Daily Archives: April 11, 2020

The boiler in the attic was wheezing, rumbling and grumbling, reminding me of a gentleman of the road who used to shuffle into the public library to read the papers - and enjoy a cigarette with his tea, brewed by the staff to the brown of an old penny.

His paper of choice was the Daily Worker. I wondered then if he saw some irony in the title, as he sat there in greatcoat, his fragrance an acquired taste. Sometimes. Id offer him a Fishermans Friend lozenge in the vain hope it would clear the phlegm in his chest.

But back to our bothersome boiler. The waters running cold, shrilled my wife as her lead foot descended into the baths scented bubbles.

Were in the midst of a global pandemic, I snapped.. There are rumours of Russian ships in our territorial waters. Stock markets are nose-diving. We should prioritise our worries.

For example, Ive lost my glasses. Do you know where I put them?

Indeed, Im always losing things these days, as has become more obvious during this period of self-isolation, when your pensioner has been less able to perambulate in our crusty old pie of a town.

But Im thinking of things long lost, rather than merely mislaid. And maybe this is the time for finding them. On a rummage though our book shelves I came across Billy Wrights 1960 Book of Soccer. I had not dipped into it for half a century or more.

Inside were lengthy articles, reflecting huge changes in our society, Burnley were the First Division champions. Local players, past and present, were featured, including Evertons Birkenhead-born Bill Dixie Dean, described as having been broad of shoulder, quick off the mark and a born opportunist, whose speciality was an ability to direct a football in almost any direction with a neat flick of his curly head.

There were photos of Liverpools Billy Liddell and Evertons Dave Hickson. Of course, Dean and Hickson both played for Tranmere Rovers at different stages of their careers.

Like old magazines and newspapers, even the Kremlin-backed Daily Worker, such books offer lessons in popular history. Articles carried the by-lines of writers whod otherwise be forgotten. They gave us a picture of their times.

Now Im adjusting the flow of the bath tap until its hot, while wondering where I put my Billy the Kid, Dandy and Eagle annuals. It would be good to see them again.

Life is strange.

Read more:

David Charters: Grumbling oil boiler offers thoughts of immortality - Liverpool Echo

In March of 1898, Mark Twain published his essay, Concerning the Jews, in Harpers Magazine, which concluded with the following:

He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.

The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1898twain-jews.asp

My answer to Mark Twain, at least in part, is the message of hope that exists within the pages of the Tanakh. It was hope that got them through Egyptian enslavement and hope that got them through Roman persecution. For every horror Jewish eyes have witnessed since their birth, hope remained and remains to this day.

God has seen His people through far darker times than these and those who suffered under the worst of mans inhumanity to man continued to have hope that God would see them through. They fought to survive and did not give up hope. National Socialism murdered 2/3 of the European Jewish population, but many were liberated from camps. Had they not had hope that God would see them through, they would have given in to the starvation and allowed themselves to die.

Hitlers thousand-year Reich lasted 12 years. In a little over a month, Israel will celebrate her 72nd year. Despite the continued obstacles in her path, she has started to shoot for the moon. To look at the stars with wonder requires hope to reach them one day and the moon is the first step.

For anyone losing hope, turn away from the words of man and study the words of God. Do not give in to fear, for God is with you. Remember Gods covenant is without end and rejoice in knowing He will not abandon you. All you have to do is look up and see His glory in the heavens and know you are His chosen to be a light unto all nations.

Do not fear the blindness of the future, for God will be your guide, as he always has been. Do not give in to the darkness, for God is the light that shines brightly in your souls. Do not give in to despair, for you are loved by God and you matter to God.

To be a light unto nations is not a matter of doing so only in the brightest of times, but in the darkest of times as well. Reach out to your family, friends and neighbors for many need the light you can bring to their lives. Help to lift them out of the darkness of the despair many are feeling right now and remind them that God has not abandoned them and never will.

