Destiny?

Hate to say it, but [most] humans are transparent, predictable, formulaic, ephemeral, full of self-interest & shallow beyond belief. To the point of being intensely tiresome, individual human actions are easy to forecast, and breaking of expected behavioral patterns occur rarely.

I once thought I was so totally wrong when I believed, as a youngster that life was a pre-programmed event, following pre-ordained routes & with fully-pre-defined outcomes. The more I experience, the more often I witness different humans following identical patterns, the more certain I am, sadly, that I was right.

What if free-will did not exist, and that individual humans on what we believe to be Earth were merely automatons, blindly following pre-programmed instructions, leading to the same outcomes, whatever they did, or whatever 'free' decisions they thought they were making?

What if they were pre-programmed units, existing in some kind of organic - or electronic matrix? They'd never know.. they'd just carry on living what they thought were their own lives as the cogs turned & they reached their pre-planned conclusions.

What if humans were alone - entirely - and everything they experience, their lives, their families, friends & actions were actually fabrications - only happening as part of a matrix or feigned reality?

Answer: They'd never know. And they never will > unless they're pre- programmed to discover, at some future point, for some unknown reason?

And who, or what would be mastering the puppetry, were this to be the case?

Korea'ing into stormy waters?

Kim Jung Il, North Korea's insane leader. He's as mad as a box of frogs at a lunatics convention in Cuckooville.

North Korea is an odd place. One of very few countries, perhaps 6 which are totally militaristic (everyone's technically in the army) and where the State officially comes before family, friends & humanity itself.

Everyone wears a 'uniform' and must be a member of the communist party. There are compulsory meetings every night, and weekends are taken up at massive parades and ceremonies the only function of which is to 'praise our glorious leader, Kim Jung Il'.

People are afraid to have friends - as friends can, and do report what you say, do or think  to a network of spies found everywhere, all the time. Everyone has a job - but it's chosen for you, and you can't refuse.

The State is broke. There's no money around and no food. People are literally starving. They have no contact at all with the outside world. Radio & TV signals from abroad are jammed, and trying to obtain information from outside leads to a harsh jail sentence. There are no 'free' TV or radio stations, and the press is totally controlled, containing stories praising Kim Jung Il, the wonders of communism & the great 'victories' of the Korean army against the evils of capitalism. Propaganda posters praising the wonders of Kim Jung Il are everywhere.

Borders are closed & fiercely guarded - no one gets across. Korea has no friends. It is not in the United Nations & is sanctioned by the rest of the world for human rights abuses, state killings & illegal dealings with nuclear arms and fissile materials. Korea is tolerated by the China, but they don't have a good relationship, and this is getting worse.

The Korean language is unique - unrelated & totally different from any other language on the planet. To an outsider, it sounds a little like Japanese & looks vaguely Chinese, but there are no connections at all with either language.

Worryingly, Korea has spent every dollar of its wealth on building up its army and on amassing a huge nuclear arsenal, on weapons, rockets, nuclear-reprocessing plants & other military stuff.

And a total madman is in charge of all of it. Kim Jung Il has no appreciation of the world, or North Korea's place in it. He rules his country, his people & his massive nuclear forces with a rod of iron & in absolute terror.

And now, because he feels ignored and alone, he's firing off nuclear rockets & threatening to use them against his country's neighbors, and making ridiculous demands on how his part of the world should be run.

Nuclear weapons are seriously bad news. Nuclear weapons in the hands of an autocratic madman in a land full of compliant, robotic zombies is a terrifying thought.

There'll be trouble here!

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

 

Want to know what's goin on?

Let a little bird tell you... it's good to Twitter!

Twitter, I have to admit I do like it, and overall, it's probably worth having >> but I'm very suspicious of it too.

I have just over 60 'followers' though the number varies a lot, even on a daily basis. It seems odd though that almost all of my 'followers' seem closely linked with key-words I've tweeted... for example, I've mentioned I love to surf... and I'm then quickly followed by GUL wetsuits, Surfers against Sewage and other obviously-linked commercial groups, without ever having visited, or added them.

I go to Whitby & tweet how nice it is, and upload a few pix. I'm then followed by 'Visit Whitby' >> surely no coincidence? I mention I have an interest in aliens & spacey / sciency stuff, and as if by magic, I get followed by Cambridge Scientific Services, and, oddly, a legal firm offering assistance fro 'illegal aliens' Pffft... Have they landed?

I'm pretty sure all out tweets are sieved and filtered - and the 'juicy' commercial bits are recognised by some intelligent computer program, which sometimes gets it wrong, and then sold on to 'relevent' commercial institutions.... we then get 'followed' - and the commercial guys have a ready-made audience for offers & commercial tweets ad infinitum.. ..

I fully expect to receive an ever growing number of tweets particularly tailored to my so-called interests, however the software identifies them... and perhaps, this is more of an intrusion into my privacy than I had wanted...

Still, for the moment, it's fun, even if only 3 or 4 guys following me are genuine... Sometimes, I wish I was more simple and far less of a cynic!

You can join Twitter at Twitter.com, and it works really well with most mobile phones, via applications such a 'Tweetie' or 'Twitteriffic'. If you do join up >> Follow TorchwoodCF for all the news & shizz from Torchwood Territory & Somerwest County!

Laters!
CT

A sad tale from the English West-country.. ..

The saga of the lost ball! 

(A true tale from TorchwoodCF)

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Today at 8:08pm 

An essential piece of kit for the Great British Jobsworth!

Two guys are playing handball, and the ball lands on a nearby flat roof, about ten feet high. It's an expensive ball >> so they go to get assistance. A beefy groundsman is close by & ready to spring into inactivity.

He considers the situation carefully, before shaking his head knowledgeably. I'll have to get 'premises' in... they're here on Thursday! Asked if he had a ladder, he replied that he had - but as the wall was over 9 foot tall, he needed a 'ladder certificate' before he could even begin to climb the dizzy heights. He only had a 'crawler board awareness' training certificate, which was entirely different.

The yellow fluorescent jobsworth's jacket. Who'd be seen dead without one?

At last, some sense as another groundsman comes round the corner with a ladder... The guys grab him & ask if he'd retrieve the ball. The two groundsmen have a quiet discussion, before Nr. 2 announces he has the ladder certificate, but not 'crawler board awareness' training. We're again at a stalemate.

One of the guys has a brilliant idea... groundsman Nr. 2 uses his ladder & his ladder certificate to climb the ladder, whilst Nr. 1 uses his certified, animal-like crawler board awareness to lean over and retrieve the ball!!

Hmm... sounds clever! There is just one snag... Neither Nr. 1 or Nr. 2 is a supervisor, so can't supervise the other in using the ladder, or the crawler boards!!

Getting rather sick of all of this, I decide to take a chair, stand on it, reach over & grab the ball. As I retrieve the ball triumphantly, the Health & Safety Officer comes running, oddly enough, from an office. He is blue in the face & quaking with rage.

AHSSBESSTOSS!!! Put that ball back!!

The jobsworth... universally respected by everyone.

In horror, and thinking of the deadly dangers of asbestos, I throw the ball back and jump off the chair.

'Is their asbestos on the roof', I tentatively ask?

'Erm... no', was the reply... 'but there might be, and we're waiting for the Safety Certificate to prove it!'

I'd had enough... I left the scene beaten & forlorn, and came home for Minstrels & cheese cubes!

Political correctness & other forms of jobsworthyness...

JUST SAY NO!

Swine Flu - The dangers?

Swine Flu - The dangers?

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Today at 2:42am  UPP Press Agency (C)

The recombinant H1N1 virus.

Could this change humanity?

Scientists in New Georgia have expressed their serious concerns about the so-called 'Swine Flu' virus, scientifically known as H1N1.

An early pig / human chimera, born as a result of earlier genetic experimentation in North Korea.

Milton Ashcombe-Brown, 62, Director of Clinical Research at the University of Somerwest has uncovered evidence suggesting worrying trends in the behavior of recombinant RNA in the latest variants of the virus, suggesting that they can retro-build themselves into the DNA structure of potential victims, effectively re-writing chromosomal & genetic architecture.

This, if true, would be extremely concerning, potentially threatening the future of the human race as a distinct & identifable species. Early indications of recombinant RNA involvement in human genetic coding would be the presence of porcine indicators in amniocentesis during early embryonic scans, leading to the birth of human-pig offspring from apparently normal pregnancies.

Emeritus Professor Harald Stiggurthuvalddar-Thorsson, from Stithsbald University Research Center in North Falkland admitted that this was a very worrying development, but urged the public not to panic. He suggested that such hybridization, leading to the production of human / pig 'chimeras' may not be a bad thing, and could lead to a great evolutionary step in life on Earth.

A CGI impression of what hybrid humans may look like.

 

Emeritus Professor Harald Stiggurthuvalddar-Thorsson, from Stithsbald University Research Center in North Falkland, aged 52.

Report compiled by Stanislaw Wrzerzezowski, UPP Press Agency (C)

Bank holiday adventures in Yorkshire!

 

A gull waits to steal ice cream and chips, and to carry off small children.

Away for the Bank Holiday weekend - this time round, it's North Yorkshire, home to excellent beer, fantastic scenery, fish & chips, a powerful, unintelligible accent > and far too many track-suited pie-eating chavs, many of them succulently obese! There are some pretty gross sights hanging out of Ecko sweat pants, and some Reebok Classics were definitely taking more strain than they were made for, I can tell you! Ew! I feel faint...

Arrived in Whitby from Scarborough after watching the dramatic RNLI rescue of a small girl, snatched from her mother's arms by a raiding herring gull, and dropped far out to sea when the beast exhausted. How fortunate the lifeboat was out on training maneuvers - and by total coincidence, in the same spot where the girl landed. Splash! It's a miracle! Normally, they grab ice creams & chips, but some are psychotic & have ideas well above their perches!

Never been to Scarborough before - and I'm surprised how nice it is. Very nice in fact. I'll be back for a longer stay when time allows. Loads of bikes & leather-clad bikers - would be a great place to come on two wheels. For cars, sadly, parking is murder, almost literally., and parking meter jobsworths roam the streets looking for easy victims. Saw the place where they film 'The Royal', a great program soon to face the axe due to ITV going slowly broke.

 

Winking Willy's chip shop. No comment!

Had lunch today in 'Winking Willy's Fish Bar' with Rytin Chex - the guy who does radio over in Wales. Met him in York last night on Twitter & tagged along for the day. Funny bloke - full of ideas and opinions, most of them either insane, or ridiculous! Good company though! Managed not to eat all the chips, but it's so tempting. One thing is definitely true, northern fish & chips are ALWAYS the best!

Started today over in Goathland, aka Aidensfield, where 'Heartbeat' is being filmed, and has been for the last 130 years. Sad to say the show's being killed off, along with 'The Royal', in spite of high ratings. The truth is that ITV is in trouble financially, and there will be savage cuts in UK programming, and an increase in cheap US imported sh!t. Sad. I think the future of ITV is not so good, if I'm honest.

 

At Scripps Garage in Aidensfield. Sunny, lots of people, sheep & steam trains.

Was good to see old fashioned steam trains in 'Aidensfield'. I'm not into trains, but it was nice to see something wholly different racking along the tracks. I think they go up and down the line to Pickering, but I'm no expert! There was also an allegedly famous train called 'The Mallard' which passed by - exciting hundreds of photographers with enormous lenses & uber-expensive cameras!
!

 

A warm & friendly greeting and a warm welcome too from the residents of Goathland. Lovely place! It's not PC, but it's cool by me!

Arrived at my hotel to chill for a couple of hours only to crack my foot on a door stop, ironically, in the form of a huge pecking goose with a silly smile on its wrought iron face. Typical, eh?