A different prespective to Life

During King Charles III's opening of Parliament, the British had a series of customs and traditions that reminded them of their tremendous and complicated past. King Charles III's third time carrying out this duty will be his first State Opening with Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government in power, following 14 years of Conservative rule. These traditions might seem strange to others, but they maintain the status quo and prevent unforeseen circumstances. The Monarch does not make laws. Since June 1215, at the signing of Magna Carter at Runnymead, the King's power has been restricted, and the Monarch is constantly reminded they are not above the law. The King reigns, but he does not rule. His government rules, and as head of state in the UK, the King is constitutionally obliged to follow the government's advice. It sought to prevent the King from exploiting his power and placed limits on royal authority by establishing law as a power. The UK has a Constituti

Cannabis is on my mind. I have a friend with whom we discussed things at the swimming pool. He sells cannabis or cannabinoid products. It might be that I wanted him to clear or clarify it in my mind. I said, "So, in short, you are a drug dealer". I believe that didn't make him happy. He was a certified natural health pharmacist and had a certificate from the government for dealing with natural remedies. These are professionals and tend to avoid the label of being drug dealers. However, he explained that he was using natural remedies to treat complicated ailments. He indicated that because the body has "cannabinoid receptors" for cannabinoid products, it is natural. This is part of the endocannabinoid system of all vertebrates. I wanted to say that our body also has Opioid receptors, which means we should be taking Opium, but that thought was lost in our discussion. He went down a rabbit hole, a conspiracy theory of the CIA supporting research to discredit the sm

  The story of the three kings is often seen in every Nativity play. As a child, I remember being one of those three Kings, as at least one was traditionally black. The notion was that he was from Africa. The tradition even named them Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior. Each of the Kings symbolically brought a gift with a specific meaning: gold representing kingship, frankincense symbolizing divinity, and myrrh foretelling Jesus' death and burial. Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia or sometimes Ethiopia and is thus frequently depicted as a Middle Eastern or Black man in art. He is usually said to have given the gift of myrrh to the Christ Child. Caspar (or Gaspar) is often represented as a king of India and is usually said to have given the gift of frankincense to the Christ Child. Melchior is often represented as a king of Persia and is usually said to have given the gift of gold to the Christ Child. The incense was worth more than gold in weight and was used by Kings

After listening to Thomas Sowell, who wrote a book on Social Justice Fallacies. "A thought-provoking Challenge to Modern Social Justice Narratives". I now understand the position of the USA Conservatives among our colleagues. Thomas Sowell explained that liberal intellectual elites often think they possess the blueprint for running countries, economies, and societies. However, the failure of socialism in Eastern Europe and the centralized planning in economies like the Soviet Union, although there were initial improvements, these efforts resulted in unintended consequences such as food shortages and economic downturns.  Thomas Sowell believes that intellectual elite liberals in our Universities lack practical knowledge and hence may be unable to advise running governments. Being a software developer/ project manager, I know what is involved in running out-rolling complex solutions and various applications. It has also led me to understand that practical knowledge is often ess

I love talking about astronomy. It is fascinating and raps up science, history, mythology, mathematics and culture into one brilliant container. StarTalk is a podcast by Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson and some other hosts.  The episode I came across today that tickled my fancy is about how the planets and moons in our solar system got their names, the exceptions to the rule, and the reasons why. The episode was with Mr Chuck Nice, a comedian who asked questions that we non-professional astronomists would love to ask and would make it funny and understandable to the common man in the street. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has been the body responsible for naming astronomical bodies since its inception in 1919. They followed a rule when it came to naming the planets. Since these have been known to us since antiquity, they use their Latin names as done in other fields like Medicine, Chemistry,  etc. The Romans knew of seven bright objects in the sky: the Sun, the Moon, and the five br

"The strength or weakness of a society depends more on the level of its spiritual life than on its level of industrialisation. Neither a market economy nor even general abundance constitutes the crowning achievement of human life. If a nation's spiritual energies have been exhausted, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect government structure or by any industrial development. A tree with a rotten core cannot stand." Aleksandr Solzhenistytn When in university, I had a friend about 35 years ago who was what we would describe as a Leftist now. On any issue, be it education, politics, finance, health, etc., he would go entirely Left and tell me how Communism was far better than Capitalism in dealing with it. During that time, world ideologies were separated into the West and East of Churchill's Iron Curtain. The West was the USA and its allies, and the East was the USSR and its allies. My friend, who is a Professor now, would go on for hours on how Communi