Is Homosexuality a free Choice ?????

I have recently heard opinions from two influential persons who have said that, (a) to be gay is a free choice; and (b), being gay is a curable condition. What worries me is that they have followers who are impressionable, so I am responding with an opposite view.

Firstly, there is a very good reason why we live in a world so full of organised chaos: it is because life would be unbearably boring for humans if we had no differences to challenge us. Life is also about balance, where beauty is the opposite balance to ugly, and kindness to cruelty, etc, etc, etc.

When a child is born he/she develops with certain attributes. Some will come as a result of the heritage of the parents, such as skin colour, hair texture, eye colouring, perhaps potential height, and sexual perference will also be factored at that time. The gender of the child is not something that can be chosen with any certainty, and normally the child's sexual preference will only develop over time.

I can only speak to the matter from personal experience as a male, which should suffice as this was what the two individuals were speaking about. If we take history into consideration we have lived through a terrible period when young men discovered what the nature of their sexual preference was, and they chose to live in the closet with it because society, in its collective ignorance,  rejected that people could be wired in such a way that it was something that was completely out of their power to control.   Surely, if it was something that a person  could freely choose, would they not choose the path of least resistance?

If being homosexual or lesbian is an aberration to the normal hetrosexual, is it a condition that can  be cured? I think you might have better success in changing a person's choice of breakfast cereal than making any difference at all to sexual preference.

I put this question to the two men who have made their controversial statements: Are you absolutely certain that you do not have latent homosexual tendencies? And if you answer is yes, how do you know? There have been cases in the past where men have been hugely outspoken against one thing or another, only to find out later that very person was a practioner of the thing he spoke out against.

I am a 100% hetrosexual! I know this because as a young man I have been challenged on more than one occasion by some bug-eyed, horny man who wanted my body for his pleasure. I have had to fight my way out of situations that I could simply not be a participant to, but the easier option, if it were an option would have been to just say yes. I know my sexuality, and I have the bruises to prove it. Do you?

Here's the point: If you are gay or lesbian, than that's who you are and you must live your live for yourself, not for society as a whole, so long as you do not hurt others. If you are a person who believes in one religion, but you fall in love with someone who is outside your faith, if you follow your heart that is to be expected. If you are a person from one racial group and you fall in love with someone from another group, if you follow your heart that is reasonable and is to be expected. If your personal politics are those of one political party and you fall in love with someone from the opposing party, perhaps you should be pitied, but it would be perfectly acceptable to follow your heart.  I have deliberately grouped all of these situations within one section because they are all driven by the same thing: Honesty!

There is nothing to be cured or changed in who as person is, except as the participating persons deem necessary. For you and I, we simply need to mind our own business because our own lives are complicated enough.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael 

A Tsunami of Immigrants

I became a resident of Spain officially in the year 2000, but I am not considered an immigrant because I hold a British passport. Spain has many invisible immigrants who blend in, including the English, even though the United Kindom is not a party to the Schengan Treaty. I arrived by air and I have been allowed to live in peace. I am privileged.

It was not too long after I arrived that I became aware of people who were arriving illegally from North Africa, and even from countries below the Sahara. A program was presented on television that showed where some of those people came from. In one African village a collection was made to buy one of the local lads passage with people smugglers to get to Europe. The sums of money that is paid is astounding, and in more cases than anyone is aware, the hopeful person dies along the way.

I remember seeing that program and thinking I wish they wouldn't do that because there was nothing here for them. Even the Spanish were struggling.

Then came the Arab Spring and everything changed. Rolling unhappiness with the usual way of life brought on terrible strife in a number of countries that has led to untold deaths and torture and injuries and incarcerations, that people are running for their lives. Countries closest have become overrun with refugees, and now desperate people are looking to Europe. People have a lot to run from, including extremist groups or brutal dictators. I find it really impossible to imagine a person leaving his or her home south of the Sahara to make the trip across that vast desert heading north. I think you must be well equipped to survive such a challenge, but if you do survive that is only the first stage.

Now you are in countries full of turmoil, such as Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisa. None of these countries are welcoming of South Sahara immigrants, in fact their own citizens are fleeing  across the Medditerranean sea. The Paradigm has now completely shifted. It's no longer a matter of simple choice to better one's life in an economic sense, but rather a choice to live or die trying.

They set off to cross the Meditterranean sea in flimsy craft suitable only for drifting along the beach. There are no records so no one has any idea of how many set sail and reached European soil. We can be sure that more than we can bear to know about have drowned along the way. For those who do reach dry land they can only say that they are still alive, and everday brings hope that things will improve. Coming from such humble beginnings the very smallest progress is to be celebrated.

The challenge is overwhelming, but the greatest journey starts with the first step. I need to win a lottery of at least 100 million euros. I know exactly how I would put it to use.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

This is a Tsunami of immigrants from north and south of the Sahara who are asking for life. They need help from all of Europe, but also from the Western countries such as the United States and Canada. There was a time when Africans were plucked from their home countries and forcibly brought out to be slaves. Many first families made their wealth on the backs of those early reluctant immigrants.

Now their lives depend on the help that is offered them. Consider it, if you will, a repayment of the debt.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael  

A Prime example of Convoluted Thinking!

The following happened in Afghanistan and is an absolutely true story.

The Villian of the Peace:

I will call the villan Abdul. He is a married man with children.

The most unfortunate victim who belongs in The Guinness Book of Records:

I am calling her Fatima.

Fatima is the unmarried cousin to Abdul's wife. Abdul is besotted with Fatima and decides he has to have her, so he forces himself on her and rapes her. She complains to the police and Abdul is tried and sent to prison for one year. So far I think we can all understand this chain of events.

The Twist:

Fatima is arrested for having had (non-consensual) sex with Abdul, therefore under Afghanistan law she has been an (unwilling) participant to an adulterous act. She is sent to prison where she finds out that she is pregnant from having been raped. She delivers her baby in prison and serves her time.

Fatima's family scorn her for having had (forced) sex with a married man. She is an embarrassment to them. They want her to go far, far away, never to have any further contact with them. However, she is dirt poor and has no means to do this, so she stays put.

Fatima's society see her as a fallen woman and she is an outcast. There is only one way she can be brought back into society and that is to marry the man whose action put them both in prison. In order to do this she becomes Abdul's number two wife. She now has a second child by him. Her society now considers her to be a respectable married woman who nobody ever sees, but her family think of her as being dead.

Presumably, Fatima's cousin, Abdul's number one wife, has no comment on any of this.

This is not your average romantic story which ends with the words: "They lived happily ever after!"

A whole society who think along these lines is not only nuts, they are also dangerous.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael 

Luxury Orgies

I turned on the television to see if there was something interesting to watch. I turned to the Odessy channel where a slide announced, "Up Next: Luxury Orgies."  WTF?

I sat up straight as the program began to roll. Sure enough, the program took us through a number of events hosted by various people in the U.K. and America, where it seems that as part of the lifestyles of some of the rich and famous, people are getting together, mostly on weekends to screw each other to their hearts content.

There are all sorts of parties, some very expensive indeed where the very top rated champagne is drunk along with fine food. All sorts of rules as well, including giving up your mobile phones so that there is no photography; to one party where no man may hit on a woman. At that party women are in charge. They are the aggressors with the men playing the passive, cute roll. Attendance is by strict invitation after a process of vetting takes place, and acceptance of an application means you have to fit into a rigid criteria.

It seems that this quiet movement has been taking place for some time. However, I would not call it a revolution, but rather it is simply part of the sexual cycle where we go through times of high and very loose sexual action, usually followed by some kind of limiting period of war or horrid disease as a result of rampant sexual activity. That is followed by a reigning in of behaviour and very conservative behaviour.

