Reflections of an Old Man

The two great wars of the 20th century, known as WWI and WWII, are now part of the fabric of Western history. It can legitimately be argued that it was really one long war, with a pause in the middle. It was a struggle between empires leading to the demise of some and the rise of others. A shift in the global balance of power. I have spent a lot of time trying to understand the rise of National Socialism in Germany in the 1920ies and thirties: Following the cessation of hostilities in 1918, Germans literally had their noses rubbed in the dirt by the other side (France, England and the US). The government of the German Weimar Republic caused hyper inflation prior to 1922/3 allowing the rest of the world’s predators to literally rape Germans who were made destitute by having worthless money. This is when National Socialism began to grow in Germany, in reaction to what was seen as a government of traitors. The Great Depression that began in 1929 finished the job and Adolph Hitler was able...

The demise of the German Reich in 1918 saw the birth of the Weimar Republic in its place. Disastrous policies enacted by its early government led to hyperinflation in its currency and robbed Germans of their stored monetary wealth. Widespread poverty in Berlin, and elsewhere, led to the German capital being turned into a brothel where all manner of people sold sexual favours to anybody with some hard currency to spare, in order to avoid starvation. The reaction by the German people was entirely predictable leading to street fights between groups of people disgusted with what was happening and communists seeing an opportunity to grab power amidst the chaos. Similar trends are now evident in the West with people taking to the street in reaction to government of the day policies and monetary inflation well under way, fuelling the fire. History has a tendency to repeat itself.

The political party system that has evolved over the years in so called “democracies” makes it possible for anyone to chose how to be involved in the political process where they live. Theoretically, anyone can throw their name in a hat and become the next Great Leader of their country. We are told that “democracy” is the best political system invented to date to insure inclusiveness for all. Then there is the practical reality of politics which is based on networks of people working together for common goals and trading favours to achieve individual ones. Good old horse trading in my book. While the party acts as an umbrella of illusions, things get done in certain ways because individuals, making compromises to get what they want, make it happen. On the conservative side, here in Alberta, there are two prevailing networks operating within the (not so) United Conservative Party: The old guard Progressive Conservative folks that held on to political power in Alberta for some 40 years b...

I have been involved in politics for the better part of my long life. In a fundamentally flawed system based on political parties where real loyalties are few and far between, and where self interest occupies the high seat. Alliances are made and broken in order to create climbing ladders for the ambitious ones and provide some rewards for their supporters. So we end up with dysfunctional ‘leaders’ like Justin Trudeau, and coming up on the conservative side, Pierre Poilievre. As long as we are fooled by these characters into believing that they represent our interests, they will forever put it over us and use us as their ‘sheeple’, all the while privately holding us in contempt. They are essentially political prostitutes selling themselves to the highest bidder, which is not you, nor I. There are three ways to vote: For, against or with your feet.

There is constant droning in the mainstream media about climate change and what we have to do to stop it from happening. Lots of preaching and moralizing. Meanwhile, the deep freezer genie bottle in our Earth’s arctic regions called “permafrost” has been uncapped and methane is pouring into the Earth’s atmosphere at an unprecedented rate: The arctic is currently warming at three times the rate of the rest of the planet. It is as if a gigantic landslide has been triggered, feeding on itself as more methane in the atmosphere causes warming that melts ever more permafrost layers. So when politicians and media talk about what we should do to halt global heating, all they do is to contribute more hot air to the process. All we can do is to try and adapt to what is coming at us and forget about the media/politician chorus.

The pope is coming to Alberta to apologize for past misdeeds by the church in regards to the residential school program for indigenous people that destroyed so many innocent lives. Millions of dollars are being spent to bring the pontiff here to do his thing on behalf of the Church of Old Men. A publicity stunt, if there ever was one, to reinforce the illusions that a bunch of worn out old timers have a special dispensation from God to keep the rest of us in line. As far as the show goes, indigenous people are being pushed aside (as usual) in favour of ‘his holiness’.

I have just cottoned on to the significance of methane release from thawing arctic permafrost to our weather and climate. The sheer scale of what is happening and its effects are already evident: The arctic regions of the world are warming at three times the rate of the rest of the planet. And I believe there is a causal link between methane release and warming as previously frozen life is converted into basic organic molecules by bacteria brought to life by permafrost thawing. This is a process which is accelerating as it feeds on itself. It is like a landslide that has been released and there is little we can do to stop it. My suggestion is to do whatever we can to prepare for a very different world from the one we are used to. Repressive laws trying to restrict our behaviours with the idea of putting the brakes on climate change will only serve to rip society apart and do nothing to mitigate violent weather and extreme heat waves. So, as individuals we have to become as self suffici...

