Some thoughts

A momentous week for me, started my new job and completed my remortgage on Wednesday, and I found a room I liked on Friday, so will be moving to London in three weeks. Until then I'll be commuting for 2-3 hours every day, which will be very tiring so might not be posting much. For now, here's this week's link roundup. The teaching of Critical Race Theory is America's new battleground A guide to conservative commentators Want to Save America? Don't Act Like a Conservative The American descent into madness The 'Silent Majority' Is Rapidly Becoming the 'Angry Majority' Institutional amnesia The surprising legacy of the neocons 10 Reasons to Question the Election Despite Tuesday’s flight, Jeff Bezos is running out of time to save Blue Origin How Science Lost the Public’s Trust The End of "Cancel Culture"? Humour: THE WEEK IN PICTURES: BLOWOUT EDITION Videos: The Left are Sure They’ll Win and finally, They Wrecked Doctor Who

Went well, tiring though. Not helped by having to get up at the crack of dawn to drive there. Took an hour going but an hour and a half coming back. Most of the day was spent being shown stuff and going through my predecessors emails and clearing out. Had a wander around the local ara at lunchtime. Also today the remortgage of my house was completed, so it's now officially on a buy to let one rather than permission to lease. Tomorrow I am viewing some more rooms that I might move to, can't do these drives long term!

 Managed to watch the Livestream at work today: Personally, if I had the money I'd rather go on a New Shephard flight than SpaceShip Two, if only so you don't have quibbles as to whether you were actually in space or now. Popular Mechanics has a good summary of the event while Glenn Reynolds expands on its significance.

 ..hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of the madness. It's truly depressing how many people are still cowering in fear and want to carry on with this forever. Today's Lotus Eaters podcast had a good segment on this: Anyway, Happy Freedom Day!

This article-  Tokyo’s doomed Olympics could be the worst yet - reminded me of one time when I walked past one of the construction sites that had hoardings decorated with scenes from the manga Akira. That also takes place in the buildup to an Olympics in 2020, which I thought was tempting fate a bit. Sure enough, as we know 2020 turned out horribly, but at least we didn't have espers running amok. Personally, I've never been a fan of the Olympics (or sports in general), despite working in the city at the time I ignored the 2012 games in London as much as possible. I've seen how the Sydney and Beijing stadiums ended up being underused, and the sheer costs involved, corruption and waste make me feel I wouldn't mind much if this one ends up being a damp squib. As the above article notes, 'Eleven countries bid for 2020; only five did so for 2024 – and three of those pulled out after public outcries. There was only one candidate for 2028' , so maybe politicians are w

 Last week ended up being typically busy.  Wednesday morning I went to view some rooms for rent in London. The first was OK but more expensive than I'd have liked. The second had a live-in landlady who was a hardcore anti-vaxxer, and the room was a bit small and full of her books. The third was in a grotty-looking estate and all the bedrooms were locked so I couldn't see them, while the final one was ok but above a curry house.  After reviewing these options I've decided to look further out, that way I can (hopefully) get something nicer, bigger, or cheaper. Plus my new work has sorted me a parking permit so I can drive in for now, so I might as well make the most of it for the next year at least. Wednesday evening I went to visit some friends who had a baby last year that I'd not seen yet, we got a Chinese takeaway and watched a movie. Also last week I got the official results for my course, an overall grade of 64.5% and a merit. Was quite pleased with this although I&

Am going out in a bit so a very short intro this week. Here are the recommended readings for the past 7 days. Knees-up Ignoring race won’t help anything Richard Branson is the Thomas Cook of space travel  Releated,  What Does Branson's Flight Mean? England whose England? The Left is curiously silent on Cuba Every sport is male sport Joe Biden is a tired product of politics How patriotism came home Can Britain survive the woke wave? Bookshops as Political Barometers   The Rise of Veganism and Watermelon Politics The future of the United Kingdom and the Northern Ireland protocol The Runnymede Trust's deeply flawed race report President Kamala would destroy America Can Science Cure Death? It Sure Looks Like It. Brexit has freed the EU How Christianity kills itself Simply cutting Foreign Aid does not go far enough David Skelton on ‘The New Snobbery’ US Navy too focused on Wokeness, not warfare Author of the Mega-Viral Thread on MAGA Voters, Darryl Cooper, Explains His Thinking Vide

 I just realised that it is just over 10 years now since The Idolmaster tv-series aired. (Where does the time go?). This was one of the series (along with K-ON!) that got me interested in Japanese music, and would eventually lead to me living there for two years. One of the few  Japanese CD's in my collection is a copy of Masterpiece  that I bought from Yokohama Animate on my second visit there in 2014. Sadly by the time I moved there the original generation had pretty much stopped doing live shows (and I never really got into the follow on Cinderalla Girls) so I never went to one while I lived there. So for this week, here's my favorite performance from the series, Rest@rt! And from the movie, Go My Way!

On reading this story-   South Africa is on the brink , I have to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for SA. It seems the ANC is determined to emulate Zimbabwe and ruin the country in pursuit of racial politics and wealth 'redistribution. This led me to wonder whether the country could break up, with a region becoming a homeland for the Afrikaans (who we mustn't forget have lived there longer than most o the black population) On doing a bit of research I was surprised to see there is talk of this, with a Western Cape independence movement mushrooming over the past few years This article-  Should the Western Cape become independent? - sets out the position and polls showing growing support for the idea. Additionally this article-  Can anyone prove the Western Cape is not better off alone? - discusses the economics of it. and this paper sets out The Road to Independence . Finally, here is a nice video summary: One thought I had was whether an independent Cape would become

One of the key aspects of our criminal justice system is the idea that once you've served your punishment, you have paid your debt to society. It is true that there are still consequences, it is harder for ex-prisoners to get jobs and sex offenders (rightly) have prescriptions to prevent them from reoffending. However, they are still accorded the full range of rights and legal protections that everyone else has. This is why I found comments like  this  so disturbing. To summarise, this supposed conservative host is arguing that racists should be stripped of all rights, "No bank account, no ability to travel, no passport no benefits nothing." Wow. Considering that we don't do this for murderers, rapists or pedophiles is he suggesting that making racist comments is worse than these crimes? What having and voicing unacceptable views means you should have your life destroyed and end up on the street? Plus of course, the big question is who decides where the line is drawn?

Given the ability to do so, the socialist would tell us what time to get up in the morning, what to eat for breakfast, what time to travel into work, what work we should do, what time we should have our lunch hour, what lunch we should eat, when we should go home, how many children we should have as they do in China. You know, this is what socialists believe in, they believe in collective control. The conservative doesn’t, the conservative believes you can work out for yourself whether you should travel on a bicycle or in a car. You should decide for yourself whether to have Weetabix or in my case just a cup of black coffee or whether you prefer to have a fry up, a deep fried Mars bar for your breakfast, whatever it is, we believe in individual liberty, individual responsibility and we recognise that people make better decisions for themselves than the government can make for them. And that’s the key: the collective is in fact best served by thousands, millions of individual decisions

 As I'd previously mentioned, it was my brother's stag do this weekend just gone. I've been busy planning this with the other best man for the past few months, it was postponed once due to Covid and numerous guests dropped out for various reasons. In the end though it all turned out fine and he had a great time. I picked him up Friday afternoon and drove to the south coast city we'd chosen. Was a minor incident on the way down; I got a stone chip on my windscreen. A chunk of glass a quarter-inch square flew out of the bottom of the screen and 3 inch long cracks formed. Thankfully the chip didn't go all the way through the glass so it's still drivable. I couldn't get an appointment to get it replaced down there so it'll be fixed this weekend coming up. On arriving at the hotel we up met the rest of the group and went out for the evening. I'd booked a German-style beerhall that had 2-pint steins and a yardlong hotdog challenge, with we got the stag. Th

As expected after Branson's flight yesterday, a lot of articles like this:   The Joyride Era of Space Travel Is Here . What I dislike about the tone of these pieces is the hostility to people spending their money how they want, plus the ignorance of how these pioneers lower the costs for the masses as has happened with all technology (wealth may not trickle down but technology definitely does.  As a counterpoint article like this are much better IMO:  Branson vs Bezos: in praise of the billionaire space race

A short list this week as I've been away on my brother's stag do, found a new job, and finishing my course. Branson flies to edge of space on SpaceShipTwo Democrats Are Quietly Admitting That Going 'Woke' Was a Very Bad Idea Plans for London’s first new shipyard in a century Chairman Xi and the communist party's delusional centenary The queering of The Lord of the Rings How the Democrats fell for Mussolini Why has the NHS been awarded the George Cross? Immigration is no longer untouchable as an area of policy reform Canadian statues matter Cummings reveals the unionist heart of darkness

 This story struck me for a number of reasons-  Police search for British woman, 28, who vanished four days ago in Japan . For starters she lives in Yokohama, furthermore she works for the same company I used to. Hope she turns up safe and sound, however this isn't the first time an English teacher has disappeared in Kanagawa. There seems to be something about that prefecture, not long after I moved there a man was found to be keeping a dead body in his freezer (in the next town over from where I lived), and a few months before I left a woman was stabbed in the street near my local station! It was most bizarre seeing helicopter footage of my area on the TV. Updated 12/07/21: Saw today she was found dead . RIP

 After over a year of searching, I finally have a new job!  It was all a bit of a rush, I got invited to interview yesterday, had it this morning and offered the position tonight. Am not going to divulge too much here, just that its a non teaching role at a school in south London (so I'll be looking to move up town). Going in again tomorrow morning to sort out contracts and confirm a start date. Exciting times ahead!

Britain threw away the wealth of generations in two world wars with a great depression in between. Post World War Two America – seizing the chance to finish off the British Empire – turned off the financial tap to us even as it poured money into western Europe to rebuild it and prevent an outbreak of communism. The terms on which we joined the EU withered many of our industries for over 40 years. Meanwhile the Third World gained our technological know-how and exploited it with desperate urgency as only the poor can – one company I used to advise specialised in exporting large machine tools from our closing factories. Is it a surprise that money-making seems to centre around housebuilding these days, rather than industry? It is as though Stone Age men could eschew hunting in favour of selling each other caves. Where the hell will our money come from?

Lately there hasn't been much in the way of films or TV series that I've been looking forward to, until now. First up: Star Wars Visions: The concept is reminiscent of the Animatrix, which was one of the first DVDs I ever bought (!) Given the studio's involved this hopefully won't be full of the woke nonsense that derailed the live-action films. Second, it seems Amazon will be releasing the final Rebuild of Evangelion film, Evangelion 3.0+1.01: I was hoping that this would come out while I was in Asia but it wasn't to be. Hard to believe it's been 14 years now since the first of these films came out!  

6-month anniversary edition! Another busy week, had to do my final take-home exam by Wednesday, then was sorting out stuff for my brother's stag do (which is next weekend), as well as a load more job applications (2 more interviews next week). This week's roundup is therefore lighter on commentary, as I have my final lecture next week I'll have more free time after the stag do. The myth of the stolen country The economic illiteracy of anti-capitalists  World's largest sailing ship Golden Horizon in Dorset The UK's immigration figures are a fantasy The Northern Ireland Protocol partly repeals the Act of Union Rhodes still stands Angela’s ashes: Merkel is leaving the EU in chaos The fightback against Critical Race Theory McWhorter: Wokeism is a religion; the problem is that it's a 'sh***y religion' Here be humans Can more local self-rule save a collapsing, ‘late Roman’ America? What happens when your currency collapses? Space and the new struggle for civil

 Was in a foul mood all day yesterday for two reasons. First, I overslept as my alarm didn't go off (I'd accidentally set a weekdays only one on my phone), so missed my first online class. The firm is pretty strict on this and considers it a breach of contract, hopefully as this was the first time it shouldn't be too big a deal. Later on I realized that this would mean I'd lose my bonus payment for July- we get £1 per lesson on top of the hourly rate, so that's currently £40 lost. Second, when I went for that job interview last Friday (that I didn't get) I forgot to pay for the Dartford crossing and got 2 penalty notices yesterday (as two crossings that day). Total bill: £75. All in all not a good day for my bank balance.

Happy 4th of July! Has been a tradition of mine to post the 'America, F*ck yeah! from Team American on this day, here is a version full of images of anthropomorphized WW2 US Navy ships (video NSFW!)  

 A sample of my inbox today: I especially like the 'Hostels are GAY!' one from Hostelword. I remember when calling something gay was a slur, guess it's now been reclaimed? The email had a link to some inclusive hostels, I'm guessing none of which are in the Middle East or Africa... As the Lotus Eaters point out, this is really getting out of hand: