This morning The Guardian's G2 supplement ran an article that suggests that (cow's) MILK might be bad for us!
Yet another in a long line of products that are now 'potentially' harmful to human beings. I don't give a shit what the mortality rate in 1930 was, I think people were probably a damned sight happier smoking filterless cigarettes, drinking beer, eating lard sandwiches and generally wiping arses with anything remotely papery that came to hand.
Many years ago I remember joking with friends that they should avoid using pink toilet paper, because the dye in it has been known to be carcinogenic. Many of them actually believed me.
I'm trying to rack my brains for something that hasn't been classed as bad for us at some point in my 42 years. I get really amused when I hear that something is bad for us and then several years later we discover it is actually good for us after all.
I'm also amazed by people who get ideas in their heads that specific things are bad for us. One stupid posh bint I knew reckoned that garden peas were 'good for man nor beast' and were just something we ate because they tasted nice... ???? There was this apocryphal story floating about that turmeric was a pointless food colouring in Indian food. Curcummin, which turmeric is, is one of those natural spices that is just dripping in good things. Run a google on it if you don't believe me. There's an irony involving saffron here, but you'll have to work it out yourself.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Monday, November 29, 2004
Themes for Great Cities
I'm fed up with this planet. It is spiralling out of control. If the last generations of dinosaurs had conscious thought I'm sure many of them were aware of their demise long before the meteor tore the continents of the Americas a new arsehole. I mean they'd floated around for millions of years in one form or another, they must have started to realise that time was running out for them?
That's how I feel. I look around and I see the world in miscrocosm around me.
Life is a struggle. It might be more comfortable than it was 500 years ago, but it is still a struggle. If we've got to put up with this shit we might as well be warm and have some shelter - of course not even that is afforded to many.
I think about the people who have more money than sense, or more money than is fit for them, and I look at kids in doorways on cold, wet, nights and I think regardless of the reasons for this it is grossly unfair that one man can spend £25million on a man who can kick a football, yet £25 will get a homeless person off of the street and into a shelter, for up to a week.
It pisses me off that the press can spend more time trying to expose the sordid lives of our politicians and celebrities, when what they should be doing is showing the rest of the country and world about social and civil injustice, because it takes place on a street near you every single day of the year. Who really cares what a single person is doing when there are still children on the poverty line. Surely our governments should be tackling the reasons why society is breaking down at its lowest levels, rather than waste money fighting someone elses wars.
That's how I feel. I look around and I see the world in miscrocosm around me.
Life is a struggle. It might be more comfortable than it was 500 years ago, but it is still a struggle. If we've got to put up with this shit we might as well be warm and have some shelter - of course not even that is afforded to many.
I think about the people who have more money than sense, or more money than is fit for them, and I look at kids in doorways on cold, wet, nights and I think regardless of the reasons for this it is grossly unfair that one man can spend £25million on a man who can kick a football, yet £25 will get a homeless person off of the street and into a shelter, for up to a week.
It pisses me off that the press can spend more time trying to expose the sordid lives of our politicians and celebrities, when what they should be doing is showing the rest of the country and world about social and civil injustice, because it takes place on a street near you every single day of the year. Who really cares what a single person is doing when there are still children on the poverty line. Surely our governments should be tackling the reasons why society is breaking down at its lowest levels, rather than waste money fighting someone elses wars.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Welcome to the Machine
I've grown tired of seeing everything I want constantly remain just out of my reach. It's almost like some all-powerful thing is watching me specifically and stopping me from attaining my nirvana.
For the last four years we've had Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings thrust down our throats - but more importantly we've had New Zealand rammed into just about any orofice. New Zealand has always been the brunt of sheep jokes, even managing to beat the Welsh into 2nd place. But it now seems that New Zealand is the hippest and trendiest place on the planet.
