Oink: A Book

Book update.

No, not that book, not the work of fiction. That will see the light of day in 2045 by the way it's going. These two are just PDF downloads. One is the phonetic alphabet work - basically a collection of all the blog posts on the topic. The other is the short book Birth Family Tribe Love Sex Apotheosis. The title is a bit of a mouthful, but I'm quite pleased with it. I think I'm finally starting to understand human society from the ground up. Or rather the tribe up.

They can be downloaded via the following links:

Oink: A Phonetic Alphabet

Birth Family Tribe Love Sex Apotheosis

The UK 2p Coin Value

Last night I was working out the metal value of UK coins - exciting, I know. On my other blog - a blog I've now decided to archive - I used to occasionally chart the metal value of the copper 2p coins. It was a little trivial and poindextery, but I found it interesting. The fact that the copper in the coin was worth more than the face value of the coin really fascinated me, and it was a very hands-on illustration of inflation.

I stopped doing it after a while - it was too tedious even for me. However, every now and then it re-grabs my attention, and I find myself curious to know where things stand at the present time.

When I last left off - way back in March 2012 - the value of the copper 2p was 3.7p.

(Copper 1p and 2p coins)

I should note that the 2p coins minted since 1992 have been copper-plated steel, so it's the pre-1992 ones that we're interested in. The steel ones will stick to a magnet if you want an easy way of differentiating.

Also this all applies to the 1p coins too (they're exactly half the weight as you'd expect).

Incidentally I started tracking the 5p coins back then as well. These are cupro-nickel - 75% copper, 25% nickel. This time pre-2012 (from 2012 onwards these too became nickel-plated steel).

(Likewise it's the same case for the 10p coins, which are the same as the 5p, just double the weight.)

The 5p value back then was 2.3p. I can't remember if this was just the copper, or the copper plus the nickel content, it's so long ago. Though I'm guessing I would've included both.

Anyway, what are the prices today?

This time I added the 20p and 50p to the list. Inflation is bad, but it's not quite that bad. Still, I thought it would be interesting.

These are the coin specifications:

2p: Copper up until 1992. 97% copper 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin. Weight 7.12g.

5p: Cupro-nickel prior to 2012. 75% copper, 25% nickel. Weight: 3.25g.

20p: Currently still cupro-nickel. 84% copper, 16% nickel. Weight: 5g.

50p: Currently still cupro-nickel. 75% copper, 25% nickel. Weight: 8.0g.

The actual metal values as of today (or last night rather):

2p: 4.7p (I'm ignoring the 3% zinc/tin content)

5p: 3.2p

20p: 4.3p

50p: 7.9p

So things have changed since 2012, but not stratospherically. The 5p is slowly but surely heading towards its face value.

Of course, metal prices can jump around a bit, for various reasons, so this can't be a true measure of inflation. It's a useful consideration though.

I've actually started collecting these coins. Not in a major way, and I don't expect them to be worth much. However, they are becoming historic. Especially in this age of digitisation. So it seems like something people currently undervalue.

The Safety Harness: Our Rulers Aren't Evil

We're back. Today I want to talk about how it's a mistake to think people execute policies and actions based solely on ideology.

We tend to think - especially when it comes to politics - that people are driven by their ideology. They have an ideology and they then act according to it. However, this is only partly the case, and it's generally not how humans behave.

The Safety Harness

Take a parent with a small child. They're worried that the child may run off and get lost. Or that they may run into the road when a car's coming. Or that they may just run around and cause trouble in general.

If someone comes along and offers this parent a child safety harness, that tethers the toddler to the parent, it's likely they'll accept it and put it to use. They won't think: "Is it ethical to put my child on a lead?" or "Is this decision compatible with my overall political ideology?" They'll just do it. It's largely a practical decision.

They have the practical problem of the child running off. The safety harness solves that problem in practice.

Fast food Decisions

It's similar with eating animals (and I'm not arguing that it's wrong or right to eat animals here, I'm just using this example as it's a good one to use. Likewise I'm not necessarily saying it's right or wrong to put your child on a harness as above. These are just examples to illustrate how people make decisions in actuality).

Anyway ..if someone's walking through town and they feel hungry that hunger - i.e. that need for food - is just a problem that needs solving. If they see a fast food restaurant then that offers a solution to their problem.

Once again, it's just a practical solution to a practical problem. A mental assessment of the ideological merits of the decision usually does not take place.

If they choose an animal product not only is there no ideology involved, but the person probably isn't even thinking about the fact that an animal needs killing. It never enters their head. It's simply "I feel hungry ..this satiates my hunger."

If they are then confronted with the possible moral implications of their food choice they'll then struggle for some comforting narrative that justifies what they've already done. (People rarely just say "I eat animals because I care more about myself than I do the animals". As we like to feel like we're behaving in a good and moral way.)

So it'll usually be a case of: "Well, it's natural to eat animals," or "We need to eat animals, it's unhealthy not to," or, "If we didn't eat animals cows would go extinct," or "These cows have had a good life.."  And so on and so forth. You get the picture.

Again though, the point is not that it's wrong or right to eat animals. This is to illustrate the fact that more often than not people reach for an ideological narrative to justify their behaviour. After the fact.

Humans have practical everyday problems confronting them in their everyday lives. They take practical steps to solve these problems. Ideological philosophising doesn't figure heavily, and when it does it often serves as a fig leaf to morally frame the actions already taken.

We all behave this way to some greater degree or other. We like to believe we operate to some core set of principles, but it's often the case that we believe what is convenient.

Cats

A further and final example to illustrate things is how we treat our pets. It's quite common for people to get their pets spayed and neutered.

If we were in the position of the cat - waking up from anaesthetic one day to find our balls had been surgically removed - we'd no doubt view our owners as incredibly evil. However, cat owners aren't in fact evil (at least I don't think they are). When a pet owner takes their soon-to-be neutered cat to the vets they're not rubbing their hands with glee like some evil supervillain. Relishing the suffering and humiliation they're about to inflict on the poor cat.

They're doing it for purely practical reasons.

They don't want their cat making babies. Ergo they're stopping that from happening.

They've been offered a solution to their problem and they've utilised it.

Again, politics, morals, ideals don't come into it; and if those things do it comes only via the pangs of emotion or guilt that creep up upon the pet owner as they whisk their cat off in its little cage.

Feelings that are quickly satiated by post hoc moral excuses: "Well, we can't afford to look after baby cats - we had to do it." Along with some newly bought goodies for the cat. As if the squeaky toys and pet treats will somehow outweigh the loss of the body parts.

Again though, the pet owners aren't evil. They love the cat. (Not as much as they love themselves). But they do love it, and they believe in their hearts they love it. They'll even cry and be heartbroken when it dies.

Still, that didn't stop them cutting the cat's balls off.

So, do you still think our rulers are EVIL?

When we consider how we exercise power over the animals that feed us, or the pets that we love so dearly, or even our own children it provides a window into the mindset of those who rule us. Be they democratic leaders, technocrats or tyrants.

Like ourselves they face everyday practical problems. Both in their own lives and in their management of society at large.

If they have the practical problem of people committing crime, and putting every citizen on a 'child safety harness' solves this problem, then more likely than not they'll use it.

Likewise if too many little baby people are being born - just like the cats that were having too many little baby kittens - why would they not think to neuter and spay some of the humans? It might sound strange, but why not. As king of the home you did it to your cat to manage your household affairs - and without a second thought. So why wouldn't your masters do it to manage this wider household we call human society.

Sure, you can view all the things we see happening in the world as being driven by ideologies (communism, capitalism, technocracy, religious ideology). Or even as being driven by manifest evil itself.

However, the reality is most things are driven primarily by practicalities - and it's often all incredibly banal and thoughtless. If you fail to understand this you'll never understand the people you perceive to be your enemies.

In reality they're simply people that have needs, desires and problems that need solving.

If you're the neutered cat you may view what's been done to you as evil - and it may very well be evil - but if you think your owners are evil you are wrong and you really don't understand them. They believe they are good and they believe they love you. Even when they're cutting your balls off.

Royal Purple

As promised earlier I'll relay my observations on the Riverside minute's silence. Things were actually fairly good. Pretty much everyone was nice and respectful, and the minute's silence was silent bar the odd mobile phone accidentally going off. It wasn't a packed stadium, so it wasn't especially dramatic, but it was fitting and appropriate.

Afterwards they played 'God Save the King' and plenty sung along. I didn't sing - partly because the people around me weren't singing (I'm most definitely not a ringleader when it comes to singing at football matches), but also partly because it felt like too much. Weirdly the thought of my mam turning on the TV and seeing me singing was what swung it.

On my mam's side of the family they're most definitely republican. I'm often regaled with the story of how my nanna came and dragged my mam away from a school trip after it was found they were going to line the streets for a visiting royal. Likewise I've often heard how my uncle used to write in brackets on his tax returns, "I don't want any of this going to the royal family".

So coming out in support of constitutional monarchy I feel a bit like I did when I voted Conservative for the first time. Like I'm going against tradition. In footballing terms it's like I've decided to suddenly become a Sunderland fan after all these years.

So moderation was the order of the evening.

A few pictures. The first I took this evening on the way home showing Middlesbrough library lit in purple. The second from yesterday showing the museum. The museum looks ominous at the best of times.

Book Burning

I was also thinking today that it's time to stop posting on here daily. I really enjoy doing it, but it's taking up too much time. I really want to start properly storyboarding the part II of my fiction. I'm off work on holiday this week but I've already burned through Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and got very little done. So I need to prioritise my screen time - there's only so much time you can spend eye-balling a laptop screen before your zest goes.

Again, I like posting here, but I'm just being lazy and posting whatever springs to mind most of the time. Plus it's giving me an excuse to put off doing the writing that actually takes some mental effort.

In the few months I've been posting regularly I've covered the new prime minister and the passing of the Queen, so I think I've managed to catch the important things. Though I've always said that the death of the Queen would be the starting pistol for all of Britain's enemies, so maybe things are only just beginning (hopefully that was just overdramatization on my part).

I'll still post intermittently as before, and if freeze-ageddon happens I'll click back into gear. Then again, saying that, it might be better to just crack on with my novel by candlelight if that happens.

I have bought the candles just in case.

Social Fieldwork

I'm off to a football match later today, so it'll be interesting to see what the tributes are like. I'm not sure what to expect. I'm up north so it's not the most royalist part of the country, though these days the north tends to be more cool with being British than the rest of the country. I'll give an appraisal tomorrow, or maybe tonight.

Think I might wear a black hoodie as a mark of respect lol.

Effing and Blinding

I originally made a few notes earlier today before I left the house, to remind me what I intended to write about. I still have the notes here; indeed I still have complete recall of what I was thinking about. However, though it all remains I feel the moment has passed, and as I sit here at nearly 1 am in the morning the news that earlier grabbed my attention seems old and distant. I guess it shows how fast moving the modern news cycle is. Or at least how social media momentarily elevates things above their importance.

What it was that caught my thoughts was the green-haired chick in Scotland getting arrested for holding a sign. The sign read: "F*ck Imperialism / Abolish Monarchy".

Obviously it's wrong to arrest someone for holding a protest banner, that kind of goes without saying. The f-word confuses things a little though. Does it therefore count as obscenity?

For me personally that would make no difference - free speech is free speech, pick your own words. This was actually the specific point I was going to consider here though: the way "swear" words are a weird form of blasphemy.

I've mentioned this before but I always find it very interesting how swear words have this power and status. For instance if we catch our finger or stub our toe we often cry out either a swear word or a religious phrase in anger:

"F*ck!" ; "For Christ's Sake!" ; "Flaming hell's fire!" ; "Sh*t!" ; "Bloody hell!"

Sometimes we even combine a swear word with a religious theme: "F*cking hell!" (That's quite a common one lol.)

It's like religious phrases and swear words both carry this similar weight and force. They're words we scream out in anger or desperation, or use for emphasis.

We even label swear words with religious type language. Swear coming with connotations of swearing an oath and the more American term "curse words" obviously suggesting curse. Like you're casting a spell on someone, or invoking a god. We also have the term profanity suggesting something profane.

I'm not entirely sure why this is, but again I always find it interesting and noteworthy. Why does the word c*nt have so much more force than the word vagina. Is it purely cultural conditioning?

The topic also inspired me to look up the phrase "effing and blinding". I understood that the "effing" related to the f-word, but I always wondered what the "blinding" meant. Apparently it relates to blimey - from "God blind me!" So again we have the swear word with the religious exclamation.

Blank Signs

Finally there was also a related story today about another anti-monarchy protester being questioned over a "blank sign". Back in March there was a story from Russia about a protester being arrested for holding a blank sign. So I thought these stories bookended things quite nicely.

[Given the moment has passed I've still managed to jot down a fair bit.]

I Don't Know.

Woke up bright and early today. On Twitter there's a lot of talk about the Russians being pushed back in Ukraine. You may have noticed I haven't posted very much about the war on here, even though it's obviously of huge importance. The main reason for this is that I simply have no certainty about what is going on there. It's so far away and we're so removed from it that it's difficult to tell where reality begins and fiction ends. So I'm in a permanent state of doubt whenever the topic pops up.

I have several different competing theories in mind as to what's actually going on. Ranging from just accepting the mainstream narrative prima facie to more exotic ideas. I'll be keeping all these views to myself though. Sometimes you just have to accept that you simply don't know for sure what's going on and that your opinions aren't helpful or useful to the situation. I am paying attention though, and it does interest me.

Strange Days..

I posted earlier today elsewhere, basically arguing that we've went awry as a nation when it comes to mourning with the "minute's applause".

That can be found via the link below, I won't rehash things here:

The "Minute's Applause" Is Why We Have No Football

It's been a very strange few days following the Queen's death. I'm not sure what to make of it. In a way I'm fortunate that I don't have strong feelings about the monarchy one way or the other. In younger days I was firmly against the concept, but with age I've arrived at an appreciation of constitutional monarchy, for largely pragmatic reasons. Either way the Queen has been head of state since the day I was born.

As I don't have strong opinions (for a change) I can simply sit back and watch things. It's all very interesting. There's a lot of chitchat and political commentary at the moment, as you'd expect, so the few opinions I do have I'll keep to myself for the time being.

Mona Lisa Lightning

I've had one of those days where I've got a lot of little jobs done. I've did the laundry, fixed a window frame, put down a new rug (I had to hoover the carpet first 😢 ), I've blogged about my fpl team, I topped up the soil for my little orange tree (yes, that's still going strong), I did some shopping.

Yet I still feel somewhat empty, like it's not enough. It's all a bit mundane. When you sort out all the little problems - when you have no problems - then the big questions come rushing in. After yesterday's thunder and lightning I've been wondering what causes it. How do clouds of rain cause mighty lightning strikes? I think I might have figured it out somewhat, but it still seems so mysterious and supernatural - so godly. Like some divine manifestation.

I've also been wondering about fate and destiny. Is there one person you're tied to by fate? A soulmate as they say. It's cringe, but the modern world is more primitive for its disbelief in love. It used to pervade our culture. From medieval troubadours and notions of unrequited love, to fairy tales and black and white movies. The idea that you would go to the ends of the earth for just this one person and no one else.

You'd probably be declared mentally ill today for saying you believe there's one person you're destined to be with. Both left and right have cast all meaning and sense of preordained purpose aside. Reducing everything to biological transactions - just go on Twitter and see all the posts from both sides saying what men want and what women want and yada yada. Even the "based" Christians are reduced to seeing love through the lens of social and psychological logic chains, ala people like Jordan Peterson (who I admire a lot, but it's all too analytical for me).

You can dissect and analyse anything; and then follow things back via a chain of cause and consequence, but ultimately everything always returns to the source. The mystery, the question mark.

If you attach meaning or a sense of purpose to a relationship - "It's my destiny to be with this person !" - the modern mind will rationalise the meaning away.

You only feel this way because you have a biological urge to procreate, and a need to pair-bond to raise the child -- and this in turn can be explained by evolution --- which in turn began in a chemical soup ---- which in turn was the product of exploding stars and swirling gases ----- which themselves were a product of a big bang.

Of course, when we reach this 'big bang' (or any other beginning) we hit the source. Not just a "how?" that we can't answer, but also a "why?".

Why was there a beginning?

Or: Why is anything here to begin with?

Once you acknowledge this mystery you can do something the modern mind never does. Flip it all back round. Perhaps the big bang and the swirling gas and the exploding stars and the chemical soup and the millions of years of evolution and the very hormone filled body you inhabit is all there precisely so you can experience that meaning.

Maybe it all happened for that reason. Perhaps that is the purpose and the "why?". Perhaps love, in the higher, meaningful sense of the word, is the reason (again, I don't want to sound too cringey, but it can't be helped).

Maybe the meaning is the whole point, dumbo.

Of course, we can't know this for certain either. It could all indeed just be a pointless sequence of events that somehow just happened. However, we can't know it isn't meaningful either. Logic can only take us to agnosticism.

The modern mind gets lost in little autistic chains of logic though, missing the bigger beautiful picture. It's like looking at the Mona Lisa and claiming it's just chemical pigments on a canvas. Yes, that is indeed what it is if you physically dissect it. If you want a scientific analysis. If you want to break it down into its material components.

However, if you step back and take a look at the whole you will see beauty and meaning. A beauty and meaning that can't be pinned down by science. That we can't even prove is there, and that will be subjective to the person viewing the painting (you may find it ugly, lacking and overrated - either way you see more than just pigments).

If a painting can be so much more than its pixels or pigments then how much more meaningful can a life or the whole world itself be when you stop dissecting it to its base biological mechanics.

I've wandered somewhat lol, but I think I need to break out of the mundane from time to time on this blog. It seems kinda lame to supress this natural inclination to see god in the lightning. To pretend I don't see meaning in life would make me a liar (however unfashionable seeing it may make me).

Radio Frequencies..

Liz Truss has made a quick start. It's definitely Bloody Mary - but in a good way. I'm enjoying watching it. I don't want to talk politics today though, I want to talk about my favourite topic: Me.

I need to master the art of being calm without being lazy.

I'm a very socially awkward person, almost comically so - it's pretty bad. So I was thinking I really need to work on this. I should really be trying to improve my weaknesses. I'm posting here as doing so forces me to make some kind of effort. If I write it down I won't just forget about it until the thought pops up again.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll do - other than try to slow myself down when I'm in social situations. Though I guess any sort of conscious effort may help. Especially if it becomes habitualised.

I do worry though that in chilling myself out I might lose some of my zest and energy. Perhaps you're either a busy bee with endless amounts of nervous energy, or you're a lazy, but laidback kind of person. Maybe you can't be both - maybe it's either one or the other, or some happy medium in between.

It's easy to chill out when you're sat doing nothing, like some Buddhist monk. I can do that, and have done it in the past (though it bores me immensely). The problem comes when you're out and about and doing things. The minute I'm actually doing something I'm a million miles per hour. Like a little jittery garden bird, rapidly looking around, alert to every sound, seeing the world at a rate of frames per second that humans don't normally operate at.

In fact, it's the other humans I have a problem with. I'm fairly energetic now just sat alone typing, but I don't mind it, I like the zeal. However, when I'm with other people this just manifests as nervous hesitation. I'm on a different frequency almost. So perhaps I need to make the effort to slow myself down when dealing with other people specifically.

Take a breath, pause, slow down, no rush. They're only people.

Radio.

In more mundane news my little wind up radio came today. I attempted to charge my phone up with it and it did indeed work. As that's the main thing I wanted it for I'm fairly pleased.

The radio itself is also surprising listenable for the size.

I now have it sat near a window to test the solar panel. I expect the benefits of this to be little to nothing, but either way it'll be handy to have if the power does indeed go at any point. We had thunder and lightening today, along with the summer sun, so we got a brief glimpse of the rockier weather that's on its way. Hopefully it won't be radio by candlelight this winter though.

The new Elizabethan era begins..

So Liz Truss won the leadership contest. My feeling is largely one of mild relief. Obviously I thought it was very unwise to ditch Boris, but given the new options I felt this was the next best thing. It's a bit like being 2-0 down in a football match then coming back to draw 2-2. Ideally you want the win, but when it looks like you're going to end up three or four down snatching a draw inspires a sense of gratitude.

I haven't really paid attention to the media today other than checking the result, but when I briefly skimmed social media I was left with an instinctive feeling that the anti-Liz/anti-Boris folk will now push hard for an election. I said at the start of the leadership campaign that an election could be far away, and that the main focus should be clawing back the draw, but I didn't really think about what would happen if Truss actually won. That was a luxury I couldn't afford myself.

Now though it occurs to me that it's still the same parliament and politicians that ousted Boris in spite of his majority. So it stands to reason that Truss will the get the same (if not less) loyalty.

(This is all assuming that she is indeed what she says she is of course: brexity that is.)

The anti camp will feel they'll be able to beat her at a general election. Though personally I'm not so sure. It's hard to imagine what will happen. Brexit really focused things last time round. Boris was able to give people a clear direction on the most pressing issue - but what's the direction now?

Leadership is massively about providing a direction. Just in basic terms. If you're lost in the woods at some point you follow the guy who says, "Right, we're going this way". You can't really follow someone who's saying "What do you think?" all the time.

In 2019 Boris provided clear leadership, whereas the other parties were just saying:

"What do you [the public] think?"

Even though deep down they had their chosen direction (in their case remaining in the EU) they couldn't speak it aloud. So they never offered actual leadership.

I don't really know what Truss will be like, but it's probably the case that she won't dither as much as Starmer.

(I've mocked her up as Elizabeth I, but given her first

name is actually Mary perhaps she'll be more Bloody Mary

- who knows?)

Today is Friday

The winner of the Tory leadership contest will be announced on Monday. Today is Friday. I'm in work Saturday and Sunday. So I'll be back here Monday. That is all.

Russian Winter

I had another cold shower today. It's September 1st, so I could be very generous to myself and say I've managed one in autumn, but I think that would be pushing it a bit. The first few minutes or so are the worst. In fact, I had to ease myself in gently, doing one arm first then the other. Once the whole body is acclimatised it's not so bad. That initial shock of the cold water though is not enjoyable. I can't imagine what it must be like in winter, when you're cold already, so we'll see how far I get. At least I've saved the environment a tiny little bit.

I also bought some candles today too, as I said I would last post. I might stock up and buy a few more.

The Moex.

On a slightly different topic there was an interesting little update in regards my Sberbank shares today (- you may remember I bought an enormous $60s worth as we entered Iron Curtain Part II). Anyway, they seem to have been converted to Moscow Stock Exchange depositaries by eToro. So there are now two little Sberbank tickers in my portfolio:

I'm guessing when the transition is complete there'll just be the one MOEX listing with the updated values and percentages.

It's largely cosmetic as whatever the listings and values it's still pretty much impossible to trade these Russian shares. So it's all just a fancy way of saying $0. Their current value on the Moscow exchange is about $80 now though - if my maths is right. So technically I'm up, even if it is just cosmetic ..and I'll happily take the appearances at the moment, as it'll at least make my bright red losses look slightly less emphatic.

We'll see what happens with the Gazprom ones now.

Cold Showers..

Continuing on the energy theme I was thinking it might also be wise to try using less. My biggest indulgence is cleanliness. Whether it's my body or my clothes or the utensils I prepare food with I like things to be clean. So I'm probably guilty (in fact I'm definitely guilty) of overusing warm water.

It's slightly irksome (and also amusing) that the people that were telling us to wash our hands every five minutes are now telling us not to worry about showering and using the washing machine. Still, I can't really use this as an excuse to completely dismiss their arguments.

Anyway, yesterday I thought perhaps I can try a cold shower. I have zero intention of completely replacing warm showers, but maybe if I have one a week it'll make a slight difference. So yesterday I tried one. It actually wasn't too bad. I didn't think I'd be able to manage it, but I did - just about.

Obviously it's one thing having a cold shower in late August. It's quite another having one in mid-December. So that might be beyond me.

My main issue isn't so much the cold though, it's more the cleanliness. I think you need warm water. Try washing the dishes with a sink full of cold water. You need that energy to lather up, break things down and remove grease. So I'm not convinced you'll get nice and clean with a daily cold shower.

It's a balancing act though, so I should at least try to make some compromise.

My thinking at the moment is that perhaps I can replace a warm shower with a cold one once a week, on a day where I don't have much to do. On the lazy days where I don't need to leave the house for long periods. I'm definitely not having a cold shower before I go out to work that's for sure.

I might try another one in a few days time to get some practice in. Perhaps there might even be some benefits.

Hellish Energy

I've been looking at solar power and other such like things, from a consumer point of view. Not with anything major in mind, more just looking to see what gadgets are available and how useful they'd be.

If the lights do go out this winter it'd be handy to have at least some alternative to the grid, even if it's just to charge a phone. The solar power banks you can buy don't look too impressive though from a solar point of view. I think they'd be next to useless in the UK.

Looking at these things it really becomes apparent just how much energy we use. Boiling a kettle is a seemingly minor thing and doesn't take long, but you're literally boiling water, it takes a fair bit of energy. Some little solar panel ain't gonna get close.

It makes you appreciate fire. Combustion.

GO nuclear.

As an aside I've also came to appreciate and understand nuclear power a lot more over the last year or so. Things finally clicked when I was reading about how radioactivity beneath the Earth's surface drives volcanoes. Nuclear power is often presented in popular culture as this scary, complicated - almost magical - thing; and magical in a malign way. It's a real world voodoo that humans shouldn't play with.

However, using uranium isn't really that different to using coal. Fire - combustion - itself is a chain reaction, only using oxygen. We start things with a spark then the fire self-perpetuates. Like a house burning down. It's similar with nuclear, it's just a different type of chain reaction. Instead of a spark we start things by firing protons or whatever. Then once it gets going the fire burns itself. Only it's not fire, it's fission releasing the heat - the breaking down of the uranium fuel. (So a meltdown is not unlike a fire that's raging out of control.)

This isn't a very technical explanation, but my lack of technical knowledge aside it does bring things down to earth a bit. Nuclear power isn't magic, it's just chemistry and nature. The nature that's under our feet. (And I say chemistry instead of physics purposely, in an attempt to remove it from the abstract in the minds of people reading.)

Of course, it's still dangerous. In many ways we're bringing the hell that's below the Earth's surface to the surface 😈. Again though, it's not entirely dissimilar to digging for coal. We dig down to get coal and oil - to release that energy that's been pressurised under the weight of the Earth. With nuclear we're just going for even denser things. Really heavy metals.

So seeing things like this I'm now much more open to using nuclear. It doesn't seem as unnatural anymore.

Returning to my plans..

That detour aside, and going from one extreme to another, as far as my own plans go I think the first thing I'll do is buy some candles. It's old technology, but it's dependable. If the lights go out it's a sure fire way of getting some illumination.

Then secondary to that I might get one of those little wind up radios. The claim is that they can be used to charge a phone, so that's the main appeal. They also have a little solar panel, so it'll be interesting to see if that makes a blind bit of difference.

I'm more optimistic that the wind up hand crank will work than the panel - at least it's something to do in the cold anyway ..the devil makes works for idle hands. I'm not overly optimistic either will be much use in any real sense. It's a relatively cheap way to experiment however, so it'll be a fun little purchase. I'll give an update if and when I get one.

The Jury Is Out

I'm shattered today and I have no idea what to write about, so I think I'll just mention the fact that Mary Elizabeth Truss recently replied "the jury is out" when asked if Macron was a friend or foe. This made me really laugh out loud when I first saw it pop up on Twitter. The reply was so unwittingly blunt and accurate, and annoyed all the right people.

It looks like she's a shoo-in for leader now. If so it seems the people who ousted Boris now have a replacement they'll equally abhor. If this is the case I don't think she'll get much of a honeymoon period from the press. It'll be all hands on deck from the get go.

The 'cost of living' crisis is building up steam nicely. I'm starting to see threads on Twitter with graphs and tables - put together by people who think they're Jeff Goldblum's character in the movie Independence Day. Imploring the public and government alike to take heed of their doom-laden analysis - and of course to follow their sage prescriptions for action.

It's exactly like with Covid, and boringly so. The crying of wolf almost mind-numbing in its repetition.

The only thing stopping me from mocking it completely being the knowledge that cold winters do indeed kill people in the UK. The elderly and the homeless being particularly at risk every winter, so perhaps it'll be more so the case during this one. The hype and fearmongering is obvious, but that doesn't mean that the bills and blackouts will not be real. So I'm trying to force myself to think beyond my initial instinct.

Orange Economy

In many ways it brings to mind the thoughts I was contending with when I was writing about how you "can't grow oranges on a laptop". 

People having access to computers and the internet has led to an abundance of digital produce. It's often said that modern people are lazy and that they "don't want to work", but there's an endless supply of memes and music and art and articles and so forth online - all made by people who've made the effort to do it, with no whip at their back forcing them to, and generally little chance of making money.

So ..it seems if you give people free (or super cheap) online "space" they'll be super productive with it.

However, physical produce - food, energy, goods, etc - requires physical space - and that's what most people generally don't have. Getting a few rooms to eat and sleep in (i.e. a home) is hard enough.

My argument is if you want physical abundance you need to open up physical space to people. People need gardens, workshops - places to do things. To grow things, to build things - to experiment and to create..

Do you really think people wouldn't make the effort to chop down trees for wood if they could this winter? To warm themselves by the fire just as their ancestors did. People can't just go out and get resources though - not because they're lazy, but because they're not allowed to. Modern society is so complex and things (like energy) are delivered at such a scale that people simply can't endeavour to warm and feed themselves as individuals

The problem with food and energy, especially for people living in the city, is that you have very little opportunity for self-reliance - because you have very little space. We live in a network of a thousand Romes - if the grain gets cut off we're all sitting ducks.

We have empty highstreets galore though, so it's not like we don't have spaces and places. We just need to make space work for people.

So when I think about energy I think long term we need innovation, space and more self-reliance. More capitalism, - more local market.

This Winter..

Pretty visions aren't going to help in the immediate future though I guess. So we just have unpretty problems at the moment. Personally I would bail out the people that need bailing out, but aim to do it in a way where that cash doesn't advance the ideologies that make us less free and more state dependent in the long run. It's easier said than done though. Especially when it's hard to know where the hype stops and reality starts.

....

(So much for being shattered - I've went from casual commentary to setting out policy plans lol. The idea of energy self-reliance, or a least a degree of it, is something that really interests me though. I feel like I have the spirit of Archimedes bursting to get out. Obviously things like solar and wind are limited, but in a way it's a shame that these technologies have become the preserve of the big state. With more freedom-loving people tending to dislike them. We seem to have this dichotomy of big business vs big state. Of course, we need industrial scale energy production to supply industry and warm homes, so it's sensible and understandable to think in terms of large operators, but who knows how much we could dent reliance on big providers by encouraging real personal innovation and self-sufficiency.

It's like with food: if you can grow some food locally it gives you a cushion. It also provides a potential pathway for scaling up.

Anyway, you can tell how tired I am by how much my focus is wandering, so I'll leave it there for today.)

Twitter trenches.. boxing not so clever

Well, yesterday's post was accurate. In fact, it was almost like a premonition. I've spent pretty much the entirety of yesterday and today arguing on Twitter about lockdowns and coronavirus deaths, the lot - and it has brought out the devilish side of me. I think I probably have overstepped the mark a little too at times - I was getting a little offhand with people. Being a little too cocky.

It doesn't bring out the best in me, and in my tired state (it's actually exhausted me a little lol) I'm not sure it was worth it all things considered. I seemed to have hit a nest of avid lockdown addicts - all of a sudden yesterday afternoon I started getting a flurry of replies to my tweets. It was like coming across a bunch of Japanese soldiers that hadn't realised World War II had ended. All the old arguments about lockdowns and Covid deaths - replete with graphs with spikes - started flooding back. I dusted off the old Wuhan images and at one point even shared a video of Yuri Bezmenov. It was like a little trip down wu-flu memory lane.

Again, I probably could've been a bit more considered. Many of the people I was debating were no doubt just genuine people who'd simply been swept up by the Covid narrative. Telling these people that 'Long Covid' is just a varying combination of post viral fatigue, psychosomatic issues and other health conditions wasn't that enjoyable for me. All they hear is me saying that their ailments aren't genuine.

The question, as per yesterday's post, is whether it's worth upsetting and disconcerting all these people in the name of puncturing the narrative. As I type I'm now not sure it is. As earlier, they seemed like hold-outs from a bygone war that no one is fighting any more --- now it's all gas prices, strikes, Ukraine and inflation. Coronavirus almost seems a little old hat.

It might have been better just to leave these people be. Safe in their narrative. Though if the prospect of lockdowns and mask mandates does reappear it could've been time well spent.

A guilty feeling..

The one thing that really niggles me is that when I was arguing I resorted to using an example from real life to illustrate how Covid deaths were misrepresented.

I first noted that anecdotal account here back in May 2020: This Brutal Lockdown

Back then I was honestly reporting, I was quite measured and thoughtful, but today I was just using the story to make a point. It was wrong of me to do this. I only knew of this death through second hand information - it wasn't a death of a person close to me, so I had no right using it like this. The people that push the Covid narrative are so relentless in their use of such stories and appeals to emotion though, so I couldn't resist firing some reality back at them. It's left me with a guilty feeling. Doubly so as I'd actually used the story on Twitter before in the heat of arguing (about a year ago I think) and I promised then that I wouldn't do it again after I'd realised what a lapse of judgement it had been.

I think the lesson I should take from today is that I need to exercise a bit more self-discipline. It's so hard to act like an adult though when the impishness takes over 😈

(As I finish typing this I've just received a notification for another reply - this time from a guy claiming China had a "great strategy" and that "masks are a zero impact way of saving lives". I need to resist the urge to reply. I need to settle down and get some sleep. I have work tomorrow. Self-discipline!!! )

Boxing Clever

I've mentioned many times before on this blog how Twitter brings out the devil in me.

I kind of feel like a boxer who enjoys boxing, but who feels a little guilty about punching his opponents once he's outside the ring. Should I be arguing/teasing/winding people up like this? Is it wrong that I get a degree of pleasure from doing it?

Yet on the flipside I'm also thinking: "They chose to get into the ring. No one forced anyone to box. They were trying to punch me too."

So there's a mix of feeling. Of course, as ever with things you want to be balanced. It's good to debate ideas - and to have a bit of cheeky banter - but you don't want to cross the line into outright hostility. The problem though is defining that line, and also acknowledging that the line may be different according to circumstance.

Anyway, what got me thinking about this again was observing the state of affairs in China regarding the coronavirus. When you watch some of the extreme footage from China it's clear that many of the normal people there are enthusiastically - and believingly - going along with it all. The mindset is ingrained much more so than here. It made me think that things wouldn't be so bad in China if the people had more exposure to opposing viewpoints.

By challenging the narrative vocally, both online and in real life, you can break down the groupthink - or at least undermine it and lessen its forcefulness. So it's always worthwhile voicing opposition in this regard. Things would be much worse here in the UK too were there not an adequate counternarrative.

So returning to Twitter, as I deem lockdowns and the other coronavirus measures so egregious I tend to go much harder on the people that are pushing them. Again, I don't always feel good about how robust and blunt I've been with lockdown advocates, but in all honesty I genuinely feel things are better for it (at least in an overall sense).

Plus, I'm just tweeting, whereas these folk are actively abusing the basic rights of people. So it's hardly disproportionate.

Sometimes I feel I'm going too far, and that I enjoy my sparring with these opponents a little too much. This then leads me to reflect that perhaps I should turn over a new leaf and start being gentler with people. At the moment though I'm leaning towards the idea that I should keep up the good fight. As if it wasn't for me and others like me it'd be much more like China now.

(And finally, for the record, I should reemphasise that this doesn't mean that I think it's fine to just outright abuse people or be mean. I'm bad on Twitter - much less measured than I am on here - but I'm not that bad (I don't think 😬).

[If anyone want to gauge this for themselves feel free to visit my Twitter profile and click on the 'Tweets and replies'.]

The porridge is the right temperature..

I'm falling behind a bit today. I've just spent some time posting on my other blog. It was just some little notes I wanted to make. It would've been easier to just post them here, but the themes were a bit too esoteric and history-orientated for this blog. I like to keep this one about me, us, today's politics, the here and now. In fact, I was reading some of the old posts on this blog back. I like how light and breezy they are. The shortness, the lack of overthinking. It's a nice halfway house between writing actual articles and posting on social media. The porridge is the right temperature.

MAN U 2

Two posts today. As promised I'll give an update on the $105 of Manchester United shares I bought yesterday. Firstly, as expected, they did go up in value - about 5 or 6 percent, I can't remember the exact figure. Then secondly, yes, as expected I did miss out on most of that. I was back of the queue when the markets opened. Plus I'm guessing out of hours trading gets factored in the minute the market opens, so things adjust before regular people just trading on apps like me can get in on the action.

I was reading up on out of hours trading after yesterday's post. I still have little idea how it actually work, but it was a little education and a step up for me.

Setting my buy for 'at market' before the market opened cost me too as when the buy finally actioned there'd already been a big increase. So as the price dropped back down I was in negative territory for a while. If I'd have just waited and bought a bit later at my own leisure I'd have been better off. Though it's all hypotheticals as I might have chosen not to buy at all had I felt I'd missed the hump.

All this said though I did find myself in the green by the end of the day. Then on top of this the price has risen about 2.5% so far today too. So at the time of writing the shares I bought are nearly 3% up. This has been helped by talk that Sir Jim Ratcliffe (he's a rich guy apparently) is interested in buying the club.

Party Prime

This morning I saw the footage of the Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin partying.

https://twitter.com/visegrad24

My initial response was "not impressed". Not so much because I have a problem with people letting their hair down in private, but more because she looked like a stereotypical vacuous good-looking woman - not that there's anything wrong with being a stereotypically vacuous woman, but it's not what you want for a leader.

So my thoughts were that she must be another young, handpicked world leader. Competent and naive enough to be a handy frontperson for progressivism. (I've talked about this "young leader" fashion recently - freckledmonkey.blogspot.com/political-princes ). I was vaguely aware that Finland had a young female Prime Minister, and a lot of other female cabinet members, but aside from that I had no real idea who Sanna Marin was though, so my prejudice aside I thought I should really take a deeper look before hardening my disdain.

Anyway, I've watched her speak a bit and done a little bit of reading about her and I've reassessed my opinions a little. I was kind of half-right.

My reassessment.

Having watched her she's clearly very intelligent, and she comes across as very nice. She's definitely not vacuous.

She's another record breaker, being the youngest person in Finnish history to become prime minister, at the age of just 34.

I was hoping to discover what her opinions are - does she have any controversial opinions, or strong defining convictions? However, I didn't really get a sense of anything. Like many of these other young leaders - the Arderns and Trudeaus of this world - they don't need strong opinions as they fit so seamlessly into the current left-of-centre progressive landscape. They're swimming with the tide. In fact, they're of the tide. It's just taken for granted that the progressive narrative is the correct narrative. So there's no need to think, and no need to be an outsider politically in any sense.

Again though, she comes across as very nice and likeable in all the footage I've watched, so I don't doubt her political views are sincerely held.

She's a vegetarian apparently, which gets a tick in my book. I'm tempted to see this as a sign that she has some strong personal convictions, but vegetarianism and veganism are so fashionable now it's hard to tell. Also she was raised by her mother and her mother's lesbian partner - her mother and father split up - so in the interests of balance I should note that it clearly hasn't done her any harm. She's obviously turned out very educated, intelligent and successful.

[A few weeks back I was criticising the idea of gay people raising children - specifically gay men, my point being that children need a mother. In fact, I got into an argument on Twitter about it. I was accused of being a horrible homophobe which is par for the course. The person I was debating shared the following article in support of their point, which assessed studies on the well-being of children with gay/lesbian parents:

https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-wellbeing-of-children-with-gay-or-lesbian-parents/

Aside from all the studies being very limited a large proportion were specifically just assessing children raised by lesbian parents - which is naturally a more common occurrence. So I thought it was typically disingenuous that a picture of two gay men was used to illustrate the article.

It's my personal opinion that it's ideal for a child to have a mother and a father, but there's obviously a huge difference between having lesbian parents and gay parents. As men and women are clearly different - a woman can actually give birth and nurture a new born child in a way a man simply cannot.

Again though, being raised in a same-sex home clearly hasn't hindered Sanna Marin, so in fairness I should note and acknowledge this.]

Party Out.

Anyway, my initial reaction to the footage of her partying was wrong, and on reflection I have no issue with it. Maybe you could even say it reveals a genuineness in her. I'm still of the opinion though that these bright young things have been helped into their positions of power because they're fully on board with the progressive narrative and are easily guided. I'd prefer to see this woman as a prime minister at the age of 54 with some real experience and gravitas.

Sleeping Giants

I had a really good nights sleep last night. Sleep is great, and you really feel the difference when you get a good dose of it. I had some quite vivid dreams though, which is the downside/upside - I'm never quite sure which.

Anyway, I woke up, sleepy-headed, and lay there scrolling through Twitter, as a kind of half-step into the day. What caught my attention was that Elon Musk was tweeting - jokingly - about buying Manchester United football club.

I own a few shares in Manchester United: 9.5 to be precise - that's about $120 worth. I'm not a Manchester United fan, but I love football, so I couldn't resist buying some. I like things where my interests intersect. In this case my interest in football and stocks overlapping. It kinda makes everything doubly interesting.

I was toying with the idea of buying some more, putting a buy order for when the US markets open, but I fear with all the speculation now rife I'll be back of the queue - I'm still so inexperienced and have no real idea how these things work, so it's really better just to sit back and watch. Though saying this if I don't put a buy order in I won't see how it pans out, so maybe I should stick $100 in and make it interesting. Hmm.

In fact, I'll do that right now..

[Intermission]

Okay so I've put an order in: $105 'at market'. (I've also made a cup of tea.) So let's see what happens. It'll be a mini education.

Obviously I'm expecting the price to go up with all the Elon-hype. His tweets were just joking, and he did say that..

However, he did then add this:

This seems like a smart way of testing the waters as United fans will view this and be like "He's a United fan too !" So it endears him to the fanbase potentially.

"I wish he wasn't just joking!!"

Anyway, we'll see what happens, I've had my little gamble. I'll provide an update tomorrow.

Enough is never enough..

On a side note when I re-visited Twitter to screengrab the Musk tweets I noticed "Enough is enough" was trending. So that's continuing unabated it seems.

Four For

Little update: I was back in work yesterday and the results from the pay rise vote was in. I only heard it second hand, so I don't have exact figures, but apparently about 97% voted against accepting the offer, and only four people voted in favour of it.

I abstained, so none of that includes me. I'd be interested in hearing why the four voted in favour of it - perhaps they have similar concerns to me, or maybe they just want to take the cash and avoid any further hassle. It's a big place though, and so far everyone I've spoken to has been in that 97%. (I need to improve my social skills to get more information, I'm always on the peripheries of any gossip.)

Again, it all seems rather mundane though. I think there's just more arbitration now - I can't see it ever getting to strike action or anything like that. It's mainly the wider 'cost of living' drama that makes me wary. Ninety-seven percent is fairly unanimous though.

Cat, Collar Dove, Moon and Middlesbrough

I'm gonna be lazy today (I think I've earned it after staying up late last night) and just post some pictures. They were taken today though, so I'm not cheating - that much.

(click to enlarge)

This first one is of two collar doves in the garden (I think they're collar doves), and the next two are of the Riverside Stadium under a blue sky. We were running late so there are no people in the shot, but it was fairly full and noisy inside - not that you'd know from the images. I still haven't quite mastered the phone camera yet, so I never quite capture what my eyes are seeing. Modern phone cameras tend to make everything seem more far off and less intimate to me, but again it might just be my inability to use them.

I had a similar problem when I was trying to get pictures of the August summer moon a few days back. It looked so big and impressive as I was walking home, but the camera could only render a white spot in the sky. The zoom making little difference.

With my own eyes I could see the 'rabbit in the moon' with crisp enchanting realness. A reminder that a picture is not reality, and that the online world will always be inferior in its beauty to lived reality.

I also caught this picture of a stray cat catching some shade in the garden a few days back. British wildlife in its nearest and dearest form.

People talk about 'rewilding' Britain, but wildness is not the way. We're creating a garden paradise here, where every bird, cat and hedgehog is a pet-like citizen free to come and go as they please, but tamed by the human presence.

The Orchard of Ideas

I'd completely forgot about this today. I've had a nice peaceful day of reading and watching football, intersected only by a brief walk in the summer sunshine to the supermarket. I only remembered I needed to do this about an hour ago, so I'm now sat here after midnight typing. I'm feeling tired, so I'm a little worried I'm going to miss the window of sleep and end up awake with heavy eyes 'til the early hours. I'm determined to post something though as I really feel sticking to the habit is worthwhile.

I started posting daily [on my days off work that is - I'm not that determined] about a month ago and I now have fifteen blog entries to show for it. I really believe that if you show a little self-discipline and just keep doing something things soon build up, even if oftentimes you don't really do that much, or don't have a clear notion of what you want to do. Just making the effort gets the wheels moving.

Sometimes you have nothing to write and nothing comes. You just end up with a paragraph, but still it's something - a little entry in the journal that can be used for reference. Other times you have nothing, but it quickly spouts into a waterfall of other things. A good example being now as I reach the third paragraph from a position of no idea whatsoever.

Some blog posts end up being better than others, most will be average or largely unimportant on their own, but if you don't make the effort you don't get anything. So now, thanks to doing something, I have a little journal that I can refer back to, plus one or two posts that are essentially articles that I would never have written had I not started this endeavour.

It occurs to me that I started in reference to the Tory leadership race, but it's quickly wandered from that. Though that and the wider politics is always in the background. In fact, this summer in the UK has actually been fairly normal all things considered. Old normal normal. It hasn't been too bad at all as far as everyday life has went. So I should pause and show a bit of thanksgiving.

Before I started this post I briefly visited Twitter and a tweet from a US media outlet popped up stating that England was experiencing a drought and apple farmers were fearing for their harvests. It couldn't seem further from my reality. Though I'm sure there are no doubt some problems caused by the warm weather. It was likewise similar yesterday evening as I caught the news and saw hysteria about water levels and lack of rain. It just seemed mad and out of touch with reality. There was also a part where the chancellor Nadhim Zahawi was being interviewed about the 'cost of living' crisis and the interviewer was basically screaming at him asking him what he was going to do about it. Literally yelling animatedly. Again, it just looked like something from a parallel universe where everyone has lost their mind.

(It must just be down south)

The media are now incapable of calm and poise it seems, and are branching off from basic everyday life.

(I think that should do for tonight - again, it's amazing how easy things are once you start.

N.B.

Oh, and finally, there's a little note I wanted to make. When I visited the supermarket I bought a copy of Fortean Times. I haven't read this magazine in a long while, so it was enjoyable reading it again after a long hiatus. Anyway, in the Classical Corner section it's noted that:

"In Plato's Apology, Socrates mentioned you could buy a copy of Anaxagoras's only published book for one drachma [..]"

The idea that people were buying books in ancient Greece caught my attention, so I need to look into this. (This is another benefit of posting regularly, it's a good way of making notes and keeping track of things).

Cringeworthy Days

I just re-read an old post I penned on a different blog. It's from over ten years ago, and my opinions have shifted a fair bit since then, so I felt a hard shudder of cringe as I read it back. Fortunately it was quite short.

I'll repost it here for context, though it pains me to do so.

It's the royal wedding today and as an Englishman I feel I have a duty to say that I don't support this sort of thing. In fact, I feel quite embarrassed about the whole affair. To see grown men and women getting in such a tizz over a wedding between two people they don't even know is just depressing. I can only apologise for the behaviour of my fellow country people.

I recently saw a poll showing that 63% of the British population support the royal family. How sad that so many can support an institution that essentially flies in the face of the notion that all people are created equal. I've come to realise that it's now likely that I'll probably live all my years and die under a monarchy. As a child I never realised just how stagnant Britain is. I had hopes, but when there's so much popular support for the status quo it doesn't offer much room for optimism.

https://birkhallsmiscellany.blogspot.com/2011/04/royal-wedding.html

I'm by no means an avid monarchist now, it's more that I've just came around to the idea that it has pragmatic value (plus I feel a little more sympathetic to them personally on an individual level). I think it's more the tone that jars though. It sounds so stereotypically left wing.

If this was written by someone else and I read it now it would probably really annoy me lol. So it's slightly disconcerting to read it back. It also makes me wonder if what I'm writing here will be equally cringe-inducing when I read it back in another ten years time. Or even if I'm more wrong now than I was back then. Perhaps those two paragraphs are great and I've since erred from the true path? 😬

Scary thoughts. It is useful though to see the path we've took over time. It is after all natural for people to become more pragmatic and conservative as they grow older. It also reminds me to be a little kinder to others who may just be on a different part of the path. Though that patience and good grace rarely lasts long with me.

It is good to reassess these things though. Maybe I'm becoming too conservative now and need a reminder of who I used to be?

Also, reading it back my dismay at people "getting in such a tizz" over a media event is still true to form. So some things never change. I'm still just as anti-social and unwilling to enjoy the party. I haven't strayed from the path in that regard. Though I will at least wave a union jack now.

Hot Enough Is Enough

I'm in a somewhat more chilled mood today. I've just seen that 115,000 postal workers are going on strike for four days in the UK (that's not why I'm chilled, I just am - though I'm tempted to joke I probably won't even notice they're on strike). My knowledge of this came courtesy of another campaign group that have recently came on my radar - one called Enough is Enough. They have a website called wesayenough.co.uk.

I'm not sure how old the website is, but the Twitter account launched in July 2022. So it's another new campaign on the block, focused on the 'cost of living' crisis. Apparently over 200,000 people have signed up to support its demands, so like Don't Pay UK it's really taken off quite quickly. It also has the support of Labour MPs Zarah Sultana and Ian Byrne.

There's a momentum building. Or at least I think that's the aim. It's very hot though, so I think I might head out to the garden and continue reading my book about Captain Scott and Antarctica.

(Also, on a side note, isn't 'enough' an odd little word. It might just be that I've typed it so much now, but I'm starting to question if I'm even spelling it right. Enuff is Enuff would be easier.)

Painted Chaos

I've been a little annoyed today. We've seen a continuation of the 'cost of living' hysteria, and watching so many people get hooked into the 'crisis' narrative has been disappointing for me. The sheep are easily spooked - and I'm not just using that term pejoratively; a lot of the supposedly 'awake' people are just as guilty of being easily herded. I guess it's those people in particular that are so annoying me. They don't learn. It's like living in the land of the goldfish.

It reminds me of the Leonardo da Vinci quote: There are three classes of people: those that see, those that see when shown, and those that cannot see.

I really need to be a little nicer and more patient towards the people in that second category. (I could perhaps do with being a little less arrogant too - I'm obviously placing myself in the first category, but maybe I'm not as wise as I think I am.)

I've been lazy and offhand with people on Twitter, not that many people notice the tweets anyway. I often come back to this topic of how much of a dick I am on Twitter, and always wonder if I should change my ways or stop altogether, but at least it's something. Perhaps my dick-ish opinions cause the odd worthwhile ripple in the hivemind.

Occasionally I do attempt to start tweeting in a politer and less alienating way, but it never lasts long.

Self-focus.

I also often wonder if I should focus fully on my own life. Just stay outta the political soup completely.

I mentioned a good while back that I was working on my fictional novel. I can't remember when I last gave an update on here, but that's coming along very nicely. I've finished the second draft of the first book, and I've recently managed to flesh out the overall storyboard for the second book - yes, it's an epic two-parter. I'm really tempted to just get lost in that. It's a really enjoyable little realm I've created.

So I may just plan for a winter of work and writing. If we have crises and energy lockdowns so be it. I survived the corona-mania, so maybe I should just let everyone get on with things and make my own plans. A peaceful ship on stormy waters. The beautiful art of knowing how and when to fall asleep on the battlefield.

I'm saying this though, but the chaos is also enticing. In 2020 we had a kind of dark order to things. The narrative was fixed and awesome to stand in opposition to, but now all the narratives are fragmenting quickly. In spite of my earlier bemoaning of the people that are hooked into some of these narratives. It's mayhem in truth. I see a lot of forces trying to make order out of chaos - but it really is chaos now. Back in 2020 it was order out of order, painted with the countenance of chaos.