It is believed that the number of suicides will double before the light of day can be seen through clear eyes. The Talmud tells us that to save one life is to save the world. Imagine reaching just one of those who are on the edge of the abyss and guiding them back to the light of God.

Bob Ryan is a science-fiction author and believes the key to understanding the future is to understand the past. As any writer can attest, he spends a great deal of time researching numerous subjects. He is someone who seeks to strip away emotion in search of reason, since emotion clouds judgement.Bob is an American with an MBA in Business Administration. He is a gentile who supports Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.

See the original post here:

Hope Is an Important Part of Judaism | Bob Ryan - The Times of Israel

A teenage boy who was obsessed with vampires killed an elderly woman, 90, ripped her heart out and drank her blood.

Channel 5's new documentary series 'The Kids Who Kill' looks at the case of Matthew Hardman who had committed one of the most gruesome murders in the UK's legal history in 2001. Hardman was 17 at the time he murdered Mabel Leyshon as he believed he would become immortal.

The documentary looks at the brutality of Hardman's crimes against the pensioner.

The sickening murder took place on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. The crime came as a huge shock to those who knew the boy and describe him as 'remarkably normal'. Hardman was a paperboy and Leyshon knew him. He broke into the elderly woman's home while she was watching tv.

He stabbed Leyshon around 22 times and cut open her chest to remove her heart and drank blood from it.

He then laid down two pokers in a cross shape by her feet. Her body was found two days later.

Hardman had earlier been an art student and had also attacked a German exchange student after she refused to bite him on the neck to make him immortal. The twisted teen had also told the authorities that old people were the kind to have their blood drunk by vampires.

It came to be known that Harman had been smoking cannabis and had been searching through the internet for "vampires, gothic flesh-eating and other macabre things." According to detective Sgt. Lestyn Davies, Hardman had "this deep-rooted insanity".

"He believed if he murdered this old lady of 90, disemboweled her, ripped her heart out and drank her blood, he would be a vampire forever," he shared. "Now, to believe that is insane. He was one of the most violent evil offenders that I have dealt with."

"If he had got away with it, if we had not discovered him, he could have gone on and committed further horrendous crimes," detective Supt Jones revealed. People who knew him had begun to see a change in him. He had developed a fixation on vampires and had started to believe that they may actually exist in reality.

During his trial, the prosecution barrister explained that Hardman "believed they existed, believed they drank human blood and believed most importantly that they could achieve immortality." There was overwhelming evidence that Hardman had committed the crime.

He had left a lot of DNA trail on the scene and had also stored the murder weapon with traces of Leyshon's blood in his bedroom. He was convicted and sentenced to prison for life at the Mold Crown Couty in 2002. At the sentencing, Judge Richards had shared there was enough evidence to indicate that Hardman believed that he could achieve immortality by killing Leyshon and drinking her blood.

Justice Richards said, "You have been convicted by the jury on the strength of the most compelling evidence. The horrific nature of this murder was plain to all. It was a vicious and sustained attack on a vulnerable old lady in her own home, aggravated by the mutilation of her body after she had been killed."

"It was planned and carefully calculated. You hoped for immortality but all you have achieved is the brutal ending of another person's life and the bringing of a life sentence upon yourself," Daily Mail reports.

More:

Teen paperboy with vampire obsession ripped elderly woman's heart out and drank her blood to be immortal - MEAWW

These holidays many of us planned to go on a trip and thus escape a few days from the city. Today we propose to you to leave home and take this trip. In fact, not only leaving the city, but the country, the planet and even our solar system. Choose your destination: paradisiacal beaches with double sunsets, infinite mountains or lush jungle forests. It is a journey with the imagination, so they can dream at will.

The idea of leaving our planet, however, is not just an exercise in imagination. The European Space Agency (ESA), for example, has created a consortium of companies, including that of the British Norman Foster, to study the feasibility of building cities on the Moon and on Mars using 3D printers. However, these projects are only the beginning. Ultimately, the survival of the human species will depend on the ability to travel far beyond Mars, outside of the solar system. Not only because of the limited life of the Sun, but because of many other dangers that lurk in our galaxy.

Outside the solar system, the closest destination we can dream of is the planet Proxima b, discovered in 2016 by the team of the Spanish Guillem Anglada-Escud. Despite being the closest, the distance to this planet is about 40,000,000,000,000 km, so using rocket boosters it would take us about 75,000 years to arrive. However, the technology to create rockets approaching the speed of light (maximum limit achievable according to the laws of physics) is ceasing to be science fiction and within a century it is possible that we can reach these destinations in a while. more reasonable (we will talk about this another week).

Today, however, we are going to be even more ambitious. We are not going to think that we can do it in hundreds, but in thousands or millions of years and we are going to escape, not from our solar system, but from our galaxy. Imagination is not confined by anyone. Millions of years from now we will be bordering on immortality, we will be able to withstand radiation from outer space and travel at speeds close to the speed of light. Are there any limits to our exploration of the Universe? The answer is yes.

Galaxies, like humans, are gregarious and very rarely alone. Our Milky Way, along with the Andromeda galaxy and a few dozen smaller galaxies, is part of a group of galaxies that we call the Local Group. The Local Group is about 10 million light years in size, which, although it may seem very large (it certainly is), represents only 0.00000000001% of the universe that we can currently observe. The Local Group is one of the hundreds of groups that are part of the Laniakea supercluster (huge sky in Hawaiian) which, in turn, is one of the millions of observable superclusters. Well, as much as technology advances, if our model of the Universe does not prove to be wrong, this is our limit. We can never leave the Local Group. Billions of years from now we will remain confined. The culprit in this case is also invisible, but at least it has a more suggestive name, dark energy.

Millions of years from now we will be bordering on immortality, we will be able to withstand radiation from outer space and travel at speeds close to the speed of light. Are there any limits to our exploration of the Universe? The answer is yes.

The closest group of galaxies to us is already millions of light years away. However, like the other groups in the Universe, it is moving away from us and, due to dark energy, it is doing it faster and faster. In a few billion years, these groups will be moving away at speeds that we will hardly be able to reach with our ships, so however much we head towards them, we will never be able to get close. The Local group, however, will remain united thanks to gravity. In fact, it will become more and more united to the point that all the galaxies will merge into one, the Lactomeda galaxy.

The inhabitants of Lactomeda, many of whom will be human beings but will no longer live on Earth, will be free of epidemics and will live much longer than we do. However, they will have a lot to envy us. In Lactomeda no new stars will form anymore, so they will not be able to contemplate the beautiful shapes and colors of the regions where this occurs. Nor will they have the opportunity to know the details of the Big Bang, since the radiation that has allowed us to study the first moments of the Universe will not be visible to them. They will also not be able to observe the first galaxies formed or quasars, so they will not be able to learn about the expansion of the Universe. In fact, even the light coming from the closest galaxies will become weaker and weaker and there will come a time when these humans only see a single galaxy, theirs. They will think that the Universe is static and eternal, thus returning to the first visions of the Aristotelian universe.

Despite galactic confinement, dont be overwhelmed. The Local Group is very large and we have not yet been able to leave the solar system. Furthermore, we still have billions of stars to explore in the Milky Way. It is important to remember, however, how immensely fortunate we are to be living at the right time to be able to see, not only our future, but also our most distant past. From our little corner of the Universe we can observe all its grandeur and extreme beauty, even without leaving home.

Patricia Snchez Blzquez She is a full professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).

Pablo G. Prez Gonzlez He is a researcher at the Astrobiology Center, dependent on the Higher Council for Scientific Research and the National Institute of Aerospace Technique (CAB / CSIC-INTA).

Cosmic Void It is a section in which our knowledge of the universe is presented in a qualitative and quantitative way. It is intended to explain the importance of understanding the cosmos not only from the scientific point of view but also philosophical, social and economic. The name cosmic vacuum refers to the fact that the universe is and is, for the most part, empty, with less than 1 atom per cubic meter, despite the fact that, paradoxically, there are quintillions of atoms per meter in our environment cubic, which invites reflection on our existence and the presence of life in the universe.

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Read more:

Lactomeda: the future of humanity | Science - The Union Journal

Tell me if youve heard this one: All-American, Super Blonde decides to take down an organization that seems good, but is actually evil because theyre using an algorithm to control history and also murdering people. Cant tell if Im talking about Captain America: The Winter Soldier or Westworld season three? My point is made.

Weve embarked on a slow Marvel re-watch in our house as part of our quarantine entertainment, and when we hit Winter Soldier and Nick Fury started talking about project Insight as a program that was meant to take out threats and predict danger before it even happened, I balked a bit.

The main threat in Westworld season three is an AI called Rehoboam, a system that uses every bit of data on humans and behavior to predict and control all world events and basically circumvent human free will. Oh, and its run by a company called Incite. Really? Thats apparently the only name for an all-seeing AI, I guess. no matter how you spell it.

But thats not the only similarity. Not just season three, but all of Westworld is about the attempts by humans to not just create artificial consciousness but to achieve immortality by digitally copying their minds. And thats also a key plot point ofWinter Soldier. The architect of the parasitic Hydra influence inside of SHEILD is Arnim Zola whose consciousness is copied to a computer in pretty much a preview of Westworld.

Steve Rogers and Dolores Abernathy can also be seen as similar, though its more of a stretch. They were both created as a version of an American ideal. Theyre used and exploited by powerful but corrupt interestsDelos and the American Military/SHIELDand they end up taking those organizations down, or at least starting too.

Now, obviously there are differences. Theres a lot less nudity in The Winter Soldier than in Westworld, sadly. And the Steve Rogers doesnt make copies of himself to infiltrate his enemies, but both Dolores and Steve do hook up with a well-meaning, ex-military guy who helps him out. And both do eventually hang out with Tessa Thompson.

I dont think these echoes are intentional, to be clear. I think that the idea of algorithms and AI controlling our lives is a real anxiety of our age, as if the distrust of corporations and governments. Its not surprising at all that two influential series both tackled this issue, though it is interesting that their evil AI/corporations had basically the same name.

I also dont think they two will end similarly. Westworld is too dark and messy of a show to end with the simple destruction of Rehoboam (my current theory is that Maeve will somehow communicate with the system and then take over). But its always worth considering how much we trust technology that could so easily control or destroy us.

(images: Disney/Marvel and HBO)

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Read more from the original source:

Westworld Season 3 Has Almost the Same Plot as Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Mary Sue

Billy Bob Thornton, Dennis Quaid, Jason Patric and Patrick Wilson star in director John Lee Hancock's 2004 historical drama.

Editor's Note:Throughout March and April, were celebrating Great Westerns of the 21stCentury noteworthy movies and TV series with special appeal toC&Ireaders that have premiered since 2001. Check theEntertainment tabMonday through Friday to see a different recommendation byC&Isenior writer Joe Leydon. And be on the lookout for our upcoming May/June 2020 print edition, which prominently features the legendary star who looms large in two of this centurys very best westerns.

For some movie fans, John Waynes 1960 version of The Alamo will always be the final word on the subject. But the 2004 version directed by Texas native John Lee Hancock (The Rookie, The Highwaymen) stands on its own merits as a respectfully revisionist take on the same historical events and characters.

To his credit, Hancock strives for a dramatically sound balance of fact and fancy, men and myth, while detailing the most significant clash of 19th-century Texas Revolution. The blood-and-thunder battle scenes are vividly rendered and viscerally exciting, while the Mexican and Texian combatants including a ruthless but not-entirely-unsympathetic Gen. Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna (Emilio Echevarria) -- are depicted in a surprisingly even-handed, warts-and-all manner.

Hancocks Alamo is especially compelling whenever it focuses on Billy Bob Thornton, who more or less dominates the movie with his cunning portrayal of a ruefully self-aware Davy Crockett. As the wily frontiersman turned living legend, Thornton suggests a 19th-century version of an aging action-movie star, a celebrity who enjoys the adulation of his fans even while he wearily shoulders the burden of their unrealistic expectations. His Davy Crockett who would really, really rather be addressed as David winds up pushing himself to greatness during the defense of the Alamo against Mexican forces largely because he knows he cant disappoint those who expect greatness of him. A nice touch: At the moment of his death, he appears greatly bemused by the realization that the way he dies will ensure his immortality.

But wait, theres more: Jason Patric plays knife-fighter Jim Bowie as a larger-than-life hero whos similarly ambivalent about his fame. Patrick Wilson is William Travis, the untested commander who demonstrates grace under pressure while leading the doomed heroes at the Alamo. And Houston-born Dennis Quaid rises to the occasion as Sam Houston, whose decisive routing of Santa Annas forces at the Battle of San Jacinto allows the filmmakers to end The Alamo on a relatively upbeat note.

Back in 2004, Billy Bob Thornton spoke with C&I about playing Davy Crockett in The Alamo. Here are some highlights from our conversation.

Cowboys & Indians: When you said you were playing Davy Crockett in The Alamo, how did your friends react? Did they ask when you were getting fitted for the coonskin cap?

Billy Bob Thornton: [Laughs] Definitely. Either that or, You get to wear the hat and everything, right? And I had to tell them, Well, not really

C&I: It must be hard to overcome misconceptions about a real-life person who has become a bigger-than-life myth.

Billy Bob: It is difficult to portray a character whos been looked at more as a guy youd see in a cartoon book. But I had to play him as a real guy. I couldnt come into this movie and play him like a cartoon. Its like Jason Patric: He couldnt come in and just play Jim Bowie as this guy whos always tossing a knife. People have this idea of Davy! Davy Crockett! King of the Wild Frontier! Whereas in actuality, this guy was a congressman and he had political ambitions. A lot of the stories about him were certainly embellished. He wasnt strictly a woodsman. He was smart guy, he had a lot going on.

C&I: True enough. But, then again, many folks prefer fanciful legends to factual accounts.

Billy Bob: Yeah, some folks look at Davy Crockett like hes Paul Bunyan or something. As a matter of fact, I wouldnt be surprised if there are young people today who think Davy Crockett was a fictional character. That whole coonskin cap thing that actually came from a popular play that was written about Crockett, with an actor done up in all this frontier garb. Crockett himself might have worn a coonskin cap every now and then, when he was holding court or something, to sort of live up to the legend. But its like John Lee Hancock said, Crockett was kind of a rock star in his time.

C&I: How so?

Billy Bob: He was legendary already in his own lifetime. If you met Davy Crockett someplace or David Crockett, as he preferred it would be like meeting Bob Dylan or somebody like that. He had that kind of stature.

C&I: When youre portraying a real-life figure like Davy Crockett, do you feel any responsibility to the character youre playing?

Billy Bob: I feel a huge responsibility to do him justice. In a lot of ways, I feel like Ive channeled this character. You know, when you start playing somebody real, you start learning about them. You look at their face all the time, and you see your own face starting to look like them. It affects you. In fact, I actually did say to myself sometimes, Im going to do this good for you. Because you do start to feel like theres a ghost on your shoulder all the time, watching you.

C&I: So it wasnt hard to get into a mid-19th century mindset?

Billy Bob: Well, for an actor, one real simple way to do that is just go on the set. When you go out there and you see the reconstruction of the Alamo, and you see everybody dressed in period costumes, and theres nothing but horses and wagons and campfires it kind of just puts you there. Also, you have to remember: I grew up in Arkansas. And spending time at my grandmothers place, I felt like I was living in a period movie half the time anyway.

The Alamois available on You Tube, Amazon Prime, iTunes and other platforms.

Read the rest here:

21st Century Westerns: The Alamo - Cowboys and Indians