Monday 29 September 2014

Magic Spells For Money


Times are hard and Christmas is coming so we could all do with a little extra cash but money doesn't appear out of thin air..or does it?  The Wiccan's at Spells of Magic have a bunch of money spells so grab a handful of candles and let's chant our way to a fortune with the following 16 magic spells.

1 - Make a small hole in the bottom of an egg and drain out the yolk. Take a small piece of paper and write the amount of money you would like to receive and carefully put the paper inside the egg. Now, bury the egg in the ground and chant:
'I place my nest egg in the earth
where it will grow to what it's worth.
This spell is true it harms no one
as I will it, it is done
'. 

2 - Scratch the word 'MONEY' on the base of a white or green candle, light the candle and burn a few strands of your own hair and hold a coin in the flame chanting:
'One coin here, One coin there,
Richer and richer, As I burn this strand of hair.
Help me gain lots of money each day,
God and goddess,
As I burn this coin as sacrifice,
Grant my wish as I plea, So mote it be!'


Soak the coin and bits of scorched hair remaining in a cup of water  for 5 minutes and then place the coin and hair in your purse/wallet for 10 months.

3 - Two days before the Full Moon, take a green candle and carve a pound sign into it. Light the candle. Spread out some money (play or real but you do burn it later) in front of the burning candle and turn it over and over for at least 10 minutes and then extinguish the candle.
Repeat the next night for 15 minutes and on the third night, the night of the Full Moon, do the same again but before the candle burns out completely burn a large denomination note of your money as an offering to the Gods.

4 - Visualize white gold energy in and around yourself. Now visualize this energy around your wallet and your wallet full. Chant: 'Large amounts of free and easy money are coming to me. This money is all mine to keep and spend as I wish'. Affirm 5-10 times. Repeat on a regular basis for best results.

5 - Light a candle and in the glow of the flame, paint money symbols on a rock. As you do this, concentrate on how this rock will bring needed money into your life. After 7 minutes snuff out the candle. Everyday, light the candle for 7 minutes until money appears.

6 - During the Full Moon Fill a glass half full of water and drop a silver coin into it. Position the glass so that the light from the moon shines into the water. Gently sweep your hands just above the surface, symbolically gathering the Moons silver while chanting:
'Lovely Lady of the Moon,
bring to me your wealth right soon.
Fill my hands with silver and gold.
All you give, my purse can hold'
.

Repeat this three times. When finished, pour the water upon the earth. 

7 - Hold 3 coins in your dominant hand and chant:
'Trinka five, trinka five
ancient spirits come alive,
money grow and money thrive,
spirits of the trinka five'
.

Toss the coins in a bowl and repeat the spell for nine days then continue doing so once a week until you have all the money you need.

8 - Go outside alone and sit or stand under the stars and say once:
'star light star bright first star i see tonight
i wish i may i wish i might i wish upon this star tonight
(say wish here) so mote it be please i want it so badly so mote it be

9 - Under the light of a full moon hold a banknote up to the moon and say the following-
'Lady bright, lady bright',
harvest abundant dreams tonight,
three times three times three times three,
prosperity return to me.


Give the money to charity and the positive energy will return to you times three.

10 - Take a coin, a magnet, a couple of your own hairs and tie them together with the string on the magnet and put it under your bed. Keep it there for 3 days.

11 - Simply Chant the following:
'One coin here, one coin there
Prosperity is everywhere
I need some wealth,
Financial health
I just need my share
'

12 - Take a walnut complete with shell. Crack the shell in half and eat the nut. Place one penny from the year you were born in the shell. Plant this outside, near where you sleep and as you plant it, recite:
'Fortuna, Lamia hear my plea
Hear now my will and my decree,
Lord of Sun and Wooded Deep
Wake this seedling from its sleep.
As a seedling grows into a tree
So shall this small coin ever be.
Starting small, yet ever growing
Providing blessings overflowing.
Never more than what is needed
Lest strife and greed be also seeded.
With harm to none may blessings come,
So may it be as I will it done'
.

Visualize a mighty tree erupting from the earth, showering you with coins and paper money.

13 - Place a bowl, a candle and its holder on a flat surface in your home and for the next seven days put a coin in the bowl. After seven days, take the candle in your hands and imagine prosperity coming to you and then place the candle in the holder.
Pour the seven coins into your left hand and draw a circle with your hand around the coins. Put the first coin right in front of the candle and as you place it, say: 'Money grow, make it mine Money flow, Moneys mine'. Place the other coins around the candle one by one and repeat the incantation. Finally light the candle and allow it to burn out. Leave the money in position for at least three days.
   
14 - Carve money signs into a green candle and place it on a saucer. Arrange coins around the base of the candle then light the candle and chant:
'Money grow,  money flow
candle burn, watch me earn
money grow, money flow
flame shine, what i want is mine
'

15 - Repeat the following twice.
'I call upon the spirits of the moon the sun and the earth,
give me wealth, give me money,i call u upon this single hour'
.

16 - On the night of the full moon go outside and turn all the notes and coins in your purse/wallet over in your hand one by one and chant the following three times-
'Lady of light and love, i pray
bring fortune to me on this day.
and it harm none, so be it'.


There you go, sixteen spells to get your bank balance bulging so please let me know if any of these work and if they do, mines a Latte.

Recession Not Over Just Yet For Poorest

Despite telling us repeatedly that we are out the other side of the latest recession, they have today announced £25bn of spending cuts.
'The latest Treasury estimate is that, to eliminate the deficit, requires a further £25bn of permanent public expenditure savings or new taxes' and it's the savings option that he has chosen which will effect the bottom end more rather than taxation which would hit the top earners the hardest.
The obvious answer is that the top earners are also the largest party donors while the Conservative Party haven't got many friends in the minimum wage bracket so they can be successfully squeezed without harming their odds of re-election next year.
Tax evasion costs the country £15bn each year which would go a long way to reducing the deficit and when are we going to get the money back from the Banks we bailed out to the tune of £500 billion which would clear the deficit 20 times over if they paid us back.  
Regarding the much praised Tory plan to cut pension death tax from 55% to 35%, something he called 'a serious contribution to reduce the deficit', maybe the voters need reminding who it was who put it up to 55% from 35% in the first place, yep, Osborne did in 2011.
There is a third choice Gideon never considered, getting shot of him and his awful nasty party and get someone in the position who knows what they are doing and whose idea of a vote winner is further kicking the poor low wage earners and downtrodden.

