It’s hard to know what the right move is in this post-truth world as we all have our biases and legitimate reasons for thinking the way that we do. I remember around the turn of the millennium thinking that the rise of the internet would herald in an new era of enlightenment where access to information would increase the intelligence of literally everyone. Boy, was I wrong. Turns out the Information Age should have been called the Disinformation Age.

I think the rise of Trump is a reaction to a broken system that has become too corrupt and too big to sustain itself. It might not be all bad in the long term, but right now it feels like the world is falling apart. If you look at all systems (particularly biological) they tend to eventually decentralise to function more effectively. The lungs, liver, heart, kidneys, stomach all function independently from each other yet work together to benefit the whole, trading off excess resources for things that they lack yet need. Evolution created this system from what was a primordial soup of waring organisms, viruses, cells, bacteria, etc. Perhaps humanity is on the cusp of that transition into a more coherent functioning planetary system. Countries should use the resources they have and trade the excess for things that they don’t have but need, much like the organs in the body do. Perhaps America needs to decentralise and has gotten too big to function effectively. I don’t know, but these are the kind of things I think about now and again.

There’s a lot about the way the world works that makes little sense so something has got to change. Take a simple example like prawns caught off the west coast of Scotland. How can it be more efficient to send them to China to get packaged before returning again to be consumed? Utter madness! But that’s the centralised system of exploitation. It’s cheaper, but neither effective nor healthy.

Take the banking crisis where money was thrown at the banks to bail them out. What a dumb idea that achieved absolutely nothing. It was like sticking a band aid on a gunshot wound. It stopped the bleeding for a while, but didn’t fix the problem. Then you look at Iceland who did the complete opposite to everyone else and let their banks fail. The bankers ended up in jail like they rightly should have done and now their economy is booming.

I don’t know where I’m going with all this, I kind of fell down a rabbit hole of hoping that there’s a light at the end of the dark tunnel we all seemingly find ourselves in.

TikTok!? Who gives a shit? How about save Palestine first?

Scotland stayed in the UK because people bought into the fear-mongering being spread by the UK government. There were several fronts the UK targeted us with. Pensions was one (which scared all the old folks), currency was another (even though there was no real reason we couldn’t continue to use the pound). The economy was also targeted under the argument that we were too small a country to sustain ourselves, despite having a similar population size to Norway who survive extremely well as an independent nation. Between oil, tourism, gaming/tech industry, and whisky exports we could have not only survived but thrived. One other argument was that we’d have to reapply for entry into the EU and that staying in the UK guaranteed we’d remain in Europe, only for English voters to vote the UK out of the EU several years later. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU but it didn’t matter as it was a UK wide election, so basically we were told to shut the fuck up and put up. This should have been a significant change in circumstances that would trigger another independence referendum, but such referendums require UK parliament approval and the Tory scum wouldn’t let us hold one. Personally I would have been inclined to declare independence unilaterally, but given how 55% of the population were chicken-shits in 2014, it would be unlikely to happen. There’s also the cultural aspect that stops Scotland becoming independent. A large part of the population are Protestant and have been brainwashed through generations to believe in the laughable antiquated concept of King & Country. Basically Scotland has a long history of being kicked in the teeth by the English ruling class. So much so that many people have absolutely no confidence in self-determination or belief in their own ability to thrive and succeed. If only these people who feel that they need to be looked after would fuck off to the England they love so much, Scotland could move forward into the 21st century as a progressive, forward-thinking nation. Independence supporters always get labelled as rascist and anti-English, but the opposite is the truth. We’re welcoming to everyone who wants to make their home here and contribute to making the country a success - English, African, American, Chinese, whatever.

Aye, people criticise the Scottish government but they have short memories. They forget what it was like before devolution and particularly prior to SNP rule. Labour and the Tories never gave a fuck about Scotland. They still don’t. The only sadness is that we never got full independence. Whilst there is indeed a lot to criticise with the SNP there’s also much that they have given us and making sure rural communities get decent internet access is just one of those things. Hell, my broadband is better up here than it was when I lived in the central belt. The National Health Service works better up here too, and free health with free prescriptions has got to be a good thing. Down in England they still have to pay for prescriptions. Honestly, I don’t understand why 55% voted to stay in the UK back in 2014. I guess it’s like people voting Trump - there’s just a lot of fucking dummies out there.

Weather’s shit a lot of the time here in Scotland.

