Wednesday 30 October 2013

"The Chupacabra?"

The Chupacabra



 


Clone, hybrid, "Set Animal"**, figment or some combination of the former? Fascinating.






Interestingly Set became the god of the of the formless desert wastes* for The Egyptians.

*The chaos in man's soul..........


See: "What's that Coming Over the Hill?" Saturday 16th June 2012, on this blog.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

"The Economics of "Emergence Theory" (esp. re: sustainability)"

My regular readers may be wondering precisely what it is I'm talking about when I refer to "Emergence Theory" and it's applications (esp. to economics). Do I mean what have become known as "Emerging Economies" for instance? The answer is no at least not in the conventional sense whereby "emerging economy" is simply another term for the "apparent" economic growth of a formerly less/un-developed nation or region. The concept to which I refer is however nearly as simple, basically it is this; that in order to "balance the books" between the "old" non-renewable economies of agriculture and industry and the "new" (really!!?), sustainable resource base it will be necessary to ensure that any impact on the sustainable resource base caused by the exploitation of the "old" non-renewable resources be ameliorated by direct investment (both by taxation and philanthropy), commensurate with and directly proportional to the financial impact on the sustainable resource base of such exploitation. It is very important to realise however that the "equations" which describe this process are not "static" (and that they are infact essentially dynamic), the object being a zero-sum conclusion in terms of the "old" paradigm non-renewable economy. For a visual representation of "emergence theory" (and to find out more about the "prodigious" talent of he who first described the process in such form go to: http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~sfoster/ ).

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Follow on Twitter (& "MTA" World Record Attempt Video)

For those who don't already receive my updates via "Twitter" (and would like to), I am "Abaris" @Williamtheb.

Gerard

Tuesday 22 October 2013

"Hinkley Point, Least "Suitable" Site for Britain's First New Nuclear Reactor in Years?"

"Can any such facility at Hinkley Point ever be considered seismically safe?" Quotes from.."What's that Coming Over the Hill?" 16/06/12, also see "The Threat from Tsunamis...." 29/02/12 on this blog. 

Quote: "Ask yourselves how it has come to be acceptable for, for instance; The Russian and American presidents (ostensibly -and in reality- gnashing their teeth over Poland) to cabal themselves during the recent summit in Tokyo and get their heads together on how both to repair the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactor (  http://www.stwr.org/land-energy-water/nuclear-power-no-panacea-critics-say.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihama_Nuclear_Power_Plant http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/earthquake-fire-and-nuclear-l/ -Edited 11/12/10-), and keep the whole affair from the public?"

.............and............

""Recently, an earthquake occurred along the English Channel
coast, with its epicentre at Folkestone in Kent, at
8.28 a.m. (local time) on 28 April 2007. The local earthquake
magnitude was estimated by the British Geological Survey
as 4.2ML (Walker and Musson, 2007) and no discernible
affect was reported on the sea. However, worryingly, a local
news outlet reported that coastal residents on feeling the
tremor “started rushing out from their houses and on to the
beach for safety” (Kent News, 2007)! This highlights the
need to assess the threat from tsunami and associated hazards
in Britain and, if appropriate, raise public awareness of
the potential hazards."

from  http://dyscovery.newport.ac.uk


According to "The Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences" organisation (go to.... http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/8/587/2008/nhess-8-587-2008.pdf ) seismic events either in or on either side of The Channel are historically far from rare!

"I tell you naught for your comfort, Yea naught for your desire, Save that the sky grows darker yet, And the sea rises higher." - GK Chesterton

"Eureka!"
(Watch out fellas, the next thing that happens is "you get screwed")

"..a 2005 BBC2 Timewatch documentary which was postponed and re-edited after the Asian tsunami due to its sudden topicality. It documented how, out of a clear blue sky on 30th January 1607, nearly 600 km of the Devon, Somerset and Welsh coast was inundated by a wave of up to 7.5m (25ft). The ‘largest and most destructive flood in British history’ , it may have been caused by a tsunami deriving from an undersea quake, the wave reaching up to 14 miles inland (to the foot of Glastonbury Tor), leaving a temporary inland sea of over 200 square miles for ten days, and drowning around 2,000. For the benefit of sceptics, the academic study the documentary was based on pointed out a 1755 seaquake off Portugal had sent out a 15m (49ft) high tsunami that killed nearly 50,000. There has also been a claim a tsunami hit Dorset in 1868 – luckily the relatively deserted stretch of shore west of Portland."

from... http://www.msbnews.co.uk


..I watched the "Timewatch" documentary when it was screened, the evidence for the tsunami it dealt with seemed very strong as too did that of they're estimation for the event's source (the point where the European continental shelf ends some considerable miles S.W of Ireland in the N.Atlantic).

"The Great Flood
The great flood was seen by some at the time
as a judgement from God on his people. It is
generally considered to have been the result
of an exceptionally high tide coupled with a
storm surge, rather than the more modern
tsunami theory. Flood prevention from a Severn barrage in this
instance would be direct, in the manner of the Thames Barrier. The
conditions for such a storm surge to occur again
are possible though of low probability..........
...A barrage could hold water out of the upstream river systems at high
tide, meaning that if there were some hours warning of flash floods, as
was the case in summer 2007, generation would cease and the
barrage sealed at the first available low water. At Gloucester this
would make a 2 metre difference to water levels on a spring tide, on a
neap tide this would mean no reduction in water levels, though still a
four metre difference further downstream at Sharpness (Berkeley
Magnox nuclear facility), close to vulnerable areas of the A38 and M5

from... http://www.deasil.co.uk/08%20stakeholder%20submission%20Severn%20VARCHIVE.pdf


(Underline mine; I had a pdf file map of Britain showing the various nuclear facilities which I have, unfortunately, been unable to find again having lost the file owing to a PC crash. There were two facilities detailed at the very mouth of The Severn itself on either side of the estuary. It struck me at the time that any tsunamic event which might hit the area would strike these sites with tremendous force and almost certainly distribute radioactive contaminant all over the already devastated region.)"


(Go to: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/nuclearpower/10392510/Hinkley-Point-good-for-Britain-says-Ed-Davey.html )  

Friday 18 October 2013

A Samhain Eulogy

My friend Phil Seaford (not "Sadler" as given on the video), was cremated this week, his house had/has become a home for many over the years (since the early 60s), to whom he gave shelter and provided much of the essentials of life. His home will now be run as a co-operative for the benefit of those in the community who find themselves as bereft of comfort as Phil himself was in the early years (Phil was in his early 80s when he died). Go to:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A94gvb4DihQ

 

Quote: "What is Samhain?:

Samhain is known by most folks as Halloween, but for Wiccans and Pagans it's considered a Sabbat to honor the ancestors who came before us. It's a good time to contact the spirit world with a seance, because it's the time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest

Contrary to a popular Internet-based (and Chick Tract-encouraged) rumor, Samhain was not the name of some ancient Celtic god of death, or of anything else, for that matter. Religious scholars agree that the word Samhain (pronounced "sow-en") comes from the Gaelic “Samhuin,” but they’re divided on whether it means the end or beginning of summer. After all, when summer is ending here on earth, it’s just beginning in the Underworld. Samhain actually refers to the daylight portion of the holiday, on November 1st.

All Hallow Mass:

Around the eighth century or so, the Catholic Church decided to use November 1st as All Saints Day. This was actually a pretty smart move on their part – the local pagans were already celebrating that day anyway, so it made sense to use it as a church holiday. All Saints’ became the festival to honor any saint who didn’t already have a day of his or her own. The mass which was said on All Saints’ was called Allhallowmas – the mass of all those who are hallowed. The night before naturally became known as All Hallows Eve, and eventually morphed into what we call Halloween.

The Witch's New Year:

Sunset on Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The old year has passed, the harvest has been gathered, cattle and sheep have been brought in from the fields, and the leaves have fallen from the trees. The earth slowly begins to die around us." (go to: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/samhainoctober31/p/Samhain_History.htm  http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/moon/index.htm )

Contrary however to the information given on the majority of search links found by Google the festival of "Samhain" does not fall on a fixed dated in our romanised Julian Calendar, infact "The Years End" is a lunar festival the full moon of which is (probably), determined by the entry of the sun into one of the ancient Brethonic constellations (possibly "The Spider" Auriga)*. Unfortunately the chronic lack of research (and understanding), of many (if not all), modern astrologers has meant that the significance of such Brethonic festivals and the influence that their celebration had (has), over Brethonic society is now "occluded" from popular gaze.

*The worship of "Arianrhod" (Brethonic/modern Welsh "Arian" = silver "Rhod" = wheel), was assiduously exised from these isles by the Romans.

The original version of Aaron Coplands' orchestral piece "Fanfare for the Common Man" was played as Phil's body was interred. 

Tuesday 15 October 2013

"Imperialism, Eugenics and "Social-Engineering"".

(or “The Overpopulation Myth; Last Refuge of The Social Darwinist”)
Many who seem to like to consider themselves academics and members of the “intellectual vanguard” (“Vanguard of the Intellectuals” Lenin’s answer to the dilemma created by the lack of an “Industialised proleteriate” in the post revolution U.S.S.R  and Marxist ideology), seem unable to differentiate between “Self and State”.  This misidentification leads them to jump to disastrous conclusions especially (of-course), when considering whether or not to intervene (either diplomatically or otherwise), in the business of other nations and peoples. Driven to act by the historical momentum of forces they fail to appreciate one finds them leaping for the “quick fix” solution like a drowning man clutching at straws. One now infamous “gom-jabbar” (Frank Herbert “spur to action”), of this kind is the fabled Malthusian “J-curve”, which identifies the point as the human population of the planet increases  (concomitant with the ability of man to exploit The Earth’s non-renewable -esp.” fossil”-, fuel and agricultural -“monocultural”-, resources), whereby it will become impossible to produce sufficient food for the swollen masses which (Malthus argues), will result in a more or less immediate decline in the numbers of people on the planet (due to famine, natural disaster and conflict over diminishing resources) . Clearly (however), whilst it is necessary to be aware of the threat that the continued rise in the current population represents to not only the human species but also every other species on the planet it is ridiculous to attempt to address this problem using a political paradigm based on the; national, regional, religious or ethnic interests of the past. Utilising redundant notions of intervention which rely solely on the "public" philanthropy of those already guilty of the exploitation and misappropriation of the resources they wish to redistribute leads only to greater corruption and increased suffering for those already most disenfranchised, often creating internal conflict and fuelling international confrontation.
  The result of the kind of “social-engineering” that this kind of misidentification and utilitarian philosophy leads to can be clearly seen in Modern China where neo-communist expediency has clashed with ancient cultural practices and prejudices. The “one-child legislation" spawned by the Year Zero type approach of the ruling Communist elite has produced a regime under which the young (and not-so-young now),  male population of China have suffered a fundamental breach of their human rights over which the rest of The World rings it’s hands (and washes them), with self-congratulatory “liberal” sanctimony.
  Even the cry,“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!” (Chinese proverb), when used by "The Developed World" to describe it's problems with those "less equal" simply rings with the condescending imperialist (and mostly paternalistic), tones of the past. In cases other than genuine national emergency wouldn’t it be better simply to “get our crap out of their river” completely?
 In recent years the U.N has investigated the question of whether or not it will be possible to feed The World’s growing population and concluded that “organic" means (whereby emphasis is put on the locality, sustainability and employment profile of the agricultural base), are indeed more than sufficient for our needs.
  It is the myopic conceit of the “civilised” imperialist (and his patriarchy), that the “benighted savages” are not deemed capable of self-determination or self-sufficiency (witness the “groundnut debacle" in Kenya in the 50’s and 60’s).