Sunday 28 September 2014

Ryder Cup: Europe 16½ - 11½ USA

While nobody likes a sore loser, nobody likes an ungracious winner either so being gracious in victory it's well done to Europe on winning the Ryder Cup and well played and unlucky to the unfortunate USA who played well but didn't have the run of the green over the 3 days.
The more ungracious European bloggers may go the well worn traditional way of rubbing it in the Americans faces by doing the usual naming of famous Americans and ending it with 'you boys took a hell of a beating' but that's just crass and not called for.
There really is no need, for example, to write ' John F. Kennedy, Dolly Parton, Tom Cruise, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elvis Presley, George Washington, George W Bush, Thomas Jefferson, Bob Dylan, Ronald Reagan, Stephen King, Clint Eastwood, Eminem, Marily Monroe, Dixieland, Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks, Madonna, Bill Clinton, Jamie Hyneman, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Venus Williams, Benjamin Franklin and Al Gore...Your guys took one hell of a beating!!
Instead, let us applaud our opponents and who came all this way to entertain us with their loud shirts and amusing way of saying 'aluminium' and route' and return to their side of the Atlantic to work on their strategy for next time.
The USA captain, Tom Watson, put the defeat down to poor driving by the American team and although i admit that those little buggy's can be difficult to control, i think it was more down to the rubbish golf they played but what do i know.

UK Government Bury More Bad News

As the Labour Party Aide who declared September 11 2001 as a good day to bury bad news would appreciate, yesterday wasn't a bad day either so as everyone was looking towards the vote for war in Iraq, the Conservatives slipped out a lovely little gem almost unnoticed.
Published online on the morning of the parliamentary vote, the Government just happened to pick that day to publish the results of a consultation into fracking rights and decided to reject the 40,000 objections to allow fracking below homes without owners’ permission.
The governments justification to stick two fingers up to home owners is that the current ability for people to block shale gas development under their property would lead to significant delays and that the legal process by which companies can force fracking plans through was costly and time-consuming.
'It is essential that we make the most of home-sourced energy and start exploring the natural energy supplies beneath our feet. By removing barriers to deep underground drilling access, we are speeding up oil and gas and deep geothermal energy exploration' the statement read.
It does make you wonder why did they bother going through with the sham of a consultation and despite 99% being against it, just did what they wanted anyway?
Only 11 months to the next election and the country can say a big thank you to Dave Cameron.

Friday 26 September 2014

Cost Of War To Taxpayers

The MP's have voted and it's a thumping 481 vote majority for war and so begins another bout of conflict that has been estimated to last for at least 3 years.
As the Conservatives have spent the last four years counting every penny and telling us that they have to slash all sorts of budgets, how much is this new war going to cost us already hard pressed British taxpayers?   
The Ministry of Defence put the price of a Tornado flight at £35,000 per hour and then there is the cost of the weaponry with the 6 missiles each Tornado carries  costing a hefty £280,000 so a typical 4 hour mission with the aircraft dropping its full payload would cost us £420,000 and as the Tornadoes fly in pairs, that's the best part of a million pound a mission and over the course of the next three years, there will be a lot of missions flown at almost a million pound a pop.
It might be worth remembering the next time the argument over austerity and cutting benefit to the disabled or pegging pensioners old age pension erupts because we always seem to have enough cash for a spot of war but not to keep the old folk warm in winter.

Thursday 25 September 2014

Britain Voting For War

David Cameron will be leading the charge tomorrow as the House of Commons vote on UK involvement in the ongoing conflict in Iraq and it all seems a foregone conclusion as cross party consensus means we are going in alongside America again.
I have already said that it is our mess as it was the US and UK who metaphorically kicked down the Iraqi walls in 2003 and let the wolves in before shouting Mission Accomplished and scarpering back to the safety of our own shores so i feel we are morally obliged to go back and clear up the mess we created. 
As the Iraqi Government are actually asking us back this time instead of us forcing it out, the legality aspect is on a stronger footing this time around but one thing that is sounding very similar is the lack of vision of what we are going to do once we are there except drop bombs from a great height and keep our fingers crossed that we don't kill too many innocent civilians. 
Almost every military speaking head is in agreement that air strikes alone won't do the job but the politicians are assuring us that there will be no boots on the ground so i'm not sure what the plan is.
We have been constantly bombing the Taliban and Al Quaida for 13 years now and we haven't managed to defeat them so can't see this being any different and we WILL kill civilians in Iraq and Syria which will only help Isis in recruiting more volunteers and further turn Muslim opinion against the west therefore ensuring another generation of western hating extremists.
Boots on the ground is not a palatable option for any Government as returning body bags never go down well with the voting public but only using air-power is doing half a job and puts the innocent people on the ground at risk and why should they suffer even more and be put at greater risk just because the US and UK want a nice 'safe' war where their people are flying 25,000 ft above the bullets and out of harms way.  
War is awful which is why the decision to have them should only ever be as the absolute final resort and this one has been going on for over a decade all because George W Bush and Tony Blair decided to invade a country to drive out terrorists who weren't there until we went to drive them out.

A Palestinian State In Three Years

Immediately after the ceasefire between Israel and Palestine this summer, Israel stole the largest tract of land in the West Bank as 'punishment' for the Palestinians having the temerity to fight back against the latest Israeli invasion.
Maybe it was to provoke the Palestinians into attacking them and therefore justifying another military blitz of the penned in Gazan's or it was too good an opportunity to miss for another land grab but yet more land earmarked for a Palestinian state became Israeli land.
And so it has gone on for over 60 years but finally the Palestinians have a bit of leverage and they have announced they plan to use it to the full to get their own land, free of Israeli oppression.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to present Israel with a timetable for talks which would agree upon the territory for the future Palestinian state in three years with the demand that Israel freeze settlement construction as the talks are ongoing.
If Israel rejects or delays the talks or continues settlement building, Abbas will use his newly earned powers at the UN to take Israel to the International Criminal Court and seek a UN Security Council resolution that recognises the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines.
If the US veto any Security Council resolution, as they usually do, they will then approach the General  Assembly with the same request and join international bodies and organisations, and then to campaign to have Palestine recognised as a nation under occupation according to the Geneva Conventions.
Sounds like a plan and dragging Israel and the likes of the vile Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court would be justice, the amount of human right abuses he has been accused of overseeing would ensure him a less than comfortable seat at the Hague.
It is about time Israel was made to account for its long lasting genocide on Palestine and far past the time when the Palestinians were rid of the repugnant human right abusers next door.

