For example, I understand about planets being formed because [...]]]> I know that advanced physics is a very complicated subject. I’m also aware that I’m not even an amateur when it comes to black holes and the physics involved, I’m merely an interested fiddler. I do however, understand the basic physical principles behind many things.

For example, I understand about planets being formed because mass clumps together, I understand that the gravity there can cause it to compress and heat up, I understand black holes being formed because there is somuch mass that the whole thing collapses and compresses to a very small space. I also understand how the gravity well created by a black hole won’t allow anything to escape, even light, and thus we have an event horizon. The line in space past which light can’t escape where before it can.

Now in my simple mind we should be able to lower some sensors on a bit of rope beyond the event horizon and see what is there. Ok, It’ll have to be strong rope but the principle is still the same.

What I don’t understand is how we can change some parameters such as angular velocity and make the event horizon vanish. What sort of energy requirement is that going to take? But isn’t that simply spinning the black hole to reduce it’s gravity anyway? Simply moving the event horizon nearing the singularity itself. Still leaving the singularity shrouded though. And if you made the angular velocity sufficient to remove the event horizon surely it wouldn’t be a black hole then? It’ll just be a large spinning mass on the verge of being a black hole. Better get working on a very long yet stong piece of string then if you want to see beyond the event horizon.

I was particularly impressed with the phrase ‘Getting rid of the event horizon is simply a question of increasing the angular momentum and …..’ A new definition of the word simply I fear.

If you work too hard, there is never any time for her. If you don’t work enough, you are a [...]]]>

If you put a woman on a pedestal and try to protect her from the rat race, you are a male chauvinist.
If you stay home and do the housework, you are a pansy.

If you work too hard, there is never any time for her.
If you don’t work enough, you are a good-for-nothing bum.

If she has a boring repetitive job with low pay, it is exploitation.
If you have a boring repetitive job with low pay, you should get off your lazy behind and find something better.

If you get a promotion ahead of her, that is favouritism.
If she gets a job ahead of you, its affirmative action.

If you mention how nice she look sits, it is sexual harassment.
If you keep quiet, its male indifference.

If you cry, you are a wimp.
If you don’t, you are an insensitive bastard.

If you make a decision without consulting her, you are a chauvinist.
If she makes a decision without consulting you, she is a liberated woman.

If you ask her to do something she doesn’t enjoy, that is domination.
If she asks you, it’s a favor.

If you appreciate the female form, you are a pervert.
If you don’t, you are gay.

If you like a woman to shave her legs, wear sexy lingerie and keep in shape, you are sexist.
If you don’t, you are unromantic.

If you try to keep yourself in shape, you are vain.
If you don’t, you are a slob.

If you buy her flowers, you are after something.
If you don’t, you are not thoughtful.

If you are proud of your achievements, you are full of yourself.
If you are not, you are not ambitious.

If she has a headache, she is tired.
If you have a headache, you don’t love her anymore.

If you want it too often, you are over sexed.
If you don’t, there must be someone else.

It is a joke but like all jokes built on truth. So what do we learn from all this? Well we learn that you can’t win no matter what you do. You both need to be looking at things from the same direction so that you see the same things. Then you will be happy. Not many couples actually do this. Most of us have to do a bit of compromising and adapt to the relationships requirements. This compromise is necessary but it is where we get everything wrong.

Every person has an invisible mental list of their needs, wants and don’t cares. The needs must be met to keep them happy where as the wants are simply the icing on the cake the don’t cares you don’t even think about. Not having your needs met leads to unhappiness and eventually the destruction of the relationship for you. Not having wants met usually means you adapt to replace those wants with attainable wants but still dream about them when you can. Defining these lists is an ongoing process throughout your life and when push comes to shove you can find that sometimes they change due to circumstances. Usually because you didn’t actually really think about them properly and sometimes it is because you are getting older and your requirements have changed. Needs lists are usually short while the wants list is much longer. Don’t cares is everything else on the planet so is too big to even quantify and is rarely discussed.

For example you may have a need for a redhead with big boobs. You also want sex every day. You meet someone who meets this and you get on well eventually getting married. Then you discover she has dyed her hair and she is really a brunette and her boobs are falsies. Do you divorce her? Of course not, well not generally, because the red hair and the boobs were false needs. She had what was needed and it wasn’t even on the list.

