Sometimes

Sometimes I just want to say fuck off to the world.

It would be like that scene from half baked:

'Fuck you! Fuck you! You're cool, Fuck you! I'm out!'

It's just trifling shit but it builds up like an hourglass, before you know it the timers done. I just need to flip it round the only problem is when I look ahead I don't really see the hourglass being turned, rather, opened up and more sand added.

Phuckoooh.

Been a while.

I think i'm going to write here more, not because i care about anyone who reads this, if you want proof look how i intentionally don't capitalize my Is!

Anyway, yeah, I think I'm going to try and write here more, just as a way to vent some of the shit pile that I, myself spread my cheeks and dump. Therapy if you will, so if you are interested in a semi disturbed lad of nigh on 20's ranting and ravings then please, go ahead and bookmark this shitty blog for further reading.

Just clarifying that this space will be for mind turds.

Enjoy, fuckers.

Peace.

That is all.

My tongue is burnt to shit

My nose still smells the hit

My teeth are black with ash

Reeking of the hash

Scale

Hello again

I like space so it's not surprising that a large percentage of my occasional posts here are space related. Anyway, today I was playing with an full size (.tiff) image taken from a space telescope, it's over 650mb big and took about 10 minutes for me to open it in CS4.

My post today isn't about the wonder that is space telescopes or the whole of this image:

...It's about the very top image. It may not look much but it's actually a picture taken from the right of the galaxy above. As you can see there are a lot of stars, a damn lot in fact. Whats you wont know is that the picture is only 0.2% of the entire 2D galaxy shown above. The part I choose for this example wasn't a particularly dense patch as well. To aid with understanding it, each of those dots in the top image is a star, they seem pretty close as well when in fact they are light years apart. We would look that close to our neighbouring stars from the perspective of viewers from that galaxy.

I hope the outer spiral of that galaxy gets more action than the arm of the milky way we find ourselves on.

Na'vi

I liked Avatar, actually, I thought it was bloody fantastic; everyone else says the same thing so I don't have to here.

I also thought that the Na'vi people were pretty awesome and humans quite lame in comparison. To show who's side I'm on I tested out my photoshop skills and ended up with probably one of my favourite pieces of all time.

Sam'rir

Jackie Chan

I'm sleepy and flicking through what's on TV, hundreds of channels at my fingers tips but nothing I want to watch. I click on international listings (I've never looked here before ) I click the first one - I'm not subscribed to receive that channel. I click the next channel down, blocked from this one as well, and the next one, and the next one, until I find a channel that works. 'PCNE Chinese' is the channel I ended up on. It's a talk show, a woman and a man sitting on a round chair, I recognised one of the faces... it's Jackie Chan.

Thoughts on the big bang, the universe, our existance and evolution.

First of all, it's been a while and if anyone reads this then thanks for checking in, I hope you get something from this.

I had a break through in my understanding the other day. I'm not sure where to start, perhaps, like all stories it is best to start at the beginning.

The Big Bang is widely acknowledged to be a pretty well rounded and logical explanation for the creation of our known universe. It is a theory but it was created to fit what we have learned - The universe is expanding and there is a lot of background radiation, which is very basic but more can be read here.

Now, the theory goes that the universe spawned from a single point of space time called a singularity.What has taken me so long to actually grasp is that the universe has grown from a single point. If you plant an acorn, it doesn't matter how big the oak tree grows, the leaves will be oak leaves on every branch. The universe is one, it has just become bigger.

To use another analogy, picture the singularity the known universe was birthed from as ingredients for a loaf of bread. All the ingredients are there, when it's ready it will start the expand, the bread is the same at the top and bottom - the ingredients are the same. It's the same with the universe, the ingredients are the same everywhere and what I've come to understand is the trial and error nature of the universe.

To continue of the theme of food; imagine the universe as a chef with the largest pantry you can imagine, with a flare for the experimental and with no concern for time. Throwing ingredients together, mixing and matching and trying different things and every now and then something nice to eat will be created what can be observed though is that our chef doesn't care what he makes, he will just keep experimenting. The ingredients were in the mixture for us to exist.

