List of Previous Titles

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Libya


Would you buy a used car from this man?


I have always thought that Muamar Quaddafi was quite mad. Just the look of him and his actions suggested that he was not playing with a full deck The one thing that is for certain is that Quaddafi is no Mubarak. His people know him better than I do, so they would have known that they were playing with explosive material when they decided he had to go.
I can unerstand how frustrating living under his rule must have been, and seeing the results next door in Tunisa and Egypt must have been tempting. " The time is right," would have gone the thinking, but when you are dealing with a perceived madman with tremendous resources you have to know that the odds are not on your side. And so it is being proved correct. It was a grave mistake for the people of Libya to attempt to get rid of The Colonel in this manner, and they must now pay the price of their ill-conceived actions. In spite of a no-fly zone and attacks on tanks from the air, Quaddafi has the upper hand with arms and fools who will use them against themselves, in the end. This is very sad as I can understand the urge for freedom. They cannot win, and when it is clear that he has put down the rebellion he will turn on the very people who helped kill the uprising. Meanwhile, a very dangerous precedent has been created. The U.S. and others have attacked Libya for doing the very same thing that Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will likely do in the future. Those countries will not suffer the same fate. They are too important as producers of oil. What a mess!
Copyright (c) 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Deadly Duo






Earthquake and Tsunami

I believe it may be correct to say that everyone in the world, who has access to a television, is in shock over images of the massive power of Mother Nature. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan is the very best documented by cameras of any major disaster, thanks to the Japanese obsession of recording everything on camera.

What I have seen is so overwhelming that it is impossible to find words to explain my reaction. However, I’m fairly certain that my response was universal, as I watched in horror, with mouth open, occasionally muttering “Oh….. My……. God!”

We have had two major events of a similar nature, one in Haiti, which was completely unprepared, and the other in Japan where earthquake readiness has been refined to a fine art. However, no-one can be prepared for a tsunami of the size and power of the one that rolled over Japan.

Tsunami: a Japanese word, literally meaning, “harbour wave” but in practise is a large destructive ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake.

Recently, I watched a documentary of the history of the world that was presented, I think, by National Geographic. It was truly interesting and very well done. It covered the various changes that the world has undergone since time began. The history of the world reflects the fact that there have been periods when The Sahara Desert was under water; of when mountains were under water, and flatlands became mountains through eruptions.

In the beginning all of the land mass was joined, and since then, through violent eruptions and movement the land was torn apart and moved thousands upon thousands of kilometres apart. Climate has gone through several cycles from ice age and heat. Whole species have been wiped out. From time to time certain species need to be culled as they place an over-bearing strain upon the earth’s resources. Mankind is doing just that as we speak.

What is clear is that Mother Nature decides to periodically change things around, as any good Administrator is inclined to do. In the early years the world was not very developed by man’s hand, and the changes that happened affected relatively few people. But, look at the world now. An earthquake of minimum proportions, or a hurricane impacts a lot of people. However, these changes are part of the constant evolution of the world. At the moment the cycle is Global Warming that many refuse to believe is happening.

The Japanese tragedy is a Triple disaster consisting of three principal earthquakes that happened simultaneously, followed by a catastrophic tsunami, and the icing on the cake: a full-scale nuclear meltdown. One day the people were celebrating life, and the next, without warning they were dead. My thoughts are with them and their survivors.

Warning! There is more to come at a location near you and me.

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, March 13, 2011

A Wonderful Cat Story


Anyone know how to administer a pill to this wonderful creature?

A family of four, Mother and Father, son and 14 year-old daughter were in the process of relocating from one country to another. They were at the airport securing their dog and cat for the flight, when an accident happened in the airline office. A worker accidentally knocked the cat carrier to the floor, and that caused the carrier door to spring open, and the cat sprang out.

“Close all doors and windows!” went the cry. “Don’t let that cat out!” Just then, someone walked in and the cat was gone in a flash, which was the cat’s name. Given that this was in an airport there are “no-go” areas, and “absolutely no-go” areas. However, airport staff, Customs officers, Police, and travellers all ended up chasing the cat all over the building. “Dear God, please don’t let him get on the runway!”

The plane was ready to leave, so father and son left with the dog, and mother and daughter, whose cat it was, stayed to try and corral Flash. Fortunately, when the cat left the building he was on the public side and running for the sea, followed by mother and daughter. A man was passing in his car, having just collected his young son from a flight. He followed the women where they were peering down a very deep drop at the sea. They could hear the cat at the bottom in a crevice, with the sea lapping at the shore.

The man was an off-duty Customs Officer. “Wait here”, he commanded. A very short time later he reappeared with a very long rope. He said to the daughter that he would make her a harness and lower her down, and hopefully the cat would come to her. He was amazed how readily she agreed. So, carefully he lowered her where she got soaking wet, but a terrified Flash came shaking to her. Now that she was holding him and crying she couldn’t get back up because she didn’t dare let the cat go.