For some examples of that we could focus on the time of ancient Rome, the time of Caligula, to reflect on sexual libertinism. However, the 60's was a time of real sexual revolution. That was driven by the introduction of "The Pill."  This meant that women became freed up to have sex without pregnancy, and also, they were now free to be open and honest to the fact that women have always enjoyed sex as much as men, and perhaps even more so. The problem was that they have always been concerned about the protection of their own bodies and safeguarding themselves against untimely pregancies. The Pill changed all that.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that I had never made a conquest in my life. It was also a pleasent surprise to realise that women can be as horny as men, and apparently show up in large groups at these sex parties to get well and truly screwed.

AIDS brought the sex of the sixties to a screeching halt. We all retreated into our shells and were horrified to hear that the incubation period for AIDS might be as long as ten years.

We are talking about consenting behaviour between adults, so at face value there is nothing wrong, if safe sex is practised. (How do you do that in an orgy?)  For a group of women friends in attendance I can see no obvious problems. However, men generally must bring a woman. This is where I see things getting complicated. Now let me say that I am being naive because I have never attended such a party. I suppose I wish I had. I can only use my imagination, and what I imagine is that if you are a young guy who really likes sex, you could have the time of your life. However, who would you bring to such a party? It just isn't done to invite a prostitute, so what kind of friend do you bring? Clearly it would'nt be someone you cared deeply for because once there, each of you would go your own way.

I have heard from two couples who swear they are very much in love with one another, but they are swingers and they attend parties at least once a month where they get seriously active. All four people agree that what they are doing is open and honest and should avoid one of the pitfalls that wreck marriages. I can understand that thought process, but this is the most intimate of intimate acts there is. Done between a married couple you are bringing each other inside a zone where all others are locked out. It is the one thing that sets you apart from the world outside and gives your relationship special value because you touch each other in that certain way. It is why it hurts so much when a betrayal takes place by letting another person into the special place.

I just don't understand how a couple, who care for one another, and say that they love one another could participate in such activity without long-term serious damage to their relationship.

Also, from a man's point of view, I think once you have gone once over the top you start thinking about sleep. To go twice over the top you must start thinking about heading for home. Your wife however, may just be warming up. I hope they have a room set aside for men who just want to sleep. That would be nice.

As two young women said, they would hate to meet the man who became the love of their lives and their husband and father of their children at an orgy.

Enough said!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael 

Spring in Valencia

In the past I have always answered that Summer is my favourite season, when asked. I love Summer in Spain, even if it does get a little too hot in the height of the day, but that's what Siesta Time is for. Everybody does it, not just we old folks, and it's called siesta, not naptime. Siesta time is to die for, and the principal reason I came to Spain.

However, I have been doing some thinking about this subject because I realise I have been selling Springtime in Spain short. To get to the joys of Summer we have to experience the wonders of Spring. How could I have missed it? In my country we have Summer, and the next thing we know we have Winter. If there are Autumn and Spring periods in Bermuda we don't notice because everything is always green there, but here autumn sees plants turn brown, and this year the country, except Valencia, has been well and truly snowed in. So, it is with great joy that the country has welcomed back the sun in all its glory, and people are able to sit out in the sunshine and feel warmth about themselves.

In Valencia, Spring means that the province awakens from its Winter hibernation with a great big bang. I mean that literally. March madness means the Festival of Fallas when for three full weeks we make so much noise with fireworks, both daytime and at night. Children go around with petardos and lighters to see how high grandparents can jump. At the City Hall in Valencia City there is a daily 2pm firework display that grows in intensity every day. We fool ourselves into thinking that those big bangs are fireworks, but in Iraq and Syria they are called ordanance. The shows usually lasts between five and seven minutes, but it is the most violent five/seven minutes one could ever ask for.

Why do we make so much noise, twenty-four hours a day? We say that we are chasing old man Winter away. The thing is, it always works, so no need to change that then!

There is singing, concerts, dancing, parades, a band might follow you into the Metro and then play loudly and you would dance if there was room. We eat too much, drink far too much booze, and there are bullfights, both the kind where the bull is killed for the supermarket, and where only the skill of the humans is the main thing. They try to keep the incidence of the bullfighter getting killed to a minimum as there is not a lot to do with a human dead body.

The culmination of the celebrations is the destruction of monuments that have taken a year to create at costs that average a fullscale house, by blowing them up and burning them down where they stand in the street. So far, after so many years of doing the same thing the town is still standing. Also, it's no coincidence that on that day, March 19th, we celebrate Father's Day. Apparently, Valencia fathers don't do sedate lunch celebrations with the kids.

I have changed my answer to Springtime in Valencia as my most favourite time because it's when orange trees hang heavy with golden orbs and are harvested; it's when my garden burst forth in flowers, and my spirit actually takes a leap towards the sun. Its the time of year when hope comes alive with the warmth of the sun.

Springtime in Valencia; all's well with the world. Happiness has returned, and that is good!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

Flight AU 9525: A Betrayal of Faith!

I'm not sure whether to be more shocked that a 28 year old young man would commit suicide and choose to take 149 other people with him; or that over the past fifteen years there have been ten other such incidents resulting in the total loss of more than 500 innocent lives.

That does not include all those incidents where light, single pilot planes have been deliberately flown into the homes of wives, ex-wives and ex-girlfriends by jilted pilots.

It is clear that we do not live in a perfect world, and we will never reach that level of Nirvana. In fact, the world goes around based on Trust. It will never be otherwise.

We start the day by listening to the news. We trust what the news reader is saying is the truth, which is ridiculous because not even the reader knows that to be true. He, or she simply believes it to be so.

If we take mass transport we trust that the operator is sane, sober, responsible and does not have a death wish that day.

If we have surgery scheduled for that day we place our total faith in the surgeon. In all cases where general anaesthesia is involved we close our eyes while gazing at a person who is wearing a mask and we submit totally. Will we reopen our eyes? Only time will tell.

I'm sure that the families of the victims of a very twisted mind, including the co-pilot's parents and relatives, have the sympathy of the world at large. In particular, I cannot even begin to fathom what his parents and family are going through at the moment. Clearly, what he did is not the fault of his family. Evidently he had been planning to do what he did for a long time. Every passenger that flew on a plane in which he was co-pilot was unknowingly playing Russian Roulette.

That is a very scary thought. What can be done about it? There is only so much that we can do. Beyond that we take our chances. The elderly are living longer and in good health, but there are a lot of very screwed up people trying to kill each and every person they can. We are like baby turtles scrambling towards the sea. Some of us will make it, and others will not.

It is important for us to continue to have Faith that we will always experience good luck!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael  

 

Dumping the Parents. A very bad idea!

In the news this week was a story of a community that is accusing itself of having resorted to a controversial practise of dumping its elders in care homes, rather than having them live out their lives in their own homes. As senior citizens we are living longer, much longer, but many don't have the luxury of good health to be able to care for themselves.

Having arrived here in Spain to take up permanent residence in 1999 I immediately observed some cultural aspects that I really grew to love. Two were, (a) parents took their children everywhere they went, including to the bar, and, (b) that parents lived out their days at home with one or other of heir offspring.

That was then, but great negative changes have taken place that have placed significant pressures on the average family around the world. First, here in Spain fantastic growth was enjoyed during what we now know was the bubble period. That's when offspring worked very hard and many of their parents had to take up residence in care homes. However, the question is, once they were put there did they continue to have a close relationship with their children through regular visits, or were they simply forgotten? If that was the case they would have been dumped.

"Growing old is ugly!" So said Michael Jackson. He was absolutely correct. We go from young, vital, perhaps beautiful or handsome to the effects of age-creep. The effect gets more severe day-by-day, and  generally, it's not a pretty sight.

Young people are responsible for a number of actions that are taken against older people, and apparently they do so completely forgetting that they too are headed in that same direction. One of those actions is the dumping of their parents. Meanwhile, their own young children observe the treatment accorded to their grandparents, and so of course, when the time comes they will do the same thing to their own parents. They will dump them and forget them because they got the model from their mom and dad, so it must be alright.

The irony is that mom and dad will surely moan and complain about all the sacrifices they made for their children, and now they dump us here and never come to visit.

Also, there is one other class of parent who will complain bitterly: that is those fathers who were careless where they spilled their sperm as young men. They never took responsibility, and in their old age, although they fathered the equivalent of a football team, nobody comes to visit. 

I hope they complain to the wall!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

I have finally got to know Mr Grey with his 50 Shades!

To me, the headline I have given this is funny, because in my country we call your sunglasses your shades.

I have been a long time getting to know what all the fuss was about. When the three books were released by author, E.L. James, "The 50 Shades of Grey," a great stir was caused among women, particularly of middle age, so I thought it was some kind of idealised love story. I bought the series for my wife so that she might read through them to satisfy herself, but she didn't explain much to me, nor was I particularly interested.

Now a movie has been released, so I got to watch it and I had an Ah Ha! moment. If you have not read the books or seen the movie I am not going to spoil the story line for you, but it is fair to say that the movie appears under the classification of BD, DS, and S&M. That's Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochisim. This is where in a relationship between two people one is the dominant and the other the submissive. I have no doubt that there are cases where the woman is the dominant one, but we seem to be dealing with cases where the man is dominant and the woman is submissive.

I wateched the movie and immediately concluded that the movie must be a pale version of the books as it was apparent to me that care was being exercised to avoid a triple XXX rating.

It occurred to me that a very long time ago I had sat through a similar film with a strong male character, also named Mr Grey, and his relationship with his secretary. The film was called simply, "Secretary."

When we enter into subjects under the above-noted headings we enter into a very strange world indeed where people like me might jump to the conclusion that this is all some sick shit, but I am reigned in by the number of serious scholary papers on the subject. Basically we see one set of people who have the need to control others exercise that control over, hopefully, willing subjects, and probably even better would be to control unwilling individuals. Men pay women to beat them up, and women go back time and again to subject themselves to thoroughly sadistic men to be physically degraded and seriously hurt.

Here is where I have a problem: on the one hand women of the world are calling for men to stop violence against women. yet, a whole cult following of women seem to exist for subject matter of this kind. If you want to know how many films of this type for general release there are you need only Google the subject S&M films. I found thirty-three titles. However, these will all be sanitized entertainment films, for the real thing you need to go to a sex store. A "friend" offered to show me one such film and after only a few minutes I said, sorry, I have to go.

I consider myself to be a strong and robust man but images of what people do to get off sexually I find so disturbing, that I simply don't want to know. I suppose the thing that would make it alright would be if it all takes place between willing adult participants who exercise free will.

I somehow doubt that in every case. Where there is one person who is drawn into such activity against their own free will the experience must be so horrific to supersede regular-style torture. That cannot be acceptable by any standards.

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael 

A Bitter Disappointment!

I was so hoping that on this day, Sunday March 8th, 2015, the one year anniversary of the sudden disappearence of flight MH370, the Malaysia flight that so completely vanished, that the plane complete with those persons on board would magically re-appear. Why on earth would I think such a thing possible?

Flight MH 370 changed course from its pre-set flight pattern in a deliberate manner and its contact system was shut down to avoid detection because, presumably it was intended to take the plane to a specific unauthorized destination. My thinking was that this was a well thought out action on the part of Al Queada. I saw it as the follow-up action to their 9-11 show piece, an action that would have to be stunning. To do something in the United States, that was a country on high alert was probably impossible, but in the part of the world of Malaysia, where security was at a lower state of being, something could be possible.

The pilot was Muslim, and he had a simulator in his home. He also possibly had some difficulty in his family, if you believe reports, which would have been likely if he was practising how to land a large airplane in glider mode so as to avoid detection due to the sound of the motors. If the plane had landed deliberately in a pre-determined spot and then hidden, that would have taken a small army that was well chosen and trained. One thing that seems to be certain, judging by the movements of the plane that has been tracked, it appears to have been deliberately flown towards a definite destination.

Let me be clear: I am not saying that the pilot did anything of his own accord to have participated in the disappearence of the plane. We simply don't know what happened. However, I was hoping that in spite of how ludicrous my idea might sound, it would have been fantastic if all passengers and crew re-appeared on this first anniversary, but it wasn't to be.

There is another possibility: we may still be seeing an Al Queada PR action. To make an aircraft completely disappear as if by magic, and to create the world's greatest mystery. That is certainly what we are presently grappling with, but until they take credit and explain how they did it, and what happened, it has come to an abrupt end.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

On Standby awaiting explosive Breaking News on Sunday, March 8th!

I anticipate that on Sunday, March 8th some absolutely amazing news will be released.

Please Standby!

copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

How Precious is our Sight and all our other senses?

As a natural part of aging, which is not a pretty process, I found that my sight in my left eye was deteriorating due to a cataract. In 2011 I had the operation by a very competant surgeon and all was fine. However, gradually the eye needed more and more attention, including rubbing and lots of drops. Two Sundays ago I awoke lying on my front with my head  resting on my right side. In order to see what time it was I opened my left eye and realised, to my absolute horror that I was completely blind in that eye.

How long had this condition existed?

It had not occurred to me to simply close my right eye to test my left vision, so perhaps I have been operating for some time in that condition, although recently I have noticed a more advanced deterioration. For instance I am having major problems with my sense of depth perception.

I took myself off to the doctor the very next day and when he did an examination he discovered that the eye had become clouded over from a build-up of dust. In other words, I am blind in that eye due to common dirt! Good Heavens! I now have an appointment for a cleaning by laser.

Firstly, the human body is an amazing construct with built-in redundancies. We have two ears, eyes, nostrils and a mouth to take in and expell air, without which we cannot survive for more than a few minutes. We have our two arms and two hands, and legs and feet, and our internal organs. However, just to add an element of grave danger to our design we have only one heart.

We take so much for granted that when we come into contact with people with no sight or loss of other senses we have no way of fully understanding what they must be experiencing. We must walk in their shoes in order to know how deprived their lives are.

My hope is that after the cleaning process I will be returned to a like-new state. However, I wonder why I have been given this experience? I must open my mind for a revaluation of something that I can do to be of assistance, because surely, to have lost at least part of my sight, and then to be given it back must have some significant meaning.

One thing is certain: I am eternally grateful for my sight and other senses, and my good health in general!

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael  

We're Racists and that's how we like it!

This refers to the news item from France this week wherein some English football supporters chanted this as they prevented a black man from boarding a train in Paris.

Well, finally a racist freely acknowledged that he was just that. Normally, people act or say things that stamps them as being racist, or men who hate women, or people who hate Jews, or gays and lesbians, and they are adamant that they are not prejudiced, even going so far as they say they have friends from the particular grouping.

Well, if you are a person with a perverted point of view at least recognise your sickness, because until you do there is nothing that can be done if you want to be a part of decent society.

Do we have a right to hate people? Nowhere is it written that we have such rights and privileges to hate, and to practise hate. Hatred is a sickness because it divides society. We live by laws and rules that promote the peace. Also, public opinion stands in favour of common sense, decency, and conducting our lives in peace and harmony. In other words whatever we feel in our hearts, in public we have to respect one another, and we have to treat members of the public equally, and we absolutely must allow others their own free movement. When it comes to the use of public transportation, no member of the public has any right whatsoever to impede the progress of another if that other person is behaving themselves in a proper, non-threatening manner.

