No Seriously i do!!
22 May 2008
Man U champions of Europe
Man U win on penalties to be crowned the best team in Europe once again. I suppose im happy they one as they've been a better team than chelsea all season. Although i have to say i feel really sorry for John Terry.
No Seriously i do!!
No Seriously i do!!
21 May 2008
Oh the excitment
Its always my favourite time of year the end of May. With the climax of the football season we have the biggy today, the champions league final between Man U and Chelsea. Cant get better than that. Not sure who i want to win, but will probably go with Man U as they play the better football, and as Sir Alex is an ex-Ayr United man you have to with him well.
The other exciting things are obviously my birthday and my birthday bank holiday (yes it is jsut for me) and the big TV extravaganza of the year, the Eurovision song contest!!! Yes it is cheasy, camp, kitsch etc etc, but its one of hte best night TV entertainment of the year. As always the British entry will be dreadfull and if it wasn't for the Irish vote, we'd be staring 'nil point' in the face. The real reason its any good is the fact we have Terry Wogan doing the comentary. He makes the whole show, with his constantly putting people down, and ripping the voting to shreds.
Although you cant really blame the other countries for that. I mean the if you look at the ex Yugoslavian countries or ex russian states, there entries are usually pretty famous in the home countries. As they all speak the same languages, its probable that the will also be pretty well known in those countires as well, and as we all know if you all ready know someone you'll probably like there song more than one you dont.
Saying that though, how can all these countries convince people who have sold millions of records already to compete, when we get stuck with some guy who wasn't good enough to win the X Factor. I mean we've had some big names in the past like Clif Richard, Sandie Shaw, Matt Monroe, Olivia Newton John, The Shadows, Brotherhood of Man, Bucks Fizz etc (im not sad, i looked it up) but you have to go back 11 years to Katrina and the Waves to get a semi big name representing us. I mean from Germany you have there own version of Girls Aloud taking part, and they wonder why we never do well
The other exciting things are obviously my birthday and my birthday bank holiday (yes it is jsut for me) and the big TV extravaganza of the year, the Eurovision song contest!!! Yes it is cheasy, camp, kitsch etc etc, but its one of hte best night TV entertainment of the year. As always the British entry will be dreadfull and if it wasn't for the Irish vote, we'd be staring 'nil point' in the face. The real reason its any good is the fact we have Terry Wogan doing the comentary. He makes the whole show, with his constantly putting people down, and ripping the voting to shreds.
Although you cant really blame the other countries for that. I mean the if you look at the ex Yugoslavian countries or ex russian states, there entries are usually pretty famous in the home countries. As they all speak the same languages, its probable that the will also be pretty well known in those countires as well, and as we all know if you all ready know someone you'll probably like there song more than one you dont.
Saying that though, how can all these countries convince people who have sold millions of records already to compete, when we get stuck with some guy who wasn't good enough to win the X Factor. I mean we've had some big names in the past like Clif Richard, Sandie Shaw, Matt Monroe, Olivia Newton John, The Shadows, Brotherhood of Man, Bucks Fizz etc (im not sad, i looked it up) but you have to go back 11 years to Katrina and the Waves to get a semi big name representing us. I mean from Germany you have there own version of Girls Aloud taking part, and they wonder why we never do well
20 May 2008
Something New
Ok all the other posts were from an old blog, so i thought it was about time i did something new, and here it is.
It seems that not a year goes by without some sort of natural disaster where hundreds of thousands are killed. In the last month we’ve had 2 biggies, an earthquake in China and a flood in Burma. Although Burma was partially avoidable (i.e. if the hadn’t destroyed huge amounts of mangrove swamps in the delta) nothing really can be done to prevent disaster like this happening. And it’s probably going to get worse as the population grows. As we as humans kill of the rest of the living world (roughly 25% of all species disappeared in the last 10 years) it seems the world is getting its on back and trying to redress the balance. It’s amazing to think that in the 400,000 years or so the human species has grown from nothing to over 5 billion, from living only in Africa up to 100,000 years ago to now populating ever corner of the earth. Yet what price has this come at.
For the majority of that time, man was in harmony with nature, killing only what was needed to survive, and hardly changing the natural world at all. However that all changed only about 10,000 years ago, with the advent of farming. We somehow went from a species that co-operated to survive, shared resources and tried to look out for our fellow humans, to one that was greedy and selfish. With the ownership of land, buildings and resource we seem to have degenerated into some sort of self centred creature, only looking out for our own.
With the advent of farming brought the ideas of ownership. Now land, animals and crops belonged to someone, and we decided that the best land was worth fighting over. In fact not just the best, any land. Property and material goods became more important than the life. What triggered this new morality, this hunger to have more than anyone else? Was it always part of man’s psyche or was it something new?
Its always been thought that in the days of the hunter gatherer was were all equal, like one great Marxist dream of cooperation and doing things for the greater good not the self, but was this true? Could it rather have been an altruistic move on our ancestor’s part? Instead of trying to look after everyone and the survival of the species, could it have been instead, the knowledge that if you look after the sick and vulnerable now, they might afford you the same luxury at a later date? If you couldn’t go out and get food for whatever reason they might get it for you, by way of returning the favour. Also with the use of objects or tools, if you are living a life constantly on the move, you don’t want to each have to carry a full set of stone tools, but if you each have a set one, and share, the weight is distributed about the group.
However as soon as you live a settled life, you each have your own little area to store tools, store food etc so the compulsion to share is less? Maybe, maybe not. But back to the point in hand. In shaping the world as we have, we are obviously causing problems for later generations. What problems to building large cities on earthquake fault lines cause? Does anyone know? In these fragile areas does adding the stress of the mass of these buildings of today’s cities cause a problem? I don’t know but I would suggest it doesn’t help. Do mines affect the land, or the buildings of giant dams? Its been proven that dams effect the environment, by causing new ecosystems and weather patterns, and destroy natural habitats etc.
Surely it’s about time that people sat down and looked at the bigger picture. We are not the only ones that inhabit this planet, but until we take a look at what we are doing we may soon well be. Obviously we cant stop countries developing as that would just be denying the rights to those that don’t have what we have, and keeping them down is not fair. Instead we in the western world should be helping them, while cutting back ourselves, and stopping the exploitation of the resource in these countries. We should be looking at what impact our actions have on a bigger scale. And not blindly destroying even more of the world.
It seems that not a year goes by without some sort of natural disaster where hundreds of thousands are killed. In the last month we’ve had 2 biggies, an earthquake in China and a flood in Burma. Although Burma was partially avoidable (i.e. if the hadn’t destroyed huge amounts of mangrove swamps in the delta) nothing really can be done to prevent disaster like this happening. And it’s probably going to get worse as the population grows. As we as humans kill of the rest of the living world (roughly 25% of all species disappeared in the last 10 years) it seems the world is getting its on back and trying to redress the balance. It’s amazing to think that in the 400,000 years or so the human species has grown from nothing to over 5 billion, from living only in Africa up to 100,000 years ago to now populating ever corner of the earth. Yet what price has this come at.
For the majority of that time, man was in harmony with nature, killing only what was needed to survive, and hardly changing the natural world at all. However that all changed only about 10,000 years ago, with the advent of farming. We somehow went from a species that co-operated to survive, shared resources and tried to look out for our fellow humans, to one that was greedy and selfish. With the ownership of land, buildings and resource we seem to have degenerated into some sort of self centred creature, only looking out for our own.
With the advent of farming brought the ideas of ownership. Now land, animals and crops belonged to someone, and we decided that the best land was worth fighting over. In fact not just the best, any land. Property and material goods became more important than the life. What triggered this new morality, this hunger to have more than anyone else? Was it always part of man’s psyche or was it something new?
Its always been thought that in the days of the hunter gatherer was were all equal, like one great Marxist dream of cooperation and doing things for the greater good not the self, but was this true? Could it rather have been an altruistic move on our ancestor’s part? Instead of trying to look after everyone and the survival of the species, could it have been instead, the knowledge that if you look after the sick and vulnerable now, they might afford you the same luxury at a later date? If you couldn’t go out and get food for whatever reason they might get it for you, by way of returning the favour. Also with the use of objects or tools, if you are living a life constantly on the move, you don’t want to each have to carry a full set of stone tools, but if you each have a set one, and share, the weight is distributed about the group.
However as soon as you live a settled life, you each have your own little area to store tools, store food etc so the compulsion to share is less? Maybe, maybe not. But back to the point in hand. In shaping the world as we have, we are obviously causing problems for later generations. What problems to building large cities on earthquake fault lines cause? Does anyone know? In these fragile areas does adding the stress of the mass of these buildings of today’s cities cause a problem? I don’t know but I would suggest it doesn’t help. Do mines affect the land, or the buildings of giant dams? Its been proven that dams effect the environment, by causing new ecosystems and weather patterns, and destroy natural habitats etc.
