A few years ago was the anniversary of Luna 9 landing on the moon successfully in 1965. Apparently, the Daily Mail reported the story and printed pictures from the moon's surface intercepted by Jodrell Bank before Russia confirmed the success. The first pictures of the dark side of the moon had been sent back to Earth by Luna 3 in 1959. And an earlier Luna 2 crashed to the moon.
I was wondering what NASA was doing at the same time and I looked up the
infamous Papermate pen that was used in space by NASA. Papermate
launched and advertised its new pen that could write upside-down in
space in 1965. Meanwhile, cosmonauts were using pencils (sensibly) but were the put
down.
Of the highest world military spenders, Britain and the United States spend the
highest on military, war and hate by proportion of land area than any
other country this is profitable for a few but it is likely that the
majority of people look the other way but think a few crumbs from the
business of spreading hate and selling weapons is still a lot of crumbs
for us.
CARTOON of the military eating all the food whilst the other tables starve.
The Soviet Union was refused entry to NATO and it embarked on an almost crippling programme of military spending and developed an Intercontinental Ballistic missile during the 1950s. This was counter to the USA's claimed superiority in being able to destroy the Soviet Union with its vast force of B52 bombers.
I am disappointed that so few signed the petition below and the parliamentary one is now closed but 38 degrees is still running. My wording is very similar to what Jeremy Corbyn said on behalf of the
Labour Party. I think it is evidence that people still support the Bush/Blair wars and that parliament was correct to vote for war even if
it was mostly Conservative MPs who voted for such a war.
People wanted a scapegoat for the actions they also wanted.
The Soviet pencil and the multi-million dollar pen anecdote is well known and the problem seen of military spending on such a vast
scale is mostly turned into no functional or useless output. Atoms for
peace was coined by General D. Eisenhower to produce nuclear
warheads not to produce electricity. Britain’s first nuclear power
station, Colder Hall, was switched on to the grid by the Queen but it never produced
electricity. It is debatable if nuclear warheads are fitted and armed in
reality the number of near misses and accidents and cock-ups happening should have, by now, not led to nuclear
contamination or nuclear detonation.
Film and TV produced very good space fiction at this time - The Forbidden Planet where a machine can produce matter from vast amounts of energy creating the nightmares deep in the mind of the user.
- Dr Who's fourth story, Edge of Destruction shows us the machine is telepathic and also can deliver virtual electric shocks, a bump on the head turns out to be a virtual injury, and a melted clock face with hands melted to warn of only several minutes to destruction. The only way humans may get anywhere else in space will be by some technology that we can barely imagine even in fiction how it could be done.
If stirring conflict and hate were to stop being funded then no doubt space and nuclear power
research that spin in technology for an otherwise inefficient military-industrial complex would have to find other funding or cease. The USA could have the National Health Service that people have always wanted instead.
The best film of the 20th Century - I agree and one of the very few truly Science Fiction. Perhaps leaving the forests, jungles and vegetable eating to aggression and eating meat was a bad turn for humans?
This page is also for readers to post comments or join in with the discussion on the Electronics on my website.
Crocuses open in the morning light. February 2016, IXUS 60
Not all computing is electronic, clockwork or is animal-powered. Solar power may have servo systems to track the sun but these crocuses do that and other complicated processing. They protect their stamen by closing the flower under certain conditions. Other intelligent things such as choosing their environment and they may change the environment to suit them better part of Gaia system observed and spoken of by humans for millennia.
Crocuses close in the overcast afternoon. Next morning they will open
again and there will be another flower coming up on the left-hand plant.
Blog Electronics - Theoretical design example;
Playing and exploring things I do not have time to do at work. Also to a depth, I would not do for work but is necessary in order to learn and use the things learnt.
Bicycle blog pages include Sturmey-Archer Dynohub maintenance and electrical aspects and another blog electronics project to manage the power taken under varying conditions. Such as battery charging on the downhills, run the lights only when going uphill and restful intermediate on the flat. This second bicycle blog could be developed into a high-value odometer/fuel gauge/battery charge styled bicycle instrument.
