Jim Stewart's Blog

I always find it interesting that some of the people I know that were sure that Brexit would be a lot harder than Boris and Nigel suggested seem to be pro-independence.

The EU represented 40 years of ties in legislation and governance, while the union of the UK represents a much closer set of ties for over 300 years.

Part of this, I think, is similar to the issues we see with the current US election – people decide what to believe based on feeling rather than fact. But I also question whether it is about a rejection of democracy. People want to be ruled by the people they support, so in order to make them a majority break away from people that don’t agree.

And if you think there is an “oven ready” independence deal under “WTO terms” just think about:

• New passports needed
• New driving licences needed (and maybe also a driving test)
• New number plates needed
• Pensions held in another country
• Green card needed for car insurance to drive in to England
• New National Insurance numbers

And if you think that is unrealistic and some sort of deal will be made – just think about the deal we don’t have with Europe.

I refuse to accept division as an answer, either with Europe or within the UK. We need to find a way to work together that allows us to feel represented. Iron fisted domination breeds division (we see this in the USA). We need leadership that respects the views of all the people, not just the views of their supporters.

An interesting item about Lewis Hamilton. As he prepares for a race he tries to do everything correct. If he drops a piece of paper he will pick it up. Apparently because God is watching. I can understand it from a mental preparation routine. I also now that there are many people that believe God is a deliverer of karma.

I had a few conversations with people today that said something similar. They talked about a God that rewards you if you continually apologise to Him.

I remember hearing Larry Norman in concert. HE always did as much (or more) talking than signing. One interlude he talked about how many people had mixed up Santa Claus (Father Christmas) with Jesus. Santa has two lists, naughty and nice. The kids that are on the naughty list get no reward. He went on to say that the Christian message was that the kids on the naughty list and on the good list all got rewarded.

Next time you compare religions look at this part of the message – is there a karma aspect? The core of the Christian message is contrary to the concept of karma.

I remember looking at Martin Luther and his famous light bulb moment “The just shall live by faith”. The people are described as “just”, not “being justified”, it is an end point, not a path. If you look at the Bible you will find this concept runs through it. It isn’t about something people need to do to achieve a higher level, it is about a free gift.

For the rich man (and the camel and eye of a needle) this is a hard concept, because people need to work to get things. The Christian message is quite revolutionary – getting things you don’t deserve for nothing and giving other people things they don’t deserve without payback.

My favoured subjects at school were maths based, and numbers have made up a lot of my working life. But oddly enough the lessons I remember most are not maths or science. I remember several English lessons, mainly poetry.

One that stuck with me was about Milton. I remember discussing his blindness. Milton went blind in about 1650. As a poet that made his life difficult (no braille typewriters in those days). He wrote a poem about it.

Over the next 10 years he wrote one of the most recognised poems in our language (paradise lost), to be followed with others. As a blind man he found a way to use his talents.

I got thinking about how so many people are having doors slammed in their faces at the moment. A lot will be feeling like Milton did – how can you use your gifts when the path is blocked?

When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”

I like that line “they also serve who only stand and wait”. The concept of not feeling guilty when the world is crashing down around you is a message that has stuck with me.

I remember a group of kids visiting us from the Bahamas. Before they left they were asked were the country they were going to was. One of them said Africa. I remember being astonished by the lack of knowledge about the world that they had, and that many americans had (as I discovered on my later travels).

Today I was watching a quiz programme in the background as I worked. They were given the task of listing European countries (that met a condition). One of them said Ecuador.

Is that really the level of education in this country? If so we might as well shut the schools.

I have always been amazed at the difference in the attitude of school children in different parts of the world. I saw a real hunger for education in poor countries, but in rich countries some people almost seem to despise education.

Maybe the time machine has got it right, as we become richer we become dumber and in the end out society fails.

I spent part of today catching up on the proposed carbon emission changes in the shipping industry. There have been proposals agreed to introduce a mandatory system of control with the goal of reducing emissions to 40% of the 2008 values within 10 years.

This major step is the proposal to make systems mandatory – to require every large ship to compare themselves to a fixed standard – to provide for “must do better” markings that will require ships to improve efficiency. It also has a mandatory review to make sure it will achieve the 40% reduction. First decisions are due early November, further improvements are possible.

Environmental groups have complained and want to block this proposal because it isn’t good enough and would allow emissions to increase over the next 10 years (although 40% lower than 2008 does not sound like an increase to me) and it is urgent that we make changes.

I find it hard to accept doing nothing is good and doing something is bad, but that seems to be where we are. I have often said I would rather change multi-nationals rather than destroy them. When you have large multi-nationals you can make major changes through one company, but if you dismantle them you end up needing to change the behaviour of many more companies to make a difference.

As I said elsewhere there is a saying in emergency response that not deciding to do something is deciding to do nothing. So my message to the groups saying they want to prevent the improvements being introduced by the shipping industry – you are in fact choosing to do nothing – and to me that is unacceptable.

It is only when bits start falling off your teeth that you realise how important those regular visits to the dentist are. I lost a quarter of a tooth today. I remember my mother talking about people getting all of their teeth removed when they were teenagers to make life easier. Of all the areas of the NHS this is the one that I think has made the biggest difference to the widest range of people. Some people can go decades without seeing a GP, but teeth require maintenance. And it is the one area of the NHS that has been dismantled most.

I fear for the future of NHS dentists after the pandemic. I don’t know if many people know, because so many have private insurance for dental care, that an inspection at an NHS dentist now costs more than £20. Okay, this is sill way below the price you would pay if you went private either in the UK or USA, but for many people it discourages going for treatment. There are some dentists like the one I have that do their best to support poorer patients, but not all.

My telephone is also high maintenance – I’ve had to upgrade because the back is starting to fall off my old one. And you suddenly realise how easier it would have been if I had kept upgrading on a regular basis.

The rest of today was spent buying repair products for work around the house. I had to buy a replacement unit for a dripping tap, which meant having to take the tap apart. Of course the tap is not dripping now I have put it together. But by all accounts it is another product that needs updating regularly.

There are so many things that have limited life-cycles there days, not just teeth. I’ve had two contracts terminated recently because they needed to upgrade me to new alternatives (at a lower price) – even though I was happy with the lower grade service.

In some cases I like the idea of keeping things going for as long as possible, but in other cases it seems we are forced to replace items regularly. I’m on the fence a bit on this one. It feels hard working out the best balance.

Just been on a pleasant 2 hour walk around the village. Interesting to see the local pub and wine bar with blackout blinds fitted but all of the lights on (through gaps at the edge). Makes you wonder….

Yesterday I had almost no work to do. This is becoming the norm – it all arrives on Tuesday. I am assuming that people are changing their working hours when working from home and extending their weekends. Same thing on Fridays. Whatever the reason it means I need to change how I behave – I have more me time on two more days of the week. Sadly the weather has not been so good, so it is hard to get out.

Watching the US election is interesting. Last time round there was a lot about the economy – you know – the idea that electing Trump the business mogul would solve things – balance the books. This time round I have heard very little, other than a few digs at tax rises. But the US debt is now $25,000 larger per person (man, woman and child) than it was when Trump was elected. The debt is now thought to be larger than the US economy. Don’t get me wrong – I few presidents have managed to balance the books (other than Bill Clinton) in recent years. I’m just fascinated at how the economy is no longer a battle ground of importance.

Here I see people clamouring for local control for the pandemic response but central government response to free school meals. How fickle we are.

A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

I just saw an article on cosmology, it is postulating the idea of dark fluid to explain the forces we just don’t understand but know are there. A new idea, different to the ideas that came before.

In school we were taught one type of chemistry for the first few years, a sort of simplistic version. Then when we moved to a more advanced chemistry class we were told tat everything we had been taught before was wrong, it was just a way to understand the basics.

Now we hear that the moon is not as dry as we thought – it actually has a fair amount of water on it. I remember hearing it was like a dusty desert. Not any more.

I watched the Star Trek film a while ago (you know the first of the new series). In it Scotty talks about beaming somebody from one moving place to another moving place and how unique it would be. But actually, all of the places that are considered static are moving. According to NASA you are actually moving at 1.3 Million mph. Next time you get a speeding ticket try entering this paper as evidence that it is impossible to comply with speeding laws. The flat earth society puts forward the idea that the earth is static and everything is moving around it. Actually some scientists used to believe that (maybe some still do). That is pretty much what the Scotty comment suggests.

We often look on science as a static fact based subject, but actually very little in science is as rigid as people make out. Part of science is to always review and challenge what we believe.

The artistic/political world on the other hand is supposed to be more based on opinion, but try getting somebody to challenge their artistic or political views – for many it seems impossible.

And here is an interesting challenge. We have a government that are saying they will follow the science. For a politician a u-turn is a sign of weakness, but for a scientist it is a sign of strength. Take the latest Fauci interview where he explains why he changed advice on wearing face coverings – and then listen to the politicians that think that it is a weakness.

So many of us want certainty in the world, but actually the world is a scary changing place. Sometimes we need that simple chemistry to give us a reference point to live our lives, but be prepared for the world to be a more complex place than we want.

I had a bit of a problem with an advert today (well more than one). A government advert popped up on my facebook feed telling me I needed to see a vet six months before I travel. I’ve never been examined by a vet before. And where am I travelling to that needs me to be examined by a vet?

But the advert that really got me today was one for a product that was being sold at a really good price because they don’t use adverts and so save money. Telling an obvious lie is not the best way to persuade me that I want to give you money.

And then there is the Pete Seeger song “Hard times in the mill” being used in an advert for a shiny new Volvo. I think the idea is that living in a nice house with a flash car is difficult with a family to bring up. A long way from what Pete Seeger was singing about.

I remember when Sainsbury started their loyalty card people complained about them building up profiles about you. I deliberately did multiple shops with different types of produce – only using my loyalty card with some selected shops. And I was able to control the free offers I got. I seem to remember they had only got about six different profiles for people.

Having run a couple of campaigns on Facebook I found it really interesting how many ways you could tailor your adverts to hit your target audience. There is a lot of information known about you.

Want to know what sort of information they know about you? Go to settings and privacy then choose settings in Facebook. On the left you will see “Ads” – choose that to see what they know. You can do something similar on google.

Rain again. Followed by more rain – then after that some more rain.

Interesting how wet it is here and people seldom notice it. It normally rains 2 days in every 3 in October – and this year looks wetter than normal.

I turn on my tap and water gushes out.

When I was in Spain the water pressure was really low – and I managed. Here I find it hard to turn down the water flow to the same level as I had in Spain with the tap fully open.

I remember visiting the millennium dome and reading about wasting water. I keep getting invited to save water by our local water company.

But actually the water supply system makes it really had. All of the guides I can find are about how to increase water flow.

I started to look around for all of the systems that make it hard to reduce consumption – and there are so many around us.