Duh.

HE purpose of life isn’t like pinball with a high score. There’s no “token” to “cash in” and regardless, even if a pinball machine spat out some tokens, so what?

Consumerism has become like somewhat of a religion, but this is promoted and preached so as to keep the cycle of predatory capitalism going.

Speaking to friends, many people would simply enjoy nature and health; others, who only see things in terms like money, envy joy found in simple things like a tree in fall, birds in the sky etc. rather than something like the idea of chasing money to do something with that money but instead just chasing money and never knowing what to actually do with it and when.

Happiness typically evades those who chase money and nothing else because no matter how much money they get, there will always be someone else “ahead” of them.

They participate in a game where the score is something like a bank balance. At some point that number cannot be converted into material things. A billionaire who buys a thousand prestigious cars can never use them all.

Some years ago we decided that principles matter most. People aren’t remembered for bank balances but for measurable contributions to society.

My wife and I are nowadays becoming known to many judges and gaining some recognition with high-level British ministers.

These are immaterial things. About other people, one friend told me that “many are rotten to the core and see land without buildings as “empty”…”

As if nature is not an “asset”.

It looks like they will receive several “F” grades

his coming Thursday it will be two weeks or ten working days since I went to study the lack of service at a “customer service” centre that we as taxpayers are forced to pay for.

I was told it can take up to 10 working days (but typically just 5) to process, so I can wait a few more days.

I spoke to 4 ladies there. I wrote 4 articles about that:

• Manchester City Council Customer Service Issues – Part I – Denying Access to Browsers That Aren’t GAFAM or Chrom*-based
• Manchester City Council Customer Service Issues – Part II – No More Complaints by Paper, Only Digital and Without Tracking of Reports
• Manchester City Council Customer Service Issues – Part III – Understaffed Line, Not Even Queue (They Keep Saying Phone Back Later)
• Manchester City Council Customer Service Issues – Part IV – Cautious Hope for a Better Future

This week I will chase those 4 issues again, plus an additional one. As usual, I’ll bring a notebook with me but keep this impersonal (no names of staff).

I am just trying to document how awful customer services became, even where they totally lack competition (a monopoly of the government).

Vote in the ballots, not in social control media (which does not count and won’t be counted)

oday the Americans vote for a party, or for local candidates who occupy the democratic institutions (whose democracy is fast perishing).

I’ll be writing about technical aspects of this. Today I released the latest part below:

I hope that the party of the insurrectionist will lose many seats. Go vote.

aka “green-eyed bird”

t has gotten cold again (overnight) and Mr. Green came here with a sneeze. He was always a bit sick, but the eyes have mostly recovered (he was in an awful condition when he first came here; the kitchen became like a hospital or E.R. to him).

Now it seems like he’s sick with some cold, so I spent minutes bottle-feeding him while protecting him (with my palms) from other birds.

I think he can survive winter, but we need to monitor him closely. Based on his beak being a bit open sometimes, maybe he has some disability or something that causes him problems all the time. But that doesn’t mean he can’t or should not survive.

We’ll always remember

oday I checked usage statistics in some sites and realised that traffic had trebled since we went to yoga. We went to yoga sporadically but a lot in 2022 and mostly in 2023. I’m grateful for these times. It was nice, but it didn’t last long as not many people came to class/practice. Eventually Amy just stopped coming, as there was little point showing up (for free) to facilitate 1-2 (at most 3) people.

We did our share, we showed up and donated to the Resonance Centre, but anyway, those were fun times. But back then, when devoting all my time to writing, the outcome in terms of exposure was nowhere near what it is now.

I think that the fatigue associated with slop helps our credibility and invites more readers.

I’ll carry on writing, emboldened by the growing interest in what I publish.

Maybe we’ll get back to yoga one day. It seems suitable for older people, who are less agile and energetic.

The scarce joy

he price of coffee or availability of “affordable” coffee (by some definition of what’s affordable or what affordability means) isn’t what it used to be.

In IRC, myself and others recall how cheap (“staple”) coffee used to be, abundant everywhere, including offices.

From what I have heard, companies are reducing food/beverage offered to staff.

Intel became a laughing stock for this.

This is the sort of economy we live in.

his coming weekend (Sunday) Stevie Wonder will be back in Manchester. Mariah Carey comes here a month later. They will perform across the road from us.

To people like me who grew up hearing them (in the 80s and 90s) there’s a sort of gateway to the “past” or “good old days”.

I don’t believe going to a concert makes one younger, even if it makes one feel that way.

I am relieved to know those two people are still alive, well, and actively performing.

For Wonder, as he’s blind and older than Carey, this can’t be easy. The last time he was here his children helped him.