Selfish Meme

Social media is selfish, people on Twitter for instance will follow expecting to be follow back.  Even people’s profiles state that they will follow you back if you follow them.  And how many friends do you have on Facebook that you actually know personally in the flesh, spoken to face to face.

I have noticed recently having promoted this blog using Twitter using various hash-tags for each post that more people are following me and based upon their own tweets it would seem that they had not bothered to read my actual blog post.  If they had they probably not have followed me, they have assumed from the hash-tag that I would be interested in their tweets.  I have been added into an addiction list based upon the #drug I put on blog post about coffee, so if you want people to follow you use lots of hash-tags.

It is not necessarily just the Internet, how often do you ask someone how they are expecting them to ask you the same so can tell them what bad day you are having?  The Internet (Social Media) however seems to have extended our selfish capabilities by giving us different tools to let the world know you exist.  Would this then be also a selfish blog?

I would like to think my blog is my altruism kicking in, whilst I do promote on Google+ and Twitter the reason I want people to read it is because they may find it interesting and/or informative.

Social Media is the perfect transport for the selfish meme, not all memes are Internet based at least not yet.

Here is an example of a Meme that never dies: Downfall

Particularly funny and very topical, some might say it is not actually selfish?!?

Planned Chaos

This is my very last post on the EU referendum after this I am moving on to other things.  Looking back on the two campaigns it seems to me that the Remain bunch were not trying particular hard at all, one would think they were trying to lose.  Was Cameron looking for a good excuse to resign?  Both France and Germany did there level best to scare us into staying like that has ever worked historically.  I know what you are thinking that it is beginning sound very conspiracy theory, still it seems a little odd.

Then we have Nigel Farage's statement about not guaranteeing £350 million to the NHS, the perfect man for the job not an MP no longer a MEP since the exit.  I am just waiting for the next big scandal in Westminster regarding exactly how much the EU referendum cost the taxpayer.  It definitely feels like the Government used the British public in a gigantic magic trick, pick any card and we ended up with one they wanted to us take.  Why do you think Farage was happy to sit on national television and tell everyone that the main marketing slogan on the side of the bus was a lie.

As for the Bank of England and the £250 million injection has it happened or not?  They said they willing to do it:

The Bank of England announced it will make a further £250 billion available to banks in a bid to steady the markets following the dramatic post-Brexit crash.

The thing is the FTSE made a significant recovery by the close of business on Friday, does the Bank of England really want to risk a hike in inflation?

This vote has split the nation in two but how long will it last, well Britain's Got Talent does not start again until next year so I will be interested to see what misdirection(s) happen next.

I am being extremely cynical or just good at reading into between lines, only the future knows for sure.  Ironic that half of us are stuck in the past, which half is anybodies guess.

Additional Note: Was it all a pointless vote and we will have to wait for an Act of Parliament to trigger Article 50 so we can leave. The lights are still on.

The Hokey Pokey

It took just six hours for the FTSE to recover, quite a feat indeed.  Hopefully now the Bank of England will not have to step in with a £250 billion injection.

The FTSE 100 recovered from the initial shock of Britain's decision to leave the European Union to end 3.15% lower at 6,138.69 which, to add context, is higher than last Friday's close.

However it is not all roses just yet there are still lot of companies that have not recovered from the free fall on Friday morning (see the article in full above).  Is it however just a storm in a tea cup or perhaps the quiet before the storm, who knows.

It is however definitely the end of the world as we know it or at least to 48% of the population whereas 52% are looking forward to brighter future and there is some talk of putting the 'Great' back into Britain.  I am pretty sure that was when Crackerjack was on BBC1 at 4:55, Friday or Saturday I cannot remember.  Still anything is possible really now we have put chaos into the driving seat or is that Boris.

Whilst the FTSE has recovered somewhat the Pound is:

The pound was down 9% against the US dollar and down around 7% against the Euro.

Which will reduce our spending power abroad, personally I prefer the British Summer.  I am still hoping for a really good thunder storm, I think Thor is currently on Economy 7 these days.

The irony is the rest of the universe have not noticed they were watching the other side.

Cock Up!

What are the immediate effects of Britain leaving the EU, aside from Nigel Farage's u turn on NHS spending:

“No I can’t [guarantee it], and I would never have made that claim. That was one of the mistakes that I think the Leave campaign made,” he said.

When it was pointed out that Vote Leave emblazoned the £350 million claim onto the side of a tour bus and drove it around the country, Mr Farage said.
“It wasn’t one of my adverts – I can assure you! I think they made a mistake in doing that.

Translation is pretty basic: GOTCHA!

In other news the FTSE dropped by more than 8% which is a lost of £140 billion wiped from the market, taking us back in time to 1985.  The Bank of England responded saying that they intend to inject £250 billion back into economy to stabilize the markets.  The problem with that is you are effectively printing more money which will devalue the Pound further than it already has dropped today.

Inflation will rise also which is never a good thing:

"Fall in value of savings. If people have cash savings, then inflation will erode the value  of your savings. £1 million marks in 1921 was a lot. But, two years later, your savings would have become worthless. High inflation can also reduce the incentive to save.

Menu costs. If inflation is very high then it becomes harder to make transactions. Prices frequently change. Firms have to spend more on changing price lists. In the hyperinflation of Germany, prices rose so rapidly, people used to get paid twice a day. If you didn’t buy bread straight away, it would become too expensive. This destabilizes an economy.

Uncertainty and confusion. High inflation creates uncertainty. Periods of high inflation discourage firms from investing and can lead to lower economic growth."

Quote from: Economics Help

Increased inflation may force the Bank of England to raise interest rates in attempt to attract investors back to Britain.  Which is good thing for savers and bad thing for people with mortgages and those looking to buy. How I wish I made more over-payments on my mortgage instead of enjoying myself.

A lower Pound does mean UK exports will be cheaper in theory although should we exit the single market in 5 years time the tariffs we will end paying will probably offset the profits achieved.  UK imports however will become more expensive and we do import a lot.  Obviously this will push prices up!

In April 2016 the value of exports (EU and Non-EU) increased to £25.0 billion, and imports (EU and Non-EU) increased to £41.0 billion, compared with last month. Consequently the UK is a net importer this month, with imports exceeding exports by £16.0 billion.

Quote from: HM Revenue & Customs

Well done to 52% of the population of Britain you have managed Cock Up the economy, you have nobody to blame but yourselves this time.

This is just the thin of the wedge!

Where Anything is Possible

Next Thursday is the EU referendum and sorting all the arguments is a complete nightmare but lets start by looking at the bigger picture that is currently evolving from the EU camp first the German finance minister threatens Britain that we would not be allowed to enter the single market if we left and now the French minister Mr Macron says:

"Leaving the EU would mean the 'Guernseyfication' of the UK, which would then be a little country on the world scale. It would isolate itself and become a trading post and arbitration place at Europe's border."

It seems to me that the EU are doing their best to scare us and perhaps they think it is a little bit of reverse psychology in that they pushing us away to make us stay.  No offense to the voters out there but that is probably a little too clever for anyone to pick up on.  The last time Germany made threats we ended up with two world wars and I am sure nobody in their right minds wants to see that again.

What does it mean to be in the single market (good and bad):

• Free movement of goods - no customs at borders, goods are inspected at the traders premises
• No tax on goods - that's a good thing.
• Free movement of capital - this is brilliant news for terrorists far easy to conduct Money laundering.
• Free movement of services - which includes Internet purchases, how much do you buy from Internet because it is cheaper?
• Freedom of establishment - Set up a company anywhere in the EU (barring non-profit) great for avoiding paying taxes (sometimes)
• Digital Single Market - Internet, Telecoms (no more roaming charges), Delivery rates, copyright
• Free movement of persons - That means anyone in the EU can work, play or retire anywhere else in the EU plus there are no border controls.

The key issue is Freedom, remove these freedoms from the EU and you get a Police state.  Leaving the EU means leaving those freedoms behind will that change our internal freedoms hopefully not but by leaving we would be entering unknown territory effectively swapping the order of freedom with the chaos of freedom.  Chaos is where anything is possible good or bad.  Which would you prefer to do stay safe in the status quo or risk everyone's freedom, are we that selfish?.

Should we leave then other countries may decide to leave too which could create a snowballing effect to the breaking apart of the EU.  We would back to the 1940s (or worse the 1920s and the depression) and you only need one country to get too ambitious.  History repeats itself again and again, humanity makes it look easy.

Then you will have World War III, it is as simple as that (by 2030).

We all live on the planet for a short time and we are all abysmal at getting along with one another.  Mostly because we want more.

When I first started writing this article I was prepared to be swayed to the leavers side, I thought rocking the boat would be a good idea that chaos in a limited form would be okay but when you follow the simple logic through, the future prospect of a war in Europe is too great to ignore.  I have not directly experienced war (only the desensitized knowledge of what I see on the news) but my parents have.  They do not talk about it, why would want to talk about something that made you feel completely helpless.  In World War I we lost a complete generation of men and women, the second version was far worse.  A lot of the voters in this country have never known war and probably do not see it as a potential future threat but it is very real.

The problem is that most people do look that far ahead maybe five years maximum me included in fact I barely look a year ahead.  With a decision like this you have to look at least twenty to fifty years ahead which could be quite easily beyond many the current voters life spans but it is not beyond their children's.  When I give to charity it is always a children's one because they are our future, should we vote to leave then we could be taking their future from them.  How selfish are we?

There are arguments on both sides but this is the only one that really matters.

Chaos without Order is Anarchy and that only leads to a death.

Sugar Lottery & Rocket Fuel

In the late 80's I was working for a large manufacturing company in Rochester, UK.  The company had a number of Maxpax coffee machines although technically at the time all they did was dispense hot water and sugar with a cup filled with what looked like the cremated remains of a vole.  I can only assume they have improved over the years I have not used any since.  In the fact the best coffee machine ever was at an Italian bank in London where I worked for a brief period, no surprise there.  For a drinks machine it was pretty amazing plus it did drinkable tea which is rare at the best of times (do not remember the make of the machine).

I have digressed somewhat back to Maxpax machines, the one behind my office had an intermittent fault when you pressed the button for sugar.  Basically you got your cup filled with some weird powder put it under the sugar nozzle and press the button then moved it to the water nozzle and press the hot water button (it did cold too).  The problem was every time you press the button for sugar you were instantly entered into the Sugar Lottery by the Maxpax Universe which is to say if you were extremely unlucky enough to win then the sugar coming out of the nozzle would not stop until the machine had run out of sugar which normally took three or four empty cups.  At least you would not taste whatever was in the cup in the first place if you managed to pull the cup free in time and put an empty cup in its place.

The only thing that the machine was really used for was the hot and cold water plus the occasional bountiful supply of free sugar.  It was ten pence a cup I think.  In its later years they did a powdery orange flavour which was sort of passable on a hot day.

During this time I came across an instant coffee called Rocket Fuel made by Percol which I drank black without sugar, the milk from the Maxpax machine as I recall was another indiscernible white powder which definitely was not milk at least not my understanding of what milk is.

Rocket Fuel back then was indeed exactly what it said on the jar a serious energy boost!

If you have caffeine with sugar it tends to bring you back down although it messes with your blood sugar levels and you end up with food cravings that you do not really need. 

Did you know caffeine is a habit-forming drug?

At the time I was drinking on average five to six mugs a day.  I do not remember any warning labels on jars at the time maybe I missed them.

A couple of years ago I cut out all caffeine based drinks, the withdrawal symptoms were not pleasant for me or my co-workers.  I still have the occasional cup of tea or coffee maybe one a week that's my limit these days.

They stopped selling Rocket Fuel at the place I bought my food from back then however I just checked on Amazon and they sell it quite cheaply I am almost tempted to buy a jar: Rocket Fuel

Then again perhaps not.

Jetsam #2

Blue is the new fashion for Thieves.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/10/how_do_you_foil_apple_wear_blue/

Restarts and Updates Required.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/jun/13/pound-and-shares-hit-by-brexit-and-growth-fears-business-live

The return to hard copy or a mass exodus to Instagram

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/13/facebook-delete-photos-moments-app

It’s Curry but not as we know it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/seagull-tikka-masala-curry-orange_uk_5759854ee4b0069193654160?edition=uk&utm_hp_ref=uk-weird-news

Dogging Ghosts

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/hull-ghost-hunters-porn-shoot-graveyard_uk_5751808ae4b040e3e8197d26?edition=uk&utm_hp_ref=uk-weird-news

Time of the Vampyr

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/16/blood-moon-in-pictures-total-supermoon-lunar-eclipse-seen-around/

Sounds like a Self Fulfilling Prophecy…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/31/scientists-and-insurers-develop-death-clock-to-predict-when-cust/

There Be Dragons.

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/23313/20160603/rare-baby-dragons-hatch-ancient-slovenian-cave.htm

Elvis is not dead he is on the Ascension B Ark.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/679338/Bizarre-conspiracists-condemned-for-claiming-Nasa-scientist-killed-by-aliens

Last Laugh...

When you look at the theory of evolution you have to understand the timescales involved most people do no get to grips with how big they really are.  You are looking at millions of years, mankind has been knocking around for about ten thousand years which is a nth of the time that organic species on the planet have been evolving.

People also look at evolution as purely the survival of the fittest which is a considerable simplification, a better one would be:

...is the process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits.

Mankind's reign upon the planet has been a very short one compared to the age of the planet (4.5 billion years).  We think because we are the dominant species (currently), that somehow that makes us above evolution or nature for that matter.  Anybody that has been at the mercy of extreme weather or an earthquake will I think beg to differ.

Medical science, morals and ethics have progressed to point that babies that were considered to be unhealthy, premature or just undesirable are no longer killed at birth.  Survival is not necessarily about the fittest anymore although to apply evolution to man will take longer than just a mere ten thousand years.  The question is does our science allow us to side step evolution or will mother nature have the last laugh.

Disease is Mother nature's scythe and whilst we have stamped out many diseases/viruses there are many more out there that becoming resistance to man's medicine.  Some viruses are jumping from animal to man for instance the avian bird flu or mad cow disease.  Mother nature does not have a plan it is just a blind watchmaker to paraphrase Richard Dawkins.  At the cellular level viruses can and do evolve faster, you are not looking at millions of years they can make billions of copies of themselves in day.  Each copy could have a error/mutation which may make it stronger/resistant to attack or not as the case may be.

Who will have the last laugh, I will probably never know in my lifetime unless the Universe decides to use the Earth as target practice with an asteroid or two.

Personally I am betting on the blind watchmaker.

Tequila Salt Lime (TSL) - Confectionary Alternative

Billionaire Bites Mexican Variant 

(Copyright 2016/Patent Pending)

Fudge Brownie Base with Tequila

For the brownie mix I buy (cheat) Betty Crocker’s fudge brownie mix (added ingredients needs 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons of water, 3 tablespoons of Tequila (San Jose))

Grease the tin with margarine and then put grease-proof paper into tin, the paper will stick to the tin.  Grease the grease-proof paper and dust the bottom of the tin with sieved coco powder.

Follow the instructions on the back of the packet (swapping water for Tequila as above).

Remove the tin from the oven place on a cool tray for about 10-15 minutes then put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to cool down.

Caramel Middle (Salted)

Next make the caramel using (after the 30 minutes has passed):

• 100g of dark brown sugar
• 100g of unsalted butter
• 397g Tin of Condensed milk
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of Golden Syrup
• 1 teaspoon of Fleur de Sea (Sea Salt flakes)

Put sugar and butter into a saucepan (medium sized) and put on the heat (a little above medium) stir until all the butter has melted.

Add the Condensed milk, Sea Salt Flakes and Maple Syrup.  Turn up the heat to max and continue to stir until it is boiling.

Turn it down a little just so that it keeps simmering.  Keep stirring until the colour changes from dark brown to more of a golden colour and has thickened takes a few minutes (lots of stirring).  Remove from the heat.

Take the tin of brownie mix from the fridge and pour the caramel on top, use gravity to get into the corners.  Put back into the fridge for about an hour, needs to be a little soft before you put the chocolate on top.

Chocolate Topping (Zest of Lime)

This next bit is entirely up to you on how you like your chocolate to taste but I used 450g of melted chocolate:

• 150g Swiss Dark Chocolate
• 150g Swiss Milk Chocolate
• 150g Swiss White Chocolate
• Zest of 4 or 5 limes

To melt the chocolate I break it into pieces and put into a pyrex clear mixing bowl and placed in a medium saucepan that contains water, then heat on maximum until all the chocolate has melted (turn it down if it begins to boild and stir all the time).  Stir in the zest last.

Remove from the heat take the pyrex bowl out of the saucepan and make sure the bottom is dry (so you do not get water on the caramel).  Remove the tin from the fridge and pour the melted chocolate on to the caramel, use gravity to get into the corners.

Put into fridge overnight.

Remove from fridge turn upside down on a plate or board, bash lightly so that it pops out. Turn right way up and cut into slices with sharp knife.

So far I have failed to cut them without cracking the chocolate but I am an ideas kind of guy finesse is someone else's bag:

Billionaire Bites Mexican Variant (TSL/Copyright 2016)

Flotsam #1

Eew hardcopy?!?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/02/flash-the-plastic-bank-of-england-unveils-untearable-plastic-5-note

The Thirteen Floor (well before the Matrix existed)

http://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-were-probably-living-in-a-video-game-1780049652

Green bug eyed spare rock turned short sword

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/02/king_tut_dagger/

What immortal hand or eye…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3621549/Priest-caught-trying-flee-Thailand-s-tiger-temple-skins-fangs-police-reveal-monks-sleep-surrounded-animal-body-parts.htm

Alien litter bugs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36416880

Bottle Recycling

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36424863

Low Gear, so far…

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/may/30/top-gear-readers-review-the-revamped-show