Surely it’s about time that people sat down and looked at the bigger picture. We are not the only ones that inhabit this planet, but until we take a look at what we are doing we may soon well be. Obviously we cant stop countries developing as that would just be denying the rights to those that don’t have what we have, and keeping them down is not fair. Instead we in the western world should be helping them, while cutting back ourselves, and stopping the exploitation of the resource in these countries. We should be looking at what impact our actions have on a bigger scale. And not blindly destroying even more of the world.
On the Road
Ok, so its 50 years since the publication of On the Road by jack Kerouac, which in my mind was one of the greatest novels of the last century. Not only did it start the whole Beat Generation with the Beatniks and hippies that followed, but it was also that the youth of the world really stood up and where noticed by the wider society as a whole.
However it does sadden me that the message of the book seems to have been lost of millions of people. Most people seem to go ‘yeah, its great, loads of drug taking and sex and dropping out of main stream society’, but to me that’s not really the point the book is trying to make. It’s about the journey of self discovery, and looking for something spiritual or fulfilling in your life. It’s about making the decisions in your life the way you want to and not settling for what is expected of you. It’s about challenging society’s expectations and following dreams. Its about seeing the good in people, and the bad in society.
I think from reading it, it gave me a huge travel bug. I still dream of visiting every country in the world, which I knows probably unlikely. Im only 18 countries down, which leaves about 180 still to visit. I still love travelling, just sitting back watching the world fly by.However for Kerouac it wasn’t to last, by the time On the Road was actually published he had lsot his love of travelling, the whole ‘beat’ scene didn’t appeal to him. He was fed up by the new people who only wanted to look cool, and talk cool, but weren’t really digging what it was that made them ‘beat’. By the time the book was published he had settled into living with his mother, until his death in 1967, 10 years later, but he still managed to write some other excellent works. Its true to say he was ahead of his time, with his worrying over state of the planet, and animals.
The man was a visionary, and I just hope his works are still as important in another 50 years
However it does sadden me that the message of the book seems to have been lost of millions of people. Most people seem to go ‘yeah, its great, loads of drug taking and sex and dropping out of main stream society’, but to me that’s not really the point the book is trying to make. It’s about the journey of self discovery, and looking for something spiritual or fulfilling in your life. It’s about making the decisions in your life the way you want to and not settling for what is expected of you. It’s about challenging society’s expectations and following dreams. Its about seeing the good in people, and the bad in society.
I think from reading it, it gave me a huge travel bug. I still dream of visiting every country in the world, which I knows probably unlikely. Im only 18 countries down, which leaves about 180 still to visit. I still love travelling, just sitting back watching the world fly by.However for Kerouac it wasn’t to last, by the time On the Road was actually published he had lsot his love of travelling, the whole ‘beat’ scene didn’t appeal to him. He was fed up by the new people who only wanted to look cool, and talk cool, but weren’t really digging what it was that made them ‘beat’. By the time the book was published he had settled into living with his mother, until his death in 1967, 10 years later, but he still managed to write some other excellent works. Its true to say he was ahead of his time, with his worrying over state of the planet, and animals.
The man was a visionary, and I just hope his works are still as important in another 50 years
Music
what has happened to music in the last few years. Were are all the bands gone that actually have something to say, something of relevance? I remember back in the day you has people like Dylan and Morrison in the 60's and 70's, along with a whole loads of protest singers. Infact back then if you had an acoustic guitar you were a protest singer. Then along came the whole punk movement with rebelling against who knows what, but at least they were trying to prove a point, then in the 80's and 90's you had Morrissey and Rage Against the machine trying to prove a point through music.
But today what do you have? I mean all the punk bands are just completely self obsessed, is it just a sign of the general malaise with society? Music used to men something, who can forget Geldof and the guy from ultravox during band aid / live aid. No what do we have, a whole concert against global warming that probably used up more fossil fuel to put on than is used to heat a medium sized town for a year. Well done to all involved. Isn't it true that the youth follow what the bands say, or do bands just follow what the people want?
But today what do you have? I mean all the punk bands are just completely self obsessed, is it just a sign of the general malaise with society? Music used to men something, who can forget Geldof and the guy from ultravox during band aid / live aid. No what do we have, a whole concert against global warming that probably used up more fossil fuel to put on than is used to heat a medium sized town for a year. Well done to all involved. Isn't it true that the youth follow what the bands say, or do bands just follow what the people want?
Blog 2
OK time for another blog, i thought i my never get round to a second, but here we are. I thought I'd just thought I'd carry on from where i left off the last time, just wondering what is the point of a blog really. I mean, should i expect that people are going to read it and think, "wow he's so right I'm going to immediately change my ways", or should i be happy that someone's actually reading it in the first place, like only 15 people read the first one after all. I mean i do like to think that my opinions are valid and may actually make a difference to someone, even if its only a passing, yeah he might have a point. After all if only one person at least stops to think about things then maybe i have made a small difference.
