A Quick Experience...#2

Is it such a natural feeling for us to want to empower ourselves over another individual? I find it so bizarre that it is built within us to be better than the other. Sort of seems like we really are greedy overall.

This experience occurred on the World Wide Web, on the social website and file sharing phenomenon of Facebook. A website that has attracted millions of personal from around the world to communicate and meet new people from around the world, but of course everybody pretty much knows this by now. However, it has become a war zone of the mind. A place where people can take information shared from other people and use it against them to better themselves. Political debates exist there, but more prominently are the social arguments over topics that should probably be kept personal. What people forget is that the internet is an infinite realm of information where everything written, recorded and clicked on is recorded somewhere and can be used. Facebook and other similar sites make this easier to do, and that is for accessibility (to transport information around quickly).

The argument was about a particular person’s opinion on the issue of musical taste. The other rejected their musical taste, and the argument reigned on. It always disgusts me when people try to make their musical taste superior to the other, because music is one medium in the world where things are all equal. Music is music collectively, and every song and note ever written is equal to the other. It’s so subjective.

However, the over-arching issue that struck me was how people fight for democracy and freedom yet still try to better themselves over other people. That isn’t democracy or egalitarianism, it is a call of dictatorship to spill your ideas over everyone else’s. So to this I question what people really want in the world. Do you want an equal society, or one that is based on your ideas alone? That is communism, corruption and also facism.  

What do we want as a species? The equal society we all speak and pray to have? Or do we just want the world to revolve around us all?

My Music

Live at the Indi Bar, Perth. June 2011

I have been writing music for 5 years to this day now. I will never forget the first song I had ever written, and it was done before I even knew what a guitar was. Was a very short piece of poetry that was inspired by the arrival of my teenage years, and the change of perspective on the world. That sort of set the beginnings to what my songs are all about now, and why I write.

Writing with purpose is always the top priority for me. I don’t write if I have nothing to say, because there isn’t a point or a purpose. If I have nothing to express, then I don’t see a reason for why a song has to be written. I know this differs for each musician or songwriter, as I know a lot who write upon impulse about anything they see. That is something I tried to do and got a bit lost as a result.

As of today (27/11/11) I have written over 80 songs and recorded just under half of those at my homemade studio. Studio is just a fancy word for a small room with an electric drum kit, a keyboard, piano, two guitars and an 8 track mixer crammed into it. I haven’t bought any new equipment since I began writing music properly and learning instruments. I always feel incredibly grateful for having such equipment, and the ability to make my ideas a reality. To me it’s a gift that was given out of nowhere, and something I hope everybody in the world is able to do some day.

I write songs about the world, society and depressions that occur. Whatever affects this world in a way that I see as chaotic and crucial I intend to write about because it affects me directly. I have no interest in writing about something positive in my life because it only occurs after a long period of depression in hard work. Why right about the success when the hard work was the backbone to it all, it’s something people always forget.

This post is a bit out of nowhere, but there isn’t much known of me on this blog and I don’t want to become an invisible writer to people who read this. My music can be located at: www.reverbnation.com/jerrodlew

Thank you.

The Bath in the Sky

Solitude and Clarity: a bath in the sky?

The sense of pure calmness has become more elusive as the years flow by. That emotion of pure peace where our thoughts become physical words that we can speak and share with ourselves and ourselves only. Where can we cleanse our mind, and where does this peace of isolation exist? It’s up in the skies…literally.

The idea of a Japanese Onsen (Hot Springs) brings confusion to a lot of people unaware of the culture. It is a public bath where facilities for showering are available as well as a variety of hot baths to suit different needs. High up on the prefectures of Gunma and Nagano in Japan, the Manza Onsen has been officially declared as the highest Onsen in the whole of Japan. The area attracts tourists mainly in the winter months due to its powder snow and ski slopes surrounding the area. Traditionally, the Onsen is used to relax and to cleanse the mind. 27 different origins of water enter the hot springs, and many have claimed that certain physical afflictions and problems get cured as a result. It’s a place of peace, solitude and quiet high up in the mountains.

I was fortunate enough to Journey to the Manza Onspring when I was only 15 years old. A school trip led us trekking up the mountains before finally resting at the Hot Springs to ease our aching bodies. The quaint and quietness of the area was what surprised me away from my home in Central Tokyo. The noise disappeared and the wind took over all the sounds around me. The place was miraculously clean and ready for use, and the owners were pleased to see travellers. We were treated as guests of honour with food and drinks all provided to us before and after our baths.