Sadly the quality of new bicycles has deteriorated since the 1970s and turned from bikes that are light to pedal comfortable and feel like they float, sports bikes that are amazing or child bikes that are heavier work but easy to ride. To all regular bikes being heavier work. The best ever bikes were made before 1961 to last 100 years, oiled and maintained fortnightly or every 100 miles at the height of bicycling in the UK. Engineer's used to design products to last and work well just like doctors, nurses, artists the craftsmen they used to be. Whereas the Campaign for Real Ale has empowered people to use their buying power to improve British beer. The Far East and European car manufacturers now make long-lasting low maintenance cars whilst notoriously greedy, short-term, bad management and government frittered away the best engineering, textile and film industry the British once had. A culture of not caring and cynicism has been cultivated. But the system does not work for the little people who now do not have slack in their work and the systems they run fail rather than cope with overload they would have coped with 40 years ago.
January 2016: SUNSHINE-GLARE---It-s-sensible-to-take-care
The picture is at the Chapel Real Ale Festival in Essex last year
This is a heritage rail museum. Camera IXUS60
Trains were delayed because of the sun in the eyes of the drivers and the guard. I thought the delay because of that reason should not be criticised. Many other delays are ridiculed but the reasons are reasonable and in any case, people support cutting off slack anywhere so there is no way for these issues to be avoided.
The letter was published one day short of the 39th anniversary of that multiple-car crash that I mentioned.
A comment
made to me many years ago observing that there was a money lender in God's temple made me laugh (mortgage broker on the left). This had been a Victorian
stone-built traditional church and it was redeveloped by the church
about 20 years ago. The money lender was there for many years but in
recent years has changed.
Photo taken using a £20 Dummy's guide on
digital photography with Jenoptic point-and-shoot camera kit in about 2010?
In discussion on Facebook
The conversion was carried out led by the then Rev John Banner. He exposed himself to much ridicule in the local newspaper to promote several things; Fly a balloon to save his church I recall for one.
I am told he was an exorcist for the CofE and it was said he had some rather stone-age views on women.
I was reminded of a letter in the Courier not long after Banner took over
likening the dereliction of the site to God's plan for Liverpool in
getting them rid of Banner and inflicting him on Tunbridge Wells.
The group that tried to save the Opera House was chaired by the Rev. They were very well advised but the planning decision was fudged. In any case, the outcome of Weatherspoons seems to be more appreciated than trying for a big lottery grant to put the building back to its original use.
There is evidence that humans are all suited to a vegan diet and are better off with such a diet. For a while, there was a theory that some human blood types were better suited to different diets but that theory which had been well-researched is discredited. However, the theory still has some interesting observations.
Vegan lunch at the Bakehouse, Tonbridge in January 2016. A feature of eating here is that the vegetables are not cooked or are lightly cooked. So unusually for eating out I can enjoy the veg a lot as well rather than put up with it. This is not a vegan bakery but covers all types of food particularly well.
There is an anthropological view and evidence that humans were descended from apes and that fire and meat-eating distinguished us from our ape ancestors. Further to that the theory is that the brain developed from hunting but I am sure that aggression developed in the humans that left the "Garden of Eden". In the film "2001 a Space Odyssey" - Chapter 1; Dawn of Man, The author Arthur C Clark was a science fiction (prediction) writer and took great care checking his facts and predictions;
The link below states a fairly well-accepted view that humans came from plants and vegetables + some insect-eating ancestors. It also says the similarities in the stomach and intestine with humans, apes, gorillas and monkeys are very close - Viva (an organisation promoting veganism) goes further in the anatomical comparison. An article in December 2015 on Radio 4 said that monkey, ape, gorilla and human digestive systems are identical if you dissected each you would not know which was which but that there are differences in relative sizes of each part in humans from different parts of the world correlating with there diet as well as with the other common ancestor species.
Unfortunately, this is not a sharp picture but I have
made it small so that that is not too apparent.
Waitrose promoted this really lovely almond and cherry slice for 50p then 60p for a few years but despite how very nice it was and cheaper than other cakes in their cafe it probably was not popular and was eventually withdrawn. It is a strange habit of people not choosing very nice things if they are too cheap, the reverse of praising some very poor Wetherspoons despite mostly poor food served with items, missing which people do but perhaps they had experienced an exception and what had been delivered to the table was okay?
But Gorillas eat a lot of grasses and their digestion is comparable to a cow in fermenting in an enlarged bowl rather than in a stomach as a cow has. Otherwise, more and more evidence shows that veganism covers everything a human needs not as super-foods popularly stated but are just food. The link below expresses an underlying view that is at variance to this view;
There are many Vegan groups some bring food to share some meet in vegan cafés such as this one.
This is Fortify café in Maidstone, Kent - now closed, unfortunately.
Here is another perspective based on blood group types of recent humans for the past 50,000 years; I have been told of some research that vegetable-only eating humans were buried separately in prehistoric times. The variance in this perspective and the out of (the jungles of) Africa plant and insect eater view may just be due to the relatively shorter period of this newer understanding and that the article concentrates on blood groups. So perhaps what is being observed is an adoption back in blood but with no basic anatomical changes;
Type O is the hunters
Type A beings that have adaptations for vegetable eating.
Type B is those who have adaptations for milk and wheat.
This is a lovely meal that is an off-menu selection from Zorba Café, Tunbridge Wells. I usually add salad and occasionally the owner makes lentil soup for his staff and a few customers. The café did not know what vegan is but a lot of Mediterranean food happens to be vegan. This lunch may not be vegan but it comes close. Since I wrote this Zorba has become a Turkish restaurant with vegan options but no English breakfast fry-up options.
It turns out that my blood type is not the Hunter type but it may be a coincidence that red meat does not suit me and milk is not ideal. Having said that the personal observation may also be more an adverse reaction to the other things that are in modern intensely farmed animal products. At a Tunbridge Wells UNA meeting in October 2015 I heard worryingly that the productivity of modern farming is; (Barrie Bain a consultant to the International Fertilizer Industry Association advising on United Nations affairs)
Chicken is 2 times the input for a given food output. Vegan groups say the same (Animal Aid).
Lamb 4 times,
Beef 7 times. Animal Aid said this summer (Kent Vegan Fare 2015) that the intensity is not so high and has a figure of 15 times for beef and 100 times for Goose meat.
The world cannot sustain this level of consumption and has already stopped providing people with grass-fed meat and free-living animals as a food source for nearly all people and has never done so in the past. The world has to be managed sustainably and consumption must not grow whether denied or acknowledged but avoided either way. The modern culture of home-delivered pizza and the couch potato where people try to live as medieval kings and suffer diseases of those wealthy only - works for us whilst money is created in London and the income from keeping the world in conflict by war.
Farming rings a considerable amount out of animals and this motivates people to mistrust at least and be concerned about what we lose in quality and humanity for achieving such productivity.
Personally, I do not like the high concentration very apparent in the taste and smell of body excretions (urine and poo taste) in intensive-farmed animals and fish. The one I found hardest to pick out what was bad about it was milk. But it has a yuckiness in its taste. I found that milk is subtle one in itself seems okay but when stopped after a year other apparent sensitivities disappear and the effects of hayfever diminish. I used to refuse to eat meat when I was very young. And it was not that Mum and dad were trying to force or coax me into something bad. But I am certain that my reaction was right in that case.
Photo Tonbridge Castle and River Medway, January 2016 - Camera; Cannon IXUS60.
In discussions on Facebook;
Books have been written on human anthropology but a view that fire and eating meat gave humans an advantage so that our stomach size could be reduced. "Catching Fire" by Richard Wrangham. Well was recommended.
In the summary of the book; Cooking and eating meat gave humans the genetic opportunity to reduce the amount of body mass taken up by chewing and digesting.
An off-menu pizza but with no cheese once again this may be vegan. It is particularly nice and Fagin's, George Street, Hastings has always been accommodating particularly when I used to take my father, in a wheelchair. That tends to sort those who will go out of their way to help and those who will put up with a special need.
