Ban Smoking!

Yet another ranting (or musing, depending on how you look at it!) from me today...Well, today I'm going to talk about one of the toppers on my list of things I hate - smoking.

Here in the UK, we currently have a law that prohibits smoking in all public places, which is a step in the right direction, but in my opinion, not a step far enough.

The ban for "all public places" is in fact not as good as it sounds. To me, all public places would mean you can't smoke anywhere except for in your own home, but in reality the law only prohibits smoking in places such as pubs/clubs, shopping centres, bingo halls, shops, bus/train/coach stations, airports and the like. For me this is a good start, but I think smoking should be banned everywhere except in the smokers own home.

I am a sufferer of asthma and for years my enjoyment of going to a shopping centre, going to the bingo, going to the pub or even just travelling on public transport was spoilt by selfish smokers polluting the air and making it difficult for me to breathe.

But it's not just about me - what about children - who really wants their childrens lungs exposed to the harmful substance in cigarettes? Second hand smoke inhalation is actually a big problem for many people.

Speaking of children, more should be done to prevent them (at all costs) from being exposed to smoking to limit the likelihood that they will pick up such a rotten habit. If smoking was made to look less "cool", then children wouldn't toy with smoking. It would also help if the sale of cigarettes was more strict and also if tighter import regulations were made to stop people illegally smuggling them in and then selling them for cheap.

Cigarettes contain many harmful substances such as methane (sewer gas), methanol (rocket fuel), tar (road surfacing), hydrogen cyanide (poison as used on death row), stearic acid (candle wax), hexamine (barbecue lighter), toluene (industrial solvent), cadmium (think batteries), nicotine (pesticide), butane (lighter fluid), acetone (rat poison), radon (radioactive gas), ammonia (think toilet cleaner), carbon monoxide (like from car exhausts) and formaldehyde (used to pickle dead bodies). Knowing what is in a cigarette, if you are a smoker, are you still so keen to go out and buy a pack of fags?

I would be glad to see all cigarette companies go out of business and no-one smoking anymore in public places or anywhere else.

Now there is supposedly "greener" smoking - which to me is just companies (such as Green Smoke) trying to justify smoking and make it sound like a healthier way to smoke as well as trying to make it as fun as having a mobile phone (it's electric, you can change the filter tip to the colour of your choice, USB chargeable etc.). I think this is just wrong!

Copyright ©2009-2012 Yvonne Brownsea

Bring Back The Death Penalty!

Yet another opinion I feel strongly about that isn't on the nicest of tones...

Here in the UK, we no longer have the death penalty for heinous crimes, and I feel it should be brought back.

What are my reasons for thinking this?

Well, I don't think serious crimes should go so leniantly punished.

For example, someone willfully murders someone and when they are found guilty, they are given a life sentence which is a minimum of 15 years (which isn't really 'life' at all) - they get to take part in prison activities such as sports, using the internet, watching TV and so on - this doesn't seem much of a punishment to me.

Surely, it should be a life for a life?

In my opinion, it shouldn't just be murderers who are sentenced to death either - shouldn't someone who has committed heinous crimes such as being a paedophile ('kiddy fiddler') also be sentenced to death? Or a repeated rapist, shouldn't they too be sentenced to death?

If people can take a life or ruin a life with their crimes, in return, their lives should be taken from them.

Copyright ©2009-2012 Yvonne Brownsea

The End Of Humanity

Not the most cheeriest of topics, but it is something of interest to me which I would like to share my thoughts about with you...

Well, what do I think are the possible scenarios?

1) Pollution = Damage to ozone layer & health etc.
2) War = Nuclear bomb or something fired as offense/defense and resulting in mass destruction
3) Food Chain = Something higher up the food chain obliterating us for dinner (e.g. vampire, mutated bug etc.)
4) Intelligent Species = Something more intelligent coming along and having no need for us (e.g. A.I. (artificial intelligence, robots), extraterrestrial entities)
5) Science Experiment = But one going wrong, the way the whole black hole creation scenario could have/could still go
6) Zombie Apocalypse = probably a government experiment gone wrong that will call zombie like mutations
7) Collision - a massive meteor hitting the Earth
8) Shifting Of The Polar Plates = this could be potentially devastating. I think it could cause massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and more. Not to mention the likely possibility of solar flares which will cause devastation in terms of technology and peoples major dependancy on it.

