Ads & Amazon's Grand Tour

Ads

Okay so may have noticed I have decided to put ads on my site (may not be there yet, they might not have approve me) not because I am expecting oodles of cash from it but purely from a curiosity point of view.  I hate ads I really do, I stopped watching terrestrial TV years old ago preferring to stick BBC iPlayer, Internet downloads and now in the last couple of years I use Amazon Prime.  All with zero ads that being said any where I go on the Internet ads are prolific but these at static ads YouTube being the exception, but I can choose not to look at them.

What is really interesting about Internet ads is how tech savvy kids in Macedonia recently made a bundle of cash and are still making it an average of $6000 a month by leveraging fake news websites mostly aimed at the American Presidential Election. Fake stories about Trump got more hits any Clinton which just goes to show there is no such thing as bad press in politics.

Questions have been raised about these fake stories on Facebook's news feed, could it have swayed the election.  Owners of Facebook say they a drop a in ocean but there is no definitive way to prove that except by comparing what stories the voters clicked on and asking the somewhat private question to each voter, how did you vote?  That information will never be forthcoming, those kids in Macedonia only do it for the cash reward they are not interested in the politics.  Now that the election is over they moving on to Sports so I suggest you pay particular attention in theory they could skew the odds.

We now exist in two realities, the real world and cyberspace.  Once upon a time everything in cyberspace mirrored everything in the real world in terms of facts and history. Now its cyberspace's turn with advent of Big data, social media and Ads.  The real world reality can created in cyberspace.

The Cold War had spies and misinformation today with have 16/17 year old's with fake news.

I am curious as to what happens next.

Amazon's Grand Tour

BBC's Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond left or were fired for various reasons involving steak I believe, lets not go there.  Amazon in their infinite wisdom and considering how big they are they must have some brought the team back together for twelve episodes of extreme fun with anything that has a petrol engine spread round the world.

Watched the first episode on the weekend.  They have junked the celebrities, kept the track (different one) and employed a American to drive the cars round a track.  Supposedly because Amazon wanted an American racing driver.  No Stig in evidence.  Despite the loss of the some of the original format from the previous BBC show it all still worked very well.

Fast cars going round racing tracks very fast what's not to love about that.  The banter between the Jeremy, James and Richard is just as good as ever.  Yes there were a number references to the old show but that is just typical British humour which worked because I laughed whether the audience laughed because someone held a sign up that said 'Laugh Now' is anybodies guess.

There is some rumours going round that the team have not liked working together on this series but you know what they say about rumours and fake news sites.  Although that being said the view from their big windows in the tent looks suspiciously like a green screen perfect irony for a show called: Grand Tour.

I am however looking forward to the next episode.

The Hindsight Bubble

Bet Fair were offering 8 to 1 odds for Trump winning the election, normally the only gambling I do is low stakes poker but looking back upon his campaign I have realised that it was a forgone conclusion that he would win despite what everyone else thought.

The campaign itself was pure theatre and at no point did you think he was going to win, he however ripped up the rule book of political campaigning.  At no point did you know what was going to happen next, many of his speeches were completely unscripted.

It was not until towards the end of the campaign trail that the Obama/Clinton partnership realised that it was impossible to predict what Trump was going to do next.  Everything Trump did or said was designed to create controversy and it did not matter whether it was true and false.

It would not surprise me if many of the sexual allegations made against him were hoaxed by his own campaign.

This article from Vox shows Trump's ability to speak to the voters as opposed to speaking at them as most politicians do.

I read Trump's policies after he had won to see what what we were in for and what effect he would have on the world, to say I was surprised would be a somewhat understatement.  Zero evidence of a southern wall and in fact very little of what was said in sound bytes throughout the campaign appeared in his official policies.  His policies are heavily watered down versions of his rhetoric, unfortunately his ideas on huge tax cuts, deregulation and massive public spending looks like a recipe for disaster.  Although since he is a successful businessman I would like to think he has a better understanding of managing money and running a country than Hilary Clinton.  As Mae West said

"Between the lesser of two evils, I always pick the one I have not tried before."

Clinton had decided to stick with The Obama administration's failed policies which gave the voters an impossible choice.  The voter turn out was just over 50% a big drop from the last election, in one of his more understandable speeches Trump advised the voters not to vote which effectively took votes from the Democrats.  If the turn out had been higher it is possible that Trump would not have won.

This film from the BBC about HyperNormalisation shows how Trump's win occurred because of the way society and those that manage it have effectively placed us into mirrored bubbles of what we as a group or individuals wish to see.  The film is nearly 3 hours long but it is definitely worth watching.

Our perception of reality is controlled you only have to look at Amazon adverts to see that.

Shocking Lack of Rebels...

The locals think that because of the recent High Court ruling regarding the Prime Minister's ability to trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval, Federation Guard shock troops have been sent in to quell rebels in the south east of England.

Aside from a few dogs the rebels have avoided capture.

The Federation Guard patrol close to Dover, Kent, UK

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111960508750934817380/posts/Yb6msJJddr4?sfc=true

Mr Robot Review 3/5 Stars

***WARNING SPOILER ALERT***

Whilst I have really enjoyed both seasons of Mr Robot (Amazon Original TV series) I can only give it three stars.  There are two reasons for this the first being that at the end of season one we discover the real identity of Mr Robot’s character effectively the plot/concept has been completely ripped from the film Fight Club.  Edward Norton’s character in Fight club was unable to sleep and his conscious effectively created a separate alter ego, this alter ego then set up the circumstances to blow up several buildings owned by credit card companies thereby erasing all records of credit card debt.  This film worked on so many levels and was beautifully directed.

Mr Robot has stolen the whole concept except in this version it was brought up to date and used a hack to encrypt Evil Corp’s database which creates a major financial crisis because nobody can access their money.

The second reason is that whilst the acting is superb throughout I have to ask is there some sort of competition between the actors to have a more startled open eyed expression than anyone else on the cast.  Rami Malek’s character I can understand he seems to be in a perpetual state of shock, however I see no reason for Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday and Sunita Mani to join in with this startled moose look.  Christian Slater appears to be the only one that is allowed a full range of expressions upon his face.

I do however love the writing and the direction it twists and turns perfectly all the way through, extremely well paced.  At no point was a I bored although Tyrell's character lacked a certain depth that made me question whether he would really thrown in with Elliot's character or not.

Incidentally in Fight Club there is a scene when Norton’s character is held by cops who are part of the revolution, they explain that they were told by Norton’s character to stop anyone from interfering with the plan even if it was Norton’s character doing the interfering.  In the last episode in season two of Mr Robot, Elliot is shot by Tyrell for exactly the same reasons.

I suppose you could say that about any story which has a character with a split personality but still it is a complete rip off!

The irony is I like Mr Robot more than Fight Club.

Blocked

If you are wondering why I have not posted anything for ages it is because someone has put a block on my ideas most people would blame a god of some description but since I am agnostic I do not have that luxury.  Instead I will blame the Multiverse in general, it should adhere to the correct entity responsible eventually.

What is that saying:

"If you wait long enough the head your enemy will float down the river in front of you...."

I assume that I would have to live by a river and sit on a bench beside it plus hopefully the river does not have a fast current otherwise I might missed if it passed by too quickly.  What happens if I am at work then I am bound to miss it, perhaps I could re-engineer the river so that stuff that is as big as a human head (assuming of course my enemy is human) travels on a loop which would increase the chances of me seeing it pass in front of me whilst I am sitting on the bench.

I know what you are thinking that this saying was probably not meant to be taken literally but if not literally does that mean that if I wait long enough then my enemy will be defeated if so how will I know?  If waited too long then I would be dead too!

As sayings goes it is not very helpful at all.

The thing is all rivers ultimately end up in one place, the sea okay I will admit some end up in lakes as well but effectively it will be a large body of water.  Which means the saying it inaccurate unless you know for a fact your enemy lives upstream to you and never travels downstream to you.

Perhaps if I wait long enough I will see the head of my enemy stitched onto another body entirely.

Cause and Effect

Why oh why do people have absolutely no common sense and can the eurosceptics be that dumb? Or is that so that they can paid for talking complete nonsense, is that me being cynical or a realist?

There has been a lot of news and I use the term loosely about Brexit having no effect on the British Economy aside from the knee-jerk reaction it had on day when the results came out which lasted for a about couple of weeks.

All the big names that voted out are now saying it has not had any effect at all.  Err Duh!  Of course it has not had an effect we have not left yet!  We will not be leaving for at least a couple of years, the Article 50 is not due to be triggered until February 2017 which means it will not be until 2019 before we have actually left the EU assuming negotiations go without a hitch.

The effect of actually leaving the EU will start to show up about half way through 2019, maybe after six months of trading with Europe incurring import/export costs (assuming we are not allowed into the single market) plus all the extra red tape and tariffs that will be added to the cost of doing business outside the single market will begin to pile up affecting profits to British businesses.

Although the Custom & Exercise people will probably have to employ me more staff due to the extra work created by the increased red tape, so a small silver lining there.

I only hope increased trade outside of Europe will offset these losses.

Excerpt from HM Revenue & Customs Website:

"In July 2016 the value of exports (EU and Non-EU) decreased to £23.9 billion, and imports (EU and Non-EU) decreased to £39.7 billion, compared with last month. Consequently the UK is a net importer this month, with imports exceeding exports by £15.9 billion."

https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/OverseasTradeStatistics/Pages/OTS.aspx

Check out the above link for more detailed information.

Ideally we should export more than we import however since December 2015 there has been an upward trend in imports and a small decline in exports.

This link explains the importance of exports:

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/7164/trade/importance-of-exports-to-the-economy/

The upshot is there will be no effect until the cause has actually occurred unless you are a politician/eurosceptic in Britain where upon they spin the effect before the cause.

In other news Pluto has started farting out X-rays in an attempt to be less coy on the edge of the Solar System:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/20/plutos_emitting_xrays_and_nasa_doesnt_quite_know_how/

Poor Man’s Penicillin

Whenever you are sick the ultimate answer is soup, someone will always say they will make some soup as if it can cure all.  I was brought up on Chicken Soup which was considered to be poor man’s penicillin.  I will give you two recipes my Dad’s original recipe and my tweaked version.

Dad’s Original Recipe

The amounts for the ingredients can vary dependent upon size of saucepan you are using, in theory if you can fit a small chicken in it with room to spare for vegetables then I would use a whole chicken however myself I tend to use chicken thighs my largest saucepan is not that big.

• Whole Chicken or 3-4 thighs (with skin on) or legs
• 3 Large potatoes (peeled and chopped medium sized) an alternative to potatoes you can use Turnips which is a sweet flavour
• 3-4 sticks of celery (chopped)
• 1 Sweet Onion (chopped, if you cannot get a sweet one you can use a normal large onion and a large banana shallot)
• 1 Leek (chopped)
• Chicken Stock (enough to cover all the ingredients)
• Ideally you need Chicken Fat if you can get it normally very difficult to get these days but you can do without it.
• 2 Carrots (chopped)
• Salt/Pepper

Layering the Saucepan

• Place the potatoes in the bottom of the saucepan followed by the celery then put the chicken on top.
• Sprinkle Salt & Pepper on top.
• Put Chopped leek on top
• Put Chopped Carrots on top
• Pour hot chicken stock/fat over the ingredients until covered.

Cooking

• Place on a high heat until it is boiling and then turned down to simmer and cover with lid.
• Check every 15 minutes and stir.
• The liquid will eventually go clearish and the smell will be amazing
• Taste after 45 minutes, check that the chicken is done.
• If you are cooking a whole chicken it may take as long as 90 minutes

Serving

You can serve the soup separately to the Chicken it is entirely up to you.

My Tweaks – Ingredient Changes

• Instead of potatoes I use one large sweet potato peeled and chopped (upon reheating tends to turn into a thick broth)
• Sea salt
• Celery seeds
• No chicken fat

I eat the chicken (thighs) with the soup normally takes about an hour to prepare and cook which is a quick and easy meal plus I always have leftovers I can reheat.