It may be off the beaten path, and high up in the sky. But could Manza Onsen be the place to bring solitude to our lives, and a sense of self back? It’s an experience I will never forget, and I hope to revisit soon.

Pressure

Rafati's suicide attempt: the future of sport?

Respect is a virtue. Something we have to give to people when then clearly deserve it, and also when they don’t. It’s a sign of acceptance, that we must learn to improve ourselves in life.

Not long ago, a German football Referee under the name of Babak Rafati attempted suicide at a hotel room before a scheduled Bundesliga fixture. He was found in his bath tub, with his wrists slashed, by the linesman of the fixtures. There is no evidence or reasoning behind his actions, but is most likely to be for reasons outside the game and something that’s personalised. But this is a prime example of how pressure and a lack of respect can lead to dreadful results that sends perspective to the world. It is known that this referee was not the most popular of the German leagues, and his reception was not something was well happily received to any standard. But you hear these stories everyday of players and managers of a variety of different sports complaining about officials and their influence on the game. They are human, and they do their best to create fairness as best they can.

Rafati’s attempted suicide, personally, was something that needed more attention than what was given originally. Even though his actions were most likely caused by something outside the game and his job, it is still an indication that referees need to have more respect guided towards their way. I am a fan of football, so my article is based mainly around this area. Referees don’t have to explain decisions they make during games, and this is to protect their perspectives and reputations at the highest level. This is also done in a variety of sports where players are protected equally to defend their ideas and opinions on why things were done. Officiating is a very difficult task, and something that requires years of experience to gain fluency. It’s a job that is hard to get respected at. I personally was very upset at the news of the attempted suicide, but it should be a large warning shot towards all sports around the world of what outcomes we possess.

We don’t want sports and entertainment being placed into the lines of purposeful death. We have to start remembering that sport is only an entertainment factor that the world enjoys thoroughly and loves endlessly. But away from that reality does not change. Away from it all the world keeps moving and what we believe affects individuals in certain ways may not be anywhere close to what is really occurring. 

Noel Gallagher: High Flying Birds

 

Noel Gallagher Returns

There is no need for an introduction for this musician. He has done it all. Sold millions of records, hit number one in the charts repeatedly, dozens of professional interviews and an awards cabinet many would dream of. Noel Gallagher was the back-bone to the Oasis success, the band that has sold over 50 million albums from 1994-2009 and known as one of the most influential bands of the past 20 years.

High Flying Birds was announced in August 2011 as Noel’s solo project after high anticipation since the 2009 breakup of Oasis. The album released in mid-October contains 10 completely original tracks written and recorded by Noel alone with a handful of new musicians in the process. After the video of “The Death of You And Me” reaching 1 million hits within hours of release on Youtube, the suspense and anticipation rose considerably for the release. Noel has nothing else to prove to the music world, and any doubters to his ability to craft masterpieces of music have been proven wrong again. High Flying Birds is his strongest release since the early Definitely Maybe/Morning Glory era.

Opening with the epic-sounding string set of Everybody’s On The Run, Noel leaves everybody in awe with its anthem sound and choir working to create an atmosphere of pure dreamland and astonishment. Dream On then follows with a “Roll With It” twist with a pumping verse breaking into the night sky for the chorus. If I Had a Gun returns long remaining Oasis fans to the days of Wonderwall. Starting with a quiet acoustic melody before guitars pump in for the chorus with the drums cracking the fills between lines. The song soars higher and higher before breaking cleanly through the ice into an acoustic finish; fantastic tune!

The Death of You And Me reaches the album to newer heights that seemed unreachable. Containing a horn and brass solo over the usual guitars, and bringing out a chorus that is uplifting. This is the furthest Noel reaches out on the album, and a personal favourite. Record Machine is one of the two former Oasis demos that appeared on the internet, highly anticipated and Noel does not let it rest. An acoustic guitar with delayed Noel Gallagher lyric wafts over the top of a soothing choir before breaking out into an anthem. A guitar solo picks up the tempo and guides the vocals to stardom in a state of melancholy that only a songwriter of this calibre could reach with such ease. This tune is one not to be missed.