Since the very first humans we have believed us and our planet special above all others. We are important but because we are a part of everything. We are just a product of the universe, we are the universe and it is us. We are all one because we are a part of everything, and that everything stemmed from oneness. If all the planets and particles of the universe are the same then what makes us feel that we are anything apart from this. This doesn't make us divinely chosen, we just happen to be the tastiest dish on our planet.

This experimenting can be seen through the diversity of life on our planet. Life is part of the ingredients for the universe and I say this quite safely based on the following - The only planet we know that supports life is our own and life sprung up on this planet relatively quickly. As we understand it Earth was formed 4.54 billion years ago, life appeared within one billion years and our planet is expected to continue supporting life for another 1.5 billion years - as the sun expands . If you factor in the time it took for Earth to settle down, form at atmosphere, etc. Then it is clear that Earth as supported life incredibly quickly - Baring in mind that our planet and galaxy is in no way remarkable it is very hard to believe that this is not normal behaviour for a life suitable planet.

What I seem to be saying is that if the ingredients are right here, then as the ingredients are the same everywhere in the incomprehensible expanse of the universe the ingredients will be right somewhere else. There is no doubt in my mind that life exists else where, my curiosity lies in them and how the random experimentation of the universe has shaped them.

We search for meaning to our existence, purpose and reason. What I have come to understand is that we are the universe and the universe is us. You and I are one, we are the sun and the moon, the planets of all the solar systems, the mass that makes galaxies. Everything that exists is a single entity and we are a part of it, albeit a very, very small part.

You are important because the universe is important, it is everything we know and we are a part of it.

Peace, my family.

Sam.

The decade America failed.

EDIT: looks like I might be wrong.

I've seen a lot of people asking what this decade should be called, or will be called in future. Answers varied but I think I can sum up the decade quite well: When America failed.

America has long been the worlds only super power, now they may have not always done the right thing but they tried and so did we (UK) and that counts for something in my books. It might not be too popular but I'm glad we are one of the countries that actually chooses to do something rather than be like, for example France or Russia who are all too happy to pocket bribes in exchange for vetoing UN action. But alas, my despair when I think about the UN is a subject for another day, or is it? No? Ok, I hate the UN! The most powerful countries in our world, millions of people united together and what do we do? Sit around and talk about the issues and avoid actually doing anything at all - doesn't help you have corrupt countries with their own agenda as well.

Anyway, got a little side tracked. America, the world only super power and proclaimed world police are failing. You can't run a super power, run two wars and deal with a financial crisis - it's impossible and America has proved this. 70 trillion dollars in debt, a number which is barely even comprehensible, as, put it this way, if you withdrew that from an ATM, 1) you would be waiting for years for it all to come out the machine and 2) If you wanted to count and see if you got given the right amount you would spend your whole life doing that.

America can no longer afford two wars, it must and will pull back. America will lose it's reach of power and will no longer be a super power. What will happen then? As always, when a leader is removed there will be a rush as other would be leaders who have suffered under the boot try to take his place and if history can teach us anything it's that the benefactor is usually worse.

Who will rise to the challenge then? Probably China and who knows, in 100 years the west might be a whole lot different.

Up

So I saw Up the other day and damn, it's a good film.

Up is another one of Disney & Pixar's masterpieces, the saddest film I have ever seen but a real heartwarming story all the same.

The tale follows an old man, he promised his wife when they were children he would take her to South American. Life happens and they never get there, his wife dies. Instead of letting his house and all his memories of the life he had be destroyed by the corporate suits who wish to build apartment buildings, etc he ties a brazzilion balloons to his house with the plan of floating down to South America to live out his days and fulfil his promise to his dead wife.

His plan however, doesn't work out exactly how he envisioned it.

Packed with laughs and tears, Up is brilliant - go watch it!

P.s. It's also available to watch is standard 2D or with 3D goggles.