Those men who were seen acting as they did must be guilty of action that broke the law and should be punished under the law, and hopefully severely so. Also, I have news for them: by proudly chanting:"We're racists and that's the way we like it," they were also saying we are some of the most stupid people on earth, and we're proud.

Now we all know!

We don't have to love each other, we only have to respect one another.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

   

Too Beautiful Two: The Follow-up.

I enjoyed the response to my blog in which I asked the question: Is it possible to be to beautiful?  It caused a lively debate down at the local bar, and I had a response by e-mail which hit the nail on the head.

A debate consists of people both for and against the question, but we were all ordinary citizens, none of whom were blessed or cursed by being overly handsome or beautiful, in the general sense. But my e-mail fascinated me.

It was from someone who fits the profile of being super attractive, although she didn't put it quite like that. She is a woman who says she has been around for a while, been there and done all the things that she could have dreamed of, and now she was facing her greatest challenge. How to choose the right man to settle down with and have a family.

I have said before that in my opinion the woman who gets my vote as "Most Beautiful Woman in the World," is Halle Berry. She is naturally beautiful and fascinating as a woman, and when she puts on her best face she just blows me away. Have I ever fantasied about being her lover or husband? Absolutely not! She is a prime example of being totally too much of a woman. As if to underscore that, she is rich and acomplished to boot.

A woman like that could, without intending to, drive a man insane with jealousy. He would know that every man she encounters wants her for his own. Everything she did by way of daily routine would, or could be shadowed with suspicion by her man. 

That might be the problem from her man's standpoint, but from her view the question becomes whether she should marry a super handsome guy who does not suffer from a lack of self-confidence, which could also lead to unwelcome problems; or should she choose an ordinay man who would likely be overwhelmed by who and what she is, and is more likely to stay at home and count his blessings.

These are also questions for us lucky ordinary looking folks, but let's face it there really is a difference.

From my standpoint I am not overly impressed when I see a really beautiful woman or a handsome guy. I have never wished that I was in the shoes of such a person, nor will I ever do so. Except my hero, Sidney Poiter, but that's because he's Sidney. And Sidney is Super Sidney! Enough said!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

BREAKING NEWS !!!!!!!!!!!!

It seems that I will have to continue last week's post, "Is it possible to be too beautiful?" Your response is really interesting. However, this week I want to focus on another topic: What is truly Breakin News worthy?

I am a habitual viewer of CNN. They say I can rely on having news up to date, whether I think I need it or not. On Friday February 6th they broke into scheduled programming, even interuppting a guest who was in the midst of answering a question, to tell us that acording to ISIL, who Jordan are engaged in bombing over the savage killing of a Jordanian pilot by ISIL, that due to that bombing an American female hostage who ISIL had been holding had been killed.

The interruption to programming went on for quite a long time as more and more people became involved in discussing the report by ISIL, and in the process everybody was agreed that they were sceptical of the entire report, although it was known that they held a woman prisoner.

So, my question is, was that really worthy of breaking into regular programming under way. From this viewer's standpoint, absolutely not! It is assumed that there will be collateral damage from the bombing campaign, including a number of innocents, perhaps this hostage, who ISIL would probably have killed themselves. That is what they seem to do. 

It's true that I am not in charge of deciding what is urgent to broadcast, or not, and I accept that this could be a never ending argument. However, for viewer's like me, if my viewing is disturbed without adequate cause I get really pissed off, especially as it happens so often.

Here's what I do when I become really annoyed: I simply switch to another channel, or worse, I simply turn the damn thing of and go and do something else.

So, be careful CNN of turning your viewers off. You work too hard to get us in the first place.

By the way, congratulations on placing Robyn Curnow in an anchor's chair. She was born to it!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

Is it possible to be too beautiful? The view from male eye.

During my young wild days when I was constantly attracted by all women, I walked into a cocktail lounge and saw a vison of pure beauty in a young woman who was sitting alone at a table. There were three men sitting at the bar and some other people sitting at tables. I immediately presumed that she was waiting for someone, but it soon became clear to me that she was simply passing the time of day.

For whatever their reasons none of the other men ventured anywhere near her. I plucked up the courage to make that long and dreadful journey to her table, where I fully expected to de rebuffed. I excused myself and apologised if I was being a bother, but I said I had a question that I thought she was the perfect person to ask.

My question was as follows: I wondered if she agreed with me that it is possible to be entirely too beautiful. That is to say, that I thought that while such immense beauty can be a true blessing in some ways, it can also be a curse.

Her reply was, "Would you care to have a seat, and a drink as you must be thirsty after such a hard journey to get here."

That was the start of a very long chat that lasted past the cocktail hour, and continued over dinner.

I learnt from her that policemen routinely gave her a break, while just wondering if she might have some free time to have a drink with them. She said that she usually gets anything she wants, which actually made her sad because no-one stood up to her. Wheneever she had to compete for something she usually got the role, even when there were others better qualified. She had been pampered all her life, and while it was nice to be treated as though she were royalty it did make her feel uncomfortable and sad. She was there in Bermuda, deliberately travelling alone, and had I said anything other than what I did she would have sent me packing. However, I had asked the question which was the key to the very thing she needed to talk about, and I had proved to be a good listener.

I spent some quality time with her during her visit and we became very good friends. Because her worst problem was that everyone wanted something from her, especially men, not once did I attempt to start anything romantic with her. I think had I done so I would have spoiled what became a long-term valuable friendship.

I keep telling myself that the value of our friendship was far greater than a night of steamy sex. I think I have finally, actually come to believe that.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael 

Life with Sickness

For my New Year wishes for my family and friends I chose good health as my number one desire for each and everyone of them. I even did that for business colleagues. However, I never got to wish the same thing for myself, so I got sick. It seems like every second person in Spain, is currently suffering with the flu, or as it is known here, El Gripe, probably because once you are within its grip, you simply have to go along with whatever it demands.

As I noted in a previous blog, I came down with it on Christmas Day, as some kind of perverted gift, and I have now suffered through for one solid month. Having ventured out into society I am discovering that we are in the midst of a pandemic of flu. I also discovered that this time last year the country was undergoing the same thing. I sailed past all that, but not this time.

At first you put up a bit of a fight. You try to carry-on and keep up with your routine, and you keep smiling, but the time comes when you have to admit to everyone that you can do no more, and hopefully you have a nice warm bed to crawl into where you'll perhaps do as I did, just sleep for the next forty or fifty hours. That part was quite pleasent for me. I hope you all were as comfortable as I was. I occasionally heard that it was cold outdoors. The only thing I had to do, because no-one was going to help me otherwise, was to get up and go pee. Other than that you get to feel like you are on vacation.

The flu is the great common denominator. It seems in the midst of such illnesses such as the Big C, or Ebola, to be something small, but the flu does kill, and if it doesn't actually do that you can be made to wish for the sweet sting of death.

I was actually one of those persons who tried to guard against it by maintaining good hand health, and quickly covering my nose in enclosed spaces where people might have sneezed or coughed. But, it got me anyway, and as the original thing gone viral, it has got everyone else as well.

So, for next year I will remember to wish myself good health, but I had better do that in November.

Copyright (c) 2015

Eugene Carmichael   

No Pants Day! Where have I been?

Sorry!

I can't download a picture

Ahhhh!

For fourteen years, twice annually, January and May, a day is set aside for anyone who cares to do so, to go through the day without pants, slacks, or skirts, wearing only under pants. It only came to my attention this year, in spite of the fact that my own city is one of the sixty around the world engaging in the practise.

What has the world come to?

This, of course, is a young person's game whereby they choose to shock their parents. I was once part of that game as I tried to make an impression on my parents, without getting my head slapped off. Like the time I was running and I fell onto an upturned tin can and cut my nose open. Instead of yelling and crying I quietly walked into the kitchen where my mother had her back to me, and I walked up to her and tugged on her dress. She turned, took one look at me and screamed. Oh wow! That was good. She got the dettol bottle and a cloth and drenched the wound with pure dettol. The pain was so intense I simply passed out. That was not what I had in mind.

A No-Pants day is the sort of thing I expect of my city, Valencia, where, once a year, the local cycling club apply for permission to ride around the city completely naked. That's what they did to protest the cost to the city of the Pope's visit. So, I think had I happened onto the subway on that day and found myself surprised by a car full of pantsless people, I think I would have simply dropped my pants and simply stood there with my pants around my ankles for the ride.

Now, let's be clear about this from a man's point of view. To be in the company of a lot of other guys wearing only under pants would be no big deal. But to have lots of girls in their panties would be absolutely fabulous! However, having said that, apart from the fun of it all, it does not tend to be sexy. It's like being at the beach in the midst of all those uncovered pert, and not-so-pert boobies. After the first two minutes we all settle down and relax.

One thing is not in dispute: beats standing and staring at the trees!

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael

Who is the Pet?

I was reviewing my routine with our animals: We have two cats and a dog, none of whom we deliberately decided we wanted to care for. Blanca, our pure white cat is a beautiful cat to behold, but she is absolutely anti-social. She wants to be fed when she is hungry and thereafter she just wants to be left in peace.

Lnyx is a rescued male who would have been torn to pieces by some dogs had our son not picked it up and saved it. However, our son has gone to live elsewhere, so for the time being I look after Lnyx. He is my idea of a cat. Very affectinate and purrs wonderfully. The problem is that he keeps himself to the downstairs  apartment while he awaits the return of our son. Blanca keeps herself to the upstairs living acommodation, so we have an upstairs cat and a downstairs cat. When they do meet they usually have a short fight before going their seperate ways.

Then there is Max, a very small type of dog. Max just showed up one day, completely out of breath, pleading with me to feed him. He has been here ever since.

So, I was thinking about my routine with these animals. Feeding times I usually start with Blanca upstairs. I give her half an envelope of food in a gel substance, then I go downstairs and likewise feed Lnyx.Lately, I have been treating Max, who is suffering with Leishmaniosis, a deadly virus introduced by mosquitos. The treatment is quite complicated, and by the time I have finished with Max, Lnyx is calling for the rest of his envelope, and from upstairs I can hear Blanca doing the same thing.

I attend to each when they are hungry or sick. Blanca is our bulimic, sometimes throwing up her meal. I come along behind her and clean it up. I make sure they have clean water and a warm place to sleep.

I talk about them as our pets as though I were their proud father, especially when they do something cute. Hearing myself speaking about them in that manner it suddenly dawned on me, what if I have things completely the wrong way round?

Do they boast about how well trained I am? Do they say that I am always there with whatever they need, and that I am cute and manageable? Lnyx can even say that he has a large double bed in which to sleep and he never has to worry about where his next meal is coming from.

At the end of the day I am rewarded by Max and Lnyx with a show of love and appreciation. Blanca just gives me a look that says, Yea. thanks, but I'm going to nap now, so leave me in peace.

They say that animals choose us, rather than the other way round. I might have said to Max when he showed up, Max, I don't want a dog. However, Max would have said to me, Man, I need someone to feed me and give me a warm place to sleep, and to take care of me when I get ill. You'll do nicely, so get on with it.

No wonder the cat in the picture is having such a good laugh. I would too if I were in their place!

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael

It's a New Year Everyone! Happiness and Good Health for All!

A New Year, but I got the most unwanted, non-returnable Christmas Gift of all.

I got, on Christmas Day, when the British community usually exchanges presents, a case of influenza. I should say, a case of the flu, but I don't think it makes any difference. Once the virus decides to take up residence you will give in to its wishes. Fortunately, it just eased it way in on Christmas Day, not interrupting our celebrations at all. However, after a couple of days I just collapsed into bed where I happily stayed for a continuous period of more than 40 hours, sleeping away the worries of the world.

New Year's Eve found me in bed and New Years night I was still there, nicely wrapped up in my warm blanket. Fortunately, there was none of the real nasty stuff that the flu can bring. I just had to contend with shaking as though I was freezing in the cold north one minute, then suddenly sweating as though I was in the midday sun of the desert the next minute.

Today, its just a memory and it's time to look forward with moderate expectations from 2015. I intend to continue my usual practices toward my neighbours, treating them with courtesy and respect. That seems to have worked well over my 75 years, so no need to change now.

I hope to make some people happy this year by helping them to return to work by becoming new product promoters with FGXpress, a new career option. I will continue to work on keeping my health in order. For the first time in my life, I joined a gym last year and I am sticking to a routine and feeling pretty good about it. I became a Great Grandfather for the second time in December of 2014, so one of the must do things for 2015 will be for me to get to meet my newest great joy.

All of these things I will do in this current year, but none are resolutions, because resolutions are breakable.

My wish for you, dear readers is that this year will be kind and agreeable in everything that you intend to accomplish.If you do have any surprises let's hope that they are of the very best kind!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael 

Kim Jong Un - Uh Oh!

This guy is too dangerous to play games with!


First and foremost, it was a very bad idea to make a film that directly focuses on this man. Always, those two little words, Uh Oh, go before something that got way out of hand and ends horribly.

The Interview is a B class movie, which should stand for Bad, and in my opinion should be classed as  F B, or fucking bad. It has been asserted that Kim tried to discourage people from seeing the movie. If that was so, he was right.

I was a believer from the start when Sony said it had been hacked, and pulled the film. I could see the anger in Americans that a foreign power would even dare to suggest that Americans not go to see a movie, because it bothered The Supreme Leader. But then, with encouragement from none other than the President of the United States, Sony caved in and released the film on the day it had intended anyway. It brought in $1,000,000 on the first day's limited release. People thought it was their patriotic duty to go and see something they otherwise would not have been caught dead anywhere near it, just to flip the bird to North Korea.

 I am not an American, nor do I live in America, so I was not overwhelmed by the hype. I could think straight. My thoughts strayed away from the herd and I started to think, wait a minute. Am I watching one of the smartest merchandising tricks ever played on the American people?

The North Koreans have denied they hacked Sony. Perhaps Kim couldn't care less about this stupid movie. The result is that the film has more publicity than any other movie in living memory. I haven't heard anyone, even the super patriots, say that the movie is great. I suspect that the penny is beginning to drop and people may be starting to think they have been punked.

What the hell has been set in motion? Over a dumb movie? The Dictator , as everybody knows, is an emotional person, with nuclear weapons, and a pressing desire to use them. Simply by making the movie might indeed have been a provocation too far. The world may have to pay for the indiscretion of producers who failed to realise that freedom of speech comes with a high level of responsibility that says, you may be free to say something, but should you?

Copyright (c) 2014   Eugene Carmichael  

The Bermuda Triangle Christmas Tree

Christmas in The Bermuda Triangle is very different!

My two favourite Jamacians, Clyde and Dudley were smoking their daily gigantic spliff, when as usual, one of them started with, "you know mon, I been tinking." These two genuises come up with all manner of bizarre ideas, including the one about Jamaica sending a Toboggan team to the Winter olympics.

It was Clyde who said to Dudley that he was thinking that they should gatheer together a great big shipment of marijuana, because as he put it, "It God's own Herb, mon, and we could ship it to Bermuda 'n sell it fer top dollar." "Good idea Clyde, mon, but how ve ship it?" "In one of dem dere ocean going fancy yachts in the bay tied only wif a piece of string."