Ukuele Fight!!

It is impossible to play a song on a ukulele and not make it sound happy and bouncy as anyone who has seen the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain will agree as they run through such songs as 'Anarchy in the UK' and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and make them sound like super cheerful nursery rhymes.
As we now know though, things are not quite as serene as they seem in the world of Ukulele's as the Great British Ukulele Orchestra face new competition from the Great British Ukulele Orchestra who they are taking to court over infringement of their name.
Not that there is much in it, the UOGB has been around for 30 years and the new boy's in town, the Great British Ukulele Orchestra, are not even from these islands, they are German so the court case over the name should be a short, sharp one with the result being the Germans being told to change it but a legal battle with the background of Ukulele's just isn't right.
The name does summon up thoughts of George Formby and his little stick of Blackpool Rock but the Ukulele has come a long way since then, thankfully a long way from the hands of northern men singing about Chinese Air Raid Wardens.

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Obama Or Bush Same Difference

 War, what is it good for asked Edwin Starr and the answer is killing people but not civilians, especially if you do what the United States have done and changed the definition of a civilian.
After the first few days of dropping explosives from on high and the first reports of civilian deaths, the Pentagon have announced that they are confident that no civilians were killed in any of the initial air strikes in Syria.
Always a touchy subject and after more and more reports of Afghan civilian deaths from American drones, the White House redefined exactly what a 'civilian' and a 'combatant' is so now a combatant is a military-aged males killed in a strike zone although explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent does nudge them back into the civilian pile of dead folk.
Now that Obama has launched his second bout of war, just missing a third by a whisker in Syria last time, we can justifiably say that he is just as bad as his predecessor who was rightly condemned by the World and his aunt when he began the whole debacle in motion in 2003.
Throw in the turmoil in Ukraine fired off by American meddling, the drone attacks in Pakistan and the funding of Syrian Rebels who turned into ISIS, Obama has an awful track record of starting conflict around the world. 
The latest conflict has even began without UN backing which is due to be discussed today and is sure to be vetoed by China and Russia so he even has the illegal war to cement the Bush likeness.   
As Obama has already decided to go to war and then use the UN to rubber stump it, even if it is refused the war will still be on and bombs will continue to be dropped left, right and centre so he's not that different from Bush in reality.
The only difference is that this one is a Nobel Prize for Peace laureate justifying yet another bombing campaign in the Middle East.

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Spider Warning

According to scientists and men in holey jumpers hanging around in allotments, due to the warm summer and abundance of tasty flies this summer, the spider population have grown larger than normal and the end of September is when they are at their maximum adult size and most active which means at their most bitey.
I do generally try to put a glass over them and gently place them outside but if any giant spiders try any funny business with me I will seriously mess their sh*t up, and mess the bottom of my shoe up as well.
The man clutching the trowel and a packet of seeds assured me that all spiders are venomous but none of the eight legged things we have in the UK has enough poison or large enough fangs to actually harm us and then tried to assure me that spiders are actually a good thing, they eat flies and wasps and those weird crane flies which obviously is a good thing but then so does a honey badger but you wouldn't invite one of those into your home either.
Then there is that urban legend about how we swallow eight spiders a year in our sleep so no amount of stories is going to persuade me that spiders are our friends but if i am going to be bitten by one, i especially don't want to be stood beside the old leaky microwave in the kitchen when it happens.

Karzai Goes Out Swinging

In his farewell speech, outgoing Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, thanked a host of nations for help in the post-invasion development of his country so it was three cheers for China, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Turkey.
The United States did get a special mention, he said they shouldn't be trusted as he said that America invaded Afghanistan 'for its own interests', never really wanted peace in the region and warned the incoming government to be 'extra cautious in relations with the United States'.
Karzai's relationship with the US has always been fractious and it seems that he is going out aiming a well heeled boot in the direction of the people who got him the top job in Afghanistan. 
The man taking over, Ashraf Ghani, is sure to be a bit more malleable then Kharzai who was constantly berating America for killing innocent civilians in military strikes,  especially as Ghani is a former World Bank employee and was educated at Columbia University in New York so the Americans couldn't have chosen a better patsy if they had tried.

Saturday 20 September 2014

Confusing ISIS Strategy

The French and Americans are bombing ISIS in Iraq while the British delay making a decision on whether to join in, nervous about following the ISIS into Syria after the vote last year that said loud and clear no military action in Syria.    
'Let me be clear. Britain will not be taking part in any air strikes in Syria. We have already had that discussion in our parliament last year and we won’t be revisiting that position' said Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond dismissing the prospect of UK air strikes against ISIS in Syria.
Not that the US really need US air power apart from to present a united front and i doubt if ISIS are celebrating that the Brits sitting this one out because they still face a heavy pounding which makes me wonder why they were so keen to get involved in a fight which is only going to have one winner and it won't be them.  
I understand the intimidation angle designed to eliminate local resistance and make the job of taking over towns and cities easier and i can see how they can paint it as a Muslim v the West contest which would help with recruitment to their cause but now they have the Worlds most powerful military facing off against them and they will get massacred in large numbers and lose any gains they have made such as the way Al Queada and the Taliban are a fraction of the force they were albeit it has taken over a decade to get to this point.
Maybe the point is to draw the Americans and it's allies into a protracted ground war and then hope that when the body bags start landing back in the States they will lose the stomach for a fight and like previously, they will pull back and they will have enough ISIS fighters left to pick up where they left off which luckily is a awful strategy and will thankfully see them and their ability to massacre whole towns wiped out.
As the British Government is standing by the decision not to perform military action in Syria, and know full well that it was attacking Syria that was debated and not the terrorists in Syria, you do wonder if they know that the plan is to attack the Syrian Government troops in some manipulative mission slip and that is why they are not joining in.  