A lot has been said and written about stone structures that have survived from the distant past into our own time. The larger they are, the more impressive they seem to us, leading to speculation about the tools used to create and erect them: How could a perfectly rectangular stone block weighing 100+ tons have been created and moved into place, fitting perfectly in with similar blocks, without the use of modern types of machinery? This has led to speculation about these monuments being silent reminders of ancient advanced societies that expired a long time ago. Perhaps not unlike our present day one. That is a tempting conclusion, but to me there is a missing piece of evidence for this: If our society was to have an apocalyptic breakdown of some kind, the remnants of our transportation system earthworks would survive into the distant future. Apart from the Roman road system and aqueducts, I don’t think anything like that has been discovered to date.

Facebook is supposed to be about “showing your face” to online friends, I believe, so here is a piece of me: I was conceived at the height of WWII in German occupied Norway in 1942/43 and literally absorbed the war into my blood in my mother’s womb as she dealt with the stresses and strains of that time. In art classes in elementary school the teacher had to put up with images of Stuka bombers and machine guns generated by myself, independently of what the art assignment was supposed to be about. Not that there was a lot of fighting in Norway as it quickly succumbed to a well organized overwhelmingly superior force. No, it was more about the heavy oppressive fog of occupation that permeated the mind of the Norwegian people for some 5 years (1940-1945). I am a product of that time, whether I like it or not, and renewed war in Europe makes it all bubble up again. It has turned me into a survivalist at heart, someone who believes in the power of the individual to transcend collective oppr...

The newly released images from the recently deployed James Webb telescope gives one pause to think about the nature of the cosmos. Notice that I didn’t state ”The Universe” because that is a loaded concept implying “one of”, as opposed to possibly “many of”. The preconception possibly has its origins in a previous mistaken belief that the earth that we live on was the centre of all things. As our instruments give us the ability to test predictive theories as to how matter and energy (human concepts) are supposed to behave, we are continually forced to revise our theories to account for observed phenomena. Most common folk like us generally throw up our hands when muons, hadrons and peons : ) make it to the stage, as scientists desperately try to fit what they observe into an acceptable conceptual framework. “Dark matter”, because it cannot be directly observed, only inferred from measurements, makes it easy to theorize that our so-called “universe” is but an expanding bubble of some ki...

After a wet June here on my acreage in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, in Central Alberta, Canada, berries are getting ready for picking. Beginning with honeyberries (Siberian Haskaps) and strawberries, everything is looking good as the sun begins to dominate the skies overhead. Not sure what the saskatoons are up to yet, as they vary a lot from season to season. Raspberries in their early stages of development are looking ok. So are the mosquitoes that are emerging in droves from the wet grasses. They have recovered from last summers prolonged drought when they were virtually non-existant. Potato plants, along with carrot and beetroot seedlings are doing ok as are my young bean plants at this time. Beans like warm feet in the spring so I sprouted a bunch of seeds and planted them in 20 litre drums placed above ground to accommodate their wishes. They have responded well. Have lots of rainwater in drums to keep everybody happy for the next month or so.

Rule by the People. Really? Here is a comment on ancient Greece: “Something extraordinary in the history of humanity occurred 2500 years ago in Athens—much of our cultural heritage, for better and worse, descends from a very small population of landowners, farmers and sailors during a surprisingly short space of time. They organized themselves into a radically democratic government. They held as a high ideal the dignity and freedom of an individual free man. They produced sculpture and architecture which set the standards by which these arts are still measured, and they laid the foundations of our philosophy, mathematics and sciences.” What the commentator did not say was that the wealth of that Greek state was based on slaves, most of whom were captured in wars at one time or another. That’s where we effectively are today, with an aristocracy based on debt slavery by the vast majority of people. And the presstitutes and paid-for politicians calling it “democracy”.

That’s what happened today when the Large Hadron Collider at Cern in Switzerland was restarted after a period of refurbishment. I watched the event live and the excitement amongst scientists was akin to that seen when NASA landed its latest rover on Mars. A new telescope was also launched by NASA recently, enabling a greatly enhanced view of the cosmos, and the restart of the Hadron collider similarly gives us a better view on what happens on the microscopic level in high energy areas of the cosmos. And as we probe deeper and deeper into the nature of matter, as we perceive it, the complexity of what we see is ever increasing and should leave us with a sense of awe and reverence for what we observe.

Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in today’s society. There are polar opposite opinions for and against: The rights of the unborn child vs those of the mother. One side exclusively talks about the rights of the child to a life, the other exclusively brings up the issue of the right of the mother to choose what happens to her body, without any state intervention. Gridlock, deadlock, period. It is like people are looking for something they can fight about and have come up with a perfect issue. The well being of both the mother and child seems to have been forgotten in the debate where each side seems set upon demonizing the other. One thing can be said: If conditions are created which allow expectant mothers with financial and life issues to care for their babies with a feeling of financial security and comfort, the number of abortions would likely drop significantly. That said, there will always be mothers that choose to have their pregnancies terminated, irrespective of any l...