Discover the emotional journey of love, betrayal, and forgiveness in the powerful poem ‘Khadija, Perfidious Beautiful Beast.’ Explore the profound themes of loss, loyalty, and the courage to let go. Delve into the intricate emotions of heartbreak and the pursuit of freedom in this evocative piece of poetry. Continue reading Perfidious Beautiful Beast
Sticky post
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata”, 1927 Continue reading Desiderata
“Depression is an inability to construct a future.” – I don’t know the original source of the quote, could be clinical literature or somebody like Freud. Usually someone comes along on the comments and lets me know, or it’s an original quote from the movie. Dunno.
The quote made me look back at tough times in my life – and I think it’s an explanation or partial explanation (of course there’s other factors that make us depressed). We tend to predict the future based on what happened in the past. We tend to feel happier with a “secure” future, and less happy without. Uncertainty feeds into this. With the caveat, that the future doesn’t really exist, it’s a mental construction (ie we don’t know for sure what the future will be, it’s just degrees of certainty or uncertainty.) Continue reading Depression Is An Inability To Construct A Future
I can’t remember if I blogged about this before, I first heard about it in the movie “The Bucket List” with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, who’s characters were both terminally ill with cancer, and they eventually made friends and had some adventures together. It’s a nice film, well worth a watch. In the movie, they talk about the 5 stages of grief which I think originated with Elizabeth Kubler Ross Continue reading Stages Of Grief (And Loss)
Jordan Peterson’s book “12 Rules For Life” is said to have been based on an original list of 40 rules which Jordan posted on Quora in answer to “What are the most valuable things everyone should know ?” originally in 2012.
The silver lining, the emotional alchemy – as I’ve said a million times on this blog – is they never cease to give me something to blog about, and it’s made me quite popular. If I have the time, or I’m bored, I might even play with them for a while, and then add their details to my blocklist (do not pass go, do not receive $200) Continue reading Can’t You Write Your Own Original Material? Quoting Einstein Has Been Done!
Continuing on with my bread making I’m baking this one today :
Honey Wheat Bran Bread – Sweetened with Honey, and with the better nutritional value of wheat bran this bread is the monkey’s nuts. Continue reading “Honey Wheat Bran Bread Recipe”
Thanks to Chef Kevin Ashton of “Grumpy Old Men” blog, for the cooking inspiration – So, continuing on with my bread making I’m baking this one today :
Applesauce Oatmeal Bread – A great tasting apple’ey and oat’ey bread for all occasions Continue reading “Applesauce Oatmeal Bread Recipe”
Sticky post
WARNING – CREATIVE WRITING AHEAD
Without freedom of speech, we no longer have freedom of thought. Without freedom of thought, how the hell are we supposed to be creative?
– Source – Someone cleverer than me, probably JP.
I used to look up to the man. But since he bought my mortgage company after the 2008/Lehman Brothers crisis, they have set their interest rate at an extreme profit margin, all whilst interest rates have been historically low (like close to zero). For more than 12 years now I’ve been paying a huge premium over the Bank Of England’s base rate, straight into Richard Branson’s pocket. It’s one of the reasons I’ve personally struggled financially ever since 2008 – whilst Richard has his fingers in a number of pies, including his own island. Bouncing around in his private jets and floating around in Bentleys, living the life of Riley. Continue reading Strip Richard Branson Of His Knighthood – Change.org
I just found it’s St. George’s day today, an important traditional day for English (and some Spanish and Portuguese) and Christian people.
So wishing you a Happy St. George’s Day.
I’ve also added the Portuguese flag to my sidebar – so hello and welcome to all my Portuguese followers (4097 page views as of today).
Saint George’s Day, also known as the Feast of Saint George, is the feast day of Saint George as celebrated by various Christian Churches and by the several nations, kingdoms, countries and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint including England, and regions of Portugal and Spain. – Wikipedia
And, in Don Charisma style – here’s a “little risque” St. George and the Dragon painting that I posted back in 2014, as a bonus.
Painting by (c) Petar Meseldzjia – Originally posted here (with permission) :-
https://doncharisma.org/2014/04/23/nudity-in-art-st-georg-and-the-dragon-by-petar-meseldzija/
Hope you are safe and stays that way.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Continue reading “Happy St. George’s Day, And Risque Painting By Petar Meseldzija”
WARNING – CREATIVE WRITING AHEAD
“Speak the truth” – Jordan Peterson.
That’s what I’m doing right here. Exercising my right to speak freely as what I currently see as truth.