Friday 19 September 2014

Scotland Going Nowhere

The surprising thing is that anybody was surprised that Scotland decided that it is better to stay in Britain but it was all a bit of an anti-climax really.
The Yes vote did well to get the 45% they did but it was always only ever the slightest glimmer of an outside chance once the economics of a break away was spelt out to the voters.
Some part of me wanted the Scots to vote Yes and then watch the start the long process of disentangling themselves of 300 years of partnership with the English, Irish and Welsh, it would have been interesting.
It would have turned nasty especially over the oil which we both seemed to be claiming but it has been settled and Scotland will bob along as previous, subsidised by the rest of us by taking more from the pot than it puts in.
The biggest loser is obviously Alex Salmond who has now resigned as First Minister but not far behind him is Andy Murray, who the English have never really warmed to, who came out in favour of Independence (surprising how many Scots who live elsewhere was keen to have an opinion on the country they left at the first chance they got) but now faces making his living in a country he wanted to break away from which may make Wimbledon interesting next year.
Anyway, now the Scots had their go, when is the referendum for the other Brits to see if we want to break away from Scotland?

Wednesday 17 September 2014

Last Day For Scotland In Britain?

Tomorrow could be the last day that the Scots can call themselves British as they vote whether to stay with the English, Welsh and Irish or go it alone.
The polls do seem to be very close, much closer than i expected them to be so credit to the 'Yes' campaigners  who seem to have turned things around up there and even i am starting to think that possibly they might just pull it off and we may wake up Friday to find the top part of the country now ends at Northumberland.
The poll of polls which collects the information from all the other polls gives the No camp a 2-4 point lead    over the Yes campaign but considering that the No campaign was 16-20 points ahead at the start of the campaign it is closer than any thought it would be and narrow enough to still swing either way.
Interesting to hear the oil rich Shetland Island off the coast of Scotland announcing that if Scotland vote yes but the islanders vote no they will seek independence from Scotland and take their oil wealth with them which will blow an enormous hole in any plans of a new Scottish Government which would already face financial upheaval as Westminster pulls the plug on them. 
I don't expect Scotland to go independent, the bottom line of it costing them too much and heralding price and tax increases across the board will scupper the Yes campaign but if it does sneak over the line it will certainly be make for interesting times as Scotland extricates itself from the rest of us.
The timetable is Polls open at 7am and close 10pm with the result announced between 6.30am and 7-30am Friday morning. 

Tuesday 16 September 2014

No Heaven For Right Wingers

I don't think it is beyond doubt that if Jesus was alive today, he would be a lefty and probably knocking out some cabinets on the side so it has always been with amusement that it is the right wingers who have picked up the religion mantle.
The right are the hunters and capitalists and the ones most likely to be doing their armchair general bit when war is in the air and the ones most likely to be found in a church singing hymns about all things being bright and beautiful at the weekend.
Obviously, the whole idea of being a good church goer is to ensure that when you die, you can get through the pearly gates but considering what the Bible says about these matters, i think they may be disappointed.
Firstly, the right wing shtick is selfishness and thinking about themselves before others but Jesus won't much care for that, he was a 'best for the group' type messiah.
Then there are the hunters who seem to think it is okay to go out and blast big holes in animals for a bit of fun, Jesus would probably frown upon that also.  
The capitalism apologists are mostly found on the right and the Bible has many mentions poo-pooing money and material gain, there is even a nifty analogy regarding camels and needles to drive home, the point.
Finally, peacemakers are the blessed ones so its not very probable that the pacifist Jesus looks kindly upon people using him as a reason to make war or cheering for a spot of conflict in the week and turning up at Church at the weekend to listen to stories about love and peace.   
Without doubt Jesus was a lefty but in a bitter irony, the people he is most alike are the ones who avoid church while the ones who are most opposite the things he stood for are the ones trying to suck up to him.
Of course the whole religion thing is tripe but i'd think that if the whole heaven idea wasn't all in the imagination, the people of the right wing would be the last ones Jesus and his dad would let in.

Monday 15 September 2014

Free U2 Album? No Thanks

Six days after Apple downloaded U2's new album to its customers iTunes accounts for free, they have had to release a tool to remove it again after so many complained that they didn't want it and couldn't see how to delete it.
'For the people out there who have no interest in checking us out, look at it this way… the blood, sweat and tears of some Irish guys are in your junk mail' said Bono.
Seems the musical efforts of some Irish guys long past their sell by date are in the delete folder of millions.
Maybe U2 should take a hint when they literally can't give their new album away.

Saturday 13 September 2014

Dr What

I will hold my hands up and say i didn't have very high expectations of Peter Capaldi when he picked up the keys to the Tardis but i have to admit i was wrong and the new Doctor is doing very well, tonight's episode was a cracker but American watchers may have to take my word for it because apparently the yanks have a bit of a problem understanding his Scottish accent.
I do have a bit of sympathy because i really enjoy True Blood but i have a problem following the characters with the Deep South accents but to my ears, Capaldi's accent isn't that strong, not as strong as some Scots anyway.
Former Dr David Tennant was also Scottish but he played the role with a very reasonable English accent but otherwise as the fan base grows Stateside, to some this may be their first taste of a Scottish accent as i can't think of too many shows when they would have come across it before.
Maybe the next one should be a Brummie, that would have them reaching for the subtitles button.

Manipulating People With Psychology

I do find the field of psychology interesting and according to psychologists we are always giving away our innermost thoughts by our unconscious actions and if you know what to look for, you can read people accordingly but there are also ways that we can subtly manipulate people and their emotions by the way we act or even what we wear.
As having the power to bend people to your will is everyone's dream, what should we be doing in certain situations?
 
If you are going for an interview, psychologists suggest wearing something blue as this makes you seem trustworthy and secure and don't tilt your head forward as this makes you look submissive but don't tilt it back too far as this will make you look arrogant. Keeping eye contact is important as looking away makes it look as though you are not interested in what you or the other person is saying.

In more romantic settings, if the person who you are talking is interested in getting to know you better, their pupils will grow larger as larger pupils let in more light and can see you clearer so the brain can take in as much information about you as possible. A few light touches on same spot of the arm or hand when the other person is laughing will help as this will reinforce the nice feeling of someone making them feel good.
If the other persons feet are pointing towards you they are interested, not so much if pointing elsewhere and if they play with their hair or jewellery its a good sign. Red is the colour to wear as it inspires feelings of passion and love.