Many years ago I sort of hoped that New Zealand could be the place I spent my latter years - not my retirement, my latter years. Over 20 years ago I wandered into the NZ High Commission, for what was essentially a bit of a larf, and ended up chatting with a very helpful young Kiwi for nearly an hour. She told me that NZ had had a steady population drain since the mid 1970s and it looked quite easy to emigrate. I mentioned that I'd be looking at emigrating probably somewhere between 40 and 50, she didn't really think that would be a problem, but this was circa 1981.
Now getting into NZ is a bit like trying to escape from Alcatraz. It's probably easier to move to the USA than it is to NZ. 23 years ago I was perfect, now I'm too old, have no relevant skills and don't have enough money! The country is still losing 0.05% of its population a year as more and more of the young go to Australia, the USA or Europe. The clock is ticking too fast for me now.
For the last four years we've had Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings thrust down our throats - but more importantly we've had New Zealand rammed into just about any orofice. New Zealand has always been the brunt of sheep jokes, even managing to beat the Welsh into 2nd place. But it now seems that New Zealand is the hippest and trendiest place on the planet.
Many years ago I sort of hoped that New Zealand could be the place I spent my latter years - not my retirement, my latter years. Over 20 years ago I wandered into the NZ High Commission, for what was essentially a bit of a larf, and ended up chatting with a very helpful young Kiwi for nearly an hour. She told me that NZ had had a steady population drain since the mid 1970s and it looked quite easy to emigrate. I mentioned that I'd be looking at emigrating probably somewhere between 40 and 50, she didn't really think that would be a problem, but this was circa 1981.
Now getting into NZ is a bit like trying to escape from Alcatraz. It's probably easier to move to the USA than it is to NZ. 23 years ago I was perfect, now I'm too old, have no relevant skills and don't have enough money! The country is still losing 0.05% of its population a year as more and more of the young go to Australia, the USA or Europe. The clock is ticking too fast for me now.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Living in the Past
Diversity is a bad thing.
Diversity led to war.
Free will leads to diversity which leads to war.
Conscious thought leads to free will which leads to diversity which leads to war.
The biggest fear for the Americans during the 1950s was a world over run by those pesky communists with their hive mentality and disregard for personal wealth.
It was easy not to want that kind of thing if you lived in the western world. I mean growing up and seeing limited pictures of what life was like on Soviet streets made you quite pleased we had food mountains and stocked cupboards.
Problem is communism - pure communism - is actually, probably, the fairest way for humankind to live. You see diversity causes wars...
For starters, there's about 5 billion people too many on this planet.
Wars start when people want something someone else has got. Or they start when someone believes in one thing and someone else doesn't believe the same thing. Diversity gave us religion and you know what diversity causes... The more people that are born, the less likelihood we all have of living in a harmonious world. In fact, I'm genuinely concerned that during my life time we might see something so catastrophic that should make the heads of the leading governments change their priorities - but of course it won't. Because once you've had one catastrophe, a second one is easier to accept.
Diversity led to war.
Free will leads to diversity which leads to war.
Conscious thought leads to free will which leads to diversity which leads to war.
The biggest fear for the Americans during the 1950s was a world over run by those pesky communists with their hive mentality and disregard for personal wealth.
It was easy not to want that kind of thing if you lived in the western world. I mean growing up and seeing limited pictures of what life was like on Soviet streets made you quite pleased we had food mountains and stocked cupboards.
Problem is communism - pure communism - is actually, probably, the fairest way for humankind to live. You see diversity causes wars...
For starters, there's about 5 billion people too many on this planet.
Wars start when people want something someone else has got. Or they start when someone believes in one thing and someone else doesn't believe the same thing. Diversity gave us religion and you know what diversity causes... The more people that are born, the less likelihood we all have of living in a harmonious world. In fact, I'm genuinely concerned that during my life time we might see something so catastrophic that should make the heads of the leading governments change their priorities - but of course it won't. Because once you've had one catastrophe, a second one is easier to accept.
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