Copyright ©2009-2012 Yvonne Brownsea

Chocolate

Another poem for you all today...When without a life are we,
A butterfly - splat!
When without a life are we,
A fly - swat!
Chocoalte - plain, milk.
Chocolate - delicious.
Scamooosh, bababam.
Chocolate coated butterflies,
Swift, smooth, tasty,
Chocolate coated flies,
Which are really...
Chocolate flavour raisins!

Copyright ©2000-2012 Yvonne Brownsea

Are They Real?

Today, I am going to give opinions on several beings:

VAMPIRES
OK, do vampires exist? Well, why wouldn't they? I know it sounds surreal, but why is it so unfeasable that there could be no such thing? For example, people are born with medical conditions - couldn't a vampire just be someone who was born with a medical condition that makes they need to live off blood? Of course, this would not pose any possible connections to the whole biting people and turning them, or the only being killed by a stake, or the sleeping in a coffin, being allergic to sunlight and the Cross or the whole having eternal life - but these could be totally mythological things thought up in times long ago by people that didn't really understand differences caused by medical conditions and therefore saw such a "freak of nature" as being something more than it actually was... And we all know legends often live on...

Of course, on the other hand, vampires could simply be being from another plain of existence (though not necessarily evil ones). It could genuinely be that if you are bitten by one, death by exsanguination occurs or you are turned into one if the vampire deems you worthy enough. They could live forever by feeding from other peoples blood. A stake through the heart may well kill them. They may be evil (though evil could only be retrospectively as I'm sure to them, they would just be being themselves - much like a vegan/vegetarian calling a meat-eater evil) and therefore can be burnt by a Cross or unable to enter a holy building such as a Church. They may sleep in a coffin and only come out at night because they are allergic to sunlight.

One question that I would have to ask, however, is if there are vampires as described in the second part of my investigation above, why are they not top of the food chain?

EXTRATERRESTRIALS
OK, my next subject is extraterrestrials (aliens). In my opinion, how any could believe that we are all alone in this vast universe, is beyond me. If you believe that in this universe, this galaxy, this dimension, we are the only beings, you are sadly mistaken and living in a paranoid dream world.

I'm pretty sure they're not all grey or green with large bulging eyes and a small, skinny stature, as they are often depicted - instead, it is quite likely that some of them could even look similar to us if they came from a similar planet such as the quite recently discovered Gliese 5.

GHOSTSWell, ghosts are one thing I'm 50/50 on for definite. I don't see why there couldn't be such things as ghosts - most likely beings that are somehow attached to the physical plain for one reason or another and in need of being helped to get to their final destination.

There are a few odd things though - such as why would you be able to see one only if you are open-minded or a small child (small children, of course, do not understand things the same as adults and as such, are open to everything)? Why wouldn't everyone be able to see them? That's a bit of an odd one in my opinion. And how come sometimes they can be captured on video/camera and other times not? And, why do people claim to feel cold around a spirit? And, why are some ghosts evil (poltergeists)? Could it be they were evil in life? Or has something happened to turn them evil? All maybe all spirits (ghosts) are the same and have no good nor evil feats and simply are.

Copyright ©2009-2012 Yvonne Brownsea

Life, Form, Morality, Worthy, Silence

I've got another very old poem of mine for you again today, called "Life, Form, Morality, Worthy, Silence":Tremor, the world shakes
The feet of the universe are moving
Rocking in the mist
Twisting in your mind

Yellow, like a fresh lemon
Or a ripe banana,
Settling in the sun
Crisp as a Quavers packet

Bank, think water
Pound signs flashing in the eyes
Plastic and flexible
A fish, gullable

Copyright ©2000-2012 Yvonne Brownsea

Death

Today, I am publishing a poem I wrote a good few years ago now. It's called Death.