In a business meeting let the other person talk first as this makes the other person feel warmth towards you as they are being listened to and try and mirror the way they are standing or sitting as this makes them feel you are like them and more inclined to trust and agree with you.
If you feel the other person is dominating the conversation, leaning forward slightly sends out an unconscious signal that they need to 'pull back' and let you in, in effect shut up and let you speak and nodding when you speak when want a positive outcome makes the other person more inclined to say yes. 

Finally, a good indicator if somebody is not being all together honest is that liars try to make their body smaller by folding arms or legs, crossing their feet or even twisting their bodies away from you.

All good advice so if you are out on a date, wear red and take a look at the way feet are pointing but if it's a interview make sure it's blue and hold the eye contact and if you are after a raise sit the same way as the boss and nod a lot.
Not sure what it means if your boss is wearing red and keeps playing with their hair and touching your hand while you are asking for a raise but it could be a good time to ask for a promotion and a company car also. 

Judge Wrong In Pistorius Verdict

The only thing worse than an idiot who owns a gun is an idiot who then uses that gun to kill someone so how the South African judge has ruled that Oscar Pistorius did not murder his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, is quite rightly facing criticism.
Although the Paralympian faces a charge of culpable homicide which is the South African equivalent of manslaughter, rather than a long stretch in jail his punishment now ranges from fifteen years imprisonment to a fine with five years being considered the sentence he faces according to experts in South African law.
Steenkamp died in a small toilet cubicle when Pistorius shot her four times through the locked door just with hollow tipped bullets which opened and mushroomed on impact, tearing through her flesh and killing her almost instantly.
He claims he mistook her for an intruder, a version that the judge has obviously accepted, but the fact remains that he shot and killed a person regardless of who it was and far be it from accident, he had someone inside a locked bathroom and was outside armed and rather than call police or security, he took the option of shooting to kill.  
Martin Hood, an attorney specialising in firearms offences, said: 'There has been a widespread expression of outrage across the board. There are many people in the legal profession who believe she got it wrong.
It has met with a lot of disappointment in the court of public opinion, including on the part of gun owners. I would be bitterly disappointed and angry if I was Reeva Steenkamp's family'.
Anyone with a bit of sense knows that pointing a gun and shooting it four times with those type of bullets which cause maximum carnage, that is not an accident, it's murder because you intended to kill.
'This verdict is not justice for Reeva' said her mother, June Steenkamp and she is right, it is not any kind of justice whatsoever.

Not Paying Kidnappers Ransom

The line from Government has always been that kidnapped ransoms are not paid because if the kidnappers make a payday from their actions, they will only do it the more.
I would assume that the position goes out the window if it is a member of your own family whose life is being threatened and the mother of journalist James Foley who was kidnapped and killed by ISIS recently has revealed that she had been threatened by the US government with charges of aiding terrorists if the family tried to raise funds to pay the £80m ransom for him.
'We were told that several times and we took it as a threat and it was appalling' Foley's mother Diane said, 'It was very upsetting because we were essentially told to trust that the way they were handling things would bring our son home'.
While i do understand the philosophy that kidnappers are not rewarded by receiving large sums of money, i do wonder just how keen they would be to refuse handing over the money to save their life if it was one of Obama's or Cameron's kids whose life was being threatened.
In an already horrendous situation, you don't need your own Government to start issuing threats but the Obama administration seems as subtle as a house brick in its dealings with most things.

Friday 12 September 2014

They All Sound The Same

I was sat in the shopping centre this afternoon listening to a busker and he made this way through 4 songs before stopping to eat his lunch and somehow made them all sound the same.
As there are only there are seven basic notes, A,B,C,D,E,F and G and there are only a set number of ways to go from one to another, at some point there will come a day when all the music it's possible to write has been written.
I imagine someone somewhere has worked out how many tunes are possible with the set number of notes and chord progressions, it is way beyond my limited grasp of maths,  but as we have had music for so many centuries, we must be reaching a point where the same tunes are being rehashed.
Reggae bands foresaw this problem a long time ago and just made all their songs the same tune and there are many bands that use the same 'sound' which is a polite way of saying doing the same song over and over but either speeding it up or slowing it down a bit.
I don't have a problem with bands reusing the same song if it is a decent 'sound' to start with, the Ramones deviated very little from the few tunes they had, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Green Day don't do much different either but the basic tune they use over and over is a good one so they can get away with it.
Another approach is to steal songs off other people and try to change it just enough in the hope that people don't notice or to just outright make another version of it.
What this all means is that while we are running out of many things, music is another we can add to the endangered list.

Thursday 11 September 2014

Saving The Ozone Layer

In the mid 1980s, scientists noted the ozone layer which screens us from the suns damaging ultraviolet rays was so dangerously thin that holes had appeared. The blame was put on chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, that were being increasingly used in appliances such as fridges and aerosol cans.
The World rallied and in 1989 the Montreal Protocol came into effect which banned the use of CFCs and by the mid 90s, despite opposition from some in the chemical industry, the use of CFC's were almost eliminated and now, 30 years after it was first noticed, the ozone layer is well on its way to having repaired itself and is expected to be back to full strength by the middle of the century.   
Proof that decisive international action can avert self-imposed disaster and it is the same political will that is needed to deal with the threat of climate change.
Why was it that our Governments of the 80's and 90's heard of a threat to our planet and its population and rallied around to act so decisively while the governments of today seem to come up with all manner of reasons to avoid making the cuts we need to reduce the worst effects of climate change.  
The problem it seems is the lack of political will to act which was shown in the 80s, afraid that to do something would be detrimental to corporate interests, the same people who donate so much money to Governments that it would be economically suicidal for our leaders to pass any laws that would hit their donaters profits because 30 years on from the Governments of the 80s, the main difference is that economic growth and profit tops the list of priorities before saving the planet.

Wednesday 10 September 2014

ISIS a Cover To Attack Syria?

President Obama is making a speech tonight to set out his plans for dealing with ISIS and even before he has uttered a word, we all know that he will be setting out his case for war in Iraq.
Hopefully Obama will explain how he will destroy Isis with air strikes when no amount of them has been able to destroy al-Qaida or the Taliban in 13 years of fighting.
Around this time last year, Obama and Cameron were foiled in an attempt to blow great lumps out of Syria in support of ISIS who were then one of the good guys.
While i agree that America broke Iraq, they should fix it even if that means troops going back to protect the Iraqis but this could be a chance to take out Assad in Syria under more mission creep like in Libya.
Obama and Cameron have both made noises about bombing Syria to under the guise of 'destroying and degrading' ISIS but at the same time they are arming and funding the Syrian Free Army and it could be a case of two birds with one stone as the ISIS targets and Assad forces are morphed into one enemy against the FSA and Obama and Cameron get to finally take out Assad and his forces under the guise of another humanitarian mission.
The West's war in Libya began as a humanitarian mission and ended up being the air cover for Al Queada and this is starting to look very much the same thing.
Obama was supposed to be the nice one bringing peace but he seems to have spent his administration droning and bombing his way around the globe and i feel the threat of ISIS is a cover and a way in to do what he was stopped from doing a year ago in Syria.

The Invictus Games

I know it probably shouldn't be, but watching the opening ceremony of the Invictus games with the legion of young men and women with missing limbs was an amazing advert for how shocking war is.
Making their way across the grass in front of the Royals and the politicians, being pushed in wheelchairs, some waving fake arms and some on false legs that they gained in Iraq and Afghanistan, you do wonder where was the man who made all this possible, Tony Blair.  
Without him and his lies and warmongering, the games would not have happened so he should have been there to see close up just what his policy of backing up George W Bush in their obscene lust for war led to, hundreds and hundreds of this countries men and women who have had their lives and bodies shattered and they were the lucky ones because just as many again never made it back at all.
By all means applaud the bravery of the former military men and women and even feel ashamed that our worries pale into insignificance when we compare our lot to theirs, but most of all think of what each and every person and the family of each man and woman filing past on the television screen went through the next time the politicians mention sending our young men and women to war.
Tony Blair is making millions touring the World and giving lectures on why he decided war was his preferred option where the lucky ones come back from them with broken minds, broken bodies and a lifetime of hospital care and he should have been there to witness the result of his treacherous and deceitful decision making and for every person with a missing limb that walked in front of him, a voice saying in his ear 'that's your fault'.  
  

Who Would Buy An Apple Watch?

The best companies spend billions each year convincing consumers that they desperately desired a product for which they had never previously felt a need and Apple have been successful by pushing stylish looking computers, then music devices and finally phones but the new Apple Watch is anything but stylish.
I'm not entirely sure what it does but as far as it being a fashion accessory, its what deelay boppers were to head wear and you have to be a bit of a showy off, 'everybody-look-at-me' type to even consider wearing the large, ugly looking clunky thing on your wrist, or a 'digital lifestyle enabler' as Apple called it.
You also have to have more money then sense to shell out £220 for the honour but the largest drawback i can see is the lack of watches on the wrists of the younger generation who are also those who will buy the  thing.
Maybe that's why they decided to give it the lifestyle enabler tag because a watch doesn't really appeal to the youth of today and especially not for that price and something that looks so awkward.
Possibly Apple has drawn a blank on this one.

Monday 8 September 2014

Stephen King Revenge

One of my favourite conspiracy theories is that it wasn't Mark Chapman whom killed John Lennon but the Beatles assassin was actually horror writer Stephen King.
Of course we all dismissed it as the rambling theory of someone with too much time on their hands or too much alcohol in their bloodstream but hold that thought because the Stephen King is a killing machine theory has another string to its bow.
In 1999, the writer was strolling along a country lane when a minivan driven by Bryan Smith decided to re-enact a scene from Christine and decorate his radiator grill with bits of Mr King.  
One bump and brief fly through the air later and Stephen King was the less than proud owner of a fractured hip, a broken leg, a chipped spine, four broken ribs and multiple stitches.
In the best King style, things then turned a bit weird as Smith died 15 months after the accident, on Stephen King's 53rd birthday, from an overdose of the same painkillers King had been on during his rehabilitation.
Now i'm not suggesting King had anything to do with Smith's early departure but a man being force-fed painkillers by a deranged lunatic holding him hostage because of a perceived wrong he did sounds very familiar, especially if you have ever read the Stephen King book Misery. Just saying.

Blame It On The Moonlight

Astronomy usually means a large coat, a telescope and a thermos flask of hot chocolate but tonight is one of the few times you can gaze skyward and see a wonder of the universe, not only the moon but a Supermoon.
Not only is the moon 16% bigger tonight, but also 30 times brighter and 31,000 miles closer as we are treated to the third supermoon of the year.
It is known that full moons affect nature and in particularly the tides, but the jury is out on whether the moon, especially one this close to us, has any effect on humans.
As the human body is approximately 65%, it seems to make sense that it can mess with us in some way and a Swedish study has found that the unusually large supermoons could see changes of mood and restless nights becoming more frequent in the days surrounding the event.
So if your colleagues are looking tired or are a bit more moody than usual this week, it's the moons fault.

Another Royal

It doesn't seem that long ago since the over-the-top coverage of Kate and Williams last baby and then just as it dies down, they go and announce another one.
It is always nice to have a spare no matter what it is but we seem to have more Royals swilling around the place then candles on Prince Philips birthday cake and the line of succession changes again as the new baby takes its place on the taxpayers payroll as 4th in line to the throne behind Charles, William and George.
Congratulations and in 8 months time we can look forward to what great parents they are without mentioning  the team of nannies, chefs, chauffeurs, yoga instructors, nutritionists...etc etc.
Maybe we should make it a condition if Scotland get their divorce, they get custody of the Royal Family.

