first they need to show a bit of "respect" themselves, condoning the beheading of innocent people over stupid fucking cartoons definitely isn't the way to do that!

 

Flat mates?

I always find it amazing that there appears to exist people who are apparently sincere about believing that our planet is flat. Goodness knows how they explain flying in a plane across the international date-line but in any case, there's so much obvious evidence (including photographic) for the Earth being a globe that it's almost impossible for any rational person to take such an opinion seriously. So, should we ignore, feel sad for or simply mock these people? Personally I think it depends on the context, if the person is obviously sincere and questioning, and not trying to proselytize then perhaps a softly, softly approach is best? Non-confrontational, respectful but firm and factual in a presentation of the evidence that refutes the position. On the other hand if the person is standing on a soap-box in Hyde park corner trying to flog their nonsense (or even tee-shirts!), then the gloves should be off! Humor, ridicule and satire are often the best ways to introduce doubt into people's eyes, perhaps not the zealots or the hucksters, but certainly the bystanders and the agnostics. 

 

Monday Mirth

Never trust a story that doesn't stand up to basic arithmetic..

 

Blankets

Yes, well observed, they could very well be!

 

The can can

Well, it's the weekend again and yesterday while rustling up some tea for the fam it was time for my Friday evening treat! A cracker from one of my favourite breweries, Verdant, it's a beer that I've had on cask before over at a pub in Caversham but never tried it from can. I can confirm it's delicious from can too, perhaps even edging it slightly! I do love a good can when I can..!

 

Saturday Smirk

Here's a church I feel many of us might belong to..

 

Randi series

I'm thinking of doing a little series of the achievements and quotes of James Randi (who died this week), the more you look into them the more you realise he was a pretty decent and rational bloke (even Nike thinks so..).

 

Bish bosh

According  to  this chap (Bishop Ussher) the universe is 6024 years old today, so many happy returns Universe! The only slight problem with his claim is that we have trees still growing today that are older. Never mind, it wasn't his fault, his sources were highly problematic and he was brainwashed as a child into believing childish things as an adult. Anyway, also not his fault that he didn't live to see the birth of the science of Geology and radiometric dating techniques, so maybe we shouldn't bash him too much...

Be skeptical!

Glad to see the Minister for Equalities pointing out that "Critical Race Theory" (calling it a "theory" is a stretch) is not only inappropriate to be teaching in schools (because it's bollocks) but its also illegal. It's a shame that many people with perfectly good brains on the "left" of the house can't quite find it in themselves to point out the obvious flaws and dangers inherent in treating people differently depending on immutable characteristics of their phenotype's, i.e. skin colour or gender. I also agree with the Minister that BLM (in the UK at least) is an organization with some highly dubious goals, like the destruction of capitalism for example, be careful what you wish for, as someone smart once said! Be skeptical, do your research and always check your sources!

 

Friday Smirk

The usual high standard from the Jesus and Mo strip today. It's amusing when believers try to argue against materialists by claiming that we can't possibly know anything for sure because science is always provisional (i.e. until new evidence is found). It's a good job for them that they've found away of getting around this universal absolute, i.e. eyes shut, fingers in ears and just hoping that what you've been told by the man in the impressive hat is true.. what could possibly go wrong?

 

Randi RIP

I read today the James Randi the magician and all round skeptic has passed away at the age of 92. I've watched much of what's available online of his, it's mostly magic tricks and old TV shows but there's also a lot of material regarding his investigative efforts around supernatural claims and ultimately debunking them. Randi was a well known Atheist and skeptic, he trod where others often feared to treat (i.e. on sacred cows) and should be applauded for his exposing of hucksters and frauds who spent their lives fleecing vulnerable and gullible people of their cash. The scourge of woo woo fans everywhere, he famously offered $1M to anyone who could demonstrate paranormal abilities under scientific conditions, hundreds tried, not a single one succeeded (not even by chance), he rests his case.

 

Lame ducks

Loving the logic of this message, it's true that the Government wastes billions of our hard earned cash on complete lame ducks, its even worse in a crisis especially a medical one and it's easy to argue that "the people" are where it's top priority should lie. The problem is always "which people" of course, if Manchester is made a special case the bar would then be set for all the other cities in the country, at which point the 60 million starts to look like small fry. Still good points well made, what is clear is that the Government is out of it's depth and the virus has overtaken the policy at this point.

 

Duck and cover

Lot's of people getting very agitated about lockdown restrictions coming back, it seems especially prevalent in the North of the country where the cases are accelerating fastest. Whilst I am no fan of this Government at all, believe me I would fire the lot of them if I were king of the world! I also don't believe that delaying the inevitable at the expense of people's lives helps much either, we have what we call in the trade a complete shit-show going on at the moment! We're damned if we do and damned if we don't and playing politics over health matters is immoral IMO, whoever does it. I remember back in the day when we had that bizarre public service advertisement about "how to survive a nuclear attack", if I remember correctly it involved hiding under the kitchen table (or was it the stairs) "duck and cover" was the slogan, I'm reminded somewhat of the futility of that today when I hear "hands face space", it seems obvious that this virus is a tough little bugger and once it takes hold in a community only the most unpalatable measures seem to halt it's progress and only temporarily at that. Our choices appear stark, old people's lives verses jobs, clearly it's not as simple as that, but when you boil it down and if you had to personally make the choice, which would you be happier to have on your conscience?