The blood group type article would coincide with that more recent history case. Humans moving into colder climates such as Inuit for example who traditionally lived hard but short lives. Having said that there is a path for us back to the Garden of Eden (with tablet computers and mobile phones) or at least the diet that goes with it but there is no other path on offer that involves the continuation of the amount of pain, consumption and exploration humans cause now.
I found my Blood donors card turns out that I am A rh D+ whatever that means but I think it means that I am of the vegan blood group. But I am not convinced and neither are many others that the problems with animal and wheat things are just those but the consequences of what is forced intensely into the animals and added to other foods due to modern intense farming that in turn harms me if I then consume them. But vegetables beans nuts seeds are optimal foods for humans seems clear.
I have been working on tuning my senses to my body's needs. Something my Dad coached me on is to learn to like what is right and to not like what is poisonous for example sweet smell of paint.
Another book recommended was Grain Brain. It apparently says our brains developed with the use of grains. That makes sense the group B or AB blood type being more recent than the hunter blood group O.
A friend also recalled some information about uric acid in meat ... due to the stress of modern killing methods ... meat eaters are, in effect, eating urine. I can confirm that I do and I can smell it (cooking meat can make my eyes sting). As that friend can also. And I agree with her that; " But frankly, given the delicious beans and grains and veg" I have cut the quote.
Hawkwood College, Stroud, Gloucestershire, venue of recent VegiVentures Christmas holidays.
Having good vegan food such as I have with VegiVentures I always come away wondering why anyone would want anything else? Also true of making my own but I agree that it takes a while to learn but there are a lot of people who have and if you join in with a vegan meet-up you may experience such food. The kitchen management is a model for any business creating Michelin 5* food with a mixture of people.
When people find vegan food does not seem to suit them;
My experience of being vegan or being mostly vegan is feel very good about it the more strict I am about it. But in the discussion, some people have said they honestly tried and they have problems. There are junk food vegans who will expose themselves to the risk of scurvy as much as any meat eater can. If you want to live like Royalty you still have to eat your fruit and veg and the veg be lightly cooked or raw like Royalty do. As I said above.
This is proper vegan junk food it is totally eye candy and is everso sweet and horrible but very enjoyabledespite that. Vbite's in Brighton is a very smart place to eat making this experience even nicer and it happens not to be expensive. Also, there is no feeling of I wishI had not had that after anything I have eaten at VBite's, no bloating,no lethargy, no body aches or headachesunlike what I would feel after eating animal products, particularly red meat.
Some mothers do not produce milk for their babies or use another mother's milk. Formula cow's milk is not necessary and can be plainly bad with lactose intolerance. Nut milks risk, scurvy also but apparently Soya Milk seems to be good. There are a lot of things like this that will concern people but the old myth or truism to eat your fruit and veg but not processed and factory food is generally good. I add water and raw or lightly cooked, unsalted and not sugared salad, veg, and fruit is essential as everyone knows but often they choose to miss out.
Here is a guide which personally I can not endorse as I do not experience the slightest problem anyway with eating vegan but it looks good; In any case, I do eat no salt, and raw and lightly cooked foods because they are very nice.
I do eat too much but unlike my father, it is not always fruit. Dad would keep eating any fruit until someone made him stop he did it as a boy all through life because he enjoyed it. My mum who was also born before World War 2 is Scottish and has a reasonable appetite for root vegetables consequently and tells me if she was hungry as a child she would take a potato rub the dirt off and eat it.
What we choose to eat probably overrides our natural instincts. When I was not too bothered about what I eat, that was up until about 1985, I still found Coca-Cola and McDonald's very horrible but then I have never conformed and went vegetarian when I left home.
Tunbridge clock tower. The building opposite was very nicely rebuilt in 1992 with the Royal Victoria Place from the former Army & Navy then finally Chessman's department store. Only to be spoilt in 2015 by the bold bright blue red and white bank owned by an American.
Panoramic photo taken in January 2016 - I am surprised how it came out considering people and traffic were moving between each photo. But the Chessman's building shows a fault in the photo stitching and a double roof join can be seen. Camera; Cannon IXUS 60.