H.G. Wells or Dr Who?

At the end of the year its traditional to tell ghost stories ..... well instead, I am going to present you with a mystery that was reported in the press, not centuries ago, when all evidence has long been lost (if it was ever retained), but as recently as 2008.

Approx 3 - 4 centimetres maximum diameter
 and 2.5 centimetres in thickness

 

Out of Place Artefacts (OOPA's) are popular subject on the internet, and there are 'those who want to believe', who cite them as examples of ... well, almost anything, from Time Travel or Extra Terrestrial visitations, through evidence of Atlantis, to Lost Dinosaur civilisations.

Victors Victories

The boys and teens comics of the 1950's, through to the 1970/80's, were aimed at our patriotic fervour (when it was still considered OK to be 'patriotic', and not 'racist' or Imperialist). 

 

The Hotspur Book For Boys - The
Charge of The Scots Greys at Waterloo

 

These comics were filled not just with tales of adventures in the far flung corners of the empire (as was, or just recently relinquished), but other parts of the globe.

The Cycle Of Life

Well, it’s here again, and the world, you, and I, are another year older as these things are accounted. We are in fact all another year older, and thus nearer to death.

Another Year Older And Nearer To Death

Spectre Of Black Death Returns

It's been called the 'post-antibiotic era', and its been threatening to happen for some time .... well it appears that its arrived now, or rather it seems that we are trembling on the cusp of that nightmare scenario.

Colistin Resistant Bacteria Now Here ...

 

In China, it appears that despite knowing the risks, the Communists encouraged the farmers to dose the millions of pigs (a staple food stuff), with anti-bacterial drugs such as Colistin, to boost pork production.

 

Xmas Greetings From The Tower

It doesn't seem a year ago but there you are, it is (... that's a subject of another post), and due to the way the calendar works, I am posting nothing up next Friday, as it’s also the 25th of December.

So the traditional Christmas greetings to the world from all at PC Towers are going out a week beforehand. Also as has become something of a tradition around these parts, the accompanying image is from a British comic book 'annual' from the time when I had no more worries than what presents (if any), I was going to get. In this case before even my birth .... this one is from 1953.

The Beano Book 1953

Ahh those were the days, little did we know that that was a golden era ... but hey ho, ho, ho as we should probably say.

So 'Happy Christmas One and All!!'

The Comb Over Confidence Crisis

Coming out of the local supermarket I was met with the sight of a modern day 'Moe' from the Three Stooges.

Moe 'Comb Over' At Supermarket ... Shock

 

It wasn't a deliberate impression, but rather caused by the gentleman's very badly dyed hair and extraordinary hair 'comb over' combination, combed from the nape of his neck, to just above his eyebrows (in a straight line). Weird sight indeed ....

 

Who’s Feet Aren't Made For Walking

So what does MPACUK stand for? No its not a Latvian swear word (or at least I hope not), no its actually the acronym of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK. Founding member; one Ashgar Bukhari. Membership; anyone who will take their lead from the founding members.

He has recently been reported by UK press in June 2015, as stating on Facebook that he was a subject of the attentions of SMERSH, err sorry no, SPECTRE, err I mean MOSSAD, or perhaps some other Zionist organisation, but definitely some ZIONISTS, who had broken into his home.

SMERSH Never Stole Shoes ....

The Best Christmas Campaign Ever?

Web Product marketing is still a developing science, as a well-known Internet clothing firm in the UK has discovered this Christmas, when a computer glitch paired up a bra product with an image of Hitler's memoirs 'Mein Kampf!'

Marketing Disaster or Opportunity?

 

This random image issue occurred on other products as well, with other odd images published on the website, but despite the speed with which they corrected the problem, it was the Hitler glitch which went around the world.

Give Peace A Chance?

The 'Stop The War Coalition' (described by the BBC as an 'anti-war group' .... are any of us described as 'pro-war'?), which until recently was chaired by one J Corbyn MP (now leader of Her Majesties Loyal Opposition), has recently been called a "disreputable organisation" by Labour MP Tristram Hunt. He added that they had used social media and other platforms to make "ugly comments" to some Labour MP's since the parliamentary vote on Syrian air strikes, and that they had been "very irresponsible with their language and activities".

Stop The War Coalition .... Fronted By Well Meaning People

Mars Is Surprisingly Full

After the latest Lady Of Mars internet excitement, I took a detour into the wacky world of the NASA alien cover-up conspiracy watchers. NASA usually stays tight-lipped on these UFO 'discoveries', causing excited UFO chasers to scream 'conspiracy', and that the US space agency is "covering up the truth". These UFO chasers are a particular set of people, who really should have gone to specsavers, or at the very least, never have subscribed to the belief that the X Files were real.

Its actually hard to really do full justice to the stories that have done the rounds recently ..... but deep breath, and here we go.

So just keeping on the Mars front, the latest "finds" by these self styled alien researchers include:  a dinosaur's head, a tiny alien being, and a crashed UFO, as well as bones, fossils, aliens dead and alive, a Martian Mount Rushmore, and various ancient Egyptian-style pyramids, carvings and ruins, in the latest images to be posted online.

Mars Reptile Head or Two Rocks?

Liberté Egalité Fraternité ... Not

In June 2011, the Chinese artist Shi Xiang, receives a notification of non-renewal of her French residence permit and notifying her of her obligation to leave French territory within thirty days, this after living 10 years in France.

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity By Shi Xiang

Feathering Their Nests

Have you noticed how the architects of the bust in the British economy, have all landed plum employment in large banks? Gordon Brown at Pimco as an advisor (all payments to his charity), and  Alistair Darling at Morgan Stanley as a board member (in 2014 MS board members received $75k pa plus upto $30k for joining a committee and $250k in stock awards).

How ironic that the two men who managed to misunderstand how economic cycles actually worked, are now advising the taxpayer bailed out banks.

The Gravy Train Just Keeps Rolling Along ...

Party Before Country

The thing I have noted about the hard left is that they keep lists. These lists are of perceived 'historical wrongs' that have happened to them, which must, no matter what the cost to the country, be avenged, or is that revenged?

Tolpuddle Martyrs (was a Battle Won already) ....

 

These wrongs can range from the Tolpuddle Martyrs (which they won at the time) ..... via the Luddites.

Age Of Street Zombies

This last weekend I was trawling the terrestrial 'Freeview' TV channels (I don't see any value in what the satellite or payperview channels offer, and there is no cable available at PC Towers), and I couldn't help but notice how many 'supernatural' shows are available (plus films) on any given night/day.

In particular there were an awful lot of 'Zombie' offerings .... I realise that these things come in crazies, err I mean crazes (or perhaps I don't), and that just a couple of years ago it was all chick flick Vampirism (Twilight, The Vampire Diaries etc). There has even been a couple of attempts to get a Werewolf love TV series off the ground, following the success of the 'Underworld' film franchise, but these seem to fail on the 'hairy fur and fangs' bit, of Werewolves (versus the new romantic, pale skin with Gothic capes and fangs aspects of Vampires) .... There was even one Werewolf show available, but I have forgotten what it was called.

Rise Of The Machines ..... Zombification Of The Human Race

Old Nick Is Dead

When you hear the name 'Old Nick', you may, like me, well think of the Devil, as this is a popular English nickname for that particular supernatural being. 

Old Nick Can Appear Anywhere ..... But Wrong 'Old Nick'

 

It’s a term possibly derived from the name 'Old Iniquity', the name of the devil in medieval plays. We also commonly use the terms 'Old Scratch, Old Ned, Old Roger, Old Horny, Old Harry', and 'Old Billy'.

Who Will Guard The Guards?

The British Medical Association (BMA) and the Medical Practitioners Tribunal, are meant to be both the trades union and regulatory body for doctors in the UK.

BMA - Courts or Self Policing Future

 

This dual role is not supposed to produce issues, and such is the power that the medical profession holds over the UK's politicians, that this position is rarely challenged.

 

Lord Of The Unhinged

I have left the Turks alone recently on this blog, tired of the antics of President (for life) Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the decline of his state into a Iranian type of semi-democracy, in which only a supreme leader can rule the country.

Turkey Plays Russian Roulette With Putin.

 

I was fairly confident that even if the British Government wasn't scared about what 70 million Muslim Turks would do to Europe if allowed free transit, France at least would stop this ever happening. But the recent 'refugee' crisis has left me not so sure that the ultimate betrayal of Europe's population won't now occur ... all for the usual short term interests that govern so much of European politics, we could finally open the Gates of Vienna, and let the Turks flood through. 

In For The Long Haul

And you thought that the commuter traffic was bad around your journey?

The East African Highway ...
Barely More Than A Tarmac Track

 

Well think again.

Stupidest Story Of The Week

A DNA study finds that London was ethnically diverse from start .... Wow .... Fecking Hell .... who woulda thunk it!.

Romans Too White For Some Modern Tastes .....

The Truth Will Out

I see that an opinion poll in the UK has apparently confirmed once again, that about 25% of the 18 - 35 year old Muslims questioned in a poll (following the attack on Paris), have indicated sympathy for the actions of those who go to fight for IS in Syria.

Controversial Opinion Poll .....

Labours Wets

No one can ever claim that the (far?) left would be shy about their triumph in reclaiming the Labour Party leadership again, after decades in the political wilderness.

Of course, they have apparently learnt little in the years since Michael Foot led the party into the wilderness. So rather than recalling the lessons of their own party history, and not repeating those mistakes, they seem hell bent on the idea that they are picking up the tattered red flag of socialism, found lying stricken on a battlefield, and waving it from the ramparts again (no doubt with the sound track of the "The Red Flag" in the background).

The Peoples Flag Is Deepest Red ....

Who Wants To Be A Kardashian?

There is an Internet phenomena of which most of us have little exposure (including me) ..... its self-filming or video blogging via YouTube. This is where families or groups of people, detail their lives in a reality TV style, but on the Internet.

The Walton's - Role Models For YouTube Families

 

Some of these shows apparently have many followers, but the majority less so. Many in the US exhibit or promote particular lifestyle choices, such as a deep Christianity, but others have more mundane concerns, such as promoting both themselves and certain products (which are either sponsored or the show makers want to get paid to sponsor).

Fatboy Not Slim

The US obesity epidemic is still getting worse .....

Fit First Family ... Not Role Models

 

Despite some quite serious efforts to promote a healthy lifestyle (not least by the Obama's who are models of fitness), the fact is that the land of 'free top ups', 'quarts of coke', 'double quarter pounders', and dinner plates you could run a car on, is seeing the rates of obesity rise relentlessly.

 

The Real Refugees

On the very day that the French were in a state of national shock over the murder of of over 125 people (with hundreds more wounded) by Islamic terrorists, the BBC was running another of its interminable pro-refugee stories.

This one, was illustrated by an image of what Scotland was about to receive on its first 'refugee charter flight' .... Take a good look at the picture.

The Real Faces Of The 'Refugee' Crisis?

Last Word Until Next Time

In the wake of yet another Islamic terrorist outrage in Europe, we are being spoon fed a plateful of platitudes, by politicians and broadcasters who don't realise how hollow their words are increasingly sounding ......

 

Politicians Platitudes

 

..... these are mixed up with yet another round of 'solidarity' displays, some soul searching about why Muslims keep doing this, and public anger that we have to tolerate it.

 

Liberté Egalité Fraternité

Liberté Egalité Fraternité

Liberté Egalité Fraternité ..... words meant to promote freedom of conscience, equality and brotherhood for all citizens .... sadly meaningless to some.

Gun Toting Granny

It must be tough, and getting tougher in the Midlands of England these days.

Gun Toting Granny

 

How else can you explain the news that when a 95 year old potential grandmother, nay potential great grandmother, went to Walsall Manor Hospital, she decided that as a "safety precaution", she would tuck an antique pistol in to her handbag.

An Easy Enough Mistake

It was an easy enough mistake to make with modern art. The cleaner came into the gallery and saw a mess, a real mess all over the floor. She no doubt sighed at the injustice of her low pay, and the obvious wealth of the patrons who had been drinking vast numbers of bottles of expensive wines and champagne.

I Think I Prefer The Empty Room As A Comment On Modern Art

 

But she was a professional and wanted to keep her job, so she rolled up her mental sleeves and set to work. She gathered all the bottles together and put them in the appropriate recycling bags, and then she swept all the confetti and cigarette butts (this was Italy after all, and cigarette bans were little observed), and binned them.

The Secret Life Of Your House

I recently had cause to be at home for 2 days doing an on-line training course. As discussed before on this blog 'working from home' is not a regular occurrence for me, but as the course was from a third party provider, there was more sense in doing it from home (rather than at my work desk) to cut down interruptions. So with TV and radios firmly switched off (I don't fool myself on my powers of concentration if there are distractions about), I started work at 08:30am on the first day.

