Have just seen in the newspapers about the escalating violence in Syria and it reminds me of a conversion I over heard after one of the major earthquakes in recent years. (Is it not sad that there have been so many that I cannot remember which one it was?)
The base line of the argument was 'caring because you cannot do anything else' versus 'not caring because you cannot do anything meaningful to stop the situation'.
To my way of thinking the 'not caring because you cannot do anything meaningful' is the root of much evil in the world. As an Asperger/Autistic I have often been accused of not being sympathetic or sensitive to those around me. This seems to me to be a very hypercritical statement, coming from people who will read about atrocity and disaster in their newspaper and then turn over the page without comment or care.
Yes, I agree, I have had to learn how to be compassionate and I have not always got it right. However, now that I know how to feel their pain as my pain, I do not limit my compassion to only those who I meet every day. Compassion is not an emotion that should be limited to only those within our borders. I will agree that are probably too many immigrants for this country's social structure to cope with. However, I also agree that having a third world in the so called enlightened age is a hypocrisy of democracy and that third world debt is an evil that ought to have been wiped off the books years ago. I can share my apple with my neighbour but my neighbour does not have to be in my house for me to do it.
I cannot do anything materially, finicially or physically to help the innocent people suffering in Syria. However, I can care! I can care that I can't do anything! I can care that people are terrified, are being hurt, are being killed. I can care and is that not better than not caring?
Also there is this, I cannot do anything for the people in Syria but if caring about their plight prompts me to care more for the people I meet in the street, is that not a good thing? Perhaps the world would be a better place if more people cared for those they cannot help and therefore, helped the ones that they can.
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Flooding Britain
I don't know about you but I think I have spotted a common theme in all government policies. It appears to me that the common answer that politicians give to the 'What if?' question is 'We sweep it under the rug until it happens.'
Some of you may have read my post earlier this year about Hearthrow Airport being snowed under again. Well it seems to have happened, again, only this time it is just plain rain. The one thing England is famous for, our persistent precipitation and once again it is flooding out swaths of our countryside and towns.
Now, it could be noted that a country that is noted for being one of the wettest in Europe ought to have councils that build drains that can take it. However this is unlikely to happen, even though it is what we pay them for. Instead, for the mentioned above reason, they are going to continued to ignore the problem until it is so obvious that it has become the equivalent of trying to hide an elephant under the rug.
So, what can the ordinary people of Britain do about it? Because I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for the government to do something about it, I hate passing out.
According to research done by the Woodland Trust and they should know their trees, planting a single row of trees down one side of a field will increase the grounds ability to soak up the rain by sixty percent. The more the soil can soak up, the less there is to run away over the soil and flood the dip down the road were the village happens to be. Also, increasing the number of trees planted within a city by five percent, in turn decreases the urban water run off by twenty percent. That seems to me to be a large amount of returns for a small amount of effort.
For those of you worried about subsidence there is apparently no scientific evidence of planting trees causing subsidence. The reason the lovely new concrete front garden subsides is not because of the tree planted the other side of the front garden wall. It subsides because it is a lovely new concrete front garden, which does not allow any water to reach the soil underneath it. Dehydrated soil shrinks in exactly the same manner as a dehydrated cell, which is why gravel driveways do not subside.
So it appears to me that the best way the people of Britain can look after themselves and prevent further flooding is to plant more trees, this having the added benefits of cleaning our air and lowing our stress levels, because what is scientific fact, is looking at a tree for five minutes a day de-stresses you almost as much as an hour in a yoga class. It's a lot cheaper as well.
Some of you may have read my post earlier this year about Hearthrow Airport being snowed under again. Well it seems to have happened, again, only this time it is just plain rain. The one thing England is famous for, our persistent precipitation and once again it is flooding out swaths of our countryside and towns.
Now, it could be noted that a country that is noted for being one of the wettest in Europe ought to have councils that build drains that can take it. However this is unlikely to happen, even though it is what we pay them for. Instead, for the mentioned above reason, they are going to continued to ignore the problem until it is so obvious that it has become the equivalent of trying to hide an elephant under the rug.
So, what can the ordinary people of Britain do about it? Because I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for the government to do something about it, I hate passing out.
According to research done by the Woodland Trust and they should know their trees, planting a single row of trees down one side of a field will increase the grounds ability to soak up the rain by sixty percent. The more the soil can soak up, the less there is to run away over the soil and flood the dip down the road were the village happens to be. Also, increasing the number of trees planted within a city by five percent, in turn decreases the urban water run off by twenty percent. That seems to me to be a large amount of returns for a small amount of effort.
For those of you worried about subsidence there is apparently no scientific evidence of planting trees causing subsidence. The reason the lovely new concrete front garden subsides is not because of the tree planted the other side of the front garden wall. It subsides because it is a lovely new concrete front garden, which does not allow any water to reach the soil underneath it. Dehydrated soil shrinks in exactly the same manner as a dehydrated cell, which is why gravel driveways do not subside.