Usually though the issue is one of trust or behavior. She wants the nice guy with the easy come easy go attitude but doesn’t like the fact he won’t settle with one woman. So she decides she will get closest to him and she can put up with his womanizing. She puts faithfulness down as a want as she believes she can handle it. It leads to arguments, getting pregnant to tie him in, one of them killing the other or just breaking up all because she needs him to be faithful and eventually it wears her down. Swap the sexes in all these examples if you wish as they work both ways.

This means that you need to be honest from the outset. Tell it as it is but at the same time bear in mind you are dealing with another human being, one that deserves respect so you need to be careful in your choice of words. You also need to take into consideration where you are on the relationship ladder so you don’t frighten them off with your wants of kinky sex with midgets. Each relationship has a ladder and at each rung certain things become available. A bit like games where when you master one skill other options become available. The first rung is where you actually are introduced or bump into the person and depending on the options taken and the result you could move on to the second and so on. Either continually moving up the ladder or jumping off onto another ladder.

So while you are being honest you are also relying on your partner to be honest as well. After all if there is something on their needs that you just cannot meet then ultimately that relationship is in trouble. While they fool themselves that it is a want or something that you will change then you are basically living a lie. It leads to distrust and arguments. But you cannot keep asking questions to ensure that you are all on the same page as repeated questions makes it sound like you don’t believe them and is associated with jealousy. Also if you are at the point of moving between different rungs of the ladder then questions can be taken out of context and can frighten some off.

With all this it’s a wonder that relationships work at all. Most people have few needs, honesty, trust, treated fairly, a couple of brain cells and decent conversation. Wants range from kinky sex to being left alone for hours on end. It’s only because we are so adaptable that relationships last any length of time at all.

However, we know that relationships nowadays are not lasting as long as they used to. Why is that? Well in my highly biased viewpoint it is because of the changes wrought in society by our successive governments means that despite the fact you never actually really had anything in common with someone else that one of you had a child which is the only ticket you need for a life on someone else’s tab. It means you can have all the benefits of having a relationship but without actually having to put up with him. So taking the step, what was a big deal long ago, of having a baby is nowhere near as risky as it was. So in an attempt to force him to meet your needs when he wasn’t before you make a choice for all three of you.

It’s actually a wonder and a sign of how adaptable people are than any long term relationships work at all.

As a matter of interest though. It does explain how the bad boys get so much nookie. Girls like bad boys, they are looking for protectors and someone that will ensure they are kept well. Bad guys appear tough and exciting. That and the fact they are willing to lie like crazy means that they can always ensure that they appear to be meeting their women’s needs. It doesn’t matter it is a lie because she believes it and by the time she finds out the truth he will be ready to move on to the next. Lying gives short term gains because telling the truth means that they would miss out to the decent ones who tell the truth.

Maybe this is a reflection on why our society is going downhill. All the bad guys are having the babies, with multiple mothers, and not giving them positive role models as they drink and smoke their way through their dole money while the kids grow up whilst the couples we should be encouraging and the ones paying for it all are having only one or two children and struggling to make ends meet. I’m not convinced either that this is all a bad thing when you look at the bunch of wimps the rest of us have become.

Anyway, my view is simple. I’ve decided that I’m too opinionated to keep an intelligent woman going so I’ll just have to settle for a less argumentative one that will put up with my quirks. I’m honest and what you see is what you get so as long as that is OK at the start it will cut down on the arguments. The reason I can’t lie is that I’ve found that if I make myself to be someone else there is always something wrong with that so I get earache for being something I’m not and I have the hassle of remembering and keeping my lies together. If I am who I am I still get earache but at least I don’t have to worry if it’s because I’ve been caught out or it’s the alter ego I know it’s me. Nice and simple.

So I suggest that those who want to build and keep a long and lasting relationship be honest with each other, excluding is her ass fat in this, it’s always a trick question, be trustworthy, you always get caught out, and find things you can do together and each have something you can do on your own and keep talking to each other, you don’t always have to agree, it’s better if you don’t but don’t fall out over things. Remember and be clear on both your needs. Keep the basic and the rest will fall into place depending on both your needs. Nothing too complicated with that is there.

Taking all this into consideration I really wonder how any of our species have managed to have any long term relationships at all. We must all have very few needs and the ability to ignore facts staring us in the face.  Oh wait! A definition of our society as a whole.

