2015 did not start off well. Well, I don't think it started off well! I found out that Paris is a hotbed of Religious psychopaths, and essentially the rest of the world is approaching a meltdown. And along the way, some people that I had held up to be legends had reached their time: read: shit happens. This list is NOT comprehensive - it is a sampler from Wiki, with relevance that I understand. So perhaps Brian Clemens is unknown to many, but Brian was part of the foundation TV of my youth. Of course there will be very few people who have not heard of Leonard Nimoy. Legends all...:) I will try to keep this up to date (sort of) but it will only ever be a selection of people who have been noted by me along the way, on my journey. To all of them, Live Long, And Prosper. :) 2015 April http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Lewis_%28actor%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Best http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Ball_%28musician%29 and the wonderful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Lennon March one of my heroes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaw_Taylor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Katin February Who remembers Laugh-In? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Owens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Jourdan Live long, and prosper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Nimoy January http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Percival another of my heroes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Taylor a disgusting insult to The West and Free Speech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Clemens ah, the music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Ward-Davies legends come, and legends go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_Hass ah, even more music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Taylor_(drummer) never really watched it, but hey, legends come, legends go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Kirkbride that music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Swingle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Brittan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrie_Ingham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_McKuen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_McEwan

Just to be sure...

In case any of you thought that it couldn't happen (again) it has happened (again). We have seen that this demented, mindless violence of extremists is not confined to any one spot on this planet. We see that Pakistan has its own stupidity, where public stoning STILL takes place (how is this even possible, in the 21st century?). We also see that a rather pathetic group, called the Taliban, have only one aim in life - to make everyones elses life a misery. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/12/16/taliban-gunmen-storm-pakistani-military-school-killing-100_n_6332076.html?ncid=webmail1 This is utterly indefensible. It was bad enough with Malala, but to target a deliberately soft target sets the bar at a new low. The Taliban has no argument, they can make no argument, they are not worthy of even having an argument with! Those sad animals are now lepers in the real world - no-one will want to touch them, or have them in the same room or town as they are. They are finished. They just won't admit it. They deserve no sympathy in their passing, and the fact that they have made their families, their wives, their children all valid targets should be publicised for what it is - a mess, of the Talibans making. From now on, anyone even suggesting that they belong or are associated with the Taliban are to be taken outside and shot (in some countries this happens very often) and in some countries they should still be taken outside and given a good kicking. Then arrested. Then made to vanish. Taliban is now a dirty word, get used to it, and use it. Boko Harem? What a saddo bunch. Another group of animals, based around Nigeria. http://www.dw.de/boko-haram-barrage-against-western-values/a-18134419 They can't hold a conversation, and kidnap and rape is all that they know. They deserve another good kicking. Hamas? A professionl bunch of Arab animals, who don't care about the population of Gaza, except how they can be used as media fodder. Another kicking overdue. What most don't seem to get is that this phenomenal tragedy is global. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_designated_terrorist_organizations These sad and twisted people are everywhere, and with the latest ISIS messes in Syria this is all coming home - they fight in Syria and then get back to the home country, setting up terror cells there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant You can't talk to these vile people, so why delude yourself? Take them out, before they take you out - and they do want to take you out - outside, up against a wall, and shoot you! If you are a follower of that thing called Islam, WHY??? What is it about Islam that makes you accept all of this, while the world is crumbling around you? It's like saying the Nazi party wasn't so bad. At least they had the trains running on time. It's time for the world to take stock. It cannot continue - the United Nations has been a travesty for a few years, and will get worse, as more and more of it is hijacked by the Arab nations and the media. Lies piled on top of lies.

Stop speaking with authority on subjects that you don't understand!

This man is a fool, and what is worse, he is clearly an ignorant fool: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2014/10/catholic-archbishop-ebola-is-punishment-from-god-for-homosexuality/ He, like many in his position of 'power' abuse that power. They speak with conviction on subjects that they obviously do not understand, to audiences who will accept what he says. That just adds to the tragedy. Although it was said a while ago, this man was also an ignorant fool, speaking with authority on a subject that he clearly didn't understand: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/17/pope-africa-condoms-aids For completely different reasons, this statement summed up the ignorant thinking of the time (1912): http://www.historyonthenet.com/titanic/unsinkable.htm This is one of the saddest things: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-26754992. people who 'commit adultery' or 'commit blasphemy' are also executed? Huh? How's that? I curse your God, or some other God, and that (in some countries) is a capital crime? This again is where some people have risen to the top of the tree, and assume that THAT gives them the right to tell everyone else what to do, how to do it, or even how to think - or not to think! The world is tiny enough, and how there can be so many countries laughingly calling themselves 'civilised' is pathetic. Many countries like to progress, to move on with things, and there are so many countries that are committed to keeping us back in the Dark Ages (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and many more. There is something called BDS (apparently) which is a 'movement' for keeping away from Israel, and all things that Israel may make - foods, technology, anything. They miss the point that THAT kind of operation is a blind one. It achieves nothing positive, and starts to alienate people, in an already fragile world. Stop BDS-ing!

I do not wish to fund terrorist-based ideologies!

The DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) has just dropped me an email. I must assume that they still have my details after I sent them some money towards that nightmare time when the tsunami hit the Far East and decimated some many countries, killing thousands. That was way back in 2004. Which brings me neatly on to the Middle East, and in particular Gaza and Israel. There have been running battles for years between these two ‘countries’ (Israel is a country, I don’t actually know what category Gaza falls into – is it a country?). Most of the time all that we see is the verbal diarrhoea, mostly from the ‘leaders’ of Gaza – the PA and Hamas. The PA seems to be a sad waste of everyones time, and Hamas is just a murderous enterprise who seem to publically want to annihilate Israel and its entire population. The latest stretch of imagination is that we (the rest of the world) is now going to subsidise the rebuilding of Gaza by donating some hundreds of millions of dollars. Why? If I read this correctly in the past we have ‘subsidised’ Gaza to already ridiculous amounts, and it turns out that we have been paying for the people of Gaza to build a terrorist network, and a set of tunnels that can have only one purpose, that of mass murder of the Israelis. Why are we now being so damned Politically Correct that we are giving even more money to the PA and Hamas, so that they can laugh at the West (again) and start to rebuild their messy terror systems (again!). I object to this – I am not in the habit of actively funding terrorists, so this current UK government has lost my support (yes, it had it, initially). It has systematically ignored so many real problems and made mountains out of mole-hill sized problems. The recent rise of UKIP will bring a lot of hope to a very disillusioned population, and I can only trust that the voters apathy of recent years, where we struggle to get even 50% turnout, will change. Your vote will count, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Palestine? Where the hell is that?

There are recent items in the press about people and countries recognising this thing called Palestine. That is more than a little iffy, as this 'thing' called Palestine isn't. It isn't on maps, it isn't delimited by borders, and I'm pretty sure no-one has the faintest idea what a person from this so-called country would be called. Palestine is not a country. Go on, check it. It isn't there. How do you recognise something that isn't there? It's worse than saying dark matter, as we have a notion that dark matter does exist in some form, somewhere. Palestine does not! If however you are referring to Gaza, then why are you allowing yourself to be confused? Or are you one of those doing the confusing? Are you someone from that murderous regime called Hamas, that does not value life at all (except your own skin, I suppose), or are you someone from the PA, that Arafat-manufacturered entity that somehow has been given a form of 'legitimacy' by the UN? What a joke! This whole story could not have been dreamed up by anyones wildest nightmares! At the next UK election, vote! Don't dither, don't faff or come up with those famous cheap excuses - vote! A little later in the USA - vote! If you are in a country that allows you to vote, the use it - if you don't then you may find that at the time of the next election you cannot vote at all!

Vote in the UK!

The DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) has just dropped me an email. I must assume that they still have my details after I sent them some money towards that nightmare time when the tsunami hit the Far East and decimated so many countries, killing thousands. That was way back in 2004. Which brings me neatly on to the Middle East, and in particular Gaza and Israel. There have been running battles for years between these two ‘countries’ (Israel is a country, I don’t actually know what category Gaza falls into – is it a country?). Most of the time all that we see is the verbal diarrhoea, mostly from the ‘leaders’ of Gaza – the PA and Hamas. The PA seems to be a sad waste of everyones time, and Hamas is just a murderous enterprise who seem to publically want to annihilate Israel and its entire population. The latest stretch of imagination is that we (the rest of the world) is now going to subsidise the rebuilding of Gaza by donating some hundreds of millions of dollars. Why? If I read this correctly, in the past we have ‘subsidised’ Gaza to already ridiculous amounts, and it turns out that we have been paying for the people of Gaza to build a terrorist network, and a set of tunnels that can have only one purpose, that of mass murder of the Israelis. Why are we now being so damned Politically Correct that we are giving even more money to the PA and Hamas, so that they can laugh at the West (again) and start to rebuild their messy terror systems (again!). I object to this – I am not in the habit of actively funding terrorists, so this current UK government has lost my support (yes, it had it, initially). It has systematically ignored so many real problems and made mountains out of mole-hill sized problems. The recent rise of UKIP will bring a lot of hope to a very disillusioned population, and I can only trust that the voters apathy of recent years, where we struggle to get even 50% turnout will change. Your vote will count, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

is it really that difficult? REALLY?

There are some people that start the day well, and find that it has all changed, often within minutes. You know, that time that the alarm rings, or the sun comes through, waking you up, and somehow you start with a smile on your face, and a warm fuzzy glow. Within ten minutes you usually find that the alarm went off early or late, or that the sun very quickly vanishes behind the rain clouds. You might put the radio on, and then regret it as the news tells you endless amounts of doom and gloom are coming your way – those nasty people will be in your street before the week is out! The Middle East is in melt-down (again!), some boat refugees are trying to get to Australia (and failing), or the USA Christian Far Right are making yet another push at getting one of their puppets into the White House. Sometimes it’s quite depressing. When you think about it – really think about it – most people actually want a quiet life. Go on, admit it. There is little better than having a safe night’s sleep, and waking up, with a clear idea that you are going to see your family, or your family is coming to see you, and then you can potter around the garden for a bit, mow the lawn, all that ‘usual’ stuff. You don’t have to worry about where the next missile is coming from, or where it’s going to land. You don’t have to worry whether some homicidal maniac with a machete is going to go ‘postal’ in your street, and start to attack the local population – hey, you actually like some of your neighbours! As a rule, not too many people like too many surprises – they may jump at close-by thunder, at the same time admiring the lightning (but having huge respect for it). It takes a strange set of people to be willing to get violent with others (no matter how much you dislike them!). To pass that hatred off as a Divine Intervention is just plain ridiculous – it’s the same as having voices in your head, and we sometimes lock people up for that sort of behaviour! How anyone today can make some outrageous claim that the actions that they do are part of some ‘Gods’ plan is crazy – it makes no sense, no matter how much you look at it, or however many different ways you try to re-interpret it. This is supposed to be the 21st century – that means that this Jesus character was around more than 2,000 years ago. Jesus was Jewish, by the way – don’t forget that! During the last 2,000 years (or so) we have seen this planet nearly tear itself apart so many times that it’s pointless to try to count them! In the 1900’s we started quietly, with the invention of the aeroplane. I’m sure that the Wright brothers had no idea that with a short few years the plane would be used to such good effect in World War I. In the intervening years, leading up to WWII, the plane advanced even more. We saw huge monsters being used to carry massive bomb payloads between 1939 and 1945. In forty years the plane had utterly changed, and the world had changed with it. Basic gunnery at the start of the 1900’s changed during the war years, too. To end up with an atom bomb by 1945 was quite literally ground breaking stuff. In this troubled year of 2014 we are seeing too may divisions between people, for too many reasons. The joke that was the Arab Spring has descended into some form of Arab Hell for thousands of people. Although the recent Israel-Gaza conflict was hyped up to be some form of genocide, the people who labelled it so seem to have ignored the rest of the world, where genocide was truly being practiced. Syria is a nightmare, with this IS group behaving like the world’s worst school bullies, while having access to some real armament. This is the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields all over again, and the world does what it usually does in these situations, and talks about what actions may be taken. We have good-hearted people viciously butchered for all the world to see, and we sent in a few flights to pop a few missiles at what we hope are viable targets. This cannot continue, not in this form. If it is allowed to grow, IS will ruin what is left of Syria and Iraq, and its vile philosophy will pollute the neighbouring countries. It needs trashing, now, while it is still possible to do so.