And that's exactly what our two heroes did. They slipped out to sea in the still of a moonless night aboard a luxury yacht that they had borrowed, headed due north, destined for Bermuda. However, predictably, after only three days at sea a storm arose. A really big storm that whipped up waves three, four, five stories high. Suddenly the yacht rose upon a rogue wave that carried it ten stories high, then the wave rolled and broke leaving the yacht with nothing under her, so she dove by her nose, straight down into the trough where she hesitated only for a short momnt before continuing straight down.

Clyde and Dudley were astounded as they lay in the fetus position in the cabin with their mouths open, forgetting to breathe. All was quiet until they felt a gentle bump as the yacht settled on the bottom.

"Dudley, what hoppened, man?" "Me no know, Clyde!" "Come, let we go outside and see what happening."

It didn't occur to either man that they were speaking and breathing normally at the bottom of the sea. They had landed in the Bubble at the Bottom of The Bermuda Triangle Sea.

Suddenly, Clyde spotted a light off in the distance. "Dudley, vat dat dere light, you see it mon?" "Seen, mon. Come let ve go and investigate!"

As they drew nearer the light they could see humans, one looked very much like King Neptune with a crown on his head and a Trident in his hand, and all. King said, "Welcome boys, how much ganja you bring me?"

"Eh, eh!" both of our heroes said at the same time. "Never mind," said King, "my men are offloading her right now."

It was then that Clyde spotted the oddest thing. It appeared to be a huge christmas tree off in the distance. It was so colourful and really big. "Vat dat, Mr King, mon, vat a christmas tree doing down ere?

"Well that is the answer to the greatest mystery the world has ever known, and it's here in the Bermuda Triangle for anyone who wants to drop in for a chat. That, my lads, is a mountain made up of every sock that ever went missing from washing machines around the world. It looks like a tree so I call it my Bermuda Triangle perpeptual  Christmas Tree. Beautiful, don't you think?

"Rastafari" yelled Clyde. "Rastafari, indeed," said Dudley. "Mon, I no smoke de ganja no more. It making life too veird!"

From Clyde, Dudley and myself, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and prosperity throughout 2015. If Christmas is not your ting then we hope that you celebrate the end of 2014 in good health, and may good health bless us all for many more years to come.

"Ya Mon!"

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael 

What the world needs more of is Goodwill

As a place to live this is a very small neighbourhood.

So, here we are with Christmas celebrations and the end of yet another year fast approaching. My memory seems to remind me that when I was young a magical spell fell over the world at this time of year during which we were all nice to one another. This was taken to such an extent that during World War II a cease fire was entered into by both sides on Christmas Day, not necessarily because of christian values, but just because people simply felt the need.

Well, the world is an ever changing place. These days, in many countries the season seems to start with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Stores open their doors at ungodly hours of the night to people who have been waiting in line for days, all to be able to buy things at supposedly deep discounts. Are these discounts real, or did the store raise the prices for a week or so, and now they can say these are great discounts.? That's like shopping at the Duty-Free shops at the airport. If there is really such a place it does not automatically follow that savings will be passed along to the customer. Duty-Free does not necessarily mean cheaper.

We have all seen what happens when the doors open. You had better be sure and fast or you will be trampled upon. Once in the shop the fights begin. I saw this first! Get your hands off my 100" curved screen TV or I will shoot you! Let go of the bra, bitch or I will put your eyes out. Oops, it came apart. Can  anyone use a one cup DD. Maybe as a birds nest or a hat.

What is happening to us? Have we all lost our collective minds, or at least our humanity Somewhere it is questioned, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his very soul? What indeed!

All around the world there are examples of how deep we have fallen as human beings. We say whatever comes to mind to one another without thinking about the pushback. The Boko Haram boys in Nigeria complained of feeling alone at night in the jungle as they had no women. So, what did they do? They simply went out and stole some. Other groups simply abduct people for ransom, and if nobody will pay they just chop off their heads while the camera is running.

Humans? Not from my tribe, or at lest I would like to think not.  This makes for very heavy thoughts, but still we send Season's Greetings and best wishes for happiness throughout the coming year. We can hope and cross our everything that things will turn out well for our families and friends.

I will say no more than if miracles do happen, now would be a good time to have one affect the entire world of humans. That is all that I want for Christmas!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

Bill Cosby: They want you to drink that special Kool-Aid

Dr. Bill Cosby
Standup Comedian extraordinary; actor, author, TV producer, educator, musician, and activist

Cosby is 77 and I am 75, so we are of the same generation. I absolutely revere this man and am eternally grateful for all that he has achieved for the black race.

We are of the generation that was told over and over again that because of our race we could never amount to anything, nor could we hope to achieve anything special in our lives. We believed it! But Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the president said that we had to give our complete cooperation to believe such rubbish, and both Cosby and I sat up straight and concluded that she was right.

Cosby went on to prove that he, a black man could do anything he wanted to, and even rise to the very top of his profession. In doing so he took along with him all of us in his tribe. He was the Barack Obama of his times.

And now, it has all come to a very sad period in his life with people tarnishing his name with all sorts of allegations of behaviour that are way out of date and beyond the Statute of Limitations. Considering the nature of the allegations I'm surprised that people are able to make them without simply being charged for publishing them in public.

America is a peculiar place when it comes to the freedom to say anything you want in public.

Those of us who are prepared to take the half hour to read the Wikipedia account of all that he has done over his life, including what he is allegded to have done, we see that from an early age he was an outstanding personality. He attracted my attention and I don't even live in the same country as him. He very quickly became my idol, at a time when black people needed other blacks who were positive role models to look up to. It follows that if men were drawn to him, so were women. My life, compared to his was very low key indeed, but when it came to having women to sexually play with I had my fill. I wanted to play and they wanted to play. It was a simple as that. But Cosby was a rising star, and male stars of the movies and television will tell you that they have to sometimes fight off groupies.

I am having immense problems in believing that Cosby would have had to drug women to get with them. Why on earth would he have had to do that? I never did, not even with alcohol. In fact, if a woman was so tanked up with booze I would usually pass on her. I think I assumed she would throw up on me, but I always thought it better not to take advantage of her. They always expressed appreciation later, but I didn't think it would have been an interesting encounter while she was in that condition.

Male stars all have one problem in common. They are men with success, and that attracts women with perhaps boring lives who would love to have bragging rights that they laid this star, or that star. Men also have to protect themselves against paternity suits if they are percieved to have deep pockets. It seems to be the price of being rich and famous.

Getting back to a parralell in my own life: For a period I lived alone in a lovely house. From time to time I would hold parties there, but I quickly learnt to take a tour of the house with the last guests to leave to ensure that there were no women hiding to pounce when everybody else had left. I stopped having parties because this was such a problem, even to the extent that one time we discovered three women hiding in various rooms of the house, including the broom closet.

So, I know I'm being biased when I say that I just don't believe that the things the women say happened, way beyond the Statute of Limitations, did happen. If they did, they should have been dealt with at the time. There is a very good reason for a Statute of Limitations, and this is a prime example why it is in place.

Someone made the ridiculous suggestion that Cosby should voluntarily waive his right to the Statute. I think that suggestion has arrived still-born. Also, because there is a rising number of women coming forward with their stories we are supposed to accept that as some kind of proof of authenticity. I say just the reverse is the case. They seem to be circling like buzzards smelling blood. After all, you only have to say that something happened. Well, simply saying it happened doesn't make it so. I fully expect the number to rise to 2000, and perhaps beyond for this reason.

