World - Die trying

 Let me start this post by telling you something that you already know.  Nobody is perfect, not you not me (as shocking as that might seem). 

No one is always good or always bad.  As humans we try and take a balanced attitude towards life by limiting our exposure to things.  Never too much of what is good for us and never too much of what is bad for us.

As I’ve said, humans are imperfect beings so we don’t always succeed.  We try, we fail, we try again, then fail better.

"All of old. Nothing else ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." [i]

The world spirals into darkness every day.  Political corruption, war, terrorism, poaching, domination, dictatorships aplenty. But the fact is we as humans don’t need to own the universe, we don’t have to conquer the planet and bend others to our will.

Just live in it, have the privilege of seeing it, experience it and see the world for what it is.  See it as a planet filled with wonders and wondrous people all the same and all different.  We can be so much more; we can be fantastic if we only try.

I myself have had the pleasure and privilege to see many different folk, different beliefs, faiths, cultures and while I can’t say that I always agree with their methods it is most definitely not my place to question it. If you don’t like it, don’t do it but don’t patronize and condemn. 

If you have this incessant need to change the world around you then might I suggest you start with yourself. Remember to first understand and from a point of understanding try and educate.  Not everyone will be open to change and that’s okay, remove yourself from their presence and move on.  We have no need of could be Kings with armies of never were's. 

“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”[ii]

We can’t always succeed but we can’t sit on our hands or bend our knees and bow our heads and hope God will sort our problems for us.  If you want to repent for your sins, that’s fine but have the decency to change. 

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”[iii]

There’s no need to kill each other to prove dominance or to destroy to prove victory.  We all have the potential for greatness and great change inside us.  At the end of your road, however long it might have been just try and leave it a little better than how you found it.

Be FANTASTIC

end of script

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[i] Samuel Beckett

[ii] Bruce Lee, The Tao of Jeet Kune Do

[iii] Mark Twain

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World - The Red Sea Invasion

Is China taking over the world?

Approximately ¾ of the world is either indebted to or employed by China, whether they know it or not.  I cite Greece as an example where the country is unable to repay the debt and eventually needs to declare bankruptcy as a means of finance control. 

So what? You ask. Why should I care, doesn’t affect me. Sorry to pop your dream bubble my friend but it does.  China wants their money back...fair enough, wouldn’t you?...but they can’t get it back from the Greeks so now they have to up the interest rate on all their other loans.  So America, for example, now has an interest rate of 15%; formerly 10%; annually[i].  That means taxes go up and my blood pressure...and who pays the taxes?  Get it now?

China Wholesale,

China is incredibly efficient when it comes to mass production and fabrication.  They own massive amounts of property all over the world.  Some countries have taken notice and mandated that foreigners may not own land in their countries.  Chinese babies are up for adoption and millions of couples the world over have adopted Chinese children. 

***SIDE NOTE***

The babies up for adoption are usually females.  Chinese parents prefer boy births.  Boys have a higher earning and job placement potential than girls in Chinese culture.  China also restricts couples to one child per household due to too many people and not enough space.  Whether that’s right or not is beyond the scope of this article and requires deep introspective thinking before one can even contemplate taking on that particular challenge.

China in History,

China present is way ahead of other countries in respects to technologies.  China past had been methodically ruled by a long line of Emperors who held the power of life and death in the palm of their hands.  The populace were even forbidden to write down the name of the Emperor without making certain changes to the lettering.  Chinese families raised their children with a sense of family honour, meaning that if a child acted inappropriately then shame would be visited unto their families.  You sat at the table in order of importance, usually decided by the host.  Those most important held a position close to the host and the further away you got then the more useless you were. 

China in Tech,

For those of you who know what lanthanides are...good for you.  For the rest of us it’s called rare earths and it is 15 elements that form the top line of the bottom block of the periodic table labeled with numbers 51 to 71.  What matters is that these elements are quite difficult to find but they are extremely important in modern technology (mobile phones, sonar systems, U.A.V, Missiles, wind turbines, solar panels, you get the idea).  China controls 97% of these resources.  Can you imagine if they locked it down?  The day the earth stood still indeed.

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[i] 10% & 15% only used as example. 

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Technology - Let The Games Begin

Do Violent Games Create Violent Children?

Does violence in games incite violence in children? The short answer is...probably mostly no.  Oh?  You expected something less ambiguous, okay here we go.

You know the old adage everything happens for a reason? Well, yes, it’s true and no, it’s not the work of God. Before all you bible bumpers start stoning me, hear me out.  I’m not talking religion here, I’m talking psychology.  Humans like references.  It’s the reason for doing things.

Mostly it happens on a subconscious level and unless you are very insightful into yourself you don’t even notice it.  People like connecting dots mentally but it takes more than that to inspire action.

All humans have breaking points (or stressors if you like) and when the bough breaks.  When people commit violence then they usually have bio-psycho-social and perhaps even economical reasons as the driving force behind it.  Sexual molesters are often victims in their own right, having been molested at a young age.  Violence begets violence.

First the biological, this usually takes the form of a genetic predisposition towards mental disorders.  Many mental disorders are unfortunately hereditary. Physical changes occur in the brain’s electro chemical behaviour causing mental disorders such as Bipolar Mood Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, Hyperactivity and so on.  Psychopharmacological medication can change this back to a pre morbid state (before the blitz).  But regular checkups and psychological therapy is still needed to maintain control.

Second up we have the psychological aspect.  This is where all those barriers the mind set up to protect itself gets stressed and in some cases break.  So now we have an already fragile mind stressed beyond its limit and a breakdown ensues. 

Thirdly is the social situation.  The dynamics at home, school, work and everyday life.  Bullying, unfairness, difficult home life, abuse, neglect.  All these factors can contribute the final result which is a mind incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong.  The biological is the gun, the psychological the aim and the sociological the trigger.

So those children who become violent uses what they know as reference points for their future actions and in certain cases they’ll mimic the violence in videogames.

***SIDE NOTE***

On the flip side video games have been proven to enhance fine motor control, increase perceptual awareness, engage in lateral thinking and problem solving, timing, coordination, spatial reasoning, analytical and creative thinking stimulation.

Still...none of that should be used as an excuse to become a couch potato.   

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Society - Blowin' In The Wind

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Post suggested by Julian Jacobs, creator of 

http://mydogisjudgingme.wordpress.com/

"THE VOICES ARE BACK"

***

I find it baffling, distasteful and even disgusting how two faced people can be. People who will say one thing to you and something completely different to someone else have the moral character of a snake and should be regarded with just as much suspicion.

Life is about change.  Change is progress.  That is not to say that change is always good but it is still progress.  If you continually bend your will for the sake of others then what are you worth at the end of the day?

People will be nice, friendly and easy to communicate with one on one.  A free exchange of ideas without the threat of persecution is the ideal bond of friendship.  But come the crowd and that same person who you thought was a friend turns their backs on their own values simply for the sake of something as arbitrary and useless as popularity.

If you find that your chosen circle of friends need you to succumb to whatever they deem as socially accepted behaviour then get yourself some new friends and quick.

It is the curse of being young that you need to find your footing in the often difficult to navigate world of angst and hormones.  That is why friendship is so important.  A friend needs to challenge you.  This is more often than not infuriating and clashes occur even among the best of friends. 

Everyone is different sometimes the difference is subtle most times it is not but it is those differences that make you strong.  Where would the world be if we didn't have differences?  If we didn't have people who felt that they need to question the status quo the world would never evolve, never change and be utterly boring. 

Finding your own way...the TAO of YOU as it where...is phenomenally difficult.  We are all shaped by choices, environment and circumstances but that is really no excuse for anything. 

If you want to be popular then power to ya brotha.  But betraying everyone around you including yourself is not the way man.  Popularity is subjective even at the best of times.  Remember that all those people you screw over to get to the top will drag your ass down and keep it there when you stumble.

Popular is about being sure of yourself.  Being open and friendly to those around you and helping those that need it.  It is not about living a turncoat lifestyle.  Attaching yourself to someone like vine up a wall will keep you from ever being able to reach your potential.  When that wall crumbles it’ll take you with it. 

If you want people to see you differently then become the person you want to be.  Don’t go around acting nice for one then gossip behind their backs to another.

Never betray those around you and always believe in yourself otherwise even in a crowded room you’ll perpetually stand alone.

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Belief: Smoke Rings Of The Mind

People believe what they want to believe this is a universal constant.  They employ the services of witchdoctors, soothsayers, psychics, mediums and everything in between to make themselves feel better about events in their own lives.

If these people actually do make you feel better then by all means employ their services but there is a line between therapeutic and false hope.  Hope is wonderful and dangerous.  Hope can raise you high but when you stumble you fall very hard and it hurts.  It is a pain that leaves an invisible mark inside of you.

These Hocus Pocus artists tell you things that you want to hear.  They are sometimes very observant, fluent in body language and highly intuitive.  They do research on their customers and create basic personality profiles.  

They use these skills into fooling you that they know things about you that they can’t possibly know and so; since there is no logical explanation for it; they must be psychic. 

People apply things they hear to their own lives.  It’s like when you sit in church and you think the priest is talking about you (that might just be me).  Psychics work on the same principle.  They’ll make predictions of a general and vague nature.  Later when a series of events happen people subconsciously twist and turn the facts till it fits the prediction. 

Psychics will tell half the people they meet one thing and the other half another.  When they return for a follow up they’ll switch it around. Eventually you’ll end up with a small group of people whose predictions always seem to come true.

The power of belief is a very powerful thing and the body responds to the mind in extraordinary ways.  I'm all for alternative therapies and some; like acupuncture; may even work. 

Crystal healing, magnetic balance, harmonic resonance, chakra control, chi-gong and the list goes on may or may not work.  It may work for one person and not another.  In these cases it is the treatment themselves that work (or don’t) not the belief that the person has magic powers.

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Health: Slow Necrosis of Profession

Fewer and fewer people are going into the medical profession.  There is a worldwide shortage of Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Therapists.  Each one of these professions takes a significant amount of time, money and good ol’ fashioned brain power.

Unfortunately that’s the problem.  Because it takes brain power, money and time people just start to figure it’s not worth it.  Especially since a lot of health care professionals get the short end of the stick these days.  Spending years going through undergraduate, post graduate, professional for little incentive puts people off.

The fact is health professionals employed at lower levels or by the government just aren’t paid what they’re worth so many decide to go freelance or self employed.  That also is a problem for most because going self employed takes a giganormous (I know it’s not a word –let it be) amount of startup capital. 

Freelancing works but they don’t give you the same kind of benefits that permanent staff get (of course you get paid more than permanent staff –sans the benefits).

Self employed becomes a financially dangerous game to play because most people work on a medical aid scheme.  But the amount of money the medical aid is willing to shill out is finite.  Once it’s gone, it’s gone.  That means that they will no longer pay the health care professional for providing the same valued service.

There are still places in the world where these people and the service they can provide are in high regard and in high demand.  The Australasia section of the world is one such place.  These countries have a government run health care system that is funded by the people. 

They feel that a proper working health care system is an acceptable burden on the taxes.  They feel the same way about education and these governments give their citizens the opportunity for education regardless of socio-economic background.  They even subsidize educational funding up to 2/3rds the total amount.

We need to opt for change in our governments, our communities and ourselves to keep medical health care affordable and available.  

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World: Borders

This is just a short thought so forgive it for being brief.

The idea of international borders has and continues to diminish.  We are no longer limited by birth, gender or race but the world still asks much of you and every day we need to strive to become more than we were.

Back in the day things were much simpler.  Basically if you could get there you could stay there.  There wasn’t some random group of people deciding your validity or worth.  There were no need for x-rays, blood investigations, examinations and other arbitrary tests.

Today it takes a significant amount of effort to travel between countries for an extended period of time.  But it is still being done on a regular basis.

 A person can be born in Australia, grow up in England, receive higher education in America, work in Africa, retire in Egypt and be buried anywhere in between.

It is my sincerest hope for the future that these; for lack of a better word; barriers would continue to diminish and a sort of unification occur.  

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