Just Ban Everything ~ Why Don’t You?
what price freedom of thought and expression
some people are natural sheep
Even though I limit myself to just 10 minutes of news a day I can’t help from noticing that the world is becoming crazier, crueler, and more bizarre as each day passes.
The latest insanity I’ve seen is a call to ban the wool trade because it’s cruel to sheep. Here in the UK an advert by PETA, (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ), has been canned by our advertising standards authority for claiming that ‘wool is just as cruel as fur’. The snag is that if farmers didn’t regularly shear their sheep, then the poor animals would get very sick ~ and that really is animal cruelty.
I know that several organisations want to ban the keeping of domesticated farm animals, along with banning eating meat and wearing leather / wool. That is never going to happen. Although a bunch of mad scientists are busy creating artificial meat, currently only grown at vast expense in labs, but if they get their way there will be factories churning out this muck before long. Don’t expect me to eat that, nor quorn either.
Milk substitutes are already available as an alternative to the genuine article from cows, sheep. and goats. I suppose artificial vegan cheese actually tastes a bit like real cheese. Luckily I have sworn off dairy products as part of my paleo diet.
The green global warming eco-warriors will be happy to have the keeping of farm animals banned because they say that the methane from bovine flatulence is a major factor in catastrophic anthropogenic climate change. Maybe if they shouted less we’d have less CO2 in the atmosphere and less COVID-19 laden spittle floating about.
Talking of global warming, the burning of coal to generate electricity is banned here in the UK, which puts our economy at an enormous disadvantage to China, India, and the USA, where coal is still mined and used. Next, ‘they’ will ban the use of oil based fuels, such as diesel. Where do ‘they’ think all the electricity is going to come from to run all the electric vehicles?
More insidious, because of the COVID-19 virus, travel between counties is mostly banned, and travel within countries is banned in some places too. Gathering together in groups is mostly banned everywhere.
Worse than that, history is banned, because some of it ‘offends’ certain minority sections of the community. Some words are banned, some movies are banned, some songs are banned, and I’ll bet some books will be banned before ere long.
I seem to remember people like the Nazis doing this kind of totalitarian stuff.
Some say that Black Lives Matter. And that we should all ‘take the knee’ to show respect. All I know is that where they burn books they will soon burn people.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
some say the answer is green energy
good luck with that one
Random Jottings ~ Werewolf
some werewolves are women, they’re the most frightening
~
she wore black, shame it was her fur
~
in the silvery moonlight, the werewolf’s eyes gleamed a yellow gleam
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he’d tamed the werewolf, but what was he going to do with her?
the hair and teeth weren’t a problem
but her growls in bed upset the people in the next apartment
~
when the moon rose, so did the werewolf
~
he had the silver collar, he had the silk sheets, he was bloody stupid
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
he was her true love
shame he was a werewolf
but he was great at fetching sticks
Songs on Saturday ~ Cagney
if you can’t sing, can’t dance, then play a gangster instead
Today is the 4th of July, what the Americans call Independence Day. Funny that we English don’t see it that way. At least this is a Very American number.
James Cagney, Top of The World, Ma. Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland.
Please listen with some pride in your country.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Old Glory and US Marines
Armed Forces Day
speak softly, but carry a big stick
The Royal Navy was Founded in the year 1546, the British Army in 1660, and the Royal Air Force in 1918. (Their histories all go back a long way further)
HMS Victory
HMS Bulwark
The Thin Red Line
The Falklands War
Sopwith Camel
Supermarine Spitfire
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Lancaster, Hurricane, Spitfire
7 Years of Blogging
history is what you make of it, and the editor’s opinion is final
the first picture I posted ~ my old sports car SARA
Seven years ago, on or about 24 June 2013, I started to write and publish this jackcollier7.com blog. Looking back, I wonder what on Earth possessed me to think I could possibly do such a thing! And the me from back the would have been amazed that the damn thing is still going about 2,557 days later!
Back then I knew nothing at all about blogging, other than I had read some pieces on some other people’s blogs. I mean literally, I knew nothing about blogging, and there I was starting off to write what was to become a daily effort of blood, sweat, toil, and tears.
Originally this was all supposed to be about personal finance, and the wider world of Banking, Finance, Economics, and the Consumer Society. It’s changed a bit since then. These days I’m more likely to publish some erotic photographs with risque text to accompany them, as I am to write a piece about financial matters. It’s actually up to you to decide whether you like my blog or not ~ but come what may I will write and publish what I want to write, just as long as it’s legal, honest, decent, and within my own ethical guidelines.
Since I started in June 2013, I have published 1,748 blogs. I’ve written more than that because some of the stuff I wrote I thought was dross before I published it, and some of the stuff I’ve published I’ve trashed after it’s been published. Even I sometimes have second thoughts.
In total there have been 9,651 comments on this blog, of which 3,328 are mine. It says that I have 2,554 followers, but that number is hopelessly inaccurate ~ probably less than 100 people regularly read / like / comment on this stuff today.
What I do know is that I still have 3 very loyal followers from those very first days. Some others who follow my blog have also been doing so for a very long, long time.
I guess I will go on writing because it does keep my mind active. And, I have met some very interesting people through this blog, a few of whom have become very dear friends indeed.
Whether or not to go on writing just the same sort of stuff???
Or to try something completely utterly different???
Honestly, I don’t know ~ what do you all think
~
jackcollier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
my most frequently used picture
hmmmmm still features a car
Accepting the Past
you can’t learn anything if you deny history
the gloomy sunset can still presage a bright new dawn
Some things in our past may be painful, uncomfortable, unpleasant, disgusting, illegal, or just a big mistake. Personally, I will admit to trying hard to forget the painful, uncomfortable, unpleasant mistakes I’ve made ~ and there have been more than a few. But, you know what? Without fully accepting and trying to understand the what, why, and how of the mistakes in my past, I will never learn anything. To be a real man I need to learn from my past so that I will not make the same errors of judgement again in the future.
More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t busy denying them. ~ Harold J. Smith
Conversely, I also need to remember the good people, places, events, and things in my past so that I can repeat and reinforce anything virtuous, righteous, ethical, principled, and enjoyable things I have done, experienced, or been responsible for. And you know what? There are far more of those good things in my past than there are expressions of my dark side.
The very worst kind of people are those who will never honestly look at their past and say; ‘I should not have done that…..’ But, those who look at the past and see only negativity and darkness are not such good people either. The past is what it is, nobody can change it, we can only accept what we do in this moment and resolve to do better in the future.
Perhaps the very worst people of all are those who have no ambition to be better tomorrow than they are today. Those who have no good aims, goals, dreams, desires, and aspirations are doomed to fester in the slough of despond forever.
Some say that the past has nothing to teach us. And that we should wipe out history as being unacceptable and pointless. All I know is that as you give to the world, so you shall receive in return.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
tomorrow is another day
another chance to be better
Random Jottings #20
tiger tiger burning bright, in the forests of the night
~
if you look into the eyes of a tiger you have to be stupid
and too bloody close
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never, ever open the door marked ‘here be tigers…..’
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when you’re in trouble, always go through the door marked ‘staff only…..’
~
cats are cool, cats are nice, cats torture mice
~
when a tigress says she loves you, count your arms and legs
but wait until after the good part
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
never smile at a tiger
or a woman with very heavy eye makeup
We’ll Meet Again ~ Dame Vera Lynn dies aged 103
and there’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover
During WWII the Germans had the overtly sexual Marlene Dietrich singing Lili Marlene, which was the unofficial anthem of the Afrika Korps. We had the wholesome Forces Sweetheart, Vera Lynn. Kind of says a lot about out differing national characteristics.
Dame Vera Lynn is now 103, and she is still almost as big an inspiration to Englishmen of a certain age as is the Queen.
Dame Vera Lynn, the Forces Sweetheart has died aged 103. She will be much mourned.
Please listen with respect
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
after a girl has pushed an ambulance up a sand dune, she deserves a cold beer
COVID-19 Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
some doctors say the coronavirus less dangerous than measles
When the early white settlers went anywhere, then the native populations just about died out from contracting what used to be called ‘childhood diseases’. Chickenpox, Mumps, Rubella, Measles, Scarlet Fever ~ because they had never encountered these illnesses before and had no natural immunity. I had all of those bugs in my childhood, (except for scarlet fever), and while I was poorly it was never bad enough to keep me away from school. In fact, back in those dim and distant days mothers were encouraged to send infected kids to school.
There was folk knowledge that said that young kids didn’t get particularly sick from bugs that could make them very sick when they were in their mature years. So, it was thought best for children to build up natural immunity to safeguard them when they were old enough to have children of their own. Bog Row Junior Mixed and Infants, where I first went to school, must have been full of disease, dirt, and depravation ~ looking back it was, and yet we all grew up healthy.
So why is it that this coronavirus has caused such panic among people, politicians, health officials, doctors, et al? Is it because COVID-19 is particularly deadly, or incredibly infections?
Well no, the coronavirus, COVID-19 is neither particularly infectious nor especially deadly.
The scientists say that the mortality rate all those who catch COVID-19 is about 0.25%. So if you catch it you have a 1 in 400 chance of dying, but that number is meaningless because it’s the elderly, frail, diabetic, or already sick with something else who are most likely to die. That’s the same as for any illness, including pneumonia, measles, or the common or garden flu.
Contrast that with ordinary measles, (which you will not catch because you’ve either already had it as a child, or you have had the MMR vaccine). With measles, depending on how the doctors and statisticians measure it, you could have a 15% to 25% chance of dying, or as bad as 1 in 4. And, if you are sick from measles the effects can last the rest of your life due to brain damage.
And yet the world is not being put into lockdown because of a measles epidemic, despite the fact that there were 413,308 confirmed cases reported to WHO in 2019. Go figure, (as you Americans say).
Brutal as it may seem most of the supposed victims of the coronavirus were going to die anyway, because they were elderly, frail, diabetic, sick with something else, or all of those.
Something doesn’t ‘feel’ right about the responses of those in authority to the relatively mild outbreak of COVID 19.
You tell me.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
does anyone trust any politician anymore
Random Jottings ~ Vampires
vampires do not drive sensible cars
~
never offer a vampire a drink
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he tasted the blood in the water
well, she was that kind of vampire
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she was bad, she was mean, she was dangerous
but she did drive a vintage red Corvette
~
most vampire’s theme song isn’t the toccata and fugue
it’s bat out of hell
~
I once loved a vampire, but she was a few hundred years older than me
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
she had wise eyes
a face of angelic innocence
damn shame she was a vampyre
