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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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So the nutball's fired off a few cruise missiles into Syria, and the world applauds...
I mean, it's Syria, stop the murder of Innocent Children, it's fine as long as it's not nerve gas, it's fine as long as your chopping off a hand, it's fine as long as...
Really, really now folks, lets just be real. It's fine to kill children. Everyone does it, the Americans as well (here, and here, and keep looking, you'll find more).
Here's a couple of links to catch you up with how complicated the situation in Syria has grown - arguably "started" by the destabilization of Iraq by the Americans. (Where did ISIS come from? What does it stand for?)
Link: http://www.vox.com/2017/4/8/15218782/syria-trump-bomb-assad-explainer and https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/the-syria-catastrophe/
The Americans have never "won" a war in the Middle East - or improved a situation, however slightly. 50 odd - give or take - Tomahawk Cruise Missiles are not going to end or solve the conflict, they aren't going to influence Assad or Putin or anybody. Trump knows this. He's posturing - improving his image - while Barack Obama stood by and did nothing (and Trump tweeted his support for this view) Trump can say he's done his bit. And by "Angering" the Russians/Putin - probably not, they were given advance notice, and, again, that strike was minimal, he's "distancing" himself from the very government and people that helped to put him in power *(and be skeptical, this might well be collusion to throw a lot of late night comedians off the scent). And conveniently he begins to move his warships towards Korea - again, working for "world" stability - and having launched a minimal attack the North Koreans and China can see how erratic and "Just" he is, and perhaps be a little worried...
I used to think Trump was an idiot (Money, despite what every moneyed person will tell you, does not mean your intelligent.). Apparently he's not. But never for a moment think that he's acting in your interests. And maybe start hoarding the dry goods, because things will probably not improve and may well get an awful lot worse.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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And always the Grass is Greener. By which I mean I watch the prospecting videos, read the literature, think to myself "If Only I was in Australia/Nevada/Arizona/London/Alberta...", always, always the game is elsewhere...
Somewhere in Australia a poor bloke's found no gold and is wishing he was in the Kootenays, away from the deadly spiders and venomous snakes and crocodiles...someplace easy, with shade and fresh, abundant water...
I'm well aware of the fallacy that treasure is never underfoot, when very often it is, I resist the urge to pack up, confine my explorations to an hour's drive.
Yesterday, good, a good spot, I was there before, few years ago, nothing great, but if I crossed over the creek, found a way to get to the other side, there's abundant potential. It's not as easy as it sounds, 6-8 feet wide, deep, swift current and abundant boulders, slip and things won't be so good, but I can see the potential, a good day, try it out, snipe, clean the rocks, the crevices, the moss from the boulders, fill a bucket and pan it out, I might be surprised.
For the moment, living someplace ordinary, but making my plans to improve it...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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"Got it. We'll tune your recommendations." YouTube, they never get it, after doing this they present me the same video again and again.
Waiting for the weather to improve, the snow to go, watching prospecting videos...
Most of them are crazy. Few of them have anything fresh, or informative, to impart, and the more I watch the less I learn, it's a Bell curve of sorts, but still I watch them, my ignorance is vast, and on occasion there are glimmers of good information. But to find it you need to listen to every posters fringe theories about Capitalism, Conspiracies, Dinosaurs, the Bible, The Electric Earth, Fringe Science, all this with bad production values, bad spelling, ornate fonts and bad title pages, graphics, frequently overly-dramatic or irrelevant music, Shaky Cam work and seldom anything of relevance, the narrator picks up rocks, throws away rocks, maybe pretends they are gold or diamonds, I've watched a thousand, I'm getting good at this, 9/10 times I can get through your 20 minute YouTube rant in under 2, find the good information (if it's there), it's a rare video that I watch the entirety of. At the end you're lucky if they pan out their concentrates and show you a quantity of gold that would be a bad day on the North Saskatchewan. I have to be careful in how I rate them, I'm forever reassuring YouTube that I did, indeed, take their recommendation and watch the prescribed video, I don't express opinions, this searching for good information is it's own form of prospecting.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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Finished watching it, Adam Curtis does a good job of assembling history into a comprehensible narrative, and then leaves off on a disquieting note...
And, today, news of a terrorist bombing in the UK, not particularly a surprise and in light of the documentary it increasingly reminds me of Gilliam's dark masterpiece "Brazil". There will surely be more to come, and closer and closer to home.
Also in the news today, more of Putin's housekeeping: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/details-murky-after-lawyer-for-family-of-dead-russian-whistleblower-seriously-injured-in-fall-from-fourth-floor
Which isn't particularly surprising, here are a few examples where the UK has done it's own (rather botched) internal housekeeping:
- David Kelly
- Dag Hammarskjöld
- Willie MacRae
- Roddy McLean
- and finally, the "Mysterious" death (and even more mysterious "Investigation") of Gareth Williams
But Trump - and allies, are coming up with a new list of "Inconvenient" people, Oleg Erovinkin. We take our sheltered lives for granted, resistance has dire consequences, but the war will soon be coming home...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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When I was a kid, I mean very young, maybe 3 or 4, I remembered going to a place outside of Victoria called "Humpty Dumpty Lake". It must have been fun, I remembered playing in the sand and Humpty Dumpty and all these people riding around on logs upon the lake...
When I was older I asked my parents about it, and looked for it on maps the few times I'd returned, I never found it, my parents didn't remember, the lake doesn't exist on a map. But, fortune and Google on my side tonight, a search of the interwebs and I found this:
Humpty Dumpty. Old Guardian of Elk/Beaver Lake, part of the Old Enchanted Forest, a tacky period tourist trap.
Looking at pictures, other pictures, I can find no real evidence it existed, but this, even though it's long gone, is proof enough...