After all, If someone else was claiming to be some sort of new messiah, I'd be the first one shouting to pull them off the cross as we don't need another saviour. Surely by know people should have realised we are all responsible for our own actions, however large or small the consequences of them.
Then again looking at the most popular blogs on here its the exact same people as the most popular in terms of friends so I'm sure its not because they all have anything interesting to say. But then again who is actually here to learn anything. Which is maybe the problem with the world today, but who am i to criticise when i do the exact same thing. To me it seems like we've become a civilisation of voyeurs rather than a people that would rather get up and do something for ourselves. The popularity of the "reality" shows just goes to show that. I mean, in one series of Big brother (uk version) the had 2 people moved to another room, watching what was happening in the house for a week. Now we were sitting watching 2 people in a room, watching 10 others in a room. Seriously its bizarre what our culture has become. But that takes me back to my point about the blogs to begin with.
Maybe that's what people want to hear about is the detail of the "he said she said" as people are so much more interested in other peoples lives than their own. Maybe people want to read blogs about the man a work who i think likes me but I'm not sure. I mean "What Paris Hilton wears on a night out" seems to get more column inches and TV time than massacres in darfur or HIV epidemics in Russia, seems to sums up the problem perfectly
After all, If someone else was claiming to be some sort of new messiah, I'd be the first one shouting to pull them off the cross as we don't need another saviour. Surely by know people should have realised we are all responsible for our own actions, however large or small the consequences of them.
Then again looking at the most popular blogs on here its the exact same people as the most popular in terms of friends so I'm sure its not because they all have anything interesting to say. But then again who is actually here to learn anything. Which is maybe the problem with the world today, but who am i to criticise when i do the exact same thing. To me it seems like we've become a civilisation of voyeurs rather than a people that would rather get up and do something for ourselves. The popularity of the "reality" shows just goes to show that. I mean, in one series of Big brother (uk version) the had 2 people moved to another room, watching what was happening in the house for a week. Now we were sitting watching 2 people in a room, watching 10 others in a room. Seriously its bizarre what our culture has become. But that takes me back to my point about the blogs to begin with.
Maybe that's what people want to hear about is the detail of the "he said she said" as people are so much more interested in other peoples lives than their own. Maybe people want to read blogs about the man a work who i think likes me but I'm not sure. I mean "What Paris Hilton wears on a night out" seems to get more column inches and TV time than massacres in darfur or HIV epidemics in Russia, seems to sums up the problem perfectly
my first ramblings
Ok so this is my first ever blog so please bear with me. As I wasn't sure what i was supposed to put in here i thought id check out other blogs and see what they were about. There seems to be 2 kinds, one a kind of emo diary of how everything is so unfair and the world owes me a living but really everything is against me and the other is opinions on events or just random thoughts on subjects.As i don't think the world is going to end just because someone said the latest album by my favourite band sucked, even though everyone else in the world knows it was just rushed out to meet the record labels contract, and the hurt from the comments isn't going to make me want to kill myself, I'll go with the 2nd type.
I mean seriously what is with kids these days. I mean when i was 15 or 16 my biggest worries centred around was i going to be able to get drink on Saturday night, did someone have fake id, could we find some old drink to buy it for us, etc etc. Yes there was the normal teenage angst of girls, sports teams you supported, friends etc etc. However none of these seemed to important, you had friends, you went to school, you hung out and that was about it. Yes you had the group of popular kids, but there were loads of other groups as well. I was part of my own group, that used to hang out get drunk and have fun. We were never the most popular but we all knew the most popular and at time we would hang out with them. We just got on and did our own thing without really bothering what anyone else thought.
Todays kids though seem so wrapped up in how other people will perceive them, its getting beyond a joke. I mean kids at 14 on diets, counting calories. Girls at 15 getting boob jobs and nose jobs, is it really necessary? Kids dressing 'emo' (whatever that may mean) just because you think your being different. Well I've got news for you, you look exactly the same as 20 million other emo kids. its not being different its just following another trend. And what gets me more is that they profess not to judge people by there clothes, but when infact do exactly the same themselves. I remember being out once with some friends and there happened to be some emo / goth kids there. I was in my usual jeans and shirt or something similar, and we were talking about some band or other. I used to know my stuff, infact i played bass in a band myself for a while. However these kids were like what do you know about the music your not goth / emo / rock / indie (delete as appropriate). now if that isn't stereotyping what is. I mean after i told them to f off and go sacrifice a lamb to Marilyn manson while slitting there wrist they were none to pleased.
