Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
IT'S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP
Today in Scotland, the country's electorate will decide whether to remain a part of Great Britain, or if instead they will opt for independence after 307 years.
According to the polls, fully fifty-two percent of decided voters favor remaining in the union, while forty-eight percent of them favor the big split. However, the operative phrase here is "decided voters". Fully four percent of all voters are undecided, which might conceivably make all the difference, especially taking into consideration the margin of error, which must be considerable.
I feel that more than likely the Scots will stay where they are at, although it will be uncomfortably close, and there will doubtless be cries of fraud and other shenanigans.
However, just on the off chance the Scots decide to go for independence, they should be aware that it is not going to be an easy transition. In fact, things might go downhill fairly quickly. One possible bad sign is that one of the major motivations of independence supporters is that the Brits, at least economically speaking aren't-gulp-liberal leaning ENOUGH! To be even more specific, they dislike what they see as the constant attacks by the Brits on what has been described as their beloved welfare state.
However, they reassure us that they are more than capable of supporting themselves. After all, they have a lot of oil. You know, like Venezuela.
Good luck, boys, you're going to need it. Especially seeing as how many of the bedrock businesses in Scotland have threatened to leave Scotland, and one in particular has already opened offices in England in preparation for what might amount to an inevitable move.
It's worthy of comment that President Obama, arguably America's most liberal president ever, has spoke in favor of continued British unity, and this seems to be the defacto position of the US Government in general. After all, there actually seems to be concern as to who will be granted custody of Britain's nuclear arsenal, a great lot of which is evidently housed in Scotland.
Of course, there is one group of people who are more in favor of British unity than the Americans. They are, of course, the Brits, to say nothing of the elites within Scotland itself, who fear the loss of their privileged status within British society in the event Scotland becomes an independent nation. Accordingly, they and the British have engaged in what many have decried as a fear campaign in hopes of derailing the independence movement, which seems to have gained more momentum over the course of the last few weeks.
If that momentum wins the day, then the Scots might find out that, in the words of the following song, appropriately enough-it's a long way to the top. (especially if you've been there and now you're starting over from scratch).
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE
A few weeks ago, this song popped into my head and took residence for a couple of days. A couple of days ago it came back for an encore, and has decided to stick around.
Not a bad song at all, and actually it may have made all the difference to the career fortunes of Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods if they had released this as their first single, as opposed to Billy Don't Be A Hero even though that song was a considerably bigger hit. But, well-timing.
Mainly, I just wonder what could cause a person to suddenly not be able to get a song out of his head. Especially one that, in my case, I hadn't heard for thirty plus years.
Monday, September 8, 2014
JACK THE RIPPER MAY WELL HAVE BEEN-NOBODY!
However, in all honesty this theory has some weight, in the form of DNA evidence. It was supposedly derived from a bloody shawl found near the body of fourth canonical Rippper victim Karherine Eddowes. Although this has yet to be proven, the shawl remained in the custody of a policeman's family, until it was recently discovered, still bearing the gruesome bloodstains, from which Eddowes DNA was supposedly derived, matched by a sample provided by a female descendant of Eddowes. So far, so good.
However, not content to rest on their laurels, the investigative team of author Russell Edwards and a Doctor Jari Louhelainen-a microbiologist and biochemist-subjected the shawl to infrared light, which revealed the minute, yet tell-tale presence of what looked to be the remains of-gasp-semen. A sample was, unbelievably, derived from which DNA was detected, and matched up to a sample of none other than a descendant of Kosminsky's sample. So that would seem to make this an open and shut case, huh?
Well, no, let's not be too hasty here. As much as I would love to believe this mystery has finally been solved, there is indeed an innocent explanation for the discovery of Kosminsky's DNA on the shawl found by the body of Ripper victim Katherine Eddowes. That being-he put it there, all right! But not during or immediately after the murder, but during the course of the police interrogation in which he was soundly questioned.
Remember, Kosminsky was one of the major suspects during the time of the murder. So I can easily imagine the interrogation might well have went something like this-
"Can you tell us, sir, if you have ever seen this shawl?"
At which point the copper tosses it to Kosminsky, who dimly fingers it in his dirty, grimy hands, which may indeed have contained traces of his semen. For, it just so happens (wouldn't you just know it) Kosminsky was known to the police at the time as a chronic masturbater.
One high ranking official of the day-a Detective Swanson-mentioned this in passing in the course of a journal which delved into the crimes. It was referred to by such euphemisms as "self-abuse", and that Kosminsky was thought to be "insane" due to this "solitary vice". So there you have it. What it all boils down to is, even though there is certainly a chance Kozminsky was the Ripper, we will probably never, ever, know for sure.
Of course, some people disregard the Daily Mirror story and scream about "peer-reviewed journals" but that's a different story. It's way too easy to attack papers such as The Mirror and The Daily Mail. And of course it's much more exciting to speculate some far-fetched conspiracy involving the Masons and/or the royal family, or famous artists/authors, etc., or even the main police investigator of the case than the far more probable mundane view that the Ripper was probably some indistinct nobody who has remained unknown for the simple fact that he was just that at the time-a nobody.
So in other words, certain commentators and websites, like this one here, are rightly questioning the findings, but maybe for the wrong reasons. Perhaps had Edwards and Louhelainen managed to press the shawl up against the crotch of a drunken Prince Harry, their findings would be hailed as the breathrough of the century.
Of course, it's always fun to speculate when it comes to Jack The Ripper, so here is a website that will pretty much teach you almost everything you ever wanted to know about The Ripper, including the myriad of suspects over the years.
And here is the mysterious shawl in question-
And here is a contremporary engraving from the tiime of the murders. Hey, don't sneer-it probably sold a hell of a lot of papers.
And finally, here is just one of five women who deserve to rest in peace-the aforementioned Katherine Eddowes.
WARNING-GRAPHIC
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Karma Is A Whole Bunch Of Bitches
When Joan Rivers recently slipped into a coma during the course of a fairly routine surgery on her vocal chords, fans across the world wished her a full and speedy recovery. This is what normal people do.
However, as you can see from the Twitter screenshot above, Marene belongs to the ranks of the atypical, to put it as kindly as I can. And yes, as you may have guessed, she is hardly alone, but a mere example of the hatred and vitriol people find it far too easy to express against people they disagree with.
Joan Rivers crime, if you want to call it that, in the eyes of people such as Marene, was in voicing her support for the state of Israel-including their right to defend themselves from missile attacks from the Hamas terrorist of Palestine, and presumably from anyone else that would attack them.
The real irony is in the invocation of the far-eastern concept of karma, something which is common among a lot of the people spewing their hate at Joan Rivers. Karma is very similar in scope to the Wiccan philosophy called the Law Of Three-They both warn against the consequences of harmful actions, words, and thoughts. To sum it up in a nutshell, your own negativity will always come back to bite you in the ass.
The people who hate Joan Rivers might do well to consider that. Even if you think you have a good reason to hate her, or anybody, that hate is hurting nobody but yourself-eating at you from the inside out. Now to be sure, I doubt that these people really spend an inordinate amount of time hating on Joan Rivers, but the fact that they took the time to express this hate is indicative of a borderline personality trait that can't be a positive force in anybody's life-most especially their own.
As such, it's easy to see why these people-in this case, mostly far left radicals-find it so easy to express support for such terrorist organizations as Hamas. In these people, they see their own inner rage and hatred acted out by proxy. I almost feel sorry for them. But that might bring about some really bad karma in it's own right, so excuse me while I purge myself of such negativity.
Oh, and in conclusion, shame on you Marene.UPDATE:
Unfortunately, Marene and all the others got their wishes. Joan Rivers, who had been out of ICU and transferred to a private room, died. According to her daughter Melissa, courtesy of Barely A Blog -
It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers. She passed peacefully at 1:17 p.m. surrounded by family and close friends…”
If anything good comes out of this, maybe people will start to reconsider the necessity of such surgical procedures which are necessary only in their minds. First Michael Jackson, now Joan, and who knows how many other lesser known people whose lives were ended or otherwise drastically affected for the worse by what is in the majority of cases an unnecessary procedure.
Some people become addicted to the procedure, unfortunately, and this would seem to be the case with Joan.
RIP
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
The Last Season Of Sons Of Anarchy
I'll definitely be watching, and if you like intense, no-holds barred, high quality television, so should you. Sons of Anarchy, of course, airs on FX, which is for me the new gold standard of non-premium cable television.
Kurt Sutter, the producer of the show, has decided to go all out. Walton Goggins will be making a return appearance as transvestite prostitute Venus Van Dam; Marilyn Manson has been tapped to play a White Supremacist; Drea DeMatteo is back in the picture as Jax's ex; and perhaps best of all, Courtney Love will be on board as a fifty-something preschool teacher.