Sunday 7 September 2014

Sneaky Tories

YouGov poll delivers a blow to the Better Together campaign which is urging Scotland to stay with the UK, showing a significant lead diminish in a matter of weeks so 51% of Scots now want to cut themselves adrift from the rest of the UK.
How the No campaign has blown a 16% lead in 14 days is not that puzzling when you consider that the Yes campaigners have hammered the 'choose our own Government and not be ruled by London' view and the opposition have replied by sending up the same ruling Ministers from London to argue the point.
By David Cameron and his cabinet turning up in Edinburgh and Glasgow, it just reminds them what a joke they are and makes them even more determined to rid themselves of the posh berk and his mates.   
Despite knowing that they will be financially worse off, the Scots are seeing a chance to expel the likes of Cameron from their lives forever and that is overriding any common sense regarding having to pay for things they receive free now such as prescriptions and university tuition.
All they hear is 'NO MORE OF THE HATED TORIES' and sending up Tories is just stoking the fires.
Of course it could all be a cunning ploy because without Scotland, an anti-Tory hotbed, the Tories election odds would take a sharp upturn and so would the finances of the rest of the country as we wouldn't be having to send money to the other side of Hadrian's Wall.
Maybe by continuing to do what they are doing, the Tories are not as stupid as George Osborne looks.

I Don't Like It But I'm Staying Here

I do love the argument that if you don't like it, you should go live in Russia or Cuba but by coincidence the same argument is used in Russia or Cuba where they say if you don't like it, go live in USA or UK but the argument is futile because of the logistics to moving abroad.
Why would anyone go to Cuba, Russia or anywhere if they didn't have a job there or somewhere to live and what about having to learn a new language and the whole change in culture.
You wouldn't be able to listen to the radio or watch the TV because you wouldn't understand any of the programmes and then there are the problems with schools for the kids and driving on the opposite side of the road.
Least of the problems is the expense of hiring an International removal firm and the weather, Cuba would be far too hot for my pale skin and Russian winters are legendary harsh.
Far better and much easier to stay here and moan about things we don't like and if we didn't vote for the current Government, it is perfectly legitimate to say i will stay here and bitch about the things rather than go through the upheaval and expense of upping-sticks and moving to Havana or Moscow thank you.
Besides, hanging about here really annoys the people who say silly things like that.

Saturday 6 September 2014

Shark Attack Puzzler

Gentlemen prefer blondes but sharks prefer gentlemen according to the Queensland Bond University who discovered that sharks are nine times more likely to kill men than women.
Ignoring reported attacks when the shark had been provoked by people patting sharks on the head, putting their hands in the shark's, jumping on sharks and trying to ride them, 89% of attacks were on people with XY chromosone.
Now the University plan to work out why almost 9 out of every 10 attacks are on men but i think i can field that one and save them time which could be spent on more important research.
The reason why 89% of attacks are on men is because MEN ARE STUPID ENOUGH TO GET INTO THE SEA WHERE THERE ARE SHARKS, WOMEN HAVE MORE SENSE.
There you go so you can now use that research grant to look into important issues like why do men feel the need to hog the remote control and why do people continue to buy reggae records when it is obviously the same tune.

Friday 5 September 2014

The Chavez Prayer

There are many similarities between ex-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Jesus.
Both looked out for the poor and needy, both looked down upon financial greed and both were revered by tens of millions around the globe.
It is only the fact that Hugo Chavez was a real person and Jesus a figment of someones imagination that separates the two but as far as politicians go, if there is one that should be lauded and used as a role model for others to aspire to, Chavez is it.
Now his Socialist party have annoyed the Catholics by rewriting the Lords Prayer which bought the rather sniffy statement: 'The Lord’s Prayer comes from the very lips of our Lord Jesus Christ and is therefore untouchable' from the Catholic church to the new prayer that very much touches Jesus's lips by imploring Chavez for protecting against the evils of capitalism.

Our Chávez who art in heaven,
the earth, the sea and in us delegates,
Lead us not into the temptation of capitalism,
deliver us from the evil of the oligarchy,
like the crime of contraband,
because ours is the homeland,
the peace and life,
forever and ever.
Amen.

It is easily preferable to use the prayer to laud such a fine example of what a politician should be  than the reason there has been and continues to be so many wars and so many deaths.
Also, Chavez was a real person and anyway, Jesus would probably approve more of someone who shared his values than those in power who claim he told them to start wars.

The Ultimate World Address

Astronomers have finally got around to naming the supercluster of galaxies that the Milky Way sits on the edge of and it's now called Laniakea.
Even more exciting is that we can now add it to our ultimate address so try this out next time you want to impress someone and you have a large enough envelope because at the moment, this is the longest address it is possible to have: 


100 My Street,
My Town,
My City,
My County,
England,
United Kingdom,
Post Code,
Europe,
Northern Hemisphere,
Earth,
Inner Solar System,
Solar System,
Solar Interstellar Neighbourhood,
Orion Arm,
Milky Way Galaxy,
Local Group,
Local Sheet,
Virgo Supercluster,
Laniakea,
Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex,
Observable Universe,
Universe



Thursday 4 September 2014

Greens Going Red

Since Tony Blair, left wing supporters have been looking around for a new party to throw their support behind and there have been a few start-ups, Left Unity amongst them, but nothing of much substance so it is a pleasant surprise that the reddest party have turned out to be the greens.
The party have been gradually shifting further left and today unveiled a manifesto that includes increase taxes on the wealth of the super-rich and renationalising the railways which may not dio much for the rapidly dwindling sea ice in the arctic but hit a beautiful note with the vast pool of ex-labour voters looking for a left wing party to put their cross beside.
The party’s membership has increased by 28% this year and is only 3% behind the Liberal Democrats who are the third largest party in the country.
The Greens so far successful attempt to broaden their base is welcome especially as the two right wing parties, Conservatives and UKIP rip into each other and half each others potential votes.
After a decade of corrupt politicians at the big three, wars, austerity and rich politicians running the country for the benefit of their rich buddies, anyone promising a more socially and economically just society has to be better for us.
With a fair wind and a bit of luck, this could be the exact right time for the red greens.

Hey Joan, You're Dead!

Weeks after shouting 'You’re dead, you deserve to be dead' at photos of dead Palestinian children during the Gaza conflict, with beautiful timing Joan River's is now dead herself.   
One less spiteful bitch stinking up the planet i guess.

Tuesday 2 September 2014

Morally Obliged To Go Back To Iraq

A poll in the Independent newspaper today suggested that 65% of Brits don't want Britain to get involved in military action against ISIS in Iraq and this rises to 80% against when the possibility of sending ground troops is mentioned.
Meanwhile on US news sites, the overwhelming majority of comments are saying that the U.S. has no business in Iraq and Obama should stay away from any military activity.
Generally i would agree with these views but it is complicated by the fact that it was the actions of the UK and US a decade ago that allowed the conditions for ISIS to emerge so i feel we have a moral obligation to go back and fix it.        
We removed Saddam on the flimsiest of reasons and Al Queada poured into the country but despite the car bombs and ethnic cleansing going on, we wiped our hands, called it 'Mission Accomplished' and removed our troops and in come an even worse bunch than Al Queada, a bunch we were previously keen to support when they did their killing in Syria.
The British and Americans Governments are trying to put a full stop after they withdrew their troops, to state that what is happening now is a new chapter and not linked to what the two countries, and others, did in 2003, but it is directly because of what they did in 2003.
The case could even be made that the current day events have a thread running back to the 1970's Afghanistan and the Western backed Mujaheddin who mutated into Al Queada and who are the forerunner of the newcomer to the the terrorist gang, ISIS.   
It IS our business because the UK and US with people like GWB, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are directly responsible for what is happening in Iraq today due to a lack of foresight and some awful and deceitful past decisions.
Whether that means we should get into another war is open to debate but to say that we have no business there is wrong, we had no business in 2003 but because of what we did then, the same nations are morally obliged to go back in 2014 and protect the Iraqi's that they so shamefully exposed to such danger.

Don't Do It Scotland

By the end of this month either Scotland will still be part of the United Kingdom or it won't and i have to go along with the vast majority of English who don't really care one way or the other.
When i wake up on September 20th, if Scotland has voted to go independent then it won't make any difference to me, or so you would think.
I was largely ignoring the politician on the television who was setting out reasons why Scotland should remain with us, economic, politically, traditional and historical all bypassed me but his parting shot was that it would make the right wing Conservative Party favourite to win every election afterwards.
That pricked up my ears and giving it some consideration, that makes sense because a well worn joke is that Edinburgh Zoo has more Pandas (2) than there are Conservative members of Parliament in Scotland.
Without Scotland, the field of electing our Government will change and Labour will lose the seats it gains from Scotland leaving the Conservatives to win all the elections for the foreseeable future.
As it seems unfair that the Scots can rid themselves of the nasty party and we get stuck with them for the next few decades, i am suddenly firmly in the 'Stay With Us Scotland' camp and as the most recent poll showing
64% want to remain in the UK against 36% wanting to go it alone, i think they will do the right thing and not consider the ultimate sin, giving us English a right wing Tory Government for the next 30 years.

No Sex Talk, We're British

Former Miss Belgium and presenter of the country's 'The Weakest Link' shows has washed up on our shores with a mission to change the way sex education is handled in Britain as apparently we are 'hopelessly out of date' and 'too prudish'.
Anyone who has ever been to countries such as the Netherlands or Sweden have seen how other countries have a more liberal and open attitude to sex than the British but i don't rate her chances much because the sex talk in Britain has never got above the Frankie Howard 'Titter ye not' stage and we all turn into 7 year olds when those parts of the body that are usually out of sight are mentioned.
When i went to school, sex education consisted of photocopied anatomy pictures and a short film of various zoo animals doing the act, including Kangeroos. I was never able to watch Skippy the same way ever again after that.
Anyway, a Belgian is coming to teach us all about the 'mechanics of sex' which i guess involves spanners and a set of Allen keys.
Strange folks these Belgians!

Summertime Is Through

I'm not sure when Summer officially ends but according to all the school books, September to November is Autumn, December, January, February is Winter, March through to May is Spring which leaves June, July and August as Summer.
As we are into the second day of September it's time to put away the shorts and sun tan lotion as Summertime is through as the Beach Boys once lamented.
After two bouts of painful sunburn, countless hot nights turning over the pillow trying to find a cool spot and numerous bites and stings on my arms and legs, i am quite happy to watch another summer slip into Autumn but as most of the country is finding out, August turning into September also means returning to work.
Britain is full of 'On Holiday' notices in August as people disappear to various parts the globe and come back all suntanned and shiny faced to the reality that it is back to the slog and a long time to the Christmas break.
T-shirts, cut offs and a pair of thongs give way to jumpers, tights and sensible flat shoes while miniature golf and Honda's in the heat becomes paperclips and meetings but you know in November, while your tan has faded, the clock seems to be going backwards and you are staring out of the window watching the drumming against the window, you will hear 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams and you will be transported back to this summer and begin daydreaming about the you had fun all summer long.
Of course then your boss will walk in and shout at you for daydreaming while the Wilson contract hasn't been signed and being you spinning back to a cold, rainy November afternoon.
Maybe remembering the pain of sunburn and the three times you had to apply Anthisan to the insect bites would be better and think 'pfft...Summer is so over-rated'.

Monday 1 September 2014

Sad Case Of Ashya

I'm not one to stick up for religion, i swing my slingback cladded foot at it whenever the opportunity arises but it was interesting to see that religion, Jehovah Witnesses especially, was immediately blamed as an excuse in the sad case of Ashya King this weekend.
The parents of the five year old child with a brain tumour were vilified on the television after it was announced that they had removed there son and had left the UK on a  ferry to France.
As Mr and Mrs King are Jehova Witnesses, almost everybody leapt to the conclusion that as JW's do not allow certain medical procedures, they MUST have taken him to prevent the doctors doing whatever they do that their faith disagrees with.
One manhunt later and Ashya turns up on video clip with his father who delivers a stinging attack on the hospital and doctors where his son was being treated and he was taking him to Spain to sell his holiday home to pay for the £100,000 proton beam therapy in the Czech Republic that could save his sons life but was not available on the NHS in Britain and which the doctors had said would make no difference to Ashya's condition.    
The reason he took Ashya was because the hospital had threatened him with an emergency protection order removing the right to remove their child from hospital for continually questioning their methods of 'pelting him with radiation'.
Nothing to do with religion and they were not kidnappers or neglecting their child, they were simply desperate and scared parents doing what they thought was best for their child.
As it stands the parents are in a Spanish prison facing extradition, Ashya is in a Spanish hospital and  a whole legal debate will go on while a critically ill little boy is caught up in the middle not getting the treatment that he needs to deal with his tumour.