To infinity and beyond

To those who have an interest in space and NASA You might be aware that NASA have been designing and will be testing the new Ares rocket system on the 31st of October. I'm sure everyone the world over wishes the Ares testing to be successful, although I'm sure some people will probably be hoping for a nice fireworks display fortunately no human life would be lost in such an event. October 31st is the first real world testing of their new rockets.



Anyway, I got to thinking after I saw the pictures of the Ares. It looks pretty standard, the actually aesthetics are pretty usual. It looks like a rocket. Now, I think, If we are putting things up into space, we gotta' represent! Earth is represented by the things we are sticking out into orbit and beyond. If an alien species observes us they are going to judge us first by our adventures into space. So instead of the generic rocket design why don't we create some aesthetically awesome rocket and shuttle designs. Such as Barad-dûr rocket and a scorpion style shuttle.

Such designs would clearly send a message to aliens not to fuck with earth. It is the best anti invasion counter measures I can think of and please if you can think of any better, tell me. It could have the opposite effects though and be seen as a galactic challenge of interstellar power...

I was holding off publishing this until I could photoshop a picture of a Barad-dûr rocket with awesome scorpion on the back but unfortunately I have had the misfortune of my laptop failing on me so I'm adobe photoshopless for the time being.

Mystery coin update

A few weeks or months ago I did a piece on a Bulgarian coin I have. Thanks to the Reddit community it's been identified as:

"This is a commemorative coin to mark The International Congress of Marscheiders that took place in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1988. Judging by the material it is made of - it is probably a 1 kopeyka denomination (1 cent)

Alexander Baklanov ( БАКЛАНОВ ) is a coin mint master in the late 1980s, 1990's."

Many thanks to the Reddit community and most notably Dubon for the help.

Sam

Obama's lies

This is gonna be a short one, I just want to voice my opinion on the Obama situation. Most notably peoples comments on his change of heart regards certain key campaign areas, e.g. closing Guantanamo.

During Obama's campaign he was only open the public level information and whatever else he can get his hands on.

When Obama entered office he became privy to higher level information regarding the country. It shows strong character to go back on his word. He used his head, read and listened to the information and then made his mind up.

Clearly Guantanamo does a good job and is essential, otherwise, Obama would have shut it down. Have some faith in your leader America.

I'm sure if the US government showed some transparency in certain areas it would make the American people a lot happier. Instead we have people with no understanding of what's going on apart from a few scraps of media twisted 'news' forming strong ideas and notions of how corrupt and evil their government is.

America - it's in the interest of national security to tell the people more. Don't keep them in the dark relying on Fox news.

Sam

My next review

Seeing as I have started doing a couple of book reviews I think I shall cary on the trend.

As I'm a lazy bastard, the order in which I will be reading books is in a rather unprofessional manner of, the smallest books first.

New reviews coming friends.

Also, an article about visiting Amsterdam will be posted at some point next week.

Take it easy, enjoy the summer.

Sam

The Book With No Name.

Due to an upcoming trip that would no doubt be mind numbingly boring i browsed my shelf for a book I had yet read. I decided on The Book With No Name, I'm not sure why; probably something to do with the rather cool name and nice cover artwork - two very important features for me.

Set in Santa Mondega, a city that the rest of the modern world would rather forget, shit is going down. The only interesting and unique feature that Santa Mondega has to separate it apart from the other dead end cities is it's peculiar lunar cycle. Santa Mondega has a full solar eclipse every 5 years.

A mythical stone: The Eye of the Moon, has been stolen by a vicious bounty hunter from the monks that guard it and has arrived in Santa Mondega. Two monks have set out to return it, five years ago the same happened - the two monks then never returned.

As the thugs, lowlifes, bounty hunters and gangsters fight for the valuable stone, the Bourbon Kid is back.

I loved this book, The many characters and plots merged together seamlessly: Two defectives trying to get to the bottom of what's going on, foreign monks trying to get the stone back to the safety of their island, the bounty hunter who has promised the gang boss of Santa Mondega the stone and has his life at stake as a result are just a few of the characters who have been thrown together in the pestle and mortar that is Santa Mondega.

Riddled with violence like bullet holes in the tapioca bar. The Book With No Name leaves you on the edge of your seat wondering what's going to happen next - I ended up going to sleep post 2AM, three nights in a row due to this book.

A very, VERY, enjoyable read. Brilliant from the start through to the end, the only problem was I couldn't read fast enough! upon recollection I think this book would translate to film very well, it's not a very big book.

If you are looking for a modern fantasy, with a crime and investigation twist and lots of violence then you can't go wrong with The Book With No Name.

Definitely worth a read.

5/5


Here's a referral link to Amazon if you are interested:

The Steel Remains

This book was one of my Borders impulse buys and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed.

Richard Morgan has built himself a bit of a name as a sci-fi writer and this was his first go at a traditional fantasy novel. Unfortunately the Sci-fi fans in general seem a bit disappointed that it's a traditional fantasy rather than a space romp but alas, it is a pretty good first fantasy novel, in what hopefully is a trilogy at the least.

I wasn't disappointed but I had better clarify; I wasn't disappointed at the end. I did feel however that the start was rather weak, fortunately it got progressively stronger towards the finish ending on a very strong note that just left me wanting more.

Morgan has a nice writing style, he's not afraid to be blunt, say things as they are and be as crude as possible and I like that. What I didn't like however was Morgans lack of detail in certain areas. I assume this is to build a sense of mystery and lure readers in, I however got frustrated with it very quickly and just felt cheated.

For example:

1) The main character Ringil will have a 'flashback' of sorts, he will be half way through visualising what happened and then the train of thought and story is just dropped.

2) Throughout the whole story we are told he is the hero of Gallowsgap. I would have liked some information on what Ringil did, little scraps are given here and there but there were plenty of opportunities for the story to be told in full.

The Steel Remains was a very enjoyable book, definitely worth a read if you can battle past the rather boring start you are in for a treat.

Note to readers: This book has a strong theme of violence, coarse language and scenes of a sexual nature.

3/5

Mystery coin.

I bought this coin in Bulgaria from a street merchant. I know nothing about it but it caught my eye.

If any Russians can translate and maybe give me some information on this coin it would be brilliant.

It's pretty big 6CM (2.4 inch) 0.5 cm thick and made of bronze.

Markings, on the sea front right side there is a number 87. (I assume that is the year it was made) and the makers mark which is an oval with what looks like the world Liml (or siml)

On the left hand side there is a long word: БAK^AHOB A (the ^ is an upside down V, ^ is all i could represent it with)

Thanks for any help.


EDIT: Here is a better picture of the text, I thought they could be viewed full size.



P.S. Sorry about the white crap at the bottom.

Dear Atheists

The Atheist community, i find, is an annoying one. Pretentious, almost like an elite club of enlightened individuals who are above the petty beliefs stemming from thousands of years of human culture.

Now that i have covered my little introduction and 90% of the atheists have navigated away i will talk a little about my own point of view so you can get a better understanding of my reasoning and logic.

I am Agnostic but let me evaluate, I do not believe in a personal god. I say that with 99% certainty. There is no 'god' being/force watching over us individually and guiding us - the very notion is ridiculous but as the logical human I am, i would also like to state that if there were a god i would be unable to contemplate it's complexity. The god being/force could watch over us all individually or at least time share like a CPU.

But is there a god? That is an entirely different question. The idea of a god as a creator is an entirely plausible one, just look at human research right now. In the next few years Synthetic life will be created by humans. To those synthetic organisms we are their god. Their biology is created by us and will be developed for tasks. Will we know what they think? No we wont - The humans who create the synthetic life will be a creator god but not a personal god. Will they know what we think or have a fraction of the understanding that we have? No.

the problem facing synthetic life is the potential damage it will do to our planet - the results of an artificial life form being introduced are impossible to imagine. What would be the the solution? a closed off environment is the only solution.

Now lets upscale this to an advanced species - our planet is a controlled environment in that no life forms leave it (apart from humans)

Could we be synthetic organisms created by an advanced species? if we are, then our creator is our god.

This is just an idea to illustrate my point, the term god is a vague one. I don't believe in any of the worlds religions gods because it's a human creation from thousands of years ago and they are illogical personal gods.

Could we have been created by a god? Anyone that says no with 100% certainty is simply ignorant which is why i dislike Atheists. If you want to proliferate the type of ignorance you are supposed to be 'fighting' by thinking that, then you are just fucking yourself.

The fact is we know nothing about our existence, what came before us, what lies ahead of us.

The best we have are theories and history cant tell us that allot of theories don't pan out. We act like we are an advanced species but all we have to compare with is other animals on our planet. Before i navigate away from the subject of how superior we believe our self to be remember that if an alien where to fly by earth in his little saucer scanning earth for radio waves 150 years ago he would fine nothing - zero existence of intelligent life.

Now I'm going to jump back to how superior we are to other life on our planet. How many animals have wars, torture, murder, prison, religion and execution? None, humans are the only species on earth that are so destructive.

Humans suck, I've said it before and I will say it again.

To summarize this sloppy message. I honestly think Agnostic is the only stand point a human can have at this stage in our existence. The creation of us and our universe is a topic that is very hard for us to understand from our minuscule view point. We can make predictions and do our calculations and come to the conclusion that the universe is expanding in a uniform pattern and as a result their must have been a big bang... blah blah blah.

Is that the truth or what actually happened - Nothing, a singularity and then everything. Sure that might be it, or it might not be. We could just be trying to apply our laws to a lawless individual. We can think and say what we want but at the end of the day it means nothing.

If you are atheist in the sense that you do not believe in a christian or other world religion's god then, i believe you are right as those religions all believe in personal gods (the bearded white man watching/judging us)

This was suppose to be a short one.

Have a nice day

Sam

after seein the website linked to bellow on reddit, i decided to spread the word via email to people on my contacts list - here is that email:

Swine flu has breached UK borders and invaded countries all over the world - The World Health organization has raised the viral threat to a level 5 pandemic (level 6 being the highest) for more information from WHO click here

As we will all soon be subject to the wrath of this viral dictator early diagnosis is essential to help stop the spread a day of being infected and not knowing could contaminate everyone you come into contact with on that day, the spread rate will continue exponentially as a result.

A good self diagnosis site is: doihaveswineflu.org

Also look for: Necrosis, gangrene, muscles decomposing, difficulty walking, increased hunger for brains and human flesh, body odour that no amount of deodorant, perfume or odour eliminating spray will cover, comfortable in dark damp/moist places and other peoples fear when they see you.

Pass this on!

America's next top model, nothing to do with Allison... <3

Well due to last nights dream in which I saved Allison from a homicidal Hanna Montana I feel it's time to confess my love for Allison Harvard (creepy chan for you /b/tards)

Allison is stunning! She's cute, weird, 'creepy', beautiful, shy, awkward and has an amazing unique look to her. Her uniqueness from the rest of the models sets her aside from the pack. I've watched ANTM before (my brother is into it and i watch it occasionally) but this season is the only one in which i eagerly await it to be uploaded so i can watch it (UK doesn't get it on TV :(

Why? Allison, that's why. I don't know what it is about her - she is just so real on top of what i said before. That's what i love about her, she is beautiful etc but doesn't come with the pre-packaged mandatory 'bitchiness' and cut throat behavior that allot/most girls have.



I loved her from the moment i heard the blood comment, not because I'm a haemophiliac or anything :)

EDIT: Here is an Allison video:



to conclude, I don't think Allison will win. But from the support she has received from the online community and her popularity i think this definitely wont be the end of the road for her. I'm considering starting my own clothing range just so I can get her to model for me!

Check the support here (and vote Allison!)

Nothing says love like a photoshopped Allison Montage:

Religion and Atheism.

All over the blogosphere i see people posting various 'I'm an atheist... blah blah blah' So i thought i would add my own views on the subject - which of course i will back up with facts that i pretty much make up on the spot. Of course i will use reason and common sense - before you atheists close this, I am an atheist myself so it's not going to be a Jesus fest.

Issue 1 - the bible

Recently I saw an article about how Christian's basically believe anything written in the bible and follow it like a to do list. This is not the case, especially in western culture where religion takes quite a back seat in day to day living more so in the UK and northern Europe than the United States. In fact in western culture i think it is only Evangelical Christians who follow the bible word for word. In Western culture i really don't think society cares about people being atheist or not where as in eastern countries atheism carries a death penalty. on a side note, i love how ironic religion is - they have to enforce their beliefs by penalty of death even though by their beliefs the only judgement you should receive is that of your God.

It is also relevant to point out that the stronger a peoples belief in religion the less developed their country is with a poorer standard of living. For example - northern Europeans have the highest standard of living with religion hardly effecting their day to day life. In African countries religion is strong as faith gives the people something to distract them from their lives, it gives them hope and strength.

In summary, The bible was written by humans - not by God.

Issue 2 - motives for religious belief.

Allot of people i know who call themselves 'Atheists' have had the same upbringing as me. My parents left me to come up with my own beliefs and for that, I am eternally thankful. I don't know anyone (i don't mean they don't exist) who left to their own will chose to be religious.

As a child growing up i felt no presence of God and I still don't now, that doesn't mean i dispute the existence of a God. I don't have the knowledge available to make such a statement. No one has a true understanding of what space is, it's limits, it's scale etc - So i think it's a fairly stupid statement for me to say 'there is no god' with 100% certainty considering my minuscule presence in existence and my human knowledge which if history has told us anything isn't reliable or very vast.

I have a habit of running away on thoughts, basically to conclude the 'as a child...' statement - We have no god, no divine presence watching us and showering us in his love. If you raised children free from outside influences they would be atheist, would live and die happily as humans.

to re-conclude my poor conclusion, religion is a man made object - a man made god.

I don't disapprove of religion. As humans we all desire the same things - Peace, Freedom, Happiness, Wellness and Fulfillment. The Ideals of religion are fine, basically the former desires i stated (although Fulfilment is pretty general)

Religion is a good thing on paper, but so is Communism and they are quite similar in a number of ways. As i said, the ideals are good but two factor messes the system up a bit:

1) Money (profit)
2) a voiceless God.

If as individuals and as a species we weren't all looking for the profit (cancer research, global warming, etc) then we could fulfil our basic wants as a society and as a species. Profit, control and power starts new religions and is the reason for religious war.

If there was no God but a mutual understanding of what we as humans want and how to treat each other so that we can live in peace without murdering and raping each other - but the vision of our species working together like that is just ridiculous.

Here is the thing about my belief in religion - the main reason i don't believe in a religion is why would we only be enlightened 2000 years ago? we went for hundreds of thousands of years without the world religions we see today. Surely if any religions were true it would be the first religions? The religions bestowed upon us after our creation.

Issue 3 - Foundations of religion

For my third and probably last issue i would like to talk about the foundations of religion. To my understanding religion is based on fear and created as a way to control 'the people'.

The fear? Death i assume - although i really find nothing scary about dying, of course i want to live but to me death is nothing to fear. If we where to live forever, what would living be?

Thus heaven and hell are created, people are afraid to die so give them something to take away that fear and in turn give them something to die for. Hell, if they fail your 'holly' commands they will be punished for eternity.

I mentioned controlling the people. I already mentioned one type of control 'Give them something to die for' A perfect example would be the crusades, the pope himself told commoners, peasants, murderers and criminals that going to the holy land and killing would cleanse their soul and grant them free access to heaven. win - win, the promise of plunder, women to rape and people to slaughter in exchange for bliss in the afterlife.

Another aspect of control would be marriage - I'm all in favour of marriage but the reasons for marriage go against human nature and our animal instincts. The creation of marriage in short was during a time when women where not as plentiful as men and a randy king wanted lots as his concubines and of course a spoiled woman isn't fit for a king.

On a final note I'd like to say I'm not a fan of the 'I'm and atheist' club, your religious views are personal, please keep them to yourself. Inflicting your beliefs that there are no god is just as bad if not worse than religious believers inflicting their beliefs on you.

That's it on my religious rant for now.

Thanks for reading

Sam