Category: Rants

Fee Writes

News Is Just a Fleeting Moment

This is a serious post this time … it is a post that I hope you will think about.

The reason I’m writing is that I had a very stark reminder of how fleeting news items can be. And how bizarre our perception of what is important and what is not.

Now I like my Facebook – can’t speak for anyone else, but I like mine. I have very few friends compared to most, but my friends post good stuff about what they’re doing, or something they’ve come across that they have laughed at/cried over/thought about etc.

All my “friends” I know personally – I have actually spoken to them in real life and that’s why I enjoy my Facebook. I also have “liked” a number of pages that cover my interests.

Yes, Facebook is changing, and there’s more sponsored posts, but that’s o.k. – hey, I have a business on Facebook and do some of those myself, so I’m cool with it.

Unfortunately, sometimes the “you may like these” posts that pop up in a group, aren’t exactly synced.

Take a close look at this this – can you see what’s wrong with it?

I had watched a video for Whittaker’s chocolate … yes, I love Whittaker’s ’cause they have yummy vegan chocs. And when I finished the video this came up.

Do you see what is wrong here?

The horror of the war in Syria is outted by the two chocolate videos. Which leads me to my heading – News is just a fleeting moment.

Because it doesn’t affect us, because it is something that is happening on the other side of the world, because the people are not “like us”, because we here in this isolated island country have absolutely no idea what these mothers, fathers, sons and daughters are experiencing – we go for the chocolate.

We go for the chocolate because it’s “known”, we go for the chocolate because it’s “sweet”, we go for the chocolate because it can’t hurt us and it is safe.

This little boy has been labeled the “pin-up” for the Syrian war. I remember another little Syrian boy about a year ago who was rescued off the Greek island of Lesbos – he became the “pin-up”. I’m sure there will be another one.

News is just a fleeting moment.

I know there is nothing we can do, but please take time to appreciate what you do have.

Fee Writes

Health of the Oceans.

I sincerely hope you read this. This is positive and gives me hope for the future.

I happen to see a heading on the Internet the other day – “5 reasons it might be OK to be optimistic about our oceans” and, because I usually end up shaking my head and swearing at the ninnies who continue to pollute and destroy our planet, this title made me click through and read the article.

Now it’s early days, but it looks like the oceans just may come back from the brink of destruction where they were heading. Of course, we really do have to do something about the plastic. Which segues nicely into what I’d like to say about plastic

There was no plastic when I was growing up. Of course, plastic had already been invented. The original in 1907 being Bakelite made from combining formaldehyde and phenol. But plastic, as we know it today, wasn’t around in such mass – e.g. plastic bags, plastic wrap, bottles, storage and all the disposables e.g. cups, utensils etc that are such commonplace.

Now I’m really not THAT old – didn’t you know that the 60s are the new 40s? – (Yes I’ve taken 20 years off instead of 10 … sue me!)

So the pollution of the plastics in the ocean started in the 1970s and still continues today. You only need to look at The Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is a soupy collection of marine debris – yup, mostly plastics. These garbage patches (which are elsewhere besides the Pacific) are almost like floating islands. So if we could only clean these up, which, I might add, there are some amazing inventions out there that need to get the funding and get put in place and all will be good.

But, getting back to the article. Countries have actually taken the ocean’s health on board and are doing something about it. It appears that 13% of oceans saw a decrease in human impact between 2008 and 2013, and Ocean health improved 1% in the last year. Apparently, there was an International Agreement in 2010 that challenged countries to protect 10% or their land and 10% of their oceans.

Just look at what Obama did – In 2014 he created 490,000 square miles of protected ocean around US islands in the Pacific then in 2015 David Cameron (the British PM back then) created the largest contiguous ocean reserve around the UK’s Pitcairn Islands in the southern Pacific — 322,000 square miles of ocean safe from seafloor mining and commercial fishing.

Then, go figure, N.Z. created a sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands spanning 620,000 sq km. Obviously, Simon Bridges had nothing to do with it seeing as how he allowed mining in the dolphin sanctuary!

But, all this leads me to think, maybe there’s a world of “I can do better” going on – even Mozambique has gone up 8 points in the Ocean Health Index – a point scoring system.

If you want to read the full article the truck on over to Ideas.ted.com

It certainly brightened my day.

Fee Writes

Quick Post | Rants

Brexist And What It Means

The Poms have done it …. they’ve left the European Union to stand alone. What does this mean?

Don’t ask me – I have no idea at all what is going to happen. And, nobody does.

What I do think is that people in Britain, like people in USA are just a little fed up with the status quo. There’s a bit of a hum here in N.Z. as well, can’t speak for Australia but I think the poorer European countries are also rattling the cage as in the case of Greece. Unfortunately for Greece the masters whipped the bars and they shrank back – for now anyway.

There is a bit of a revolution going on in the West and it’s going to be fascinating to watch.

The old order is just too top heavy and I reckon the imploding process has now started.

Just my quick thought for the day.

Fee Writes

Food | Rants | WTF

All I Want Is A Nice Glass Of Wine!

The other day I had yet another example of the Internet showing you that you can find anything to go along with what you believe.