So it appears to me that the best way the people of Britain can look after themselves and prevent further flooding is to plant more trees, this having the added benefits of cleaning our air and lowing our stress levels, because what is scientific fact, is looking at a tree for five minutes a day de-stresses you almost as much as an hour in a yoga class. It's a lot cheaper as well.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Moving with Aspergers
O.K. The rest of the family is now talking about it to others so I suppose that I am allowed to as well - we are moving.
On the one hand - great! New house in what looks to be lovely area and a chance to leave the memories tied up in this place behind.
On the other hand - Aah! The current house is a tip, boxes everywhere, packing in progress, trying to work out what can go into storage for possibly six months!
So I am totally up in the air and my head is in a total mess. On top of everything else that I have to try to squeeze into the day (Trike ride to stop my ticker packing in, diary, working on my book and sending off to competitions to try and keep my career a float) I now have to deal with packing and making sure that the dinners get made and the ferret gets looked after. I also had to take the dog for a walk the other day, because the usual walker had totally over done it and had crashed out fast asleep on the sofa.
I am rapidly approaching the point where the amount of work to be done each day is no longer an incentive to get out of bed in the morning, rather it is what is making me pull the covers over my head and do my best to go back to sleep. In a way I am not unsurprised, looking back in my diaries before I packed them up and sealed the box, (one of the advantages of keeping a daily diary) revealed that the last house move took me in exactly the same way. It must be the same instinct that makes a frog cover up its eyes when it sees the approaching ferret - 'if I can't see it maybe it will go away'.
That or I'm on the verge of flinging myself on the floor and having a screaming temper-tantrum. I have done so before and I have found that it gives a huge amount of relief to inner tensions. Not that it does anything for the inner tension of my mother, hence why I'm trying desperately not to do it again.
Can I hold on? Remains to be seen.
On the one hand - great! New house in what looks to be lovely area and a chance to leave the memories tied up in this place behind.
On the other hand - Aah! The current house is a tip, boxes everywhere, packing in progress, trying to work out what can go into storage for possibly six months!
So I am totally up in the air and my head is in a total mess. On top of everything else that I have to try to squeeze into the day (Trike ride to stop my ticker packing in, diary, working on my book and sending off to competitions to try and keep my career a float) I now have to deal with packing and making sure that the dinners get made and the ferret gets looked after. I also had to take the dog for a walk the other day, because the usual walker had totally over done it and had crashed out fast asleep on the sofa.
I am rapidly approaching the point where the amount of work to be done each day is no longer an incentive to get out of bed in the morning, rather it is what is making me pull the covers over my head and do my best to go back to sleep. In a way I am not unsurprised, looking back in my diaries before I packed them up and sealed the box, (one of the advantages of keeping a daily diary) revealed that the last house move took me in exactly the same way. It must be the same instinct that makes a frog cover up its eyes when it sees the approaching ferret - 'if I can't see it maybe it will go away'.
That or I'm on the verge of flinging myself on the floor and having a screaming temper-tantrum. I have done so before and I have found that it gives a huge amount of relief to inner tensions. Not that it does anything for the inner tension of my mother, hence why I'm trying desperately not to do it again.
Can I hold on? Remains to be seen.
Saturday, 23 June 2012
Whale Wars - On Going
O.K. Tried to send an e-mail to the Federal Minister of Justice in Germany on behalf of Captain Paul Watson, only to find that it is the Microsoft e-mail engine i.e. none compatible with hotmail. However, if it had been compatible this is what it would have looked like:
"Dear Sadine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger,
Concerning the extradition of Captain Paul Watson.
I understand that this is a politically motivated order, originally sited by the shark finning barons of Costa Rica. Are you aware that these same barons have posted a bounty upon Captain Paul Watson's head of $250,000 USA dollars?
Extraditing him to a Costa Rica prison is not, no matter what you have been assured to the contrary, delivering him for trail. It is delivering him for murder.
He has be charged with the crime of stopping the illegal crime of poaching. If the perpetrators of this crime can use the law to prevent those fighting their crimes from bringing them to justice, then the law is a sham and government, the representative of the law, a mockery.
I remain hopeful of your sense of justice and obedience of the law.
Yours truly,
V. J. Bartlett"
Please can people copy this message and send it on to her, with your own name of course. It is really important that Captain Paul Watson does not end up in that prison. Nobody was hurt during the Sea Shepard mission in Costa Rica waters ten years ago and either was any property damaged. The e-mail address for the Federal Minister of Justice is on the Sea Shepherd web-site.
The voice of the people is the voice of God!
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Whale Wars - Success
O.k. sorry for false hopes if you thought that Captain Paul Watson had been released. As far as I know, not yet. Shame on all governments for their hypocrisy.
However, good news on the Whale War front.
Published in Wild World, the magazine of the WWF, this month is the fantastic news that 'Cold Storage', a supermarket chain in Singapore, has become the first retailer of that country to refuse to sell shark fin and other shark products. They made the move after joining the WWF's Sustainable Seafood Group.
Though this is news from another wildlife protection group, it should be something to make all supporters of both the WWF and the Sea Shepherd and any other wildlife protection group celebrate. Our efforts are not in vain, people in the management position of companies and organisations are listening to us, and realising that a quick buck today does not make up for the thousands lost tomorrow, if we continue to destroy this world. It is through these people and the economic pressure they can bring to bare on the governments of the world, that real and true change for the better protection of our home will begin.
If for no other reason it proves that human beings do not need their governments to make society work for the betterment of ourselves and our world. If enough of us can do that then maybe the governments will realise that it's time they earn their keep.
However, good news on the Whale War front.
Published in Wild World, the magazine of the WWF, this month is the fantastic news that 'Cold Storage', a supermarket chain in Singapore, has become the first retailer of that country to refuse to sell shark fin and other shark products. They made the move after joining the WWF's Sustainable Seafood Group.
Though this is news from another wildlife protection group, it should be something to make all supporters of both the WWF and the Sea Shepherd and any other wildlife protection group celebrate. Our efforts are not in vain, people in the management position of companies and organisations are listening to us, and realising that a quick buck today does not make up for the thousands lost tomorrow, if we continue to destroy this world. It is through these people and the economic pressure they can bring to bare on the governments of the world, that real and true change for the better protection of our home will begin.
If for no other reason it proves that human beings do not need their governments to make society work for the betterment of ourselves and our world. If enough of us can do that then maybe the governments will realise that it's time they earn their keep.
Monday, 11 June 2012
Nervous
O.K. First off, big thank you to those that have been looking in on my blog, it is good to know that somebody out there is interested in what I write. I think every writer at this stage of their career needs some encouragement, even the anonymous encouragement of the postview chart.
What I mean by 'this stage of their career' is where I am now. I've entered my novel it several novel competitions and received not so much as an e-mail saying that I didn't make the grade in reply. I'm now looking down the deadline of yet another competition and I'm not even sure that I can drum up the courage to enter it. If for no other reason than the rules say that it is not restricted by theme or style but it makes no mention as to genre. Therefore, do I enter it in the hope that it is open to science fiction? Because if it is not all I'm going to receive is yet another blanking, never good for the self confidence. I suppose you could say that nothing ventured nothing gained and as a writer I'm letting myself in for a slaying from the critics anyway, so it is about time I grew a thicker skin. At the same time, I really don't want to waste my money entering a competition I have no hope of winning.
I wish, when competition organisers made the rules for these things, they would specify what constitutes a 'literary' novel.
What I mean by 'this stage of their career' is where I am now. I've entered my novel it several novel competitions and received not so much as an e-mail saying that I didn't make the grade in reply. I'm now looking down the deadline of yet another competition and I'm not even sure that I can drum up the courage to enter it. If for no other reason than the rules say that it is not restricted by theme or style but it makes no mention as to genre. Therefore, do I enter it in the hope that it is open to science fiction? Because if it is not all I'm going to receive is yet another blanking, never good for the self confidence. I suppose you could say that nothing ventured nothing gained and as a writer I'm letting myself in for a slaying from the critics anyway, so it is about time I grew a thicker skin. At the same time, I really don't want to waste my money entering a competition I have no hope of winning.
I wish, when competition organisers made the rules for these things, they would specify what constitutes a 'literary' novel.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Competitions
I entered a competition earlier this year, the most important part of the prize being publication upon the completion of my book (I have in fact already finished my first book, am now having the second privately edited, while I work on my third but that's neither here nor there).
Part of the competition small print was that winners would be notified on or before 31st May 2012.
As you can most likely guess, I have not received any notification of any thing so I must take it as read that I have not won. Though I do not mind this fact much, once I had dealt with my disappointment, as it means that a fellow writer is now bring their career (good luck, long life and good health to them, may their career span a hundred books) I would have liked just a little note to say that I had not won, just an e-mail.
So many people complain about rejection letters. I am fast coming to the conclusion that it is more hurtful to receive no news at all. Though rejection letters are undoubtedly painful in their own way, they at least let you know that your work was worth looking at instead of being thrown on to the slush pile right away. As it is I must deal with the fact that neither of the judges felt that my work was worth a nod in my direction.
When you are throwing your work into the abyss, is it too much for the abyss to acknowledge that fact?
Part of the competition small print was that winners would be notified on or before 31st May 2012.
As you can most likely guess, I have not received any notification of any thing so I must take it as read that I have not won. Though I do not mind this fact much, once I had dealt with my disappointment, as it means that a fellow writer is now bring their career (good luck, long life and good health to them, may their career span a hundred books) I would have liked just a little note to say that I had not won, just an e-mail.
So many people complain about rejection letters. I am fast coming to the conclusion that it is more hurtful to receive no news at all. Though rejection letters are undoubtedly painful in their own way, they at least let you know that your work was worth looking at instead of being thrown on to the slush pile right away. As it is I must deal with the fact that neither of the judges felt that my work was worth a nod in my direction.
When you are throwing your work into the abyss, is it too much for the abyss to acknowledge that fact?
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