I may look stupid to you. I may write stupid stuff sometimes. I may not be a great artist, or a great writer, or a great photographer, or that great at anything. I may not be in the same tribe as you, or idolize the same gods. I may not be the cookie cutter blog you’d prefer me to be. I may not be as intelligent as you.
In fact I’m pretty average and ordinary by all accounts, nothing special. I just do my best, and hope for the best, most of the time.
I have done my research on passive-aggression. I know what your motives are and what your narrative is. I know that you deserve my pity more than my respect. I know the counter measures and moves – I have been doing this for a while, 57000 comments on this blog at last count, so I’m not exactly short-in-the-tooth by now.
So please kindly stop leaving passive-aggressive comments, or trying passive-aggressive schemes on me – You’re wasting your time, and making yourself look pathetic in the process.
It’s transparent to me by now – someone broke the rules of fight club and showed me “the matrix”, might have even been me that did it.
The silver lining – I never end up short of something to blog about, so thanks for that at least. Also makes me laugh, so double whammy.
But – Why oh why, would you prefer to argue when we could have been friends – I’m perplexed at the lengths people will go spread their misery onto others – it beggars belief, the lengths their ego will go to ensure they feel they’re right, holier than thou, ideologically superior or have “won” the argument, even if it means completely deluding themselves, and destroying a potential friendship in the process.
“Stupid is as stupid does” – Forrest Gump
I guess.
If I have the time, and the skill, I try and help other people who’re honourable and respectful. I’ve lost count of the number of reblogs, guest bloggers and shares I’ve done over the years – bloggers helping bloggers, helping each other – you know solidarity. Not to mention that at least half of the 57000 comments are my replies to others.
At the end of the day – if you have no respect for me, you’re not worthy of my time.
Which reminds me of a quote I saw the other day, I’ll post that later.
Hope you are safe and stays that way.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Continue reading “Passive Aggressive – Stupid Is As Stupid Does”
Hi, it’s Danny posting on Don’s blog from the UK. I felt that this was important to share this, to raise awareness.
I don’t as yet have anything other than word of mouth, of initial reports coming in via FaceBook. But friends have sadly reported to me a number of Thai men and women have committed suicide in Thailand due to basically running out of money. With curfews and lockdowns, little to no government help, no tourist income (a large part of Thai GDP), many Thai’s operating small/micro-businesses, a drought in Thailand, already an economic downturn and with little or no savings – people who are poor are basically living hand to mouth and have become desperate.
I really don’t know what else to say, other than I’m deeply saddened to hear these reports. Losing a life through suicide is heartbreaking, and needless. My deepest condolences to those who’ve lost loved ones.
If this isn’t resolved swiftly, I’m worried things will descend into civil unrest, which would obviously lead to violence and more deaths.
I don’t know how this can be achieved – But it’s time we got the world economy going again, so more lives aren’t lost, and we don’t have more tragedy on top of the tragedy we’ve already suffered.
Hope you are safe and stays that way.
Cheers
Danny
If you’re affected by this, then it’s possible to contact the Samaritans :
“Whatever you’re going through, a Samaritan will face it with you.” – The Samaritans UK
Thailand – http://www.samaritansthai.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Samaritans.Thailand
Tel: 02-713-6793
Tel: 02-713-6791
https://www.facebook.com/Samaritans-Chiang-Mai-1027321303981834/
Tel: 05-322-5977
UK – https://www.samaritans.org/
Tel: 116 123 (Free)
US – http://www.samaritansusa.org/
Tel: 1 (800) 273-TALK (I think 1 800 is a free to call number in USA)
There’s also Befrienders Wordwide (similar to the Samaritans), who have contact telephone numbers in many countries – https://www.befrienders.org/
Judging by the number of comments, seems like I was missed yesterday. As a general rule, I think one should rest of Saturdays and Sundays. I do try and put at least one quote out per day – sometimes the simplest things are the best. In these times of struggle it might be the only positive/interesting thing that person saw that day.
Yesterday best described as “jaded”, one of my commenters apparently felt the same, so I wasn’t the only one in that boat. We are, like it or not interdependent, it’s how the world still spins. Without spending countless hours, or having any qualifications, this is roughly what I said :
Sometimes life doesn’t feel full of possibilities, it’s the same for most people. “Charisma” seems to take a day off, for various reasons.
Ultimately, short version – In the end up, it’s up to you to pull yourself back to a motivated and positive state – external forces sometimes are there to help, sometimes we have to do it on our own.
Sometimes reaching out and telling a friend how you feel can bring one back to positive mental attitude. Other’s rely on their faith.
Do something you enjoy doing today, or do something for someone else, that they’d enjoy. Write or speak to someone you miss, or haven’t written in a long time. Do you’re own mini-thanksgiving – think of all the things in your life you are grateful for.
“When the going get’s tough, the tough get going”
I’m fairly sure by now that the 38000 of you subscribed to my blog are smarter than me, so what would you have said ?
Well, there are a few subscribers straight off of this page –
https://doncharisma.org/2015/03/23/100-ways-to-say-not-the-brightest/
Hope you are safe and stays that way.
Cheers
Don Charisma
How did we get to this dire point; not all at once, I suppose, but bit by bit, being too busy with life; drunk with regrets of the past and manipulated into worrying about the future. I don’t know what stand to take today. I tried writing this post so many times, stopped, and started, and stopped, and then back to the keyboard – and all I accomplished was to exhaust myself; you’d think it were a love letter, where I struggle to find the perfect words to make it work; while hiding the gore of bodies piling up without end as we speak –
Going back to the beginning of this virus, I started gathering information, believing it would help me and my loved ones. I watched and read everything about this novel virus. I even had an opinion about how governments of countries are handling it, and responding to it, and soon enough it began to take me hostage; it had become an addiction; collecting all the news this virus was creating. The stories I came across were endless; the mistakes and delays of the world health organization, the secret agendas of governments, Bill Gates and the Rockefellers involved in promoting it, conspiracy theories, a novel supposedly written in 1981 predicting it; and then I put my two-cents in too… what if just maybe, E.M. Forster predicted our restricted lives due to this virus, in his short story, The Machine Stops, (1909), and just maybe, the Titanic had also been predicted in Morgan Robertson’s novella The Wreck of the Titan (1898). And was it the iceberg that took 1500 lives, or was it the delayed response, and ignorance to the iceberg? But, does any of this solve the problem?
I listened to people complaining about having to stay home. Could they not see the devastating alternative; images around the world of hospitals in chaos, doctors forced to decide who lives and who dies. Dead bodies in New York, stacked up in 18 wheeler-truck-fridges. A nurse in Italy, calling it the lonely flu; people dying all over the world without any hope for recovery; isolated without their loved ones to hold their hand in their final moment; to be reminded that THEY WERE LOVED! This virus has exposed the weaknesses in our system, our weakness to prepare, our weakness to prevent and to prevail – I think about our response to this virus; our delayed actions, and ignorance; the crack in our health system due to the governments we voted for; or didn’t even bother voting; too busy that day; giving away our greatest power of voice.
I listened to President Trump telling the American people that it was going to go away like a miracle, I heard Boris Johnson claiming that there was no need for restrictions; business as usual; we’d eventually become immune to it; Turkmenistan’s government claiming it doesn’t exist and, making it illegal to utter the word “coronavirus” or you’ll be arrested. The world health organization not only took too long to declare it a Pandemic, but they also informed us that there was no true evidence of human to human transmission, on January 14th – And China kept too quiet about the information that would have saved lives.
But I will not search for more to blame. I closed my door to the fear this virus has been spreading; the kind of fear that makes us weaker. I began to feel the stillness I was forced to bear and noticed the voice inside my head; words not mine, but nevertheless, coming from me; regurgitations of the outside world telling me, all the things I should believe and should be doing and should be wanting. And I stopped! I was not going to waste any more time –
These stay-at-home restrictions haven’t been taking time away from us; they’ve been giving it back to us. Having to live hour-to-hour, I realize that all I have in this world is that hour; that moment to moment that flows through me, and what I choose to do with that moment, determines everything. . . “God give me the wisdom to know the difference.” –
So, I wonder about the universal values of today – how do we make choices; on the basis of what? Yes, 95% of the information out there is a lie, so what is the truth? The truth might be that it will go away and that we will continue our lives regardless of how it has affected each and every one of us. We will gather the data and analyze the outcome – and there will be much talk and more blame but the crime will never be solved; and then soon after, we may forget.
Or we can decide to wrap our arms around the only thing that truly belongs to us – the present moment in time – not the past – not the future – only that precious moment; the one thing no one can take away from us; the most precious commodity we give away, in exchange for a deception; a promise for a “better” future waiting to be obtained. Aren’t the past and the future merely labels to define illusions; an anchor holding us back and, a promise of a holy grail at the end of the tunnel, in exchange for our lives?
Having to give up my freedom for a brief moment in time ended up saving me from an empty life filled with goals but no essence. This stillness made me aware of how numb I had become, and how I completely took my existence for granted; using myself to make ends meet, instead of experiencing life as a means to an end. So do I want to go back to that life, when the restrictions have been lifted; do we go back to the life this virus momentarily took away from us, or, when this is all over, do we make it better?
The Nature of Time by (c) Maria Fokas April 5/2020 (Thankyou Maria)
Artwork – “Ceidefields” by (c) Barrie Maguire, (published with permission of the Artist, Thankyou Barrie)
Maria has also written a poem, which is kind of a “companion” to this writing, you can find it here –
Thanks to Maria Fokas, for this guest blog, which I’m EXTREMELY proud to publish. She’s lovely person and would highly recommend visiting her at her blog.
Hope you are safe and stays that way.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Bernard posted this lovely poem in my comments today. I thought it worth sharing :
Bonjour Ami
J’ai un cœur, tout tendre qui bat
Un petit cœur qui pourtant est grand comme ça
Il y a toujours une place pour une personne
Mon petit cœur est peux-t être fragile
Il m’a dis un jour
Que tu as réussi à trouver le mot de passe pour venir sur mon blog
Que ce code n’était pas très compliqué
Il est fait d’amour et d’amitié , de tendresse et de douceur
Ce n’est pas parce que on ne se voit pas ,que cela n’existe pas
Mon petit cœur te souhaite une bonne journée en ce Vendredi
Un bon week-endPrends soin de toi, Bisous Bernard
Translation into English (Google translate):
Hello friend
I have a tender, beating heart
A little heart that is however big like that
There is always room for one personMy little heart can be fragile
He told me one day
That you managed to find the password to come to my blog
That this code was not very complicated
It is made of love and friendship, tenderness and sweetness
Just because you don’t see yourself doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist
My little heart wishes you a good day on this Friday
A good week-end
Take care of yourself, Kisses Bernard
Thanks Bernard, hope you are safe.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Two great bread recipes from two great bloggers – Pizza bread and Easy french bread Continue reading Bread Recipes
I don’t know why exactly, but I do really love blogging, and even more so creating things. I think art is mean’t to be shared (otherwise what’s the point in doing it ?), and a blog allows that combination of creation and sharing.
I’ve been doing my best to try and warn people about the Coronavirus pandemic as it transpired. And, I don’t make any money from blogging. Today, I feel like I’ve been sitting at my computer for weeks now, and fed up with dealing with stupid people I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.
And, no I probably don’t mean you, I do mostly get many lovely commenters, who are supportive and positive, good well meaning people. No, it’s a tiny minority who are complete assholes. “Haters gonna hate” I think is the collective wisdom on this. And “The biggest fool is the fool that argues with a fool” or there or there about.
A fellow blogger once advised me – “just put them in the spam folder, and you’ll never hear from them again”. Not sure that’s very ethical solution, or recommended, just passing on what he told me.
So today, as I have all the ingredients, I’m baking some bread, which I haven’t done for a while. Not quite sure what kind of bread it will be, I have a selection of flours, and a sourdough culture living in my fridge.
Sometimes I use my breadmaking machine just to make dough, and then cut up into balls, wrap in clingfilm and freeze (like the photo above). Then with pizza sauce and mozzarella, I can make my own pizzas, as and when I want.
As I don’t have an oven, I cook the pizza base, like the “Fry bread” which I watched native Americans make. Basically I roll the Pizza base out into a round shape, leave in the the frying pan (with lid) to rise. Then nuke it on highest setting the hob will do, the steam generated by the lid being on helps to cook the pizza base. You have to be careful, because the time difference between “cooked” and “burnt” is literally around 30 seconds. So timing is everything with that one. Oh, and it does need turning once the bottom is cooked, to cook the top for a short time.
Other times I can let the machine complete it’s cycle and bake a loaf. I pause the cycle after it’s mixed, so I can remove the stirrer from the dough, so loaf doesn’t have a hole in it where the stirrer was, when baked.
Anyway, hope you are safe and it stays that way for you and your loved ones.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Continue reading “Baking Bread And A Break From Sitting At This Computer”
A Canadian friend of mine wasn’t able to watch a video I made on YouTube, I think because of their location. The copyright owner of the music had already taken any money earned (which I don’t care about), but Geo-limiting who can watch is a bit “pisch” as Scots would say, ie “bollocks” as British would say.
A video I tried to share of Italian doctor and nurse describing the heatbreaking situation in Italy, was taken down, I think by YouTube, because it didn’t fit the political narrative of the moderators. These kinds of messages whilst distressing, should be allowed. As far as I know it wasn’t “fake news”, I have seen other meltdowns of medical staff, working long shifts, with their lives in constant danger (Medical staff worldwide are under immense pressure) – this is real life, and IT IS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST that the public know the truth. Not censored by the “wrong think”/”wrong speak” police.
So, I’ve opened a BitChute account, which don’t do this kind of stuff (as far as I know). Kinda like YouTube used to be like for those of us that can remember 10 years back.
I don’t have any videos on my BitChute channel yet, as new channels have to go through some kind of approval system, before I (or you) can upload. It’s said to take 24-72 hours.
The primary purpose of opening the channel on BitChute is free speech. I believe people should be able to say what they want to say. Censoring for partisanship reasons, ie basically totalitarianism – is essentially the highway to hell – some seem to have forgotten lessons we learn’t under totalitarianism despot rule, in the present and not that distant past – Russia, Cambodia, China etc, and currently Venezuela. The death toll is said to be in the 100s of millions, people were murdered and some starved to death. If you need a reminder watch “The Killing Fields” or read George Orwell’s “1984”, and other works. Somewhat ironically, from what I understand Orwell was a leftist.
So, anyway, enough of my ramblings, I’m at :
https://www.bitchute.com/channel/doncharisma/
And I’ve added the link to my small print below, and it will be there going forward.
Provided I do get approved, I’ll do my best to upload videos to both YouTube and BitChute and share both links.
Hope you and loved ones are safe, and stays that way during these awful times.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Just a short blog, saying a massive thanks to “Ursula” at British Airways, for allowing me to change my flight dates, waiving normal change fees, “bending” the rules for me. I think there will only be a small fare change fee, if any. Very polite and helpful on the phone today, and she want the extra mile for me – I’m grateful.
This is the second time (recently) I’ve had helpful customer service from British Airways and they’ve bent over backwards to help me. The other time was during the crew strike last year, and they were able to get me an alternative flight with Qatar airways, and very helpful on the phone.
99% of the time BA have treated me exceptionally well, over the years, and I’m happy to fly with them. I was even once, many many years ago, upgraded (for free) from club to first, by a very kind woman at JFK New York. It’s the first time I’d been in first, and will probably be the last, as no way I can afford to fly first or even club these days.
As a relatively frequent flyer (in economy) – My only (critical) suggestions for BA are :
I make these criticisms with a positive intent, as I think it would improve BA’s service, to a higher standard – these small things make the difference between loyal customers, and customers who eventually will fly with someone else.
Sincerely I wish BA the very best of luck financially, over the coming weeks and months, as this will be a very challenging time for them because of the pandemic. Qatar airways have a 25% shareholding in BA, so might be they may be able to help.
Thank you once again BA, and Ursula who works for BA customer services.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Continue reading “Thank You British Airways (And Some Things I Think They Should Change)”
Best of three movie reviews, I guess – I haven’t yet seen this movie, but it’s probably one of the few movies that came out 2019 that I will actually go out of my way to see. Oh, and “1917”, … Continue reading (NSFW) Joker May Be My Movie Of The Year – The Critical Drinker
This came up next after the previous movie review I posted from The Critical Drinker (the previous movie is so forgettable, I’ve forgotten the name of it already !) I’ve added NSFW, as I know he likes to use profanity … Continue reading (NSFW) The Drinker Recommends… 1917
The Critical Drinker turned up on my feed sometime ago. I find his reviews entertaining, and not pandering to minority political narrative. I seem to remember him saying he’s an bestselling author himself (although I never checked). He also seems to improve the more he drinks.
I’d say his reviews are for grown ups, he does use profanity, so maybe not full volume at work, hence – NSFW
*Yawn* … another female empowerment movie.
Something about going broke ? Dunno can’t quite remember that idiom.
Anyway …
(Nearly 500K views in 3 days, *WOW* not bad for indie media review) :
Continue reading “(NSFW) Birds Of Prey – It’s A Garbage Movie – The Critical Drinker”
UnionHomeStead and I had some chats recently. I visited them on my “day off” and really liked their blog. Sorry I don’t know all your names, and it’s no worries, in these days where privacy is rare 🙂 (Google and FaceBook I’m looking at you)
They are Kiwis from New Zealand, running a smallholding, growing their own food and raising their own animals (and kids and children !). All as ethically as they can.
Some concerns where expressed to me, about being a guest blogged (presumably because of exposure to 39000 followers) – but I promise it’s really nothing to worry about. I’d say 99% of those following are nice people, or at least the ones that I’ve had the privilege to converse with. WordPress.com is much friendlier social network than Twitter etc., kinda why I”m still here.
Hopefully, my guest blogging UnionHomeStead.com will bring them some more followers and friends. They are nice people, feel free to pay them a visit, say I sent you.
Honey for Nothing…
Having been asked to guest by The Charismatic One is both incredibly flattering and hugely terrifying. What to write was the number one concern because here is where we confess to being *whisper* utterly, completely, totally disjointed from the world around us. Well, perhaps that is overstating things a tad. Way back when the Homestead was but a twinkle in two bright-eyed kids visage, we were rather proud of being up with the play and in the know. We had some pretty set ideas on ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ and we weren’t scared to scream ahem…speak them. In fairness, Maggie, Ron et al did give us plenty of fulminating fodder but we fumed with relish; waving our placards from our tiny piece of the planet. That is, right up until the little Homesteaders started along.
Continue reading ““Honey For Nothing” – Guest Blogger – UnionHomeStead.com”
I remember I was quite offended at the time. It was fairly soon after I started my blog in 2014.
Thanks for following my blog. I suppose your blog is an intelligent kind of spam based on the wish of bloggers to let their ego develop on the net.
I have respect for your intelligence and wish you good luck.
(Kind thanks to drwilly of drwillylip.wordpress.com for a most excellent insult)
I came to realise, It’s actually a reasonable comment. A reasonable question to ask oneself. Sometimes criticism may seem harsh, but, it can be some of the best advice one will ever receive.
It’s a question I ask myself when I’m writing or sharing – is what I’m creating enriching people’s experience of life, or am I just creating “Intelligent Spam” ? Am I sharing something people wouldn’t normally see ? Am I distributing information which is interesting ? and so on.
Continue reading “Intelligent Spam, Picking Best Photos And My Social Media Links”
In response to my post about my leaky water filter (which is now fixed) – My friend and fellow blogger – who’s taking a break from blogging, and has been so kind in helping me, in my comments section, left me this comment today :
On a somewhat related note, when we first move into our house we started receiving calls all day from a waterproofing company who just would not take no for an answer. My wife, who worked night shift, got tired of the calls waking her up as she tried to sleep during the daytime.
Next time they called and asked if we had a problem with water leaking in the basement she responded, “Yes, we have a terrible problem. When it rains the water comes in and starts filling up the basement, but before it can get more than two feet deep it starts leaking out. Can they come out immediately and stop it? We just can’t get it deep enough to do any serious swimming.”
They never called back, but for a couple weeks afterwards she got nervous whenever someone came to the house, assured it was going to be the men in white coats coming to take her away.
Author – (c) 2020 The Modern Theologian
As I said they he is taking a break from blogging, so please bear that in mind if visiting his blog (I’ve linked to, because I always cite sources with links if possible).
And, the “And” part :
I’ve been slowly adding the flags of the countries of my commenters on my sidebar (as I’m proud of my own flag, I assume others are too). Just added Spain, Australia, Canada and Denmark. If I missed anyone please leave a comment which flag you want to see and I’ll add it for you.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Continue reading “Leak Humour And Country Flags (Water Filter Is Fixed BTW)”
This guy has been posting some useful information regarding coronavirus – I just posted about UK imposing forced quarantine. The FT article I shared was behind a paywall.
So I picked it up from – http://archive.ph/
He also says that you can get articles from – https://archive.org/web/
As I understand it, I can share the article for “satire or discussion”, and guess what ? My posts have a comments section, ie a discussion, so I can re-post under copyright fair use rules.
Anyway – I’ll let “Styxhexenhammer666” explain more about “archive activism”, in order to hold the fakestream media to account :
Continue reading “Archive Activism! Archive Every “News” Link You Post, Cross Platform”
I was working on my computer last night, and heard a bang from the kitchen. I rushed over to find water spewing everywhere. So I switched off the supply to the under-sink water filter system (the obvious source).
(That’s enough blogging for one day – time for some downtime)
No need to tell me the right answer, I’ve heard it on TV relating to UK 5G deal with Huawei.
But when I first saw the name on a phone in the phone shop … well … I tried to guess :
“Who are we”
“Who a wee”
“Who’re wee”
“Who way”
And then I’m joking with a friend, and I’m like
“Who the hell are we ?”
(It’s funnier if you try to pronounce it in English out loud)
Kind of ironic though, with the controversy surrounding the company, and then the UK government striking a deal with them, whilst the rest of the world don’t want to touch them with a barge pole.
Comments invited 🙂
Cheers
Don Charisma
I was thinking about writing a post about tolerance. I’m a fairly tolerant person. It does seem though that those who demand tolerance from me seem to be the least tolerant of and towards me. That was it basically, so a fairly short blog !
After dealing with a troll issue – I needed a break from blogging today, so I’ve been out visiting all of the blogs who’ve added likes to my posts over the past week or so (thanks to you all). I’ve put some likes on your posts too, to pay it forward, “spread the love” so to speak.
Over the last week or two my blog stats have gone through the roof, and many new followers have added me – great to see as I know I’m sharing often content which doesn’t always fit people’s confirmation bias.
So, Just wanted to say a quick thanks. I try and post what I think is interesting, unusual, new, upcoming and outside establishment. And, when I have the capacity be creative and share new creations.
Continue reading “My Blog Stats Are Taking Off – Thanks To All My New Readers And Followers”
ffmpeg is one of the most powerful video/audio enoding/decoding/etc tools out there. It’s been around for donkey’s years, and used by amateurs and pros alike.
The main downside is that it’s a command line only tool, so if you’re not willing or able to “get your hands dirty” then probably just do a next on this post. If you want to to try it out, there’s plenty of guides accessible via Google et al which will shine a light on the path for you.
ffmpeg is available for Windows, Linux and Mac. ffmpeg has codecs included for just about every photo/audio/video imaginable. As one comment I spotted online eluded – ffmpeg is very very smart, more than people give it credit for.
Continue reading “ffmpeg One Liner – Still Photo + Music File = Video File”
I’ve been using Transferwise for about three years now. I don’t recommend things I’ve never used to others, otherwise I’d have talked about Transferwise on my blog before. I’ve made maybe 70 transfers with them by now, each of which went flawlessly. It’s a service I use regularly, and is convenient and efficient for helping manage my money, and saves me money.
Continue reading “How To Make FREE Money From Transferwise – Risk Free”
Naomi Wu’s channel popped up in my YouTube feed a while back. At the time I was watching a lot of electronic, science, engineering and technical channels, so probably her channel is watched by those with similar interests. I follow … Continue reading Children’s Charity Rejects $3000 Raised By Female STEM YouTuber
(For my Canadian friend et al)
Interesting what the globalist elites have planned for us and how they’ve been going about it :
I’ve found Dr Steve Turley’s presentations quite interesting and informative regarding US & world politics, he’s posting daily on YouTube. I think many people and countries are waking up to the importance of “nationalist populist” as Steve puts it.
Politically, most likely, I’m a centrist. So, if you’re commenting from far-left or far-right, then it’s about the same for me – I don’t subscribe to your ideologies. I find both communism and fascism, abhorrent in about equal measure. I thank whatever gods exist, every day, that I don’t have to live in a place like Nazi-Germany or Communist-Russia.
Thanks to my new followers, again, I don’t where you came from or why, I don’t think I did anything particularly special – but thanks anyway.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Continue reading “Brexit Implications Beyond UK – George Soros’ Communist Master Plan”
Just a quick update, seems like I was wrong about the Brexit bill going back to the House of Lords (maybe it did briefly) – anyway, it’s been given Royal assent (ie signed off), so from what I understand, ball is now in Europe’s court (they’ll agree to it or not, probably they will). Here’s the video clip from the parliament.
Not sure what the SNP MP is banging on about, but mostly I think it’s probably some kind of scheme to delay or scuttle the Brexit bill, like we need that 8 days before we leave, after waiting nearly 4 years since 2016. Presumably the government doesn’t need the approval he’s complaining about anyway, otherwise they’d have got that before Royal assent.
At least that’s my layman’s understanding.
Cheers
Don Charisma
A friend of the blog from Canada, said that they were interested in what’s happening in UK regarding Brexit. When initially searching for news last year (because I was fed up with Google recommending The Guardian and The BBC), I found that it was difficult to obtain the facts. So, have had to hunt around, a hunt which paid off, I’m now able to get up-to-date news, which isn’t propaganda or fake news.
So, I’m sharing this, as it’s current and Jeff Taylor (who’s probably more a centrist than anything else), reports factually (which can easily be confirmed via other reputable sources, like the video feeds from Parliament and House of Lords).
Basically, the UK Brexit withdraw law was passed in the Parliament last year. The House of Lords then have a chance to add amendments – which they did this week. It was then passed back to Parliament, and voted on, and all of their amendments where denied/ voted down.
From what I understand it has to go back to House of Lords again. It’s likely they will this time approve it, and not add any amendments. One of the reasons being is that they’ve made themselves unpopular already in the past and there’s talk of reform of the House of Lords (keeping one’s job springs to mind). Do we really need 800 people being paid at top tier salaries in the House of Lords – isn’t that a bit of a waste of money ?
Then next is that the law needs Royal ascent, which basically mean the Queen signing off on it – which will just happen, basically.
And, then lastly it needs to be approved by the Europe. If they don’t, then it’s a “hard Brexit” on 31-Jan-2020, ie UK leaves without a trade deal, on WTO terms. Which, from what I’ve been hearing may not be a disaster (as the scare mongers have prophesied), might actually be a better outcome for UK. It’s actually my preferred outcome, get this shitshow over and done with, and get on with sorting out UK’s real problems. But – Dunno, not an expert here regarding WTO vs Europe/UK trade agreement, and I don’t know anyone who is either.
If Europe do approve it, then UK still “leaves” Europe on 31-Jan-2020, but then there’s a Brexit implementation period (basically UK and Europe negotiating a trade deal), with final FULL leave date of 31-Dec-2020.
Most likely Europe will begrudgingly approve the law. So most likely UK will “leave” Europe on 31-Jan-2020, into the Brexit implementation period.
Or there, or there abouts, in somewhat layman’s terms. Sorry I’m not a journalist, or news blog, just putting the word out there. More I enjoy creative writing and opinions, than the hard stuff like serious journalism.
Jeff produces videos every day, and if Brexit is of interest to you, then might be worth following his channel.
I don’t know his political leaning intimately, but those that lean to the left, or are pro-Europe, or are a communist, well, he may not fit your confirmation bias. So might not be your cup of tea. Just saying …
Anyway – For me I’m a centrist, so am able to digest traditional real journalism/facts, and Jeff fulfills my inquisitiveness into what’s actually happening in politics in UK, especially regarding Brexit.
So for that, Thanks Jeff, and also Thanks for filling the void made by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, The Guardian, The Independent and the other one, forget the name, sorry about that. Should also say – thanks UK fakestream media for becoming irrelevant, and making space for new entrants, truly in this case it seems that “diversity is our strength” 🙂 Perhaps soon now I can stop paying for (on pain of a criminal record) a BBC service I don’t use, like or want, or think is relevant anymore.
Lastly, thanks to the 1000 or so new followers, over past couple of days – I don’t know where you came from (or why), but a heart felt welcome anyway. I don’t know if I can live up to your expectations, only time will tell that. A lot of the time I do photography, sometimes I write. A lot of the time I don’t blog at all.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Continue reading “Brexit beats the House of Lords – Jeff Taylor”
I Imagine those who would wish to scare us, like to report all of the bad news about what’s happening in UK regarding business and jobs, and etc – this disaster and that problem. Whilst it’s important to let people know about news that may effect them. It’s manipulative just to report on things that have negative impact, especially when there’s a partisan motivation behind it. There’s a name for that “propaganda”, which isn’t journalism, and some of the outlets have upped their game to the next notch of purely producing purely “partisan rhetoric”
For past-me, I just went to the news to find out the facts, keep myself abreast of current affairs. These days mainstream media continuously seems to be trying to brainwash me, in ways I know are fundamentally harmful – divisive, manipulative, exaggerated and often not even factual.
It’s why, these days I look around for my news sources, and have discarded outlets who (perhaps) were once journalist, the likes of The Gaurdian, BBC and CNN, it’s long list. For the time being, real news seems to have scattered and involves a little effort to find, as it’s been obfuscated by those who wish us to be brainwashed. It’s actually quite refreshing, in a way, as I’ve not got access to a wide range of voices and can make up my own mind.
Overall I think there’s a real opportunity out there for new media outlets to become established, and also things like indie-TV and Cinema – Exciting times when mainstream media and Hollywood are rotten to the core, and are no longer serving their intended purposes – massive opportunities there for those who’re riding the next wave.
Anyway, enough of me sounding off – some POSITIVE post-Brexit news – from Reuters :
“A thousand EU financial firms plan to open UK offices after Brexit”
Which I was made aware of by Jeff Taylor :
For those who like summaries, rather than reading and watching :
LONDON (Reuters) – More than a thousand banks, asset managers, payments companies and insurers in the European Union plan to open offices in post-Brexit Britain so they can continue serving UK clients, regulatory consultancy Bovill said on Monday.
This would make sense to me that smart money would have been holding off on investing in UK during times of uncertainty. As Brexit is starting to draw to a close, I hope we’ll see this actually happening and prosperity actually returning to UK.
Even though I was originally pro-remain regarding Brexit, I’m looking into 2020 with optimistic outlook – I think the UK can become great again.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Continue reading “Thousands Of Employers Coming To UK After Brexit”
Free accounts on WordPress.com come with 3GB of storage for media files. Mine was nearly full. I realised that in moving the videos to YouTube, I could reclaim about 2.5GB of space. So, more space to upload my photography going … Continue reading Why I’m Reposting My Old Videos
Don Charisma 