Bill Cosby is an icon who has done a tremendous amount of good on behalf of his people, and The United States of America itself. He is a man with very deep pockets, with an estimated fortune of $350 million. Don't tell me that isn't attractive to those who think they might have a shot at getting some. I can't say that Cosby is and has always been a saint because I was not there, but if he did do something that was illegal and egregious it should have been dealt with at the time.

To wait untl now to tarnish the reputation of an old man who has given so much of positive value seems to me to be worse than any of the allegations that are so easily being thrown about.

Lastly, my enduring memory of Cosby goes back to 1987. I was driving at the time the local radio station decided to play his album, "Those of you, with or without children; You'll understand." This was such a funny album I was forced to pull my car off the road and behind a bush to relieve myself. Now, that's talent!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael  

Hell hath no fury like a royally pissed-off woman!

Isn't she lovely? But don't rub her the wrong way.


This topic is a favourite with film directors, given the number of movies that have been made in this genre. Their pet theme is that of the aging and faithful wife who is abandoned by her husband for a younger model, and her reaction to get her revenge. The storyline is usually juicy and it involves all of the audience very quickly. The women feel it and the guys just have to duck. We exit the movies and we start to say something and our woman says, don't talk to me. I'm pissed at you!

My most memorable film on this subject is, "Waiting to Exhale" which added colour to the mix. Husband, who was black and successful dumps his black wife for a younger, white new woman. I thought there was going to erupt a riot in the theatre. The husband made his announcement, then said to his wife, I'm leaving now but I will be back for my clothes. What clothes would he expect to find when he came back?

Fatal Attraction was another outstanding film based on a silly premise that a man can have sex with a woman  who he just met, but be expected to be hers for life. When she finds out that he is married she pulls out every nasty trick in the book to stick it to him.

The problem is that both of these stories are based on solid facts. Both also make the man the villian of the piece, when in real life women can be as irresponsible as men, and sometimes they can be more so. Here are a couple of examples that place the man as villian. Case number one involved a work colleague. We worked in a nightclub until one in the morning. After that we went to after hours club, but he always had a woman on his arm while his wife waited at home. I warned him he was cruising for a bruising, but he didn't listen.

Apparently, on this fateful night he went home as usual about 5am, and went straight into the shower to wash away the smell of the other woman, again, as usual. What he didn't notice was the pot of something on the stove that sat over a low fire.  Suddenly, as he stood in the shower completely exposed his wife appeared with the pot of boiling rice and threw it over him. Why rice? Because it is sticky starch that clings to whatever surface, and on him it just burned and burned and burned. Apparently he passed out with the pain. He carried those scars with him to his death, which was an early one, but not so early that she could be charged with murder.

No man would have even thought to do something like that. Sure, we kill one another, and we torture, but that was off the chart.

I should have learned my lesson from that, but I didn't.

 Several years later I was working in an hotel dining room as a person who had no love obligations. There were always visitors available to entertain, so together with one of the other waiters we did just that. However,  I met one of the local ladies and a relationship developed even though she was married. Then she told me who her husband was and I nearly fainted to know that he was none other than my co-pilot and work companion. His wife said that she didn't feel guilty because he didn't care about her, and as I knew he played around rather than going home to her.

The summary of a long story is that she had a plot for him to find me in his home and in his bed where out of insane jealously he would kill me and go to jail and out of her life. It came within a whisker of happening exactly as she had planned. Hell hath no fury, indeed!

I have learned my lesson!

Having said all that I will close with the story of a couple who I came to know about 55 years ago. I knew him as my boss at the electrical power company. He was a smart guy and an absolute straight arrow family man. He worked all the hours he could find to earn a living and to personally build a house for his family. There were times when we guys from his crew would go over on our days off to help him pour concrete, so we knew how super proud he was when the house was finished and he was able to move his family in.

It was less than a year after that when the hammer fell. His wife announced that she was in love with another man whom she had had as a lover all those years when he was working to build the house. He said, I thought you loved me! She replied, "I never loved you!" And then she ordered him to move out of her house immediately. He told us he came so very close to killing her on the spot, but he realised that he could not hurt her without hurting the children. So, with a very heavy heart he left and his life went straight downhill. He became one of those people we see living in a cardboard box. We call them bums. This man was no bum, and I wonder about the stories of all of the homeless.

So, here's a project for someone who has the stamina and the courage and the heart to pursue the stories of so many people who live in sub-human conditions. What happened to bring them to such a place? I bet it would make really compelling reading.

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

The Censor

Are there any retired Censors in the house?

First, for the young people I will explain what a Censor was. In the old days, men and women were hired by the State to decide what was fit for members of the public to see and hear. Their presence was felt everywhere. Still, to an extent, what we are fed is subject to a voluntary form of censure, although you might not think so.

Official censorship ended because of pressure from the public who felt that having some people arbitralily decide for us was just not right. We thought we were more offended by that principal than having so much junk now dumped in our faces. However, if you are like me you might be fed up to such a degree that entertainment is no longer entertainment when it is just a platform to spew forth with profane language and simulated sex. (I think it is simulated.)

The film, "Three Weddings and a Funeral" begins with the first five minutes where all the actors repeat the same four-letter word for five minutes. I guess the director thought this was what, funny. creative? Other made for television or cinema films can be one continous string of explictives, and that wears the audience down to the extent that we do not enjoy the narrative.

It is becoming so that when we do view a work that is without explictives we may realize a pure form of enjoyment without even realizing why. Writers and directors have got to realize that the absence of censorship simply means that you are free to do anything you wish. It does not mean that you should do anything that comes to mind. There is responsibility that comes with that freedom, and the use of maturity in the production of entertainment is more creative.

I was born during an era of Victorian-like morality and prudence, so I have that as a yardstick to compare where we are now. Playboy magazine crashed through the barrier with its centerfold, and the wonderful mystery of women was lost forever. The other extreme, of course is to require that women dress from head to toe so that they are a complete mystery. That is just as bad, when the proper balance is to be found in the middle. In my opinion a woman who is dressed conservatively holds far more interest than one who leaves little to the imagination.

What has happened is that the pendulumn was stuck to the side of prudence and mind control, and now it has swung to the other extreme. Now, a person can be as sick as they want on screen and in print, and in doing so they infect their audience with such over the top perversion. That is not entertainment! The dialog given to actors and actresses is like vomit coming from their mouths. Well, we have seen that it could be done, and it is not pretty.

Some people really enjoy this sort of thing. I get that. I am also realistic enough to know that it will not change, just because I might like it to. However, if its trash it really does need to be clearly classified as such because I suspect that a growing number of people have had enough.

What I do hope will happen is that a more stringent form of classification will emerge to warn the public that if you don't want your senses to be assaulted give this one a miss. It would still be our choice to watch or read or not, but now we turn to a television channel and without warning our living rooms are flooded with words and images that are inappropriate either for our children or for members of our family.

As for our retired Censors they must be wondering why they even bothered to change the word damn to gosh, golly or Geewhiz.

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

This is not a rant. Honest!

Just one of those things to upset the peace


This is a story about a commercial transaction that went totally wrong. Some of the actors were reasonable and others completely useless.

Our old kitchen water heater had served us for ten years and had to be changed. Along came the technicion with a new one and installed it and it worked. While doing this he discovered a leak in the butano line that had been a danger to us for a number of years. Every time we lit the stove with the window closed we ran the risk of blowing ourselves up.

The machine seemed to work well for a week, although there was a new machine smell, or so we thought.  Exactly one week after it had been installed, while I was using the hot water in the bath, the water suddenly ran cold, so I turned off the tap, and finished my bath with cold water. When I left the bath I went into the kitchen and found it full of black smoke. The heater had simply caught fire.