Recently Highland & Lothian Broadband rolled out full fibre here in the Northern Highlands - the installation of which was government funded. I’m pretty rural so I grabbed the basic package at £35 per month (about $45) and it’s more than enough for my needs. However the top package 2000Mbps (up & down) will set you back £54.99 per month (approx’ $71), although that’s an introductory offer and goes up to £89.99 (approx’ $116) after 24 months. I can’t fault the service. No caps, no limits, router is modern with WiFi 6 although I ethernet most things using my old router as a switch. I also don’t seem to be blocked from any websites. My previous provider, BT Broadband, blocked me from The Pirate Bay requiring me to use a VPN. Not so with Highland Broadband. Straight in, no problems.

In all honesty and without any sarcasm that was obviously present in my previous comment, looking in at the US as an outsider, I don’t hold out much hope for America. It’s not just Team Trump, it’s the whole system. The previous lot weren’t much better (and often sometimes worse). Everything seems extremely polarised which will never pan out well. Big corporations seem to control everything (from internet and food to finance and pharma), there’s no free health care (a human right considered by many countries but viewed as communism by America). I could go on and on, but I would only sound unnecessarily negative. A good idea would be to get out and get off an obvious sinking ship. This is probably easier said than done, but there’s always a way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect elsewhere, but I think once the US collapses it’ll be a wake-up call for a lot of countries who will also have to adjust having relied so heavily on America through trade as well as culturally. If too big to fail was a real thing, then we wouldn’t have history books full of empires collapsing. With all sincerity, good luck.

Unlimited full fibre here in the rural nothern Highlands of Scotland for £35 per month.

Your internet seems similar to your politicians: useless and expensive.

I find the UI pretty slick. No confusion over what needs to be done. All the tools are there plus I had to rely on it recently to get one of my machines back up and running. It worked flawlessly and restored everything from the backup images like my system had never been down.

Well, looks like it’s not safe for them to play against European teams now too. What a shame.

Try Foxclone. I prefer it over Clonezilla.

https://foxclone.org/

And why the fuck are they in the Europa league? Last I checked Israel was nowhere near Europe. Aren’t they Semitic and from the Middle East? At least they love to use that definition when they shout “antisemitism” at anyone who criticises them. And why are they in the European Song Contest? Anyway, no sympathy. They clearly like violence so let them have it.

The extension is called Firefox.

Weird looking bastard, isn’t he?

I’ve been thinking about doing just that for my next phone.

AI this and AI that. Yawn! All of it is a crock of over-hyped shit.

Correct. I’ve disabled and replaced every Google app on my phone with a free open souce version. Now what I need to do is figure out how to shutdown and replace Google Play Services which screams at me every time it’s disabled. Bloody thing updates weekly without the slightest change log. Fuck knows what it’s doing.

What? Israel’s using Microsoft “technology” in its military? Hah! They are definately fucked then.

Then we’ll have to agree to disagree. Religious belief has been dominant throughout human history, so has killing each other. It’s more to do with human behaviour and religion is simply a reflection of human behaviour. Class systems are also a reflection of human behaviour and religion was/is invented by ruling classes as a form of control. The stories in religious texts are merely a mythology to administer that control.

Without Judaism there would be no Zionism. If I look at the Old Testament and see it as a genocidal and elitist mythology, what chance to believers have when they adopt it as an ideology? I guess it’s fortunate that some don’t take the Torah literally. I’m only approaching it from a non-materialist perspective because I am a non-materialst.

What Adam Smith has to do with iPhones and Ancient Eygpt is a mystery to me. But we could argue here indefinately and get nowhere. Perhaps Xitter would be a more appropriate place for you to practice your contrarianism?

I think it’s possibly more of a feedback loop. Beliefs through interpretation can empower people to behave appallingly. The more they act on their beliefs the more they adjust their interpretation to justify their behaviour. Whilst I agree that not all Jews support the attrocities of Israel, I think it’d be interesting to get a percentage breakdown of just how many globally do. If the percentage is high, then you can safely assume that there’s a fundamental flaw in the belief system. Let me be clear, I am no racist. I consider every human being equal. I just object to the term antisemitic being used when Judaism is not a race but a belief system. I think there is a reluctance to criticise Judaism out of fear of being labelled antisemitic. This is a term that gets brandished about too often and fuels Israel’s abhorrent behaviour. You don’t get the same reaction if you criticise other religious ideologies, however Judaism seems to be off the cards, mainly due to the Holocaust but mostly because it’s been weaponised by Zionists to counteract criticism. People are complex and beliefs are dangerous since they stifle critical thinking. Just to be clear, I’m no atheist either as that is also a faith based ideology. The correct stance, in my own opinion, is to be honest and humble enough to admit we know very little about the nature of reality and existence and reject absolutism wherever it rears it’s ugly head.