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) :-
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.
Thanks to Maria for sharing this for me to share with you …
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her, you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
– Constantine P. Cavafy (first published, 1911)
– Translated by Edmund Keeley
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
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 –
“No matter what you’re going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel … just keep working toward it and you’ll find the positive side of things.”
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.
“Ceidefields” by (c) Barrie Maguire
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.
Promoting a blog or website is a continuous process, provided that is you actually want people to visit your site. For most individuals/businesses/charities/artists/writers we want people to visit our site, that was the whole point of setting up a website in the first place.
There are many facets and opportunities in promoting, forum SEO just one of many.
Forum SEO has garnered a recently “retired” WordPress.com support volunteer over 8 MILLION hits on their relatively mediocre site. So, it’s a strategy that IS very VERY powerful.
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-end
I have a tender, beating heart
A little heart that is however big like that
There is always room for one person
My 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
YouTube thinks I should be watching a lot of Joe Rogan – so who am I to argue.
This one just out, Dr.Peter Hotez who speaks about Coronavirus. It’s a long watch, but worth the “effort”.
Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics.
Don Charisma 
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