It started when an article popped up in my FB newsfeed from a friend who shared Moms Across America. The article was about some research showing that Roundup’s toxic chemical, Glyphosate, has been found in 100 California wines – 100 tested and all showing Glyphosate. There were also Organic wines in this group as well.
Now, yes, my first reaction was one of horror as I love my wine and when in California will partake of the occasional red from the Mendocino region.

However, and this is where my cynical and curious mind-set took over, how much of this was true and how much was blown up and reported out of context?
Note: Please don’t construe that last sentence as the writer being a Monsanto supporter – Ed.

So into a bit of researching I went.

The first thing I came across was the blog Reason.com, who basically said that the Moms Against Monsanto were really stupid and just doing the big old scaremongering. They had looked into the research and happily reported that, yes it was true that Glyphosate was found in the 100 wines, however, the amount was so minuscule it would pose no health threat at all.

See …. you can find anything you want. So I made the choice not to “share” the scientific findings …… just yet! I would wait.

But then another thought struck. (I’m known to have the occasional thought, not that it does me much good!)

So if there is a minuscule amount of Roundup (let’s get real, that’s what it is), showing up in organic wine, then it must also be showing up in other organic produce. I am well aware of the fact that there is no place on this earth that is devoid of man made chemicals.

Now comes the argument. If that is the case, then every time we sit down to partake of food – be it organic or not – we ingest Glyphosate. Take that one step further – Wouldn’t that mean that each product on your plate and in your glass which has a minuscule amount that it would then equal more of a significant amount ????

Glyphosate is carcinogenic – the cancer rate is increasing. Here’s my next question ….

Do the shareholders of Monsanto also have shares in one of these companies:
Novartis, Amgen or Roche – the top three Chemotherapy drug makers. ????

Am I being too cynical here? – would love to know what you think in the comments below .. or give me a thumbs up.

Fee Writes

Random | Rants

Here’s Something That Might Tweak Your Thought Process..

I follow a woman on twitter called Pamela Geller. More from the point of her insanity and her ridiculous vlogs. Which demonstrates to me how the other half think.

She’s an American political activist and very outspoken about the Islamization of America. Her hatred is pretty far out there … a bit like Sarah Palin in her heyday, (who seems to be having a comeback now that the Donald is welding some power …. more entertainment for me).

But Pamela wrote something I was quite surprised at. You see, the lovely Dali Lama came out the other day talking about refugees:

“When we look into the face of every single refugee, especially the children and women, we can feel their suffering,”

said the Tibetan spiritual leader, who has himself lived in exile for over half a century.

“A human being who is a bit more fortunate has the duty to help them. On the other hand, there are too many now,”

he said, according to the German translation of the interview in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“Europe, for example Germany, cannot become an Arab country,”

Source: RedState

His idea is that we should look after them only until they are able to return to their country and help rebuild it. This is an idea that I, too, believe is the way to go. From my understanding, no true refugees ever wants to leave their homeland … let’s face it – would you? And, I’m sure you’d want to “go home” to reclaim your country as soon as you could.

As for Pamela Geller – well, being the Islam hater that she is, she jumped on what the Dali Lama had said. Most of what she wrote was just agreeing with him and dissing others e.g. The Pope. However, she did write one sentence that pretty much summed up the ongoing ebbing and flowing of cultures:

“It is an obvious, practically mathematical argument to say that if you continue to import people from one country into another country, and that the people from the other country do not adapt to the new country but bring with them the ways and language and culture of their old country, that the new country will eventually become the new geographic location for what is in essence the other country. This is not a complicated idea, despite my ridiculous sentence.”

Source: PamelaGellar

Perhaps this is the way of the future? Perhaps New Zealand will morph into a hybrid of Asian and Pacific and a completely new culture will emerge?
Perhaps Europe will meld into a combined Christian/Islamic culture?
Or perhaps the dominant culture will win as in the case of the English over the American Indians, to name just one.

Remember that old song about the “Melting Pot” ?? It was about colour and religions, well now, perhaps we can sing it again with the idea of cultures????

It will be a shame to see cultures die out, but it’s happened before –
The Incas and the Aztecs, the ancients Romans and ancient Greeks. The Persians, the Mayan, the Druids and going right back to the beginning – the Mesopotamian Civilisation.

It won’t happen in my lifetime and not even in your lifetime, dear reader, but it will happen …. of course that’s if there is a living, breathing planet and we haven’t killed it first.

Would like to know your thoughts if you’re game enough to express them in the comments below

p.s. In case you’re wondering … I also follow John Oliver, The Young Turks, NZ The Daily Blog along with others…all via social media.

Category: Rants

News Is Just a Fleeting Moment

This is a serious post this time … it is a post that I hope you will think about.

Health of the Oceans.

I sincerely hope you read this. This is positive and gives me hope for the future.

Brexist And What It Means

The Poms have done it …. they’ve left the European Union to stand alone. What does this mean?

All I Want Is A Nice Glass Of Wine!

The other day I had yet another example of the Internet showing you that you can find anything to go along with what you believe.

Here’s Something That Might Tweak Your Thought Process..

I follow a woman on twitter called Pamela Geller. More from the point of her insanity and her ridiculous vlogs. Which demonstrates to me how the other half think.

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