What is death? A part of life?
Still, like settled waters,
The sharp point of a knife.
Then death occurs.

Expected, unwanted,
A sad way to die.

What is death? A part of life?
Put a seashell by your ear, quiet,
Death of old age.
Perish, wishing for eternal life.

Expected, unwanted,
But it had to happen sometime.

What is death? A part of life?
It scares you,
Knowing your life will end.
Do you wish for eternal life? I know I do.

Expected, unwanted,
It's a part of life, it's after life.

Copyright ©2000-2012 Yvonne Brownsea

Where Are Humans From?

Right then, my random musing for today is - Where Do Humans Come From?

OK, the scientific theory of how life came to be:-

Most currently accepted scientific models build in one way or another on the following theories:

1. Plausible pre-biotic conditions result in the creation of the basic small molecules of life. This was demonstrated in the Miller-Urey experiment, and in the work of Sidney Fox.
2. Phospholipids spontaneously form lipid bilayers, the basic structure of a cell membrane.
3. Procedures for producing random RNA molecules can produce ribozymes, which are able to produce more of themselves under very specific conditions.
4. The panspermia hypothesis proposes that life originated elsewhere in the universe and was subsequently transferred to Earth perhaps via meteorites, comets or cosmic dust.

Now, the religious theory of how life came to be:-

The story of Adam and Eve is the ultimate reflection on humanity and can be read starting in Genesis 2:4. It explains that humanity was created in order to reflect God’s glory, similar to a statue created to reflect the glory of an ancient king. God commanded us to reflect Him by upholding His commandments. Basically, God created man to serve him.

Now, for my theory of how life came to be:-

Well, I believe that a race of beings/entities (extraterrestrial life), that are advanced beyond the human race today tenfold, made us, and those that came before us (cavemen, dinosaurs etc.) as an experiment to make their perfect "creation".

I don't believe that one man or being "God", could have made the Earth and all things ever to grace it all by himself in 7 days - this is just plain unbelievable.

I don't believe that there was a "Big Bang" one day and from that came Earth and all things ever to grace it - this is equally unbelievable.

Something that is a much more viable reason, is a large group of scentists from a race far more advanced than ours, picked out a planet within the universe/galaxy/dimension or beyond (i.e. Earth) and decided to experiment with what "beings" they could make.

Having made various tests before us and found flaws, we are their current creation - and though humanity may be their greatest creation to date, we are by no means flawless and will eventually destroy ourselves by blowing one another up with nuclear bombs or simply by destroying the Earth and making it uninhabitable for humanity or more simply death - no-one lives forever (another theory is that we will destroy ourselves by us ourselves making something better - i.e. machines). After us, I'm sure they will experiment with the next generation, and maybe remove what was our (humanities) flaws...

Copyright ©2009-2012 Yvonne Brownsea

Swine Flu - A Population Control Conspiracy?

Right, just to say out right, I'm no conspiracy theorist and don't make assumptions of this sort lightly.

Could the current swine flu outbreak be a population control scheme gone wrong?

If the current outbreak was due to a population control scheme gone wrong, the prime suspects for causing the outbreak/epidemic/pandemic would be China or U.S.A. - being two of the biggest countries whose popluations could soon swing out of control if measures weren't taken to combat the population spurts. Of course, it could have been a worldwide conspiracy as the population everywhere is growing quickly.

I've heard both young and old, sceptic and non-sceptip, conspiracists and non-conspiracists speculate about this possibility. It was one of the first things that crossed my mind once I heard about Swine Flu.

I don't think a pandemic was planned, however. It was more than likely meant to be a targetted * controlled experiment* (e.g. do this in a few smaller, poorer areas) and they hadn't foreseen the fast mutation of the disease.

Still, if it was an experiment gone wrong - did they have any right to do it in the first place or by electing the governments of our respective countries, have we empowered them to committing such an act?

Copyright ©2009-2012 Yvonne Brownsea