AKA…What A Life is the real revelation of Noel’s latest accomplishments. An unlikely song due to his back ground with a purposeful bass drums dominating the sound, with Noel’s insanely catchy vocals over pianos, guitars and synthesizers. A new step out for Noel, and a song that could easily have follows the Standing On the Shoulders Of Giant’s era with Go Let It Out a landmark. Then album then takes another turn to a new place through Soldier Boys And Jesus Freaks. Lyrics about religious dwellings of war and inequality dominate a fast paced trumpet section over guitars. AKA…Broken Arrow continues the trend with a new flavour of bongo drums and more guitars. Catchy chord progressions lead to another anthem like chorus with drums filling in the blanks well.

(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach sends the record back down to Earth after its rising altitude of hysteria and aptitude for cleanliness. Similar sounds that were heard off Dig Out Your Soul return, and brings a raw based rock-song that makes you question where will the record turn to next. Chorus again brings a sense of hope, with Noel’s vocals over a raw guitar riff that dominates the track from start to end. Peace then arrives at a place of a well-known Oasis demo. Stop The Clocks was first heard in Liverpool back in 2002, and the want and popularity of the tune led to its final release at the end of an album of dreams. The song is Oasis-esque at the very best, with a killer guitar solo at the end that puts it to rest.

Perhaps the lack of guitar solos came as a surprise to many fans of Oasis and Noel’s previous work, but in return he brings back catchy songs that could inspire yet another generation. This album has Noel Gallagher written all over it. He has returned, but in retrospect…he had never really left.

What is the 'best'?

Dedicating our lives to becoming the ‘best’ can be something addictive, incredibly competitive and also dangerous when that dream is placed into the wrong hands.

Becoming the best at something constitutes of a goal that is almost nearly impossible. It is hard to illustrate the best human, in fact its nearly impossible. This is because the term ‘best’ is so incredibly subjective and opinionated that I don’t understand why the word was even created. It is simply a measure of quantity to put yourself over another person, and that in itself is already segregation and inequality. It is fine to be better at something than someone else, its natural. Some people have certain qualities that allow them to excel faster or better at certain tasks or skills, but that doesn’t necessarily make you the best person for the job because you might lack in some other area where another succeeds in.

If we believe truly in some sort of biological ‘best’ gene that is within one of our species, we are very much firing shots in darkness and hurting ourselves in the process. If there was a perfect gene then evolution, life and everything we strive for as a species would be worthless. Why would we continue to push forward if the perfect gene is out there. It isn’t, and it never has been. Evolution is based on the fact that no gene is immune to everything, and that a weakness is always evident no matter what the cause. We breed as a species randomly to hopefully find a gene that will cover a certain weakness, and to create newer genes into the massive population so we can improve ourselves but not individually become the best.

The search for the perfect or best aspect is one with no end, but yet we are obsessed with it naturally. That comes with the will for us to improve as a species or race, to continue overcoming the challenges that our world persists over every second of our lives on Earth. 

Radiohead: The Albums (90s)

Pablo Honey

I heard this album late on in the system of things as the first records I ever picked up from Radiohead was Amnesiac and Kid A, but when I finally found a copy of Pablo Honey it answered a lot of questions I had about the band. For me the album was full of anger, rage and youth. The combination that any teenager has when they write music at the very start I think. Just that place to release everything you’ve ever hated or loved into one beautiful crafted piece of music. Pablo Honey is nowhere near just an ordinary album, but yet something that edges the beginnings of one of the greatest bands in the world’s history. It’s a timeless album that flashes by quickly at the start, and slows down in suspense only to hit you hard again on the next track. Its anthemic at times, and catapulted by the hit single Creep to an album that is outstanding. But you must look at the other tracks past the main single, such as You and Blowout, to really understand what Radiohead is all about. For me this is an album that was a fantastic beginning to what Radiohead would develop into towards the end of the 90s.

The Bends

Complete, confident and full of a variety of different songs. Ranging from the powerful Planet Telex to the ballad of Street Spirit, The Bends catapults the band to a place where not many others could reach at the time. It’s brilliance, I think, was only witnessed much later on the 2000s where many looked back on the bands history. The 90s was amazing for British music, and this album continued that tide it seemed. I find it very hard to review Radiohead’s 90’s era of music because of the fact that I wasn’t really around listening to music in that much detail (I was 2 when this album came out). But from my perspective now, I think The Bends is probably the most complete album of Radiohead out of their 8 released now, and has several hit tracks. The album has no filler tracks either, its full of execellently written songs that are ballad like and also anthemic.

OK Computer

This album deserves a lot more success than what it has already achieved. It is ground-breaking. Thom Yorke’s falsetto and Jonny Greenwood’s guitar work create the basis of one of the greatest records ever to be created for mankind to listen to. Paranoid Android is so very hard to describe, but is still the most unique track I have ever listened to. Contained within is such a variety of different genres of music all masterfully put together and composed by the band. I listen to this song every morning, it’s an anthem. A very brilliant song, words cannot describe how amazing it is. But the album continues and once again no filler tracks at all, every single song hits you hard from every angle alerting you to how incredible Radiohead have become in the scheme of music. Even the twisted Electioneering creates a well deserved but interesting turn on the album, twisting it away from what we expect to hear from the band. Full of guitar work, fantastically played instruments and composition of the songs. It is simply astonishing and life changing. From Pablo Honey to OK Computer is one complex journey that just seemed inevitable, but still so complex and unexpected. 

A Quick Experience...#1

It always interests me how the rest of the world perceives a place like Australia, which is so physically isolated to that larger areas of the globe. This is not a bad thing at all, but just a geographical view of where Australia is placed compared to other places. I had a very strange encounter with a new arrival to the Perth shores today…

He wasn’t very happy, and this was evident in the way he was looking around as he spoke. He complained about the Australian people (not all, but about most) and the apparent arrogance and rudeness that they were made of. It took me by quite a surprised to hear someone so uninterested in learning about the culture, and the way things work and how people react. Australia is now a clearly multiculturalist society where a huge mix of different races and cultures have been created over the recent years. Personally, I believe it is quite fortunate to have the chance to meet people from all around the world in one place. It’s very rewarding to have a society that is so mixed and influential, and full of people willing to learn from each other. However this person seemed to immediately become defensive with his own homeland in the United Kingdom.

I’ve been to the UK about three times, and his experiences over there seemed to differ to mine. He told short stories about the kindness of the English, but yet had to also explain the rivalry between them and the Welsh. A topic that I haven’t discussed much before and something I questioned more. He didn’t answer much about it, and instead used that rivalry as fuel to continue his argument against the Australians. He mentioned poor driving  abilities and the inability to accept new types of people, which is obviously generalised to the extremes. His experience immediately of Perth was a place that was defensive, rude and clearly ignorant. Its interesting how that differs to my experience of an accepting place full of people who were happy you chose Perth to visit or to live.

Interesting developments, what do other people get from arriving in Perth? 

That Familiar Feeling

Don’t you love the feeling of returning to a place so comfortable and fulfilling? A place that makes you want the day to end. A place where you feel one with yourself and the environment. A place that feels like home.

The connection in Australia between a person, a home and the environment is something that is so unique. Unique in how it is all drawn together without force, and with no purpose. It is this special relationship that sets us out compared to the rest of the world, and has become our culture. Something that is ours. Something that nobody can ever take.

We see and witness this relationship every day, even if it’s not noticeable, and we indulge in it constantly. Our education is based outdoors, and our infrastructure and buildings are shaped to develop our understanding of the natural world around us. Open and large windows that reflect the environment and its beautiful terrain; tell us stories of past adventures and knowledge that we pick up unknowingly. We are not an ignorant group of people, but instead we are a group that embraces what we see around us. We develop projects and other landmarks to honour many events that have taken place upon this land, and events that edge stories into the ground so future generations can be told of what has happened here. Something special, and also something more to learn.

We have to remember that feeling of returning to a homeland. And it seems like to Australia, their home land is the natural environment itself.

Windows

Reflecting the world for the whole of my life, and this is my only life. The only one I have ever known. I sit, like many of my companions, high in the skies or lower to the earth beneath. All we do is gaze at two separate worlds split away. A world outside, and the personal world underneath the safety of the ceiling. It’s strange at how things differ. As soon as they walk outside, they change dramatically as if they are searching for a place of happiness away from their own safe house. They change to suit everything I see all the time. I see it change repeatedly, its all I do. Just look out on everything I see.

What if someone with a mind and some reality in a physical sense could see the outside and inside worlds all day for the rest of their lives? What would they think? Does that strike fear into us at all, how we can be watched by something that seems so inadequate? Who knows?

Those Cobbled Streets...

“Rome is the city of love”

I’ll never forget hearing that sentence repeatedly upon my journey to Rome over 5 years ago with my family. A simple family holiday to a place with, history that is so complex and full of adventure and questions, seems so strange. I was much younger when I visited Rome, but the image of entering a place full of amphitheatres and the Colosseum preserved and unmoved is very hard to forget. The one image I never seem to forget is the cobbled streets that lay throughout the city. The sign and tradition of importance is what it told me; a place full of history even in its streets that were built upon centuries ago. These images appear in my dreams at times, just randomly reminding me of how lucky I am to have had the ability to enter a place of so much wonder.

I hope to re-visit Rome in the future, and travel further around Italy as a result. There are many things I want to re-discover in my memory, and one of these places being The Vatican City. We did enter its hallowed areas upon visit, but the memory is so vague. I don’t want to simply reaccount something from simple research from the internet. I want to give my memory out of how I remember it unfold, and the emotions that struck me. Let me think…yes…it was sacred, very sacred indeed. A place that had me shaking a bit inside of disbelief that we had entered it. The centre of the religion I had grew up learning and understanding, and it all centred here. Only years later did I understand the relevance of this place, and its importance in a Christians follower’s mind. It was the centre point of all pilgrimages, and the place to visit upon travel.

It must be so interesting growing up in Rome. How do you live around so much history that is just outside of your window each morning, and on your way to school. Its just how obvious it is that shocks me, as to where I live now in Perth. It is less obvious, and you have to dig deep to uncover the history of how Perth and Western Australia began. It’s the historical nature from every angle that takes you aback, but something that remains in your mind forever. I wish I could give a more accurate representation of this place, and maybe when I next travel there I will write again about it’s beautiful cobbled streets and history. 

Assassins Creed Revelations: Review #1

It has been 4 years since Assassins Creed was released by Ubisoft to the world. A game that was extremely different compared to the mainstream games since the new millennium. First person action based shooters were dismantled in the face of fantasy and historical gameplay. Even though first-person shooters will always remain popular beyond belief (Modern Warfare 3 selling thousands by the minute), what the Assassins Creed franchise has given us is a new perspective of the past and how future. The story based around the year 2012 and the apparent destruction that awaits for us. Ubisoft tells the world it’s story that takes us back centuries into the past to relive historical events that may not have been possible 10 years ago. The intensive research done into each character; their history, past, future and characteristics are accurate and made for knowledge. The game is created to teach as well as entertainment, and through the franchise I have learn a lot about our past in different eras of time.

Revelations follows the trend of Desmond Miles, as the previous games did, and as the title says: answers all the questions that we needed. The game is about Revelations, and the quest set out from the outset for Ezio is one that made to reveal secrets crucial to understanding the complexity of the storyline at hand. From my perspective, it is important to note that this game would be hard to understand without the playing of the previous three. The storyline has built up so much now, with answers and questions appearing constantly that very soon the game will belong to just the fans alone of the series. For those who have followed the series since Altair’s legendary appearance in 2007, this is the game that is a must-buy.

Revelation’s is based around a set of movies and this is part four, and the most important game in the series to date. Everything that we thought we knew had been changed in a twist that is so cunning and unexpected that Assassins Creed 3 next year will have to be bought to complete the series. I find it difficult to rate a game of this stature in just numbers or figures with categories of graphics or gameplay, because of the storyline built up. I play it for entertainment, and the feeling of embarking and continuing a story that is addictive but also exciting. It is built for those who enjoy the plot more than just out and out fighting with insane acrobatics and gore, and that is where Revelations makes it’s stand compared to its predecessors.

We are brought into a new mode of playing, a more wiser gameplay that is less reckless in missions and more about thought and planning. This matches of course an aging protagonist whose body and mind have begun to merge away from each other, and we are forced to think the same way. The days are gone where you take on an army of 50 by yourself and succeed, and the new era has begun (and probably ended) with a tactical approach which is clever and purposeful. You don’t fight alone anymore, and you plan attacks based as a leader of an army. You feel in control rather than a walking target, and this has been building up since the sequel came out.

Assassins Creed Revelations is impressive beyond comprehension with the historical and plot content that must have taken months to research and create. Cinematic events place you into a new world where a war is raging and you are in the midst of it. This game sets up the next chapter of the series due before December of 2012, and with how Ubisoft have portrayed this franchise so far, they show no signs of backing off.

What We Might Become....

Addictions are increasing. But it’s not drugs, it’s not sex and it’s not work. It’s something that has become so normal we don’t even realise it anymore.

We have been brainwashed, but this shouldn’t be taken a negative way. Brainwashing can, like everything else, have a positive effect. In general mainstream society, being brainwashed instantly gives the impression that we have lost our minds to some higher power or force. Brainwashing, to my opinion, could have a positive effect on us depending on the information we are being forced to take in. The brainwashing, predictably, has come from the media; computers, internet, televisions and even the radio. We hear new stories about the world consistently everyday, and without us knowing, they slowly corrupt and take over our way of thinking.

What we might become in the future is a humanoid which isn’t just more advanced technologically and socially, but one that is more aware of how different cultures in the world work and understand each other. We may be brainwashed to think certain things about individual cultures or people, but hopefully it can be directed in a way that makes us curious rather than judgemental. Where we have the will to travel overseas to learn and not take over with our culture. We should be travelling to learn and adapt, and to improve ourselves and experiences around the world.

The main fear, however, comes from real corruption at the hands of a corrupt doctoral force. It doesn’t have to be human, but it normally has to start from someone’s idea. If someone wants us to think something, and he or she has a powerful influence through supporters or a popular internet site, then they can make it happen. It’s easy to influence many if the fanbase is there to support you. The internet may make things easier to learn and to pass information, but it also makes it easier to influence you as a person as well. I fear that people may forget about the good side of the internet, and the power of information that it possesses, and the readiness for it to spread to thousands of people within seconds. Its an unbelievable tool when placed in the right hands, and for the right reasons.

We have to be careful. Or the influence might take over, and we might become something that is negative. But the positive musn’t be forgotten for sure!

What is a Liveable City?

We all want to feel safe in our houses, safe in our streets and safe in our towns or suburbs. That sort of safety and tranquillity is all a part of the scale of Liveability of an area or place. Every year, surveys are completed as part of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s: Global Liveability Survey, and these explain where in the world may be the nicest and more adequate place to live in based on several factors. These factors include: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and also infrastructure. These categories are compiled together to gather a score out of a 100 to see how liveable a place may be to live or habituate within.

Stability

The stability has several indicators like the other categories, and these include: crime, violent crime, terror, military conflict and civil unrest.  Now at first glance, stability doesn’t seem to relate at all to crime rates and violence. In society, stability can also be related to economic and financial causes and if someone is able to live a stable life where employment is available and the space to grow a family. However for this survey it is dependent on crime rates, and the severity of violence. Does this mean the aspects of economic stability and similar aspects are forgotten? Well the survey is all about hardship and the lack of, and is based around the ability to live safely (if possible) in an area, and so forgets aspects that will lead on from living in a decent place, such as employment and opportunities. It’s about if a place provides certain things such as a low crime rate in this case.

Does the particular place have conflicts that will harm living stage? That is what stability is based around in this context.

Healthcare

This is obviously about the ability to get medical attention, and takes into account the two different sides of medical care: public and private. Are both available, and what is the quality of these areas. Interestingly, the availability of over-the-counter drugs is also regulated and surveyed as well. This can explain a lot about a place, if they have the ability and money to fund and sell medicines and drugs that are expensive but effective. It adds up to how available medical assistance is of a place. Healthcare is a prime concern to many places in the world, especially third world countries which lack the money to afford adequate health care to cure disease and illnesses.

Education

This is a smaller section that is surveyed, and explains about the availability of private education and also public. However the survey does not look at the quality of public education which is different, and questionable. Is it saying that the quality of public education is unimportant, or doesn’t add to a places liveability? Surely if the local education that was public was at a high level it would produce a much smarter population in the long run, as not many children are able to study at private institutions due to financial reasons. Interesting stuff!

Culture and Environment

This is always an important section, and covers the most in all of the survey. Its all about how available certain aspects of a community are, and these can include sporting events and cultural activities, food and drinks and ability to buy and consume goods and services. The area that is the most strange is how humidity and temperature/climate is also measured in comparison to discomfort of travellers. This pretty much says that any country who has high humidity levels will score a very low result in this area. Maybe a more clear and better way of measurement can be seen through how a place responds to these conditions to make the place liveable. That would be a much more accurate response that really shows how a place is liveable is how they respond to natural environments that may cause discomfort.

Infrastructure

Basically just the quality of transport and provisions of services such as water and energy. This is clearly all money based, and the place who is able to place enough money into the area for transport and planning will succeed in this area easily.

Overall, the survey hits a lot of important areas of how liveable a city is, but lacks in how responses to discomfort is not measured. A place may not have the best transport facilities, but its their response as a result to their issues of lack of money or resources. I think a more in depth look into how a city continues with the 

The Killer Instinct

Stop. Make It Stop. Stop. Stop.

The realism is that the pain doesn’t stop for just you. If you are affected, there is a large chance that many other people worldwide are as well. People seem to forget that there are billions of people in this world, and that what may be happening in their lives is completely unique to their own. Of course this may be the case, maybe you are the unique individual in the world. But the killer instinct comes in knowing where to stop yourself from believing things that are a manipulation of your emotions.

From my experience, the human mind is naturally creative. We have the ability to see something we want, and visualise us doing thousands of different things with it that may benefit us or demoralise us completely. I think this ability is important to understand, because it’s what (in many cases) sets us apart from other species in the world. Our intelligence is beyond anything we have ever come across, and it is dangerous and that has been proven. We are always trying to think of newer ways to make our lives better, to fulfil ourselves and that is a basic principle of an organism. How am I going to get from here to there? It’s a basic idea and perspective.

We need, altogether, to start thinking of how to stop ourselves from making things out as something fake and unreal. If one was to study for an exam, and they believe they have done 5 hours of study when in fact they only did 3 hours with a lot of breaks and relaxing time, then they are lying to themselves. It’s almost as ridiculous as lying about what time it is. We need to develop the instinct to stop ourselves from making situations better than what they actually are. We spend our lives lying to ourselves that things are improving and we are all happier, and the past is forgotten. But in reality, the past is never forgotten. What has happened in past will remain there, and it won’t just disappear. It frightens me when people try to forget the past instead of learn from it. How can anyone move forward in life they are not willing to learn about past events in their lives and throughout the world? We function because of what has happened in the past!

Overall, we need to learn control. We may be unique at the core, but on the outside we exhibit emotions that are similar to many around the world. With this power and intellect, we are blessed with the ability to change how reality has affected us. This habit causes ignorance: the will to forget or purposefully pay no attention to the actual facts.

When will the pain stop? When we develop that Killer Instinct.

To Put Into Context...part 2

We listen. We ignore. We complain. We never learn.

The biggest regret that I have in my life is the amount of wisdom and ideas that I’ve ignored when given to me for free. It’s free education, inspiration and instructions that come out of nowhere with no work required to achieve it, yet I ignored it’s perspectives and suffered in the future. This led to the thought of how the world has also suffered similar fates. War is a clear and obvious example of how we have not learnt from past mis-deeds, and also the existence of communism in the world.

We all know the corruption that exists in our empires of inhabitation, our local towns are filled with those with greed in their veins. Pumping their minds and hearts with dollar signs when opportunities arise. But where are those people who work with no reward? Charity. That’s where. The silent but yet effective volunteerism in the world that keeps the world alive and respectful. The thing that gets ignored in the mainstream media and society’s eyes could be what saves us from total corruption and social breakdown. They must be recognised more, and it delights me in how schools and other local organisations all donate annually and some even monthly or weekly.

It will be a tragic day when charity fraud takes over the main scheme of things. Can you imagine using images of poverty-stricken individuals and towns being used only for cash and money? It is dreadful, and yet it still happens. In 2009, 5 Muslim men were arrested due to charity fraud allegations against them. The largest Muslim charity was targeted after money was given to a militant Palestinian Organsation (as CNN described). Absolutely dreadful that people would use charities as a way to get money, a scam at the highest level of disrespect. But the main message here is: it shows the power of human greed and how it can affect people.

For me, we have to remember how much power we have as humans to cause havoc and destruction. It’s so easy for us to do, scarily easy in fact. As said in George Orwell’s Animal Farm: man’s greatest weapons is his/her hands. And this is true. Our hands are the basis for all destruction that has ever occurred on this Earth.

WE must learn and we must improve!

Treading Water

Drowning is a slow and painful way to die. To many it’s a fear they are willing to live with upon their entrance to a watery grave, a terrain that is not ours. We consistently enter the realms of other creatures, and ponder their lands as if our own. But in reality we belong on the land, the surface. The unease of entering a new terrain or place is similar to entering a foreign land. We are disorientated, confused and very much alone. We feel naked and vulnerable, as if the food chain has shifted and you are the one standing at the bottom awaiting the predators of the area to rip you apart.

Just because we have the intellect, curiosity and power to take over animal kingdoms and prey on them as our own doesn’t mean we can blame them for deaths. Shark attacks are growing more and more popular each year, worldwide.  I have heard people blaming sharks for their will to attack and prey on matter that angers them, or upsets their lifestyle. It is about time we look at ourselves and how we do. Would we be comfortable if an extra-terrestrial being invaded our planet to kill and prey on us? I don’t think we would. We see ourselves as the top of the food chain in the world, and we use the power to corrupt ourselves into thinking we can go anywhere we please.

Yes it is ok to explore and learn about new terrains, but it is important to be respectful to the creatures that live there. If you enter the ocean, then you accept the consequences of the shark attack or any other watery threat that exists. You are entering, without an invite, into the lands of a whole new empire and food chain. You are the bottom, and you are the easiest to kill.

Remember that, and start being more aware of what you look like to other inhabitants of the Earth. We are a species like everything else, lets learn about other species without disrupting their habitats and blaming injuries and deaths on these creatures.

That feeling of treading water…it just makes me want to step away.

Remembrance Day

Have we forgotten how to react?

This is a day to remember those who have perished in the past in whatever profession and in whatever cause. It is a day to allow our prayers to enter their families lives, and to respect what the soldiers and other similarities have done to support what we have today. However, we seem to get twisted by the media in this respect.

For me, we have to remember who died for us. But we have to also remember about those who died for other people. People that may not be seen as friendly or as allies, but yet are still human. We seem to forget that we all the same, and we should all be treated equally as one collection not as a dispersal of groups amongst the world. Remembrance day is a day that the world should come together and pray for who died to protect their own personal beliefs and the society they have today.

It may be portrayed as the day we worship Superman, but it's also a day where we show respect to the enemies as well who have died at our hands. Yes, our beliefs differ to theirs, and yes they may have been cold murderers but they went down fighting for what they believed in. They went down fighting for what they thought is how the world should be, and it's the same for us. To me, it's important to recognise their sacrifice as well. Don't let the media smear you're minds into thinking the day is only for our troops who have perished. Its for all the troops who have died on this Earth fighting.

 

We should be grateful, and we should be respectful. The past creates what we have now, and also what will happen in the future. Could you imagine if there was no intervention for WW2 or the Cold War? What if we didn't fight back? The world would be a very different place from what we see now. To many it would be catastrophic, and heavily under dictator corruption. Our lives would be nothing as it is now. So please…show respect for what has happened.

 

RIP

A Virtual Future? #1

Our lives. Our Earth. Our Future.

The constant waves of tension that appear with the online, virtual and sometimes deluding worlds created by our hands can reveal a sign of the future. Online messaging devices such as Skype, Viber and MSN have taken the world by storm, and completely eradicating the mainstream use of the postal service. Posting a letter has become something of the past in society. It was reported that in the UK alone, the amount of letters sent annually around the world had reached the lowest point in over 15 years. 

Its a sign that our lives are changing, probably faster than what we actually realize.

In the common day situation, once somebody has announced to their peers that they will be posting a letter to a relative or a friend, it immediately brings the thought of importance. Sending something hand-written is normally saved for celebration, it is a sign of care and respect towards the recipient because the time was taken to write instead of type as per ordinary.

Little do we realize, the more this sort of reaction occurs, the larger the push for a dominant virtual future where the online world becomes even more accessible and addictive due to its easiness to use. However, the main question can be asked in how we should take action to this. Do we embrace it fully and completely destroy physical ways of communication such as the postal service, or do we continue to try balancing it out.

Looking back at the decline in letters sent worldwide in the UK, ideas were brought up about modernizing the service of post around the world. Even though no strategy was in place for this, it is personally obvious the use of emails and online material will be the inevitable future. It may happen next year, or in 50 years, but eventually the use of physical communication could become obsolete. What will this lead to? Unemployment and social depletion may be possible answers.

The main message here is that our future is in our own hands. The use of the Postal Service as an example is because of its obvious nature and popularity. If we continue to socialise on the internet as our main form of communication it may cause problems in the world with jobs as many areas become obsolete. Balance is the most important part and also control. Do we as humans have the ability to control our own future, or will we let the past mistakes made take over?

More on this later.