Good morning campers here is this week’s column to bring a ray of sunshine into your otherwise soulless day!
T’was the week before Christmas and the end game is near, four loonies enter the oval office and you can read all about it here. If this is not treason then I don’t know what it is.
Quote of the week; ‘I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true’. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican Congresswoman.
The turnip will be acquitted this week of fomenting rebellion as the GOP has the spines of jellyfish, but he may not get away with alleged crimes in Scotland of all places, go Patrick Harvie!
Work/life balance: Is the five day working week obsolete in the 21st century? Some observers seem to think so. Then again, when was the last time anyone reading this worked 5 days in a row? For me it was 2008, you?
Tim Cooke, Apple boss
Last week we touched on privacy, or rather the lack of it. Apple CEO Tim Cook, speaking at a recent conference said it is time to face the real consequences of having algorithms that are created by programmers (under the specific direction of top management) to push unwitting users towards extremist groups, to make money at any cost. This has of course ignited the far right; see the comments after the article here to get an insight how these people think.
Removal of legal protections under US FCC section 230 to the same levels as afforded to other media will hasten the burial of the lies spread far and wide on Facebook and Twitter, without resorting to a long drawn out legal battle.
A couple of months ago I mentioned the US invasion of Panama and how the pliant, pro-government media at the time treated it with kid gloves. This was later exposed for what it really was in the documovie. Another, even more infamous piece of very undiplomatic work, (that was instigated by the UK), was the overthrow of the legitimate Government of Iran in 1953. This has been revisited again in another documovie, Coup 53 by the Iranian film-maker Taghi Amirani.
It is as gripping as any Le Carré or Fleming spy thriller and shows how the initial UK proposal was hijacked by the US to get their hands on the oil. This sorry tale and our oil addiction has shaped the Middle East to this day and literally killed millions (and it still is). The result as we all know is perpetual war, which is in the financial interests of those that spend the biggest military budget in the world – by far – and failed to defend the US Capitol from lightly armed domestic terrorists.
The US does learn from such events though and are gearing up for future violent internal conflicts. Check out the OBP. One quote from a recent OBP Bulletin; ‘the search term, “how to make a bomb” was within the top ten search queries on Google in September and October in the US.
Sports Page: Boating in NZ, no not the Americas Cup; we have all heard of road rage, but how about boat rage?
History section: The last Nazi Jet fighter was powered by a Rolls Royce engine. It was built in Germany-in-the-sun.
Cultural section: Here is Mr Bean as you have never seen him before.
MB 300 SLR reimagined on a modern SLK chassis
Automotive section: The MB 300 SLR is a classic. Attached is it reimagined on a modern SLK chassis. Simply beautiful.
The travel section: Standard announcement nowadays on a number of U.S. airlines flights. After take-off the pilot said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your elderly flight attendants.”
Word of the week: ‘lateral thinking’ a term that was coined by Edward de Bono in 1967, and it involves solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using the traditional step-by-step logic. I like this example. Another word you may care to remember; Avoidable: What a bullfighter tries to do.
Technology tip of the week: Online banking; is it safe? Yes, if you take a few sensible precautions. Number one is to ensure your PC software is running the latest operating system version that is updated; Windows 10 Chrome or Apple OSX; next make sure you have an up to date antivirus and run scans at least weekly (I do daily). When setting up banking access online, first don’t use your name as the account access word, use a memorable word, such as ‘Money1900’, second for your password use a combo of letters, numbers and symbols. If others have access to your PC, don’t memorise any passwords on it. Then use a separate browser to your normal one to access your bank. Most of us use Gmail, so use Chrome for email and other general access. For banking, I ensure I have my VPN activated and use Microsoft Edge, with the IBM Trusteer, security extension. You can install it also on Apple Safari and other browsers. Do your transactions immediately then log out and quit the browser.
Next week I will outline phone banking and doing safe banking while traveling, if that ever happens again.
Traveller’s tales: Is the grass really greener in London’s financial district?
The Quiz: see how smart you are here
Island Musings.
On Life.
Barely the day started and… It’s already six in the evening.
Barely saw Monday and it’s already Friday.
… and the month is already over.
… and the year is almost over before it’s begun.
… and already 50, 60 or even 70 years of our lives have passed.
… and we realize that we lost our parents, our friends.
… and we realize it’s too late to go back.
So… Let’s try, despite everything, to enjoy the remaining time…
… Let’s keep looking for activities that we like.
… Let’s put some colour in our life.
… Let’s smile at the little things in life that put balm in our hearts.
… Let’s do an act of kindness for someone else, at least weekly.
And despite everything, we must continue to enjoy the serenity this time we have left. Let’s try to eliminate the ‘after’s’.
I’m doing it after…
I’ll say after…
I’ll think about it after…
We leave everything for later like ′′ after ′′ is ours.
So… Let’s leave nothing for later…
Because ‘see you later’, may not happen.
The best experiences,
The best friends,
The best family…
The best day is today
Because what we don’t understand is that:
Afterwards, the coffee gets cold…
Afterwards, priorities change…
Afterwards, the charm is broken…
Afterwards, health passes…
Afterwards, the kids grow up…
Afterwards, parents get old…
Afterwards, promises are forgotten…
Afterwards, the day becomes the night…
Afterwards, life ends…
And then it’s too late…
We are no longer at the age where we can afford to postpone what needs to be done…
So do it right away…now…
Delay no more…
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