First thing we did was to call the installing technician, who practically had a heart attack. He called the manufacturer in Barcelona who promptly called the Valencia office, and they promised to call us. Monday passed, no call. Tuesday we called everybody we spoke with the day before. But the man from Barcelona was annoyed that Valencia had not yet called us to find out what day would be best for us. Eh? Yesterday, of course! After a couple more calls Valencia said they could "fit" us in on Thursday.

Why didn't the manufacturer show more concern that their machine had caught fire in a customer's house? Probably because it happens often? I don't know.

Thursday: The man in Valencia was knocking on our door first thing in the morning. He came in, took one look at the situation and swore. After doing some checking he asked whether we were using Natural gas. No, señor, we use butano. Me cargo en la leche! The technician had installed a machine that was calibrated for natural gas with butano gas. He had taken the machine from a box that read butano. Apparently it was no wonder the damn thing burnt out in a week.

Then the man looked at my receipt and said , but this was installed on the 11th of March. (11/03/2014). I said, no, it was installed last week, the 3rd of November. We argued, I lost. He said the machine was outside its warranty and there was nothing he could do for us, and left. A totally useless turd of a man.

We went back to the installer and politely told him what was the problem and firmly requested that the matter was put right that very day. And it was! He even changed the date to the new day, 11/13/2014. Oh well!

The thing that worries me is that when it comes to the use of gas there have been so many cases of houses having been blown up, and some people have even been killed or seriously injured.

Perhaps I worry too much. Then again, maybe not!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

And the Oscar goes to:............Jail!

I feel very sorry for Oscar, but I feel  even more sorrow for Reeva!

Oscar Pistorius demonstrated his great remorse for what he did to Reeva, and I have no doubt it was absolutely genuine. I believe that he will never get over it, but it was a criminal act for which the law demanded justice for Reeva and her family. However, even Pinnocchio congratulates Oscar on his story to the court.

What really happened? Let's try and put together a commonsense version of events:

As a mere man, when you are in love with a woman as exocitally beautiful as Reeva, you know for a fact that every man who lays eyes on her wants to get his hands on her. So, everything she says and does makes you hear and see men everywhere.

She says, I'm going for a photoshoot. He sees the photographer with a hard-on for her. She says she is going to have her hair done, and he imagines the hairdresser as a man with his hands all over her breasts. In other words, he becomes paranoid and jealousy drives him out of his mind.

It is therefore easy to see how a discussion arose between them where he accused her of being with another man. That would have escalated and Reeva would have done what every woman in the same situation would do. She would have run to the toilet and locked the door.

Oscar would then have followed her demanding that she open the damn door or I will knock it down. Almost all men can recognize this scene.

However, during the trial no neighbour testified that they heard an argument going on, or who heard every word, so, this is mere speculation.

We think he was out of his head  with jealousy and anger and said I'm going to get my gun and shoot this door down. In that state of mind he fired four shots through the door and killed Reeva. Then, it became quiet, and he returned to his senses and asked himself the same question  so many other people ask themselves having done something really stupid:"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE!!!!!!!!!"

I think I can pick big holes in his story to the court:

 If Reeva was not the one in the toilet where else in the house was she? If he didn't know the answer to that question he certainly should not have fired shots through the door.

If the person in the locked toilet was an intruder, presumably, if they had locked the door they would have been having a shit in private. Can you kill a person for doing that in South Africa?

It seems, according to Oscar, he intentionally shot through the door to kill the intruder. Isn't that the definition of murder? And, what did he think would be the colour of the intruder in a white gated community?

I think the judge out did herself in trying to be seen as being fair and unbiased.

My personal feelings are that if one person deliberately, and with malice in their heart, takes the life of another human being, they should expect that they will permanently forfeit the quality of their own life. If a life is lost in the heat of the moment, that is still a crime because there always is a moment for decision. If you punch through that moment and still decide to go ahead you will have committed a crime for which you may well be remorseful afterwards, but a life has been lost nonetheless because of your action, and justice demands that you pay for your carelessness. In a conviction for manslaughter, many countries around the world demand a sentence of fifteen years behind bars, with the possibly of a five year discount for good behaviour.

I do not believe in capital punishment because only one mistake by the courts would be too many. As has been seen there are many convicted persons who truly were not guilty as charged. It is also an unbelievablely stupid form of punishment by the State, whereby they kill to teach us not to kill.

In my mind, a sentence of five years, with the possibility of release in ten months has not served Lady Justice at all. I may indeed feel sorry for Oscar's ruined life, and for all the pain he is suffering, but public policy is unfeeling, and having done the crime he must do the time. 

Such a light sentence is a dangerous precedent to set for other men who would really like to get rid of their women.

Copyright (c) 2014   Eugene Carmichael   

The BBC's 100 Women (and men) Conversation about World Sexism

The Double Standard


I was going to write this blog anyway, but since it is time for the BBC's annual world conversation between men and women about sexism, I contribute this to the discussion.

I have recently watched two television programes, each dealing with the double standard, and that got me thinking.

First, lets look at the fact that men are wired to sexually respond to the visual effect. Some men will say that they are breast men; others say that a well turned leg turns them on. I tend to be drawn to the whole image because I look for perfection. I have found myself totally attracted to a woman who ticks all the boxes for beauty and elegence. Then she lights up a cigarette and I simply erase her out of my mind. Whatever takes our fancy we lose our minds and go running after what looks good.

If we compare men to the animal kingdom we would be the male lions, simply spending our days and nights screwing and sleeping. That's the way we are and its not our fault. In some enlightened societies this is acknowledged by giving the male the right to have more than one wife. This is the honest approach instead of Western socities' practise of monogamy, with something extra on the side.

In reality, those arrangements where the man takes four, or more wives, no-one can be happy. The women go along with it because they get security and dignity in that he can afford to take care of them. Their alternative is to live with a poor man or sell their bodies. From the man's perspective all that he can see is sex with different women. It is true that sex is so much more interesting with different partners, but we are not simply talking about one night stands with strangers, we are talking about having four, or more actual wives, and they are all his.

For those of us who have one wife, I think we would all turn down the offer to increase the experience of living with one person times four. A wife is a whole person with hopes and dreams and expectations and disappointments that she needs to share with her husband. She also has complaints, and she wants to mold her husband into something that he is not.

If one man goes through all that on a revolving basis, he can't possibly feel that its worth it just for the sex. The sex would have to be something Uber good, and let's face it, sex is simply sex.

The thing that confuses all men is this:  those men who choose to commit themselves to one women, but then who think it is alright to have sex with other women, react so badly if their main squeeze decides while he is out screwing around she will have a little fun as well. I am 75 years of age, so obviously I'm not currently guilty of this, but in my past life I have been.

There was an incident when my world and hers clashed. When I took a breath and realised what she was doing while I was busying myself with pleasure elswhere, I nearly had a heart attack. The more my own behaviour confused me the more off the rails I fell. To this day I don't understand a man's reaction when he discovers that his woman has been having sex with another man.

This is no longer the dark ages when men felt that we had a right to own our woman. I know that in many cases the woman is expected to take the man's surname as a form of branding. Preachers still ask, "who giveth this woman to this man?" We know that women enjoy having sexual intercourse with us, because they make it obvious, or not, as the case may be. So, if a woman, any woman chooses to have sex with a man, it must be something she wants to do, including those women our hero has fun with while his wife is at home.

I'm not going to suggest behaviour for consenting adults. No-one will give me any attention anyhow. I simply say that as men, perhaps we need to develop savoir-faire, the know how to deal with these situations. It is not a pretty sight when we lose our minds, especially when we were the spoilers in the first place.

This is especially important because if your woman is trying to teach you a lesson you are definitately not going to like who she chooses to act out the scene with.

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael