Coded Designs

I was much struck with a photograph taken in Moscow 1990, by photographer David Hlynsky who visited the communist bloc before it collapsed. His mission was to capture the urban landscapes he found, and amongst them was the the shops of the communist East which he said "hid as much as they revealed, about the real economy".

Moscow - 1990 - Lipstick

..... amongst his pictures was one that captured the moment when a very inventive shop window dresser, managed to make a one brand and one colour delivery of lipstick, into something really attractive to look at.

The Plain and Unvarnished Truth

Some people can take the plain and unvarnished truth, and others can't ..... for decades, fans of Manchester United and Manchester City football clubs, have argued over who has the most fans inside the City of Manchester .... no argument outside of Manchester, as Manchester United are the best supported team in the world (allegedly).

Well the question has been answered in the only possible way, by how many fans put their money where their loyalties are: The sports chain Sports Direct have used their shop sales to determine the truth of the matter, and settle the argument forever.

Man Utd and Man City Shirt Sales

First Fact: If you add up the all City and United shirts that were sold inside Manchester last year, an enormous 95% were Manchester United shirts, and just 5% were Manchester City ..... end of discussion. 

Second Fact: Only 10% of the total Manchester United shirts sold, are bought inside Manchester, but even that 10% far exceeds the sale of Manchester City shirts - where that figure drops to under 5% of the total shirt sales for both clubs being sold in Manchester. City fans have claimed for decades that they are the team who are supported by real Mancunians.

Last Fact: Almost 45% of Manchester United shirt sales occur in London (Second Place Dublin), and Manchester actually comes in just 3rd on the list. But City also sell the majority of their shirts in London (with Glasgow second), and for them Manchester comes in a very poor 10th for their shirt sales.

Oh and for the Liverpool Fans out there, more than half your shirt sales come from London, with Dublin second .... sales in Liverpool itself is just 4th in the sales list.

Man Utd v Man City

These are facts, not bullshit .... man up lads, and just accept the plain and unvarnished truth.  

One Man's Freedom Is Another's Bondage

Why is that ones man's freedom always seems to be at the price of another man's bondage?

Contradictory Rights Demands

Homosexuals have campaigned for decades, not just for the right to enact the sexual congress they desire in the privacy of their own bedrooms, but also for no one to be able to 'discriminate' against them under any grounds in the workplace, or social life.

Cruisin For A Bruisin

Ted Cruz is the first Republican candidate to officially announce his intention to stand for US President in 2026 (that's a typo but he may well run in 2024 as well for all I know) .. 2016.

Ted Cruz .... Hmm, Has He Got A Secret?

Mr Cruz is a darling of the far right 'Tea Party' wing of the Republican Party, so probably can't actually win the country or the Presidency ... although who am I to second guess that?

What A Jerk

As I have mentioned in the past on this blog, sometimes a story just tells itself ....

On 21st September 2014, 56-year-old Calvin E Wank was arrested for the misdemeanour of 'Public Lewdness'. This was after state troopers attended the area of Kirkwood, New York State, after members of the truck drivers community complained about a man, who reportedly committed a series of sexually lewd acts in a New York car lot, next to a 'Love's Travel Stop' chain . He is also alleged to have carried out the same acts in a field next to the motel chain.

Wank By Name But Jerk By Nature ....

According to a New York State Police press release, Mr Wank from Deposit, Delaware, in upstate New York, was issued with a ticket, and ordered to return to the Town of Kirkwood Court on 7 October. In his mugshot he was still wearing his smudged eye makeup and lipstick ... and apparently a bra.

Presumably he couldn't give a toss, however in a similar case of an 'apt surname' arrested story, in April 2014, the police arrested a Fort Lauderdale man named Edward Cocaine on suspicion of drug possession but the charges against Mr Cocaine were later dropped.

The Appliance Of Science

The Hubble telescope is one of the great science projects mankind has produced ... the images and science its churned out, from confirming the existence of black-holes at the centre of the universe, to helping to confirm the exact age of the Universe, its been a winner (apart from one Oops, when it was launched with a lens flaw ~ later corrected by the shuttle crews), almost from day one.

And it's still performing admirably ever since its last service and overhaul (last in every sense, because its no longer possible to fix issues now that the space shuttles have ceased), and with only one of its 6 vital gyroscopes showing signs of wear and tear.

The Butterfly Nebula

In the near future, its hoped that for a few years at least, it will be able to team up with its eventual replacement, the James Webb scope, and perform some very special science, by each viewing the same objects, but from slightly different perspectives, utilising the gravitational lensing effects created by distant galaxies, to see ever further back in time.

