BORDER PATROL

WASTED FOOD

These days reality TV programming seems to dominate most TV channels . It is cheap to produce and the average couch potato enjoys watching "reality TV" purely because the cast is typically ordinary people and not professional actors, although celebrities may feature in some episodes. However, there is very little that is real about reality TV.

It is supposedly unscripted real-life situations about how ordinary people behave in everyday life but its really not the case. The episodes may be unscripted but there are writers who craft plot and write lines, do so purely to create conflict. "Conflict and controversy creates fame" and every one wants to be famous, hankers after both. Just look at the unknown actors who "act" in programs like Big Brother, Survivor, Cake Boss, The Apprentice, Extreme Home Make Over, The Osborns, Crossing Over with John Edward, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, Hardcore Pawn, Border Security:Canada, Border Patrol, and Fear Factor, etc, etc...

I find the bulk of these programs irksome, because the producers are constantly insulting the intelligence of their audiences. Restated, they lie and cheat to get better ratings although there are some shows that are "factual", like Border Security: Australia. And other programs that highlight behind the scene events of Australia's Customs and Border Patrol: New Zealand  and airs the work of their Department of Immigration, and their Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, as they enforce Australian immigration, customs, quarantine and finance laws.

I find these programs the pits. Because not an episode goes by that some Airport Customs official doesn't harass some, Asian, Chinese, Vietnamese, or Indian, national, confiscates their food and slaps them with a fine. In not saying that they are racist or prejudiced against these nations but its more than coincidental that these peoples are predominantly their victims. Again, it's the customs and culture of these Asian peoples to gift food to one another, especially those living abroad. 

Understandably there needs to be a measure of control in place but to dump / incinerate thousands of kilograms of food daily is disgraceful, especially when considering there are millions of people in Asia who lives below the breadline. Not to mention Africa. If these "suspect foods" really needs to be confiscated for whatever reason, I'm certain these millions of tons of food per month could find its way to the less fortunate as food aid and food relief to people affected by flooding, earthquake, Tsunami, or other natural disaster. 

Africa is probably the richest continent in the world but the majority of its peoples live on less than 1 US dollar per day if not less.  This is purely because colonial powers  have been usurping Africa's wealth for centuries and its high time for payback even if its going to be with confiscated food.

USURPERS

USURPERS

Sometime ago, I saw a television ad, in which a senior citizen is chasing after flies, swatting them with tremendous vigour. He was having tea with his wife when a couple of flies were bothering then. With fly swatter in hand, the old man lunged at the flies, smashing them one by one, with more force than necessary, loudly shouting, "Got you, you Banker" and no sooner did he squash the next fly under the brute impact of the swatter, when he loudly exclaims, "I got you, you Lawyer". I found this advert seriously amusing because I share this old man's sentiments. I found myself smiling whilst pondering on the what may have triggered an association between bankers, lawyers and flies in the mind of this old man, albeit an advert. 



Most people do find flies abhorrent, detestable, disgusting, despicable and loathsome, even revolting. Flies vomit digestive enzymes onto the foods they wish to eat, which then liquefies the food, allowing the fly to  simply suck it up with its straw like tongue, called a proboscis. Considering flies are terribly pervasive and land on everything, from dog excrement, to dirt bins, to decaying rats, cats and birds that die in the fields, to farm animal manure, to domestic drains, etc. Their legs and bodies are covered with tiny hairs which are the transporting agents for bacteria and disease. Somehow we've become accustomed to their bothersomeness, thus tolerate them  as a minor annoyance. However, they are far more dangerous than we even realize because flies are known to carry more than 200 different forms of bacteria on their bodies.

Having one or more of these critters perch on your hair, fly into your face or land in you food whilst eating will certainly evoke some sort of reaction from you. A quick hand gesture to shoo them away, or a short bust of air from your lips targeting the fly, or even both hands waving frantically  to chase the "filthy pests" away. These hand gestures are often accompanied by some obscure facial expression. When flies are bothersome, some people may feel compelled to go eat elsewhere and some will more often than not get out the aerosol insecticide and vanquish them.

Bottom line, these are peoples responses to flies. However, this is also how most people feel about bankers and lawyers; the heartless bastards, usurpers and bottom feeders of the world. Most people are probably not vocal about the feelings about Bankers and lawyers but the grudges they feel are real and imminent. Every year thousands of home owners who were unable to service their bond for whatever reason, for a period of three months or more have encountered the wrath of these "flies". Interest upon interest for missed or late payments; and don't forget the lawyers fees piled on top. Much lie flies, they siphon their filthy interest money into every deal and much like flies they slurp up the earnings of the less fortunate with an insatiable greed. Annually thousands of home owners have their homes repossessed by greedy bankers and lawyers. 

Much like we tolerate flies, usury has become an "accepted norm", even though it is defined as an unethical and immoral  practice of making monetary loans at unreasonably high rates of interest. The art of usury (loan sharking) was practiced and perfected by the Jews  over millenia, hence Jesus upset the money lenders tables in the synagogue, saying that they turned the house of God into a den of thieves. Jesus was really angry at these money lenders, so can you just imagine if Jesus were here today, how pissed he would be at every, banker, lawyer, loan shark and other financial institution practicing usury, for charging their clients crazy fees for services that are essentially provided by a network of computers. Below is some of the fees charged by three competing banks. Each trying to entice potential clients to use there services.  I was dismayed at how expensive it is to deposit a large sum of cash into your own account, let alone how expensive it is to get that same money our again later. Besides the interest  banks pay is minuscule compared to the charges they levy for their thieving services.

ABSA Bank 

Monthly Monthly account fee R40.00
Cheque deposit at counter         R25.00
Cash deposit at  counter         R8.00 + 1.50% of deposit value
Cash deposit at ABSA ATM R3.00 + R1.30 per R100
Cash withdrawal branch counter R50.00 + R1.55 per R100
Cash withdrawal at Absa/Barclays ATM R3.95 + R1.30 perR100
Cash withdrawal at Point-of-Sale R3.95
Cash withdrawal at Absa-supported ATM R6.95 + R1.30/R100
Cash withdrawal at Saswitch ATM R9.95 + R1.30/R100
Cash withdrawal at Overseas ATM/ POS R50.00
Balance enquiries branch counter R5.00
Balance enquiries Absa/Barclays ATM R1.50
Balance enquiries Absa-supported ATM R4.00
Balance enquiries Saswitch ATM R5.00
SMS / Email / Fax (respectively) R0.80 / R0.80 / R6.50

FNB 

Monthly Account Fee R4.95
Cash deposit at ATM R0.70 per R100 (minimum R5.50)
Cash Deposit at FNB ATM R4.55
Password Reset (Consultant Assisted) R55.00
Balance Enquiries R3.55
Email / SMS / Fax (respectively) R0.70 / R1.10 / R5.00

Capitec Bank 

Monthly admin fee                R5.50
Cash Withdrawal at till points R1.50
ATM Cash withdrawal R8.50
ATM Cash withdrawal (International) R50.00
Cash deposit at Capitec ATM             R0.90c per R100
Cash withdrawal at a Capitec ATM R6
Cash withdrawal at Saswitch ATM R8.50


This is but a fraction of the fees they charge and also a fraction of the banks that operate without impunity.  Multiply these fees, and bonds and loans by several hundreds of thousands of bank clients, then you can really see the kind of money banks make. Hence they can afford to own those huge buildings they occupy. Essentially every person that has a bank account is obliged to pay their bank  a few hundred rands per month for bank fees. This isn't something they wanted, or aspired to, but were coersed into it by there employers and the "system" to use cashless money. 

SARS,  VAT, TV Licence, Automobile licence, Income Tax, Rates, Dog licence, Bank accounts, life Insurance, Car Insurance, Rica, etc. is all about getting your details into a database that can be sold for cash.

Operating a cashless society is purely about numbers on paper and there doesn't really have to be any money. It's a case of smoke and mirrors. Yet thousands of young people aspire to become bank clerks and tellers and as a consequence live off the interest of others. Banks are encouraging our youth to lend money, and use their credit / debit cards to swipe, and use the mobiles to snapscan QR that make electronic payments immediate and easy.  This convenience makes it more likely that customers will pay on time, thus improving their business cash flow. Yet charge them a fee for every transaction 

Interest is a vile form of oppression. It virtually makes everybody a slave of the system; and the only reason why most people leap out of bed in the morning, is to service the debt they  owe to banks, be it bonds, business loans, short term cash loans, car payments or student education loans. Lawyers grrrrr. Bankers double grrrrr.

PARLEZ VOUS FRANCAIS

WHAT YOU SOW SO SHALL YOU REAP!

PARLEZ VOUS FRANCAIS

Since colonial times, the French have always been a controversial nation, especial their soldiers. One just has to look at the rampage and the mass rape of Italian women by these French Colonial Soldiers during and WWII and after the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. Historians claims that the "French Genocidal Fuhrer Napoleon" was as "barbaric" as Hitler, if not worse because Hitler considered Napoleon as his Hero. Napoleon was ruthless and responsible for thousands of executions. With this force of might the French as a nation colonized several remote countries, the likes of Vietnam, Cambodia, Canada and Haiti as well as several countries in Africa, among which are the Ivory Coast, Benin, Mali, French Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Algeria, etc. 

However, independence to all the natives of these countries came at a huge personal cost because France was determined not to relinquish its strong-hold over its ex-colonies, whatsoever the cost. For several decades, France sucked the natural wealth out of Africa,  like a gigantic parasite, causing poverty, disease , hunger, malnutrition and underdevelopment; which in turn fueled despair, conflict and tremendous violence. As long ago as 1957 Former French president  François Mitterand prophesied that: 

“Without Africa, France will have 
no history in the 21st century”.

His successor, former French President Jacques Chirac shared his sentiments when he said; 

“Without Africa, France will slide down 

into the rank of a third world power”. 

The amount of power France usurped from these countries through monetary control is really astounding, and ever since all members of the CFA Franc are mandated to deposit up to 85 per cent of their country’s foreign exchange earnings in the French national treasury.

One could consider France's stronghold over these countries as a "colonial tax", charged for the benefits of slavery and colonization they left behind.  When President Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea opted for independence, the french colonial elite in Paris threw a historic fit and in their fury destroyed everything in Guinea  that represented the benefits of French colonization. Schools, research institute instruments, public administration buildings,  cars, books, medicine and tractors were destroyed,  horses, cows on farms were killed and any food stored in warehouses were either burned or poisoned. 

Sylvanus Olympio, the first president of the Republic of Togo didn't want a repeat performance of this in his country when he sought independence , so he agreed to reimbursement the “colonial debt” which was virtually half the country's budget at the time. But this didn't change anything because France got an ex French Foreign Legionnaire army sergeant called Etienne Gnassingbe to assassinate Olympio.

When Modiba Keita, the first president of the Republic of Mali, withdraw from the  french colonial currency, he became the victim of a coup carried out by another ex French Foreign legionnaire -Lieutenant Moussa Traoré. 

David Dacko, the first President of the Central African Republic did the same and suffered the same consequences by the hand of ex-french foreign legionnaire  Jean-Bédel Bokassa. 

Maurice Yaméogo, the first President of Burkina Faso, was another victim of a coup carried by  an ex French legionnaire Aboubacar Sangoulé Lamizana. 

President Hubert Maga, the first President of the Republic of Benin, also suffered the same fate when  a coup was carried out against him by Mathieu Kérékou, his personal  security guard who had French Foreign legion ties. And the list goes on.

While I was in Magagascar, involved in the national role-out of an educational network, President Mark Ravalamanana decided to cut ties with France and to import technology from Germany and America. Within days a coup took place against him  and President Mark Ravalamanana was quickly replaced my acting Malagasy President Andry Nirina Rajoelina. With all the roadblocks and a massive military presence who harassed all foreigners,  it was time to leave. But after witnessing a gun battle at the president house, we left immediately.

During the past 50 years, a total of 67 coups took place in  Africa, 16 of which occurred in Francophone countries, instigated or orchestrated by France. Most of these French speaking nations in Africa can bear testimony to the level of violence France perpetrated against its ex-colonial subjects. So, using the words of President Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea they collectively declare that,

“We prefer freedom in poverty to opulence in slavery.” 

Today many of Africa's populace want France to restore whatever she has usurped and some are willing to force France to take responsibility for her atrocities. So, when the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) bomber who was "responsible for the Paris metro attack"  decide to get some payback for all the torture, mass murder, rape and oppression committed by the French in Algeria, the World was up in arm and everyone still wonders why France became  the first western European country to suffer "Radical Islamist terrorism" and is continually targeted by terrorist attacks. Admittedly it's really tragic, when someone extracts revenge on "innocent people" who are not directly responsible for the atrocities of their forebears. Undeniably, it is their right to fight to ward off oppression, because oppression is certainly worse than murder. Though this bring to mind the biblical verse Ezekiel 18:20. 

"The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity,
nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity".

In my book, there is no justification for such attacks on innocents, but invariably people may forgive but seldom forget. Hence the phrase, "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". 

RAPED BY POLICE

Just a few days ago four French policeman were accused of sexually raping and assaulting a '22 year-old black man' with a truncheon during a brutal arrest in Saint-Denis. Protesters demanding justice for this black man, and were fired upon with teargas. As a result they set fire to several rubbish bins and cars. I suppose rape and brutal force, torture, murder and oppression has always been the French colonial way for centuries, though it's not fair to pant all french peoples with the same brush. My personal experience with the French whilst I lived in Versailles as well as in Saint-Denis whilst in Paris, was really bad. They are an unfriendly, unhelpful and a snobbish bunch of people. Once again I shouldn't generalize because there are some good folk among them.

Case in point, just a few days ago a  French farmer by the name of Cedric Herrou was on trial for helping migrants across Italian border, however he was charged with  a €3000 suspended fine in the high court. He is a scholar and a gentleman,  among a nation of brutes and usurpers who are totally complacent and very contented that their economy scavenges off the poor people of Africa. Africa as a continent is extremely rich in resources, yet the bulk of its people are extremely poor. All thanks to France with the backing of the IMF and the World Bank. 

THE MOST UNPOPULAR PRESIDENT IN HISTORY

FROM INAUGURATED TO MOST DESPISED

According to German author Wolfgang Mider, ‘Good fences make good neighbours'. Really? Eventhough a version of this saying exists among several cultures and uttered in many languages globally, it is totally ambiguous, nonsensical, let alone true, not to mention ridiculous. 

Historically, during the the Cold War, more than 3 million East Germans escaped to West Berlin. So, in order to stem this mass exodus the Communist East German authorities erected the Berlin wall almost overnight. This wall was in fact a 'Wall of Shame' because it divided a nation, spit families and especially considering that the  Western Deutsche mark was worth six times more than the Eastern Deutsche mark. It stymied peoples potential to earn and move freely.  After the fall of the wall, seventy five percent of East Germans interviewed, said the fall of the wall had improved their lives substantially. So how could the Ashkenazi German-Jew Wolfgang Mider get it so wrong? At a another point in time there was the "Black wall of Death" at Auschwitz-Birkenau Germany -- the “Final Solution" to the the Jewish Question (die Endlösung der Judenfrage). It served as backdrop to Jewish and Polish executions during world war II.  Then there is the Western Wall -- a surviving remnant of the Temple Mount-- in Jerusalem where Jews mourn and wail.  

From the above it is clear that the Jews seem to know a lot about walls. No wonder the Jewish State of Israeli built a  barrier wall along the West Bank -- Green Line. Splitting-up innocent families, separating them from their crop fields,  restricting their movements, denying them access to parts of the city. Making the Palestinian's lives miserable. Israeli Jews call it a security barrier against terrorism. But in reality the wall promotes racial segregation, it's an "apartheid" wall. 

'The Great wall of china' was built by the Qin Dynast to protect its citizens and its territory from hostile nomadic invasions. But it also restricted peoples movements, locked them in, effectively it imprisoned them. This may have been necessary centuries ago, in a hostile and uncivilized world. Are walls of such a nature really necessary in a modern day world with organisations like the EU (European Union) and the AU (African Union) than can amicably resolved issues at a global level? Walls invariably serve different purposes but in general, walls divide. Walls are exclusionary. Walls are tools of discrimination. Walls exude intolerance. Walls are just down right shellfish and disruptive. 

Having said that, Donald Trump is discriminatory, exclusionary, and intolerant of Mexicans and wish to promote all these sick values by erecting a wall between Mexico and the  southern border of the United States. For starters the proposed 1078,26 km by 17 meter high concrete  wall. This Trump  Border Wall is the epitome of poor leadership and bad governance. Not surprisingly, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu with his bad judgement backs Trump's Mexico wall, and even suggested a similar wall on the Egyptian border as a 'great idea'. Be that as it may, with a conservative estimated  price tag of 2.5 million USD  per kilometer, the Trump Wall project could cost American taxpayers more than 2698 million USD because Mexico will downright refuse to foot the bill.  Besides destroying kilometers of the local environment and ecosystems,  the wall would also inhibit the free movement for animals that need to travel for food and water. The wall would also disrupt the mating pool of wildlife, both big and small, which would potentially lead to a decline in genetic diversity and perhaps extinction.

Donald Trump's issued a presidential order to restrict innocent Iranian, Iraqi, Libyan, Somalian, Sudanese, Syrian and Yemeni Muslim from entering the United States borders. This equates to an unadulterated hatred of Muslims.  Donald further confirmed his Islamophobia or Muslimophobia stand when he stated that Syrian Christians will get priority refugee status over Muslims.  In essence that makes Trumps order unconstitutional,  immoral and un-American. Donald trump is currently the most unpopular president of America but with his bombastic attitude is soon to become the most unpopular, most disliked, even most hated president in the world.

America constitutes communities of immigrants from all parts of the world. Even Donald Trump's German forebear Frederick Trump was an immigrant  who worked as barber and a hotel manager. What gives him the right to deny other immigrants willing and intent to make a like alongside all the other immigrant families of the world. Shellfish and arrogance comes to mind. Or perhaps it's genetically inherited from his German ancestry who were also very familiar with walls.