Working From Home - Victorian Style

UK Uninsured And Unqualified

There was a strange crime story reported on Friday the seventh of August 2015 in the national press. In upper class Notting hill, London. A 23 year old gardener was killed in a hit and run accident, when he alighted from his van and was struck by a £120,000 super-car, a Silver Continental GT Bentley (which is a very high end vehicle indeed). This happened around midnight and witnesses reported that 'Two topless men had fled the scene' .... police later arrested one man ( I presumed it was the owner of the car).

And that is all that was in the report .....

However this leaves the reader with a myriad of questions .... some of which I am even unsure how to record. But the topless bit at least raises a few eyebrows. A we talking 'doing a Gillian Taylforth?' ....

Romanian Muscle Man .....

Chundering Airways

Never mind 'snakes on planes' ......

Having A Bad Flight Day?

 

....... surely the worst flight you could have been on was that which took place on a US Airways flight on the 6th December 2014, between Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and Philadelphia USA.

 

Best Friends Forever?

What’s that old saying, 'keep your friends close, and your enemies closer' ...

Keep Your Enemies Closer ..... Or I Will Send Round The Boys.

 

 

...... well apparently we British take that adage very much to heart. A recent survey found that the average Brit claims to have fifteen friends, but only trusts four of them. 

What Does it Take These Days?

What does it take these days to actually get a serious prison sentence? I ask this, bearing in mind that there is 50% remission before you even serve a day of the pitifully small sentences, and usually concurrent sentences we give out.

I was prompted to ask because a monster called James Canning, who lived in the Doncaster area, was recently convicted of the following crimes: Along with his 'friends' Jay Blade and Amy Gaines, he tortured a girl with metal chain whippings and beatings, until she fainted and feared for her life. She was a friend of Jay Blade's. They all filmed the event as a birthday present to Canning.

Canning And His Accomplices

The Envy Of The World?

There are those in the UK who still believe that the NHS is 'the envy of the world' ... 

NHS Once The Envy Of The World.

.... which world they refer to I am not too sure, because its certainly not the envy of the first world.

Natural Illusion

Recently I posted on optical illusions ….. well look at this image taken by the US space agency's New Horizons probe …

An Image Of Kerberos: One Of The Two Tiny Moons Of Pluto

Just stare for a second or two at the whitest area then blink and stare and it seems to be moving away from you.

Really weird after a bit, and a good example of a natural illusion.

Sith Lord Mayor

This story tells itself .... "Chewbacca arrested in Ukraine while campaigning for Darth Vader". They simply don't get better that that, not in my world anyway.

A candidate, using the identity of the most famous of the Star Wars Sith Lords, has been running in local elections in the city of Odessa, and his supporters have been a colourful lot to say the least ... in the past 'Chewbacca' himself, along with 'Padme Amidala' and 'Yoda', have all appeared on ballot papers.

Dark Lord Registers His Vote

The Average Joe

According to a recent report by the insurer Aviva, the average couple in the UK are (depending upon where you live I guess), called David and Susan. However with variations on the name Mohammed frequently topping the new born boys names lists every year, I guess that the name David will soon be supplanted.

The Average Joe and Jane ... USA

Its Taxing Being A Woman

Not being of the feminine persuasion myself (a relief to all mankind I can assure you), I wasn't aware that there is in force a European (well EU), wide tax on being a woman. It comes from a source that I thought only the socially backward countries of the world still believed was a taboo, menstruation.

All women do it, except maybe in those areas of the world where girls under 14 years of age can be raped by older men under the guise of 'marriage'. But who would have thought that the EU would decide that something women have no choice about, would and should be taxed by the imposition of a 17% VAT levy on sanitary products?

Nothing To Be Taxed

Ice Cream Wars

I am old enough to remember the 'Ice cream wars' of Scotland, which if I recall were centred around the city of Glasgow, where rival drug gangs in the East End of the city in the 1980's, were fighting a drug turf war, using ice cream vans to sell both drugs and stolen goods. A strange episode, even by the standards of gang turf wars, but one which has its footnote in history. A footnote, which to be honest, I wouldn't have recalled, except that recently I read a news snippet which revived these memories.

Ice Cream Wars Are Messy Affairs ...

The Wallahs Last Hurrah

We at PC Towers have occasionally posted on the sights and sounds that the 'modern world' is losing fast.

Kabadi Wallahs Are Disappearing

 

These were primarily from my youth, but have featured those from other countries, that people had remarked upon losing.

Death Of A High Street

I recently visited my local high street for the first time in a fortnight, only to find that another three 'charity shops' had opened up .... In fact, in all (including the charity shops just off the main road), there are eleven or more such shops in the small shopping area .... an area that is approx. 800 - 1,000 meters of double fronted road shopping.

This is a very worrying trend, as charity shops bring nothing to the local economy, and are in fact a harbinger of its demise ..... These shops pay few wages into the local economy, as the workers are nearly all volunteers, and these charity shop, drive local business shops into near ruination. The local book shops have all gone, simply because the charity shops all offer second hand books, and virtually all the ladies fashion shops have taken a hit, either closing or dropping to the cheaper end of the market, as many women now turn to second hand clothes for cheap fashion fixes.

Charity Shop Creep Invading High Streets

Nuclear Madness

The deal to basically hand over a large chunk of the UK's power production to China and France (EDF Energy), for a vastly inflated guaranteed electricity price is a new low for us as a first world industrial nation. We pioneered Nuclear Power plants post WWII with the first civil nuclear programme in the world, opening a nuclear power station, Calder Hall at Windscale, England, in 1956 and produced some of the most advanced designs in the world.

UK Electric Prices 2015 .... China And France Skin Us At Hinckley Point.

Animal Addictions

It appears that the wild foxes in many parts of the country are addicted to car brake fluid .....

Foxy Junkies Get Pretty Blatant

 

It apparently has a sweet taste (well to them), but the initial addiction is believed to come from the fact that their parents often bring back bits of rubber such as Wellington boots for them to play with, and they then actively seek rubber when they grow up.

 

Appliance of Science

Victorians built things to last, whereas we build to .... well frankly, to fail very quickly.

Everybody has noticed that many manufactured items, especially that are known as 'white goods', do not last like they used to. This phenomenon is known as 'planned redundancy', aka 'planned obsolescence', and simply means that cheaper components, and build tolerances, are deliberately placed into the manufacturing process, so that the goods break down more often or earlier.

Whitegoods Built To Be Scrapped

Wheres The Justice?

The Supreme Court has ruled that two women are now free to sue their husbands for more divorce monies after the spouses were determined to have not declared their true worth at their divorce hearings. I am surprised that this wasn't always the case .... after all that's perjury and fraud. So any agreement or settlement entered into should always be based upon the true position ..... however as to whether they should always get half the money, well that's another matter for me.

Marry For Love Divorce For Money?

Race Crimes ... All Races

Apparently recorded hate crime numbers in the UK, have risen by 18% up to 52,528 recorded hate crimes in 2014/15. A hate crime in the UK is defined as an offence which is perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic.

Race Crimes Are Not All Like This  ....

Pissed As A Tinker Bell

There is apparently a new way of 'drinking' alcohol ....

An inventor in Bristol UK has created a new alcoholic 'sensation' in the form of a levitating but potent (and no doubt expensive) cocktail, which as to be 'licked out of the air'. Mr Francis, has claimed that just 4 drops atomised into the air in front of your mouth with your tongue out will get you drunk ....

This Girl Struggled With The Mist Drink Concept

Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness

Now when I was younger, and in fact now, when I come to think on it  ... 'Carry on Up the Khyber', or indeed any mention of 'The Khyber Pass', had double entendre connotations. So when film or book character said that he or someone 'copped it up the Khyber', I would, and still do, grin.

Carry On Up The Khyber ... Good For A Laugh

Half Century Of Criminality

Time was, that when a person lived to be 100 years of age, it was so unusual that the reigning monarch would congratulate them, and their name would enter a select band of a few hundreds, who were then at that stage of their life. Now, that figure of hundreds of centenarians alive, has risen to thousands of pensioners of that age. This has led the monarch to have to increase the number of staff who deal with the 'official' congratulations, but also has uncovered an anomaly.

Projected Centenarians In UK

Democracy Eroded

As I posted at the time of the general election, there is a fear that the mob is being allowed to dictate how democratic politics is conducted in the UK.

That fear was apparently realised last weekend, when a Rent-A-Mob attacked the Conservative conference delegates. The mob marched under the banner of a TUC anti trades union reform demonstration, but that was where the civilised behaviour ended. Many protestors then marched to the venue of the Conservative conference and abused, both physically and verbally, the delegates. Some of these protestors even wore pig masks, as they hurled eggs, and spat on anyone going in or out.

The Language of Debates In Britain .....