While there will always be the scientific luddites, who believe that we should spend every penny to feed the poor, its also the same sort of nonsense thinking that would have kept us in the caves. These sort of 'thinkers' would have punished the very first man who invented something 'useless' called fire instead of going out hunting or scavenging. Whomever the 'Ugg' was who came up with making fire, he would surely now be beaten to death by the 'greens', probably as a criminal environmental polluter who was burning fossil fuels and creating the first carbon emissions.

Eagle Nebula - aka the "Pillars of Creation".

Having any sort of debate with these sort of people is impossible, because they are resistant to logic ... For instance the whole of the Hubble costs, from development to the last rebuild, would be equal to about 10p (given just once to every UN officially defined poor person in the world) .... barely a cup of rice. The poor can never be got rid of ....  they have always been with us and probably always will be.

We can't allow this stupidity to impoverish our minds and our thoughts ... if there is any hope for mankind, it is almost certainly off the planet which we are so busily abusing. It is the stars (or planets to be technical), or extinction for this curious ape descendent.

The Sombrero Galaxy (M104)

So enough of the guff .... let us celebrate this marvellous human achievement, and just look at some of the glorious images it has sent back to those of us with our heads in the skies, even if our feet are still in the mud.

Guy Fawkes In Libya

The use of the Guy Fawkes masks as both a symbol of rebellion or resistance, and also a useful face cover against police surveillance cameras, as first seen in the movie V for Vendetta, is almost de rigueur for protesting hipsters, rioting anarchists, and publicity hunting millionaire 'comedians' on anti-poverty marches.

Guy Fawkes Masks Adopted By Everyone ....

 
Note to comedians, it doesn't count if you pull the mask down at the click of every camera .... it just makes you a publicity seeking tw*t.

Still, they are rather cool, and it was rather a cool movie ..... but they now seem to have lost their purpose, as they have been adopted around the world by some very disparate causes and groups. These range from the mask becoming a well-known symbol for the on-line hacktivist group 'Anonymous', also they were used in 'Project Chanology', the 'Occupy movement', and other anti-government and anti-establishment protests around the world.

However I think I have spotted the most incongruous usage of the mask .....

Guy Fawkes In Libya

In case you have missed it .....

Guy Fawkes In Libya Close Up

If it is the ubiquitous Mr Fawkes, and it just looks like it is, then he's now caught up in some bad company amongst the Jihadist's of Libya. He's not fighting for 'freedom' anymore, but for one version of tyranny over another ......

Strange how these things work out ......

Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Marks and Spencer used to be a clothes UK retail giant ....

 

Val Doonican - Inspiration For M&S Fashionistas

..... but recently they have fallen on harder times, with only their food sales apparently keeping the whole ship afloat. 

 

Discworld Death

Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE, to give him his full moniker, is sadly no longer with us, but true to his life, he went out in a stylish way.

Terry Pratchett Wrote His Own Ending

 
 .... Terry will be missed by millions worldwide.

'Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors
 and on to the black desert under the endless night'.

Kim Il Topcat No Copycats

Usually when a regime is on its last legs, it often exhibits ever more bizarre behaviour at the top .... however there are occasionally some states for whom this golden rule doesn't seem to apply.

What's In A Name?

One such is of course the 'Hermit Kingdom', aka the 'Democratic People's Republic of Korea', where normal behaviour and rules seem to hold no power.

Old Laws Make New News

Some of England's oldest surviving law, faces repeal after 747 years ..... 

 

Old Laws

.... these are some of the oldest surviving legislation on England's statute books, and possibly anywhere in the world, but sadly are set to be repealed after 747 years.

 

Always A Womans Job

An Italian clothing company called the 'Shoeshine' brand, has got into trouble .....

'Give it to your mum - it's her job'.

it jokingly put in a washing instruction label that gave the usual instructions in Italian and English, but also in English only it said .... 'Give it to your mum - it's her job'.

 

Mailgate Setback For Clinton

Mailgate or emailgate ... call it what you want, but once again a Clinton has failed to follow the rules, and the hunters are now out. Let's be honest, Hilary Clinton was until now a virtual shoe-in for the Democratic nomination (it is 'her' turn), and the turn of a woman ... but has she once again let the 'wimmin of the left' down?

 

One Of These Is Rated Higher For The US Presidency ......

 

Last time, her apparently passive and silent acceptance of Bill's trouser snake issues, without her walking out was a big disappointment to many, who would have preferred her to do a Valerie Trierweiler, and print all in a block buster book  ....

Ceres Mystery Death Star

NASA's Dawn spacecraft on its way to Ceres took these images .....

Water Volcano or Death Star Activity

The original long range photos had revealed a single light, but the latest NASA images, taken from 29,000 miles away, showed two bright lights on the surface on the dwarf planet Ceres.

Coincidences Abound

There is a world of coincidences out there that are all statistically valid, but which on the face of it still look strange and often are quoted as being unexplainable ... these coincidences often get turned into evidence for conspiracy theory fodder as well, so it becomes hard to separate the one from the other.

Perhaps the most often quoted coincidences in the popular press are of couples who were allegedly born on the same day, married on the same day, and died within hours of each other on the same calendar day. But in fact these are the rarest of coincidences.  And indeed so rare are they, that there are often misquoted examples i.e. couples born same day, married for years but who died 24 hours apart are not as rare, but still often quoted as being 'all same day', when strictly speaking they aren't.

But even these near misses are in fact still rare enough to warrant news stories, and even the plain old 'Married for years and died within a day or so' are uncommon enough to prompt news stories around the world from the UK to USA.

So in reality, it really is not all that uncommon for people who have lived together, to die very close to each other in time, in what many consider to be a strange coincidence.

Strange Coincidences Are Everywhere

..... in fact statistically, many events will happen like this, governed by the simple law of averages.

Swamped By Cultural Diversity

All the reactions listed below, are media responses to a study by influential think-tank, the  'Policy Exchange', carried out for Leeds University, which lays bare the effect of decades of immigration into the UK, and reveals the huge impact of Labour’s secret 'open door policy' to migrants between 1997 and 2010.

The research shows that the white British population will shrink from 87.1%, to just 67.1%, and the white Irish group shrinking from 2.5% to 2.1%. The 'other' white group share, will grow from 2.5% to 9.9% – the greatest gain overall. Asian groups increase their share by three percentage points, black groups by two percentage points, and Chinese and other ethnic groups by 2.6 percentage points.

The report also supports previous studies, which have shown Britain will be the Western world’s most ethnically diverse nation after 2050, with the possibility that the population from the five largest distinct black and minority ethnic communities could rocket from eight million, to 23 million people by 2051. By then the UK’s population is forecast to hit 77 million.

Britannia Could Break Up Under Mass Immigration Pressures

The Guardian: "Ethnic minorities to make up 20% of UK population by 2051 compared with 8% in 2001 - Projection of British population over 40 years shows sharp growth in ethnic groups outside of white British majority."

The Express: "UK ethnic population to boom to 1 in 3 Brits by 2051, new study reveals - ONE in three people in Britain will be from an ethnic minority by the middle of the century, a report forecasts today."

The Sun: "Melting pot UK"

• Third of population non-white by 2051
• MPs warned not to ignore minority vote

With the hard copy newspaper edition even headlining that whites are a minority by 2051

The Telegraph: "Ethnic minorities will make up fifth of population by 2051. Ethnic minorities are set to make up a fifth of the population by 2051, according to new research."

The BBC .... well as usual where immigration is in the news, the story was hidden away .... "UK's ethnic minority numbers 'to rise to 20% by 2051' The UK's population is set to become even more diverse with ethnic minorities set to make up a fifth of the UK population in 40 years, a University of Leeds study predicts."

All this without a shot being fired as the events unfold, or the natives ever being consulted ... now that's how to carry out an invasion. I wonder if we are so browbeaten as a population, that we will standby and let this happen without a fight? Or maybe we want it .... I don't know, because we have never been asked.  For the record currently, one in three children in state schools today is already from an ethnic minority.

One has to ask the question, when did the UK's politicians ever ask the native British if it was OK to wipe them from the map .... because whether you think that its going to be in 2051 AD .... or maybe 20 - 30 years later, at some point before 2100 AD, Britain will become a non native population majority country, and will be far more 'diverse' than the USA. That fact will never be reversed, and our history as a basically European nation may simply cease forever.

In the meantime, if this 'Globalisation / Multiculturalism' is such a good thing;

• Will India allow 20% of its population to emigrate from Africa? 
• Will Pakistan suddenly allow 18% of it population to come from Burma? 
• Will 5% of Chinas population come from White immigration? 

In other words, if 'racial multiculturalism' is so good for us in the UK, why is all the rest of the world not practising it?

Well probably because its dangerous PC nonsense, that only white majority countries follow, and hardly anyone else thinks is good.

How The West Differed From The East

When Islam first arose, many Christian scholars thought that it was some sort of Christian creed ~ possibly heretical, but a creed with which they might have some sort of debate .....

 

Christianity Clashed With Islam In The 7th Century AD

 

..... of course they soon found out differently, and in the centuries since, the two civilisations have grown further apart, not closer together, but as we largely didn't inhabit the same space, we rarely clashed anymore ~ except for those poor Christian souls who lived under Muslim domination (but there won't be any of them left by 2050 AD).