But back to my point what is going on with todays kids. I blame the parents, oh and the liberal do-gooders. I can say that as I'm a liberal myself, but some of it goes beyond the joke. You hear kids now rattling off a list of problems be it ADD, ADSD, ASDA etc etc. What are these things, who made them up? I think its just psychiatrists making a fast buck telling parents who cant control there kids they have these problems and prescribing them drugs that they happen to hold shares in. Most of these parents if they had any nouce would know that if they stopped feeding there kids E numbers and let them actually burn off energy by playing the problems would go away, but hey its easier to feed them junk, sit them in front of the TV and feed them full of drugs. But hey why deal with the actual problem when you can sweep it under the carpet.
But then again that seems to be the same with everything. Poverty in Africa, send them some money and we all feel better about it, when the actual way to solve the problem is stop trade embargo's on the countries products and give them an even playing field when they try to sell stuff into international markets. Prime example is cotton. African countries produce it cheaper and to a better quality than the US farmers, but due to the huge subsidies the US govt pay to the farmers, and the huge import taxes Africa nations have to pay, they cant sell it to the US. Makes you think that everytime you buy a cotton towel, that not only are you paying $10 for the towel, but your also paying another $2 or 3 in tax to subsides the farmer. If things were fair you'd be paying $5 or 6 for a better quality towel, nothing extra in tax, helping the poor in Africa, but some senators best friend would be feeling the pinch. Which do you prefer?
Ok sorry for the ramble, back to work now
I mean seriously what is with kids these days. I mean when i was 15 or 16 my biggest worries centred around was i going to be able to get drink on Saturday night, did someone have fake id, could we find some old drink to buy it for us, etc etc. Yes there was the normal teenage angst of girls, sports teams you supported, friends etc etc. However none of these seemed to important, you had friends, you went to school, you hung out and that was about it. Yes you had the group of popular kids, but there were loads of other groups as well. I was part of my own group, that used to hang out get drunk and have fun. We were never the most popular but we all knew the most popular and at time we would hang out with them. We just got on and did our own thing without really bothering what anyone else thought.
Todays kids though seem so wrapped up in how other people will perceive them, its getting beyond a joke. I mean kids at 14 on diets, counting calories. Girls at 15 getting boob jobs and nose jobs, is it really necessary? Kids dressing 'emo' (whatever that may mean) just because you think your being different. Well I've got news for you, you look exactly the same as 20 million other emo kids. its not being different its just following another trend. And what gets me more is that they profess not to judge people by there clothes, but when infact do exactly the same themselves. I remember being out once with some friends and there happened to be some emo / goth kids there. I was in my usual jeans and shirt or something similar, and we were talking about some band or other. I used to know my stuff, infact i played bass in a band myself for a while. However these kids were like what do you know about the music your not goth / emo / rock / indie (delete as appropriate). now if that isn't stereotyping what is. I mean after i told them to f off and go sacrifice a lamb to Marilyn manson while slitting there wrist they were none to pleased.
But back to my point what is going on with todays kids. I blame the parents, oh and the liberal do-gooders. I can say that as I'm a liberal myself, but some of it goes beyond the joke. You hear kids now rattling off a list of problems be it ADD, ADSD, ASDA etc etc. What are these things, who made them up? I think its just psychiatrists making a fast buck telling parents who cant control there kids they have these problems and prescribing them drugs that they happen to hold shares in. Most of these parents if they had any nouce would know that if they stopped feeding there kids E numbers and let them actually burn off energy by playing the problems would go away, but hey its easier to feed them junk, sit them in front of the TV and feed them full of drugs. But hey why deal with the actual problem when you can sweep it under the carpet.
But then again that seems to be the same with everything. Poverty in Africa, send them some money and we all feel better about it, when the actual way to solve the problem is stop trade embargo's on the countries products and give them an even playing field when they try to sell stuff into international markets. Prime example is cotton. African countries produce it cheaper and to a better quality than the US farmers, but due to the huge subsidies the US govt pay to the farmers, and the huge import taxes Africa nations have to pay, they cant sell it to the US. Makes you think that everytime you buy a cotton towel, that not only are you paying $10 for the towel, but your also paying another $2 or 3 in tax to subsides the farmer. If things were fair you'd be paying $5 or 6 for a better quality towel, nothing extra in tax, helping the poor in Africa, but some senators best friend would be feeling the pinch. Which do you prefer?
Ok sorry for the ramble, back to work now
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