List of Previous Titles

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Extraordinary Lives - Stories of Black Heroes and Heroines

Neil de Grasse Tyson

I was born into a sick western society that was Bermuda, that followed the lead of that part of American society that felt that black people were only fit to serve as slaves. We were told over and over again, as though it was a part of our education, that we were nothing; that we could not do anything; and that we could never ever amount to anything great. The odd thing was that most of us learned that lesson well. However, Elanor Roosevelt, the wife of the American president cautioned that in order to truly accept that a person was worthless would take the complete cooperation of that person to believe such nonsense.

That sentence belongs in the grouping as other one-line statements that changed the world. I heard it on the radio just one time, but it was like a kick to my backside or a real hard slap to my head. It stayed with me and it ate away at my self doubt until I came to the realisation how true it was. I got angry, and the anger grew into a statement of my own:

"I accept that I can never amount to anything with you standing in my way. I need you to lead, follow, or get the hell out of my way!"  I live by that mantra.

Human beings are tribal creatures. We are defined by the country of our birth, and our ethnic grouping. From within our group we can take pride in the personal accomplishments of people from our country, and in particular, when the person is from our group the thing that is being publicised might either be a matter for great pride, or embarrassment.

I am from the ethnic group of black people from around the world. My roots are in Africa, and my sub-roots are in Bermuda. I have many people who I hold in great esteem for their contributions to society who are white. However, there are some black people who have made fabulous contributions, especially in the performing arts. Those we all applaud and recognize, but others have long been making incredible, but quiet contributions that we take for granted.

I will focus on these people from time to time because they deserve our attention and respect, and because I want to reassure myself that I am not ignoring their accomplishments. I also suspect that in doing so I will succeed in making myself realize that I am somebody who is capable of achieveing greatness.

"Lead, follow, or get the hell out of my way!"

What an inspiring mantra.

I am going to highlight the life of Neil de Grasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, author, science communicator, and television personality. This man has one of the longest Wikipedia biographies I have ever read, so I shall not tag that onto the above-mentioned, but rather it will be his life and accomplishments that I will lead with in the first of this series.

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

Saturday, April 5, 2014

MH370 - Waiting for the other shoe to Drop!

What happened to this Plane?
My Theory


For one month I have been holding my breath hoping against hope that my first reaction was wrong. The more time that passes the more I am convinced that my first reaction is right, but that is not a good thing. Firstly, I hope and I expect that none of the family members will read this.

As information was given that the plane was turned away from its flight path, and both the transponder and the ACARS systems were turned off, my heart sank and I said a quiet "Oh Shit!" I felt that we are seeing the execution of a finely crafted and supported plan that has been years in the making, and it has the stamp of Al Quieda all over it. They have been promising that something big would follow 9/11, and even the modus operandi closely follows what happened on that day.

They used airplanes to get the attention of the world. Check! They flew one plane into one of the towers and when they had the attention of the news media and everybody on the ground they flew the other into the second tower. This situation has been a slow buildup of mystery that has got everybody in the world wondering how do you make one of the biggest airplanes in the world disappear?

There are 27 countries involved in trying to find some clue as to what happened to that plane. The world is waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even if it's that the wreckage has been found, or more likely the ransom demands will be received.

Why would Al Quieda steal an airplane with humans? Most probably to make some form of political point, but we can be assured that we will find out what that point is in the fullness of time. With 9/11 there was no point or ransom or reason given. That was just a very dramatic event.

Everything we know so far points to deliberate human intervention with a purpose. The plane was turned away from its flight path and the indentifying systems turned off. When the plane reached a new north/south flight corridor it dropped below radar so that even the unidentified pings were lost. However, science tells us that they headed south into the Indian Ocean where they could have flown halfway down the west coast of Australia. Conjecture has it that the plane flew as far as it had fuel, then simply fell into the ocean. We would have to accept that nonsenical ending in the face of all that happened before that had some clear intent.

If indeed this is Al Quieda, they would have the supporters and the determination, and the ego to pull off an event to eclipse their own "9/11 masterpiece." With that in mind, I believe flight MH370 is most likely parked under cover somewhere in North Western Australia with all passengers and crew on board being the guests of the abductors, awaiting the right moment; and what a moment that will be when the announcement is made. We will remember it until we have no more memory. The world will stop and stand quite still. I wouldn't even like to speculate what demands might be made. Perhaps, like 9/11 there will not be any demands. This might just be theatre, but the other shoe will fall, I truly do believe it will.

Is this how sick the world in which we live has now become? On the one side modern technology is making longevity more possible and more enjoyable, and on the other there are anti-humans who are determined to flush us all down the toilet.

The truly disturbing thing is that no-one, including the perpetrators have a clear idea as to why?

I hope, and I suspect that the Australians are doing an urgent sweep of the north-west territories. They aren't saying they are, which make me believe that they are taking the possibility very seriously indeed.

April 8th will mark one full month's anniversary!

Copyright (c) 2014   Eugene Carmichael