My take on that is that you are young and have no money you want some and feel others in your situation deserve [...]]]> We have all heard the phrase ‘If you are young and not a Socialist you have no heart and if you are old and not a Conservative you have no brains’.

My take on that is that you are young and have no money you want some and feel others in your situation deserve some as well from all those that have plenty. That’s the Socialist way. Then as you have worked your way through life to scrimp and save and bring up a family you want to keep that which you have sweated and worked so hard for.

If that was true then our love for socialism would be short because there are a lot more older people than younger people and that ratio is increasing. So why does Socialism get so many supporters every generation or so?

Well, I think that it our nature to be caring to others. Now before you laugh think about it. We are selfish creatures. We have needs and wants.

Examples of needs are food, shelter and protection. Examples of wants are to have friends, procreate and have nice toys. Both basic lists and everyone will have different views on what should be in there.

So when our needs are not being met we hold on tightly to what we have, sharing with no one and charity is out of the question. Once our needs are met and we feel comfortable that it will continue to do so then we are willing to share some things with others close to us and spend money on status stuff like toys and presents for the other sex. Then once we feel comfortable that our needs and wants are met we give more to others including charity and want to help others less fortunate. Our caring side is freed by because we no longer need to be totally selfish and we do like to help people where we can.

This is why we had wealthy landowners in the past providing poorhouses, medical care and schools. We have people now who provide law and medical care free of charge to poor people outside the legislation that requires it. Sometimes barely making a living themselves, in comparison to others of their skill sets. Bill Gates as his ilk providing aid to Africa all with their own money. Unlike our government which, provides aid to Africa etc. with borrowed money. Who in their right mind borrows money to give away whilst your own people, those you are supposed to be working for, are left with the ever increasing bills and to rub salt in the wounds the people that need the aid where we send it don’t get it either as it’s largely swallowed up by middlemen.

So we elect a Socialist government because they say they will create Social Justice and that is where it goes wrong because there is no such thing as Social Justice. It just creates injustice because we all have different requirement on what we consider to be enough for our needs and sliding scales on what we consider to be enough for our wants. Some think if your needs are met then you should help others, others who may have few needs think that our needs are being selfish and we should settle for less. Some of us have bigger, more expensive houses, others have more kids, others have expensive hobbies and so the amount we want to share differs. That isn’t good enough for those who feel strongly enough about what they call social justice and they raise and support champions who are willing to take via force from the others what they do not want to give willingly. They don’t see that it will impact them as, after all, they are not rich or even well off, and anyway it’s just a bit more. Thus Socialists rise to power to force people to do what they did freely before and because they are inefficient they destroy the economy in the process of making their ideal world and turn those that gave into people fighting to hold on to everything as they no longer can meet their needs and wants and need to keep what they have just to meet their own requirements. Real charity for others drops. It takes a while but it always happens. Then their support goes and we are back at the beginning again. Economy in bad shape. People sticking in local communities and having no interest in anyone else no matter how badly off they are. Socialism proved, yet again, that it doesn’t work and people wondering why we even thought it would.

So in quite a few years when the debts are paid and we have amassed some more wealth we will do the exactly the same thing again and they will again lead the country into the same situation.

Empty heads vote Socialists in and empty pockets vote them out.

The only real cure is education. The Socialists know that and that’s why they fill the schools with so many socialist drones and ensure that they are poorly educated. Sure kids leave with good grades but today 5 grade ‘A’s will get you a job flipping burgers from a street stand and anything less means you can’t read or write. It’s ‘A*’s that count now, anything less means they are indoctrinated into obeying the authority of that state and will put up with anything it does to them.

We must change it. We need to teach the basics. Maths, English, Basic Economics (at the very least it will help them manage their finances) and Basic Logical Thinking. How to work things out from facts and take less on faith. Question what is said and does it make sense. Too often even the brightest among us takes a lot on faith. I’ve done it myself.

Although it may not help though. The need to help others can override logic. Although one day we will have enough wealth to cover all our social programmes. I think we were almost there if we changed the way we looked at certain things.  By looking at each issue differently and using logic we could make them manageable. Maybe next time we have some spare pennies.

Or if we develop our FTL capability we could we off on our ‘Wagontrain to the skies’ where we will probably do the same things there once we reach that point in society.

Human nature is just too strong to overcome with legislation and/or logic.

Now it appears that those willing to [...]]]> In the past I have said that Socialism doesn’t work because we are not like ants and we are inherently selfish.   Socialism requires the drones to sacrifice something of themselves in some way so the whole colony benefits.   Ants will all sacrifice their lives for the colony.

Now it appears that those willing to sacrifice themselves for their own colonies are not so willing to do the same for other colonies.  To the extent that they mutiny and sabotage the colony when they are enslaved.   Read here.   Ants are more like humans than I thought.

Of course ants don’t look at other ants watching Jeremy Kyle and benefiting from their labour then changing their minds or every colony would be in turmoil like we are under a Socialist government.

Those base instincts cover more of the animal kingdom than I thought.

The latest bit of legislation, the Internet addresses being recorded, although [...]]]> Technology is a double edged sword. Stalin would have loved the database and analysis technology available today and it’s got to the stage where even the most docile among us is aware of what is going on and feeling a glimmer of concern.

The latest bit of legislation, the Internet addresses being recorded, although talked about all out of proportion is only the latest bit of surveillance by our Police state and not even the most dangerous. I suspect it is the straw that broke the camel’s back though.

I’ve looked around since my ‘shoes in the machines‘ post and looked to see what we can do. Thinking about it made me realise how far we already are down the path so I though I should put a stake in the ground first. So here we go.

For years we have been monitored and recorded, for our own good, and of course to make sure we have paid all we can.

The PNC (Police National Computer) has known about any interface you had with Plod. In the olden days it was facts on criminal actions only. Over the last decade it has become a mixture of fact, innuendo and supposition. So we have been surveilled for a while know but as it was by stealth and we just accepted it bit by bit because we never thought for a moment our government would be the enemy.

So basically we have several areas where are monitored and recorded. Key personal areas are;

Name
Home
Financial
Health
Car
Travel
Phone

I’m sure you can think of many more depending on your own interactions with the state. So as you can see a vast amount of data is already available to whoever wants to look. However, as it was in disparate databases it was not quite as encompassing as it is when all the databases are linked together where it becomes a very powerful and uncontrollable tool.   Remember all of the above categories are already recorded and maintained under penalty of law. However it should be considered that almost every one of the above categories is being expanded significantly at the moment with the intention of the state having full disclosure.

If you think I’m exaggerating then look what extra data will be gathered under your name with ID cards. Council snoops will be counting windows in your home for a window tax (or a view tax and some more tax anyway). All your UK financial data is already held and Gordo wants access to any offshore funds you have as well. I’d be very wary about telling your doctor you have some mental illness as you never know who will be reading it. Thinking about it your medical record could be looked at by someone like your insurance company. Mmmm. Then there is the proposal to put ANPR(Automatic Number Plate Recognition) on every major road to record your car journeys.  The KGB would have loved that.   You now have to fill out forms if you are going abroad stating your foreign travel itinerary, cards used, Email addresses etc. just like the old KGB ways we laughed so much about.   Finally, your phone records are kept for trawling for several years. This will be linked with the PNC, or an upgraded DB, which already holds links of your known associates.

So the latest to be added, simply recording the senders and receivers of Emails, your web destinations and who you phone on the Internet is really a small step compared to all that. The Email addresses and IP phone details will complete the electronic loop for all your associates although I have heard that you are only separated by 6 people from anyone else so it must be interesting to see the software filters on that. However without the contents being recorded for any of this it can only be used for association as web pages change, Emails are deleted and IP phone calls rarely recorded. Association seems to be very important here. However, expect it to be expanded soon and the contents recorded. That would make some very interesting files to run contents searches on weekly while we do our weekly search for the guilty.

Soon they will have fingers in every aspect of your lives and merely by selecting a few sentences and the subjects of web sites they will be able to get anyone they want out of the way via the courts. Better than going for a walk in the woods but life ruining in another way.

So what can you do?

Well writing to your MP is out of the question. Your MP is an accomplice to your subjugation.

So in a couple of upcoming articles I’m going to make some suggestions about what you can do to help throw your shoes in the machines. It’s not much but will give you a bit of satisfaction. Until we get blown up or arrested of course.

One of, the many, [...]]]> Juan Enriquez. A Futurist. A guy who is living and driving forwards what I have just talked about as a hope.  It seems that I am one also as I believe that the progress we are making now will pay off.   A Libertarian Futurist.  Could be a new political party there.

One of, the many, differences between him and I is that he seems not to worry about the collapse of society. I hope it is because he knows a lot more than I do and sees it as a minor hiccup in the way forward.  I agree that progress is made slowly but I am selfish and unless it is really minor even our children could miss out.  I want to be part of that future and go out into space with my own spaceship and see what is out there.

I found it amusing that he also talks about the universe and evolution, you know the boring stuff I was doing as background.

With people like him at the helm, and his bio, shows him in a leading role in venture capital then it explains why so much progress has been made despite what is going on in the world. I will have to keep an eye on his TED presentations.  It seems he also has interests in energy and lab grown teeth although he does believe that businesses drive innovation out of the market and that governments should intervene.  Something I’m against.

Watch his latest presentation here.

Just to show where we [...]]]> I just want to point out something that we need to put on the table as a hurdle in our progress and by hurdle I mean a doozie.   It is where we fit in the cosmos and the hurdles we must overcome for our species survival in my opinion.

Just to show where we fit in the universe.   We can start with our earth.  It is approximately 8 thousand miles in diameter.   To put this in perspective we can look at this article where the earth is represented by a peppercorn.   Read here.   (It will open in a popup which you can close to return here)

I won’t copy it but you must read the article in full to get an idea of the scale of the solar system and the issues we have.  The rest of the this article refers to data from that article.

Now we have done that at the scale we are working on for the Earth at a peppercorn the nearest star to our sun is Proxima Centauri at 4.2 such light-years and would be 4000 miles away at that scale.   Our nearest star.   4000 real miles at that scale. Unbelievable distances.   This is just our local part of our own galaxy, our back garden so to speak.  Then we have our street, the Orion Arm (5000 light years and contains 600 million stars) followed by our town, The Milky Way Galaxy.   The Milky Way itself is 50 thousand light years across and contains 200 billion stars.  It is just one galaxy of so many we can’t count them.

In our *cough* local group, within approx 5 million light years we have two additional galaxies, Andromeda and Triangulum. And as we move out this expands until we see that the visible universe is 14 billion light years across.   It contains 350 billion large galaxies, 7 trillion dwarf galaxies and those have 30 billion trillion (3×10²²) stars.     Read more here if you are interested.    The size of the whole universe is estimated at 93 billion light years across and is growing all the time.  It too is evolving, changing as new galaxies are created and old ones destroyed, stars created long before our sun have died and collapsed and black holes are swallowing up anything they touch.  It’s all happening so slow and so far away that to us looking out nothing is happening.

The sheer size of the place and where we fit in makes you wonder about what is out there that our puny minds can’t even imagine.

Not sure exactly where this part fits in with a deity.   Maybe the cosmos is just decoration on the wall where the deity keeps its Petri dish and it’s just an illusion or it could very well be that the deity is just so busy with more interesting species.  93 billion light years is a bit of a trek.

So here we are.    Pure mathematics says that we are not alone in the universe.   It is unlikely in the extreme that we are unique and thus we are insignificant, our petty squabbles, even if we were to destroy ourselves and this world it means nothing to the cosmos.   If life evolved here in a trillion to one chance then life can evolve somewhere else where there is 30 billion such chances in the visible universe alone.   Whether we would ever meet anyone is an entirely different thing.  We don’t seem to be on a local bus route but we may be within reach of some redneck backwater if all the UFO spotters are right.

Currently we are stuck on this planet.  Everything needs room to grow and the earth cannot contain our biological need to grow and live.    We need to find a way to do that.   Sci-Fi points us to several options that science has identified but so far we have made no move along that path since the US travelled to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s although there is talk about sending someone to Mars.    It’s still a small step as we can see from above in our scale model it’s 2.4 inches from the earth to the moon, and 14 yards from the earth to Mars while it is 4000 miles to the nearest star.    However, although it is a small step it is a significant one.  Every journey starts with a single step.   We need more steps and more people working on making those steps longer and with less time between them.

In my opinion this is the single most important long term project that we have as a species and yet we are doing virtually nothing in this field.  Everything is handled short term and thus we don’t really look at going into space beyond our solar system while we know for certain that one planet exists there that supports life and we are already on it.