As there was more rope left, her mother said I will go down and together we will get the cat back. Unfortunately, the airport had gone back to business as usual and no-one else had come after them, because the man could have really used the help of several strong fellows. That notwithstanding, he somehow managed to pull both of the women up, and the cat, with the help of his young son.

A substitute cat carrier was found and they all left on the next flight. Their adventure had begun!

The world seems to be crumbling around our ears and we are besieged by bad news. In the midst of all that negative stuff this story happened. It was a chance for one very unassuming man to become a full fledged hero; a young girl’s heart was broken and very quickly mended; a lot of people got a chance to try to do something very positive; and the story ended happily.

It simply doesn’t get any better than that!


Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Playboy, Penthouse, et. al.


Too much of a Good Thing?

I recently watched a television presentation about the rise and fall of Playboy, and that reminded me that I bought the first edition of the magazine, and many, many editions after that. Playboy consumed my imagination and changed my outlook on life. I bought not only the magazine but the whole concept. I was a Playboy Man, and I tried to embody the total lifestyle.

I took up smoking and I smoked Cool cigarettes, because that was the brand that Playboy pushed. Later, when the magazine changed to Benson & Hedges, I changed too. Then, when they said that the real Playboy man would smoke only Benson & Hedges Gold, and would carry his cigarettes in a gold case, and use a gold lighter, I went right along with all of that.

It seemed that girls were reading Playboy as well, as they seemed to know exactly what was expected from the modern woman. Life for me, at least for a time was one big party. However, if you are hearing a tinge of regret in all of this, you are right.

These were times of sexual freedom and people did some things in those days that you would have to be absolutely mad to do today. Remember, these were the days before AIDS. Herpes was something we didn’t like to think about and we played Russian roulette with our bodies. Then came AIDS, but the problem was exclusively one for the gay society, so we partied on. Then it found its way into the hetero-sexual society and that took the smile of confidence from our faces. As we came to understand more about the incubation period we became downright worried, and I turned my back on all those monthly men’s magazines.

Personally, I came to realise that something had not been added to life, but rather we were, and are suffering a sense of loss of magic. In the relationships between men and women it is not in my opinion a healthy thing that there is so much openness. We wear clothes for many very good reasons, and one of them is the guarding of the mystery of each other.

I admit that to begin with I bought and kept the magazines for the pictures of naked women. The pictures grew more explicit until I could tell what the girl had had for breakfast. There was nothing more I needed to know about her, especially as a picture on a page. That same attitude carried over into my private life and my inter-action with women. Unfortunately, women became as expendable as the magazines, and that was really the whole sadness of it all.

By comparison, we see how Islamic men and women inter-act. The woman is covered up in public, and in some cases to ridiculous extremes, but her beauty is reserved for her husband and her family. He is presumably constantly stimulated by what he only feels but does not actually see, but Western man has no need for his imagination, and consequently, without the aid of the mysterious his interest quite naturally wanes far too soon.

I recall the moment the light went on in my head. I had spent an evening out with a new woman, and at the end of the evening when I took her back home I was invited in for a “nightcap.” Generally that meant sex. However, I really liked this woman and it didn’t seem right, so I asked her to be patient with me for not asking for sex on our first date.

She broke down and cried, and spent the next hour trying to make me realize how difficult life as a woman was. We men, it seemed expected her to pay with her body for any time we spent with her. She had to decide that she would go to bed with me when I asked, before saying yes to a date. For that reason she hardly ever went out.

I felt, on behalf of all my fellow men, like a real shit!

For the publishers of men’s monthly magazines, they might have realized that a case of less would have been more, but I don’t expect that any of the people who took the money would ever see that. As time moved on, I found myself far more interested in the very excellent articles in the magazines than the girls. I started to question my sexual being, but the fact of the matter is that you can only serve up cheesecake so many ways to make it interesting. After that, I need to move on. I no longer buy the magazines, and nude pictures of women do nothing for me. Even the topless girls on the beaches of Spain leave me cold, and apparently most of the other men feel the same way. One day a woman and a man went walking along the beach, both of them topless. I doubt if much more attention was paid to her than to him. What a sorry thing to have to say.

Hugh Hefner is now about 85, and for him, in his words “it’s been a hell of a ride, and it’s not over yet.” Even if we look at his life we see a man who has seemingly grown sick and tired, or at least blasé of too much of a very good thing.

For me, looking back if I had it to do all over again I like to think I would have done many things differently, especially succumbing to the Playboy lifestyle. I gave up quality for quantity, and that is never a good thing.

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael