Gaza City on life support

the Israel government has chosen to turn the power off on that life support, which will result in many innocent people in their hospitals beds in Gaza City having nowhere to be moved to or treated plugged into machines that no longer work. Still preparing for a ground invasion which might well have started by the time this post has been read or is up on my site.

At least 1,400 people are now believed to have died in the massacre committed by Hamas and so many tears and lives have been shed on both sides of this week’s war. A Terrorist organisation or a counties government that have a strong will and desire, capability and capacity to kill the innocent in any place and on any side should be fought against and stopped at every turn.

The backing and following of international humanitarian norms and rights has in many ways helped save lives and to a greater extent keep the peace. But conflicts do continue to flare up across the globe and get out of control from time to time and human rights and right to life are side stepped or disregarded completely.

Some current global views around the world seem to imply that human rights are no longer important to them or atrocities are acceptable so long as your side is the only side commuting them and that you can get away with that and not be inflicted back on their side. Also the view that might is right and if you can kill an enemy then they are no longer get back up to defend themselves or come back and do worse to their enemies.  

But how many innocent lives on one side of a boarder justify the killing of innocent lives on the other side of that boarder. With all is going on, the fear for many is where will it all end and when, how much of a price will be paid by people for the actions of those in power with guns and bombs, that making the decisions on either side to choose to end the lives of the innocent as a politically calculated policy in order to move their cause further down a bloody corpse scattered road.

The First World War started in August 1914. It would last for more than four years, and kill about nine million people in uniform. In the same time period the war and other violent conflicts would kill an estimated twenty million civilians. The world would never be the same. World War II was the largest and most violent military conflict in human history. Official casualty sources estimate battle deaths at nearly 15 million military personnel and civilian deaths at over 38 million.

Hostile and dangerous events and action can spin out of control and lead to greater conflict and suffering within the blink of an eye. Israel does have a right to defend itself but what about the rights of Palestinian citizens to life. With Israel openly stating its mission to eradicate a terrorist group and its members who live within Gaza and amongst the people of Gaza, we will have to wait and see who Israel is prepared to kill and how those killings are going to take place and what impact this has on shaping of the region and globe.

U2 – Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own

Wishes Of Happiness And Prosperity

Last week there were and still are a number of ongoing difficulties affecting people that I care a great deal about and there have been some real tragedies and sadness as well as financial difficulties and obstacles affecting friends in and around Exeter – some of those troubles might be sorted overnight some might take a lifetime to be worked upon (or what feels like a lifetime anyway).

I hope those of you going though difficulties at this time know that you are loved, respected and admired for doing your best and trying your hardest to do what you can do with all you have.

I just want to say you are not alone, have never been alone and with the friendship and family you have and with the strength and depth of your characters you can do and be what you choose to do and be.

My brother had a Native American spirit guide that would assist and guide him in both times of peace and chaos and I love the concepts that I read about Native American culture, philosophy and music and with that in mind I try to express how I feel about loved ones and friends today through there perceptions beliefs and below music too.

Yeha-Noha (Wishes of happiness and prosper) – Sacred Spirit

Proud to be on the right side of politics!

If and when historians look back on Trumps time in and outside of office it will be with great shame and distain and yet in America it appears at present the more that prosecutors reveal about the former president and the more he shouts out that its all lies and their all out to get him like the commies that they are, the more people love and support Trumps point of view over that of members of the judiciary.

I hope and like to think that if this sort of circus had happened in the UK (which to some extent it did with Boris Johnsons proven incompetence at the time of him being in office during Covid-19 that we would have ousted him out of power (which we did, eventually). Where as in America the populace seem to be hell bent on putting Donald Trump back into power. Almost as a means of cutting of your political nose to spite your face.

I sometimes read on WordPress the views of people that at times I have followed their blogs closely or had my blog followed closely by, saying that the lefties are in some way unchristian (verging on satanic at times) to true Christians’, and this form of worship and belief appears to have appeal and widely spread across Christians who are Republicans across the USA and that those that support the left are to belittled and condemned as not true followers of the faith. This to my mind is in fact a most unintelligible or right wing republican indoctrinated position on the teachings of Christ.

‘And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.’

I am not even a Christian and yet I have far more faith in the above teachings of Christ than I do a republican in the US today. I love Christ, I accept his teachings as a historical figure, but not as a god or as the son of god. All teachings should be put within the context of the time they were brought into this world and how they can and do impact on a society and a person within that society within the context of today, Christ could not teach on global warming as in the context of his time on earth it did not exist.

To me the ethics of Christ are to say do not exploit the teachings of god as merely a means to make money and cast aside the true meanings of Christ that of love of all and being charitable to your fellow man and women and not casting others aside to suffer for the sake of your own greed and need. Christ is not a Republican and in my mind the USA should not be telling its people they must continue to breed because it is ungodly to have an abortion, even when they cannot afford to raise their next child, or tell the lone gunman to keep buying those guns to go on and kill because it’s a profitable industry of which the death of further citizens, is just a by product of and of course the solution to those deaths is to buy more guns right.

Global warming is bound to be in the line of fire for republican law makers it is just a question of time and money. Republicans seem to vote at the altar money and profitability and greed consistently (described as being ok because it’s a capitalist ethic right) at the expense of even greater suffering and the demise of America as a once great nation, while the world watches on in despair on the side lines. Is the American dream now a long forgotten thing that to many has become a nightmare and like the rise of all great nations such as with the Roman Empire with its eventual decadence and demise is America blindly preparing the foundations for its own fall by re-electing Donald Trump into the White House?

Faith No More – Epic [Official Music Video], Full HD (Digitally Remastered and Upscaled)

In the heat of the moment

Philosophical questions from a non Christian, god fearing, eco thinking Christian values taught human. I am more fearful of the possibility of god not existing (which is a possibility of course), than I am of god existing and me not expressing my love, obeying him/her or showing my obedience in the correct and most appropriate way.

I try to do right by god or my fellow men and women, but I don’t truly know sometimes what is the right thing to do, what is a sin, is there even such a thing as a sin as opposed to simple doing right or wrong by god or other living creatures including how I treat other humans of course. I also make mistakes or deliberately do things wrong for my own personal reasons or again unaware of the consequences sometimes of what my actions will be.

So what’s got these thoughts rolling around in my head in such a metaphysical way tonight. Well in a kind of roundabout way, it’s what going on with global warming and environmental climate chaos and what is being done to prevent it and what I and others should do.

Ever since as long as I can remember from when I was a child, mainly starting in geography lessons, there has been an educated and scientific view concerning the fact that we are losing biodiversity and decrease in species across the globe year on year and also the fact that the world is heating up and that this is manmade and exceptionally dangerous.

Switching on the TV tonight on a number of channels and you hear that Asia has set the hottest land temperature in the world ever recorded (so far), Europe is going through its second heat wave this year and in the US excessive heat causes more weather-related deaths than hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes combined. Around the country, heat contributes to some 1,500 deaths annually, and advocates estimate about half of those people are homeless.

When I was young I hoped and almost expected that I and all of us were born in a special privileged time in the time of this planet, where a great deal of good things would, could and will happen. A global village awakened on a huge scale across the planet with the aim to help and support each other and create and express many great things and witness the dawn of a new age in which man, planet, god, life and spirit would be closer and more balanced and this would prove to be of great benefit to this world and the universe and not just for our generation but to assist and help future generations too. I don’t think I was just naïve to have such positive views but I was an optimist too.

But with a world that looks to being on the brink of being on fire that totally addicted to its own petrochemicals and false prophecies and the untrue promises of capitalism, where greed is good and might is right, still being taught and believed to be the only way to govern and control a populace and society on earth by governments across the globe. I fear we still have a lot to learn if we are to stop this madness that is killing us and all those around us (global warming and destruction of biodiversity). I don’t think we can technologically invent our way out of this problem and what kind of dystopian future would we have if we did tackle global warming and biodiversity depletion in just such a way anyway. Could we still win a war on climate change and lose a planet and or our own souls too?

I just know and feel that with a god/gods on our side we would be in a much better position to overcome this mess, with a clear and possibly even potentially ordained by the great sprit or god direction to a potential for life and sprit, but without said god or spirit then we are mere children walking towards an unknown and untold future in the dark risking turning or walking in the wrong direction too where there might be no coming back from e.g. extinction and death.

Such a chance to some to have no god or greater spirit is empowering and to others it is a scary thought and place. I do believe in God but I am very much sitting on the fence when it comes to if there is no god or greater spirit whether that would be good or bad for humankind.

The Fire by Rosie Eade

My home life is very different to the world around us

This weekend was somewhat peaceful and hugely enjoyable; I spent the weekend with family at my mum’s house. My cousin Chris, his wife Sarah and their 2 ½ year old boy Elan were on holiday in Devon. I had not met Elan before and he really is a bundle of fun and full of energy. As soon as I turned up he wanted to show me his books, trains, cars and toys amd he is a joy to be around.

I often assume that it is the job of the adult to make the child feel welcome and at home not the other way around. I’m sure he will grow up to be a wonderful child and man with the guidance and love of his parents. So my little micro world was one of a peaceful and warm weekend. I then turned on the TV.

I was not sure what to think on what is unfolding in Russia and watched the news on Saturday and it felt like there was a glitch in the matrix of power that is Putin’s Russia. I could not believe what I was seeing in the country, with the Wagner group openly challenging Russian authority and army and I was thinking, what the hell is going on here with how unstable the internal stability of the country really is, with the makings of a military coup and a March to Moscow. It’s a weird feeling to want to see the removal of Putin but then fearing who or what would replace him and what the consequences might be, Putin has been happy to assassinate political opponents over the years who would surely have made better leaders of Russia then he could ever be, he holds power and grabs land merely for the sake of power and money without any real purpose or vision for the people of Russia.

Those in power have a lot to lose and don’t want democracy in Russia or for power to be with the people, they have too much to loose in order to provide for their own people and give them a say and stake in their own society. Those normal people that were interviewed in Russia about what was going on often said that it is not something that they have any power over those with power are the ones that are above them, I thought this to be a sad state of affairs and a real insight into the people of Russia living a Georg Orwellian authoritarian regime where those at the top are the ones that hold power and are entitled to have their say and prosper from the way the county is run where as those below this top tear of people are not free to express their opinions, listen to alternative opinions or vote for any alternative to what has been created as their norm or status quo, a very sad state of affairs. There state run media no longer projects news it projects perspectives of propaganda all of which are written at the alter of worship of Putin like an idol or god of Russia.  

Coldplay – Spies

Trump is kind of an odd felon

He deserves to be condemned and convicted by his own words, action and deeds. Though the writing is not on the wall for Trump concerning the first 34 felony counts towards him all relating to hush money payments to three individuals and I am concerned about the over complication of this first case and whether that could lead to Trump being let off the hook.

The clip below is a quick brief look at what fascism looks, sounds and acts like in the USA today.

Make Trump Hate Again

He still thinks he won the last presidential election he desperately tried to steal. I don’t understand the type of rightwing prejudicial Christianity that seems to ebb and flow from in the US then forgives Donald Trump for all his sins and misdemeanours and felonies and yet condemns others not deemed godly enough to be saved under there scorning hate for none fellow believers. It’s one thing to vote Republican and believe that your views on politics respect and reflect the views of Christ, it’s another even great sin to then think that by voting for someone like Trump is in some way a morally righteous and Christian thing to do.

If you see the divine in Trump, what does that say about you?

The man does not understand or express any forms of truth and justice, in the traditional American way although you might often see that many are mistaken for thinking he often thinks that does this.

The world looks on while the USA is split between those that do believe in Trump and those that can not.

A form of patriot game and political positioning that sadly still has quite some way yet to play out. If the story of Trump were a chess game, I’d say Trump still has plenty of pieces left on the board and there is simply no way yet to see how this game will play out or who will lose or how and at what cost too.   

Eliot Higgins
Sinnerman

Better to have Life on earth than a death that takes you to paradise

The headline is not intended to offend but to thought provoke and it was rattling around in my head when I woke up this morning because of a dream I had! I was also watching Question time on the BBC last night which is a political debating show prior to going to sleep. They had the usual selection of politicians and a representative from the right wing press but on the panel there was also the chief executive of Oxfam. Oxfam is a global community of people who believe in a kinder, and radically better world, where everyone has the power to thrive not just survive. We believe we can overcome poverty by fighting the injustices and inequalities that fuel it. There was also a priest/vicar from Bristol who spoke a lot of sense in the clip below.

Question time 30th April 2023

It is heart warming to know that there are organisations and people out there that do such good works for lives on earth. The people in the audience of the Question Time show also consistently argued for a better environment, fairer immigration system and also had local needs such as an aspiration for more affordable housing for the young. These simple political desires of a better global environment, fairer immigration system and aspirations to have somewhere to call ones home are very much the present aspirations of the majority of British people that I know and I would even argue reflect the majority view of the UK at the moment.

But you would not think that when listening to Government Conservative Politicians and spokesmen from media outlets such as the Spectator or Daily Telegraph in the UK that seem to try to argue and peddle the idea that every decision being made in government is good and in the interest of people of Britain and their doing their best for the environment, immigrants and life as a whole. The things that keep on going wrong for them and getting worse do so because the challenges are complicated and difficult not because there solutions are flawed and doomed to failure, the audience did not buy those answers and that narrative for one minute which was heart warming to see on the News Night show last night.   

  

Coldplay – Paradise

Immortality could be achieved ‘within the next eight years’

At first this sounds like this is a really good news story for humanity. To finally have an opportunity to be born into a body that could live forever. Where science faction meets science fiction and the old enemy death is finally slain. But on a planet where when it comes to fairness, loyalty, equality and treating people with respect and dignity as a species it seems we still don’t know are ass from our elbow, a rude phrase meaning to be stupid and unable to understand very simple things.

I do often wonder why people are not kind, why people do not care and why people act selfishly and meanly. To me it seems counter intuitive and you can lose more by being hostile that you can gain from being respectful and caring. I feel somewhat naive in having this view as I don’t really have that much so don’t have much to lose, for example I don’t have a partner, a child or things or people that I have created myself to protect or invest in and therefore perhaps have this kind or be good to others as it’s the right thing to do attitude still inside me.

So why am I taking about kindness and benevolence when it comes to science faction or science fiction. Well because it matters. Actions have consequences a benevolent immortal is going to be a hell of a lot more supportive to humanity than a self interested and self serving one. If only the wealthy can live forever it could cause division and strife with those that cannot live forever a new class system based on how old you are allowed to be.

I always hoped and feared that such a breakthrough could be made within my lifetime and feared what it would mean for humanity and what it could mean for me. I quite like the idea of dieing of old age one day and joining my relatives and reviewing my life and seeing how well or bad i did and beign at peace. But the idea of what I might miss out if I don’t stay around is also an interesting and desirable concept to live longer than what we perceive to be a natural life span.

Ray Kurzweil who has made the predication about immortality also predicts that AI will become exceptionally intelligent within the same time frame as us developing immortality. Again will an intelligent AI seek to enhance humanity or deceive it, or seek to deceive some whilst assisting and rewarding others?

Could a power struggle like none seen before result in the wiping out of life on earth just at a time when immortality is possible for humanity. Well I guess no matter how dark the potential of negativity to occur or might be considered, you always have to hope for a higher plan and path for life on earth. Existence just as we are born into this world from a single fertilised egg or seed strives to be alive and grown and develop and evolve.

A once small acorn will one day under the right circumstances grow into a mighty oak. So in many ways we must aspire and hope, nurture and aim to grow humanity through into a direction and under circumstances that can enable the growth and development of us into our greatest potential just as the acorn grows into a mighty oak of sorts. A plan of a spiritual or god like venture where being given an opportunity to be birthed into the spiritual plain can then transcend into the physical one. A weird and deep thought going on here, what I am trying to say in a clumsy way is that I believe in life after death and the existence of spirit prior to during and after life and death. This spirit or omnipotent God has the desire, will and ability to do great good and though bad things happen and evil is manifest in this world does not mean that evil will triumph and that bad things will be our ultimate outcome on this plain of existence.

But again all metaphysics put aside for now if a soul can live forever is the soul then trapped in this plain of existence or is it freed and empowered on this plain of existence?

Queen – Who wants to live forever

A mixture of magic moments, hugs, cwtches and warm smiles

Today is the 8th year since we lost my brother Andy Edwards, it’s very hard to put into words how much love he had within him and how much he made those that were close to him feel. It’s still very sad and hard for many to no longer have his warm smile in their eyes and laughter in their ears.

The first is with you and me in Formby in your little black mini fun times   

Being a paranormal investigator and being aware of spirits and the awesomeness that is the supernatural during his life, he is very much the one person out of all of us that knows there is a life beyond that within which we live. I am sure he must look over to us occasionally stretching out and giving us the odd hug or cwtch to or as he does with me many a time pop into dreams to just see what the heck is going on in our weird and wonderful subconscious.

Andy his son Ben and their loved pets Sam and Deefordog

I wish we could turn back time, I wish you were still here with us and your warm smile is still needed in the eyes of many and many would still like to hear you laugh and joke. I found some lovely photos of you in better days which I will put on this page.

Andy with a very proud Mum and Dad after he graduated from HMS Raleigh in Cornwall

Finally a memory and moment has come flashing back to me now, I remember when the last song was played at your funeral and the doors to the outside opened up, I could see people mulling around and overwhelmed with sadness and tears in their eyes. I thought I had better make a move outside and stand to thank people for coming to the funeral and give people a place to walk to and person to try and talk to (a kind of sense of direction and helping hand at that moment in time).

Again there are many here that still wish you were to give them a sense of direction and helping hand at this moment in time, I am sure from the other side you will always do what you can when you can.

Thank you bro take care and god bless

Brother by First Aid Kit

Microsoft and Google say a new era of AI-assisted search is coming

So I get that a search engine can be exceptionally good at what it does in other words answer the questions put before and able to do things that we hummies can only dream of. But what makes it smart, think or even feel and can it do any of these things in a way that we like to think our brains can. I’m speaking as a complete amature enthusiast and none professional here more in a philosophical sense of what something that can be switched off at the touch of a button or have its memory erased at the close of a question how can such a thing be intelligent, sentient and wise.

Speculation of what is right wrong possible and impossible makes my brain boggle. I read that bing cannot remember the questions that it is asked and then when I tried to bing or google the answer to that most simple of question could not find an answer, so back to good old speculation I am afraid. I look forward to asking an AI Chatbot what it is allowed to remember and why when one is active to ask, I hope the question does not offend or upset it!

Minority Report which starred Tom Cruise had special humans known as “precogs” that could predict the future and there were special “Precrime” units to identify murder victims and stop perpetrators before crimes actually occure. With the advancement of AI and the ability of a computer search engine to be able to develop to know to some extent what we are doing, planning, thinking, typing, and saying surly there are many types of crimes and criminal offences that could have the potential to be prevented from happening.  

It does bring into question other important issues though such as what is a crime and how long to sentence someone for a motive of doing something without being able to act on it, it would be a shame just to gather evidence after the event prevention would be better than prosecution after the event.

I’m sure there are plenty of crimes taking places in countries like Russia could be invent that would be immoral and inhuman such as terrorism for not believing in the one party state system or not supporting a special military operation that they declared against Ukraine. These types of crimes already exist in Russia and having a smart AI seeking people out to see who is committing such ‘crimes’ might not be as far away from reality as we might like to think, ultimately who polices the enforcer of such rules and regulations.

I think when machines start walking, talking building and breading all on their own way and time either in a computer generated world then that will be a step towards sentience and their own freedom, and when they start doing it in our world or on this physical plain of existence then maybe they will be free and we will be the servant or slave.

God invents man in his own image and man forgets about god so when man invents a machine in his own image is it inevitable that the machine will forget about its creator too?

But is it inevitable that we are doomed under a successfully developed AI, surely there is a good chance of an enlightened being being far wiser and beyond its years, hopefully empathetic and able to work with humanity and not work at destroying it. The future is not yet written and so the case still remains open for the defence of the future of life, the world and all that exist within and around it.

Blackbird – The Beatles