This is a very interesting power point lecture from an evolutionary biologist on nuclear power and the effects on the environment. Like he says the things that go on in the nuclear industry are unknown to most such as most /all nuclear power stations constantly release radiation into the environment legally and also occasionally illegally. As he says with the aging of the majority of plants the potential for release into the environment is growing and there is already a lot of radiation out there. This is a quote from him  “It’s really a dead zone” in areas of Fukushima — “Huge impacts… there are no butterflies, no birds… many dramatically fewer species” — “Why does it matter to you in the U.S.? The reason is, it’s coming, it is coming” The many waves of die offs that have been happening on the west coast of the US over the past two years is just a precursor to what is coming to the people of the northern hemisphere, and eventually it will reach us. If you have an interest in the effects of radiation on the environment I would highly recommend this talk,I found it quite enlightening.

This is the ex-postmaster general of England if I am correct,although it really does not matter as what he says is pretty self explanatory. This is a ten minute talk that really resonates with me and I think would resonate with any clear thinking person who was in favor of the greater good rather than the law of the jungle which is the basis of no-liberal politics and economics. You can't afford it ,life saving drugs? an ambulance? reasonable schooling for your children? then tough. According to the no-liberal thinking (many are inheritance babies) you are just not working hard enough or are making stupid decisions. People like John Key who had the benefit of a free university education ,a state house, a solo mother who was supported by the state and excellent public schools that were well funded to get to where he is , often attack and are responsible for the dismantling the very things that allowed them to get to where he is today. Use the govt ladder to get up out of poverty and then pull it up behind you so that you can have more your self in the form of tax cuts for one. The tax cuts are really just a small part of the picture of what is going on. Selling off our collective assets is not in the public good. Why is our power bills so high when almost all is renewable for one example?

I know that probably few if any people will read this; I feel that I must pass it on. While in the U.S.  I came to be in a position where I used to write letters for inmates in different jails/prisons. Many could not write very well or at all so I would fill out appeals and application forms for them. It was an eye opening event that makes our country look like the "shining city on the hill" compared with the inhumane conditions that millions have to endure day after day. I witnessed one prisoner have to have his leg amputated after guards would not give him medical attention for wounds on his leg. Infection set in and it went gangrenous. As this documentary says, medical attention is routinely withheld; I suppose that with a large part of the outside people not having access to medical help, due to having no insurance makes it easier to refuse to give it to a prisoner. Watch this show and believe me it is not lies or misrepresentation but I can testify it is the truth of the largest prison population on the planet. If you have trouble believing this then just remember back to Iraq and the prisoner abuse that was uncovered there, well the guards in the homeland do not have to worry about being found out and the same sort of things go on there every day to millions of humans, Just like you and me.

We have just passed another anniversary of this infamous day. I still remember it clearly, my buddy Mike rung me up and said "Jerry turn the TV on , dude we are  going to war" . Well we all know a lot has happened since then, some of us are more aware than others what has ensued and this is a good video to get the idea of the Geo politics involved as there is never a simple explanation to the why of the event and the aftermath. Unfortunately the American people have lost a lot more than they originally thought from just the lives and buildings of this horrible  day. I think that America changed this day and it hasn't gone back, living in Colorado at the time even I didn't realize the far reaching ramifications that it would have even on me. RT is a news network that still does investigative reporting and this is the product of that investigation. My condolences go out to the direct victims and their families of the attacks and to the families of the soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflicts that this day has instigated.  I also feel for the American people who have been hoodwinked by the corruption of the govt and have seen trillions of dollars wasted of war that no body needed when there are people with no housing or health care, decent schools and access to university without lifelong debt.

This is a great example of fair use in video footage. Yvonne Craig, the lady who played Batgirl in the sixties, died recently and this is a great way to remember and celebrate her life. These shows may seem pretty corny in this day and age but they were cutting edge in the sixties and seventies. The difference between this and the last two batman movies is a good example of the progress we have made in technical issues. The advances in equal pay and equal status may not mirror the technical advances. Just as an example of how ingrained sexism is the spellchecker in the program used to write this allowed "Batman" as a word but marked "Batgirl" as an error in spelling. This is the result of a decision being made in the development of the spellcheck program and is not just an "out of the blue" mistake.

This is a really great video that is feeling quite relevant to me as right now I am studying how to manipulate and extract useful information from big data. The math and coding are really tricky and quite complicated. The math is extra hard with dot multiplication and concepts of multidimensional analysis of up to and over 1000 dimensions of data points on a "standard"  Cartesian graph. For me this is just fascinating  stuff and I always wanted to know just what those symbols that you see in scientific formulas mean. To actually understand them (?) and to use them is exciting.

With the revelations of the conditions at mt Eden remand facility this week I feel that we should have a look at where the idea of private prisons came from and how they have succeeded/performed for the society's that they serve.This is the way that they will eventually go in New Zealand, it is only a matter of time. When you make the main purpose of prison to get the best return possible for shareholders it directly conflicts with the whole idea of what prison is,supposedly a place of reform where the goal is to rehabilitate people who have broken the law and to get recidivism down to a low rate.As in the video, the company has two messages for the different groups ,for the public and state officials or in our case government officials, we retrain prisoners to make it possible for a better life outside jail. The message to shareholders boasts of the recidivism rate in the high 90%mark. Disgusting that we could go down this path allowing profit to be extracted off prisoners, all of whom are someones father,brother,sister,child,mother or friend. This is so wrong and as for Mt Eden just wait till they have been in the game for a couple of years and the public eye is off them.Right now they are in their "honeymoon period" where they are trying to make a good impression to sell the idea to the govt of the day.

I really like these guys, even though they are richer than god they still are doing good for the nation and the world. It would be just as easy for them to support the loony right and hope for more tax cuts that they don't need and to blame the poor for what they do not have and the left for the state of America's foreign relations. Which were in the toilet 6 or so years ago. Obama has pulled the country back on to the world stage with some new found respect after losing so much with Bush running the place.Check out the video and see what you think.

I feel that people may feel that I am America bashing but this is not the case. I really love America and it's people (legal and quasi-legal) but I also feel that they do not know just what goes on in their own country and how it relates to the rest of the world. This sort of thing would never happen in any developed nation in the world except here. Considering that America and Americans seem to constantly bleat on about how they are the freest people in the world, some education may help. The first lesson is that just saying something does not make it true. Often we find that the opposite is so,for example although only 5% of the world population they hold 25% of the worlds prisoners. How can this be the freest country in the world? Apart from that what about the railroading of the defendants that this video details. The hypocrisy is mind-boggling and really sad as this is something that destroys lives and one of the worst things is that it is used to generate private profits for shareholders. This makes it much harder to reform and is such a twisted form of capitalism that it is sickening.Only the state should be holding people in cages,doing it for profit, by corporations is so evil and twisted I can't express enough about how abhorrent this is to me and should be to any person who values human rights and the humane treatment of someones brother,father,mother,sister or daughter not just a statistic on a stock price.

This is one of the channels that  I watch from America and it is yet another example of (in)justice in action. The last time I lived there I always thought that being white gave me virtual immunity and it was true. I was pulled over several times and let away with things that if I was black for sure I would of been slammed and jailed.

It never ceases to amaze me the straight out stupidity of the Republican party. I believe that only half is the blatant financial corruption that runs thick through their midst and the other half is straight out stupidity. They truly believe half of the rubbish that they spout. One of their strong points is messaging and this is where they scare me and should worry other New  Zealanders, This is the aid that the govt here gets from them. As their policies are largely disproved  and they have nothing new to offer the voting public they have developed exceptional  marketing of their otherwise unelectable policies. National has basically repackaged trickle down  too sound like a great idea and sound economic policy although the only effect is further concentration of the nations wealth in the hands of a few well connected people and their family and friends. The nepotism in this current govt is surely at an all time high possibly a new record of corruption?