How does the internet affect our daily lives and is there a darker side?

We all think of the internet as Man's crowning achievement as far as communication is concerned. We can do anything online. Shopping, easy, Banking, No problems. Anything that can be sorted out by two Computer systems and a Wi-Fi connection. Social media means families can talk without all that tedious visiting lark. We can play games on computers and games machines all over the world in real time. Even the Government are now cottoning on as to how much cheaper it is to get your computer to arrange Car Tax, Taxes and so on with their computer. So much cheaper than all those nasty, expensive civil servants. Banks, too, know that they can keep taking a monthly fee for day to day transactions which have no need of an expensive clerk. Convenient for all but once again removing the human from the equation. It is also underlining the huge amounts of money being paid by us with no real effort or customer service on behalf of the organisation or business.

But let's leave aside the greed involved, Greed is the defining vice of this particular time in history though we embrace most of the seven deadly sins with enthusiasm.

So it's a good thing, right, this internet thing. No need to go out to arrange everything. Just switch on your computer and everything's great. But what of exercise? It's no coincidence that we are the most obese generation ever with all the health issues that go with it. Everything you need is probably available a few miles from home and you never walk.


O.K. So that's a bit of a drawback but that's the only downside isn't it? Well there is the idea that every webpage must have targeted advertising. How many times have you waited for a page to load all the advertising bots simply to read a paragraph of text? On a slow computer or connection it becomes almost impossible. Webpages have to pay their way and we have to be advertised at if we are to buy faster computers to cope with it all. That is without all the nasty adware that downloads to your 'Pooter on the back of software you actually asked for. On my P.C. it takes 5 minutes to load some pages. All to sell more stuff we don't need. Greed again.

Then there are those nasty but oh so clever crooks who have worked out how to make money with criminal hacking of systems. They can take your cash, your identity and buy stuff on your cards. It's a constant battle against this new breed of criminals. With computerised devices getting smaller they'll even nick the computer too, given the chance. Hey and it's greed again.

'But..' You may be screaming at this point. 'Social media is good isn't it? We talk all the time." Here are some negative things about social media......

Your real friends probably account for about 1% of your contacts.

There are all sorts of ways of making you see advertising on Facebook and Twitter.

You are not socialising, you are sitting staring at a screen.

Kids particularly are not learning social skills they are effectively hiding behind a screen.

Kids who were being bullied used to be able to get away from it at home. Social networking takes this small protection away.

Swearing, explicit images, adult videos and all sorts of other nasty stuff regularly creep into your timelines.

Are you really sure that all the stuff you store on Cloud storage is secure? Those nutty conspiracy theories about Facebook etc. may be silly but you are trusting personal information, images. telephone numbers to a computer which can be hacked. It's information can be fraudulently shared. Do you read ALL those terms and conditions?

I do love the freedom of the internet but I am a hardened nethead. I understand the drawbacks and how to guard against them and it doesn't rule me. This morning I went for a walk, came home and did a bit of housework. I am writing this and then may read or watch a T.V. murder mystery.

If I go on social media I apply the same rules as if I were face to face! I am honest but polite, if I have a point to make I will make it respectfully. I know what I can share or not share. On top of this I am also a people fan. I love talking to people, sometimes total strangers when I am out and about.

I am all for the wealth of information available, the things I can do with my computer and social media with the freedom it brings BUT I also treat it with respect. It is like a dog who seems friendly but is likely to bite you if given the chance. Modern security software helps but you are responsible for being aware of the dangers. the Internet is a great thing but there is definitely a Dark side.

Ghosts and Idiots ruining serious paranormal research.

As if the search for life after death is not wide open to fraud by people with knowledge of picture editing and competent in it, there are now Apps appearing on mobile phones which make it simple. Normally some knowledge of Photoshop or similar is necessary to make a good fake Ghost and it at least required some effort. Even so these pictures are usually easy to spot. Unless you have a very steady hand, cutting out the Ghost which is to be superimposed is not easy. The edges are noticeable and a human figure normally has bits missing. No picture of a human contains all the body and often fingers or toes, even the occasional leg or arm go missing.

As well as all this people always get the balance of believability versus detail wrong. Any serious student of the subject would tell you that full body apparitions are rare and that the reality of Ghosts is likely to be misshapen blobs of energy or E.V.P. (Electronic Voice Phenomenon.) So any clearly recognisable human apparition always awakens my scepticism. I do not believe in Ghosts but I would like to be proved wrong. I do know how to Photoshop though and I know the signs of a fake.

Now we have these Phone apps. There is an example of the above (Clearly not to be taken as real and an example of what can be achieved.) and a screenshot of one such app. These Apps quite openly state that they are designed to fool on social media, one even admits that they won't fool for long.

Now I hate users of social media whose aim is to get Likes, Shares or favourites by any means possible. Some claim that you are an idiot if you cannot do an ambiguous maths problem, some claim you are heartless because you do not share an emotive picture (Again often faked or with a story which cannot be proved. That child molester that hangs around schools is probably just a picture lifted from the net or someone who the poster has a grudge against.), and some just threaten ridiculous events befalling you if you do not send the post to all your Friends. All are designed to make idiots feel superior and generate attention.

Now these idiots can, with five minutes work, create a reasonably credible Ghost image and put it on a ghost picture group. The sceptical will feel obliged to point out that it is fake, the credible will instantly assume that the Ghost is real and is haunting any place you can take a picture of. Those who are not sure will say that it could be pareidolia but it is compelling.

Either way the attention whores on Social media sit back and have a chuckle at the way they have  made idiots of their so called friends. Bear in mind my previous comments about believability though, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Just when you thought this paranormal stuff was rubbish.

The Video above is of a very obscure, long forgotten animated T.V. Series. I watched it as a child but didn't particularly enjoy it.

Two nights ago I dreamed very vividly about it. I also heard the theme music from 'White horses,' another forgotten series, in the dream.

I haven't heard anything about the second one but on a Facebook thread about 1970's T.V., and after having forgotten about it for decades, someone posted about Belle and Sebastian. How spooky is that? What do you mean coincidence? Yeah right!

I await a post on 'White Horses' Whoever is doing this please stop.

Jack the Ripper

This is not going to be an exhaustive history of this case, there is just too much information out there to encapsulate in a blog post. I offer two links, the Wikipedia entry about the case and THE definitive website, the Casebook of Jack the Ripper. I also recommend a comprehensive A-Z book of the case.

Here I just wish to confess myself a confirmed Ripperologist and to try to explain why. What is the fascination? The murders were gruesome but not excessively so by today's standards. The Ripper was a serial killer in the autumn of 1888 but not a prolific one. There were 11 suspected killings of women who were all prostitutes, only 5 of which are considered canonical and even one of those has been questioned as a Ripper victim. There are letters supposedly from the killer which are now considered hoaxes.

The fascination for me is the fact that, after 127 years we still don't know who committed these crimes. The Ripper's hunting grounds were the most poverty stricken areas of Victorian London. It is also his seeming ability to kill, mutilate and disappear within minutes that fascinates. At least twice he must have been nearby when his victims were discovered. There was talk of his being linked to that great British bogeyman, Spring heeled Jack. Some even suspect a demonic Ripper. The mutilations were nasty by Victorian standards.

The conspiracies associated with the case are well documented and the Casebook website will tell you all about them but I don't think we are looking at a famous Ripper. He is just an ordinary man driven mad by syphilis or his poverty stricken surroundings. Try one of the links, you may get hooked on this Victorian mystery. Or maybe you will solve this ultimate cold case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper

http://www.casebook.org/

Turing-Hero and Victim

     A post originally published on my Wordpress Blog

 

             

Alan Turing 1912-1954

 

As you will know I am totally immersed in Computing devices and the Internet. It is no exaggeration to say that without Alan Turing these devices would not exist. He conceived a universal computing machine, based around binary language, the description of which is the basis of all modern computing machines. His Ghost is probably looking over your shoulder now.

 

 His work in cracking the Enigma codes in World War 2 and the effect on the war in the north Atlantic are well documented. Unfortunately, the idea that Turing designed Colossus with Tommy Flowers is erroneous but he did design the Bombe, a mechanical device to work out the Enigma settings. His work in Crypto-analysis was central to Bletchley Park’s wartime success and his cracking of the German Naval codes helped Britain to stop the destruction of supply convoys. This undoubtedly shortened the war. Unfortunately this work and the Colossus machines were deemed top-secret and Britain handed the lead in this field to others. It is possible that we may all be using Colossi had it been developed commercially.

 

After the war Turing worked on the design of another computer system the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) at the National Physical Laboratory.  In 1949 he became Deputy Director of the Computing Laboratory in the university of Manchester Mathematics department, working on software for one of the earliest stored program computers—the Manchester MK1. At this time he developed the Turing test, The idea that a machine imitating a human in a conversation, if it could convince a third-party that it was human, must be deemed intelligent

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In the 1950’s he turned to Mathematical Biology and the occurrence of Fibonacci sequences in flowers. He attempted, long before the discovery of D.N.A., to work out why cells separated in different ways to become different structures. He also wondered why certain animals of similar kinds developed different colouring and patterns. He posited  mathematical rules behind these changes, and of course he was right.

 

However he was doomed by his sexuality. Homosexuality was illegal in the U.K. in the 1950’s. He was burgled by a friend of one of his sexual partners, who got his address from the young man. A watch was taken that had been given to Turing by his father and naturally he wanted it back. In a totally Naïve move he called the police. He openly confessed to sex with the young man when questioned about the burglary and the police must have thought it was Christmas. A high-profile war hero and professor admitting to homosexuality. The burglary was quietly forgotten.

What happened next should stand as one of the most shameful events in British History. This war hero and one of the greatest minds of his age was given a choice, prison or chemical Castration. This involved the injection of female hormones, thus destroying the testosterone in the body, and stopping the sexual urges. It also involved shrinking of the testicles and growth of breasts. I can only imagine the shock to the system this would involve but it also impacted on his intellect. I wonder if he would still be alive if he had chosen prison. He once said he might have enjoyed it given his attraction to men.

 

At this time there was a paranoia about Gay men, who were seen as a security risk and much of his work with the government was taken from him. He travelled abroad to Greece and Norway, both places popular with homosexuals, no doubt enjoying the more relaxed attitude there. He must have felt that he was trapped in a nightmare but he bore the treatments without complaint. He cannot have failed to see the irony that his war work was against a country which practiced castration of Jews as well as persecution of Homosexuals and the insane. Now he faced the same persecution he fought against with his towering intellect. I also wonder if the treatments mad him fear madness. For whatever reason on 8 June 1954 was found dead of Cyanide poisoning. There was a half eaten apple (How ironic is that?) by his bed though it wasn’t tested for cyanide. The verdict was suicide with the apple being assumed as the means of ingestion.

 

There have been doubts. This is what Wikipedia says about it:

Philosophy professor Jack Copeland has questioned various aspects of the coroner’s historical verdict, suggesting the alternative explanation of the accidental inhalation of cyanide fumes from an apparatus for gold electroplating spoons, using potassium cyanide to dissolve the gold, which Turing had set up in his tiny spare room. Copeland notes that the autopsy findings were more consistent with inhalation than with ingestion of the poison. Turing also habitually ate an apple before bed, and it was not unusual for it to be discarded half-eaten. In addition, Turing had reportedly borne his legal setbacks and hormone treatment (which had been discontinued a year previously) “with good humour” and had shown no sign of despondency prior to his death, setting down, in fact, a list of tasks he intended to complete upon return to his office after the holiday weekend At the time, Turing’s mother believed that the ingestion was accidental, resulting from her son’s careless storage of laboratory chemicals.  Biographer Andrew Hodges suggests that Turing may have arranged the cyanide experiment deliberately, to give his mother some plausible deniability.
 

Andrew Hodges, and another biographer, David Leavitt, have both suggested that Turing was re-enacting a scene from the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), his favourite fairy tale, both noting that (in Leavitt’s words) he took “an especially keen pleasure in the scene where the Wicked Queen immerses her apple in the poisonous brew.

 

The British Government apologised for his treatment in 2013 but it is poor compensation  given that Turing should have been a hero and been decorated by  the U.K., not persecuted by it.

 

What to post?.......bad night.

The Bot brain is not up to scratch today and the reason is a mystery. Amongst the age related health issues and the Stroke I have sleep Apnoea. This involves wearing a mask every night. This forces pressurised air through the nasal passages all night keeping them open. Without it  they close and you wake from rem sleep every few minutes in a sleep/wake/sleep/wake cycle. Needless to say this is a disaster during the day and sufferers often fall asleep at weird moments. Hence the mask.

Great, got the mask, problem solved. Except once every few days I wake up and take off the mask. Suddenly I have all the symptoms of a cold. My nose runs incessantly, I sneeze,  my throat is dry and sore. Then miraculously these symptoms disappear after a few hours.

Then once in a few weeks I have a day like yesterday. The symptoms started as usual and just carried on. The sneezing was jarring enough to cause a headache. My throat was dry and sore. It carried on intermittently blocking my nose then it ran like a tap. I couldn't think properly. Now you might conclude, as I did, that the minor symptoms are the body reacting to having air forced into it. However all the fellow sufferers and the clinic I visit each year cannot explain it. They have no such symptoms as sufferers and the Doctors at the clinic are at a loss. All I can think is that the air coming through the machine has allergens which cause a reaction. As to the bad days, I suspect a minor infection of sorts. There are effects on other areas of the body too. Maybe it is just what it seems, a cold.

But guess what, I get up this morning and apart from a headache, a bit of a dry throat and a red nose, Nothing. Not a sneeze and a clear nose. I defy anyone to explain this, most medical practitioners just shrug it off.

The N.H.S. take on Sleep Apnoea

And the wikipedia version

What evolved power would you like? How realistic is your wish?

I pointed out in a post over on Wordpress ( Shameless plug ) that the human Brain was designed for nothing more taxing than Hunting and Gathering whilst staying alive and upright. D.N.A. has allowed us to upgrade and pass on these improvements but the Brain is still essentially primitive. Animal instincts and emotions rule it. It seems somewhere along the line we have somehow managed to start dealing with abstracts. Still it is nothing short of a miracle that we have reached the degree of understanding we have with such a limited processor.

Yet those instincts are something which offer hope of future evolution. I think of them as built in autonomous warning and information gathering programs accessed and read by the unconscious. One has always fascinated me. It is that burning feeling in between your shoulder blades that tells you that you are being watched. The advantage is obvious, it tells you that someone or something is showing interest in you. You are pre warned and your first reaction is to locate the watcher. Neat. But hang on, this sometimes happens when you are not facing anyone so visual clues are out. Often the watcher is in a crowded street so auditory clues are unlikely and smell would be difficult to pick up at such a distance and with so many other sources. Where does the information come from? Could this be nascent telepathy?

I don't know but I don't know how else it could happen either. Indulge me, then, if I extrapolate future human evolutionary changes from such a flimsy start. This is not a 'Which superpower would you like.' Post. I am only sticking to those powers that could possibly be ours in future. All this is my opinion and I am not citing any research or experiments to back it up.

Straightaway I am discounting teleportation, if it is possible, it would require more than just a normal brain, possibly a machine (As in Star Trek.). I cannot see the brain being able to move it's entire body vast distances unassisted.

Another one I would love to experience and some people claim is already ours is Astral Projection. The separation of consciousness from the body fascinates me and the idea of travelling in this way would enable you to experience the whole world while you sleep. Maybe you could even spy on your neighbours at their most vulnerable if that is your thing.

Despite my best efforts I have not experienced this but it does not seem like something you can develop. If you believe it, it is something you can already do or not, as with the 'Someone's watching me...' ability. This would be top of my wish list. I have tried to achieve this, result epic fail.

 

Next, and in my opinion most likely to develop within a few generations, is Telepathy. I have often felt that you can pick up on the emotions of another, especially if you are close in terms of emotional ties. No doubt there would be those who provide banal and commonplace explanations for this. You get used to someone's thought processes or you think in similar ways. However I have personally experienced this first hand and there is a distinct difference between knowing what someone would think and knowing what they are thinking. It is hit and miss but it has happened to me. In the future this may develop into a controllable ability.

 

 

Extra sensory perception is a hard one. Telepathy could be achieved, maybe by projection of bio electrical energy through the air with someone able to receive the signal, but this one requires a two way connection with inanimate objects. I can't see any logical way it would work. Once again there are those who claim this ability now but if it exists I have no idea how it would operate It would be very useful though.

 



 

Last of the more realistic abilities is Telekinesis. The movement of objects with the mind alone. Again a projected Bio electrical field may be able to achieve this. It would take a strong and constant field and a way of converting it into a semi solid physical force able to interact with other physical objects. I don't think it would ever work with large or extremely heavy objects, if it is possible at all. Again very useful if it ever happens

"What the hell is he on about?" I hear you scream. Well this is all just a thought experiments about which of these fringe ideas is ever likely to happen.

But what if we used technology? Professor Kevin Warwick of Coventry University already has implants which control computers responsible for Lighting, opening doors etc. The below is his Wikipedia entry with all the details and the second link is his personal webpage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Warwick
http://www.kevinwarwick.com/

Ok, it isn't true Telekinesis but it may be possible with cyborg like implants and Wi-Fi connections to create a passable telepathic ability. You may even be able to control machines that can move objects using the implants.

Personally I'd settle for telepathy. I would still REALLY like to do the 'Out of body experience' thing. If anyone has a set of instructions...................