LIVING HIGH ON THE HOG

LIVING HIGH ON THE HOG

The age old axiom "As happy as  a pig in shit" is absolutely true, and to take it a little further, so is "You are what you eat"! Meaning if you eat pork, you will eventually develop the persona of a pig and even start acting like one. The expression "As greedy as a pig" sums up what gluttons overdo. "Pigging out is another". Much like humans, pigs are also omnivores. Again, much like humans, pigs can also become extremely obese. Boar pigs are the only animal in the entire animal kingdom that invites several fellow boar pigs to copulated with a single sow - something like a  "gang rape". Regrettably, this is what some mentally defunct men sometimes resorted to. Yet there are women who willingly participate in making multi partner porno movies, mimicking sows. "Snore like a pig" is another trait of over eating before going to sleep and a favorite pastime of pigs. Bottom line, pigs are vile with the result that humans have even coined the phrase "To behave like a pig". Then there is also "As dirty as a pig"!

Pigs are oprophagic beasts which is the condition often associated with other animals that eat their own feces and that of others. While most humans find this absolutely disgusting, it is yet a natural phenominon for dogs, dung beetles, flies, hamsters, rabbits and some primates. Pigs live in and eat their own feces and vomit, as well as that of others and even consume the  corpses of fellow pigs. They simply love shit and even mate in shit but are not immune to the  illnesses, ailments, affliction and diseases, which are the direct corollary of their enjoyment. Such filth is a  recipe for STDs like, syphilis and herpes, gonorrhea and chlamydia, hepatitis and crabs, genital warts and chancroid, and HIV/AIDS. These little fuckers are diseased from their trotters to their teeth and pig farmers are trying their utmost to control the situation with all sorts of toxic medication so that the meat can go to market. Meanwhile literal human ass licking is just another piggish behaviour that some humans imitate as a consequence of consuming pork. Not forgetting those men and women who indulge in rear-end behaviour with other men and women, which more than reinforces the adage "As happy as  a pig in shit".

PIG MEDICATIONS 

1) Amitraz and Ivormectin are insecticides but more specifically scabicides used to treat scabies and ticks on pigs and to eradicate other ectoparisites like mange.

2) Phosmet is essentially an EPA toxicity class II compound used as a general purpose pesticide for pigs to eradicate parasites like lice, mites, flies, etc, as well as for the treatment of mange.

3) Doramectin and Levamisole are injectable treatment against, whip worms, stomach worms, large white worms, red stomach worms, lung worms, kidney worms, thread worms, nodular worms, muscle worms, etc. in pigs.

4) Oxytetracycline, Microfac and Chlortetracycline are in-feed antibiotic against enzootic pnuemonia, chronic respiratory disease, streptococal meningitis, Atropic rhinitis, etc.

5) Furazolidone and neomycin are treatments to combat diarrhoea or Scour in piglets, effectively caused by  e.coli, Salmonella Infection and colibacillosis, and the list goes on.

6) Swine flue (H1N1) is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by one of many Influenza A viruses. Almost 25 percent of pigs that contract swine flu will die from it because there is no treatment specifically for flu viruses. Swine flue is quickly spread by both direct and indirect contact, specifically transmitted by  pigs that are infected but do not show any symptoms 

7) Cystitis and nephritis are inflammations of the  bladder and kidney respectively. The bacteria organism causing it is usually Actinobaculum suis aka E. coli which is impossible to exterminate and is indubitably present in every herd of pigs.

Not only do pharmaceutical companies supply the above medications for pigs, a vast amount of medications are created from the pigs themselves.  The global pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical sectors are some the world’s fastest growing industries, usurping more than 13 percent  of the gross domestic product of all developed countries. Big Pharma's secret to amassing this vast fortune, is harvesting animals for medical research and for their biological enzymes. 

Animal products are commonly used in numerous drugs and prescription medications, most of which are derived from pigs or cows. Religions like Judaism (kosher), Islam (halal) and Hinduism, forbids the consumption of pigs in any form, with the Hindus also forbidding the consumption of beef. Since the global Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), scare, aka "Mad Cow  Disease"; the use of bovine matter for the use in medicines have permanently ceased. Mainly because neurological problems from "Mad Cow Disease" can  easily be transmitted to humans who consume food or medications  contaminated with either the brains, spinal cords or the digestive tracts of infected carcass, especially considering that "Mad Cow  Disease" has in incubation period of 2 to 5 years. 

That being said, "Mad Cow  Disease"  killed more than a 175 people in the UK, and more than 50 in Western European countries that import beef from the UK. Unfortunately before controls on high-risk offal were introduced, more than 480 000 BSE-infected animals had already entered into the human food chain. As a result of this, pigs have subsequently become the main biological sources for medications for human use. 

SWINE IS NOT AN ANIMAL BUT A SOURCE OF INDUSTRIAL RAW MATERIAL

Medications like  Heparin which is an anti coagulant medication (prevents or treat blood clots) is made from the mucosal tissues of pig intestines. Then there is Porcine  Insulin (derived from pig's pancreas) which differs from human insulin by a single  amino acid, the  difference is invisible to the human immune system, hence pork insulin is weakly antigenic and results in few allergic reactions. Then there is Pig Pancreatic enzyme supplements used in 
Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy to aid digestion. 

Pepsin and MMR vax (abbreviation for Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccine) are just a few medications manufactured from an extraction of pig enzymes. Several other products made from extracts of the pig's pancreas, spleen, thyroid, trachea and kidney, are further processed into supplements for consumption by both human and animal. Then there is also gelatin (obtained by boiling the trotters, skin, ligaments, tendons, and bones of pigs in water) which is predominantly used for making capsule caps and hydrocolloids wound dressings. It is also used as a binding agent in the making of sweets like, wine gums, licorice and chewing gum, etc. 

L-cysteine is a protein made from human hair, feathers, pig bristle or bovine hair, used to soften the dough for making bread. Glycerin is an ingredient obtained from cow or pig fat but it is also  plant-derived (from seaweed) and is an essential ingredient in some types of toothpaste. Other medicines and pet foods also contain pig gelitine, ranging from pain relievers to multivitamins. Some Ice creams, whipped creams, butter and yoghurts also contain gelatin derived from pigs and bovine. Powdered pig bones is also a source of calcium used in some yoghurts. 

Bristle is  pigs hair and is used to make paint brushes but is often used in the food industry as a pastry brushes for oiling  baking trays. Even some hygiene and beauty products contain fatty acids and other remains of pigs extracted from the bone fat of pigs. This is exactly what gives shampoos and conditioners, body lotions, moisturizers, foundations and anti-wrinkle creams their shiny, pearl-like appearance.  Various other pig by-products are  fabric softener,  crayons, candles,  washing powder, hide and bone glue for shoes and  furniture glue, skins for drums (musical instruments), pig skin shoes, fertilizers and additives to the  feeds of livestock and chickens. To view the list of pig ailments and sickness that can easily pass onto you if you consume swine. 

WHY PIG EXTRACTS

Genetic analysis surprisingly revealed that pigs and apes have comparable traits with humans and that pigs, primates and humans share numerous genetic similarities. So much so, that pig heart valves are commonly used in heart valve replacement surgeries for human beings; and  transplanting organs and tissues from pigs to humans are currently at a record high. Other pig tissues like the submucosa of the small intestine and its pericardia are also used for general surgery applications in the human body and to repair wounds. Using human stem cells, scientists even attempted to grow human organs inside  of pigs, in order to address organ donor shortage. 

Phylogeneticists speculate that primates, pigs and humans share a hidden evolutionary relationship. Some sources quote that the difference between the chimpanzee genome and humans DNA is minuscule and varies by as little as 1.2 percent. Other sources of speculation says that pigs have 98 percent human DNA, but scientists are only willing to say that humans have a lot more in common with pigs than anyone may think. 

It's  just too much of a coincidence

that the Qur'an  portrays an event 

where a  certain group of Jews 

were transformed into 

"apes and pigs" due to 

their disobedience to God.

Religious groups  wishing to be true and obedient to God by avoiding pig products, pig by-products and pig co-products, are going to have a degree of difficulty in maintaining their earnestness. With the global food and processing industry markings or rather disguise their mixing ingredients with food E-codes,  it  is almost impossible to avoid eating pig contaminated products altogether. It is up to the Halal Trusts to be more vigilant about the products that they declare Halaal and on the individual Muslim, Jew or Hindu to abstain from anything doubtful lest the wrath of God turns us all into pigs and apes.

Anyone eating bacon, ham, gammon 

and other pork products from these 

diseased coprophagic beasts which 

are loaded with and artery-clogging 

cholesterol can only be considered suicidal. 

BREXIT VENEXIT

BREXIT VENEXIT

Britain's disillusionment with the European Union (EU) eventually resulted in "Brexit". Essentially "Brexit" implies Britain's "exit' from the European Union for whatever their agenda. This may probably not have been the best move for everyone concerned but that's just my opinion.   Probably the greatest  benefits that the EU offers member states, is free trade as well as tax exempted trading with other EU members states. This is a boon for the population since it keeps goods and food prices of down. Another boon is unrestricted movement of citizens between all of the EU member countries,  which allows for  greater educational and job opportunities. But the cost of being one of the 28 members states comes at an enormous cost. In the case of the Britain, it is speculated at  a whopping £7.1bn for 2015.  The single Euro currency  proved to have many problems and contributed to poor economic growth and high unemployment across the European Union which didn't affect the British pound in anyway.  But to sum up "Brexit" in a one sentence —  an end the over-regulation! As such the EU is at the brunt of controversy.

Be that as it may,  "Brexit" opened a new "can of worms". It appears that the Brits are not the only Europeans who are fed-up of the Euro prison they found themselves in. Fundamentally the European Union (EU) contradicts what makes Europe, with its multicultural communities and sovereign states unique. The EU also promotes more bureaucracy less democracy by curtailing decision making process at local community level of  particular countries. In the case  of Greece, forced to accept austerity, which was essentially counter-productive. The EU Common Agricultural Policy also distorted agricultural markets by placing minimum prices on food which invariably led to higher prices for consumers and promoted over-supply. A move totally conflicting the  EU tax exempted policy and the EU set the lending rates for banks.

Having said all that, it is evident that the shock-waves of Britain's vote  to leave the EU was felt in  Venito, Italy. Venito is one of the country's largest and richest areas. It boast a population of more than 5 million, all of  whom define their ethnicity as Venetian and considers themselves a minority. As such, the  Venetian regional council approved a bill that  highlights and recognizes this claim. The primary  objective of the bill is to attain secession from Rome and Italy as a whole. This move has subsequently been dubbed 'Venexit'. Experts say such a move is  constitutionally  illegal,  But an informal online vote thus far  quote a 89% vote in favor of 'Venexit'.

On another front. As long ago as 1871 a desire to have a united Germany was on the cards and after the fall of the wall, it became a reality but this doesn't seem to be what every German wanted. In Germany, the Bavaria Party called themselves "The official sponsors of Germany", and they've been campaigning for an independent Bavaria since 1946. Bavaria is the largest German state and is the second wealthiest with a population of roughly 12 million. Bavaria as a state, paid more than half of Germany’s inter-state fiscal and paid as much as  €16 billion annually  to the federal government.  

As such the Bavaria Party is campaigning for and  independent Bavaria separate from both Germany and the European Union (EU). The Bavaria Party is convinced that "Brexit" would trigger major EU reforms and voiced that the time for a Bavaria referendum has come. The EU must be stuffing up really badly to elicit  responses like "Brexit", "Bravexit" / "Bavarexit" / "Venexit" all of which are trending on both twitter and facebook. 

Then there is also Catalonia and the Basque region in Spain both seeking independence, which I will refer to as Catalonexit? and  basqexit? Spain is a culturally heterogeneous melting pot that resulted from  the union of various kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula, each with a distinct culture, with different languages, laws  and currencies.  Catalonia is a wealthy region and its population feel they are overtaxed which is used to fund lower income areas, and they want to exit.  So Catalonia is currently holding  a referendum which is something Basque region wasn't able to achieve even after waging an  armed struggle for independence from Spain for more than fifty years. The Basque people have an ancient history and their nationalists want self-determination in order to revive their culture and language, which is currently spoken by one in every three of its population, which is roughly one third. 

By the looks of things, it appears that the wealthy in Venito, Bavaria, Catalonia, etc, want their independence for financial reasons with the implication that they are not willing to share. Undoubtedly the divide between the "haves" and the "not haves" can only get bigger. Considering the bulk of the European countries especially, France, the UK, Spain and Portugal  have made their old money family fortunes during the colonial period by marauding and plundering. Among which are the Du Ponts, Merieux; Decaux; Dassault, Pinault; Bettencourt; Arnault; families, the  de Alba; Villar Mir; Andic; Jove; Calvo-Sotelo; Ortega Mera; Roig; Amorim, Espírito Santo  and Ortega families.

At the rate at which countries are jumping ship, the billion dollar is who's next. In alphabetical order the remaining EU member countries are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

CRIPPLEWARE

MICROSOFT'S CRIPPLEWARE

Microsoft — the largest software company globally — has been losing market share to its competitors, which  subsequently pushed them to enter into the hardware market.  The billion dollar question is, can Microsoft beat its competitors at their own game?  Microsoft's lightweight Surface Pro 4 tablet was powerful enough to be use as a full desktop workstation, even though it was based on older technology when it was first released in 2015. However, it is due to be replaced by the even more powerful Surface Pro 5 driven by Intel’s much-awaited Kaby Lake chips in 2017, running Windows 10 Redstone 2. 



Since the Surface Pro 4 suffered some serious battery drain problems it is would be a treat to see how Microsoft is going to handle the stronger and more power hungry chipset  of the Surface Pro 5. When the Samsung launch the S6, it also had battery drain problems but when it launched the Samsung S7, battery drain problems escalated to overheating batteries, exploding batteries and fires. Microsoft also entered the mobile phone market and their new Surface Phone is also expected to debut with the Intel Kaby Lake chips.  Should Microsoft launch both these devices simultaniously, it will more likely than not dominate technical  news for  some time because  Microsoft would have beat Apple hands down in both  the tablet and phone areas.

Google Home (left) and Amazon Echo (right) smart speakers / controllers

Be that as it may, Apple plans to hitting back with a vengeance as it prepares to unveil its iPad 2 Pro early in  2017 before Microsoft’s Surface Pro 5 is launch since Microsoft is waiting for delivery of the Intel Kaby Lake chips.

Meanwhile  Google — a late comer to mobile hardware — is due to debut their  (Nexus) Pixel 7 tablet device early in 2017 which essentially runs Android 7.1 Nougat with the sole objective to showcase the outstanding power of the Android OS on tablets.  Android is based on Linux and their is a range of linux distros for your Android device, for those tinkers who could improve on mobile apps for the common good of man. Thanks Linus! High five to Linus and a middle finger to Bill.

Hail Free Open source, hail Linux, hail Linus Travalds!

On the Smart Speaker front, Siri the iPhone voice control has lead the market. With the success of the Amazon Echo — a smart speaker / smart home controller like Siri — it was inevitable that the competition would soon originate their own versions. Google produced Google Home which  is backed  by its ubiquitous search engine, leaving Amazon Echo's in jeopardy. 

The anatomy of the Amazon Smart Speaker.

Microsoft's intelligent personal assistant - Cortana  - featured on  Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10. Cortana is an improvement of its older  voice technology called TellMe which they bought in 2009. Microsoft  artificial Intelligence ambitiously  aims to crush both the Google Home and the Amazon Echo with their software based Home Hub.

On another level Sony's PlayStation 4 has consistently outsold Microsoft's Xbox One because there are at least 6 things the PS4 can do that the Xbox One just can't. 

A BIT OF HISTORY

Opportunistic Bill initially got a contract from IBM to supply a PC operating system, whilst he was still running traf-o-data. Bill then  bought the PC Dos operating system in question from one of his university mates, called it his own and flogged it to IBM for megabucks because he himself couldn't come up with an operating system. Personally I don't think he was savvy enough.  But with cash now in hand employing real programmers was a breeze. MS DOS quickly metamorphased from version 3.to version  DOS 6 and after spying on Apple Mackintosh with their GUI, widows 3 was born which was soon replaced by Windows 3.11 which in my opinion was a fairly solid OS although it was just a GUI running on top of DOS 6. Computer CRC errors, computer lock-up, unexpected resets, etc ... plagued  the software and since it was easier to replace Windows 3.11 with Windows 95 than to try and fix it, Microsoft took the easy route. The same happened to Windows 95, which was superceded by Windows 98. The service packs updates were more bloated than the operating systems themselves. Troublesome  Windows XP eventually made its debut but was short lived and replaced by Windows Vista which gave way to Windows 7 then Windows 8 then Windows 10. Microsoft sold software but the software as a whole was so unpredictable and troublesome that any amount of updates just could't fix it, hence it was known as crippleware.

Clients were demanding that the software perform as expected or at least as advertised, or they wanted their money back from MS. That's when Microsoft legal came up with the brilliant plan of leasing the software -in condition as is - supported by  an EULA (legal disclaimer) for a once off fee or an annual fee. Coyright, trademarks and an End User Licence Agreement mean that when you install the software before you can even try it or test it, you had to accept the leasing condition, the  as-is conditions, the limited right, the restrictions, etc. In fact you had to click on a check-box as acceptance which roughly said that you agree to be bound by all the terms and conditions. 

That really sucked, especially if reverse engineering was your forte. That meant you couldn't decompile or  disassemble or or decrypt to derive the source code of any of its application. That was the greatest damper Microsoft has placed on education. The would be electronics engineer, software programmer, tinker was stopped in their tracks from getting an education at the expense of Microsoft and making possible improvements, modifications, enhancements.  Hail Free Open source, hail Linux, hail Linus Travalds! Years later when the threat of free free opensource loomed over commercial Microsoft software, Bill started an educational drive, forming collaborations with Help K-12 school leaders, and charging schools 50% off software purchases. Then there is also the Microsoft office student discount, and finally the Office free Office 365 download, - free to those who qualify.

Licensed Propriety software aka crippleware has always been Microsoft's business model which constantly needed to be replaced by newer software because it's just too difficult and too time consuming to debug and fix previous versions. Case in point, look at their track record and their latest Windows 10 is due to be replaced by its newest incarnation Windows 10 Redstone 2. Regardless, it is this cripple ware that made Bill the richest man in he world. Earning him top spot of the 1,810 Billionaires who made the 2016 List of the World’s Richest People amongst which are Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos  (Amazon), Charles Koch (Koch Industries), Carlos Slim, Mark Zuckerberg (FaceBook), Larry Ellison and Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA).