Different humans ?

Hi All,

As I haven't done much science fiction speculation in a while:

In 500 years time, the teachers are still unwilling to open up schools, the press is still going on about Dominic Cummings, the church of England is trying to get rid of the Tory government and there are three types of humans. 

The first are what you could call the original humans, who are similar to 21st century ones, albeit with greater medical and pharmaceutical technology, maybe more liberal and urbane, but one which is broadly democratic and capitalist,  that gives a greater life expectancy (120). Examples of these humans would be Earthers (named after the home planet earth ) and their cousins of Alpha Centarui. 

The second group are the adapted humans. These are humans whose bodies have adapted to radically  different non earth environments. Examples include the Lunar nation of humans who colonised Earth's moon & the asteroid belt, whose bodies are now adapted to live in low to zero gravity environments. They're humans, but much thinner and taller,  whose physiology means they cannot live on earth without either an exosuit,  or if exposed without one , ventilators or wheelchairs, due to the earth having higher gravity. Another example on the opposite  would be humans from Kelper whose gravity is so much higher than earth, they are very short, but have super human strength in an earth like gravity.

The third group are the trans- humans, who deliberately altered themselves to , as they see it,  be better. They are divided into two sub groups, themselves as diverse in culture as any of the first two, but these categories  do  demonstrate how they changed themselves, with each claiming their way is the better one.

The one group uses robotics and synthetic skins . The other use eugenics, cloning and genetics to , as they see it, progress the human race.  They are called trans humans and not transformed humans, because their societies are constantly splitting between those who want to go "one step further" and those who don't.  Thus they are constantly in the process of transforming at whatever limits that current science might put upon their upgrades and genetics.

Thankfully the universe is so huge  ( The earth has a diameter of 7,909 miles, one light year is 5900 trillion miles and the  nearest star is over 3 light years away, the milky way galaxy itself is over 700,000  trillion miles in diameter) there's enough space for these groups to get along peacefully, albeit in a political/philosophy/ culture wars way (c.f. the Anglican Bishop of Venus controversy). Indeed the universe is maybe, according to one wag  "one giant middle class liberal capitalistic-democratic estate", rather than a political situation wherein there is the constant threat of warfare. True there's the odd border , colonial or bushfire war and pirates can be a pain ,but nothing in terms of massive interstellar conflict. No one can really be arsed. Especially when there's money to be made...

Happy Shavuot

Tonight is the beginning of the Jewish celebration of Shavuot or Pentecost, when the Jewish people received the Torah at Mount Sinai.

Traditions include eating dairy products, especially cheesecake (Ashkenazi) and the Sephardic have a caked called siete cielos (seven heavens). We also stay up all night to read through the Torah (a Sephardic tradition which we all adopted) in addition to reading the book of Ruth.

Shabbat Shalom!

Hi All,

Shabbat Shalom🔯😉!

Magnetic field problem?

Hi all,

Oh no!

Bloody hot

Hi All,

It's too hot!

Eased not gone

Hi All,

Is it me or do people not understand the difference between an easing of the lockdown vs the end of it?

Trump admires Michelangelo

Hi All,

LOL!

When will you say it's safe Ms?

Hi All,

"It's not safe!"

So teachers have been telling me about reopening schools -although they do point out schools haven't closed, they're just teaching key workers or a much lower class base and I guess that means less workload for them, so who would want to go back to a greater workload?

The problem is that they may or may not be right , depending on how highly you place the bar. Don't forget that there is nothing that is 100% safe and this is the bar that unions seem to want to reach, despite government bending over backwards to accommodate them . Of course this leads the public to ask teachers when do they think it will be safe?

1) when the r rate declines?
2) when there's a vaccine?
3) when there's a Labour government?

Of course having something as vague as when it's safe is a convenient holding tactic as I doubt even they think they could get away with a situation in which every other sector is back by August (even pubs) and they're the only ones being difficult and being paid 100% of their salary without having to be worried about being one of the 6 or 7 million who could end up being unemployed. If pubs are open by July / August then so should schools (forget the six week holiday , they've got catching up to do). People who work in pubs get paid the minimum wage . Teachers get paid £20K as a starting salary. It's a human right for children to be educated and we are a first world country.

Surely they wouldn't be so narrow minded?

A pub idea?

Hi All,


So rather than converting to a bank, I think I shall convert our pub to a garden centre!

LOL!

Shabbat Shalom!

Why would you want to?

Hi all,

Warming to my Scottish theme I thought it would be interesting to see what's going on in Europe. The SNP of course first had an idea that a Scottish republic would be a Midas state with the north sea oil and join a Scandinavian "arc of prosperity", until Iceland went bust and the Scottish banks went the same way (saved by the British taxpayers) , and oil prices went off a cliff , to today where prices are negative !

So the only thing the SNP can suggest is to for them to rejoin the EU and all will be well according to them. I don't doubt that this is politically doable as the SNP government were extremely helpful to Spain during the Catalan protest and arrests.

But you have to ask yourself what state would want to leave a successful 300  year plus union to join one which probably won't even last another deacade?  In any case the EU is no longer the confederation  it was in the 1990s wherein it could shower billions on the poorer member states, which Scotland would be given the enormous debt pile it would either take over or which would quickly build up without Westminster subsidy . Firstly the EU doesn't have the money and secondly there's a huge row going on about setting a new budget , between north Europe, south Europe and eastern Europe. There's a massive hole in the EU finances thanks to brexit.

The bad boys of the situation are no longer the British, but all those countries who supported Britain in private , but never publicly. Especially the Dutch who don't want to pay any more. So much so their prime minister bought a book with him to read , rather than seriously negotiate.

Then there's the tiny matter of Italy, Spain and Greece. I have something of  a soft spot for Greece as they and their Archbishop, who  defended Jews during their occupation by Nazis during the war. 

But I digress.

All three of these countries have suffered a decade of austerity and counter productive bailouts. Their national debts are above 100% of GDP, despite the cuts . They are stereotyped as lazy meds  by the Calvinist Germans and Dutch. They have also born the brunt of the refugees / economic migrant crisis with no help from EU states. Then covid 19 happened. They have suffered terribly in human lives . They were also abandoned in other ways . During the first phase of this pandemic the rest of the EU closed their borders and stopped supplies of vital medical equipment. And this is a union which enforces freedom of movement ,  goods and services within its borders and with brexit caused the problems of the Irish border. But in a crisis it was every man for himself.

The economic toll upon these countries is going to be great. And Italy and Spain have been vocal about a covid marshall plan. The Dutch and Germans and Fins want nothing of the sort. The result was a € 500 billion fund, but not as a grant but as a loan and no one has actually  pledged the money yet. Quite how a country with an already large debt pile will repay this is beyond anyone's guess. 

You see in Britain we still control our money as we didn't join the Euro and we can borrow from the central bank if we need and have in fact done so via the ways and means facility in effect the Treasury's overdraft at the bank. Currently £276 billion overdrawn, until the government raise money via gilts (bonds)  and the bank of England buying these bonds- £645  billion is the aggregate -  on the open market via quantitative easing (more money printing)   

This may sound alarming , but the bank of England was actually set up to provide money to fight a war against the French, so it's nothing new. Unfortunately Italy, Spain and Greece cannot as they are in the Eurozone and their central bank is dominated by German fears of Weimar hyper inflation.

It is true that the European Central Bank (ECB)  is also doing quantitative easing. It is forbidden to fund member states directly , but can buy bonds on the open market.  They are doing just enough for Italy and Spain to borrow. Yet even this has been challenged- successfully-  in the German high court.  The German bundesbank is the equivalent of the New York fed as is the largest of the ECB banks. Therefore it buys bonds on an massive scale under the ECB umbrella. If it were to stop then Italy and Spain would not be able to borrow. This was seen in the early phase of the crisis when legarde the head of the ECB said it wasn't the banks job to close yields. This prompted a debt strike on Spain and Italy, until she was forced to alter course.  In any case the German court ruling means a clash with the EU commission who asserts that EU law is above national law as is the ECB.  But whatever the outcome,  the club med countries are being dangled on a string : getting enough cash to barely survive , but n it enough to actually get out of the situation. Sooner or later it will be a choice of further austerity or a return to their previous national currencies. When that happens the EU is as good as gone.

I cannot see why for the life of me the SNP would want Scotland to be part of this mess. I for one think the UK 's decision to leave will one day be seen in the same way another Scotsman took the decision-against the wishes of the elites- not to join the Euro.

Republica Scotia

Hi All,

This week we've witnessed a new republic being born and it's on our doorstep. Welcome to Republica Scotia, the new state for the kingdom of  Scotland ; Nicola sturgeon is the president and supreme dear leader of this new entity.

 Even though the left detest nationalism and English nationalism especially, the English left have a love in for all things to do with rabid anti English  Celtic nationalism, even though that threatens to break up the UK. However this week it has already been broken up, not by referendum or treaty but by a de facto decision.

When Boris Johnson made modest changes to the lockdown this week he was doing so, according to the SNP as an English and not British Prime Minister as the regional leaders of northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales got in beforehand and decided they weren't going to change anything. While the media and his wife were criticising the Boris plan, not one of them have an alternative idea. Where is the Labour plan?  The SNP plan?  It's easy to criticise . Harder to do anything constructive. It becomes posturing.

This is entirely predictable, after all these places would not be able to afford the lockdown if it were not for the British, now in effect English, government pouring in billions via the treasury and bank of England. So as they won't be responsible for figuring how to pay back 500 billion or how to stop the worse recession in 300 years they can posture. [Incidentally if you don't believe me there's been furious debates in the Republic of Ireland about their€350  a week lockdown grant as the Irish state simply cannot afford it.]

Nicola Sturgeon is an excellent example of this posturing, but it comes with the consequences that  English people can no longer  cross the border freely. She's said people who do so are lawbreakers. So here we have it. A regional leader in effect setting up a border between Scotland and England , even though international  aircraft travel is permitted. The SNP really hate the English, it seems, but of course when the "English "  prime minister eventually cancels the Treasury support it will doubtless be met with condemnation. To which it should be said at that point you find the money for it yourself.

But anyways the union is dead. It's only a matter of time before it becomes legal.

Shabbat VE day !

Hi All,

Happy VE day !

Wherein the "grand alliance"  of the British Empire , the USA and Russia finally crushed the warmongering genocide Nazis and their villainous empire  building. My own family , my grandparents and great uncles  , both gentile and Jewish were able to be be a part of that terrible war that killed millions and resulted to the murder of six million Jews, but eventually resulted in the liberation of Europe and the world  .

However the  nations could not have reluctantly banded together if it were not for the defiance of our "nation of shopkeepers "  and I'm particular Churchill who rallied the nation to fight on whatever would happen (he was opposed by what today we call "remonaners"  or at the time "appeasers") :

Am yisrael chai!

Shabbat Shalom !

God save the Queen!

Are we nearly there yet?

Hi All,

Some have asked why we haven't really commented on the current situation much and the answer is simply that we're not a news service and in any case I'm personally saturated with news about Covid to the point I'm actually switching off -or at least to the media (right and left) with the negativity and second guessing and pushing whatever agenda they have ,e.g. the Guardian and this laughable  article,  although don't ask how a virus is being racist , but  then said virus doesn't seem to like men either and then they could suggest a virus should be accused of  sexism, but I know in guardian land sexism only applies to women.

In fact what we've seen from the media is akin to a child asking "are we nearly there yet"  when driving to a long holiday destination. This is true when they were clamouring for a lockdown, through to ventilators,  PPE, testing  and now ending the lockdown, whilst simultaneously finding fault whenever these were being addressed by the government.

Thank God the media isn't the government.

But...



Are we nearly there yet?